In an effort to help out their fellow Iowans, SoCal-based Iowa transplants Tyler and Jessica Kamerman are organizing a benefit concert called Reach Out for the flood-bedeviled citizens of that Midwestern state.

If you would like to support Reach Out, contact Tyler Kamerman at (310) 968-2365.

The details for this event:

WHEN: Tuesday, July 1 at 8:00 p.m., $20 admission [all proceeds go to United Way of Iowa and tax-deductible contributions will be accepted]
WHERE: 14 Below (1348 14th St., Santa Monica CA 90404)
WHO: The Nadas, Christopher Hawley Rollers, Sharon Temple, DJ Quickie Mart and The Quiet

Luchadores—those masked wrestlers­ from south of the frontera—will be taking over the Grove of Anaheim tonight in what’s sure to be a spectacle of high-flying moves and debauchery.

Tonight’s event is Lucha Va Voom Sexo Y Violencia, and Mexican wrestlers from all over Mexico, Los Angeles and Texas will be battling for ring supremacy, the honor of their hometown and the coveted Summer-Nacionales cup.

In between matches, the ring gets hot with burlesque performances from New York’s Wau Wau Sisters, Chicago’s Michelle L’Amour, LA’s Lucy Fur, Karis and Lola La Cereza.

Oh wait! There will be midgets, too. Doing... I’m not sure. Wrestling? Probably. Performing burlesque? One can only hope.

The great LA-based counterculture magazine Arthur needs to raise $20,000 by July 1 or it will have to cease publishing.

LA Weekly's Randall Roberts summarizes the sorry scenario on our sister paper's blog here.

If you're so inspired, you can donate money to Arthur's worthy cause by using the widget below.

This almost just in: Extravagantly entertaining psych-rock eccentrics Dark Meat fly in from Athens, Georgia to play Vestal Watch tonight. (Dunno if all 17 members will make the trip.) Travis Keller of Buddyhead will be DJing some rock tuneage and there'll also be a preview of Vestal's fall/holiday line. (Vestal sells timepieces, softgoods and accessories for the rock-and-roll set.)

Vestal HQ, 730 W. 17th St., Costa Mesa, (949) 631-7036; www.vestalwatch.com; 8 p.m. All ages.

Dark Meat live at the 40 Watt Club

Last Night: Yacht at the Samueli Theater on June 26, 2008

Better Than: Playing Dance Dance Revolution and it burns more calories then Wii Fit.

Download: See A Penny (Pick It Up) from their album I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real.

Is it art? Is it electro? Is it electro art? I'm not quite sure, but I do know that last night was an infectious dance party in the form of Yacht sailed into the Samueli Theater with support from Mika Miko.

Club soda, red telephone microphone, beach ball, saxophone and youthful rambunctiousness were some of the ingredients of Mika Miko. With the assistance of Dean Spunt from No Age on drums, Mika Miko tore through their set like the Tasmanian devil with a batch of furious punk-spiked tunes, each of which barely clocked over the two-minute mark. Jenna Thornhill put Bill Clinton to shame with her skills on the saxophone. "Business Cats" sounded like it came from the era of Black Flag and would have fit well on the Repo Man soundtrack.

Yacht—the dynamic duo of Jona Bechtolt (vocals) and Claire Evans (vocals)—deployed a large projection screen, two microphones, a laptop computer, and their contagious energy to create a memorable concert experience. Jona and Claire made up for the lack of live instrumentation with spastic performances and heavy crowd interaction. Jona would frequently jump into the crowd and mosh/dance his way through the throngs as he carved out his own spot on the dance floor.

"It's Coming To Get You" recalled some synthesizer patches from the 1980s as Claire and Jona harmonized while dancing up a storm. Jona was dressed like Don Johnson from Miami Vice for the projections while they tackled "Summer Song", which Jona mentioned will be released by the LCD Soundsystem-run label DFA. The track was a pulsating wave of cowbell, electronic drums and hand claps that made you move.

Jona and Claire also took out some time to answer some questions from the crowd. I learned that Yacht are inspired by the music creation programs of Ableton Live and Reason. The video for "See a Penny (Pick It Up) coincided with an 8-bit storm of sound that would make Nintendo fans drop their controllers and dance. Yacht sailed into the sunset with a Love Boat send off by inviting everyone on stage for one last shake-down. Don't miss the boat on Yacht.

Critic's Notebook:

Personal Bias: Any band endorsed by LCD Soundsystem is worthy of checking out.

Random Detail: Jona's penchant for the '80s was evident as he momentarily quoted some dialog from Back to the Future in between songs.

By The Way: Yacht will play the O2 Wireless festival in London with Fatboy Slim, Cut Copy, MSTRKRFT and Neon Neon.

View more photos of the event here.

As part of their Lights In The Sky North American tour, Nine Inch Nails will play the Forum Sat. Sept. 6. Atlanta space/drone rockers Deerhunter will open (a surprisingly, bold choice by Mr. Trent Reznor). Tickets go on sale June 28 at 10 a.m. through LiveNation.com and Ticketmaster.com.

Since Reznor and Interscope Records parted ways, NIN have been on a prolific roll; Trent seems creatively rejuvenated now that he's working for himself and not a major label. I especially enjoyed the two-disc set of electronics-heavy instrumentals, Ghosts I-IV, NIN released earlier this year. You can download for free NIN's latest album, The Slip, at www.nin.com. Judging from what I've heard of it, The Slip still contains enough requisite Reznor angst to fuel several thousand high-school graduating classes through the next few semesters.

Nine Inch Nails’ 2008 touring lineup includes NIN fixtures Robin Finck, Alessandro Cortini and Josh Freese, as well as Justin Meldal-Johnson, an established LA studio pro who's played bass for Beck and Garbage. “We’ve added, we’ve subtracted and we’ve wound up with unquestionably the strongest lineup I’ve EVER had,” Reznor posted on his website, adding, “We’ve been working on something really special for these shows and so far I couldn’t be happier with the results.”

More data about The Slip:

The Slip marks the first time Nine Inch Nails—or any artist of NIN’s stature—has made its new album available completely for free as a DRM-free digital download. The Slip is available as a high-quality MP3 or in a variety of lossless formats including, for the first time, a higher-than-CD quality 24 bit 96k version. All downloads include a PDF with credits and artwork. In addition, The Slip, like its instrumental predecessor, Ghosts I-IV, is being released under a Creative Commons license, allowing fans to distribute the songs and files freely and without fear of copyright infringement. Like the free single “Discipline” released to terrestrial radio stations and their websites and the track “Echoplex” appearing on iLike, The Slip is a classic straightforward NIN album. A physical configuration on CD and vinyl is in the works for a July release.

Here's are vids for "Starfucker Inc." and "We're in This Together" [embedding's disabled].

Bird Names: Straight-up winging it...

Acrobatics Everyday has another big show tonight for the cognoscenti and curious over at the UC Irvine campus' Phoenix Grille, 8 p.m., $5. Here's your lineup, darlings:

BIRD NAMES Ramshackle, eerie Fall-like indie rock from Chicago.

WUMMIN Psychedelic avant-opera duo from LA.

IMAGINE "THE" BAND From LA, a fucked-up performance art/“a cappella ambient comedy” ordeal; the ideal opening act for grimly lame "comedian" Neil Hamburger.

JEHOVAH'S FITNESS Purveyors of scrappy, tuneful lo-fi rock for whom a shoestring budget would be a step up in production.

Quirky Portland electro-pop thrillers YACHT and spunky LA punk funsters Mika Miko are playing Samueli Theater at the Orange County Performing Arts Center Thursday June 26, and we have two tickets to give away.

First person to comment to this post will win them.

Here's a video of YACHT's “I Luv a Computer” to whet your appetite.

One of the fringe benefits of spending an afternoon at Mike McHugh's Distillery Studios recently to watch LA cult-pop figure Ariel Pink and band work on their next album was discovering the existence of a 1964 Russian film titled Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, directed by Sergei Parajanov (sometimes rendered Paradjanov). The group's drummer had the DVD in the studio and Matt Castille, who's producing Ariel Pink's forthcoming full-length, compared Shadows to Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain. Praise doesn't come any higher in my world, so I made a note to research Shadows.

I punched the title into YouTube's search engine and was duly rewarded with several intriguing clips. What stood out besides the striking, baffling imagery was the soundtrack, a devastatingly haunting and beautiful tapestry of what I assume to be Russian folk songs and also some sublime drones that one could imagine coming out on La Monte Young's Just Dreams label or VHF Records, a font of avant-garde drone production based in Virginia. Frustratingly, efforts to find out who's responsible for this unspeakably gorgeous and moving music have proved fruitless.

Essentially, Shadows is described as a “Carpathian Romeo and Juliet tale,” which, from what I've read and viewed on YouTube, is like saying Ulysses is a story about a Dubliner. New York Times' Dave Kehr observed: “With its vision of nature in Dionysian riot, its chorus line of extravagantly costumed peasants and its shifting point of view, it is hard to tell where ethnography ends in this extraordinary film, and where fantasy begins.”

Sounds like a must-see—and must-hear—film.

I think I have to start liking Kid Rock now.....eeeewwww.....

From BBC News:

"Kid Rock said his record company Atlantic had asked him to 'stand up for illegal downloading' a few years ago because it told him 'people are stealing from us and stealing from you'."

Kid Rock has just played his first UK shows for five years

"And I go: 'Wait a second, you've been stealing from the artists for years. Now you want me to stand up for you?

"'I was telling kids—download it illegally, I don't care. I want you to hear my music so I can play live.'"

"Asked whether he was worried about illegal downloading, he replied: 'I don't agree with it. I think we should level the playing field. I don't mind people stealing my music, that's fine. But I think they should steal everything.

"'You know how much money the oil companies have? If you need some gas, just go fill your tank off and drive off, they're not going to miss it.'"