Giant Robot Store and GR2 News

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Whoa, the new OFF! album is a beast and Tuesday’s record release in-store at Amoeba Hollywood kicked ass. Not some lukewarm sampler but a full-on, raging 16-song set! Of course for this particular band that adds up to about 30 minutes but damn. Quality minutes of world-class hardcore punk from the originals, measured with Sabbathian darkness and riffs.

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mario1-off1

Whoa, the new OFF! album is a beast and Tuesday’s record release in-store at Amoeba Hollywood kicked ass. Not some lukewarm sampler but a full-on, raging 16-song set! Of course for this particular band that adds up to about 30 minutes but damn. Quality minutes of world-class hardcore punk from the originals, measured with Sabbathian darkness and riffs.

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This week I attended back-to-back music release events for Aziatix and Best Coast. Weird! For the former, I crossed a velvet rope along with invited guests and journalists. For the latter, my Kindergartener daughter and I sat on the sidewalk for a couple of hours with fellow fans outside Amoeba to attend the in-store concert. K-pop vs. indie rock. Massive production value vs. lo-fi. Lil’ Wayne vs. Kid Cudi. Making charts is something I really enjoyed and miss about working on Giant Robot magazine, so I figured this was as good an occasion as any to dust off the old format… Enjoy! Links that actually work: www.toyota.com/corollaready www.amoeba.com/live-shows/detail-2760/  
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This week I attended back-to-back music release events for Aziatix and Best Coast. Weird! For the former, I crossed a velvet rope along with invited guests and journalists. For the latter, my Kindergartener daughter and I sat on the sidewalk for a couple of hours with fellow fans outside Amoeba to attend the in-store concert. K-pop vs. indie rock. Massive production value vs. lo-fi. Lil’ Wayne vs. Kid Cudi. Making charts is something I really enjoyed and miss about working on Giant Robot magazine, so I figured this was as good an occasion as any to dust off the old format… Enjoy! Links that actually work: www.toyota.com/corollaready www.amoeba.com/live-shows/detail-2760/  
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It doesn’t suck to live in California, where you get to see bands like Best Coast play free record-release shows at Amoeba. Yes, the brand-new EP is as amazing as the RSD 7″ led us to believe, perfectly combining honesty and polish, and the new songs sounded great live. So did favorites like “The Only Place,” “Crazy for You,” and the closer, “Girlfriend.” The place was packed and stoked and so was Bethany, who made a point to repeatedly thank all the fans and friends for being there. Watch the set at the Amoeba site when you have the time!

Afterward there was a record signing where Eloise got to give Bobb and Bethany band portraits that she drew while we were in line. I’ll occasionally run into Bobb at shows or the market, and he is not only the most talented musician and producer but one of the raddest guys. Glad Eloise got to see him in action and say hi. Hopefully next time we’ll see him over donuts in Highland Park!

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