Growing up a music junkie in the Midwest, my ears would always perk up at the dropping of an unfamiliar band name, but living in LA, I find that I encounter unknown genres on as regular a basis (oh, how I love living in the musical melting pot of the country). The latest style to make its way into my musical lexicon is dream pop, and the band to bring it to my attention is New York City’s Asobi Seksu. Yuki Chikudate and James Hanna, the duo at the core of Asobi Seksu, are currently touring in support of Rewolf, an acoustic album featuring songs from the band’s three full-lengths, and they brought their mellow sound to Hotel Café last weekend.
While Anna Rose has all the physical trapping of a pop music starlet—the long blonde hair, blue eyes, and only two dozen birthdays under her belt—she’s more interested in making it onto stages than the covers of magazines. Her life-long love affair with performing and creating music has led to the recent release of a self-titled EP with a full length album, Nomad, set to drop this spring. After catching the self-professed music geek’s performance at Hotel Café last week, LA Music Blog asked her a few questions about how she got her start in music, the artists who inspire her, and what she has in the works for 2010.
I imagine that even on the coldest, most blustery of winter nights audiences at Daphne Willis performances feel just a little warmer after watching her set. Having returned from a visit to the snowy Midwest the day before, I was still thawing the marrow in my bones when I caught the Chicagoan’s performance at Hotel Café Tuesday night, and even the freezing cold AC that kept blowing out candles as quickly as I could steal them from neighboring tables (hey, you try to take notes in the darkness that is Hotel Café without the help of a flame or two) couldn’t distract me from the warmth of the artist’s silky smooth voice.
Showtime:
7:00 PM
Hotel Cafe' |
Los Angeles, CA
Joe Purdy with Meaghan Smith, Sweet Talk Radio, Family Of The Year
Showtime:
7:00 PM
Hotel Cafe' |
Los Angeles, CA
Ho-Ho-Tel 2009
with:
Alex & Sam
Shane Alexander
Sara Bareilles
Javier Dunn
Jen & Abby
The Elevaters
Michelle Featherstone
Erin Mclaughlin
Clare Means
Jay Nash
Jake Newton
Chris Pierce
Joe Purdy
Joey Ryan
The Rescues
Charley Turner
Sydney Wayser
AM
Jim Bianco
Brother Sal
Cary Brothers
Buddy
Andy Clockwise
Holly Conlan
Brendan Hines
Laura Jansen
Jason Kanakis
Austin H. Leonard
Meiko
Kathryn Ostenberg
Kenneth Pattengale
Truth & Salvage Co.
Butch Walker
WAZ
Brian Wright
Irina Bjorklund
Bleu
Rocco Deluca
Tom Freund
Graydon
Amy Kuney
Ernie Halter
Zack Hexum
The Idyllists
Raining Jane
Lady Danville
Sonos
Keaton Simons
Nina Storey
Until June
John West
and more!
Door Proceeds to benefit the
LA Fire Department’s “Spark Of Love” Toy Drive
El Perro Del Mar @ Hotel Cafe’
The comparisons between Langhorne Slim and Bob Dylan are understandable. One look at the folk singer’s porkpie hat and a quick listen to a track from any one of his half-dozen releases prove that this is an artist who practically bleeds Americana (although we ask that you please not shank the man in an attempt to prove/disprove my theory). However, after watching Langhorne Slim’s performance at the Hotel Café, there is a different ‘60s icon I feel a need to mention. The swirling of the artist’s hips, the dropping to his knees while playing with his guitar overhead, the stage presence that comes off as both polished and unpredictable…he was like Jimi Hendrix with an acoustic. Thankfully he didn’t set anything on fire at the end of his set (I don’t think Hotel Café would ventilate that well and all those red curtains would burn like nobody’s business), but he definitely provided the audience with an experience.
