Ringo Deathstarr @ The Church on York

As far as younger bands go (bands formed after the turn of the century), Ringo Deathstarr is easily one of my favorites. They wear their shoegaze influences (MBV and a lot more like the Jesus and Mary Chain than BRMC, not that they are trying to) proudly and do a great job recreating those sounds live and on record.  I kept missing them in concert the past few years, so I was looking forward to finally seeing them live. They are from Austin, TX and have actually been through LA a few times before.

The Church on York is out in an area called Highland Park, and seems to be booking a lot of good bands over the next few months. They also have a petition on their website to have a restaurant that sells beer and wine, so good luck to them on that! If you visit their website before March 26th, you can help them by signing it. They were selling water and sodas fairly cheaply, so I think it might be nice if they sold more.

Ringo Deathstarr just released an EP called God’s Dream, which you can purchase and download directly on their website for only $5 (which I just did). They also have 2 other EP’s: a self-titled (2007), Shadow (2011) and 3 albums: Colour Trip (2011), Sparkler (2011), and Mauve (2012) – that last one I had purchased, but didn’t realized I’d only downloaded part of it. They have an old version of their website that says they “are the best rapper alive.”

You’ve got to love a band with a sense of humor that also happens to sound great. The show was on February 20th, so the exact details are a little fuzzy right now. One thing about their live performance, they sound a little more punk than on record and a bigger surprise is that they are just a 3 piece. I enjoyed their set a lot and I hope they play Southern California again soon! Also, if you haven’t heard any of their stuff, do yourself a favor and listen to this widget and buy everything they have released.