Disclaimer: I started writing this recap of the Left Tracks 2025 California tour and promptly got smacked with COVID. So it took me a lot longer to finish. I also wrote a lot more than I intended, so feel free to skim around and click some links if you want some new music. I was originally going to tease our new LT single Business Days as ‘coming out next Tuesday, June 10th’ and it is now Tuesday, June 10th. So if you’re not feeling like reading, just click here and listen :) Also, and probably more importantly: FUCK ICE
Hello! I’m currently in my boxers writing this after returning from a weeklong Left Tracks tour. In between catching up on production projects, I’ve taken at least two naps a day since I got home, including one while trying to start writing this email. There’s a worrisome tickle in my throat. All this to say… it was a whirlwind week.
When Phil (DI LEO) and I get together, we become one-track-minded, creativity incarnate. Something about the Left Tracks process has us forgetting to eat, taking 0 breaks, getting lost in the cloud of ideas. All of this can often go woefully undocumented because of this monomaniacal approach. Thankfully our talented friend and bassist Sam Thorne (Fierce Invalids) was on the ball, literally showing up to the car on the first day of tour with three disposable cameras. More of those pics to come soon…
The plan was for me to play drums on this tour, which was both nerve-wracking and exciting since I hadn’t played drums live for 10+ years. But drums were my first instrument. One day in the late 90s, my dad brought home an electronic kit for himself to play on, I immediately jumped on to practice Beatles songs and that was that. I also play drums on a lot of the new Left Tracks songs, so that’s how I ended up drumming, singing, and triggering samples in this set.
May 28: Left Tracks + Britta Raci & Jangus Kangus @ Permanent Records Roadhouse
Sandwiched between two of my favorite Los Angeles-based acts, Jangus Kangus and Britta Raci, both of whom represent a different side of our musicality, we played to a very full Permanent Records Roadhouse, combination venue, record store and bar. This is my home venue, where I attend music trivia every other Thursday, so it was extra special to pack it out and play to friends, acquaintances and new fans. And to debut our new electronic-meets-live sampler/band arrangements, which turned out surprisingly crispy and fun in the Real Venue setting. Here’s a little clip from our friend Dawson (of Plum) — we also got a full-length professional video of the show, coming soon ;)
May 29: Cheekface & Pacing @ The Regent Theatre
There’s something weirdly satisfying about stealing the valor of an entire national tour. It was Thursday, May 29th, the day after the Left Tracks Permanent gig. With Phil’s kind blessing, I was hitting pause on our tour to attend the last show (and feature during the Pacing set) of the mammoth 2-month long Cheekface/Pacing (Cheekpace) national tour at the venerable Regent Theatre in DTLA.
The last time I’d been at this venue was to see Of Montreal and Tele Novella, so it was a bit intimidating to say the least. As I hung out in the largest green room I’ve ever seen, I inhaled the vapor of inside jokes, tour games and general exhaustion that soaked through the entire Cheekface/Pacing (Cheekpace) tour party. I was invited to partake of the rider and the free pizza with the For Your Consideration advertisements on the boxes (LA, amirite?) and felt grateful.
I’m generally up for a musical challenge, and featuring on the bass guitar for a band 36 dates into a national tour is nothing if not that. It’s a testament to the Pacing band (usually Katie “Pacing” McTigue & her husband Ben, now featuring drummer/vocalist Vonnie Whatever) how natural it felt to jump in with no joint practices and play the bass lines that I’d written and recorded for Pacing bangers “Pl*net F*tness” and “Annoying Email”. Video courtesy my buddy Joe:
May 31: Left Tracks + Lizzy Dutton & Sucker Crush @ The Tree House (Oak)
On Friday, nursing a soft hangover from the Cheekpace show, I reunited with Phil and grabbed Sam for our Bay Area jaunt. After a breezy and surprisingly equally distributed drive upstate, Sam and I piled into Phil’s apartment (also the night’s DIY venue, called “The Tree House”) with his wife Sasha (Fieldress) and the next day started helping them get the place ready for the show with Lizzy Dutton and Sucker Crush.
Having lived there for over 10 years before moving to LA in 2020, being back in the Bay always feels like a huge reunion. Of the friends gathered, I could count at least 8 people who’d either played live with Sun Kin or contributed to recordings in the past. Multiple of my exes were there... My old buddy Patrick James (Best Loser, The Hot Takes) came out — he plays all over the first Sun Kin record Good Feels (2012). Adding to the love-fest, Sucker Crush’s lead songwriter Marissa sings and/or plays cello on quite a few Sun Kin & Left Tracks tunes. And her drummer Francisco used to be my housemate! And we own the same shirt!! Shouts out to Frankie and our Mustard-colored Big Bud Press button-downs!!!
Both Lizzy and Sucker Crush played incredible sets. Lizzy has a style that reminds me of Joni Mitchell but is so much her own thing that the reference feels less than useful other than to describe her confident voice and highly melodic guitar work that doesn’t hesitate to go out on its own emotional tangent when the song calls for it.
I was thrilled to get to belt along to Sucker Crush’s “Expectation Exorcism”, a song about the psychological self-harm that inevitably emerges from being forced to promote your work on social media. It remains one of my favorite tracks to emerge from Marissa’s MEW (Music Every Week) group, which she started a little before and then continued throughout the pandemic. It’s so rare that a new internet social phenomenon emerges that I actually like and recommend. Want to exercise a creative muscle or attend a free lecture on production or self-promotion? Or even just talk to a bunch of people who probably feel the same way you do about making creative work in 2025? Read all about it here :)
It was wild to see many friends, exes, old bandmates of mine with little to no chronological overlap all come out to support me, revitalize old friendships and form fun new bonds. This has officially become my favorite part of growing older. I often find it hard to hold onto the good stuff from my past. I tend to focus so hard on the pain of past moments that it’s easier to lock them away. It turns out I did something with my life. Even if it was just to bring these people together to laugh and play and sing. If you’re reading this and came out to the Oakland show, just know that I love you <3
June 1: Left Tracks + Lampland & Spencer Hoffman @ Secret Compound (Sac)
The next morning, Phil took Sam and I to see Middle Harbor in Oakland, where the infamous port cranes inspired the AT-ATs from Star Wars. I couldn’t believe I’d lived in Oakland for so long and never saw this gorgeous swampy park from which you can see the SF skyline and a close-up of the industrious Port of Oakland.
Our last show of the tour was at our multi-talented audio engineer, booker and artist friend Styles’ DIY venue Secret Compound in Sacramento with Lampland and Spencer Hoffman. Really great bands- Spencer both opened the show and played in Lampland. We have a lot of mutual friends so I’m surprised I haven’t caught a show yet (also because all of Lampland lives in LA), and he didn’t disappoint in either configuration. And wow, Lampland had such a great vibe. A little bit The Clientele meets a little bit Sarah Records with really cohesive and tight arrangements. Highly recommend! I got a tie-dyed shirt in sky blue :)
We messed up some of the tour dates so that this show had to be on a Sunday, which meant it was a little less poppin’ than usual, but it was still a great vibe. And Phil and I each sold some merch! Which made our evening because it meant we sold merch at every stop of the tour!! Which was also cool because we have no Left Tracks merch yet and now I think we should probably make some!!!
OK then we drove home and I got COVID and wrote this long-ass thing till I couldn’t remember anything else. Serious kudos to anyone who got this far. If you have anything to spare, support Jail Support in LA and the Detained Immigrant Bond Fund for those out being attacked by ICE and the LAPD.
What I’ve been listening to recently:
OK I’d be remiss to not plug the new Left Tracks single again for anyone that got this far down in the email. I’m going to post more about ‘Business Days’ this week, but the short form is it’s a song about how time is fake. And I play drums and bass and lead guitar. And it’s catchy and good and short so how could you not listen to it?
I’m always listening to new albums, but recently that’s not been serving me super well. So I decided to try something different in 2025: Every month this year, I’ve been making playlists of songs with names like “sure jan” or “imperial march 😣” or “may we all get out of this alive”. After each month, I dump the songs into a grand ‘2025’ playlist, which I now share with you: Here’s a Spotify and an Apple Music version. Songs from June are at the top and it proceeds in reverse chronological order. I hope you find something you like!
From Where You Came, the new album from experimental Canadian composer and producer Kara-Lis Coverdale. The easiest way to describe this music might be ‘ambient’ but she rejects that label. And honestly I agree. So much of the music called ‘ambient’ these days is anonymous ‘vibey’ slop meant for a Spotify playlist, easily reproducible by machines and possessing none of the unexpected blisses and imperfect humanity of composition represented in this album.