Soundcheck: The Movies and Eagle & Talon @ Spaceland, 12/1/08

The Movies
Part of an ongoing series.

NOTE: Since Soundcheck started in January with The Airborne Toxic Event's month-long residency at Spaceland, it seems befitting to bookend 2008 at the same venue with the critically-acclaimed The Movies.

Last Monday, local indie band The Movies (MySpace) kicked off the first night of their month-long residency at Spaceland (MySpace) in Silver Lake, with support from the Austin-based The Lemurs (MySpace) as well as locals Eagle & Talon (MySpace) and Wrong Way Driver (MySpace).

As described by Travis Woods at Web In Front, "The Movies' first performance of their December residency was similar in spirit to, say, a box set by a lost and treasured band from out of time: the setlist was heavily comprised of older, more obscure tracks -- leaving the diehards howling and the newbies grinning and nodding -- peppered with the more accessible 'hits' everyone knew, like 'Missed Opportunities' and 'Rock in the Slingshot' -- which left everyone howling." Meanwhile, Mouse at Classical Geek Theatre reported that "Spaceland was a better place after The Movies' set than before it. At first there were only glimmers of their greatness, then slices. The whole pie comes later. You can't kick-off your residency with your very best effort; there would be no reason to come back, nothing left to see. The Movies provided plenty of reasons to come back."

Tonight, The Movies continue their residency, with support from Fresno-based Rademacher (MySpace) as well as frontwoman Sarah Negahdari doing an acoustic set with her Happy Hollows (MySpace) bandmates as the Sad Solids, and Vibe Slayer (MySpace). As The Movies blogged last Friday, "Our new CD 'Based on a True Story' will be for sale [tonight] -- complete with a nice package. Who doesn't love a nice package?" Joshua Pressman reviewed the album three months ago, saying it "...is a dazzling synth-heavy testament to, what has proved to be, an interminable reign over the fringe. There's certainly no rhyme or reason, but their songs speak to you on a very fundamental level."

Meanwhile, Eagle & Talon's upcoming local shows are on December 14th at Edgar Varela Fine Arts (MySpace) in Downtown LA, and January 11th at Que Sera (MySpace) in Long Beach.