For even the most die-hard aficionado of the fertile L.A. live music scene, this year’s edition of the Eagle Rock Music Festival is a wily sonic monster. The fest will boast close to 60 area acts on 16 stages over the course of a scant seven hours, turning Colorado Boulevard into a thoroughfare of new and emerging sounds from our fair city.
While the festival isn’t entirely of the indie-rock persuasion (everything from neoclassical Indian world jazz to classic gospel is on the bill), denizens of local proving grounds like Pehrspace and the Smell will have plenty to shout about during this daylong extravaganza. Here are a few of the musical highlights on tap for the festival. Did we mention it’s free?
Abe Vigoda
No-wave meets melody when this shambolic band out of Chino brings its artful cacophony to the stage. Imagine Vampire Weekend on a bad acid trip being mugged behind the Drawing Room by Eastside thugs and you’re getting close. A new favorite of DJ hero Diplo, A.V. are part of his current Mad Decent tour alongside Boy 8-Bit and Telepathe. This band is kind of amazing.
Crystal Antlers
Perhaps you’ve heard the legend of their live show, an orgy of psychedelic sex rock with a double helping of freaky funk on the side starring the percussion pimp known only as Sexual Chocolate. These guys bring it so righteously and have such good karma that when their van full of vintage gear was stolen, it was found a few days later with all their instruments intact. Crystal Antlers recently signed to legendary indie label Touch and Go, and their self-titled EP is out now.
Earlimart
Dreamy Eastside indie rock abounds when Earlimart are in the house. They're kind of like the low-key grad school cousins of Airborne Toxic Event, and their gloriously sunny tunes make them one of the city’s best bands still flying below the radar. Hopefully, the fully realized songs on the band’s new release, “Hymn and Her,” will change all that.
The Parson Red Heads
This impossibly pretty gang of California love and harmony plays like Brian Wilson never lost his mind and instead spawned a new generation of composers to finish his teenage symphonies to God. Their fantastic version of Herman’s Hermits’ “I’m Into Something Good” sounds like their left-field hit just waiting to happen. Get iTunes on the horn, stat!
Le Switch
Prepare for a folksy good time when this goodtime gang hits the spot. Akin to Wilco rewriting random Beatles songs and covering the Band, Le Switch make songs that feel instantly familiar the first time you hear them. Some call it Americana, we just call it great. This stuff is infectious, so don’t be surprised if even little kids are bopping to their set.
Mika Miko
Now that their pals No Age have graduated to blog-buzz notoriety and their unofficial home base of the Smell has been profiled in the New York Times, the ladies of noise-punk outfit Mika Miko are in pole position to have overeager journalists sniffing around their shows any day now. They’re destined for Rolling Stone’s “Bands to Watch” list in a year or three.
The Eagle Rock Music Festival hits Colorado Blvd. on Sat., Oct. 4.
Scott T. Sterling is Music editor for Metromix Los Angeles.
