TAG: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros; los angeles

Dec21

Best of ’09: Indie Heart & Electro Beat (Areti)

Kiss 2009 Goodbye: Highlights through the Lens of Music 

I played Drake’s “Best I Ever Had” in groups of six, saw Wilco back-to-back at The Wiltern, put my right-hand high with Kid Sister, blew a kiss to Ben Gibbard as Hollywood Bowl exploded with fireworks, chilled with A Place to Bury Strangers, worked-out to Miike Snow, beatboxed with Matis, moved to Silver Lake, boogied down at Nightmares on Wax, got blinded by Mandy’s rock, took my clothes off at Phoenix…

Dec18

Live Review – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros @ The Mayan

It was a spectacle on par with the religious revivalism of the Second Great Awakening. Frontman Alex Ebert of the ten-piece folk-rock outfit Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros was like the Messiah preaching to the sold-out audience at downtown L.A.’s The Mayan Theater;  I felt like the only non-believer in the joint. I enjoyed the band’s debut LP Up From Below, but seeing the live gig registered as gimmicky and brought to life some of the lyrical corniness that I try to overlook in listening to their album. While the floor quaked in the opening bars of the breakout single, “Home,” I was appalled by the hillbilly twang at the first line: “Alabama Arkansas I do Love my Ma and Pa,” as Ebert pranced around. I wanted to have the time of my life and recommend the show, but I could not wait to get out of there.

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