It’s been a music-filled week in LA. Shortly following our first gig at the troubadour we had the privilege of attending two other excellent shows there: Barcelona and Elizabeth & The Catapult.

Barcelona

Cam’s fellow Seattle-ites Barcelona played on August 10th. To me, their sound is reminiscent of Coldplay but with a bit more oomph. Brian, the singer, also plays keys and along with guitarist Chris creates Sigur Ros-like soundscapes which makes their take on pop/rock original and fun to listen to, both live and on the record. Add to this an energetic and excited drummer named Rhett and you’ve got yourself a kick-ass show. They played a lot of material from their album Absolutes (Universal Motown) and even treated us to an acoustic encore, after apologizing for not knowing any more material! Barcelona are also very friendly and we spent some time with them after the show talking about being in a band, touring, the state of the music industry, favorite beer, etc.  Shaimus likes them… Please give them a listen!

Elizabeth & The Catapult

Our friends from Boston Elizabeth & The Catapult also put on a Troubadour show on August 6th. They played a lot of material from their record Taller Children (Verve), a Tom Waits cover (which Elizabeth called the inspiration for their whole tour) and some new material I hadn’t heard before. Elizabeth (the singer) and her band (The Catapult) are phenomenal performers, and it was great to see them play live again. Taller Children is one of my favorite records to come out this year, so please give it a listen, it’s fantastic!

Elizabeth & The Catapult plus Phil (photo by Winnie Jaing)

As an added bonus, Phil and I got to attend a party at the Andaz Hotel (also known as the Riot House!) on August 13th. Rolling Stone threw the party with a variety of other sponsors, one being Catapult’s record label, Verve. EZ & C treated the party goers to a one-hour set, and Phil joined them on trumpet for 2-3 songs (that’s why he’s on stage in the picture above!).  I was tasked with mixing the live performance itself, and when I wasn’t concerning myself with whether the vocal was loud enough or the acoustic guitar was coming through in a pleasant way, I really enjoyed their show!  I got to hear songs they didn’t have time to play at the Troubadour, so all in all it was a great success. Free food, open bar, and general Hollywood schmoozing helped too.

Many more to come.
–Johannes