Tag: El Rey

LIVE REVIEW: Sleigh Bells @The El Rey

In 2010, I woke up each day in Queens, NY and took the N train to the Flatiron district. The walk from the train stop to the publishing company where I worked was just enough time to listen to a few songs off Sleigh Bell’s first album Treats. The blare of “Tell ‘Em” was the shot of adrenaline I needed each morning. Seven years and another coast later, I was about to see them live for the first time, and feeling a little anxious.

Luckily, opener Tunde Olaniran was beyond welcoming. “This is a safe space,” he said warmly, spreading his arms out slowly as the opening crickets of “The Highway” filled the El Rey. Olaniran commands the stage like a mystic healer in a Broadway musical, his two background dancers acting as as extensions of his own body, moving and twisting about him. In 2014, Tunde told AudioFemme’s Lindsey Rhoades “I come from the band mentality where people pay their money, you gotta give ‘em show. So I really just try to incorporate choreography, movement, fun pop, really hard hitting beats.” Olaniran doesn’t disappoint. He manages to convey difficult topics like homophobia, violence, and racism within a tight package of syncopated beats and soaring vocals. When he asked those in the audience who don’t normally dance to dance, the air in the room shifted as people obliged.

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Jessica Rabbit, Sleigh Bells’ fourth studio album, has received mixed reviews overall, with Pitchfork calling the album a “hodgepodge of clashing sounds and concepts that’s united only by its indiscriminate maximalism.” The reviews gave me pause as I listened to the new material and revisited Treats. The school-girl edge of their early catalogue has morphed over the years, taking a turn for metal. After an initial listen, I wasn’t thrilled with the change. Stretching my calf muscles in preparation for high energy jumping (my only dance move), I worried I might leave disappointed.

Lead singer Alexis Krauss bounded out to the sounds of fans cheering from the darkness; her positive energy was immediate and galvanizing. Initially the brain-child of guitarist Derek Miller, Sleigh Bells has matured to become a more balanced collaboration between Krauss and Miller. Alexis’s vocals take center stage on much of the new album, sometimes battling Miller’s guitar riffs in songs like “It’s Just Us Now” and “Lightning Turns Sawdust Gold”.

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Old favorites like “Infinity Guitars” and “Kids” were easy crowd pleasers; Krauss got up close and personal with the front row, encouraging them to shout the lyrics. The show felt like a Richard Simmons workout video: Krauss, our emo leader, screaming at us “Sing louder! Dance harder!”. Tunde Olaniran and his dancers joined Sleigh Bells on stage toward the end of the show, creating a sense of chaos that seemed apropos. There was no encore, the crowd left spent, and for some…sore. The morning after the show, I put on Jessica Rabbit. It was time for another listen.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

LIVE REVIEW: Nikki Lane @ The El Rey

Date night in Los Angeles usually means carefully ripped jeans, soft grey t-shirts, and expensive jewelry that says “I’m not trying too hard.” The crowd at Nikki Lane’s show got the memo and sent it right back. Retro cowboy attire was out in full force, leading to a lot of wide-brimmed hat ducking throughout the night.

The lineup had changed a few times in the days leading up to the show. Unfortunately, my date & I were still eating empanadas next door when Jenny O. went onstage. Jonathan Tyler greeted us at the door with a cover of “I’m A Pilgrim;” Tyler’s band, The Northern Lights, normally give the hymn an upbeat, southern gospel feel, but this night the cover was a much more laid back affair – just a man and his guitar. Without the full band, Tyler shelved the majority of his southern rock catalogue and focused his energy on standards and stripped-down renditions of old favorites. A highlight in the evening was a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Girl From The North Country,” a tune that always seems to garner a quiet hum from an audience. Nikki Lane’s band joined Tyler onstage for the last few songs, a welcome reprieve from the more somber set.

The show was something of a homecoming for Nikki Lane, who fled the LA’s fashion scene to make a country album in Nashville. Looking out over a packed El Rey, she marveled,”This is the most people who’ve come to see me play in my entire career.” The soft, mellow notes of “Highway Queen” eased the crowd into Lane’s world of Marlboro Lights, blacktop, and tight blue jeans. Lane stood confidently in an embroidered white suit adorned with slot machines and rolling dice. The night was a mixture of music and backstory: at 17, she dropped out of school; at 18, she almost financed a washing machine in North Carolina; at 20, she was living in California pursuing a fashion career; at 28, she was getting drunk in Brooklyn, New York, thinking about making an album. The rest, as they say, is history. The self-proclaimed “Queen of Outlaw Country” went on to make three successful records, beginning with Walk of Shame in 2011, following it up with All or Nothin’ in 2014, and finally releasing Highway Queen in February of this year.

“This next one’s called ‘Man Up.’ It’s about kicking my ex-husband in the ass,” Lane chuckled, glancing over with a blush at her tour mate Tyler, who also happens to be her new beau. The chemistry between Tyler and Lane was so electric I found myself furiously googling “Nikki Lane new boyfriend” before Lane had a chance to call it out herself. Their duet “To Love Is To Fly” slowed the evening down nicely, everyone watching with unabashed excitement as the couple sang cheek-to-cheek.

Lane did her best to keep the crowd on their toes; “Sleep with a Stranger,” for instance, got everyone dancing in the aisles. The show ran a little slow for me at times, as many of Lane’s songs hit a similar note when played back-to-back. In spite of that, it a perfect date-night concert, full of playful banter and bolstered by a rowdy, boot-wearing crowd. “Jackpot,” Nikki’s love letter to Tyler, finished out the night. I could still hear the lyrics as we jumped into our Lyft: “True love don’t come til you lay it all down the line…”

Nikki Lane’s tour is in full swing. Check out all upcoming dates on her website.