From the category archives:

Live Sessions

The Alternates’ Spencer Livingston, Live @ The Pie and Tart Shoppe (Luxury Wafers Exclusive) + Listen to the new Alternates EP!

07.02.2011

Here’s a really sweet acoustic ditty from Spencer Livingston, lead singer of the Alternates. A la AA Bondy or Jeff Tweedy. Listen and melt: Now go listen to Livingston’s band. Just back in LA from a NW coast foray, Americana rockers, the Alternates, have a killer new EP out called Spiders and Webs. (Check out [...]

Propellerhead Home Sessions: Amber Rubarth, Courtney Jones + Peter Malick

02.16.2011

This was fun. Even before the ‘Pie and Tart’ home studio was built out and put together, our good friends from Propellerhead suggested the kind of 2-day bash we can really dig: freeform recording with friends who are top singer-songwriters and players. The equation, which produced good times and two awesome new songs (listen and [...]

Crystal Antlers: reflections, refinements, and now what?!

02.04.2011

While sorting through cyber-mountains of files during re-entry to the Luxury Wafers atmosphere, I ran across this video of one of my all-time favorite sessions: Crystal Antlers. Oh man. Awesome. Details of the session are blurry in my memory. From the calendar, I know it was late afternoon in July of 2009. I do remember [...]

Hello again, dear Wafer lovers!

01.12.2011

Hola! Que tal? Where to begin?! I’ve missed you, friends. It’s been so long. There was a time when I was exhausted and nauseated. Then I swelled to unbelievably enormous proportions. Then, after the passing of numerous moons, I sprung a new little Waferlet. She’s 5 months old now and, happily, she happens to dig [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Butch Norton and Peter Malick, Live @ Chessvolt Studios with Videos and Mp3s

05.14.2010

Butch Norton and Peter Malick are longtime friends and lifelong players. When the two get together it’s always shenanigans of the best variety. Part mad scientist, part steady mountain, Butch (Eels, Lucinda Williams) enlivens anything from a standard drum kit to fancy specialized percussion instruments to appliance parts. With inexhaustible awe, Butch hears opportunity for [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: The Most Serene Republic, Live@Chessvolt Studios with Videos and Mp3s

04.30.2010

The Most Serene Republic, a 7 piece collective from Ontario, Canada, smooths rough edges with their exquisitely fluid pools of pop buoyed by piano, guitar, bass and drums, animated by Adrian and Emma’s dreamy voices and elegantly embellished with brass and banjo. Altogether, the band pours out enchanted, imaginative blurs with plenty of moving parts [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Davila 666 live @ Kingsize Soundlabs with Video and Mp3s

04.23.2010

Puerto Rican garage-punk, party rockers, Davila 666, dropped into Kingsize Soundlabs for Luxury Wafers back in October, loaded with cavalier flair and magnetic machismo. For this super fun session, the notorious group of 6 left off their hallmark exotic dancers and theatrical props to do live studio recording with us. Even without their sensational live [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Wye Oak, Live @ Chessvolt Studios with Videos and Mp3s

04.14.2010

What I love about the young, old-sounding souls, Wye Oak from Baltimore, is the womb they create. Between Jenn Wasner’s mesmerizing, melty voice – like warm poured liquid – plus heavily enveloping guitar and Andy Stack’s arrangements, which include crashing cymbals, pounding drums and keyboard drones, there’s a wall of insulation erected that begs escape [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Adam Green, Live@Kingsize Soundlabs with Videos and Mp3s

04.08.2010

Adam Green, son of a neurologist, brother of an astrophysicist, and former Moldy Peach with Kimya Dawson (their Anyone Else But You was featured in Juno), is wide open, funny in a dry way, super comfy and very friendly. He’s happy to sit and chat for a bit about two young female musicians he followed [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: The Living Sisters, Live @ Bright Street with Videos and Mp3s

04.02.2010

Luscious layers of vocal harmony spiced with doe-eyed friskiness mark the timeless songs of The Living Sisters, the exceptional trio of already individually accomplished LA singer-songwriters: Inara George (The Bird and The Bee), Eleni Mandell and Becky Stark (Lavender Diamond). Substantive yet refreshing, soulful yet light-hearted, The Living Sisters’ songs lure irresistibly. Because they’re sung [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: AM, Live@Chessvolt Studios with Video and Mp3s

03.22.2010

Drawing from myriad genres, AM‘s sonic creations, which rely heavily on well-arranged and well-executed full band sound, evoke comfortable reminiscence and – dare I say it – easy listening, not in the elevator sense, but in the sense of not aggressively in-your-face, rather pleasantly uplifting pop you can work to, answer the phone by, kick [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Jaguar Love, Live in our Living Room for Luxury Wafers with Videos and Mp3s

03.11.2010

Jaguar Love is Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato, both formerly of The Blood Brothers, a now-defunct, screamy-hard, well-loved Seattle crew of 5 who enjoyed a decade-long spell before splitting to move on to other projects. Of The Blood Brothers, our in-house critic who represents the tweens of 2010 mentions, “Oh it’s hard …. hard to [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Dengue Fever, live@Kingsize Soundlabs with videos and mp3s

03.05.2010

Dengue Fever’s live session is an incredibly special treat for us. The collection of six all-pro musicians concocts such a groovy vibe with their tripped-out, psychedelic, California surf foundation infused with lowing horns and breathy flute and topped with the cherry of Nimol’s royal Cambodian pop vocals. Their songs, palpably jungle thick, range from hypnotically [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: DD/MM/YYYY, live @ Chessvolt Studios in LA with Video and Mp3s

02.21.2010

DD/MM/YYYY pleases immensely with their jagged, writhing, searing, serrated, punk-metal. It all comes out of the nicest bunch of Canadians you could ever imagine. We were super stoked to host the Toronto gang as our very last recording session at Chessvolt Studios, only days before the studio was officially taken by eminent domain (that means [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Daphne Willis, Live @ Bright Street Studios with Videos and Mp3s

02.18.2010

Listening to Daphne Willis puts a smile on my face. The 22-year-old Chicago singer, earthy and easy to hang with, streams a wordy, contemporary sound out of serious pipes in a dramatic range which she effortlessly, masterfully displays … with funky verve. Willis has a lot to say. Her style seems to be influenced as [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: AU, live @ Kingsize Soundlabs with video and mp3s

02.01.2010

AU is Luke Wyland with Dana Valatka, two very healthy-appearing guys from Portland, Oregon. Together, the team physically invests itself in Wyland’s epic, heady arrangements to construct all-encompassing, golden originals, oft frenzied and furious, intense yet delightfully naive, all dripping with complete lushness. There’s so much going on in AU’s songs – which clock in [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Loch Lomond, live @ Kingsize Soundlabs with Videos and Mp3s

01.26.2010

Led by Ritchie Young, Loch Lomond from the Pacific Northwest (Portland), has grown from a solo brianchild enjoying contributions from a vast array of friends to a full-time family of six committed bandmembers. Small in stature and grand in humility, Young quietly yet boldy concocts fascinating traipses through forest, wide open spaces, dark alleys and [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: The Dutchess and The Duke, live @ Stagg Street Studios with videos and mp3s

01.06.2010

Seattle duo, The Dutchess and The Duke, continue to knock us out.Their album Sunset / Sunrise (10/5/09, Hardly Art) has gripped my heart as a favorite (not just of 2009). Guitar strumming, sad, oft Johnny Cash-like, timeless songs emerge from the dark internal geography of Jesse Lortz and take on a life of comfortable malaise [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Tom Brosseau, live@Chessvolt Studios with Angela Correa; Videos and Mp3s

12.28.2009

Deceptive simplicity plus powerful determinedness mark Tom Brosseau’s hypnotic tunes. Listening can feel like being plugged directly into Brosseau’s psyche, a dry, cool lunar-like landscape dotted with transient images, each shot through with intense colors. We suggest you take your time with these compelling live recordings. Nibble and digest. Then nibble some more. There’s a [...]

J Tillman Video 7: Diamondback, Live@Kingsize Soundlabs in LA for Luxury Wafers

12.23.2009

The Luxury Wafers / J Tillman fest draws to a close with this final bang – Josh recording Diamondback, a searing, new, unreleased song that haunts with natural, writhing beauty and showcases his masterful songwriting. J Tillman – Diamondback – Luxury Wafers Sessions from Luxury Wafers on Vimeo. Recorded at Kingsize Soundlabs in LA. Go [...]

J Tillman Video 6: Above All Men, Live@Kingsize Soundlabs in LA for Luxury Wafers

12.22.2009

J Tillman records a rare performance of Above All Men from his Vacilando Territory Blues (1/27/09, Western Vinyl), live at Kingsize Soundlabs in LA for Luxury Wafers. A beautiful song which strikingly points to simple blessings. J Tillman – Above All Men – Luxury Wafers Sessions from Luxury Wafers on Vimeo. Check out the entire [...]

J Tillman Video 5: Borne Away On A Black Barge, Live@Kingsize Soundlabs for Luxury Wafers

12.20.2009

Exciting. Here’s J Tillman, his brother Zach and Josh’s companion, Aja, singing Borne Away On A Black Barge live@Kingsize Soundlabs in Los Angeles for Luxury Wafers. This a cappella song, recently released on a 7″ from Western Vinyl, is so beautiful it chills to the bone. Check out more of J Tillman’s amazing session HERE. [...]

J Tillman Video 4: Wild Honey Never Stolen, Live @ Kingsize Soundlabs for Luxury Wafers

12.20.2009

It’s late, but I promised one everyday ’till they’ve all rolled out, so here you go! This one’s J Tillman recording Wild Honey Never Stolen, live at Kingsize Soundlabs in LA for Luxury Wafers. You can also find the song on a new 7″ from Western Vinyl. Check out more of J Tillman’s amazing session [...]

J Tillman Video 3: Marked in the Valley, Live @ Kingsize Soundlabs for Luxury Wafers

12.18.2009

Live at Kingsize Soundlabs in Eagle Rock (LA), CA, for Luxury Wafers, J Tillman records Marked In The Valley. The original recording can be found on Tillman’s latest full length, Year in the Kingdom (9/8/09, Western Vinyl). Dig. J Tillman – Marked In The Valley – Luxury Wafers Sessions from Luxury Wafers on Vimeo. Go [...]

New J Tillman Video: Casualties, Live @ Kingsize Soundlabs for Luxury Wafers

12.17.2009

Live at Kingsize Soundlabs in Eagle Rock (LA), CA, for Luxury Wafers, J Tillman records his poignant Casualties from his 2008 release, I Will Return/Long May You Run. J Tillman – Casualties – Luxury Wafers Sessions from Luxury Wafers on Vimeo.

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: J Tillman, live @ Kingsize Soundlabs with videos and mp3s

12.16.2009

Love. That sums it up. Transcendent love. There’s no bs, no hype, no bells and whistles when it comes to J Tillman. He’s an artist with such immense gravity, he practically burns a hole in the floor where he’s standing. I have perceived Josh as a character of dense dolor, haunted by the deep longing [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Division Day, Live @ Chessvolt Studios with Video and mp3s

12.12.2009

LA’s Division Day headed in a new direction on their latest album, a direction concertedly marked by dark and eerie undertones and the addition of technological gear to their repertoire. Describing the style, they say, “We’re calling it post-industrial blackened romantigaze.” Though the subject matter is thematcially death and devil-focused, the sound is attractively cool. [...]

Luxury Wafers Legacy Sessions: Melineh Kurdian, Live @ Chessvolt Studios with Video and mp3s

12.11.2009

Local LA artist and Hotel Cafe regular, Melineh Kurdian brought her guitar, smooth voice and innate sweet sunshine along with her all-pro band (Steve Krugman on drums, Carl Byron on accordion and keyboards and Eric Holden on electric & upright bass) for a Luxury Wafers session back in the springtime. In addition to tendencies toward [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Princeton, Live@Chessvolt Studios

12.10.2009

Emitting smooth pop marked by an erudite swagger, the four Eagle Rockers of Princeton (Twins – Jesse and Matt Kivel, Ben Usen and David Kitz) make music that could easily find its way into a quirky Wes Anderson film. Enjoy these live tracks from their Luxury Wafers session. Go see them in action at Spaceland [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Illinois, Live @ Chessvolt Studios with Video and Mp3s

12.08.2009

“The Violent Femmes meet James Brown on the back porch of your old Kentucky home.” That’s how Peter describes these guys from Bucks County, Pennsylvania (not Illinois). Led by Arch, who writes, sings, plays guitar, banjo and keys and endearingly pours his humble heart – all the sad, raw, unwanted, cocky and desirous emotions – [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Mannequin Men, Live @ Chessvolt Studios with Video and Mp3

12.08.2009

Noted from the git as noisy and belligerent, Mannequin Men from Chicago visited us with a boyish slurry of rusty garage rock-original punk, rife with honest and clever lyrics cultured in a stinky bedroom under some kind of influence. Maybe the earliness had an impact (it was 11 in the morning), but the guys were [...]

Luxury Wafers Legacy Sessions: The Monthlies live @ Chessvolt Studios in Los Angeles

12.06.2009

Sometimes good things require a wait. That’s the case with this Luxury Wafers session from The Monthlies, a fun local LA band who visited us almost a year ago! These guys are festive and friendly. If you’re lucky enough to run into Jana in holiday-times, make sure you get to sample her homemade White Chocolate [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Langhorne Slim, live @ Chessvolt Studios with Videos and mp3s

12.01.2009

We’ve long been enamored by Langhorne Slim’s compelling, gritty goodness. Hardscrabble character combined with the blood of a tent revivalist or prohibition distiller rapidly shot the deep-rooted folk singer, who stole his nickname from his Pennsylvania hometown, into the ears and hearts of folks around the country and beyond from 2005 on. Since then, Slim’s [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Lissie, Live @ Chessvolt Studios with Videos and mp3s

11.30.2009

Lissie Maurus, from Rock Island, Illinois, sings like the coal miner’s daughter with bubblegum-sweet edges. Picture Loretta Lynn with organic munchies and a designer dog. Comfy country flannel paired with a shiny pedicure. Lissie can do it any way she wants. Remarkably unselfconscious and naturally beautiful with a black gold voice of fertile southern dirt, [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Tim Exile, Live @ Chessvolt Studios with Videos and Mp3s

11.23.2009

Tim Exile, also known simply as Exile, recently came in for a visit from his current home in Berlin to perform and record a high-energy, experimental/electronic improvisational set live in the studio with us. Surrounded by his computers and keyboards, faders and knobs, you might not guess that Exile (aka Tim Shaw), originally from the [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Mason Proper Live@Chessvolt Studios

11.19.2009

Alarmingly brilliant. You might not see or expect it in this group of four rather regular-looking guys from the Great Lakes State, but Michigan’s Mason Proper, led by the ingenious Jonathan Visger, creates an endless geometric array of patterns and textures that flow with fascinating angularity over a limestone groove riverbed. The band’s boggling resourcefulness [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Cory Chisel, live@Chessvolt Studios with Videos and mp3s

11.18.2009

Cory Chisel (Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons) exudes a forcefield of palpable anguish. It squeezes through his pores and squinted eyes and lassos ears and bleeding hearts through swaying seranades you’d expect to hear on a back porch next to rocking chairs and whiskey bottles, overlooking vast fields and accompanied by choruses of chirping [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Jen & Abby, Live @ Chessvolt Studios with Video and mp3s

11.15.2009

A whole lotta lovin’s going on with the bubbly-bright Jen & Abby and their sunshiny LA crew (Sebastian Aymanns, Leslie Lowe, Mike Lee and Gaby Moreno). Jen Trani on guitar and Abby Miller singing are the dynamic duo, regularly playing LA’s Hotel Cafe and fashioning dramatic pop pieces with Natalie Merchant-like flow and a generally [...]

Japanese Motors – Luxury Wafers Live EP, ‘Whatever’ (Mp3)

11.13.2009

Luxury Wafers is excited and proud to present our first live EP digital release! ++ Japanese Motors Luxury Wafers Live EP ++ Click here to get it —> Seven completely fresh songs from Costa Mesa’s Japanese Motors, known locally “for the insane, all-night blowouts they put on as much as for the driving, raucous garage [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Laura Veirs, Live @ Chessvolt Studios

11.11.2009

Armed with a prodigious vocabulary, synchronism with nature and magically potent songwriting skill, Laura Veirs has the cutest little untarnished, no-nonsense voice that grabs the ears and tugs the heart for entrance, like an irresistible, wide-eyed child gently begging entry to your lap, book and blanket in tow. That first tug instantly unveils the opening [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Brendan Benson, Live@Chessvolt Studios with video and mp3s

11.06.2009

These songs from Brendan Benson‘s live session are entirely infectious. Everywhere I go, the catchy phrases now uncoil themselves to spring forth in bouncy, singalbe, memorable bits. While none of us is a stranger to sensational The Raconteurs of which Benson is a collaborative member, I hadn’t actually realized the depth for which I love [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: The Happy Hollows Live @ Chessvolt Studios

11.05.2009

The Happy Hollows are strange in the best way. Evoking the shock-essence of Bowie’s Space Oddity had David Byrne delivered the lyrics, LA’s The Happy Hollows throw and keep you off-guard, shaking open a crack in the head into which they inject slicey, rust-edged razor blades of songs. Sarah Negahdari, the main writer and eccentric [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: The Mother Hips, Live @ Chessvolt Studios with Video and mp3s

11.02.2009

The Mother Hips weren’t born yesterday. That’s part of their allure. These guys, authentic to the bone, are the fiery wilderness of rock ‘n’ roll music – two guitars going off weighted by a fat bass anchor and a humbly steady yet searing foundation of drums, all serving up a crunchy, dirty groove-biscuit iced by [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Great Northern, Live @ Chessvolt Studios

11.01.2009

Über hip LA locals, Great Northern, visited us for a live Luxury Wafers Session, spreading a cool darkness and transforming our studio temporarliy into a spooky crypt with their searing, somber intensity. Singer Rachel Stolte led most of the set vocally with the aggressive sass of power rocker, Pat Benetar. Together with Solon Bixler, the [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Throw Me The Statue, Live @ Chessvolt Studios with Video and Mp3s

10.28.2009

I like Throw Me The Statue. A lot. My original take on their tunes was ahh – easy, gentle. A little blurry. Palatably opioid. After our session with TMTS, I revisited the band’s available info and found the clencher: an ingenious Huey Lewis cover of If This Is It. Huey Lewis. Really?! You can hear [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Dawes, Live@Chessvolt Studios

10.26.2009

Well nurtured acorns, Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith, fell from a family musical tree to fertile soil in Malibu, where they grew and played and rapidly sprouted strong legs and chops and friendships that would someday carry them all across this grand country and beyond. While all four Dawes members grew up on a diet of [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: The Donkeys, Live@Chessvolt Studios

10.23.2009

A group of us were in conversation at the studio recently, talking about various music and bands. The usual. I don’t even remember who or what the topics were exactly. I do remember, though, that my nine-year-old, who was quietly absorbing the talk nearby, piped up when she heard mention of the Grateful Dead. This [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Matteah Baim, Live@Chessvolt Studios with Video and Mp3s

10.20.2009

Lusciously layered guitars induce a trancelike state in Matteah Baim’s Blind Man’s, a song evoking the infinite, playing the razor’s edge of beauty and starkness of being. Such is the character of Matteah Baim‘s darkly poetic songs. They’re serious, best taken at night by candlelight and paired with a goblet of tannin-heavy wine. Matteah Baim [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: The Builders and The Butchers, Live@Chessvolt Studios with Video and Mp3s

10.15.2009

Wild eyed and possessing the qualities of a preacher at a tent revival or one who’s seen the fang-toothed sasquatch monster in the woods, The Builders and The Butchers‘ Ryan Sollee sings to testify. Uncharacteristic of the band’s lurid musical tales, the 5 young men from Portland by way of Alaska appear mellow and norm-observant. [...]

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Citay, Live@Chessvolt Studios with Video and mp3s

10.12.2009

A motley nine members for San Fransisco’s Citay descended on the studio one day when the band (touring with The Dry Spells) came in for a Luxury Wafers Session, bringing a family vibration and big, layered sounds – diverse, like its members, yet generally breaking down into luscious psychedelic, folk-electric jams. Citay is the lovechild [...]

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