As Of Late ...

Saturday night marked the fourth annual Japanese New Music Festival, curated by the Smell, a really small (and narrow!) venue in downtown L.A.
Although the night featured seven "bands" on the roster, it was really just an Acid Mothers Temple concert. Since the concert was three hours long, the three band members would alternate between their side projects in order to maintain a level of energy at which they could keep playing! It was quite impressive, and man was it hot. Conservatively, I'll say that it was around 90 or 95 degrees in there.
Anyway, the music ... while Acid Mothers Temple isn't quite my thing (imagine Japanese dudes playing heavy pscyh-rock), some of the side projects were fascinating. Ruins -- the drummer's side project -- was my favorite. It's like ... hardcore punk mixed with math rock. Very interesting stuff.
Then they did some hilarious covers of "Smoke On the Water" and some Miles Davis stuff. The high point of their avant garde set was when they hooked amps up to common items -- a camera, their zippers, toothbrushes -- and then established a beat and rhythm with those objects. See the pictures here

Okay ... now on to the newer stuff ... things that I've been listening to.
I wanted so badly to go to the G/L/A/S/S/C/A/N/D/Y and Chromatics concert last night. No cigar. Damn it. But I did try out the other band that was playing that night -- Chop Chop -- at their MySpace page. And they're better than I was expecting! Like, I don't know much about the Cambridge, Massachusetts music scene, but I wasn't expecting to find something like this. Sweet pop melodies mixed with heavy bass and a lo-fi aesthetic ... can't ask for more!

Lastly ... one English band and one band from NYC that I've come across recently. The Rank Deluxe and the Affair. Listen to them ... write you're own post. Their good. The Rank Deluxe is poppy garage sort of stuff while the Affair is like, the Strokes with a girl singer. (Listen to them on their MySpace page.)

Chop Chop - Mix Tape
Chop Chop - Bloodbath
Ruins - Mennevuogth
the Rank Deluxe - Poor Man's Cab
the Rank Deluxe - The End In Mind