Seattle-based indie label Sub Pop rode off with

the lion’s share of honors Saturday night at the Plug Independent Music Awards in New York City —

thanks to its Band of Horses.

The trio, which recently relocated to South Carolina, captured album-of-the-year

honors, as well as the award for best Americana album and song of the year ("The

Funeral"). Sub Pop was named label of the Year, and another of its bands, CSS, won

best punk album for "Cansei De Ser Sexy." Sub Pop’s Wolf Parade was honored

for best video ("I’ll Believe in Anything").

J Dilla was named artist of the year and producer of the year.

David Cross hosted the show, which featured performances by Steven Malkmus and Jicks

and Silversun Pickups, among others. Winners were determined by voting on the

Internet.

||| Full results here.

It is 8:30 on a Friday night, and I am hot on the trail of one of Rolling Stone’s Top 25 Bands on MySpace. This quest

has taken me to the second floor of the Borders bookstore in downtown Glendale, where I

drape myself into a plastic chair with a latte and the recent issue of Spin

magazine.

[Tangent: It’s the issue that throws some darts at the Los Angeles power-pop scene

in general and journeyman musician/actor/voice-over artist Robbie Rist in particular. Coincidentally,

the same issue gives a little love to L.A.’s finest power-pop quintet, the 88.]

Anyway, in the harsh fluorescent light of the chain store, near the fitness and

exercise DVDs, Shannon Hurley is

singing her Hoosier-bred heart out. It’s just Hurley and a Yamaha keyboard and a batch

of heartfelt ballads such as a paean to sunrise and a wan confession that she’s jealous

of all the time her boyfriend has been devoting to his rock band. "Come to

bed and hold me / I’ve been up for hours."

The crowd of 10 or 12, which

includes a couple friends and fellow singer-songwriter Katrina Parker,  swells to about 25

by the time Hurley is finished with her set, which includes a Charlatans UK cover and a

couple brief foul-ups — "whoops," she says in the good-natured way

Midwesterners do. The young family that just bought the origami gift set applauds with

everybody else.

How did Hurley, of the thousands of singer-songwriters on

MySpace (and in L.A., it seems), attain her 5 minutes of Internet fame? Rolling Stone

claims to have screened 1,700 entries to come up with its list of 25.

She’s

mystified. "I answered the ad that they posted and I followed the directions,"

she says.

A random act of acclaim. A reason to keep playing.

|||

Shannon Hurley performs Feb. 24 at Karma

Coffeehouse as part of a series she co-promotes called "Don’t Call Us

Tori" — a reference to those who tend to compare any female singer playing

keyboards to Tori Amos.

Photo by Kevin Bronson.

◊ ◊ ◊

Coming Sunday, Part I: I will be doing a blow-by-blow account of the

Grammys for The Times’ awards website The

Envelope. Join me at 5 p.m. Pacific time.

Coming Sunday, Part

II: I expect to have some major festival news on this very blog.

◊ ◊

◊

Tonight’s touts: Pop outfit Goldenboy performs along with

(ex-Velocity Girl) Sarah Shannon at

Spaceland. … Get Set Go and Bang Sugar Bang are among the bands

playing a Kiss or Kill benefit show at the Glass House in Pomona. … The Roots have the big show, at Gibson Amphitheatre.

… And the album "Tighten the Noose" was pretty impressive, so I’ll mention

Little Brazil playing at the Knitting

Factory’s Alterknit Lounge; the band includes Landon Hughes, who played in Desaparecidos

with Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and the Good Life with Cursive’s Tim Kasher.

Independent artists have long been viewed as underdogs on

the music landscape. But with indie labels (and artists themselves) leading the way in

marketing and distribution of their wares, the democratization of music has virtually

rendered the major-label model obsolete. "It’s like opening a car dealership when

somebody just invented time travel," says Gene Louis, leading singer of the Orange

County quartet Bullets and

Octane.

Louis’ band is signed to RCA. Its album, "In the Mouth of the Young"

(released last April), has sold just 15,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and

Louis and his bandmates have to feel as if they’ve done a push-up for every copy, having

toured relentlessly behind it.

"Everybody is cut down to survival skills," he says, adding that in some

ways, up-and-coming bands on major labels are at a disadvantage. "If you’re not an

‘American Idol’ contestant, you’re [crap]."

Bullets’ album is a solid, if erratic, effort; its brash metal moments give way to

punk hooks, and Louis’ vocals reach for the irascibility of a Social Distortion or the

foreboding of a Bad Religion. The album was made with producer Page Hamilton (Helmet) at

a difficult time in the band’s growth, "when a lot of things were happening that

dragged people down," Louis says.

The front man is already looking forward to the next album. "We’re maturing so

much lyrically and melodically," he says. "Our approach is to not overthink,

just go for it."

||| Bullets and Octane (with four new

songs in their set) headline the Roxy

tonight, with the Ringers among the

supporting bands.

Photo of Bullets and Octane by James Minchin

◊ ◊

◊

More new music: The Autumns, long one of L.A.’s

mystifyingly overlooked bands, are finishing up their fourth album — some which you can

hear tonight when they play the Echo. More on

this closer to the album’s May/June release, but singer-guitarist Matthew Kelly says:

"I think it’s the most signficant departure ever for this band. Of course, a band

always thinks the next thing they do is a departure, but I think we’re right this

time."

◊ ◊ ◊

Tonight’s touts: SoftLightes’ album release show for

their lovely "Say No! to Being Cool, Say Yes! to Being Happy" goes off at

Tangier, with Xu Xu Fang also on the bill.

… The Prix plays as the Lava Lounge plays

taps; the venue is closing for an overhaul. … Miho Hatori and Los Abandoned rock the Troubadour. …

And Thailand plays El Cid.

Jesse Sykes has the voice of a barmaid who always tells you the truth at closing

time. It’s faintly weathered and fairly frank, and on the third album by her band, Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter, it

navigates some rugged emotional territory.

If only the title, "Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul"

(released this week on Barsuk Records), weren’t so

daunting.

"The emotional

thread couldn’t be explained in one song title," says the Seattle-based

singer-songwriter. "I wanted it to have a grand quality … [to signal] that the

album is going to take a certain level of commitment from the listener, but that it will

unveil itself over time."

Indeed, her rootsy, noir-ish rock is better suited for long drives across the desert

than rainy nights on the Puget Sound. This batch of songs, realized with collaborator

Phil Wandscher, benefits from an amped-up treatment that nudges the band ever so

slightly out of the melancholic shadows. "I think our music is more hopeful than

people realize," Sykes says. "Some people who loved us for a more pastoral,

minimalist sound might not like this, but we’re not reinventing the wheel."

Never sacrificed, however, is Sykes’ candor; here, you feel no coyness or

gamesmanship — the songwriter is looking you straight in the eye. "I’m done with

cynicism," Sykes says. "I hate to see people be afraid of sincerity."

||| Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter open for Sparklehorse tonight at the Henry Fonda Theatre.

It took nine months for Oliver Future to

record its new album, "Pax Futura," with L.A.-based producer Adam Lasus (Clap

Your Hands Say Yeah). It took one day for the music to be "released" — and

nary a CD was manufactured.

The L.A. quintet is one

of the early batch of artists who have started selling their music through their MySpace website. Using software

devised by San Francisco-based SnoCap, fans can buy songs at 93 cents apiece straight

from the band.

"I’m not a young ‘un — I don’t even have an iPod

yet," jokes singer-guitarist Noah Lit, who celebrated his 29th birthday Wednesday

night as the band dished out its fusion of white-boy soul, glammy power-pop and

rump-shaking rhythms to a small but lively crowd at the Silverlake Lounge. "But

it’s exciting. We’ve met with labels, A&R guys … but here there are no

intermediaries. We don’t even need bloggers’ opinions anymore. It’s been hard for me to

wrap my brain around."

The music has been up for only a matter of days,

so Lit has no idea how it is selling yet. But he said the deal calls for SnoCap to take

40%, and the bands get paid monthly.

"And to think I only used MySpace

to stalk women," Lit kidded.

The implications for unsigned bands are

dizzying. But as Lit pointed out, music sales on MySpace will give bands another tool in

negotiating deals with labels. He said Oliver Future’s music is still being shopped, and

the band plans to release physical CDs on Lasus’ imprint Fireproof Recordings.

◊ ◊ ◊

Tonight’s touts: Eleni Mandell’s show celebrating the

release of her excellent "Miracle of Five" goes off at the Echo. … Ex-Toad

the Wet Sprocket front guy Glen Phillips

performs at the Hotel Cafe. … And speaking of exes, former Cibo Matto chanteuse Miho Hatori plays the Detroit Bar (with Los Abandoned opening).

[The day job is killing me today, so I’ve gathered tidbits from colleagues and

the L.A. blogosphere, just so you think I’m still paying attention:]

Tom

Morello, in the last of his Tuesday night appearances (until later in the spring) as the

Nightwatchman at the Hotel Cafe, finished his

two-hour, all-star jam with a bang. At the end of the charity session, Morello, Shooter

Jennings, Ben Harper, Jill Sobule and B Real and Sen Dog from Cypress Hill were all

onstage running through "(Rock) Superstar," "California Love" and,

with Morello on the mic, a rendition of "Born in the USA" that "sounded

like shattered glass," Times staffer Geoff Boucher reports.

Meanwhile,

the Police are going to hit the

Whisky. (Insert joke here.) Sting and the crew have called a press conference at the

Sunset Strip club on Monday for a "special announcement," Times staffer Randy

Lewis reports.

And around the L.A. blogs:

– Radio Free Silverlake posts a

gorgeous video for "You’re a Wolf" by Sea Wolf. Yes, that’s half of the

Silversun Pickups and some of Great Northern playing along.

– Aquarium Drunkard updates us on Smog, Rickie

Lee Jones and others, as well as check in with a mini-review of the Good, the Bad and

the Queen.

– Rock Insider is all

atwitter about a blogger-curated showcase at the upcoming South by Southwest Music

Festival, which includes fine L.A. bands Sea Wolf, Midnight Movies, Briertone and

Twilight Sleep.

– Passion of the

Weiss reviews "King Giraffe" by the feel-good local outfit the Parson

Redheads.

– You Set the

Scene reminds me I forgot to mention the Apples in Stereo’s new release, "New

Magnetic Wonder," in my batch of Tuesday reviews.

– Rewriteable Content reviews albums by one

band I don’t understand, Deerhunter, and one I do, the Minor Canon.

– Little Radio reports that recent Silverlake

Lounge residents the Pity Party scored a gig opening for the Raveonettes.

–

LA Underground introduces Bay Area quintet

Minipop, who play tonight at the Troubadour.

– And Filter magazine’s blog points out that last week

was the biggest sales week to date for the Silversun Pickups’ "Carnavas,"

which came out in July.

◊ ◊ ◊

Tonight’s touts:

Heavy-duty gathering at Zanzibar — the Urban

Alternative Mixer features performances by Atlanta’s Anthony David and Philadelphia’s

Supa Lowery Bros. … Astra Heights

starts a Wednesday night residency at the Silverlake Lounge with Oliver Future. … Stellastarr*, impressive with its new

stuff Tuesday night at Safari Sam’s, plays the Troubadour. … Airpushers perform at the Roxy. … She Wants Revenge and Brazilian Girls bring the dance party to the

Avalon. … Killola and Bang Sugar Bang head a Kiss or Kill lineup at

Safari Sam’s. … And Busdriver and Daedelus perform at the Airliner in

Highland Park.

Today’s trip to the record store will no doubt be marked by a spirited debate in

be done:

Top shelf

Fujiya & Miyagi,

"Transparent Things" (Deaf Dumb & Blind): Sometimes you don’t care that

the joke is on you. Fujiya & Miyagi are not Asian; they are not even a duo. They are

three Englishmen — singer-guitarist David Best (Miyagi), keyboardist-beatmaker Steve

Lewis (Fujiya) and bassist Matt Hainsby (the ampersand) — who make dance music so

organic you’d think their Moog is a flower bed. The Brighton trio has concocted a strain

of electronica that hypnotizes as much as it energizes, with warm beats reminiscent of

Canadian critical darlings the Junior Boys and basslines thicker than a Cadillac

salesman’s pitch. Best’s lyrics are obfuscations, sure — how many songs can you write

about shoes? — and he delivers them in a half-whisper, as if he were afraid of alarming

the Pac-Man palpitations chewing up the sonic territory. I’m pretty sure he sings

"sock it to me" a couple times too, but the results are more hardball than

cheeseball. Metronome on.

Other recommendations

Eleni Mandell, "Miracle of Five" (Zedtone): Another

stroke of genius from the L.A. songstress who only invites, and never insists, that you

step into her lounge. You stay of your own volition as the turns the notion of

confessional inside out.

SoftLightes, "Say No! to Being Cool, Say Yes! to Being

Happy" (Modular): Gorgeous, evocative electro-pop from Ron Founteberry, the man

behind the Incredible Moses Leroy.

Jesse Sykes & the Sweet

Hereafter, "Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul"

(Barsuk): The title may be a mouthful, but the Seattle-based Sykes’ boozy folk-rock

leaves a pleasant aftertaste.

Peter Bjorn and John,

"Writer’s Block" (Almost Gold): Don’t expect an album full of dead-on

hits like the whistling "Young Folks." Nonetheless there’s plenty of charm,

and a little bite, to go around.

The Colour, "Between

Earth & Sky" (Rethink): Local quartet delivers an album of classic rock for the

new millenium.

◊ ◊ ◊

Tonight’s touts: Power-pop

quintet the 88 play the Key Club. … The Colour celebrates its album release with a

show at Cinespace. … Bodies of Water, Listing Ship and the Shakes are among the bands

convening at the Echo for an Arthur Lee tribute. … And Stellastarr* and Monsters Are

Waiting rock the Check Yo’ Ponytail night at Safari Sam’s.

[Correspondent August Brown, reeling from the literalness of the Super Bowl

little indie-pop:]

Khaela Maricich of the Blow was in the middle of

telling a great story about being heckled by an obnoxious guy on her way to work, when

some dude slouched against the bar further proved her point. "Shut up," he

told her, in slightly more ribald terms, and a cardigan-clad brawl seemed to be brewing

in the crowd Sunday at the Echo. "Hey, that’s him," Maricich answered, and

went right on singing her excellent and relentlessly sexy set of indie-electro love

songs, which didn’t even miss the
presence of her absent bandmate/producer Jona

Bechtolt.

Few vocalists could make what amounted to a karaoke set of their own songs worth

missing the last minutes of the Super Bowl. But Maricich’s boy-crazy Riot Grrl act

underscored how her stage presence and personality are as essential to the duo as

Bechtolt’s whip-smart beatmaking. Hitting all the nightlights from last year’s breakout

album "Paper Television" and their "Poor Aim" EP, she shadowboxed

with potential heartbreakers in the front row while breathily admitting that they’re

"so hot, it incinerates my thoughts."  Even the set’s encore, a

sorta-cover of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," was a better come-on

than anything Sting could crib from his Tantra books.

◊ ◊ ◊

Tonight’s touts: Foreign Born, In Waves and the Black Palms hold forth in an especially

strong, Indie 103.1-sponsored "Check 1,2 …" lineup at the Viper Room. …

Colorado dance-punks the Photo Atlas join locals InMemory at the Knitting Factory. … There’s

a free show (OK, $3 if you’re younger than 21) at the Troubadour, with Heroes &

Heroines and Klum. … A host of delicious

Feburary residencies kick off: Malibu popsters Simon Dawes play the Echo; Venus Infers hold forth at Costa Mesa’s

Detroit Bar; Eastern

Conference Champions (with Great

Glass Elevator supporting) play the Silverlake Lounge; and Division Day (with the Movies supporting) rock Spaceland. …

And punk rockers Pennywise continue their

string of sold-out House of Blues shows — the band is in Anaheim tonight, Tuesday and

Wednesday.

Stellastarr* was one of the early

entries into this decade’s derby of new wave hybridizers, and I thought their two albums

for RCA ("Stellastarr*" in 2003 and "Harmonies for the Haunted" in

2005) put them closer to the upper echelon of Cure/Joy Division acolytes (Editors,

Interpol) than the dross (the Bravery, She Wants Revenge). Even if I did find that

darned asterisk cloying.

The marketplace did not exactly concur. The two albums sold 54,000 and 25,000 copies,

respectively, and the label and the New York quartet parted ways. They continue to work

on their third album and play two L.A. shows next week as part of the obligatory label

dance.

Download a new song: "Warchild"

(demo)

||| Stellastarr* performs Tuesday at Safari Sam’s and Wednesday (sold out) at the Troubadour, with the up-and-coming local ensemble

Monsters Are Waiting opening.

◊ ◊ ◊

Dim Mak has been busy. The

label-child of Steve Aoki (is he going by DJ Kid Millionaire anymore?) will co-release

the next album by his pal Blake Miller’s band, Moving Units, And Dim Mak has signed a

charming quartet of youthful thrash-poppers, the Deadly Syndrome. The latter band chewed

up the stage Friday night at the Echo during its opening set for the Airborne Toxic

Event [see next post]. The music? Catchy, dancy, bombastic and messy in a charming way.

Deconstruct on, dudes.

||| Moving Units and the Deadly Syndrome perform

tonight at the Troubadour.

Also on

the way from the label: more dance-punk from the Rakes, an album by the Mystery Jets and

an EP from Oh No! Oh My! And probably 167 Dim Mak parties I won’t be on the list for.

The scorching guys from the Icarus

Line have an album on the way in June — it’s called "Black Lives at the Golden

Coast." Some flavor:

Download: "Gets

Paid."

Also interesting will be the label’s March release of

"Chautauqua," the third album by young Orange Countians the Willowz. [Full review to come.] Here’s a

taste:

Download: The Willowz’ "Evil Son"

And here’s the new video for "Jubilee":

◊ ◊ ◊

The early show Sunday at the Echo features Portland, Ore., duo the Blow  (Jona Bechtolt and Khaela

Maricich). First impression: fun, very fun, fun that could last more than 5 minutes.

Download: "Hock It (Yacht

Remix)."

◊ ◊ ◊

The Little Ones are currently

in the U.K. to do some tour dates and record their debut full-length for

Heavenly/Astralwerks. Can’t wait to hear some. Here’s a new take on an ‘06 favorite:

Download: "Lovers Who

Uncover (Crystal Castles remix)".

◊ ◊ ◊

Geffen has signed

English three-piece the Klaxons, whose

dancy prog-pop could go over pretty well in the U.S. The band is scheduled to play the

Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. The creative types in the British press are

called their music "nu-rave," and, well, it certainly ain’t boring.

◊ ◊ ◊

And finally, there’s no quicker way to a blogger’s heart than

name-checking him [the L.A. band named Bronson

excepted]. On its Feb. 20 release "Strength in Numbers," the New York trio

Calla has a song that’s sure to make my mixtapes. The band is working on a Los Angeles

date on its West Coast tour (current scheduling has them skipping from San Diego to San

Francisco), but this will tide me over:

Download: "Bronson."

◊ ◊ ◊

Also this weekend: On Sunday, there’s some

kind of game, with some dude playing at halftime, but

if you’re up for anti-sporting event event, there’s the first in the "Don’t Cause a

Scene Sunday" at the Scene Bar in

Glendale. Kicks off (so to speak) at 3 p.m., with bands including Yes Me to Death and the Switch.

[Postscript: In my

headline: "Best. Press. Conference. Ever."]

That sound you heard Friday night in Echo Park was a band breaking out. The Airborne Toxic Event, folks.

Yes, it sounds like the answer to an extra-credit question on your middle school science

final, and you probably have had to read a lot of books to understand all its nuances.

But in front of a crowd packed with fans from a generous guest list, the Event was just

that, poetry you could dance to.

Made you want to run back and pay the cover charge.  Made you want to shell out

a fiver for the band’s self-released three-song EP, though they were gone by the end of

the night. Made you want to move, and embrace, and embrace life, and maybe even embrace

one of those bacon-wrapped hot dogs you find on Sunset Boulevard after a show. Alas,

there was not a vendor in sight.

Such euphoria was brought to you by

singer-songwriter Mikel Jollett, whose tales of groovy mopery and pent-up anger lead you

to believe he has stared down some of life’s tougher questions. His music is obviously

derived from the Crown Prince of the Bummed

Out — who, coincidentally, was playing to a packed house a few miles away — but

substitutes an air of art-house detachment for Morrissey’s drama-queen theatrics.

Jollett’s lyrics will become evident as as the Event releases more music, but suffice to

say they covered ground ranging from relationships gone sour to Middle East incursions

gone sour.

His Cal Arts-heavy five-piece (which grew to six on a couple of

songs with the addition of a horn player) was nothing short of amazing, considering the

band is four months old and this was its 11th show. You don’t see a bassist (Noah

Harmon) playing his electric with a bow too often, much less dueting with a violist

(Anna Bulbrook). "Deliverance" for art-schoolers.

You swooned, you

buffeted, you took a deep breath. You finally stopped and thought, "What’s the

deal with that band’s name, anyway?"

Photo: From left, Noah

Harmon, Mikel Jollett, Anna Bulbrook, Steven Chen (Kevin Bronson/LAT)