KXSC Fest 2012: Gothic Tropic

Alex Dealy

KXSC welcomes Gothic Tropic to the Fest 2012 lineup!

Prague. Beaches. Butterflies. Sombreros. The little umbrellas that some restaurants put in Shirley Temples. Treehouses. That feeling when you are a better cook than your mom. Hula skirts (not necessarily wearing them but just the idea of a hula skirt). Cool Valentine's day cards. Ring pops. Melted Jolly Ranchers. Malibu. Cat-eye sunglasses. Aquariums filled with clown fish. The Macarena. Water slides that are not located at Hurricane Harbor. Minnie Mouse on vacation. Wooden roller coasters. Fruity frappuccinos. The Baldwin brothers at Coachella. Tabby cats. Black cats. Extremely fluffy cats. '80s dance flicks. Playgrounds. That moment between the moment you trip and the moment you hit the ground. Hypnosis employed to rid a fear of spiders. The spectrum of colors between pink and orange. Marge Simpson's hair on Meryl Streep.

That being said, you should all go listen to Gothic Tropic right now.

Bandcamp // Twitter // Facebook

Join the Facebook event page for KXSC Fest here. 

Food and Music Pairing - Nosaj Thing

SPECIAL KXSC FEST EDITION!

Nosaj Thing - Drift

is best enjoyed with...

Sushi

Nosaj Thing's music is as much about the negative space as it is about the sounds within it. Instead of a continuous stream of information being thrown your way, sparse instrumentation and moments of intense heaviness are the focus. So with eating sushi. You don't shovel it in bite after bite--you take the time to enjoy each morsel, you savor the force behind little bits of wasabi, and you pause and reflect on a food as much about presentation as it is about its few ingredients. (Unless, of course, it's happy hour, but that's a whole 'notha world of food consumption.)

Consider getting sushi to accompany one of our headliners this Saturday at KXSC Fest, or enjoy the selection of incredible food trucks that will also be present. Just make sure you're there. Do you want to be the only one of your friends who misses this amazing, totally free festival? Nigiri, please.

KXSC Fest 2012: Fiore

via fiore

KXSC welcomes Fiore to the Fest 2012 lineup!

One day, you wake up and decide you have to go to the Sequoia National Park. No other forest will do. It must be this one. When you arrive, you walk around in wonder at the beauty that nature has to offer when suddenly, you step on a beehive (I mean, really, you couldn't have avoided that?). After you are stung several times, you break free from the massive swarm that was attacking you and run out of the woods...straight into an ice castle. Which is AWESOME. It's very peaceful and settling and then you decide that the perfect activity in an ice castle of this grandeur is to use your body as a sled and slide right into the bright pile of cherry blossoms aligning the base of the castle. You do so but soon discover that your eyes deceived you. It was not a pile of cherry blossoms but instead a world of neon-colored cotton candy. Oh, and Avey Tare is sitting on a throne of lollipops (he's just stopping by; Ian Brown will be here in a few, OK?). So Avey Tare tells you to follow him and you can't really question the guy, particularly because he is sitting on a throne. You two then fly into a saloon in a ghost town that has actual ghosts. One of the ghosts asks if you could play a benefit concert for them. The concert is meant to raise awareness about the insane inflation issue that has been happening in their county. You, the eager musician trying to make it big in this independent industry, decide that this is an excellent move. The ghost town's concert committee sets up a stage for you in this saloon and you play a sold out show that features your set of calm, dreamy guitar tones and soft vocals that match the sound like a Chevre-and-Chardonnay pairing. Oh, and you whip out a sitar. That's pretty cool. Out of nowhere, your ghost fans shriek and scream and run (or...fly?) around in a panic and disappear. The only member of your audience is a tiny mouse that squeaks and claps for you. Even a whistle. You get down from the stage and eat cheese together.

Then you wake up from this random dream and realize you just experienced the Fiore's music.

Website // Twitter // Tumblr

Join the Facebook event page for KXSC Fest here.

old / new / borrowed / blue: 2

old:  Neil Young "On The Beach"
 
(from 1974's startlingly non-Harvest sounding Harvest follow-up)

new: Willis Earl Beal "Take Me Away"
 
(2012's aspiring genre-polyglot plays loops with the blues)

borrowed: Destroyer "Leave Me Alone"
 
(Destroyer's New Order cover sounds more like Destroyer than NO.  A proper cover borrowed from Mikayla C.)

blue: Joni Mitchell "River"
 
(Nothing sounds quite so Blue) 

Which came first, the music or the bangs?

So I've been listening to the new record from Grimes (AKA Canadian-born keyboardist Claire Boucher).  It's fantastic, but that's not why we're here today.

We're here today to look at bangs, because Ms. Boucher has some serious ones.  In this gripping exposé, I'll provide images of the most iconic bangs in modern music.  For each songstress, I'll also include a track that best encapsulates the haircut's artistic influence, a song that will make you say, "Wow, for better or worse, this musician has some prominent bangs."  We'll call this the BANGSIEST TRACK.  It'll serve as a great aural accompaniment to your mesmerized gazing. 

As the article comes to a close, you'll be left pondering an eternal question: does great music beget great bangs, or do great bangs beget great music?

GRIMES

BANGSIEST TRACK: Nightmusic (feat. Majical Cloudz)

FEIST

BANGSIEST TRACK: Sealion

ALEXIS KRAUSS (SLEIGH BELLS)

BANGSIEST TRACK: Treats

BJÖRK (at some point)

BANGSIEST TRACK: Birthday (with The Sugarcubes)

FRANK ZAPPA

BANGSIEST TRACK: Po-Jama People

Robot's Roundup

What you should be listening to:

Mikal Cronin Tide 7"

Everybody loves wicked garage fuzz surf rock (this is not a real genre; these are just words that scream MIKAL CRONIN)! Listen to it when you're feeling super Californian.

What you should be watching:

If you have been missing Tobias Fünke, here are two minutes and eleven seconds of his glory.

Where you should be:

via tourificescapes

Please avoid the overpopulated "Oh today is such a beautiful day! Let's go somewhere!" places like Runyon Canyon, the Griffith Park Observatory, most beaches in Santa Monica, and the Grove this lovely President's Day weekend. We want to keep you alive and well so you can enjoy KXSC Fest this Friday.

What you should know:

This is a thing that exists in the world.