Robert Sorey

Plastician

Plastician at DUBtroit
Feb. 20, 2013
Detroit Bar

Last night, DUBtroit returned to Detroit Bar for the second time this year after migrating to the Observatory in 2011, followed by a brief stint in the LA club scene. DJ teaLong, 12th Planet, Drew Best and Danny Johnson of the SMOG Records crew teamed up to bring back the monthly DJ staple, which was notorious for the best dubstep, bass, booze and babes that OC had to offer on a Tuesday night. This evening, they brought aboard U.K. bass king Plastician, not to be confused with techno king Plastikman, to take the crowd on an incredible two-hour journey from the roots of dubstep to its current North American explosion.

See Also:
SMOG Records Celebrates Six Years of Bringing Dubstep to American Dance Floors

More »

Patrick Montes

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

In the past month, both California psychonauts Foxygen and New Zealand export Unknown Mortal Orchestra have released critically heralded albums that base their templates on the weirder, wayward side of rock and pop. Both band's albums are divergent from more standard rock fare such as music made for nights out at loud, shady dive bars, intense head banging, and three-chord-or-die punk rock. Basically, it's not a sound that you think would really translate well to an OC audience. So, it would make perfect sense then that they would book a date for their current tour at The Constellation Room then, right? 
More »

Shannon Nehls / OC Weekly

Sebastien Furrer and Alexander Björklund of Cazzette

Cazzette

Heat Ultra Lounge
February 7th, 2013

Last night, the Swedish duo Cazzette brought their signature self proclaimed "dubhouse" sound to Heat Ultra Lounge in Anaheim. Legally known as Sebastien Furrer and Alexander Björklund, Cazzette appeared on the dance music scene out of practically nowhere in the summer of 2011 thanks to the brains of producer Ash Pournouri from At Night Management who is also responsible for discovering Avicii. They are currently on their Eject Tour to promote part three of their debut album available exclusively on Spotify (the first major debut issued exclusively to a streaming music site). This special Thursday night EDM event had the likes of OC Weekly favorites Minaya & Vikus opening up thanks to powerhouse promoters Giant.

OC house music favorites Daniel Minaya and Shane Vikus threw down a sick 75-minute set which incorporated lots of tech house like Trent Cantrelle's "Naturally" to remixes of classic house anthems like Fragma's "Toca Miracle." They did a stellar job at hyping up the crowd with enough unknown dance beats and well known vocals like "Pump up the Jam" to make the crowd want to dance.

More »

Alex Distefano

Cro Mags singer John Joseph

What better night to throw a hardcore punk/metal show than on Super Bowl Sunday, a night when many people are already drunk by 6 p.m. The Constellation Room inside the Observatory was crowded to full capacity last night for a raging concert featuring the Cro Mags. The concert was presented by the Poor Kids Radio show, a heavy-metal -punk rock oriented cyber cast, live Saturday night from 10 p.m. PST to 12 midnight, on (www.breal.tv), the web radio station owned by B-Real of rap superstars Cypress Hill.

Perhaps, with this many heads in the crowd, it might have been better to hold this show in the main, bigger room. But don't tell that to the hundred or so rabid hardcore tough guys, punkers, longhairs, thrashers and even skinheads in the pit. To them, and the bands that played, this was a perfect venue, and for a majority of the night the security guards and bouncers had their work cut out for them.

More »

Xuong at Happy Photos

Word Becomes Flesh

Marc Bamuthi Joseph and the Living Word Project: Word Becomes Flesh
Segerstrom Center
Jan. 31, 2013

"Our skin don't translate well here."
One of the lines from "Word Becomes Flesh," a performance that's part of Segerstrom Center's Off Festival programming, could've been tailor-made for Orange County -- a place where people pretend racism doesn't exist, but KKK members are commemorated in park, building and street names. It's set on a bare stage, performed by a DJ and five black men in black sweats and tank tops delivering monologues. It sounds simple, but it's not.

More »

Alex Distefano

Chuck Billy of Testament

Testament
House of Blues Anaheim
January 31, 2013
A portion of Downtown Disney was morphed into a thrash metal haven last night, as Bay Area heroes Testament played the second night of a cross country tour, to promote their new album, The Dark Roots of Earth(released in July on Nuclear Blast). Every now and then, it's interesting to see House of Blues literally turn into head banger's ball, packed like a tin full of long-haired, denim wearing sardines.

Old AC/CD and Judas Priest pumped relelntlessly through the house speakers, by 9:45 p.m., the floor was packed to the brim with rabid metal heads of various ages. A sea of three generations of devil horns were raised, as the lights went out, and Testament took the stage - starting with guitarists Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson bassist Greg Christian and drummer Gene Hoglan and vocalist Chuck Billy. A version of the "Star Spangled Banner" was played and faded as the band launched into a whiplash of a set underneath a wicked castle/skull art banner.

More »

Matt Oliver / OC Weekly

Roger Daltrey, still the textbook front man

The Who
Honda Center
January 28, 2013

CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR PHOTO SLIDESHOW OF THE WHO AT HONDA CENTER

See Also:
*Keith Moon, R.I.P.: Remembering the Who Drummer's Great Rock & Roll Contributions

At halftime of Super Bowl XLIV, which aired on CBS, The Who arguably hit their lowest point as band. The rock vets were branded as stiff, boring and, dare we say it, over-the-hill. Naysayers snickered that the band should have hanged it up years ago and that their songs, which were once Baby Boomer anthems, now were no more than tools to promote Jerry Bruckheimer's CSI franchise.

Yet since that fateful day in February of 2010, something strange happened on the way to the rock retirement home. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend slowly began to piece back their legacy as one of rock's thunderous bands when they decided to play and tour behind one of their lesser known (to many) albums, Quadrophenia. When people think of The Who, the overrated Tommy, Who's Next and The Who Sing My Generation usually top many people's favorites. If they focused primarily on singles and hits, then yes, they're correct. But Quadrophenia, the lesser known of the English band's rock operas is their most complete album and they played it in its entirety at Honda Center last night.

More »

Doug Gifford

Reggie Watts

Trying to describe a Reggie Watts show is about as messy as hurling a bunch of random phrases, melodies, beats and action verbs to a wall just to see what sticks. Because, well, that's pretty much what his show is. But the magic isn't necessarily in the chaos--literally personified by a massive cloud of Afro and facial hair, rolled up pants and a green thrift store sweater. It's way he somehow (only God knows how) manages to make his mesh of musical comedy ramblings fit together seamlessly. You have no idea where he's going when he opens his mouth, you just know it's gonna be funny.

See Also:
*Reggie Watts' Humor Might Hurt Your HeadMore »

Andrew Youssef / OC Weekly

Quicksand

Quicksand
The Glass House
January 23, 2013

It still felt surreal seeing the first performance of Quicksand in fifteen years at the Revelation Records 25th Anniversary party at the Glass House in June of 2012. Even though their five song set had me drooling for more, one could never imagine that Quicksand would embark on a full scale reunion tour. Their inclusion on the bill at FYF Fest last year made it imperative that I witness a longer set. As expected, Quicksand were one of the highlights of FYF.

Since Quicksand bassist Sergio Vega also plays bass in the Deftones, I figured a full scale reunion tour was unlikely given that the Deftones just released their latest opus Koi No Yokan a few months ago and were busy touring but to my suprise Quicksand were able to route a nice tour of the States. They returned to the scene of their reunion with an astounding performance at the Glass House.

*Quicksand - The Glass House - Review 6/10/12
*Deftones - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre - Review 9/22/12

More »

Taylor Hamby / OC Weekly

Cat Power The Observatory 1/22/13

If there's only one thing to expect before walking into the venue before a Cat Power gig is that anything can happen. That could mean literally anything from walking out due to poor sound or a meltdown, but last night, the only thing worth talking about was her set.

Last year saw Chan Marshall release Sun, her first album of new material in six years, with the record peaking at no. 10 on the Billboard 200, the highest of her career thus far. While that was fine and dandy, things couldn't have gone any worse in her personal life. Her ex-boyfriend of five years, actor Giovanni Ribisi broke up with her only to marry a supermodel. If that weren't enough, she had to cancel her European tour due to a battle with angioedema, which for you non-science people is a condition where swelling happens on certain body parts. I'm no scientist so take me at my word, it sucks. Compound that with her declaring bankruptcy, I dare you to find someone who was looking forward to 2013 more than Cat Power.

More »