Last March I recommended Echo Park dance troupe/electrosiezure We Are The World as a band “You Should Know” and really, this recommendation is for your own good if you feel that music needs an artistic boost removed from the cult of celebrity currently seized ahold of iTunes. Finally the Echo Park quarted have made a hauntingly spectacular video for standout track “Clay Stones” in anticipation of their first release, a single of the song available today via IAMSOUND (still saying pre-sale). The Vinyl will be out 2/23 on Manimal.

And as I’ve said before if you get the chance to catch their kenetic live show (of which they play very few) consider yourself very lucky. Their myspace page indicates an upcoming February residency here in Los Angeles but a venue has yet to be revealed. Rest assured I will be making as many trips to Silverlake/Echo Park this month as necessary.

The theme of the party was controversy. Of course there was a guy there with a bloody rubber glove and a coat hanger but the costume that impressed me was this boxy airplane flying into both flaming towers of the World Trade Center. These girls have balls as well as skills to wear these costumes. This party was on Devil’s Night; they told me they had a different costume for Halloween, one a bit less offensive. But they didn’t tell me what. Not much really offends me anyway…besides Kirk Cameron.

Do you think those girls feel bombed? I think PBR was an inside job.

After the masked and suspendored band members had broken through the fabric finish line of their set and screamed their name, the first words out of my mouth were, “Holy Fucking Shit”.

I haven’t been knocked on my ass by a band like that in a long time (Aside from the equally high-waisted Janelle Monae, I’d be embarrassed to tell you whom else). Did I say band? I think that as of right now, that term is no longer relevant. As of tonight I don’t think I ever want to be in another band ever again.

Echo Park’s We Are The World opened the show tonight at The Viper Room and instantly won over the WeHo/Echo hybrid crowd with their blend of throbbing electronic beats, performance art intensity and high energy choreography. Yes, choreography. The hats came straight from Fosse, the bold graphic lycra masks from Grace Jones, the vocals strong and striking like Laurie Anderson or Annie Lennox. Aesthetically, they are like The Locust for theater students. A few in the audience came with an idea of what to expect and the rest of the crowd will probably need a bit of time to absorb what they’ve seen tonight. I’m not sure I know myself, but I want more.

The 4-piece WATW’s Live Setup is largely backing tracks playing through a Mac connected to midi drumpads. The lead singer was masked as she commanded the stage and had piercingly beautiful eyes. The drumming was tight and made creative use of the palette of live sounds available to the band’s sole instrumentalist. The Two backing vocalists/dancers were in constant, voracious motion and altogether it was like watching an engine move in precision.

We Are The World get a 9.5/10. Avant garde and brilliant, this is the line that art shares with  music.

Thanks to the Viper Room for the guest access. Add them to your Twitter @ twitter.com/TheViperRoom

I was hanging around with some folks in Echo Park the day after Thanksgiving and the occasion came up that someone needed to cut something random like a stray piece of string on someones shirt. Just then a few people offered their pocket knives. And when they put them away I noticed they all had the same thing: A small pocket knife with a metal handle and a locking 3½” inch blade in the front pocket of their jeans. Since then I’ve started noticing a lot of people (especially on the eastside) with a little silver clip on the outside of their dominant hand side jeans pocket.

I know this is the big city and things can be kinda Skeksis around here but is the knife for protection, for it’s many utilitarian functions or because everyone else has one? I just took a mental inventory of my living areas and as it ends up, I have a lot of knives just laying around. I cook, so I have a few in my kitchen, a few xacto knives for many incomplete art projects, a couple utility knives in a drawer and my toolbox and pretty big knife I keep in my car… just in case. So I guess it makes sense to just have one on you at all times.

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I haven’t done a food post in a while. So after seeing Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s in the far away land of Echo Park tonight (Thanks for the ride back Shawn, Ollie and Brad) I made it back to Hollywood to catch a rare acoustic performance by The Used. And after a drinking a couple PBR’s at a nearby party to forget that last event I stopped by a hotdog purveyor just north of cherokee (or some shit) to be sure to try every shitty hot dog vendor in Hollywood. I tried arab Jay’s Hot Dog tonight and they don’t even come close to the little latino ladies’ wieners. And it took forever! So now you know. Or just go to Pink’s. At 3am its not that long of a line as the bar rush will have died down.

Or just drink a glass of water and go the fuck to bed like you probably should.

3 Reviews, Photos and a Contest coming in the next couple days.

intr0vertZero (11:54:59 PM): in echo park it smells like tijuana, in chinatown its all fishy, is that what Bangkok smells like?
Sxxxxxxxxxx (12:11:57 AM): Yes
Sxxxxxxxxxx (12:12:04 AM): it’s all the vaginas
Sxxxxxxxxxx (12:12:16 AM): that are for sale
intr0vertZero (12:28:09 AM): like prostitutes or do they eat those too?