This song by Jonah Matranga (aka onelinedrawing) is a song that I first heard after watching it featured in a fantastic driving scene in the 2008 indie film Dakota Skye. It was also the first time I was introduced to any of Jonah’s music and like many other likewise people, I instantly became a fan of his work.
Though later on some of his other songs would become more favorited by me (check out his song N,C&A - it’s my jam!), Crush On Everyone is still wonderful. It brings back a lot of feelings from that time when I was replaying it a lot in my iPod. It was the summer of 2010 and would listen it while mowing over the love I had for someone during the time. It also brings back days of me starting out as a freelance editor and living in my first apartment and the days of taking walks in Mid-City and Koreatown. Those were fond times indeed.
This past week was an epic one as it was my first time visiting Beijing. I saw lots of cool stuff and met some nice people. A proper post on it will be up later (with pics too…. which reminds me, I gotta do that for my Taiwan trip in February too).
Heavy in my iPod rotation while I wandered around the city was from L.A. band Fatty Dearestand their EP Mom Dance. I had first heard these songs a few years ago when I attended their shows and this week it was great to relive the awesomeness of their high energy sounds.
I’ve linked their song Mom below but I pretty much dig their entire EP. Especially Sleepdance and Dog Park.
Earlier this week, one of my favorite bands from home, the drumtastic Foot Village, released their new album Make Memories. For me, this title is perfect as this is a band that has most definitely given me a lot of great memories. I’ve been a fan of them for a long time now and have been to many, many of their shows, with many of those gigs being some of the most fun times I’ve had with my friends. With this band totally being of the biggest things I miss since moving from L.A., I was SO GLAD to had been able to see them perform last November.
The new album is fantastic, with some of my favorite tracks being 1600 Dolla Bill and Aids Sucks, Make Money. With a lighter work week ahead of me, I’m looking forward to giving the entire album several more listens. Along with the new release, Foot Village also premiered a rad new music video for their single This Song Is A Drug Deal. It is full of good times.
We are already on the downhill slope to the end of January and I never even put a post about my thoughts of 2012. Those 15+ days of visiting home in California really took its up all chances write a post before the year has ended.
But yeah, 2012 was pretty much the year of changes. From moving out of the U.S. and into Hong Kong and meeting lots of new people, my life was full of new experiences and I loved it. Not only that, but living on the other side of the world allowed me to travel to places that a year ago would have been so much more difficult for me to visit.
Of course, the year wasn’t all peachy. I did lose a friend due to us outgrowing each other and though I sincerely hope that we can reconcile in the coming new year, I am personally fine with moving on with our lives. And then there was Captain Ahab, my favorite band from the L.A. music scene, breaking up. Both guys in the band will no doubt be moving on to great ventures but it was sad to see them go. Being able to visit home for one weekend in November to see their final performance was something I was so happy that I was able to do. Not only was that night the end of one of the best bands today but their breakup also signified an end of an era: the nights my friends and I would go and see Ahab perform were no doubt some of the best nights of my life. So like I said, all the stuff this year pretty much signified major changes.
So last week’s final Captain Ahab show at The Smell has come and gone. It was amazingly epic and I’m completely glad that I made the flight back to L.A. to witness them perform one last time. They gave me some of the best times ever as well as helping me make some great friends through our common like for the band.
Though the other bands performing that night were great as well, it was especially fantastic to see Foot Village. Like Captain Ahab, I have seen them many times throughout the years (they were actually the first band I ever saw at The Smell) and their lives shows are something I dearly missed since moving from L.A. Their new materials kicks ass and I am so excited for their new album.
I’m sure there will be videos of the awesome performance appearing online in the days to come but in the meantime I did find this nice moment of Jim Merson pumping us up for their set while Jonathan Snipes got things prepared.
I know it’s extremely rare for me to post a rap song on here as I am only a fan of such performers like A Tribe Called Quest and similar groups from that era of hip-hop but here is a music video for Los Angeles rapper,Chazzy. Directed by Brandy Bruce, whom I’ve worked with many times before, I edited this music video across the planet from where it was filmed thanks to the awesomeness Dropbox. I’m pretty amazed that editing like that worked so well and I am totally hoping that I can edit more productions from Los Angeles while I am in Hong Kong.
As for the song itself, it is called Usual Shit and it actually has that pretty nice early 90s sound to it that I’ve always liked about hip-hop.
The first official day of summer was last week and even though I’m not a student anymore, for some reason it is still something that gets me excited. As of now, I consider last year’s summer to be the greatest one of my life. It was a mix of just so many events. This included attending amazing shows every few days with my friends (which included the greatest 4th of July ever – Captain Ahab style – and the insane No Age/Black Flag show in McArthur Park), night swimming at the beach, camping amongst the beauty of Yosemite, receiving the editing training I’ve always wanted at my Moviola internship, going to random film shoots, reading some great books, meeting and hanging out with wonderful new people and so much more. I had never had so much fun over the span of three months in my entire life. In fact, I had always been happy to see autumn arrive but last year was truly the first time since I was a kid that I was sad to see August go.
So there it is. I consider summer 2011 to be part of the “big three” summers of my entire life. The great summer before that would have to have been when I was 15 years old. I was a freshman in high school and it was truly the final “childhood summer” of my life. Memories of that year include an obsession with illegal fireworks, sneaking into a gated apartment complex for use of their pool and egging an auto body shop for sweet revenge (they ripped off my friend’s mother. Revenge was a must!). It was one of those years where my friends and I pretty much only existed outside, even if it meant sitting on another friend’s porch all day…. when they weren’t even home.
The third greatest summer is a collection of summers – an era of my life between 1st grade and 3rd Grade. Though I always happy that my parents divorced during 4th grade (because they, my brother and I were all miserable with them together), one thing that I did not like about it was having to move away from our neighborhood of that time. It was truly the classic neighborhood in the sense that it was full of kids and we did almost everything and anything a kid could do outside: swimming, sports, bicycle riding, playing with dogs and cats, having a club house, EVERYTHING. And then there is all the inside time we had with our videos. It was a time that I am truly grateful to have experienced.
Now it is summer 2012. I’m not sure if it will top last year. My best summer before last year was when I was 15 and that is a huge lifetime gap. Between those two were summers that were awful and depressing and some that were awesome. And this year has a lot of good things going for it. I’m amidst my dream of living abroad and I’m in the easiest position ever in my life to try new experiences. June so far has been great and I know some awesome things are already planned. The next few months I am definitely excited for.
Now for summer songs!
First, In Memoriam by Everybody Else. This song is all about the nostalgic factor of being a kid.
Next is Laura by Girls. I actually associate Lust For Life more with summer but since I know I have posted that on here, I am going with Laura. Actually, I associate every song from their first album (called Album) to be summer related.
After which is Saddest Summer by The Drums. This amazing song isn’t sad at all.
Now for I Can’t Wait For Summer – one of my absolute favorite Captain Ahab tracks ever. I sing this passionately in the shower.
And finally Impossible by the Shout Out Louds. It’s a bit early to be posting this and that’s because everything about this song is about the sadness of a long summer ending. The music video makes these feelings even stronger.
There are three major events in my life that I consider to be the direct result of my current taste in music.
1.) A very important night for me in late 2006 where, in an empty parking lot, a girl who was very special to me made a simple song suggestion that led to me searching out more bands with that particular sound. It’s amazing how someone you are in love with can be such a powerful influence with the words, “Listen to this song.”
2) The Fratellis’ live acoustic set in Hollywood a few months later in early 2007.
3) Late summer 2008 when I first wandered through the doors of The Smell.
This post is about #2. The events leading up to that show weren’t too huge. I had just started studying Cinema Production in L.A. and was still a suburban kid who thought simply riding the subway to school everyday was the greatest thing ever. I didn’t have any friends in L.A. at that point and hadn’t really hung out around city yet. But one afternoon I came across a posting about a visiting band from Glasgow called The Fratellis. They were having a free acoustic show in Hollywood at the now closed-down Virgin Megastore (Heh. Remember those?). Freeeeee? Why not? So I jumped on the Red Line after class and headed straight there. I had yet to go to any gigs in my life at that point and the experience there was something I instantly fell in love with. And I wanted more.
Luckily, there is a video of that exactly performance from 5 years ago. The quality is bad, I kind of like how a fond memory can only be revisited with fuzzy vision.
I left the show that day with their first LP, Costello Music, in my backpack. That album is one of those rare beauties in which every track is great from beginning to end. Their lyrics weren’t deep but instead were fun, fast and loud. The songs were all about good times and crazy girls.
Unfortunately, their second album, Here We Stand, which came out a year later wasn’t as perfect. Though it wasn’t awful, The Fratellis kind of faded away and went on an indefinite hiatus (which usually means the band is over). After that, the members went their own ways to other bands. While there were good results from this (check out Jon Fratelli’s other band Codeine Velvet Club), none of it was quite the epicness of The Fratellis.
But oh to my surprise when last week I noticed new news about them! News about a gig on June 15th! And announcement of more shows to come!! Though my own music taste has again drastically changed from the bands I was into in 2007, I’m still super excited about this news. Maybe it’s because they were one of the first indie bands I got into. Or maybe it’s because regardless what the main sound I like is nowadays, I still think The Fratellis frickin rock. Whatever it is, it’s always nice to be reminded of good times and to see a band who I thought was dead come back for another go. Hopefully, I can see them perform again someday.
Yeah, yeah lazy title. Meh. Sooooo yeah…. hey! Valentine’s Day 2012 is over and that means no more awesome little heart candies for another year. The countdown begins again.
This past weekend was a good one. With my move to Hong Kong imminent, Saturday and Sunday marked my final nights in Los Angeles attending shows and just hanging out in general. After seeing my best friend one final time for drinks, I headed into the Echoplex to see my first Los Campesinos! show ever in my life. Luckily, I got inside right when their set began. They were AMAZING. I’d also like to note that I was kind of an emotional mess during the start of this particular set. With the mix of emotions going through me during those moments (saying goodbye to a friend I have loved since 2008 combined with finally seeing a band I have loved since 2007), this turned out to be a show they hit me pretty hard at the heart. They kicked off with “By Your Hand” and continued on by giving us all of our favorites. I know they have performed in Hong Kong in the past, so I’m crossing my fingers that the Hello Sadness tour eventually takes them there again to allow me another great time.
You! Me! Dancing! – an old favorite and the song that got me pushed to the front row.
As good as they were, their show could not compare to the fun I had at Pehrspace the following night. Since my brother is leaving L.A. also this week to Texas, he had asked some members of Moses Campbell if they could put together a show of his favorite bands/singers. Being the awesome people they are, did it in a fantastic fashion. With an epic night of Jon Barba, Moses Campbell and Peter Pants, this gig was brilliant. And a lot of my favorite songs were performed: John Barba performed Snaggletooth, Moses Campbell performed And It’s Over, Pt. 2 and Peter Pants performed their tribute to Best Worst Movie/Troll 2,Nilbog.
Nilbog moshin’
Besides those two shows, I’ve just been spending my days saying goodbye to friends. The last two days will be family time. I’m really going to miss everyone and am going to really miss going to shows and the familiar surroundings I’ve known all my life. But at the same time, I am MEGA excited to be moving. Next post: stories from somewhere new!
(note: It is almost 3am as I am typing this and am nommin’ on a late night brownie. It is pure goodness.)
