Dum Dum Girls at the Mondrian’s Skybar with Dirty Beaches

I've been to plenty of rock shows at hotels over the years. When Scream was at the Park Plaza Hotel, I saw Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds on the Tender Prey tour, Sonic Youth on the Sister tour, Lords of the New Church with Stiv Bators, and Jane's Addiction who knows how many times. And then there were Rocket from the Crypt's legendary annual Halloween shows at Horton Plaza, which I attended a handful of. Tonight I went to the super trendy Mondrian on the cheesiest part of the Sunset Strip to catch a free show by Dum Dum Girls.

Although the Skybar regulars were decidedly bourgoie, the pool actually added some cool ripple effects that complemented the sound of the upcoming EP: still decidedly dark (verging on goth) and psychedelic (more dreamy than acidic) with somewhat clearer vocals than before. It will be nice to hear the real thing and not hear it filtered through YouTube when it comes out in March. The set was short and sweet, the sound was suprisingly good, and the evening was a great teaser for the band's eventual return to L.A.

Opening for the Dum Dums everywhere else on the current tour is Dirty Beaches from Vancouver by way of San Francisco, Hawaii, Toronto, Hawaii… Although I didn't get to see Alex play his primo brand of dreamy, lo-fi, deconstructed rockabilly, I did get to finally meet him and talk about all sorts of things: the movies of Wong Kar-Wai (which inspired him to take up smoking), his favorite bands in China (where he just got back from), and his dad (who is featured on a couple of his 7″ single sleeves). Look for the full interview to be posted next week, and definitely show up early to see him if you plan on catching the Dum Dum Girls when the tour hits your town. You'll be blown away by both.

Dirty Beaches, above. Dum Dum Girls, below. Hot damn, what a killer lineup…