This Friday is a chance to reenact your Joseph Gordon Levitt fantasies. Not the Inception ones-the Temper Trap, a.k.a. the band that first got wider attention due to (500) Days of Summer and then did the Diet Coke ad with “Sweet Disposition,” are still on a mission–will an Australian band get ahead again in this country? (Trust us, there was a while there when said nation would send us bands in droves, often very good ones.)
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Saturday, Oct. 23
Saturday features the return of Azure Ray to town, as part of their return to recorded and live work in general. Back when everyone was going on about the Faint and whether or not Conor Oberst was at the risk of selling out (or at least, it seemed like everyone was going on about that), their Saddle Creek label mates were gaining their own credit for their own winningly sung-and-performed efforts that a suspicious number of acts since seem to be “inspired” by. So why not a return to set things straight? There's also the new album–Drawing Down the Moon–to investigate.
Saturday is also a logical night to see a band named the Glasgow Tiki Shakers. Some names just sell themselves. The fact that they're appearing at Don the Beachcomber in Huntington Beach just makes even more sense. If the three-piece act aren't out to constantly stun you with the kind of insane hyperactivity that defined what Dick Dale was up to, it's because they balance out the flash with a more languid, sweet-sounding approach. It's music to relax with as much as it's perfect to plan your next surf outing to.
Sunday, Oct. 24
Sunday finds Oh Girl!, recently given a nod in our Best of OC issue and our featured Locals Only artist in this week's music section, playing at Clancy's in Long Beach. It's part of their bid to conquer the world. Besides being thoroughly open about their love for acts like the Foo Fighters, Weezer and just about anything else of recent years that can be called loud, hooky and possessing guitars, there's no messing around with their self-description on Myspace: “Indie/Rock.” Hurrah for simplicities in these times.
