Fitz and the Tantrums are back with a brand new mega retro slammer for your downloading pleasure. True to Fitz form,”Don’t Gotta Work It Out” plays on the soul strength of this Los Angeles based group. Add it to your break up playlist and hit the space bar to enter deep space Fitz.
AWOLNATION crashed on Wilshire Blvd on Wednesday night, their spacey dance-punk and multi-genre madness a perfect foil for the El Rey’s decadent ballroom elegance: chandeliers and wine glasses shook to the pounding rhythms of “MF” and “Burn it Down” as the quintet — dressed down in some seriously dapper duds (and braving some wicked feedback early in the set) – took to the stage performing their first big hit, “Sail.”
” I know one thing,” declares singer Michael Fitzpatrick near the opening of his set — his mop of hair and brow already caked with sweat after a mere three or four songs – “WE DON’T NEED NO LOVE SONG!!” And predictably for fans, the 8-piece thus dives head-first into their song of the same title, off their head-spinning debut.
But when you look around, there’s room for nothing but love at the ‘ol El Rey tonight. Couples of all ages and races and lifestyles are groping each other, cuddling, coddling; Fitz and his gang are clearly an audio aphrodisiac and I’m going to start buying some of their records.
Sunday I sun screened, loaded up my ‘concert purse,’ stocked up on carbs and headed to the Sunset Junction. As I walked through the gates, I stumbled right into a mini techno fest with DJs spinning and girls dancing on the Electro Stage. After bouncing from stage to stage, I settled in at the Bates Stage for Girl in a Coma. I’d never seen them play before but was intrigued by a mixture of things I have heard about the trio and the fact that they are named after a Smith’s song. It was a bit angry chick rock at times but I liked it overall. The singer has powerful vocals and it was refreshing to see female guitar players rock out on stage. They played Static Mind, which was a catchy tune and then chose Femme Fatale for the encore. The crowd was filled with stylish-haired hipsters, many proudly equipped with Girl in a Coma merch. After the set, a festival attendee turned to her friend and said, “Wow! That was tight.”
Fitz & The Tantrums have such an enchanting story…where ex-lovers become sources of inspiration, living rooms turn into cutting-edge recording studios, and tattoo artists become heroes. I got to hear it first-hand on Thursday as I sat in the hallway of the Dangerbird Records headquarters with Fitz himself for a quick interview before he had to run off to take the stage at Silver Lake’s “Hipster Haven” aka Spaceland. It was a delightful little interview. We were offered ice cream mid-conversation and at one point Fitz was even asked to serve as an interim security guard in the absence of the guest list girl.
It’s been a long year–exacerbated by a miserable economy, more war, the heightened threat of global warming—so take your mind off it all with the good that happened. Like, for instance, a year full of great music we posted!