I've Got No Excuse I've Been Here Since My Youth, but What About You?

Surely there hasn't been too much going on for me to take the two or so minutes that it would require to listen to a newly posted song from my favorite local band? Surely I wouldn't let several days go by before a Myspace bulliten found me at just the right place and time to actually listen to said song? Um, er...

No bother though. I've heard the latest offering from The Tartans entitled "Your Favorite Song" enough times today to make up for the several previous days that I missed it. The intro is soulful in true indiepop soul fashion, it will certainly sit easily next to those Postcard era Orange Juice singles that might reside in your collection. If such things do reside in your collection then, wow you are incredibly lucky. You can (and should) listen to "Your Favorite Song" here.

The song will show up on a 7" to be released very soon by the YAY! label. You can (and should) pre-order your copy here. The A side of the single will be "Cats of Camerford" with some snazzy new trumpet work. The B side will be "1939" b/w "Your Favorite Song" which I believe up until now you could only hear if you made it out to a show.

Speaking of which, the Tartans will be playing Mr. T's Bowl on Sunday. Be sure to make it out for that one, an prepare to be simultaneously charmed and wowed beyond anything that you could imagine could possibly exist here in Los Angeles.


~sqg marion

I Wonder What You Dream About...

At the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy, I dream about pop nights like the one that we were able to put together last night at The Scene. This one was quite near and dear to my heart as I was finally able to book two of my very favorite local (well one local, one almost local) iniepop bands The Tartans, and Maria. I know I talk about the Tartans and Maria ad nauseum around these parts, but I really can't stress enough how amazing these two bands are. Last night they were able to wow me even further. I'll never understand how bands are able to do this, but I will not question it. Murder Mystery drove to us all the way from New York (making a few stops along the way of course,) and were a tremendous amount of fun. They won more than a few new fans, and considerably upped the squaregirls' pre- existing considerable fandom. They also (in what I can only hope will be a new Sunday night tradition) covered an Orange Juice song. This time around it was "Poor Old Soul." Swoon. As for my contribution to the evening, I will never get past the giddy feeling that comes from playing Black Tambourine, Pop Will Eat Itself, The June Brides, etc. to people who get just as excited about hearing Black Tambourine, Pop Will Eat Itself, the June Brides, etc. played loudly through club speakers as I do. I'm always surprised to find that these people exist in Los Angeles, but well, I'm simply thrilled (honey) that they do. And Brian from the Tartans rocked it so hard during his guest DJ set, I'm not actually sure that I'm worthy to so much as speak to him again until my own skills in that department improve drastically. As always, we could not possibly be any more grateful to everyone who came out, and enjoyed the bands with us. You seriously made our month!

I've got a lot of work to catch up on today, so I won't have time to post the full concert rundown for the week until tomorrow. Here are the options for tonight (Monday,) and boy are there options...

The Karabal Nightlife, Kissing Cousins, & Sonadora at Bordello

Vampire Weekend at Amoeba Music

Henry Clay People, Coco B’s, Le Switch, & The Natural Disasters at The Echo

The Lynx Technique; Names in Vain; Jim, Son of James, & Johnny Mack at The Scene

Robert Francis, Jesse Denatale, & Dan Cranes at The Silver Lake Lounge

Icarus Line at The Viper Room

Hot Chip at The El Rey

KCRW Presents Rickie Lee Jones at Echoplex

Pinhead Gunpowder at The Troubadour

Sean Carnage Presents Foot Village, Carla Bozulich, Sonelle, Barry Conley, & Jeff Boynton at Pehrspace

The Pity Party, The Happy Hollows, Light FM, & Rademacher at Spaceland


It seems like there is something for nearly everyone tonight. If you happen to be planning to stop by Amoeba on your way home to buy some records resign yourself to parking far away, and fighting through a crowd. If you happen to be stopping by Amoeba on your way home from work to see Vampire Weekend, well resign yourself to parking far away and fighting through a crowd, but get there early so you'll be able to see! I've heard a lot of really good things about the Karabul Night Life's show they're at Bordello which is a nice place to spend some time, insane construction surrounding the general area aside. It's always possible to catch Rademacher and The Happy Hollows at Spaceland, then dash over to the Echo for the first night of The Henry Clay People's residency where Le Switch play as well. No my current jangle pop drunkenness has not made me forget my rock crush on Le Switch. Of course if venue hopping seems to daunting for you I should point out that The Natural Disasters are a lot of fun, and they join the Henry Clays, and Le Switch... It's also the first night of the Rickie Lee Jones residency at the Echoplex. Those shows are bound to be impressive.

Meet the Tartans!

A recent visit to Rock Insider where Jax was wondering why more L.A. music blogs weren't talking about No Age got me to wondering why more L.A. music blogs aren't talking about The Tartans. Granted they haven't yet released so much as a single (their first is set for sometime this year on the ultra fab YAY! label,) and their live shows are kind of sporadic. However, anyone who has seen them play live will surely attest to the fact that they are a band that deserves some serious attention. They use their nifty array of instruments (12 and 6 string guitars, rickenbacker bass, drums, keys, glockenspiel!, melodica!) to create charming, catchy, and perfectly classic sounding indiepop songs (I love accidental alliteration!) I can't imagine walking away from one of their shows feeling anything less than thrilled over the fact that there is a pop band this GOOD right in our own back yard so to speak. Do make your way over to their Myspace page as soon as you possibly can to have a taste of their seriously addictive songs.