Amoeba
The Death Of The Record Store? Is It Really A Thing?
With 56 independent record stores in Los Angeles, I certainly feel lucky
Amoeba Needs Our Help To Survive The Coronavirus Crisis
I have a long love story with Amoeba
Orville Peck At Amoeba, Monday August 12th 2019
‘That’s right unless you didn’t know, I am a cowboy!’
Oldies But Goldies: Chicano Batman At Amoeba, Friday August 10th 2012
it sounds like a forgotten cartoon superhero
Oldies But Goldies: Patti Smith At Amoeba, Thursday October 11th 2012
Patti Smith has an upcoming intimate concert at the Teragram Ballroom
Ryan Adams At Amoeba, Wednesday February 22nd 2017
‘This is your place man’
Froth At Amoeba, Tuesday February 21st 2017
melancholic shoegazers
A Few Degrees Of Separation From Famedom
does this give me some star power?
Can Weed Save The Dying Record Store?
‘With marijuana, everything has gotten better’
The Lemon Twigs At Amoeba, Thursday October 13th 2015
is it possible to hear in one song The Beatles, Queens and Bowie ?
Don’t Believe The Rumor, Amoeba Music Is Not Leaving Hollywood
‘We’re going to remain in our building for the duration of our lease which is several years’
The Bluffs At Amoeba, Thursday April 7th 2016
Indie garage rock is quite a wide umbrella, but the Bluffs have developed a very busy one
Miranda Lee Richards At Amoeba, Tuesday February 23rd 2016 Reviewed
‘So much of our experience lies within the realm of the subconscious, influencing our outer realities,’
Saul Williams At Amoeba, Wednesday January 27th 2016
It was an adventurous sonic amalgam and he was triumphing at each song, mixing the digital with the tribal.
Michelle Phillips Signing At Amoeba, Tuesday January 19th 2016
Michelle may be a legend but she was acting like the sweetest legend ever
Oldies But Goldies: Anderson .Paak At Amoeba, Tuesday February 3rd 2015
Is Anderson. Paak on his way to stardom?
GospelbeacH At Amoeba, Tuesday October 20th 2015 Review
So all this could be a modernized version of the Laurel-canyon famous sound, with more guitars, more harmonies and even a Latino flavor in the guitar-filled chorus of ‘Come Down, as if the Eagles had a child with Santana…
The one and only PPL MVR At Amoeba, Wednesday October 14th 2015 Review
The one and only PPL MVR explores myth and mystery through hefty guitar riffs and transmogrified vocals. They venture outside the selfie-obsessed waters we all willingly swim in to find solace in ritual and our pure animalistic nature.
Peaches At Amoeba, Tuesday September 29th 2015 Review
Peaches basically rapped all set long, I mean all-three-song-long, over some very minimalist bass-heavy electronic drone, and that was great because you could almost get all her lyrics, which were all about pussy, dick and vagina.
Gary Clark Jr. At Amoeba, Wednesday September 23rd 2015
Clark and his musicians came on stage at least 15 minutes late, but the crowd could not have cared less, everyone around me got very enthusiastic when the band started to play loud songs, the type of songs with long tearing guitar solos, that make people applause several times during the same song.
Diva At Amoeba, Tuesday September 8th 2015 Review
On stage, five women covered with pastel-colored veils were sort of entering in a yoga transcendental meditation, reciting a new age-y discourse about opening our minds and receiving a waterfall, some esoteric stuff they were taking very seriously,… like opening our feet into the earth to channel infinite love?… they were surrounded by flowers and I was wondering, when do they really start the show?
Family Of The Year At Amoeba, Tuesday September 1st 2015 Review
In particular their song ‘Hero’ was used in the critically acclaimed movie ‘Boyhood’ by Richard Linklater. How could you escape this one? Even if you haven’t seen ‘Boyhood’, you probably caught the trailer also featuring the song, and the single peaked at #12 on the Billboard Alternative songs Chart, and #1 on the Triple A Top 30 Radio Chart and Top 15 at Alternative Radio!
OOFJ At Amoeba, Thursday July 23rd 2015 Review
The electronic duo is also a romantic duo, and their complicity was real live, her sensual lament, closer to sadness than simple melancholia, was haunting his desolated compositions, which were part electronic, part symphonic, sometimes even grand, with very emotional synthetic strings, an omnipresent bass-like sound and an occasional horn, sax or trumpet that he was playing with real instruments, recording loops and making them fade away with some computer manipulation.
Holychild At Amoeba, Thursday June 11th 2015 Review
Their sound is pop explosive, bouncy and hard hitting, yes all these drums are not just there to look pretty, but at the end, everyone will only look at frontgirl Liz Nistico who sings with these sweet child-like vocals while doing her restless sexy dance. Dressed in black and glittering gold, which seem to be the official Holychild colors, she was undulating her body, jumping in the crowd, interacting with people with a large smile, looking like a new Katy Perry bouncing on joyous electro-pop or rather like an optimistic Lykke Li on ecstasy.
Miami Horror At Amoeba, Tuesday June 9th 2015 Review
We wanted to move to LA for inspiration and influence more than anything. It helped us to experiment and find our own sound. If you look at a lot of the alternative electronica and dance music coming out of LA, it definitely has a feel – we love the weirdness and sunshine. It has been a strong influence on many of our favorite records from the ’60s-’80s’
Girlpool At Amoeba, Tuesday June 2nd 2015
There’s something so artisanal and DIY in their attitude, they arrived with a school notebook in which they write their setlists as if they were entries for their common girl dairies. During the whole set, the two girls seemed so in phase with each other, having some funny and almost intimate chatting between the singing parts, and totally connecting during the songs, looking like two perfect accomplices
JD McPherson At Amoeba, Monday June 1st 2015
JD McPherson gave a really great show to the Amoeba crowd, playing a set full of a vibrant energy deeply rooted in American music history. Despite his young age, McPherson transports his audience in an early-Elvis era, as his 50’s-inspired music sounds like a Sun Records throwback
JD McPherson At Amoeba, Monday June 1st 2015
JD McPherson gave a really great show to the Amoeba crowd, playing a set full of a vibrant energy deeply rooted in American music history. Despite his young age, McPherson transports his audience in an early-Elvis era, as his 50’s-inspired music sounds like a Sun Records throwback
Tanlines At Amoeba, Tuesday May 19th 2015, Reviewed
I can’t hide that these songs could have afford a bit more enthusiasm, should I say that a lot of people were enjoying the beats and the mellow ambiance, even dancing between the CDs rows? The last song, ‘Real Life’ off their 2012 album ‘Mixed Emotion’ had more Brazilian, or at least exotic, beats and brought more fun, although it reminded me about something Moby could have done may be?
My Morning Jacket’s Signing At Amoeba, Friday, May 8th, 2015
Over heard at Amoeba during the signing of ‘The Waterfall’, the new album of the band My Morning Jacket on Friday night: ‘my favorite artists are My Morning Jacket, Bob Dylan, and Björk’… Really? I thought, in this order? Whatever works for you!
LA Font At Amoeba, Thursday April 23rd 2015, Reviewed
LA Font is a quartet which sure shows a lot of energy on stage, playing strong and sophisticated indie rock songs and a sound quite hard to define: some foot-tapping pop melodies, a few layered and loud guitars, building a rock sound which seem to be borrowing from the mid 90’s scene,
Alabama Shakes’ Signing At Amoeba, Tuesday April 21st 2015
I am blasting ‘Sound & Color’, the new Alabama Shakes album at home, I could not get a ticket to see them in Jimmy Kimmel Live, I wasn’t invited to their intimate performance at Apogee Studios in Santa Monica arranged for the press, but I just got to see their signing at Amoeba on Tuesday night. Better than nothing
Record Store Day: E V Kain And Mike Watt + The Secondmen At Space 15Twenty
I could tell the audience was mixed, made of old timers punks, probably following Mike’s career since the good old days, and young lookers, part of the usual crowd at Space 15Twenty, the mini-mall which harbors stores like Free People and Urban Outfitters, selling the Bohemian-Coachella look to hipsters
San Cisco At Amoeba, Tuesday March 10th 2015
Talking about these fans, I was once again feeling quite old, surrounded by kids and a lot of cute young girls excited to get close and personal with singer Jordi Davieson’ s handsome face.
Amoeba’s ‘What’s In My Bag’ With Marshall Crenshaw
Mr. Crenshaw is a music connoisseur with a taste for jazz and oldies, so he picked an early album of Sun Ra, as well as a 50’s album of the gospel soul band the Staple Singers, the new album by jazz guitarist Nels Cline, some Indian Style heavy funk, ‘SitarBeat’ and the best of Buddy Collette,… but also Mitch Ryder’s autobiography, ‘Devil and Blue Dresses’, since the Detroit-native musician feels connected to the musical legacy of the city
Amoeba’s ‘What’s In My Bag’ With Marshall Crenshaw
Last summer, singer songwriter Marshall Crenshaw visited California with The Bottle Rockets and he had the chance to haunt my favorite place in Los Angeles, Amoeba Music, for an episode ‘What’s In My Bag’, a series watching musicians hand picking a few vinyl and other things in the immense store, while commenting on their choices.
Dengue Fever At Amoeba, Sunday March 1st 2015
They are a grand ensemble, playing music with a lush and ample orchestration, using a lot of instruments, saxophone, small trumpet, keyboard and flute beside the usual guitar-drums-bass classic rock combination, and they could be one of the most diverse rock bands I have ever seen, on the human as well as on the sonic levels
The Airborne Toxic Event At Amoeba, Wednesday February 25th 2015
They did a mix of old and new numbers as it is always the case in these shows, but they played them with the same overflowing and joyful energy and over-the-top rocking bombast.
The Adolescents At Amoeba, Wednesday February 18th 2015, Reviewed
Tony Cadena, Steve Soto, Dan Root, Ian Taylor and Mike Cambra gave a good example of what they call vengeance, if they weren’t that extraordinarily dynamic on stage, the crowd was difficult to contain at some point, and Amoeba security guards were patrolling the rows non-stop
Anderson. Paak At Amoeba, Tuesday February 3rd 2015
Jumping between the drum set and the mic, he proved at the first song he was a born-entertainer, agile and lovely, with husky vocals and quite a range. R&B, electronic, rap, funk, rock, his songs sounded like a myriad of things at the same time, starting as gentle R&B tunes, but soon transcending the genre, with hip hop and funky guitars, experimental electro beats, becoming a fluid and lively mosaic
So Many Wizards At Amoeba, Thursday January 29th 2015, Reviewed
the other songs were running as quickly as life goes fast, and it may have been this sense of urgency that made Kazerouni to start four bands, three other ones (Crown Plaza, GNTLMN/Others, and Nectarine) in parallel with So Many Wizards,… talk about prolific!