Great Lake Swimmers @ Hotel Cafe

Don't get me wrong, I really do love the Hotel Cafe, but whoever is in charge of their website and scheduling should be shot. On their calendar, it clearly said doors at 7pm, but it did not say what time the show was, or who would be playing first. Seeing that they don't answer the phone there, we were a bit confused on when to leave. That's a pretty important factor if you're traveling from Santa Monica to Cahuenga and Hollywood. We decided to leave at 7:30pm for a hopeful 8pm arrival. I checked the website one last time and saw a tiny link for ticket purchases. Once I clicked that it took me to another page that had all their ticket listings. I clicked on the Great Lake Swimmers event info link and got another page which said doors at 6:30pm and the show listed at a 7pm start time. Confusion abound. It was 7:15pm when I found this out. Called my boy, showered, and was out the door by 7:30pm.

Traffic city on the 10 east.

We shot up Olympic.

By the time we parked at the venue it was 8:30pm. We ask the door guy what time GLS goes on and he proceeds to tell us, "10 o'clock". Kinda shocking. We ask him to explain, yet he really has NO idea what to say. We shrug it off and check out one of the acts that was on right then. Can't remember his name but it wasn't that great. We decide to walk up the street to get smokes.

Around the corner lives a quaint smoke shop and we saunter on in. I get my smokes and Jon gets some paraphernalia. Man behind the counter asks, "Whatchoo gonna use that for?", Jon replies, "Are you allowed to ask me that?". Counter guy says, "Hey man, I'm just me, and I can ask anything I want". Jon and I bust up. Jon exclaims, "Traveling". We all bust up.

We get back to the Hotel Cafe, and Mr. Door Guy from earlier says, "Oh, hey guys, Great Lake Swimmers are going on right now". In disbelief I ask him, "You're kidding right?", he says, "Nope, I don't know what's going on anymore". As we walk inside, I just had to remark, "Clearly!"

Long preface for a show review, right?

Right.

I really like the Great Lake Swimmers. There's real and brutal honesty going on, not only with Tony Dekkers lyrics, but with his voice as well. It just kinda subdues you in a way that you really want it to. It's not forced at all. It just is. I have to say that one of the greatest things to hear for me when going to a show is when a singers voice sounds exactly like it does on an album. I don't want the music to because it should be ever changing, but a voice, when it's perfect, is just fucking awesome. I can say that about his last night. I don't think I'd heard that in awhile. Probably not since the first time seeing Ray LaMontagne.

The band was very subtle in their playing. The majority of what they played was off of Ongiara, which I found out is their third album. Seeing that it's the only one I have, I was happy, but most definitely plan on getting the others to see how they fare. They only played for an hour, but it was perfect. A great setting for them too.

If you haven't heard these folks before, you most certainly should if you like mellow and ambient music. They describe themselves as ambient-folk, and I would have to agree. Ongiara is the perfect album if you want to chill out at home with a nice glass of wine. They translate quite well live, but if I were to say one thing, it'd be that they get a female up there to compliment Tony's voice. It would add great layering and depth to their shows.

Recent Shows I've Seen

I have yet to write about two recent shows I saw, but sitting here and thinking, they were both pretty damn phenomenal.

Earlier in the month I saw The Black Angels (again). This time they headlined at The Troubadour. Though mind-altering substances were imbibed, I thought they pretty much killed it. It seems that this band has seriously been reincarnated from multiple band members from the psychedelic era of the 60's. Their set lasted a bit over two hours, tribally-thumping out not only songs from Passover, but some new ones as well. Included was a really great rendition of Iggy Pop's "I Wanna Be Your Dog". The crowd seemed very into it. The band looked like they were extremely focused and intent on blowing our minds. Which is exactly what they did.

Last weekend saw me at night one of LCD Soundsystem's three night run at the El Rey theatre. Having last seen them the boys as DJ's at the Standard, I was very excited to get back into the groove with the full band. Hadn't seen them since Coachella....I wanna say '04? Couldn't make it out this year, but if I did, I wouldn't have made it to their set at The Standard.

What can I say about James Murphy and his posse? They really know how to lay down extremely danceable, genre-defying, poptastic and funky rhythms. Though they only played for a little more than an hour, I can say that I haven't seen an L.A. crowd get down that hard in a really long time. I can actually tell you exactly when: Beasties Boys at the Henry Fonda last year. LCD ran through tunes from both albums that had the crowd singing, cheering and towards the end, really yearning for more. I guess that was my only disappointment (if you could call it that). I was a bit sad to hear that the next two nights had longer sets, but hey, I don't get paid to go to shows, nor miss work because of them.

All in all they were awesome shows. Next up on my agenda are Great Lake Swimmers, John Butler Trio, and Widespread Panic, who will be starting their next three night run at a new venue this year: The Orpheum Theatre, All should be a blast.

In commemoration of seeing The Black Angels Tonight

Here's my review of their show with B.R.M.C. a few weeks back: Black on Black: Angels vs. Rebels