MDCL DTLA

Would you believe I actually made it out to another show? Me neither, but behold...



One of the cool things about L.A. is the amount of great free shows in public places that pop up every summer. There's a bunch of venues around town that host their own little series and the California Plaza's yearly Grand Performances slate is easily one of the best. This year, it kicked of with a pretty unique show featuring the ever-funky Mr. Mark de Clive-Lowe and a couple of cohorts (on drums and saxamaphone) improvising a soundtrack to a montage of classic Sci-Fi movie scenes... everything from Metropolis to The Matrix. The sound was atmospheric, jazzy & electronic, and even though it didn't always totally jibe with what was going on up on the screen (as you would expect "soundtrack" music to do) it was a pretty darn nice way to spend a warm Friday evening. Here's a taste...



So that was fun. They said he was reprising this show a little later this summer somewhere else in L.A. that I don't remember at a date I don't recall. You are welcome for that bounty of information. Anyhoo, it wouldn't be a Tonegents post without a tune, so here's one from 2005's Tide's Arising album that gives you some of Mark's usual sound, in case you didn't already know...

Mark de Clive-Lowe - Slide (ysi)

I feel like such a dazzling urbanite when I go to stuff like this... BECAUSE I AM!

The Synths Of Summer

More newness on the first day of summer...



And check it out, it's a band called Solar Bears! Solar! Sun! Summer! See what I did there?! I'm so fucking on-the-nose like that. Anyhoo, these guys are a duo from Ireland, a country that hardly ever sees the sun from what I understand, so... um... something! It would be hard to generalize about the sound, the record's a bit all over the place (in a good way), so I won't. This is the peppiest tune on there... on kind of an old-school Italo vibe. Dig it...

Solar Bears - Happiness Is A Warm Spacestation (ysi)

Something fun is coming your way this weekend... keep on the lookout.

Who you callin' fat? Look at me, I'm Skinny...

Sorry for the long wait since the last post... I was busy with a large taxidermy project. Hey man, that orca's not gonna stuff itself...



Hello Skinny is a "solo" project by London multi-instrumentalist Tom Skinner (See what he did with the name there? Clever-ish!), who is cool because he plays drums for artists ranging from Matthew Herbert to Mulatu Astatke... and that, you must agree, is a pretty freakin' wide range. I wanna say they're like a darker Portico Quartet...

Hello Skinny - Knot Blue (ysi)

And here's an interview/performance which is quite interesting...



I'm gonna go ahead and give myself bonus points for the Digital Underground reference today. Because I can give myself bonus points. I just gave myself even more just now...

Right Down To The Kore

You know I'm not having a great idea day when I resort to a bad pun for the post title... Anyhoo, had to give y'all a few days to recover from that multiple Funk-gasm I laid on ya last week. So here's something to sit down and trip out to...



It's some brand-stinkin' new Ambient-ish goodness from a young Welsh producer who goes by the name of Koreless. But it's definitely not yoga music. This stuff is an exercise in building tension... in a good way! Dig it...

Koreless - Sun (ysi)

SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT THAT BUILDING TENSION?!?!? HOLYSHITINEEDABEER!