This past Saturday IHEARTCOMIX organized a killer show at Los Globos in Echo Park, including SadGirl, Gothic Tropic, and GRMLN, a trio of acts rapidly gaining well-deserved attention amongst the Los Angeles music scene. Walking up to Los Globos I couldn’t deny that the exterior aesthetic of the venue resembled that of a flashy strip club; however, once entering the building, it became very clear that this dingy and dimly lit venue, brimming with in-the-know LA locals, was the perfect setting for this lineup.
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SadGirl, a three-piece surf rock band, began the show with a perfect set. The overall timbre of their music made me feel like a 1950’s teenager about to attend my first high school prom wearing a pastel pink dress, feeling slightly jaded, sarcastic, and lost. Their most recent single, “Breakfast is Over,” has a heart-wrenching musical landscape comprised of doo-wop-inflected moans and harmonies, and with lyrics like “I’m not your type anyway,” resigns itself to unrequited love. There’s no shortage of bands in SoCal trying to achieve a lo-fi, surfer rock, 50’s sounding music, and I’ve seen plenty of them these past few months. But SadGirl’s approach to this genre was edgy and unique and showed off each of the musicians’ comfort and knowledge of the collaborative process of writing and performing music. Their sound was wonderfully dirtied, distorted, and soulful, and the trio a great stage presence.
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Next up, Echo Park-based Gothic Tropic blended Krautrock, surf, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms, but the magnetic presence of frontwoman Cecilia Della Peruti pulled it all together. Certainly one of the grooviest ladies I’ve ever seen play live, Cecilia came on stage looking fly with a tie-dye baseball cap, leopard leggings and a clear guitar. Her eerie and angelic voice creates a perfect contrast to the complicated and amazingly intricate drumming along with and crunchy, distorted lead and rhythm guitar courtesy of Daniel Denton and Rheese Detrow. Gothic Tropic’s songs had many layers to them, creating beautifully dynamic and interesting compositions. At various moments throughout the show Cecilia would crouch down to mess with her luxurious spread of guitar pedals, in order to create the most interesting fuzzy, beeping, high pitched and low buzzing noises of various frequencies. Her work with these unique sounds was the frosting on an already delicious cake. From the exchanged looks and knowing smiles of Gothic Tropic’s bandmates to one another during this performance it was clear that one of the reasons they are so great live is that they vibe so heavily with one another.
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Ending the night with GRMLN felt all too perfect. Before signing to Carpark Records band, GRMLN began as the musical project of Yoodoo Park, a friend of mine, beginning his musical endeavors in his dorm room at UC Santa Cruz. GRMLN fits sound and snug in the scene of lo-fi shoe-gaze, or, to use a term GRMLN coined, “mood-gaze.” Their single “Teenage Rhythm” is the perfect song to listen to if you are getting into some serious summertime mischief and feeling like you rule the world. All of GRMLN’s songs seem to have an undeniably catchy nature, due to the perfectly harmonized guitar parts, hard-hitting drums, and half-time rhythm song breaks. Yoodoo’s voice is heavy with emotion when it needs to be, and also light-hearted when the song calls for a feel-good motif. The warm, all-inclusive stage presence Yoodoo radiates had the audience feeling as if they’d all been best friends for ages. GRMLN drops a new album, Soon Away, on September 15th.
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