First Fridays – March

“The first time I saw Shannon my heart was broken into a million pieces. I had known her from her wonderful punk band “Feels” as the lead guitarist who shouted back up, but I wasn’t sure what to expect from her performing solo. But there she was – at a small bar in Los Angeles to maybe 15 people watching while she sat in a chair with an electric guitar on her knee, orange hair covering her face and a picture of Bart Simpson projected behind her. She began her set and my heart stopped the moment her voice leaped into the air – and I did what I do in those rare situations – I recorded it. I pulled out my phone, opened up the voice memos and recorded her whole set (the last time I had done this was three years earlier while watching Kris Kristofferson and Harry Dean Stanton do duets set at Cinefamily). After her performance I was in complete awe and wasn’t sure how to approach her to convey how much I loved it. Suddenly Shannon, an acquaintance from around town, had exposed her super power and I felt instantly star struck in her presence. ‘I recorded your set so I could listen to it again,’ I told her, and then to my surprise I found myself saying ‘let me put out your record’ and after convincing Jeremy at Woodsist to do a collaborative release with me, here it is. ‘Living Water’ is an instant classic. Recorded by Emmet Kelly (Cairo Gang, Bonnie Prince Billy, Ty Segall) in his Los Angeles home studio, this is an album where you can hear the room reacting to the music taking shape around it. Shannon has a voice that transcends time and space. You can’t tell if she’s old or new, if she’s sitting next to you, on a mountain top, or down in some canyon. Already her second LP to be released in 2017, Shannon is a prolific songwriter, one who lives and breathes melody and with guitar skills to boot. Despite its 14 tracks, ‘Living Water’ comes in well under 40 minutes, but like ‘Pink Moon’ or ‘Just Another Diamond Day’ before it, this is music so potent it exists outside the realms of time – but in a world specific only to itself and the new feelings it creates. Shannon has been dominating the local scene in Los Angeles over the past two years, leaving everyone who witnesses completely breathless. Having just finished a tour with Ty Segall, Shannon is set to support Kevin Morby on a national tour this fall.” – Kevin Morby, Birmingham, Alabama, June 8th 2017

Superet is an American rock band that formed in Los Angeles, CA on Valentine’s Day of 2016. Tattooed across the arm of singer/guitarist Matt Blitzer, the date marks both the project’s genesis and the manifestation of the musical partnership between five close friends. Having collaborated in various iterations over the preceding years, Blitzer, along with Alex Fischel (keyboards), Sam KS (drums), Patrick Kelly (bass) and Isaac Tamburino (guitar, keyboards, percussion) present Superet as the culmination of their longstanding creative kinship. Snatched from the facade of a decrepit Los Angeles church (cult), the Latin word “superet” translates to “may it overflow,” an apt description of the reclusive band’s modus operandi. After quietly stockpiling eccentric, hook-laden rock gems behind closed doors, the group unveiled its blistering debut single “Pay It Later” in May of 2017. Superet is coming…

Mondo Cozmo is an American singer-songwriter based out of East Los Angeles, CA. Working influences ranging from The Verve, Primal Scream, Beck, Beastie Boys and Bob Dylan in a contempt fusion of beats, guitars and attitude. In the Spring of 2016, multiple Los Angeles radio stations including KCRW “Morning Becomes Eclectic,” 98.7, 88.5, KROQ, Zane Lowe and NPR, started playing the demos which led to a record deal with Republic Records which was signed in a Mexican restaurant in Burbank. Upon hearing the songs Spike Stent demanded to mix the record. Anna Faris (“Mom”, “The Dictator”, “Lost in Translation”) starred in the first video “Hold on to Me” which was shot documentary style in a retirement facility in Santa Monica, CA. That same week a second video was shot starring Paz De La Huerta for “Higher,” the video was originally shot for “Sixes and Sevens” but was changed after Mondo saw the footage leading him to write the song “Higher” for De La Huerta.

Anthony Valadez has been on the FM dial for over 20 years dating back to his college mix show days on KCSN to currently hosting his weekly show on KCRW and online on Tune In. His shows have been hailed by Ty Dolla Sign, Childish Gambino and Julian Casablanca (the Strokes) for his keen ear for new and emerging artists. He is also a contributor to Boston’s WBUR’s Here and Now segments chiming in what’s new on the musical landscape. He hosted 3 seasons of Crate Diggers on FUSE.tv which sent him across the country digging in record bins from city to city with celebrated and legendary dj’s. As a club DJ, Valadez has rocked crowds in Tokyo, Shanghai, London and Latin America in addition to holding residencies at The Natural History Museum’s First Fridays, the SLS in Las Vegas and has opened for the likes of Bruno Mars, Sly Stone, Ben Harper, Little Dragon, Capital Cities, Prince. In 2014, he was handpicked by Jennifer Lopez and her team for her homecoming concert in the Bronx and performed for over 16,000 people. He was voted Best DJ in the LA Weekly Readers Pool for 2016.

Anne Litt has been anchoring Saturday and Sunday afternoons for 89.9 KCRW since the early 2000’s. The sound-track she creates — timeless, inclusive, eclectic — has become an essential component of the weekend for countless Angelenos and listeners worldwide online. At KCRW, Anne has been a key contributor to the station’s musical profile, interviewing such artists as Gary Clark, Jr, Patti Smith, T-Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello, Jim James, Marcus Mumford, Norah Jones, Ty Segal, Trombone Shorty, Spoon and Sylvan Esso. She’s also been a large part of KCRW’s coverage of events such as SXSW and Sundance – whether interviewing Jonathan Gold about his award winning documentary or Gabriel Garzon-Montano about his breakthrough album of 2017. Additionally, she has hosted events for KCRW at such diverse venues as a barn and a backyard in Austin to the Hollywood Bowl. She contributes regularly to NPR Music’s Heavy Rotation series spotlighting essential new music, and is a frequent guest on NPR/WBUR’s syndicated radio show “Here And Now”, sharing the newest records she’s spinning. Recently she has been the station voice for WNKU, Cincinnati, and the digital station voice for KCRW. She has done outside voice work for iTunes, Capitol Records plus various commercials and educational documentaries. During her career in music, she has also music supervised for film (Oscar nominated Little Miss Sunshine), television, and commercials, and consulted for brands. She knows of no activity more satisfying, in this world, than hosting her radio show — unless it’s skiing with her young son, Guy… or perhaps that time Josh Groban wrote a song about her.