Here at “Duvet” we may have stumbled onto a vaguely scientific and useful application of Twitter that goes beyond marketing and self-fucking. Unable to attend this year’s music industry flatulatory exercise in self-promotion – an industry that has grown to include bloggers like myself – Austin, TX’s SXSW but still wanting to remain “in the loop” from the comfort of my couch in view of the NCAA basketball tourney, I turned to Twitter.
Finally someone gives it to the blogosphere straight
This excruciating exercise involved following a carefully “curated” – the most overused word in this early/new millennium - list of musicians, blogs, record labels, and PR professionals against a control group of friends or “civilians” as I chose to think of them. Enlisted or conscripted, each contributing from this annual war of hype and perspective with their “Tweets”. Free of the emotional contagion and binge drinking I tried to divine who was truly making an impact at “South By”. After wading through hundreds of inanities delivered in “140 characters or less” – complete with links to pictures of the back of heads pointed at a form on some faraway and hastily erected stage or sonically overloaded video of hundreds of people engaged in similar acts of citizen journalism meets cinema verite – one name emerged unanimous: Odd Future.
The Los Angeles hip hop collective known as OFWGKTA (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All), or shortened to Odd Future, went into SXSW with plenty of “buzz”. They emerged worthy of the hype and deserving of the, “we don’t give a FUCK” aesthetic the ten member, not-underground-for-long contingent has cultivated. A hard group for many to easily classify, but here goes: Think the hardcore in your “faceness” of N.W.A., meshed with the shock and awe of Kool Keith’s Dr. Octogon era “porncore”, bent against some of the best punk rock posturing since Johnny Rotten, all to the minimal grime and dubstep backing pioneered by producers like Dizzee Rascal or Burial. Rapper/Producer Tyler the Creator leads this Wu-ist crew with the intensity of another hard-to-define kindred hip hop splinter sect, South Africa’s Die Antwoord. Like Die Antwoord the beats are raw and the lyrics rawer, celebrating a macabre, often-fantastical teenage experience.
Formed in 2007, members of Odd Future range in age from 17-23. The group’s profile is sure to rise after news-making, bone-breaking performances at SXSW, Tyler the Creator and Hodgy Beats backed by the Roots on Jimmy Fallon and all of Odd Future taking the stage at mtvU’s Woodie Awards (all performances can be seen below). All of the bands releases to date can be downloaded for free from their site, oddfuture.com. What truly makes Odd Future, well, odd is a visual appeal that conjures skateboards as readily as gats. Not your mother’s rap music, this is something else entirely. In fact rumor has it that member Earl Sweatshirt (age 16 at the time) was sent off to boarding school/boot camp after his mother heard some of his disturbing lyrical content. It will be interesting to see how the notoriously polarizing act handles the wave of critical and popular attention gathering on the horizon. Will they continue to put splinters in ears or splinter entirely; they certainly have potential to be the “Return of the Wu” Redux.
Abe Vigoda live, these guys are definitely not Fish...photo by Robert Celli
This past Thursday perennial indie party Popscene turned San Francisco’s Rickshaw Stop into a sauna. That’s right, complete with steam coming off the walls, shvitzing hipsters, and RAWK so good it cleaned your pores! The night featured two decidedly different bands with different sounds and approaches who shared one member. Los Angeles’ Abe Vigoda kicked things off, delivering a tight and pounding set of their unique blend of indie cum world beat tunes. Live, Abe Vigoda comes off a lot more aggressive and bare boned. The afro-calypso elements are still inherent in their sound but stripped of some the recorded production that I associated with them. What they do extremely well is staying rooted to the underground scene that produced them. By avoiding fay indulgence in the same influences a band like Vampire Weekend co-opts and markets as “indie-world music”, Abe Vigoda are more art school cool than Ivy League elite. Their set was a lot more groove-based than I was expecting and contained that hard to define element of “punkness”. One of a handful of the early bands to emerge out of LA’s art collective The Smell (along with other notables No Age, Wavves and Best Coast), Abe Vigoda may have the most original and uncompromised sounds.
Juan Velazquez of Abe Vigoda...photo by Robert Celli
Singer-guitarist Juan Velazquez leads the band whose sound is sonically akin to a tropical downpour of shimmering guitars, which clear to reveal the first rays of sunlight through a cloud-filled sky. That blend of percussive thump, hazy vocals and guitars that sound like steel drums are the heart and soul of Abe Vigoda. There is an infectious energy that makes you feel like you just washed up on an island made entirely of concrete after a rough night lost at sea.
Between bands the Popscene DJs mixed yesteryear’s inducers of lock-kneed sway and oscillating dance like the Psychedelic Furs and The Smiths with more current reproducers of the late 80’s-early 90’s music that is currently in vogue. The crowded, slightly affected smart phone tapping attendees responded to both generations of music with equal vigor. I found this slightly bemusing given the supposed penchant the iGeneration has for ironical detachment. But, HEY, a good song is a good song! We are nothing if not our own cultivated pastiche.
Wild Nothing from the side at the Rickshaw...photo by Robert Celli
Up next was Virginia’s Wild Nothing who was no doubt responsible for the line that stretched around the block outside the club. Last year’s release Gemini was a fixture on critics’ top ten lists. Indebted to Robert Smith and The Cure but devoid of the over-emotive vocal drama Smith is known for, Wild Nothing’s frontman Jack Tatum writes incredibly catchy hooks built around cascading guitars and pulsing bass lines. The young girls and much to my surprise men in the crowd, to borrow the Morrisey lyric, “oscillated wildly” from the opening notes. Wild Nothing’s sound is built on the effect-laden guitar interplay between Tatum and guitarist Nathan Goodman. Drummer Michael Skattum employs some electronic triggers but this is a decidedly straight ahead rock band live. The night’s MVP was Abe Vigoda drummer Dane Chadwick who filled in on bass and played a seemingly flawless show for both bands.
Jack Tatum sings...photo by Robert Celli
For a band (truly, this is Jack Tatum’s project) that garnered so much attention for “playing” the recording studio, they were well-suited to a live setting. Guitars shimmered, while voices hung in the air like smoke rings over the blissful ongoing shimmy in the audience. Songs like “Summer Holiday” and “Golden Haze” are lovely swirls of melodies with just enough muscle to them to not sound wimpy. Their sound is a bit one-dimensional but it is one helluva a dimension. Judging by the reaction they were receiving this was right hybrid of shoegaze, indie pop and just enough retro-New Wave flourishes. There is nothing wrong with giving the people what they want.
Blurred vision of Wild Nothing...photo by Robert Celli
Sometimes it is black and white...photo by Robert Celli
When Alicia Witt sings, the heavens themselves stop and listen. On a cold evening in Los Angeles Saturday night, December 12, a rare downpour that washed the city all day took a break from raining as Witt performed her tight 45 minute set at Room 5 on La Brea. A well known movie and TV actress, Witt performs as part of a trio, seated stage right at a piano while accompanied by Alisha Bauer on cello and Kaumyar Delkash on drums. Aside from one shout out to members of the crowd who are also working on her current film, there is no pretense or showiness coming from Witt. Using concise, informative patter between songs and flashing a genuine, radiant smile, Alicia lets her music do the talking instead of her celebrity. And what a voice. It comes from tender, intimate appeals, soaring to roof raising heights, as she all the while works the piano with an ease and command that, in her own words, is like her "weekly cardio workout." She promised to let the audience rock before our holiday parties, and in some tunes, the band takes off and she really lets her inner Pat Benatar out, especially in her self-described "female power song" and her "creepy cover song." But where Witt really excels is in her ballads, personal and universal poems of love, longing, and everyday girl issues. Her lyrics flow with a poetic polish, and her piano playing rivals that of rockers Billy Joel or Elton John. Do yourself the favor and catch her next time she is in LA or in her love/hate town of New York. You can download Alicia Witt's eponymous EP of songs from iTunes.
This month, we're going to give you investors the simple, knock-out combination for creating your real estate legacy. Caution, this may cause your great grand-children to raise a glass anytime your name is mentioned.
Buy SFR's. Most of you know that SFR stands for "Single Family Residence". But for some savvy investors, their SFRs are making them So Filthy Rich.
Now, we're sure some of you are saying; "SFRs? What about units? I want units!".
Here's why SFRs:
- NO RENT CONTROL: Avoid relocation fees (up to $17,000!), impossibly low rents, and bad tenants you can't get rid of. SFR's aren't subject to LA's lovely rent control laws. Hooray!
- Easier To Rent: Most renters would choose an SFR over sharing walls with some stranger any day. And most are willing to pay a premium for it.
- Higher Rents: See above.
- Fewer Expenses: Have your SFR renters pay all their utilities. Water, gardener, etc. Plus you can lock in a home warranty that will cover the costs of minor break-downs to keep you from having to run out and fix a clogged sink at 1am.
- Friendlier Loans: Anyone trying to get a loan on a non-owner occupied income property right now? It ain't easy, especially anything over 2 units.
Lending on an SFR is far more user-friendly.
- Better Re-sale: There are more buyers in the market for an SFR than income units. More buyers = greater demand and we all know what that means.
Food For Thought: "Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now." Goethe
This is an opinion and should be treated as such. Investing in general carries significant risk. You could lose your entire investment.
PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS.
This means that just because a particular investment worked in the past does not mean, in and of itself, that the same indicators will cause a similar profitable effect.
WE MAKE NO REPRESENTATION OF CLIENT PROFITS.
Unfortunately we cannot guarantee you profits. There are no guarantees of profits in real estate or in any other investment for that matter. In fact, in many cases customers suffer a loss of all or part of their investment dollar.
INVESTORS CAN AND DO LOSE MONEY.
Every sale produces a winner and a loser. Money is not created or destroyed, it just changes ownership. If investing will alter your style of living in any manner to the worse, do not invest.
