Monday, February 07, 2005
BESTofJAN05: "DIESEL U MUSIC" LAUNCH PARTY
Q. What do Louis XIV, Avril Lavigne, and Diesel have in common?
A: They all invaded Ivar on the 13th of January...
A: They all invaded Ivar on the 13th of January...
....where a packed house celebrated the launch of Diesel U Music, an initiative to give exposure to new bands "under the radar of mainstream radio and TV" -- "an international music competition for unsigned, unsung and unseen talents". Four of those talents were on when I arrived: Louis XIV, their sound sounding fresh even though this quartet coulda crashlanded from CBGBs circa '78. They had the crowd transfixed (perhaps because many in attendance could not recall 1978 -- "what be these strange sweet sounds betwixt my ears?!"). Part Bowie, part Stooges, part punk/new-wave, part Power Pop, Louis XIV rocked, with a look hip yet familiar -- longish shaggy hair, mod Brit-sleek attire and black eyeliner.
And then, Holy Synchronicity, I see a swarm of people weaving through the crowd, and in the Eye of the storm is none other than the Queen of Black Eyeliner --- Avril Lavigne, wearing an engineers cap, leading her posse to the VIP area. This mademoiselle looms large in print, but in real life, tres tres petite! And ironically, she was sans the famed overabundance of black eyeliner. Oh sure, there was some, but not the massive amounts she used to be known for.
Yes, our favorite sk8rgrrl is growing up, and perhaps so is a New Sound. Perhaps a torch was passing last night to a New Wave of eyelinered rockers, from one French-monikered music act to the Next. Perhaps I am at Ground Zero of a new French Revolution... in music!
Yes, our favorite sk8rgrrl is growing up, and perhaps so is a New Sound. Perhaps a torch was passing last night to a New Wave of eyelinered rockers, from one French-monikered music act to the Next. Perhaps I am at Ground Zero of a new French Revolution... in music!
Wait -- who am I, Kurt Loder?
But hey, you really should check out Louis XIV while you can. Because if Avril was there, who knows, maybe she knows something we should know. You know?
Many thanks to Nicole and Reagan at Landers PR for all their assistance on this event. Check out the raucous rock of Louis XIV on the KCRW website, where you can hear their archived performance from a recent Morning Becomes Eclectic show.
Many thanks to Nicole and Reagan at Landers PR for all their assistance on this event. Check out the raucous rock of Louis XIV on the KCRW website, where you can hear their archived performance from a recent Morning Becomes Eclectic show.
