They give new meaning to the phrase ‘get down’
SO much of Los Angeles’ niche culture revels in being contrarian, as if expectations were zits that demand you apply layers of medicinal shock, whimsy and irony.
Which explains why there is tongue-in-cheek by the mouthful at Give Up, an on-again, off-again promotional sendup from the minds (and ears) of the Internet radio station and DJ collective called Dublab.
Give Up’s motto is “Stop Dancing and Cry,” and it is held monthly during the winter, on Sunday night, ostensibly when its constituents are winding down after a long weekend of cultural feasting. The idea is to commune, listen to some intentionally downcast music and, well, commune some more -- because, and this is more or less unspoken, from sadness spring great ideas.
Of course, you can toast mopery in any nearly empty dive and never get your ashen mug on a Flickr photo page. But what fun would that be?
No surprise, then, that the crowd at January’s Give Up is as lively and chatty as it would be inside any saloon full of people with similar sensibilities. That this particular saloon is downtown L.A.’s recently remodeled Redwood Bar & Grill -- a perfectly depressing place before a wayward interior designer mistook it for a children’s attraction at Dana Point Harbor -- only adds to the kitsch.
“How many of these people are sad?” repeats Ale Cohen, one of Dublab’s resident DJs, as he surveys the patrons. “It’s about 50-50.”
But you can’t hang the DJs for the light mood.
Residents Mark “Frosty” McNeill and Jimmy Tamborello (a.k.a. Dntel) and guests such as Peter Curry from Los Straitjackets spin a backdrop of melancholy from turntables set up in a booth at the back of the room.
Their playlist is a music archivist’s dream: Porter Wagoner’s “The Rubber Room,” Paul Whiteman’s “Gloomy Sunday,” Fairport Convention’s “Genesis Hall.” And even: Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” as rendered by Norwegian chamber-pop combo Susanna & the Magical Orchestra.
The name “Give Up” itself owns a special place in local music history. Tamborello, an originator of the night, used it for an album title in 2003 when he started collaborating with Death Cab for Cutie’s Benjamin Gibbard on a project called the Postal Service, figuring there probably wouldn’t be much interest in an electronica-based bedroom pop. “Give Up” went on to become a gold record.
From the sounds at the Redwood, this weekend seems bound for a happy ending too.
The music weaves in and out of conversations about the merits of Friday night’s gallery opening. Photographers circulate, capturing mock sadness and comic sorrow and meticulously contrived tears.
And you realize that the only thing you’ve given up are your expectations.
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Give Up
Where: Redwood Bar & Grill, 316 W. 2nd St., L.A.
When: 9 p.m. till close Sunday and March 25
Price: No cover
Info: (213) 680-2600 (bar); dublabevents.blogspot.com
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