Quarantine Online Sets: Version 52

It was Los Angeleno's final Friday Night Showcase. They've been doing the Showcase for 7 months now and this was their final one. There wasn't any specific reason provided for ending the run.

Juana Everett started it all of with throwback 70s folk. She played her set solo with a guitar and microphone. Lyrics of the night: Fake Love.

Juana Everett

Trevor Beld Jimenez was up next doing a rather short 3 minutes and 33 seconds set. It was a sweet 1 song set with Bob Dylan vocals and a harmonica and guitar just to add that additional comparison. While watching the set, I happened to notice that he had 2 stacks of books against the wall. I couldn't make out any of the titles.

Trevor Beld Jimenez

The Magenta Rainbow was totally colorful, just like their name implies. They had this mix of "Weird Al" Yankovic, show tune duet and cruise ship vibes. And their cloths were loud to match. And yet, their two pet dogs seems oblivious to it all. Both were on the couch. The bigger of the two looked fast asleep. The smaller paid attention initially and then dosed off, as well. I guess the two dogs were all too use to this musical expression.

The Magenta Rainbow

Duderella is a band I actually saw last year during Echo Park Rising at Sick City Records. Their music had an operatic Dracula vibe. Slow. Electronic. And flamboyant green hair.

Duderella

Closing out the night for me was Muwosi. Her music involved sampling and a soulful voice. She vibed to her music and I'm sure those watching online did, as well. One other thing I noticed was how the sun lit up the room. The white glare was turned up, making her fade into what seemed like the a bit of heaven.

Muwosi

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 43

Los Angeleno had their Friday night quick sets on September 4th. Andres Renteria opened up the night playing drums with backing music and videos of mountains and other scenic scenes. He was dressed in white. His music had a spiritual indigenous quality.

Andres Renteria

Andrew Rinehart had a pixelated beige background which caused his tie-dye blue t-shirt to stand out strong. His set was acoustic and was played low key with a folk rock sound. One could imagine him playing his guitar on the beach, enjoying a bonfire with friends. There was a tenderness in his vocals. 

Andrew Rinehart

 Joy Downer brought some pop psychedelic imagery to her video. There was a distinct throwback to the disco era. Just like disco, it was a fun video.

Joy Downer

Flyana Boss is a duo rap group. Their music took inspiration from various youthful cultural highlights. Their song integrating the book "The Giving Tree" and took their own spin of the "Ring Around the Rosie" nursery rhyme. They definitely were having fun. 

Flyana Boss

Laura Jean Anderson closed out the night with her country twang. There is just something to how she twists her lips while she sings. And her vocals had me thinking Bonnie Raitt.

Laura Jean Anderson

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 34

After taking a couple Fridays off, Los Angeleno was back on August 7th to showcasing 10 to 15 minute sets starting at 8 p.m. 

Opening up the night from the desert was CJ Miller from the band Dimber. Even though done solo, the music definitely showcased a rock sound. The final song was about finding joy wherever you can find it.   

Dimber

Next up was Midnight Prism. With keys and psychedelic lights, I swear I was watching a cool 80s MTV video. I have to say that the way the lights were used, it made it look like she was floating over a void versus sitting/laying on her floor. Her first single actually came out on Friday night called "Picture of the End."

Midnight Prism

Annabelle Maginnis is someone I've followed for a few years now. She was, in fact, the only person in the lineup that I'd seen before (though I'd heard of Dimber, Nico Turner and Maya Jupiter). She played in her bedroom. The first thing I noticed was a vine that she had growing across the room. To be honest, it gave me an idea of what I should do to bring some joy to my bedroom.

Annabelle Maginnis

Nico Turner had an amusing set. Why? Her dog seemed to want some audience attention. During one song, the dog decided to lay down in front of Nico Turner. Then instead of wagging of the tail, the tail seemed to want to strum Nico Turner's guitar strings.

Under soft purple lights, the online audience got to enjoy the soft changing sounds backed up by an electric guitar.  

Nico Turner

Around the 13 minute mark, the recording froze, but the music continued. I wonder if the dog ever decided to leave it's spot. 

Aalok Bala also played under purple lights. In the room, there were masks (Hindu?) that hung on the far wall alongside a modernist painting. Imagery shadows danced across the wall. Her music looped her vocals, allowing for layered growth in the music. It really had me thinking of Anita Baker. 

Aalok Bala

Closing out the night was Maya Jupiter. She played her recorded set outside a hillside home. There were pine trees for a backdrop. She had a trio of musicians backing her up. Her music had a Latin folk sound to it combined with political rap. 

Maya Jupiter

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 26

Friday night means catching short 8 to 15 minute pre-recorded sets on Los Angeleno's Facebook page.

Opening things up was Stilljill. Stilljill is a 3 member band, but for this night it was only one individual from the band, Alex. The set was less than 6 minutes long. It was set outside with just an amp and electric guitar. The outcome was some blues like riffs.

Stilljill

Next up was Omoghéné. First thing I noticed was the minimalism of her living room. The walls and couch were white. There was a picture frame and a mounted television. With the use of a backing track, she sang some nice pop tunes.

Omoghéné

The Great Sadness is one of those bands I've followed for a period of time. Their set was spent screaming wickedly to the heavens and slamming out pulsating drum beats. They played in a studio that had a vague familiarity to me. I'm not saying I've been to their location, but it is a similar design to small venues I've gone to in the pass.

The Great Sadness

Talk 2 Strangers most definitely had the most extravagant set. Talk 2 Strangers has a classic voice with a very artistic presentation. The voice and presentation seemed to be at odds with each other. The artistic presentation included frills around her head and as a backdrop along with exaggerated theater make-up. That to me would indicate someone who would present a more modernistic style of vocals. Yet, if one closed their eyes, one would hear power pop tunes. Her comment of the set, "Building a community . . . . making Los Angeles a little bit more lovely."

Talk 2 Strangers

Closing out the night was punk band Rituals of Mine. Their video had their name in bold white lettering at the top and bottom. The bold lettering along with the split second introduction of additional lettering gave off a very futuristic scifi vibe to the set. The two members of the band were shown on two monitors, one for each. As the set ended, an apology to their neighbors was made.

Rituals of Mine

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 24

Friday night was spent catching some music starting out at 6 p.m. On The Satellite's Instagram page, Suzi Moon from Turbulent Hearts jammed through a six song set with on fire yellow hair. Her set list was written on her hand. She ignored the acoustic rules and had an amp. Basically, she brought her punk attitudes to The Satellite's feed. What I loved were the Q&As between songs. For example, how long does it take you to write your songs? 

 

Suzi Moon

After the set ended, there was a 1.5 hour break before heading over to Los Angeleno's Facebook page at 8 p.m. For an hour, I got to catch short sets by Ben Vaughn, Less Bells, Flames of Durga, Starlight Cleaning Co. and The Blank Tapes. 

Ben Vaughn opened it up with an interesting choice in color palette. He played and wore colors in the tan and brown color segment. I say he came across as someone with a dry sense of humor.

Ben Vaughn

Less Bells provided an interesting combination of instruments: synths and an electric cello that created Gothic sounds that drifted from the high ceilings of an ancient European church.

Less Bells

Flames of Durga had the full band rocking punk style from the high desert. I have to say the video quality of their set was most excellent. It was like I was right up there in the front row.

Flames of Durga

Starlight Cleaning Co. provided some folk tunes from their living room. An upright piano could be seen in the background.

Starlight Cleaning Co.

The Blank Tapes closed out the hour with Americana rock with a 70s beach sound.

The Blank Tapes

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 23

Friday night, June 19th, was the creative Los Angeleno sets. I say creative, because as I've mentioned before, artists pre-record their 8 to 15 minute sets. Opening the night was NIGHTJACKET doing a full band set. What beautiful sounds from this 5 member band. I need to catch a live set. It looked like two members of the bands were playing at their own homes while three were playing in a studio. The keyboardist was wearing a mask while the singer and guitarist weren't, which half makes me think they live together? Just well thought out music. 

Nightjacket

Jeremiah Chiu had the synths going that always has me thinking San Francisco 2013. Yet, there was a much more soothing use of the synths. A transformation of that San Francisco binary type use of the synths. He used a background video of spider webs, a home, frying of food to accentuate his sound. At the end, he wrote "thx" on his phone screen.

Jeremiah Chiu

Taleen Kali played a solo set from a roof top building. For a brief moment, one could hear a motorcycle driving down in the street below. And the wind came whipping through every so often, sending her hair flowing. 

Taleen Kali

Lucy & La Mer is one of my favorite bands in Los Angeles. To me, she's shifted her sound from folk-pop to a more straight pop sound. Yet, for this set, she shifted her set back to that original folk-pop sound that had me fall in love with her music. She opened the set with my favorite, "Honey, Put Your Weapons Down," which talks about a painful moment in a relationship.

Lucy & La Mer

Closing out the night was Yung Student Loans, which ran into an unfortunate situation with Facebook (the corporation). This is the second time I've noticed something like this happen in this online world. The first time was on Instagram with Molly Moore who was cut off from Instagram Live for doing a Brittney Spears cover. This time, for Yung Student Loans, the vocals were just silenced. From what I read on Facebook, Facebook told Los Angeleno that they "didn't have the rights to post" the video. Life in the Internet world.

Yung Student Loans

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 21

Los Angeleno was back on Facebook highlighting three musicians. Los Angeleno doesn't do live sets. Instead, they allow the musicians or bands to do pre-recordings ranging from 8 to 15 minutes. Some artists use it to put together low cost music videos. Others play it straight. There are a wide range of uses that makes it a fun hour of music. Also, the advantage to their presentations is that it gets rid of the horrid sound and picture quality that can often pop up during a live stream (which I'm guessing is highly dependent on the quality of the recording devise and WiFI of the musician or band).

On this particular Friday night, Dustin Wong starting things off with synth sounds that as time went by was soothing in a way. The video we viewed was broken into four sections. The upper right and lower left windows showed water scenes. The upper left focused on his pedals that he would twist with his hands or tap with his feet. The lower right focused on his two keyboards.

Dustin Wong

Nancy Sanchez came on next with Spanish folk sounds that bounced pleasantly against the walls of her home. She used a wide angle camera that curved her keyboard. Between songs, she cut away to a screen that introduced the name of the next song.

Nancy Sanchez

Closing out the night was Sunny War who played some blues from her bedroom. I was fascinated by just watching her pick those guitar strings. It felt like it was time to go to a honky tonk bar and let it hang out on the dance floor. The goal on the dance floor would be to see if your feet could keep up with the speed of her fingers and see if your fitness would allow you to outlast hers.

Sunny War

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 19

Friday nights on Los Angeleno's Facebook page hosts short videos from various artists between the hours of 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. -- though occasionally some artists/bands have their videos posted much later. The short form videos allow for creativity to shine through.

Up first on this recent Friday night was Corey Vogel. He's a drummer and his video was just memorizing. He was never on screen. Instead, there was video that started off with him spraying a water hose at clay cups/planters. It then shifted to the vibrating drum beats that had maroon clay bouncing around. Waffle shaped objects were put on the same surface and the drum beats shattered the objects into thousands I small pieces within a few moments. It closed with wooden sticks beating on bamboo.

Corey Vogel

Pure Protein was up next with sonic space sounds. Emily Lacy has to be close friends with Bloody Death Skull. She spent half her video providing a tutorial about her playing methodology. It was just strange with her playing her keyboard with every part of her body. It was expressionist keyboard playing.

Pure Protein

Emily Lacy

The Gooms is a band I've seen play a couple online music festivals. Yet, it was always just the lead singer. This time, 3 of the 4 members were playing. The fourth member, their bassist, was in the Bay Area with his parents. It was so great seeing this band in almost full form. You could tell they were having such a good time together and it makes it a thrill. The band was dressed in a vacation type of mood with a Hawaiian shirt and lei.

The Gooms

Closing out the night was Polartropica. Polartropica is always up to provide some interpretative surrounding. There was a whole plastic garden set up around her. That was my interpretation though Los Angeleno described it as "candy-colored spaceship."

Polartropica

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 17

Los Angeleno provides some great Friday night entertainment. The bands and artists playing put on pre-recorded sets that appear to last between 8 and 15 minutes. The sets are featured both on Instagram and Facebook. I have to admit that I do prefer sets shown on Facebook. I enjoy the horizontal presentation of Facebook versus the vertical presentation of Instagram. Both can have technical glitches when doing live streams, which isn't a problem for Los Angeleno so it really is a preference of presentation for me. This is coming from a person who posts photos only on Instagram.

This particular Friday night started off with Soft Sailors. Their set had a fun feel to it. The set started off with one member of the band in his living room. He got a call from his other two band mates and off they went. It was a great scripted 8 minutes that also included some screen in screen shots, a couple guests and a pet dog.

Soft Sailors

Devon Williams had me thinking of 80s icon Robert Palmer. I'd love to see a live set with a full band to see if that assumption rings true.

Devon Williams

Egg Drop Soup has been playing across the Internet during this lock down. This time around they broke the social distancing rule and all 3 members of the band were together to play their set. There was also a person doing the camera work who did a really good job of giving the audience the feel of the band's attitude. There were quick zooms in and out that matched up with the band's beats.

Egg Drop Soup

Closing out the night was Pearl Charles. That set was some country swoon. While watching the set, the kids in my apartment complex were having fun outside. I couldn't help but imagine that they were dancing to the music coming from my apartment (though in truth they couldn't hear the music).

Pearl Charles

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