Date: 31 August 2017, 9:50 p.m.
Place: Sister Bar, before the Growlers took the stage
Song: "Je Suis un Rock Star"
Artist: Bill Wyman
Irony Matrix: 2.2 out of 10
Comment: Had this solo nugget from the Rolling Stones bassist on 45-rpm back in the day. The butchered French (or "Cockney French"), recited mechanically, over a crude electronic beat always was a guilty pleasure of young adulthood. It's just so obscure and unheralded. I've never gotten it out of my head.
BONUS TRACKS
Oh, yeah. The Growlers show. LA's lounge lizards just might be the ultimate millennial wedding band -- trippy and hippie but with a deep groove. Labels don't stick to them. Surf rock. Pscyh rock. They host an annual Beach Goth festival, so that's probably the default tag.
Lead singer Brooks Nielsen has an irresistible charm and a loquacious delivery. In his husky twang you can hear a polished Dylan; I also get a Lee Hazelwood vibe from his and the band's raggedy '70s-era gloom. He's like a prissy nerd doing Jim Morrison. He is a sneakily magnetic frontman. Here is the band's 2013 anthem, "Someday":
The boys -- four guitars, keyboards and drums to back Nielsen -- riffle through genres, including surf, ska, and a dab of reggae. They create ear worms with catchy lyrics, like "Love Test" and "Monotonia." As they churned toward the end of the set, the cohesive players turned Sister Bar into a dance club. Here is a good taste of their live set, from KEXP in Seattle in 2014. It culminates in the extended groove "Chinese Fountain":
Oh, and we caught the final song of opening act Broncho. This is "Class Historian":
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