Final Show of "Also I Like To Rock" @ The Hammer
Photo via Midnight Movies' website
I managed to make it to the very last Also I Like To Rock event at the Hammer Museum last night in Westwood. But my camera died when we got there. Despite rumors that there would be a massive line to get in and no parking, showing up at 7:30 yielded a nice un-metered spot on Wilshire about a block away, and plenty of time to go to an ATM (the bar was cash only) and make a Pinkberry stop. (They even let us bring it in.) There was a nice casual atmosphere about the whole thing; the courtyard at the museum remained just pleasantly crowded for the Seawolf set, which started about a half hour late, and people were milling about cheerfully.
If you're an old Irving fan, it's still disconcerting to see cute but unflaggingly serious Alex Church up front and head of the whole she-bang, but he does a good job. "I Made A Resolution" seems a bit too much of a Johnny Cash-meets-Willie Nelson attempt, but is still a pretty good song, and "Black Dirt" was stuck in my head for ages after I picked up that version of the Indie 103.1 sampler at a Viper Room show awhile back. The single "You're A Wolf", certainly the best on Get To The River Before It Runs Too Low, brought cheers from the crowd, but at that point, I was upstairs on the 103.1 VIP balcony, due to a couple new friends, one of which is still trying to live down his on-air reference to Jethro Tull as a "he".
"Mr. Shovel" was running around as well, but there was no one else I recognized.
Up there, we got a full bar, not just the beer and wine bar below, (I like my gin), but we could only just see the bands if you leaned down over the railing or peered between the bars. So this is how I saw Midnight Movies, unfortunately, but I was still impressed enough to buy the album. I had recently fallen in love with the song "Souvenirs" on their myspace (model-esque lead singer Gena Oliver has that hypnotic Nico voice), so I was looking forward to hearing it live. I had also caught sight of the four of them earlier, hanging out around the staircase, looking very calm and even a bit ethereal. They're almost too good-looking; it's a little unnerving.
The crowd swelled to cover the entire courtyard without my even noticing, as I watched the band members switch up on the instruments, filling the air with their moody, shoegazey sound. Aside from "Souvenir", the album Lion The Girl can almost just slip into the background if you aren't paying too much attention, so make sure you're focused when you put it on. But "Hide Away" also has good energy and a nice melody line, and over all, there's a pleasant hypnotism that kind of wraps around you. I left the show a little sleepy, but not for long - some ill-timed median sprinklers got us as we were getting into the car to head home.