ELLIE GOULDING @ THE ROXY

By Austin Jones

One word: Inspiring!

The crowd was singing along during every song, and gave a thunderous applause after each one. The experience completely took me by surprise, as I would never have guessed that Ellie Goulding had such incredible fans thousands of miles from her London home. Even with tons of star-struck fans, Ellie kept a humble demeanor which made everyone love her even more.

Elena Jane Goulding is a 24 year-old British singer-songwriter who has been touring for 2 years. With the help of production wiz Starsmith, she dropped her debut single “Under the Sheets” last year and her full length album Lights in March earlier this year.

Ellie received lots of acclaim by winning Brits ‘Critics Choice’ Award, which puts her in the ranks with Adele and Florence + the Machine. She has enjoyed success on the top of British music charts ever since. Once America catches on, ticket sales will no longer be $13 to see her at an intimate venue! So look out for Ellie Goulding in a big way very soon. We have no doubt that she will breakthrough to the mainstream in the States while never losing her humility and charming personality.

Big thanks to For The Win! Media (www.forthewinmedia.com) for putting together such an incredible performance.

Check out a few of her tracks below, pick up the album and make sure to see Ellie Goulding live!

Ellie Goulding – Under the Sheets

Ellie Goulding – Starry Eyed

Ellie Goulding ft. Theophilus London – Starry Eyed (Penguin Prison Remix)

DIPLO & FRIENDS @ EL CID

Silverlake Mexican restaurant El Cid hosts some pretty sick parties every now and then (we covered the Moullinex/ Futurecop! show there a few months ago), but this Friday might have taken the cake. DJ Superstar Diplo was the surprise guest, and his Major Lazer pals Switch and Skerritt Bwoy were in the house as well, Skerrit Bwoy even jumped on stage to perform his pattented crowd hyping. Abe Vigoda and Paul Devro were also on the jam-packed bill. I heard Pauly D (I’m sure he doesn’t want me calling him that) drop a track that I have been hearing a lot over the past few months, and I ran on stage to see what he was playing. It was Opulent Sound’s “Stickin.” So, everyone who downloads the track, YOUR WELCOME! You don’t have to search the internets or stalk DJ’s to find it like I did.

Anyway the night was crazy and the freaks were out to play. Check the PARTY PICS to see how crazy the girls were getting for Diplo’s set.

Opulent Sound – Stickin (Moombahton Edit)

Lomandra Crew – Opulent Sound Remix

UPCOMING CONCERTS: LOS ANGELES

Thursday 9.23 – Easy Star All Stars @ The Roxy

These are some of the finest reggae artists in the world with 2 massively successful cover albums: Dub Side of the Moon (which spent over 5 years on Billboard’s Top Reggae Chart and Reggae Catalog Chart) and Radiodread, a cover of Radiohead’s OK Computer which received lots of praise from Radiohead themselves. Their music has taken them all over the world, picking up die-hard fans everywhere they go. These guys are true legends, so don’t sleep on your chance to see them tonight! It will be much more chill than Muse and Passion Pit at the Honda Center…we promise.

Friday – Kill the Noise @ Avalon

Saturday – Wet Electric @ Wild Rivers

Sunday – Abbot Kinney Street Fair then Vampire Weekend and Beach House @ The Bowl

Monday – Black Keys @ Palladium

Tuesday – Ellie Goulding @ The Roxy

Tracks:

Easy Star All Stars – Money (The Alchemist Remix)

Cas Haley – Better

MARINA & THE DIAMONDS w/ YOUNG THE GIANT @ THE EL REY

By Austin Jones

The performance at the El Rey in Hollywood last Friday night started off with a great opening act — Young the Giant. If you haven’t checked these guys out, make sure you do. Their catchy songwriting, ascending melodic tones and cohesive energy on stage won over a crowd that was primarily there for Marina & the Diamonds. The night crescendo-ed with their hit songs “My Body” and “I Got” proving that front man Sameer Gadhia is a true rock star. This young band (all in their early 20s) is sure to be headlining sold out shows in the not-to-distant future, so get in before the crowd!

Marina’s performance was nothing short of true art. She captivated “the diamonds” (how she refers to the audience) through beautifully passionate vocals and dramatic stage lighting. Although Marina can be categorized as pop music, we would argue that she is a refreshing alternative to pop. According to The Guardian‘s Paul Lester, “her songs are hard to fathom. They veer between simple keyboards-based ballads and more upbeat and catchy, quirky new wave-inflected numbers enhanced by bass, guitar and drums.”

Take a look at the PARTY PICS to get an idea of the night

Special thanks the Press Here Publicity (www.presshere.com) and the El Rey Theater for another great performance!

Marina & The Diamonds – Seventeen

Marina & The Diamonds – I Am Not a Robot (The Aspirins for My Children Remix)

Marina & The Diamonds – I Am Not a Robot (Fool’s Gold Remix)

Young the Giant – I Got

Young the Giant – My Body

MIAMI HORROR @ THE CENTRAL

Saturday was a pretty strange night. I went to SANTA MONICA of all places to see Australian dance duo Miami Horror. To my surprise Miami Horror had exchanged their turntables for real instruments. The result was a live show that still got the crowd dancing like mad people. Look at lead singer Josh Moriarty (pictured above) unbuttoning his sweaty shirt for all the ladies in the house. I have a ton of respect for DJ’s and Producers who can actually get on stage and play rock star for the night. It really proves how talented these guys are. If you’re unfamiliar with Miami Horror, they have been killing it in the blog world for a few years now because of their impressive remixes. They started releasing some original material as demos a couple years ago and finally released their debut full length album Illumination last month. We’ve been jocking these guys on GB for a while and after their recent success and exposure it looks like this “blog” band is gonna be around for a while.

And a special thanks to the Guns in the Sun/ Crap Eyewear crew for once again bringing some quality dance shows to the Westside.

CLICK HERE FOR PICS

Grafton Primary – I Can Cook (Miami Horror Remix)

MAJOR LAZER @ AVALON

by Austin Jones

The cartoon Jamaican commando group Major Lazer came to Avalon in Hollywood last Friday night disguised as a white American and a white Brit spinning dancehall music. If you don’t know the backstory to this group, Diplo and Switch created a Militant Jamaican sergeant who got his arms ripped off in the secret Zombie War of the mid ’80s. Shortly after, the U.S. military gave him prosthetic lasers as replacement limbs. The reason for creating this backstory might be nothing more than creating awesome cover art for the Major Lazer project and its first LP, Guns Don’t Kill People– Lazers Do.

Major Lazer’s sound can best be described as a supersoaked blend of disco, Afropop, hIp-hop, dancehall, electro and reggae. Before questioning the authenticity of Major Lazer’s sound, know that Diplo and Switch have sought out some legit Jamaican singers for the record and tour: Turbulence, Vybz Kartel, Mr. Vegas, T.O.K., Ms. Thing,  Mr. Lexx, and more.

The killer songs of the performance were definitely “Pon de Floor” and the Gyptian remix “Hold Yuh.” These guys throw an insane fucking party which climaxed when they invited all the girls on stage for some serious dry humping action. Wobbly Hs galore.

Big thanks to Avalon in Hollywood for being such a sick venue.

Check out the party pics to see the mayhem go down.

Major Lazer – Bruk Out (Buraka Som Sistema Remix)

Major Lazer – Jump Up (Thom Yorke Remix)

Gyptian – Hold Yuh (Major Lazer Remix)

CLAUSE FOUR

Recently I was listening to my favorite radio station KCRW and heard a track that sounded a lot like Zhane’s “Hey Mr. DJ”, but it was an instrumental that had somewhat of a funky twist. I thought it might be the original track that Zhane sampled, but instead it turned out to be the new production “Original Wackoff” from UK electronica act Clause Four. Clause Four just released his “Be the One” EP on his new label Modern Soul and it’s 5 tracks of hot soul samples and original electronica production. Electronica soul is a mixture of two of my favorite genres but it has yet to become a very popular genre on its own. Even though Dilla passed away over four years ago, he is still the biggest name in the game. I’m definitely not crowning Clause Four the predecessor to Dilla’s crown, but it is great to see someone carrying on the tradition of groovy soul samples and edits over bouncy Electronica beats.

**And speaking of Electronica Soul, I will doing my best J Dilla impersonation this Friday at Glow Bar in Marina Del Rey, CA tomorrow night at 10PM. Come support your boy**