The Sadies, Spaceland, 5-26
The Sadies‘ unique style of country-rock is a mix of early Sun Records, the Byrds, Chet Atkins and Ennio Morricone, among others. Despite Spaceland’s sparse and rather listless Tuesday night crowd, the quartet tore the place up. Frontmen/brothers Dallas and Travis Good effortlessly traded licks, even playing one guitar solo in perfect unison, while the rhythm section held things down with thumping double bass lines and propulsive drums. Travis–I think–was the flashier of the two guitarists, employing bluegrass-style flatpicking to play lightning-fast lines. When he put down his guitar and picked up a fiddle for a couple of songs, it would’ve sparked a hoedown in any other locale. (As it was, people kind of imperceptibly tapped their toes, which is a big deal in Silver Lake.) Maybe I’ve heard too much of the whole “intentional amateur” thing of late, but I was absolutely overjoyed to stand back and watch real musicians in action. Punk rock proved that anyone can pick up a guitar and make music; shows like this make the case that sometimes, just picking up a guitar isn’t enough.
St. Vincent, El Rey, 5-28
I’ve already gone on at some length about my girl-crush on St. Vincent, so I’ll just say that the songs from Actor previewed at her Hollywood Forever show were brilliantly realized with the help of a full band, including her usual violin player as well as a bassist and keyboard player who doubled on saxophone and flute, respectively. No covers or B-sides or special guests, but “Actor Out of Work” with real drums–and “Now, Now”, which, for various reasons, I’d never been able to hear live before–made the trip out to the Miracle Mile worth it.
King Khan and the Shrines, The Echo, 5.30
Indian-French-Canadian frontman Arish “King” Khan has been playing variations on high-energy garage rock for over a decade now, most famously with Mark “BBQ” Sultan (who opened the Echo show). With the Shrines, a tight ensemble consisting of guitar, bass, drums, organ, sax, trumpet, tambourine and a go-go cheerleader, he delivered a manic set of psych/rock/funk/soul/”erotic gospel” that just wouldn’t let up until even those guys who stand at the back of every show with their arms folded were shaking a skintight-denim-clad leg.* Highlights: “I Wanna Be A Girl,” during which a clown pinata was tossed into the audience and viciously destroyed while the saxophone player ran around displaying his “mangina” (think Silence of the Lambs), and “Take A Trip,” which followed some gospel-style testifyin’ by Khan on the subject of getting born in reverse (of course, he takes his shoes off first.)
*Don’t worry, guys, I won’t tell anyone.
