Hollywood ASST: Memories are comin' back!

Now I had a great boss when I was an assistant at a mid-major, anyone will tell you that (Lori!!). The fact that we were in New York made things a bit different too, but there should totally be a New York version of this with an ad agency or something.

For anyone who's ever been an unglamorous assistant in a glamorous industry, here you go! There are some great LA references. Which is why New York needs a counterpart...


Hollywood ASST from Back of the Class on Vimeo.

Oh, and Vimeo's offices are right next to where I work. Niiiice.

Marvelous Toy - Out of the West and into your ears

I sometimes enjoy lo-fi sounds paired with big sonic tastes and lots of instruments thrown together; a band like Saturday Looks Good To Me comes to mind, with their idea that in the golden days of music, well, we recorded and felt the instrumentation more. Then you have bands that really push it onward and upward with a kind of "the bigger the better" mentality I feel, with Flaming Lips and Arcade Fire.

Marvelous Toy hails from different parts of Los Angeles, bringing together a few different sounds that are altogether far away from the pulsating pop or vacuous rock or g-funk rap...or snotty third wave ska (hey ska still love ya). Their angle is really to inject an already full-of-imitators genre with some Western twang, and I don't mean southern country, but a Western western twang, reflecting beauty and starkness from times on a "frontier" of some sort. Jordan Hudock's vocals, I thought at first on their song "You Were Brighter", was trying too hard to channel an indie Johnny Cash minus the deadpan, natural calm Cash's voice brings, but on "Twice the Speed", he really succeeds with a steady delivery and good emotion. On "Waiting For The Fire" the falsettos and chorus do a poor man's Shins.

The keys also keep things old timey down-to-earth or conversely add a pronounced orchestral touch, and some lulling backing vocals from cutesy Ny Lee kind of make you wish you were watching a sunset with a beer, maybe in Silverlake, maybe in the woods, maybe just anywhere.

At the core, they fuse this western aesthetic with slow pop progressions, you know, to mimic being contemplative. While not punchy with their switch ups and bridges, they certainly pull through with a lush sound that I'm sure a band with more members and verve like Arcade Fire could admire. They describe their sound as "a washing machine" but I think they can admit to a more calculated delivery than that.

I'm curious to see where they go from their EP "All Is Quiet", with it's silhouette flowery late sixties San Fran vibe artwork; maybe lyrically they'll inject some uppers and the music will follow. Only in the west I guess.

Marvelous Toy will be playing a Halloween show at R Bar with Les Blanks, The Voyeurs, The Hectors, and Fol Chen. Not a huge fan of the mopey music video but I'm sure live they'll throw a few smiles.

Suggested Track: "Twice The Speed" (not on the EP)

Visit their MySpace page or you can buy here at Amazon.

The Knux - Remind Me In 3 Days...

The Knux (two brothers from New Orleans, now residing in Los Angeles) are gaining a lot of buzz over the past few months as their jangly guitars twang to both "Cappuccino" which was featured on Entourage and their latest, "Bang Bang", which rollicks along and not quite as laid back.

I really like "Cappuccino", although after a few listens it reveals itself to be nothing too special, it's catchy, fairly smooth, and a good song to lead with though because I think it leaves you interested in the old school beat and where these guys are coming from. Their total remix on their MySpace page is refreshing in that it's not just a tempo shift and the song does a 180 turn.

Now "Bang Bang" kind of had the opposite effect on me, I didn't like it at first, but it has grown on me, the low rumble of the chorus with lively versus that shows a range of vocal tones, expressing a slick retro feel without trying to rely too heavily on the music.

They have been labeled "hipster rap", and I think they don't really care for it, but probably won't need to deny it anyway; if they were Outkast's level, it wouldn't just be for the hip crowd anymore. I think we'll definitely have to see what the rest of the album offers, but I think that it will convert more fans than turn people away.

Here's the video for "Bang Bang", with the Outsiders influence in effect. Can't go wrong with that, although I enjoy the "Cappucino" video too, with the split screens and lots of shots of Krispy's fade.



You can check out their MySpace here: www.myspace.com/theknux