KCRW & DTLA Team Up To Prove Friends Are *Indeed*...

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KCRW & DTLA Team Up To Prove Friends Are *Indeed* Eclectic |

Authenticity can’t be bought; you have to earn it. As KCRW’s Jason Bentley smiled down from an opera box at Downtown LA’s Orpheum Theater, the music lovers beneath him all knew that Saturday night’s Are Friends Eclectic? benefit show, was absolutely steeped in untainted authenticity.

Standout performances from Anna Calvi, Other Lives, White Denim, and Iron & Wine trailblazed a remarkable line-up that also included reggae legend Jimmy Cliff.

For followers of Internet culture, keeping up with the newest and edgiest Indie music remains relatively easy; however, for Los Angeles radio listeners it is cultural steward KCRW who brings those Indie gems to a wider audience. Are Friends Eclectic? provided a solid opportunity to sample these gems, as each band played three or four songs, before clearing the stage for the next act.

I caught up with Other Lives lead singer Jesse Tabish, who couldn’t stop praising KCRW for their support. “We’ve never been a band who’s gotten a lot of airplay,” confessed the Oklahoma native. “KCRW was literally the first national radio station to play our music.” If you’ve ever heard Other Lives’ Tamer Animals, you know full well the blatant criminality of this statement.

continue reading | Zachary Urbina | Los Angeles I’m Yours

[photos: Jeremiah Garcia]