All songs written and performed by Phillip Golub (piano) & Cam Johnson (drums/percussion). LAsong is a retrospective project about how we hear our hometown, Los Angeles. Our mission is to present a side of our L.A. experiences through piano/percussion duo music.
Espejo de la Ciudad (Mirror of the City) is about a day spent in the Hollywood Hills and Griffith Park area. Our theme was pockets of nature tucked into a sprawling city seemingly void of wildlife. We found most moving not the flora and fauna, mountains and hills themselves, but the wide-reaching and vast views of the L.A. Basin below us. Above the city on top of the Griffith Observatory, we could see far east of Downtown, to Palos Verdes and Santa Monica. It was both energizing and refreshing to see all of this from one place, while also slightly confusing to see so many familiar areas and landmarks at once, and to see all of what we know of L.A. before us in a single frame.
Thirteen Faces is about an afternoon spent walking up and down the Venice Boardwalk. We noticed how eclectic the place was, how many unrelated events took place all within a relatively short beach. Each person or group of people was entirely in his own world, each time displaying its unique version of "odd". As the sun began to set and the tourist crowds began to fade, a sadder truth of the actual people's lives began to take over. Still, the relentless motor of the place lives while vendors break down shop and wild conspiracy theorists pack up their stands.
Broken Hip Blues is about an afternoon spent searching for the L.A. River. We were driving happily with no specific destination around the Chinatown/Downtown area and hope to capture what a typical cruise on a Saturday afternoon through the streets of L.A. might feel like.
Weaving Lollipops in a Cool Nighttime Sun is about our time at MOCA and the contemporary art wing of LACMA. We noticed how varied in style, in approach, in concept, and in technique all of the pieces were. Behind almost every piece we saw, however, was a similar strong urge to prove its reason for existence. Also notable was the sheer quantity, coupled with the quality, of all the art we saw: the rush and then numb from seeing so much work in one place. We hope to capture some of this with the final song of our set.
Recorded and mixed by Stuart Thomas and Matt Ward June 6-7, 2011 at JNH Studios, Santa Monica, CA. Special Thanks to James Newton Howard, Stu & Matt, Evan Avery, Lee Secard, Giles Scott, Mitch Kohn, Paul Gibbs, Stephanie Carrillo, Crossroads School, and The Colburn School.