Red Bull Sound Select Presents: Los Angeles with How to Dress Well and SWIMM hosted by Cherry Glazerr

Wednesday night, Sayers Club in Hollywood housed this month’s rising artists showcase Red Bull Sound Select Presents: Los Angeles. LA’s own indie artist Cherry Glazerr hosted the night, introducing psychedelic rockers SWIMM who opened the night, followed by experimental R&B artist How to Dress Well.

Cherry Glazerr spinning classic tracks between sets

SWIMM’s lead vocalist Chris Hess is quite the quirky fellow. He enters the stage solo, and proceeds to belt out an a capella cover of Divinyls’s “I Tough Myself,” as a happy intro song while the rest of the band to enters the stage. Onlookers cheerily sing along. Hess continues to interpretively dance as he sings and takes pauses from his guitar strumming. Jumps and sways show his passion for making danceable music. The rest of the group plays with equal fervor throughout the entertaining set. They highlight catchy beach-worthy rock songs off their EP and a few new tunes like “Beverly Hills” which will be on their new album due out soon. Echoing vocals and a peppy tambourine steadily add to the magical feel of their live sound. Their great attitude and dreamy songs are purely delightful – a pleasant treat for the crowd who waited quite a long time for the set to start.

SWIMM frontman Chris Hess

After a painstakingly longer space between sets, Tom Krell’s eclectic musical project How to Dress Well finally takes the stage. The audience unfortunately seems bitter and resentful toward the eager group. Frontman Krell further adds to the awkwardness with silly comments between songs are met with irked sighs as several people brush off everything he says. It is a curious approach as to how Krell translates his electronic music to a live setting. He is accompanied by three musicians, including a violinist and cellist. The silver lining is without a doubt his ethereal voice. He asserts that their music is a cross between Coldplay and his bandmate’s side project, which is an appropriate comparison considering their rather drawn out, slowcore-tastic tendencies with songs like “Decisions” and “Suicide Dream 1.” It is easier to appreciate the live approach with the delicate balance of vocal range and melody building. Krell cleverly wins the crowd’s attention back peppering in songs off his latest album What Is This Heart? It is refreshing to hear the full spectrum of his music from the emo to their version of hardcore metal. Here’s hoping next time he will focus more on the playing and less on the talking.

Singer Tom Krell of How to Dress Well

 

How to Dress Well Set list:

A Power
Cold Nites
Repeat Pleasure
Decisions
& It Was You
Face Again
Suicide Dream 1
Set It Right
Words I Don’t Remember

Here are more photos for your viewing pleasure.

SWIMM

How to Dress Well

All photos courtesy of Red Bull Sound Select Presents: Los Angeles

 

 

Rachel Zimmerman: Rachel Zimmerman (Long Beach, CA) joined the mxdwn team in 2011 as a Live Concert Reviewer. It was the perfect intersection of two of her greatest passions- music and writing. Her love for anything artistic manifested early in life as she designed clothing, created ceramic sculptures, and curated personal playlists for her peers in elementary and high school. As an avid fan of live music, she always found a way to see her favorite musical artists play, whether it was by babysitting enough to pay for tickets to shows or by winning tickets on the radio. Several years, concerts and festivals later, she worked her way up to her current position as Concert Review Editor for music.mxdwn.com. She especially enjoys sharing her love for music with her young nephew who has an affinity for rock and roll and jazz. Rachel continues to review concerts, interview artists and annually attend SXSW in Austin, TX on behalf of mxdwn.
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