After a long week of work, LAist was looking forward to some low-key and mellow tunes at The El Rey to end the week and spend some quality time with an old friend. Maybe we should have been more specific on what we were wishing for. We really enjoy the albums by both Midnight Movies and The El Rey, but they were way mellow. In fact, we ended up needing to find a wall to lean against. Midnight Movies plays low and melodious tunes and their set up was very spooky especially highlighted by the dark and luscious environment of The El Rey Theater. And the place was packed! For a show that might have been better suited at say The Orpheum, fans swayed and cuddled with significant others to the tunes lead singer Gena Olivier’s sang out. All of their songs were not attention grabers, but one that we really like and have put on a Pandora radio station is their upcoming single “Patient Eye.”

The time between their set and Alexi Murdoch was forty minutes. FORTY! For a slow and peaceful night of music, this is a lot. He started off solo and then brought up his band. He seemed, what's the word, exhausted. He gave it his all, but clearly on some nights the travel and the time differences weigh on artists and this was definitely one of those night.

In the end, maybe this was a show we could have listened to in our cars at an overlook with rain pouring on the windshield, but both of these artists are worth seeing and The El Rey is always a winner with us.