Quarantine Online Sets: Version 76

The last Wonder & Awe series of 2020 occurred last Monday. Per Brenda Carsey who puts on the weekly series, said she plans to take a few weeks off at the start of 2021 so this was the last one for a few weeks.

Glacial Palms opened up the round from Silverlake. The three siblings played in their living room. A Christmas tree decked out in all white decorations and their TV had a recording of a fireplace. The song they sang had an Irish/"Once" sound to it. It just slowly unfolded for us. They used a loop recorder to provide additional guitar music.

Ali May Angel came in from West Hollywood. She was having some sound issues, but it didn't matter too much. Her song "You Only Call Me After Midnight" had a deep blues country sound to it. Throughout the round, she also had thoughtful comments about everyone's song. 

Harry Katz came in from Hollywood. His room had a panel divider up to separate the living room from his concert area. He started his first song and then had to quickly stop playing. His headphones were getting in the way of his playing. With that taken care of, he played with Southern rock flair. He took his pick playing up a notch. Brenda Carsey said of his song, "Rustic beauty of a voice." 

Closing out the round was Brenda Carsey coming from Pasadena. Her song was "Bang Bang." It was a song about gun violence. The song dealt with sorrow and frustration with both slams and tender touches of the keyboard. I could really see that song in a Pixar movie when it deals with a particularly sad moment of the story. 

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 71

Wonder & Awe Productions hit Facebook / Zoom on a recent Monday night. Wonder & Awe Productions is put on by Brenda Carsey. The performers go through rounds versus sets. 

Starting off the rounds was McKail Seely who was celebrating her 27th birthday. Her set had a country leaning and one of her songs was about a breakup that occurred just as she starting quarantine. Her comment of the night had to be, "My ego just had an orgasm."

Kid Lightning followed. His guitar playing really inspired me. I was thinking, "Wow, that guitar playing sounds thrilling." His vocals layered a folk-country sound. Lyrics of the set, "This is the era of the taker. Our architecture is just built that way." He has a real way with words. 

This was my third time catching Chase Petra. I've only seen this band online. Kind of interesting fact. They were all wearing masks and dedicated one of their songs to the capitalist overlords. Their use of masks as well as their distance from the microphone gave their music a muffled sound. 

Ending each round was Brenda Carsey. Her first song had a big, old school, showtune sound to it. Another tune was like the music from The Rocky Horror Picture Show or watching Dracula rise from the grave. Her vocals can soar like very few and her keyboard playing had the camera shaking. 

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 65

"Six at Six" monthly series on The Satellite's Instagram Live page is one of my favorite online music events. 

November's version started on Sunday with Human Barbie. I had a couple thoughts that popped up while watching the set. My first thought was that he really made me think about story time of the  Princess Bride. Then his knit cap had me thinking about R.E.M. The music sounded like poetry. The voice was perfectly soft and the guitar sounded like there was a soft pedal being applied. During the set, he loved stretching out those arms. 

Comment of the set: You are my beautiful Barbies and I love you. 

Human Barbie

Iress played on Monday. The music had an Irish chant quality. The guitarist and bassist played on the stage while the singer sat in front of the stage. A new song was sung with an opened notebook. At times, there was an Alanis Morissette unplugged feel to the set.

Lyrics of the set: I can see the wolves crying.

Info of the set: The 1st song they sang got 15,000 plays on Monday.

Photographer: I could hear the photographer taking some rapid photos.

Brian who curates the "Six at Six" series cried twice during the set. 

 

Iress

Reckling started off Tuesday by saying, "Hi, anyone out there?" The two guitarists sat next to each other and sang perfect duets. There was this Bob Dylan feel to their acoustic set, but sped up by about 25%. They did a hand stretch before the final song. They looked at each other before starting and cracked up for just a brief second. They ended that song at the exact same moment and looked pleased.

Recklng

The honkytonk sound started if off for Moonfuzz on Wednesday. Loved how the fingers did some rapid playing on those guitar strings. During one song, you know you were really seeing a set played outdoors, because the noise of a truck roaring pass was heard. Though there was some honkytonk, for other songs their vocals had the cries of the ancients. As soon as the set ended, the singer quickly put a mask on. Thumbs up on that move. 

Moonfuzz

Flames of Durga is a band that I've seen live only once at a Wild Riot event, but they definitely made an impression on me that day. On this particular Thursday, I could help but notice that one of the twins was dressed in 70s style while the other was dressed in punk rocker style. I noticed that their earrings matched their tops: red (70s) and black (punk). They also drank LiveWire cocktails. 

The twins brought a classic rocker style to the stage that was definitely not acoustic. In the comments, Usuallymikey said, "Gonna be a noise complaint in the old Silverlake tonight!!"

There set actually started off at 6:15 p.m. A 15 minute delay from the 6 p.m. start time. Seems like during rehearsal a guitar string broke. To end the set, they went faux wild by raising the bass high and gently slamming the guitar. 

Flames of Durga

Closing out the series was Brenda Carsey on Friday. She didn't bring her keyboard for the set. Instead, she played the guitar. No matter what, as Brian said during the set, she has an amazing voice. Nothing like Brenda Carsey sing her tunes. That is a reason why I've seen Brenda Carsey three times live.

Brenda Carsey

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 55

I dropped by Wonder & Awe Productions for the first time since the start of quarantine. Brenda Carsey organizes the nights where the singers do rounds via Zoom on Facebook. I stuck around for 2 rounds. Starting it off was Pozzi. Lyrics of the round, "Watching the years passing by . . . " His lyrics are emotional poetry. One thing about livestreams is sometimes you get to see their books on the shelves, but I can never make out the titles. 

From top left: Brenda Carsey, Pozzi, Ari Tibi, Jess Jones

Next up was Ari Tibi. "Dancing in the Moonlight." She was coming to us from the beach and had poor WiFi. A couple times she just froze. The lyrics just rolled off her tongue with smooth style. She happened to mention that she clicks her tongue by habit. 

Jess Jones was coming to us from San Diego. She wrote a song about Slab City. Brenda Carsey said she was going to Slab City for her anniversary. A mellow mood with a blues style. 

Brenda Carsey hit some deep notes and then took her voice up the scale. She has those power vocals that make her a songstress on keyboards. I noticed that she was playing her piano while seated on one of those office mesh office chairs. 

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Brenda Carsey

Brenda Carsey at the Moroccan Lounge

Interview with the artist. Enjoy:

What's the story behind when you wanted to become a singer? I have been singing since I was four years old, probably sooner. I started in choir at the age of 4. I've always loved singing! So I guess my answer is not that I had a moment of wanting to become a singer... I was born a singer. ;-)

What is one of your high or low moments as a musician and what makes it stand out? I have had so many high points! But I will definitely say my successful Kickstarter campaign that allowed me to record and release my first full-length studio album with a 7 piece band on every song and nearly selling out Hotel Cafe for my release party. Also, playing LIB festival last year, successfully self-booking and managing a large tour with a full band last year, and touring Germany with my old band back in 2016.

Moroccan Lounge: Brenda Carsey with KiSMit, Liv Slingerland and Livingmore

It was off to the Moroccan Lounge to take photos of one of my favorite Los Angeles bands: Livingmore. Though I had to make sure I showed up early to catch KiSMiT. When I was asked if I wanted to do some photography, I checked out KiSMiT (I'd already heard and seen Liv Slingerland
and Brenda Carsey). They have a song out called 'Every Shade of You' that brings back the romantic sounds of the 80s. From what I can tell, this duo/couple met on a cruise ship where both were working as musicians. One knew immediately that the other was meant for them while it took the other a little bit more time to figure that out. This is a duo to keep an eye out for.

KiSMiT

Liv Slingerland had perhaps the comment of the night: It is strange to write songs about people who were once in your life, but aren't in your life anymore, but they're still there in this song.

Liv Slingerland

It was Brenda Carsey celebrating her fifth year in Los Angeles with her band called Brenda Carsey and The Awe. This was actually my first time seeing her first set. I happened to catch a couple of her songs while running around taking photos for Buzzbands at Echo Park Rising. Backing her on vocals was Nicole Kiki Jaffe, who I've seen prior. Also, was Leila Milki. I'll have to catch one of her own sets. 

Brenday Carsey and The Awe

Livingmore closed out the night. This band has quickly become one of my favorite bands. Lead singer, Alex, has those vocals down. I was thinking about it: when you see her live or listen to her voice on Youtube, you get the same sound. This just tells me that she has stellar vocals that aren't manipulated via a sound guy. 

Livingmore