I have long been a supporter of The Submarines and was rather happy to find out that they are their song You Me and the Bourgeoisie is playing in the background of the new iphone 3G ads and getting the exposure they deserve. check them out if you haven’t already- they sound as cute as they look and are composed of Blake Hazard and John Dragonetti, a husband and wife duo. I though their debut Declare a New State was wonderful but Honeysuckle Weeks is even better.

You’re probably going to see many more posts about Terra Naomi in the upcoming months seeing as how she is back in Los Angeles and back in my regular concert rotation. If you don’t know who she is, Terra won the 2006 YouTube Award in the music category for her song “Say Its Possible” . In 2007, she left Los Angeles to develop her career in London. She just got back and has booked a 3 gigs in August at Hotel Cafe to debut and test out new material for her upcoming record.

Terra only played four of her usual songs and a slew of “new” tracks. “Suffer For Her Sins” is a track that Terra debuted to YouTube users a few months ago. She closed her set with a cover of Sublime’s “Santeria”, another track that Terra’s YouTube audience may have seen when she was releasing a bunch of covers.

The new songs take Terra back to the roots of her first record and the songs are infused with blues and jazz. I think out of all the songs she played that night, “Suffer For Her Sins” was the most drastic departure in terms of melody and style. Personally, the track has never hooked me in and overall i think it sounds odd. On the other hand, the new version of “Jenny” is stripped down and gone is the overuse of instrumentation and production. Her melodies are the same but the accompanying music fits the song making it so much better than the original.

“What We Do” was played solo and sounds like a missing track off her debut album with trailing vocals and minimal chord changes.
“Everybody Knows” was probably my favorite new song of the night with a beautiful melody structure and great chorus. I don’t quite remember how it goes but it could be to the new record what “new song” was to Under The Influence in terms of the ballad type confession song (just listen to the original solo version). Terra closed off her set with “Santeria” and got the audience singing along. It seemed like they enjoyed a song that was familiar to them. “The Vicodin Song” was chosen by the crowd for the encore. The new version of “Up Here” has lost that ‘umph’ and tinge of feistiness and has cooled to a bluesy pensive ballad. Gone also is her usual Yamaha keyboard that she used to play and in its place is a Nord Electro 2 keyboard. I guess a change in style also calls for a change in instruments.

I can see how the new songs will be quite a change for the listeners that are used to the songs off of Under The Influence. But, i really liked the new stuff. It actually sounds like Terra and not some artificial and overproduced version. Its about time around her vocals take center stage again. But most importantly, ITS GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK TERRA! (im more ways than one).

Official Set List:

Bad Time To Fall In Love
Happy Story
Suffer For Her Sins
Say It’s Possible
What We Do (solo)
Up Here
Everybody Knows (solo)
Jenny
Santeria (Sublime cover)
——————————
The Vicodin Song (solo)

*songs in bold are completely new and haven’t been debuted on YouTube or at the London shows

I first wrote about The Duke Spirit when they played at The Troubadour in May. The best i can describe them is a mix of Heart and Sonic Youth. What’s strange is that they sound very American but are from the UK. This time, Liela Moss and the boys were back and on a more extensive tour of the U.S. Their only Los Angeles date besides the Hammer Museum gig is the Download Festival at the Gibson Amphitheater. So, i decided to make the trek to my hometown and show the Duke Spirit some love. The gig is a part of fm 94.9’s About The Music series which showcases up and coming bands. As a result, the show was completely sold out. The crowd was a lot different than what i expected and very different from the Troubadour show. The crowd was a majority of people in their mid- thirties. I expected more people to know the DS catalog since the local stations have added “Send a Little Love Token” to their rotation.

Fast forward to the show- For the tour, the band added a keyboardist which made the songs more well rounded. But honestly, i didn’t feel that anything was missing when he was absent from the Troubadour gig. Leila Moss is as infectious as ever with her energy. It was during “You Really Wake Up The Love In Me” that i felt a little overwhelmed and astonished at the intensity in which she skirted around the stage pounding on her tambourine, jumping off the drum platform and doing high kicks. The band can cover a range of songs from gritty rock tracks like “Lassoo” to the slower numbers like “Sovereign” and almost shoegazey songs like “Hello To The Floor”. It seems that the Duke Spirit gets better with every show so catch them while the crowds are still small.

Set List:

Send A Little Love Token
Lassoo
Dog Roses
My Sunken Treasure
The Step and the Walk
Into The Fold
Sovereign
Hello To the floor
This Ship Was Built To Last
You Really Wake Up The Love In Me
Red Weather
Love is an Unfamiliar Name
———————————-
Neptune’s Call
Cuts Across The Land

anyone else as disturbed as i am? Sure i expected a cheesy retro look but none of the violence made sense…

Hey friends,

To gear up for the third annual “VH1 Rock Honors” celebrating The Who’s contributions to rock ‘n’ roll, VH1 has once again partnered with LA Weekly for a Who-themed VH1 Rock Honors Weekend, sponsored by Sprint, in Los Angeles, July 10-14. A fantastic calendar of events have been lined up with The Who-themed karaoke nights, rock star art exhibits, tribute band performances, The Who movie screenings and many, many more, not to mention the actual Rock Honors ceremony on July 12 with performances by The Who, Pearl Jam, The Flaming Lips, Foo Fighters and Incubus. Check Rock.VH1.com for more details.

To celebrate the occasion we’ve lined up some special The Who VIP Prize Packs which include:

- The Who commemorative flask

- The Who shot glasses

- VH1 Rock Honors custom t-shirt

- set-of-4 The Who guitar picks.

To enter, please email me at audiotaco[at sign]gmail dot com with your name and address. The contest ends July 31st. I will pick one winner at random.