Monday re-cap: Norcal takes Socal

Photo: Sean Carnage

Every last performer on Monday’s bill—The Myonics, Mason Lindahl, Michael Saalman, Jordan Irvin Dally—live and make music up north. DJ William Caruso was also returning to Los Angeles after an extended sojurn in the Bay Area. So yeah—this was pretty much an invasion.

Despite the out-of-town zip codes that these folks keep, this show was a big success thanks to an enthusiastic Socal audience and some great music.

Musically and emotionally complex sounds require the most empathy to decode and that’s not easy for everyone. Monday’s crowd was on top of things from the start.

So I’m gonna make the call and say Los Angeles rose to Northern California’s musical challenge. But who were the winners?

Photos: Sean Carnage

The winners were all of us at Monday’s show (duh)!

Here’s what happened: Things started off with an unexpected guest. Jordan Irvin Dally was a last minute addition, and what a bonus he turned out to be. A pal of Mason Lindahl’s (he even used Lindahl’s equipment), Dally mined similar stylistic territory: emotionally explicit dark-sounding folk. I’m going to have to check out more of Dally’s music because he was a great singer and I loved the intricate stuff he did on the guitar.

Michael Saalman (of Afternoon Brother) was a lot less spooky than Dally (or Mason Lindahl) and his irreverent acoustic musings were a great counterbalance to the other two performers. Everyone gathered around Saalman on the floor and paid attention the whole time. I am always really proud of the Monday Night audiences, and I was not let down this evening.

Mason Lindahl is just impeccable musically. He plays loose enough for the listener to relax and surrender to the songs. But don’t be fooled—Lindahl’s intent is laser-focussed. Everything seems mellow until he does a vicious upstroke on his guitar and kicks whatever tune he is playing into overdrive. Spiritual, human, excitable…this is what music’s all about, right?

Read an exclusive interview with Mason Lindahl

Yayyy—William Caruso’s back in town! William was an original Il Corral Monday Night performer (he’s in my movie, 40 Bands 80 Minutes!), fan and friend who has been sorely missed. I almost messed things up totally when I didn’t have the right DJ equipment for him. Ugh. Fortunately Margot (of I.E.) showed up with a turntable cartridge so that he could spin his impressively obscure and eclectic mix of vintage avant-garde and pop records. I am really looking forward to whatever William decides to do next with music (he’s playing with Laco$te—watch a video here).

The Myonics are really exciting ‘cuz, at least from my perspective (living hundreds of miles from the Bay), they are one of the most surprising and ambitious bands around. They’ve played my Mondays before sure. But then they disappear from L.A. for a few months only to return catchier, more rocking, and just generally improved than they were previously.

This visit was no exception.

Also, the Myonics never have any trouble making the crowd go wild and dance (it’s always a good sign when a rock band inspires spontaneity).

But what was new was the command they had over their material. They had a tight set list. The songs were well arranged and executed. The Myonics have developed a really distinct pan-rock (Pan rock?) style that I can see going over in a big way. Hopefully they keep it together and keep developing. It’s already pretty fucking great!

Read an exclusive interview with The Myonics

Okay—see these folks? They were the real stars of the show because they paid attention to the quieter performers and then totally raged for The Myonics.

You gotta be situationally/aesthetically flexible to hang with me, so this made me smile.

Everyone on Monday was super cool and it was my honor to host.

Thanks also to Pehrspace (Darren and Pauline), Kyle Mabson and Mikhai Tran. I can’t wait for next week…

To see the complete photos click here

Don’t miss this Monday, June 21:

Sean Carnage presents…