Warbly Jets with The Relationship and James Allen Spirit at The Satellite

A great residency night at The Satellite a couple Mondays ago. James Allen Spirit started the night off right with his psychedelic sounds. Next up was The Relationship. The band is fronted by Weezer guitarist Brian Bell. The band was polished and mixed things up from rock to mellow. Finally, the residency band hit the stage: Warbly Jets. First, their stage. The stage was set up with old televisions, airing television shows and/or movies that I'd never seen. Their set was hit out of the park. The crowd was into it. The band was into it. The lights flashed and flowed perfectly with their sound. Wonderfully washed in white.

Kristeen Young with Daphne Guinness at The Hi Hat

What an interesting and unique night at The Hi Hat two Tuesdays ago. Daphne Guinness and Kristeen Young hit the stage. First off, the audience. Some of the audience was dressed as if part of the Hunger Games. The fashion was theatrical and futuristic.

Daphne Guinness is a fashion icon who took the stage looking just as fashionable as her fan base in the audience. Then there was Kristeen Young who's vocals can switch without notice.

The night was artistic and fashionable.

Albert and his Dreamboats doing a ladies' night at the Bootleg Theater

Last Monday night was a fun night at the Bootleg Theater. Albert and his Dreamboats is the January residency band. On this specific Monday night, it was jammed packed with musicians doing half-sets. I got to see Z Berg and Mara Connor again. I also got to see Sie Sie Benhoff for the first time. Z Berg -- I've gotten to see Z Berg off and on since The Like days. By off and on, I mean that it seems to be every two years or so. One reason, of course, why I went to the Bootleg Theater this past Monday was because of Z Berg. I got to see Mara Connor for the second time. Her vocals are filled with such dream-filled sounds. Sie Sie Benhoff did a fun filled sexy country mountain set. And in between all these ladies, Albert and his Dreamboats came in with "intermission" sets showing off their skills. Over-all, as mentioned, super fun night.

Potty Mouth and Justus Proffit at The Hi Hat

What an awesome night it was at The Hi Hat last Friday night. Potty Mouth was doing a free show. It was my first time seeing them. Power females rocking it out. They recently moved to Los Angeles. Los Angeles is so lucky to have this band. I was having so much fun photographing the band that their set went by in a total blur.

Opening was Justus Proffit. Justus is the lead singer. His band was backing him with riffs and stage presence.

Tennis System at the Resident

The first time I saw Tennis System was at Broke LA. I was pretty sure that their set was cut short at the time. Ever since that time, I've wanted to catch them again. I had this date at the Resident circled; however, as the date approached I came down with a cold. Shoot. Well, who cares. I decided to buck it up and head on out for an hour.

I'm happy I headed out. This band killed the set. I love how the stage lights flashed around, highlighting portions of their stage showmanship. Their music just grinds it out for thirty minutes. Yes, I was sick, but the 30 minutes went by in a flash.

Cellars with Dzang, Banta and Saro at The Echo

Another free night for the first week of January.

Dzang was the first band up at The Echo. Their soundcloud indicates a band with very experimental tastes. Their set; however, would have fit right in at Hotel Cafe. For being first up, there was a large crowd of supporters.

Banta. This is one of those moments where I say, "Time flies." This is the third time I've seen this band. The last time I saw them was at The Satellite, two years ago. They breezed through their country/folk set.

Saro had the crowd excited. His fans were pressed up to the stage. I stood by a group of folk who were friends/acquaintances. So one young lady had her hair in a bun. An acquaintance of her's reached out and squeezed the bun. The young lady looked around and briefly looked at me. I was like, "Not me." Saro came on stage and hit us with his soulful sound.

Cellars, my number one pick for my best "new" band of 2016. She didn't disappointed. Her sound has that dance hook that keeps you bouncing. She destroyed her keyboard in her second to last song. She decided to call it quits there, but her fans demanded she finish up her set.

Draemings with Their Your Dreams and Moaning at The Echo

First week of January equals checking out some free music. It was off to The Echo to catch Draemings.

First up was Their Only Dreams. Snyth, Dj, trance. The musician wore a zebra-like outfit, which also covered his head. He played his synth with a finger pointed at the audience. At the end, his friend jumped on stage, filming the last few moments.

Moaning did their Lo Fi sounds. This band shows what bands from The Smell can do.

I've followed Kimi Recor through three different bands. One, I saw just once at Silverlake Jubilee. The other, Black Flamingo, I saw a number of times. Then the band called it quits. Recently, I saw Kimi re-emerge, seeing her at venues such as Resident. I know Draemings has been around for a bit, but I just made the connection and had to go catch their set. I'm so happy I did.

Send Medicine and Bloody Death Skull at the Resident

A mini-New LA Folk Fest was happening at the Resident -- yep, I still remember that festival. I caught Send Medicine and Bloody Death Skull. Send Medicine opened up the night with relaxing sounds that one can enjoy between the chaos of Christmas and New Years. Bloody Death Skull went with the quirky folk music. Who can argue with the word quirky when one member of the band spent time rolling marbles around a plastic bowl and, I do believe, shining a light on rocks.

Facial with WRMS and Deaf/Mute at The Hi Hat

It was off to The Hi Hat to catch Facial's last residency night. I had wanted to go the week before, but got sick. Anyways, it all worked out. WRMS opened up the night with some awesome mellow rock sounds. Mellow? Hey, when the lead singer is taking sips while in the middle of a song, I say that indicates their mellow sound.

Deaf/Mute is a project by one of the members of Facial. Big news: one of the members from Warpaint joined for a couple songs. Wow. See, all worth getting sick the previous week and having to catch Facial a week later.

Facial drove the metal rock. They set the energy level to 10. This caused a problem when I got home. I just couldn't go to sleep. My adrenaline was still pumping.

Top 10 "New" Los Angeles bands of 2016

Here's my annual list of the Top 10 "new" bands I came across in 2016. I always use quotes as sometimes I'm late to the game and a band I'm listing might have been around for awhile.

#10: Sextile. This band will leave you in a trance.

#9: Alyeska. Teen angst to the maximum and you'll love them for it.

#8: Bloke and Bird. This band is from Sweden. Luckily, they're based out here in Los Angeles.

#7: Mondo Cozmo. They were a "surprise" guest at The Hi Hat. Former lead singer from Eastern Conference Champions. I'm so happy I saw this surprise appearance.

#6: Drinking Flowers. They glitter bombed my camera during their set. Oh well, I forgive big time.

#5: Beginners. High energy band that will get you jumping.

#4: Transviolet. I saw this band twice during their The Satellite residency. I don't usually see a band twice during their residency as I jump around to catch the various residency bands.

#3: Machineheart. Love this band. I know bigger bands like Warpaint were playing Music Tastes Good. And I love Warpaint, but I have to say that one reason I wanted to hit up Music Tastes Good was because of Machineheart.

#2: Starcrawler. Remember The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Those ultra-cool teenagers. Yep, that's Starcrawler.

#1: Cellars. This band got into my head. Amazing set. I can't wait to catch them again.

Teen Sex and Phlask at The Smell

So I had to stick it at home for a few days. My annual December cold hit me. Yes, I figure when I've gotten sick three Decembers in a row one has to consider it an annual event. I finally started feeling better and decided I just needed to get out of my apartment. I headed off to The Smell.

I stuck around for two bands: Teen Sex and Phlask. Teen Sex, they demand an orgy of mosh pits and sex. Their lead singer was dressed in a red spandex suit. The set ended with their bassist showing her yoga skills on the stage floor. Phlask ended the short night out for me. The megaphone made a brief appearance. They have a cool calm appearance.

[Naomi] and Friends at The Satellite

This was a bang bang bang situation. [Naomi] was putting on an event to raise money for various non-profit groups. She had a number of musicians in support. Many only had a 3 song set. The musicians I saw included: Emma Dewing, J Mac Hanson, Rozzi Crane, Ruslan Sirota, LIZ
and [Naomi] herself. Emma Dwing did the event even with a broken arm. The big find was Ruslan Sirota. He's a jazz musician with a Grammy win, as well. What a wonderful -- and way too short -- set. LIZ got the crowd dancing. A number of her fans were pressed up close. J Mac Hanson gave us some sad songs. Rozzi Crane gave us some covered. [Naomi] gave us three different looks -- she had three different bands with her fronting all three. Yep, three quick stage changes. Pretty cool.

Feather Wolf and The Loyalists at The Smell

So much time has passed since the last time I went to The Smell. It was time. Feather Wolf was up first with their post-punk sound. The Loyalists came in from Oakland with their energizing punk.

Both bands ended up playing on the floor vs the stage. It was a pretty quick turnaround between bands as both played in different parts of the backroom area.

The Loyalists mentioned the disaster that happened in Oakland.

For the first time in a long while, I used my flash. The Smell has low lights to begin with, but with both bands playing off the stage the lights were essentially non-existent.