If you live in Los Angeles and haven’t been to the free residencies that take place every Monday night at The Satellite, you’re missing out. There are few examples as strong as last night’s show, which featured The Palms headlining for the third night of their four shows in the month of February.
From top to bottom, it was an extremely strong show, and it was enough to get me out of the house after an extra long weekend and a 5 AM shift that day.
Opening up the evening was Brooklyn synthpop group Fever High, a band I discovered while going through and doing my Best Shows This Week roundup. I listened to “Tantalize” and immediately fell in love, while also becoming intrigued on how it would translate in a live setting. SPOILER: It translates tremendously well.
Anna Nordeen and Reni Lane front the group, which also features Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger. I didn’t realize until later I recognized Lane from having performed with singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur – one of my favorites.
Their sound immediately struck me as taking a little bit of the B-52’s, The Bangles, with a little bit of Wilson Phillips and ‘90’s mall-pop like Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. I didn’t realize until later I recognized Lane from having performed with singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur – one of my favorites.
They played tracks from their All Work EP that was released last year. Nordeen and Lane have great stage presence, using the entirety of The Satellite’s intimate stage and even the floor in front of the crowd. Lane mixed it up, playing trumpet and acoustic guitar at different points in the set. The title track “All Work” was the most B-52’s-ish of the bunch and “Tantalize” was killer live (watch my video below). They even threw in a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Never Let Me Down” for good measure. Check them out when they come to your town.
Up next was LA favorite indie pop trio Smoke Season. I first came across them months ago thanks to their unique spin on Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” but stayed for their original jams. Gabrielle Wortman and Jason Rosen have great stage chemistry and I really enjoyed their set, which had the floor packed.
The Palms are a band I also recently stumbled across. The singer Ben Rothbard has a Matt Shultz from Cage the Elephant vibe to him and that was even more apparent live. They definitely have a cross between Cage’s sound and Portugal. The Man’s, which has me believing they will be pretty damn big. There were quite a few people packed up front singing along to all their songs.
2017 single “Don’t Waste My Time” was a banger, but it was “Push Off” that received the largest response. This band is going places, so catch them next Monday night on February 27 as they close out their residency at The Satellite. Get it while it’s free.
