Lunch of Champions

Everest…and live jottings from the Fine Line

One of my recent inspirations for new music has been from my friend Duke’s blog about the L.A. music scene. Now I’m not sure if the music scene was quite as strong when I lived there back in the late ’90s or maybe I just wasn’t quite as tuned into the local stuff going on at that time. Anyway, there is a bunch of good rock and pop music coming from there. In particular, I’m really high on the first album from Everest.

The band has been involved in the L.A. scene for quite some time and they just released their debut album on Neil Young’s record label. “Ghost Notes” is an early pick for one of my top albums for 2008. They are going to be on Late Night with Conan later this week and will be playing in the Twin Cities at the Cedar on June 1st. This album is pretty terrific, so help spread the word.

As I mentioned last week, I went to check out Wild Sweet Orange at the Fine Line earlier this week. When WSO took the stage, they fit the bill for roots influenced southern hipster band. (Shaggy doo and facial hair – check. Gibson acoustic w/ capo – check. Band members with mix of scenester clothes and southern formalwear – check.) They sounded pretty tight; my only complaint was that the acoustic guitar was relatively absent from the mix – not the band’s fault. The set consisted of tunes that had some southern influences, but then they also had a strong British feel to their tunes. At times I heard a strong infusion of The Church, Cure and Coldplay in their songwriting. I felt the strongest part of the set was when the first opener act David Ford joined the band on stage for a tune and manned the harmonica.

Considering that, the band wasn’t quite in the southern vein that I was hoping for. Not that that’s a bad thing – they just weren’t my cup of tea. WSO seems aimed at the Cities 97 crowd, and judging by their opening slot for Augustana and the concert-goers at the Fine Line, they’re hitting the right crowd.