NFV Song Spotlight: Tashaki Miyaki's City

I've noticed that Tashaki Miyaki has a rather passionate following amount photographers who have shot the scene for a number of years. Though I am perhaps not as passionate as my other photographers, I do have a long history with the band. I saw the band way back in 2012 when they opened up for Family of the Year. In my notes from the night, the reason I went was for Family of the Year (I am a big Family of the Year fan), but also because I noticed a band called Tashaki Miyaki was playing and I found the band name intriguing. A couple years later, I saw the band at Make Music Pasadena. Looking through my records, it looks like the last time I saw them was at their Echo residency in 2017 when they played with L.A. Witch and Z Berg. That was a line-up. 

Tashaki Miyaki at Zebulon

NFV Song Spotlight: LINNEA's Tough Luck

I'll occasionally head out to The Fable to catch a Ryan Pollie hosted Tuesday night. Sometimes I go out to The Fable because I know a band that he booked such as Janelane. Other times I'll go there even though I don't know a single person or band on the bill. That was the case when I went out on a recent December night. First up was LINNEA (Linnea Delaney Johansen). It took about 5 seconds, let's say, to come to the conclusion that I made the right decision to head out on this particular Tuesday night.

LINNEA at The Fable

NFV Song Spotlight: Lovercolor's Hearts on Fire

Lovecolor came on through Los Angeles in support of their (at the time) soon to be released debut album "LOVECOLOR." The Hotel Cafe was the place to be to catch the set. The band played seven of the nine songs off the album as well as two of lead singer Vanessa Silberman's own previous releases.

Lovecolor at The Hotel Cafe

Notes from Vivace Show Alerts (Los Angeles): Dec 12th - Dec 18th

A Handful of Show Alerts 

Cancelled. Monday: Jan 13th: Hannah Hughes at Harvard & Stone. Doors at 8 p.m.
Hannah Hughes is also in the band Julez and the Rollerz. I covered their Is This Where The party Is? EP release party at Non Plus Ultra for US Rocker Music.

Cancelled. Tuesday: Jan 14th: Devon Ross at Zebulon. Doors at 8 p.m.

You can my review of one of her sets here.

Cancelled. Tuesday Jan 14th: Kat French at Hotel Ziggy. Doors at 7 p.m.
You can read my NFV Song Spotlight of "Casket" here.

Wednesday Jan 5th: Eugene Edwards at Harvard & Stone. Doors at 8 p.m.

You can read my review of a Western Edge Tribute night at Zebulon that I wrote for US Rocker Music here which included Eugene Edwards.

Saturday Jan 18th: Bruvvy at The Viper Room. Doors at 4:30 p.m.

One of my favorite "new to me, but maybe not to you" 2024 bands. You can see the full list here.

Saturday Jan 18th: Kills Birds at the Moroccan Lounge. Doors at 9:30 p.m.

You can read my NFV Song Spotlight of their song "Glisten" here.

Saturday Jan 18th: Mating Ritual at Gold-Diggers. Doors at 7 p.m.
If interested, you can read my review of their Songs for the Morning and Evening Times album release party at Zebulon for Buzzbands.

Postponed. Saturday Jan 18th: Tolliver and TwoLips at The Echo. Doors at 7 p.m.

Interestingly, I covered both bands for Buzzbands at Echo Park Rising across the years. You can read my brief mention of Tolliver as well as photos of both in my 2023 Echo Park Rising coverage. If you want to flashback to 2019, you can read the short quote that TwoLips provided me. 

NFV Song Spotlight: Eleven Green's Fixed Tool

When random encounters happen, you've got to mention it. The setup is that I caught Eleven Green on the Tuesday night prior to Thanksgiving. The band was playing a WFNM night at Hotel Ziggy. Fast forward to Black Friday. I was at Best Buy picking up an external hard drive to store all the photos and videos I take of the Los Angeles music scene. After being handed the external hard drive, I did a beeline towards the exit. Walking right past me was the lead singer, Nare Nikoyan. I didn't know her name at the time of this random encounter so I yell out, "Eleven Green." She turns and I told her that I saw her Wednesday night. She looked slightly confused, perhaps because I got the days messed up. I saw the band on Tuesday night. My excuse is that I went to Hotel Ziggy on both Tuesday and Wednesday night. I added, "Hotel Ziggy. I was one of the photographers." 

Eleven Green at Hotel Ziggy

NFV Song Spotlight: Dove Armitage's Glass In Me

I've seen Dove Armitage (Quincy Larsen) twice this year. Interestingly enough, she was opening on nights that I was covering for US Rocker Music. In October, she was opening up for Sunflower Bean at Zebulon. In December, she was playing The Fonda Theatre in support for Zaho de Sagazan. To clarify, the year 2024 is not the first time I've come across Dove Armitage or, for that matter, Larsen. 

Dove Armitage at The Fonda Theatre

I initially came across Larsen when her band Cat Scan had a 2018 residency at the Echoplex. I wrote this at the time:

"I wish I had seen Cat Scan twice, but it just didn't work out. I did get to see them for their final residency night and that will have to do for now. This band will just rock you with their garage punk sounds. I love how the band switches vocals between two of the band members. It helps switch up the sound. In the back of my mind, I was thinking, 'I'd love to see Cat Scan playing with The Paranoyds and Potty Mouth.' That would be one fun night. Especially since each has a band member who likes to put on a stage show with wild moves." 

Dove Armitage at The Fonda Theatre

Scanning through their Instagram account, Cat Scan did play a set with The Paranoyds in 2019 down in San Diego, but never played with Potty Mouth. From what I can tell, the band ended its run in early 2020. If I recall correctly, the lead singer moved out of the Los Angeles area. 

In 2019, Larsen joined forces with Kimi Recor (the powerhouse behind many of my favorite Los Angeles bands such as Black Flamingo and Draemings). I remember I first became aware that the duo had combined to form a band called Kevin at Echo Park Rising 2019. They were playing multiple sets throughout the festival. I remember my first attempt to catch a set was at Stories Books & Cafe. When I got there, they were tearing down their equipment. I did get to catch a set that you can read a short note about on Buzzbands. 

Dove Armitage at The Fonda Theatre

The band continued to perform once venues re-opened, but ended their run when Recor returned to her homeland of Germany. 

Also, not to be forgotten, but she was also took part in the Death Valley Girls rotation of band members. 

In 2023, Dove Armitage released a 6 song EP titled Concernless. My favorite of the 6 songs is the industrial bass laden "Glass In Me."  I just can't get enough of staccato singing of the chorus: 

Hypnotized my guy
Hypnotized, bye-bye

The EP title may be Concernless, but I feel like the lyrics of the song are not so definitive when it comes to romance:

Take precaution, but please proceed
There's glass on the floor, there's glass in me
Watch your step, rinse, repeat

NFV Song Spotlight: Beck Pete's Scared of Everything

 

I first came across Beck Pete at El Cid in 2019. It wasn't a full set. El Cid double booked the day and so the bands playing in the afternoon were all restricted to 20 minutes or less. In fact, the last band of the night played maybe less than 10 minutes. 

Beck Pete at Hotel Ziggy