Three years ago, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah rode an electronic tidal wave of generally glowing reviews to vault toward Indie-rock stardom.

The East Coast quintet sold more than two million copies of its eponymous debut and toured relentlessly for a good chunk of the past couple of years where, somehow, they managed to eek out a new album that is an amalgamation of classic rock, gypsy rock and, of course, their own unique sound.

(Authors note: I know that some say CYHSY is just a rip off of Talking Heads and that lead singer Alec Ounsworth is nothing but a David Byrne impostor, but there is no such thing as originality in music. Everything is a variation on the past and present and, as such, everything is unique. This is not to say that some bands don't suck. Some do. But they suck not because of their thievery, but because their music is altogether crappy. CYHSY just happens to make great, interesting music.)

CYHSY recently embarked on a multi-city, multi-country tour in support of Some Loud Thunder that differed in approach from other tours. Instead of playing to large crowds in larger venues, such as the El Rey- where they played on their last jaunt through LA- the Clapping Hands instead chose to play smaller, more intimate venues, like the Troubadour.

Before last Thursday's show, I sat down with Tyler Sargent, bassist and co-founder of CYHSY.

How does this record differ from the first album?

Someone else recorded it, in a different place and time.

My first take of Some Loud Thunder was that it’s darker than the debut. But, after going back to the first album listening to songs like Details of the War, Thunder seems on par with the first. Is Thunder a darker album?

Yeah, I do think this one sounds grittier, but the songwriting on both are kind of dark. On the first album, some of the songs are immediately catchy, where some of the people don’t realize it’s dark and on the second one, the music can be a bit darker, immediately.

Was the darkness a conscious effort?

No,, not a consciously one. But maybe that kind of thing comes from when bands blow up after their first album; and by that I mean a lot of bullshit. Maybe [this album’s] partly a result of that?

So this album is an exercise in bullshit?

[Haha] Or a response to that.

A rock legend will hit the stage tonight. Matt Sharp the alleged heart of Weezer was with the band for their first two records, the debut "Blue" record, and the initially-overlooked but spotlessly perfect Pinkerton. Since he split ways with the band they've never produced anything as good and everyone knows it.

Sharp's band The Rentals has been around 13 years now and although that music is sweet and cute and poppy and consistently good, it is obvious to anyone keeping it real that it's precisely the missing ingredient of one of the best rock groups of today.

It's almost as if Sharp was the chocolate chips in the Weezer cookie. The cookie is still good without the chips, and the chips are delicious alone, but together there's some crazy magic.

Well, the all chocolate chip majesty of The Rentals can be so sweet that it can give you cavities after a while, what with its swirling Moog synths and angelic female vocals layered behind Sharp's lovesongs, which is why the most recent offering, Last Little Life, was perfect as an EP.

Tonight Sharp brings his band back home. After spending a month-long residency earlier in the summer at Spaceland, The Rentals will rock the spacious confines of the Henry Fonda Music Box tonight.

From singing a Pussycat Dolls song in "Wild Hogs" to playing a hobo on "Friends", Kyle Gass is always ready to jump into character. (He and Jack Black have a little band called Tenacious D too.) Since 2002, Kyle's country-rock band has played over 150 gigs across the country. Trainwreck features lead vocals by J.R Reed and Kyle conducting the craziness with his trusty guitar. If you are looking for a honky tonk party and a good time on Thursday night, head over to The Knitting Factory to experience the wacky world of Trainwreck. LAist tracked down Kyle Gass (and his alter ego Klip Calhoun) to talk about playing guitar, wearing mullets, and riding in Winnebagos.

You have worked in film, TV, music, and theatre. Are you planning to add some modern ballet next?

Well I am an excellent dancer, however it's hard to choreograph for me. So you'll have to catch it when it happens.

photo by Tony Blasko

Former protégé of super producers The Neptunes, Vanessa Marquez has sang alongside big names like Justin Timberlake, Usher and Nelly. Marquez, best known as the female voice on Timberlake's hit single "Rock Your Body" is on her own and looking to make a name for herself. The Rialto native, who takes the stage tonight at the National Orange Show Fairground in San Bernardino opening for Omarion and Marques Houston, took some time out from a studio session to speak with LAist.

Tell us how you got started in music and how you got to where you are right now.
I started recording when I was 13, I was just doing demos because I was too young to know what kind of sound I wanted. I did a lot of demos. Years later, I went out to New York and met an A&R guy who really liked one of my demos. It just so happened that he knew Pharrell Williams. He played Pharrell the demo and he loved it. The thing that really got me though was, Pharrell listened to my demo while working with Justin Timberlake who is one of my favorite artists ever. In high school I always told people, one day I am going to sing a song with him and it happened. After hearing my demo, Justin told Pharrell he wanted to have me on one of his songs. Not long after that I got signed to Arista as a joint venture with Star Trak which is Pharrell and Chad Hugo, the Neptunes' label. Then I underwent my album, I did backup vocals with Bow Wow, Nelly, Usher and of course Justin - I sang on "Rock Your Body" and "I'm Lovin' It" (the McDonald's campaign). I was with Star Trak for about four years. In my last year, Pharrell had this big idea to start a Latin girl group singing R&B and crossing over in Spanish language. I thought it was a great idea but it just didn't work out. When my contract was up, I had the option of staying on with Star Trak but I chose to leave. And now I am here. I get to do whatever I want. I've got some songs lining up here and I'm doing me. I'm writing everything, producing myself as well.

Along that path, what is one of the things you took away from it as far as the music industry goes?
It empowered me to do me. To be stronger as an individual and as an artist. You have to fight for what you want to do. Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be a singer and here I am still singing. Knowing what you want to do and go with it, in the past I used to have producers bring stuff to me, saying here sing this. Now I am like "I like this, let me write something to that, and let me sing this." I now have the freedom to do what it is that makes me, me - Vanessa Marquez.

Artist: Ulrich Schnauss
Album: Goodbye
Label: Domino
Release Date: Summer 2007

I had first heard tracks from Ulrich Schnauss' Far Away Trains Passing By on a bizarre compilation someone handed me back in 2002. Again I heard a couple songs from Schnauss' second release, A Strangely Isolated Place (2004), on yet another compilation. The songs were epic and transformative meanderings through ambient yet driving spaces. Schnauss' current release, Goodbye, takes us down these paths again, yet even more so - Schnauss has learned a lot, his sound is more refined, truely original, and even more inspiring.

Ambient is too vague and wussy a word to use to describe Schnauss' music. Think about My Bloody Valentine doing electronica - except this is a bit misleading since My Bloody Valentine's wall of sound is more like a wall of noise out of which we can barely perceive melody. Schnauss' Goodbye, in contrast, has a wall of sound that is built up layer by perceptible layer and each of these layers move independently and each layer has it's "moment" in each song. This album also has some great vocals and are much more song-like than the more abstract tracks of previous albums. In short, if you are at all receptive to ambient, trance, or even shoegazer rock, try this record out and go check out Schnauss live when he comes to play in LA, Friday, October 5th, at the Troubador in West Hollywood.

Ulrich Schnauss - "Stars":


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