Orange County Music Blog

It's always good to see artists get credit where credit is due. And in the case of LMNO, it's definitely past due. Luckily, with the release of his latest album Devilish Dandruff with Holy Shampoo this week, this heavy-hitting Long Beach emcee is getting some well deserved attention. You may remember his conversation with the Weekly a couple issues ago wherein he talked about everything from his collaboration with French producer Yann Kesz (who he still hasn't met by the way) to the message behind his alphabetically sound stage name. 

After the jump: Full tour schedule!

​Mondays aren't usually known for being full of good news. But if you're a Cold War Kids fan, today is a joyous anomaly.

It's come to our attention that the band announced the upcoming release of their new EP, Behave Yourself, out on Jan. 19 (Downtown Records). And they plan to celebrate with a whopping four shows in January, one of which is a sure-to-be sold out show at the Wiltern on Jan. 23. It's only been a week since we talked to CWK drummer Matt Aveiro about his recently premiered short film Jen in the Painting.

And it appears that the band is turning out buzzworthy news on a weekly basis these days. That's alright guys, we ain't mad atcha.

 In fact, judging by the teaser trailer for their video "Audience", full of aimless antics that involve skate boarding, driving and bathing (yes, bathing) most fans ought to be fairly happy. Check out the video posted after the jump to see what we're talking about.

Oh, and in case you wanted extra incentive to start clicking onto Live Nation right away, the band has made a precarious promise, via MySpace, that all four shows will be recorded and distributed to ticket holders as a free download "if we can figure out the technology"--this coming from a band who gave us an interactive music video.

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First Zach Braff, now this? Yeah, as we type, right now the top two trending topics on Twitter are "RIP Kanye West" and "#LongLiveYeezy." Don't be fooled; this is another sad sign that the "microblogging" site is, as I've spent so long denying, sometimes kind of dumb. Or actually harmful. The infamously self-obsessed yet undeniably talented rapper is, as far as anyone can tell, most definitely still alive, probably at home writing something in all caps right now.

Misinformation tends to spread like H1N1 on Twitter; earlier this year, there were rumors that Miley Cyrus (it's Miley!) had died. No wonder she deleted her Twitter. Don't think, though, that the days of post-Taylor Swift Incident weirdness from Kanye West is over--first there was the inexplicable, Spike Jonze-directed We Were Once A Fairytale short film posted over this past weekend. Now it's disappeared form 'ye's website, saying simply "SORRY I HAD TO TAKE IT DOWN : (" Don't trip, it's still on YouTube--for now.

After the jump: some of the best "Kanye is dead" tweets from a recent round-up (there are a lot of tweets--and keep in mind that some of these jokes have no doubt been made multiple times, so the usernames attached to them may or may not deserve any real credit). People are gullible. (Read: dumb.)

Chris Sansenbach via Flickr.

U2 in Anaheim, April 2005.

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There are going to be about 100,000 fans, from all around Southern California, this Sunday at the U2 show at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. 100,000 people driving in from across SoCal, converging at one public place--can't imagine any problems with traffic, right?

The fine people at the Rose Bowl and Live Nation are so concerned (rightly so) about what could be a clusterfuck rivaling the size of Bono's ego that they've released a series of recommendations to help ease the crunch. Here are the basic guidelines: arrive early (before 4 p.m.); if you have to park buy in advance (the last day to do so is tomorrow at 10 a.m.); take shuttle buses/public transportation if possible; carpool as much as you can. There's even something called "Picnic in the Park" with several area restaurants partcipating, if you're worried that getting there early means you won't be able to eat before the show; they've got you covered. Thanks, dudes!

Surely lots of OC peeps are headed up north for the show--are you? Let us know in the comments. More details are here. The full text of Live Nation's press release is after the jump.

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Big ol' congratulations are in order for Long Beach band Avi Buffalo, who have signed with long-standing, internationally renowned Seattle-based tastemaking label Sub Pop--y'know, the label that signed Nirvana and Soundgarden back in the day, and have continued to stay cool in the '00s with acts like the Shins and Band of Horses.

Really, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise--Avi Buffalo have been gaining a remarkable amount of traction (deservedly so!) around Southern California lately, including key slots on big shows like LA's FYF Fest. Their next show is November 5 at the Echo, also in LA, but hopefully they'll no doubt add a show closer to home soon. The full text of Sub Pop's press release--including details on upcoming music--is after the jump.

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OK, so we all know by now that the Kanye West/Lady Gaga show at the Honda Center, once scheduled for November 15, isn't happening. Heck, the whole "Fame Kills" tour isn't happening. But even though Kanye is dealing with his own post-Taylor Swift issues, the hope still remained that the seemingly more stable Lady Gaga (insert your own "you know you're in trouble when Lady Gaga is the sane one" jokes here) would announce her own tour, and hit us up solo-style. Well, half of that came true.

As reported by Billboard and other sources, Lady Gaga is launching her own "Monster Ball" tour, with Kanye protege Kid Cudi in tow, and no Orange County date in sight. We just got dipped in burn sauce! For what it's worth, she's coming to LA on December 21 (Nokia Theatre) and San Diego on December 19 (San Diego Sports Arena). Lady Gaga was last 'round here in May (before becoming quite the inescapable cultural icon that she is now), at the Wango Tango KIIS-FM show. Our slideshow of that is here.

For those curious, full Monster Ball tourdates after the jump.

"I see dead celebrities."

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Twitter has many uses: spreading important information and breaking news. Seeing super-awesome iPhone pictures from concerts that we're attending. Letting us know when Ashley Tisdale is getting her hair done. But now the limits of Twitter's power will truly be tested, as a UK costume shop will be using it on October 30 to raise the dead (cue ominous music!).

Amanda Milius

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Remember the Willows? They're back! In Pog form!

Well, that's just not true (unfortunate, yes). But they are back with a new album, Everyone, scheduled for release on November 17. It's their second album on Steve Aoki's Dim Mak label, following 2007's Chautauqua.

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Another local band has signed to a major label: San Juan Capistrano's the Union Line have signed with Black Seal, an imprint of RCA Records--part of Sony Music Entertainment.

​The folks behind Beverly Hills-based concert promoters Live Nation have been promoting the heck out of themselves lately, with the company unleashing a variety of P.T. Barnum-esque stunts to drum up attention for their events in this flagging economy.

Esther White

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Are you ready for the latest (er, first?) wave of early 2008 nostalgia? Vampire Weekend is back!

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From the "well, you kind of had to see this coming" department: Kanye West and Lady Gaga have canceled their much-publicized, co-headlining "Fame Kills" tour, which was to stop at Anaheim's Honda Center on November 15. (Yes, surely a lot of people are going to be using "'Fame Kills' Killed." Who could resist?)

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We've kept tabs on 98.7's "Rockstar Contest" throughout its run--first, there were several Orange County bands in the top 15, then Irvine's Entice and Non-P both made the final five. Following Friday night's competition at CityWalk up in Universal City, Entice are the official winners of the contest, beating out a total of 120 other bands from across Southern California and once again proving that OC music is a force to be reckoned with (they also beat out a band fronted by a Power Ranger, no small feat).

Jason O'Dell

Purple pants vs. pink pants.

AFI was founded in Ukiah, a small California town in Mendocino County, hundreds of miles north of Orange County. Yet OC is exactly where they've chosen to be one day after the release of their eighth studio album, Crash Love; their latest record that will inevitably be soundly reviled by fans of their Nitro Records days, yet still sell tons of copies. So it goes.

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Costa Mesa's Japanese Motors are one of Orange County's most promising current bands, having toured all over the place with Modest Mouse and landed a spot on the Vice Records roster. UK garage act the Horrors have had one of the best 2009s of anyone, with their sophomore album Primary Colours ending up a finalist for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. So it seems inevitable that they'd find one another and be successful together, right?

So in news that very well might be the hand of fate at work, Japanese Motors are opening eight dates for the Horrors on their imminent west coast swing, including September 30 at Detroit Bar in their hometown of Costa Mesa and October 2 at the Glass House in Pomona, before wrapping up Oct. 7 in the exotic land of Vancouver. Full tour dates after the jump.

S. Affandi, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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That previously announced Kanye West/Lady Gaga "Fame Kills" tour, scheduled to stop at the Honda Center in Anaheim on November 15? Yeah, now there's some amount of uncertainty to if that whole thing's actually happening.

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In the '90s, Pavement were the band to mention liking if you wanted to sound cool, even if all you really knew was "Cut Your Hair." There's probably no current act that fills that role--thanks to the Internet, everyone knows every band and is sick of them after a couple of weeks.

They haven't played together since 1999 (though lead singer Stephen Malkmus has kept busy with current band the Jicks), so this scoop from the ever-newsworthy Brooklyn Vegan blog is a Big Deal: according to "reliable" sources, Pavement will be playing New York City's Central Park Summerstage in September...2010. They also go on to speculate (why not?) that the official reunion will start at next year's Coachella, because that is the place influential alternative rock acts go to reunite, after all (Pixies, Jesus and Mary Chain, Portishead, etc.).

There's still no real concrete details on this thing, but seeing as how Pavement has been one of the most rumored/desired reunions of the past decade, you can see how people are psyched. Feel free to wildly speculate about what might happen next, or just enjoy this video of Pavement's most mainstream moment.

​Noted gender-bending Internet celebrity (and, oddly enough, Orange County native) Jeffree Star has more than a million MySpace friends and nearly 80,000 Twitter followers. And, not surprisingly, an album coming out, scheduled for September 22, called Beauty Killer.

Before that happens, though (well, the day before), Star will be celebrating the release of said album at storied all-ages venue Chain Reaction in Anaheim. Should be interesting, no? It's $15 at the door, but free entry with the purchase of the record at the box office, so...yeah.

Being one of those archetypal "famous for being famous" types, the obvious question would be, "is this music actually any good?" Given the more than 8 million plays lead single "Prisoner" has on MySpace, it probably doesn't much matter, but it's pretty standard stuff, not unlikely a lot of the industrial-ish bands that got big in the mid-'90s (Stabbing Westward, Orgy, etc.). Possibly not as hilariously bad as you might hope for. Check if out after the jump.

Carlos van Hijfte

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Remember that Sonic Youth show scheduled for the Fox Theater in Pomona on September 25? Bad news: it's not happening, due to guitarist Lee Ranaldo's wrist injury, generally a bad place for a guitarist to hurt himself. (It happened while playing tennis, a more high-impact sport than you might have imagined.) Good news: it's been rescheduled to January 8, when Ranaldo will hopefully be "100%" again (teehee).  Full list of rescheduled fall Sonic Youth dates after the jump.

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Big time late slip to us on this one, but Tustin/Long Beach band Vast Atlantic have broken up. Sad times.

They've been favorites of ours for a while, having been profiled last fall in Locals Only by Erin DeWitt, and included in our "Citizen Blast" compilation last year, so we're bummed. They announced the news last month via a MySpace message, so forgive our tardiness in just catching wind of this now. Lead singer Jarrett Killen was dealing with some injuries and is now based in Austin, Texas; something that makes having a band in Southern California a bit difficult. Check out their MySpace and enjoy their tunes, toasting what could have been. Ah, if we had but the world and time.

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TMZ is reporting that DJ AM, aka Adam Goldstein, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment today:

"Law enforcement sources tell us he was found in his apartment at around 5:20 PM. We're told drug paraphernalia was found at the scene."

Strangely enough, AM was here in Costa Mesa exactly one week ago DJing at Sutra Lounge, as documented by 944.

Click here for more info from TMZ.

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It's been rumored around the local music scene for a while, but now it's official: Irvine/Newport Beach band the Jakes have signed a deal with Roadrunner Records. Yes, Roadrunner, the label best known for having acts like Slipknot and Nickelback on their roster. (It's right on their website title thingy: "Official home of Slipknot, Nickelback...)

Given the smooth, melodic, pop-rock of the Jakes, it's clear that the label is diversifying. The seemingly weird fit, and departure of band membery Ehson Hashemian, are two things that Jakes lead singer Sameer Gadhia addressed in a MySpace blog announcing the deal, the text of which follows after the jump.

We've long been admirers of the Jakes--check out this article from April, and Sameer's Heard Mentality blogs during their eVocal residency in of May--so we're definitely stoked for them, though perhaps cautiously optimistic given the undeniably surprising choice of label, and general wariness towards record deals in general, which, as we all know by now, don't always work out the way you'd like them to. But why worry about that now? They've distinguished themselves through their superior live shows (you should see Gadhia work a tambourine) and writing excellent songs like "Cough Syrup" and "Texas Tea"--some of the catchiest tunes in this or any other county. Good work, dudes.

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Country music in Orange County? It happens! Sometimes! Evidence: Go County 105 is bringing their "Go Fest 2009" to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine on October 3. Performers are set to include Brad Paisley (pictured), Dierks Bentley, Jimmy Wayne, Sarah Buxton, Zona Jones and Peter Brandon. As far as contemporary country goes, that's a pretty swell lineup.

Tickets are $30.50-$120.50, and on sale this Saturday at 10 a.m.--though there are various ongoing presales, check those out here.

That's a Live Nation show, and speaking of LN, they're extending their summer "No Service Fee Wednesday"--which was "supposed" to end last week--with a variety of select amphitheater shows having $10 lawn seats and $15 reserved tickets (inclusive of all fees!) today only. Included shows in our area-ish after the jump. (Get excited, it includes Creed!)

Andrew Youssef

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Oh, Billy Corgan. What wacky thing will you do next? You made a run for "weirdest couple of the epoch" by dating Tila Tequila, and lent 1995 Smashing Pumpkins hit "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" to a pro wrestling pay-per-view for use in their ads. Now, after a nationwide search, you've hired a replacement for drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, and it's a 19-year-old unknown from Portland named Mike Byrne.

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Early this morning, news broke that Allen Shellenberger, drummer and founding member of Orange County band Lit, died yesterday at the age of 39. Shellenberger was diagnosed with brain cancer in May of last year. A tribute video to Shellenberger was produced and played before Lit's show at the House of Blues Anaheim last month:

Former Sleater-Kinney singer/guitarist Carrie Brownstein has a blog on NPR called Monitor Mix (stick with me), and yesterday she called out Weezer for being "the ultimate novelty band." Specifically, she targeted two of their new songs, "I'm Your Daddy" and "The Girl Got Hot," which the band debuted last week in South Korea.

Here's the awful(ly catchy) "I'm Your Daddy":

The Fray kicking back.

Sure, it's fun to hate Live Nation for being a giant corporation that seems to control every big concert tour in the world, but they're making it pretty tough to do so this summer.

Since starting "no service fee Wednesdays" last month, they've (as one might guess) dropped those nasty service fees (I just paid $9.50 per ticket for a non-Live Nation show--ouchies!) that are a big reason people hate Live Nation/Ticketmaster/etc. so much. Nothing really worse than the feeling of being forced to give up lots of money for essentially nothing.

Now they're taking it one step further and going with a $29.99 "all-in price" all day today for a bunch of huge shows like the Fray (pictured) at Verizon in Irvine on July 29. $29.99 includes a lawn seat, parking (which, as we all know, can sometimes be up to $20 for some events), hot dog, soda and no service fee. (No word on if vegetarians can substitute something for the wiener.) Def Leppard, Cheap Trick, Poison, a parking spot, a hot dog and a soda for 30 bones? The true winners of the slumping economy are us!

List of shows 'round here included in this deal after the jump. Yep, today only.

So in my last post about the newly minted La Chupacabra Records, I left you with the promise of "more news on this mysterious label as it develops". Well, it's developing, kinda.

To start, the label recently posted some new music, a demo version of a yet-to-be titled Living Suns track. By the way, you'll probably be able to catch it live when they head to the Gypsy Lounge starting this Thursday for their July residency.

In other news, the label founded by Tyler Jacobs, Alex Ahmadi and Kyle Schuster, is bumping the release of multiple 7" splits by The Growlers, Audacity, Gestapo Khazi, The Living Suns and My Pet Saddle back a month. They are now scheduled to be released sometime in August. A real shocker. Not really. Keep your eyes and ears posted for more on this mysterious record label as it develops.

Damn, another music mag...gone. Yesterday afternoon it was announced that Vibe Magazine was officially closing it's doors, stopping it's presses and going the way of the 8-track. This extinct outlet for Hip Hop and R&B is now survived by only two major magazines of it's kind: XXL and The Source (whose had it's own battles with bankruptcy in the last year).

Quincy Jones founded Vibe in 1993 along with Time Warner and focused its content on music news in the realm of Hip Hop (well, mostly Top 40), R&B and Soul as well as a slice of politics and general black culture. It was later purchased in 2006 by The Wicks Group, a private entity firm. Was it the most balanced and diverse magazine? Meh. The most well-written? Yeah it was okay. Will it be missed by you people in the bloggosphere? Probably not. But the fact is that Vibe and other publications of it's elk carried an important role in the emergence of Hip Hop culture, offering a tangible documentation to people around the country for almost two decades.

In it's final years, Vibe pretty much followed the same narrative as any doomed publication: readership drops, ad sales drop, doors close. The NY Times reported that the magazine's circulation between February and July 2009 went from 818,000 to 600,000. And as for all those car company ads they depended on, well, I think we all know where they went. Today, Reuters reports rumblings of Quincy Jones buying back the mag and turning it into an online only publication, but with fresh blood still puddling under Vibe's corpse, that remains to be seen. However, its nice to know that Jone's perception of the future of print is no less damning than everyone else.

But aside from the business aspect of all this, I wonder: Are any of you even buying Hip Hop magazines anymore? How about music magazines in general? Are they still relevant to to people that love and consume music in the modern age? Should they all just fold and or go online? I'm sure a few Editor-in Chiefs would like to hear from you.