Free Moral Agents at RecCenter Studio, Echo Park, 12.07.10

Fans of Free Moral Agents at Garth Trinidad’s “Raw Deal” holiday party on December 7 had to settle for just three songs from the experimental collective. After the opening band went on at Echo Park’s RecCenter Studio, the cops were called and Isaiah “Ikey” Owens and his group were forced to curtail their set. Owens, keyboardist for The Mars Volta, started Free Moral Agents as a solo project in 2003, adding collaborators until the group began playing gigs in its present form around Long Beach and Los Angeles four years ago. The holiday crowd was treated to a mere taste of the group’s dreamy, laidback mix of rock, jazz, and hip hop, highlighted by Owens’ work on the keyboard and Mendee Ichikawa’s vocals. Those left craving more could pick up the group’s new album Control This, released in October.