This Week In Music: Concerts Near Altadena & LA County

ALTADENA, CA – There are a ton of great shows to catch this week in Los Angeles County, and we've gathered a list of live music from twenty of the county's top music venues for this week's round-up. From blues, to throwbacks, to indie rock, and electronic, there's something for everyone to see.

Brooklyn art rock band BODEGA will be performing at the Moroccan Lounge Wednesday. With simple riffs and witty but personal lyrics, the band's debut album Endless Scroll blends the genres of post-punk, hip-hop, and folk in a new, refreshing way. Patch caught up with Ben Hozie, vocalist and guitarist of BODEGA, to learn more about their creative process, their album, and how they think technology influences every day life.

Emily Holland: How would you describe your music in five words?
Ben Hozie: River. Turquoise. Wire. Chip. Breeze.

E: When making music, are you more inspired by the culture/world around you, or your interpersonal relationships with people closest to you?
B: I am most interested in figuring out the ways in which 'culture' affects my thinking and interpersonal relationships. As Godard said, in front of a screen we don't think – we are thought. A track like 'Jack in Titanic' takes a close look at the programmed courting rituals I was exhibiting at the beginning of a recent romantic relationship. At the time I found myself expressing earnest romantic pleas – while simultaneously realizing the cliche of my behavior (which didn't negate the sincerity of it at all).

E: What’s your guilty pleasure?
B: I don't feel guilty about pleasure. The better you feel, the better you can create and help others.

E: I read in your DIY Magazine breakdown of the album that certain songs will be played in different styles depending on the crowd – how do you think the chosen style of a song influences how people perceive it?
B: Songs with minor chords evoke sadness or contemplation – or so we've always been told, but I'm not sure that's always the case. That could just be the resort of cultural conditioning and not the primordial physics of our musical brains. That said, form is everything. This might seem obvious, but it was a big revelation for me recently to realize that certain thoughts (lyrics) could only be expressed via certain musical forms. For example, we couldn't express the aching nostalgia of a song like 'Charlie' without its sing-songy yearning melody and we couldn't express the righteous irony of 'Can't Knock the Hustle' without isn't blocky arena-rock rhythm.

The forms we are currently playing with in our songwriting (post-punk, hip-hop, and folk) are all very simple and tend to be word-based – these are the most direct and wittiest pop genres. However, live, BODEGA has been expanding into more heady territories – using repetition, drone, and improvisation to get more towards the body than the head. Lately we've been oscillating between two poles: blissed out celebration and violent irreverence. These come from opposing emotional states but the synthesis between those two gets to the root of what we are all about – at it's best our live version of "Truth is not Punishment" paradoxically embodies both of these states simultaneously.

E: What are the positives and negatives of living in a society so inundated by technology?
B: How technology is affecting consciousness and social relationships is the biggest moral question of our epoch. The internet has made the world a much smaller place – which is obviously both good and bad. It's good in the sense that hopefully sooner or later it will help us see past petty arbitrary cosmologies such as nationalism – and it's good that I can easily access the thoughts of other people very far from New York City.

It's negative in the sense that it does tend to highlight the myopic aspects of people's personalities. Social media tends to turn everything into a giant advertisement. It's very hard to tell the difference between sponsored ads and personal posts. The internet, I think, is like America. It was a big sprawling mysterious zone full of endless utopian possibility that now pretty much is the same everywhere you look - except for a few notable exceptions. It strangely doesn't actually feel like there is much difference of opinion or data out there. Maybe that is just my bubble?

E: How is performing in LA different from performing in NY?
B: Every show is different no matter where we are – no two shows in NY ever have the same vibe and I assume that is the case with LA too. This will be the first time BODEGA has played on the West Coast – we are very curious to see how it will go down.

E: What do you hope for the future of BODEGA?
B: I look forward to being surprised by the direction our music will take. We want to keep experimenting and continue to evolve – both mentally and musically.

Catch BODEGA at the Moroccan Lounge Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. For more live music, here's a list of concerts around the L.A. area this week:

TUESDAY, AUGUST 7

• Star Wars: A New Hope - in Concert: 8 p.m. at the Hollywood Bowl
• JESSE MARCHANT Howard Ivans (of The Rosebuds, Gayngs): 8:30 p.m. at the Bootleg Theater
• NIALL HORAN with Maren Morris: 6 p.m. at the Greek Theatre

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8

• BODEGA and Shark Toys: 7:30 p.m. at the Moroccan Lounge
• The Pink Panther - in Concert: 8 p.m. at the Hollywood Bowl
• Draco Rosa Meet + Photo Event: 5 p.m. at Amoeba Music Hollywood
• OLIVIA O'BRIEN with Sofya Wang: 8 p.m. at the Roxy Theatre
• Big Search, Frank LoCrasto, Sam Burton: 8:30 p.m. at the Bootleg Theater
• An Evening with Belly - DOVE Tour: 7 p.m at the Teragram Ballroom
• TEAMSESH: 8 p.m. at the El Rey Theatre
• NIALL HORAN with Maren Morris: 6 p.m. at the Greek Theatre

THURSDAY, AUGUST 9

• Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - in Concert: 8 p.m. at the Hollywood Bowl
• Jazz Cartier: 7:30 p.m. at the Moroccan Lounge
• Dan & Phil World Tour 2018: 8 p.m. at the Microsoft Theater
• LEO MORACCHIOLI: 8 p.m. at the Roxy Theatre
• Dan Bern backed by Jane's Great Dane: 8:30 p.m. at the Bootleg Theater
• Spaceland Presents All Def LA - BAY TO LA: 7:30 p.m. at the Regent Theater
• An Evening with Belly - DOVE Tour: 7 p.m at the Teragram Ballroom
• Amen Dunes: 8 p.m. at the Troubadour

FRIDAY, AUGUST 10

• Star Wars: A New Hope - in Concert: 8 p.m. at the Hollywood Bowl
• Zac Clark (of Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness) with Special Guest Bob Oxblood: 7 p.m. at the Moroccan Lounge
• Marisela: 8 p.m. at the Microsoft Theater
• PORTUGAL. THE MAN: 9 p.m. at the Shrine
• ROTATIONS: Dexter Story DJ Set: 8 p.m. at Amoeba Music Hollywood
• ZIGGY MARLEY: 9 p.m. at the Roxy Theatre
• Romanticumbia: 8 p.m. at Club Mayan
• KCRW PRESENTS: CHROMEO: 7 p.m. at Hollywood Palladium
• Lemuria, Katie Ellen, Dusk: 8:30 p.m. at the Bootleg Theater
• Spaceland Presents All Def LA - BAY TO LA: 9 p.m. at the Regent Theater
• Enjoy Record Release Show: 8 p.m. at the Teragram Ballroom
• SALES, No Vacation, Hana Vu: 8 p.m. at the Troubadour

SATURDAY, AUGUST 11

• Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - in Concert: 8 p.m. at the Hollywood Bowl
• Silvestre Dangond: 8 p.m. at the Microsoft Theater
• Carnival of Dreams: 7:30 p.m. at the Moroccan Lounge
• Moona Luna/Garden Concerts for Kids: 4 p.m. at The Getty
• HRVY: 6 p.m. at the Roxy Theatre
• RON RON + FRIENDS: 11:30 p.m. at the Roxy Theatre
• The Soft White Sixties - Album Release show: 8:30 p.m. at the Bootleg Theater
• SALES, No Vacation, Hana Vu: 7:30 p.m. at the Teragram Ballroom
• Shooter Jennings, Hellbound Glory (solo acoustic): 8 p.m. at the Troubadour
• STEVE MILLER BAND with Peter Frampton: 6 p.m. at the Greek Theatre

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12

• Randy Newman: The Albums 1968-2018: 7:30 p.m. at the Hollywood Bowl
• Moona Luna/Garden Concerts for Kids: 4 p.m. at The Getty
• Cary Brothers: 7:30 p.m. at the Moroccan Lounge
• LUCKI: 8 p.m. at the Roxy Theatre
• The Sea The Sea, The Morning Yells, Anna Volgelzang: 8 p.m. at the Bootleg Theater
• A PARANORMAL NIGHT WITH ALICE COOPER and Ace Frehley: 6 p.m. at the Greek Theatre

Photo of Bodega by Mert Gafuroglu