Earlimart
10 out of 10 - Flawless.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Silverlake Lounge, Los Angeles, CA
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First up to bat was Matt Costa. Costa is, in Earlimart front man, Aaron Espinoza's words, "A bright up and comer." Rightly so. Costa held his own with the big kids and performed among other things the terribly apropos "Whiskey and Wine" and "Movin' On". "Movin' On" is from his self-titled, 2003 released EP. Costa complained of being overly warm in his layered T's, hoodie and smart cord blazer, but sadly he didn't have time to do anything about it.
The next victim was one Mister Lou Barlow, of Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh. Learning from Costa's mildly uncomfortable mistake, Barlow wisely removed his smart cord blazer BEFORE he went on stage. Unfortunately, some people chatted blasphemously throughout his entire set. Barlow politely explained the title of his recently released CD, Emoh - It's home spelled backwards. Duh. Barlow finished his set of pretty songs the same way he began it, referring to the concept of home sweet home and playing his song, "Home." Lou Barlow, lonely and alone onstage, to crowd: "I moved to L.A. six years ago. It's been the worst six years of my life."
The crowd watched with hushed reverence during Earlimart's musical presentation. From their latest masterpiece Treble & Tremble, dedicated to their beloved friend Elliott Smith, Earlimart played "Broke The Furniture," the sweetest song in existence - "Heaven Adores You" and "All They Ever Do Is Talk." They sonic boomed us with "First Instant Last Report", "The Hidden Track" and "Unintentional Tape Manipulations." In between songs there are, of course, segues: "808 Crickets", "The Valley People." Songs and segues are written respectively on Espinoza's pedals and Earlimart are, to full effect, able to capture Treble & Tremble's ambience live. From their 2003 release Everyone Down Here Earlimart performed "The Movies", "We Drink On The Job" and "We're So Happy (We Left The Piano In The Truck)." Earlimart had fun playing their version of musical chairs, with each band member effortlessly switching from drums to bass to guitar and so on, creating the wondrous phenomena that is their music. Earlimart singer/songwriter and masking tape enthusiast, Aaron Espinoza sheepishly explained their reason for slumming it at the Silverlake Lounge, "We used to be the worst fuckin' band in town, but ('Lounge' owner) Scott Sterling would always let us play here." Earlimart positively glowed during their performance as they finally have something to be proud of.
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