Quarantine Online Sets: Version 13

Friday and Saturday had some interesting mini-festivals pop up on Facebook. Los Angeleno put on a Friday festival where everyone on the bill played about 10 minute sets. All the sets were pre-recorded. Litronix did a middle of the day set out in his backyard. He played his electric guitar with his pedals at arm length. A synth/guitar experimental set. The multi-talented Jess Joy did interpretive dancing while singing with artsy flair. One thing I noticed was that during this quarantine, she has certainly gotten some time out in the sun. Butch Bastard played on guitars and then shifted the camera so that he could play on the piano. Up on his wall was a Charles Barkley poster (Philadelphia days). Honey Child Choir played a darkened room with projected imagery flashing on the back wall while singing her opera solos. Eleni Mandell showed how working at home is for many in America. Towards the end of the set, her son came over and shifted the phone/video recorder. "Don't touch that. Don't touch that. That was my son. We got through 8 minutes." Closing out the festival and on a couple hours after Eleni Mandell was L.A. Drones. Their set was done in black outfits. One in dominatrix plastic. The other in black jeans and t-shirt.

Litronix

Jess Joy

Butch Bastard

Honey Child Choir

Eleni Mandell

L.A. Drones

Saturday was spent watching another series of brief sets on Living Room Sessions. Georgia Peach, Lauren Lakis, Christie Huff and Laura Levenhagen all played around 10- 15 minutes. I tuned in specifically for Lauren Lakis who played some tunes. Unfortunately, there seemed to be some strange pitch issues driven by her set-up. At times, it seemed like the sound system was on the verge of squeaking. It was still cool to catch her set as I do love her music. Christie Huff added some country flair. Georgia Peach had beautiful vocals the drifted through the speakers. Laura Levenhagen's vocals reminded listeners of Irish folk tunes.

Georgia Peach

Lauren Lakis

Christie Huff

Lauren Levenhagen

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Litronix

Litronix at The Echo

Interview with Litronix. Enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? Raw Electronic Loop Orchestration combined with a poetic delivery of space, dance, and spirit.

What’s the story behind how you started performing as Litronix? I used to play in a band called 60 Watt Kid. When we broke up in 2012, I felt I just wanted to be alone by myself away from arguments and dealing with other people's schedules. Plus, I was having a hard time finding a good drummer that wasn't in 500 bands. So I decided to start a one man project using my loop pedal wisdom and I had called "N.O.W." and since then it has progressed into Litronix when I changed the name a few years back. And here I am at this moment still doing it.

Own Q&A. Is Elvis Presley still alive? Yes. Elvis Lives!

The Echo: First Week of January 2018 (FOMO)

First week of Januaries in Los Angeles bring a series of free nights of music at venues such as The Echo and The Satellite. I circled specific nights at various venues due to the bands that were playing. On Friday night, it was off to catch Drinking Flowers. I hadn't seen this band since their residency at The Echo in 2016.

Opening up the night was Litronix. This one man show put on a variety set. His set-up was a synth and a dance board. With that he spent his time dancing like Michael Jackson or singing like/about Elvis Presley. During one song, he screamed out repeatedly, "Elvis Lives." What couldn't I help but notice: he was dressed in red while throughout the set The Echo gave him red lights to play under. Red on red.

Litronix

Rumblepak seems to be a rather new band (their Instagram account started in 2016, but didn't seem to kick in until 2017) with a handful of followers on Facebook and Instagram. Yet, I'd estimate that all those fans were out in force at The Echo. And for good reason. This band memorizes. Their psychedelic sounds had fans forming a mosh/dance pit by the end of their set.

Rumblepak

The last time I saw Drinking Flowers, Jade dumped about half of her glitter on me (she was glitter bombing the audience and by the time she got to me -- I was at the end of the line -- well, she had half of her glitter left). That caused some long term glitter issues for my camera, lenses and camera bag. For months, I'd find glitter here and there. What was the first thing I did while watching their set-up? You're right: I looked for any canister that might hold glitter, because if the glitter came, I was running. Luckily, no glitter. Luckily, it didn't impact their set. Wonderful pounding sounds. What I took as a good sign: Someone in the audience asked me if I knew the band's name. I love it when bands I enjoy seeing win converts.

Drinking Flowers