Magnolia Memoir » gordon bash

The Memoir Headlines the LA Comedy Shorts Awards Show & Gala

mela — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 23:28:09 +0000

“After the Comedy…the Serious fun begins!” The Awards Gala will be Hosted by ALONZO BODDEN (Last Comic Standing, NPR’s Comedy Congress), and featuring musical guest ensemble MAGNOLIA MEMOIR! Party with both famous faces and famous-faces-in-the-making as we award the top scoring film in each category and announce the winners of the screenplay competition. LACS will also be honoring comedic great SCOTT THOMPSON (Kids in the Hall) with the coveted Commie Award. Sponsored drinks and appetizers from 7:00p – 8:00p, so come on time!

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Exchange LA, 618 South Spring Street

Los Angeles, CA 90014

7pm- 10pm

Purchase Tickets Now

Hot Mess Soul Double Header @ Harvelle’s Santa Monica April 13th with Orlando Napier

mela — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 02:13:27 +0000

Lucky number 13 strikes like a 777 when you get a Hot Mess Soul Double header that starts with an unhinged set from the Memoir at 9:30 at the Hot Mess Haven- Harvelle’s Santa Monica. It will be followed by NBC’s “The Voice” contestant, Blues phenom, Orlando Napier- Two haunted vocalists will be tearing up your Friday in this not to be missed show-

Harvelle’s -1432 4th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401

Mela Lee of Magnolia Memoir

Center Daily Times Praises “The Perfect Crime” and it’s “Scattershot” Vocalist

mela — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 20:36:42 +0000

Mela Lee - photo by dutch rall

“While examining the overbearing barrage of the various trends and novelties that have diluted popular music forever, there is one constant that transcends the tired gimmicks of technical studio wizardry: a good voice.

Vocal skill is the most basic of concepts, but it seems to have been completely pushed to the back burner in favor of blips, bloops and the chrome coldness of robotic voices. Oddly enough, when somebody decides to divert from the new norm and cast themselves as a throwback of some sort, it’s usually embraced (see: Adele).

This is the path that Los Angeles’ Magnolia Memoir is traversing.

The band’s latest release, February’s “The Perfect Crime,” is a 12-song showcase that blends the old with the new while hinting that the band is completely aware and complacent with their sonic capabilities and their place in the contemporary popscape.

Vocalist Mela Lee and her incredible, scattershot voicewill rightfully reap the majority of the attention, but that shouldn’t undermine the speakeasy atmosphere that the rest of the band diligently provides throughout the album’s 44 minutes.

Magnolia Memoir

The highlight of “The Perfect Crime” is “Anymore,” a track with an ominous introduction that escalates to an undeniably poppy and catchy chorus that showcases the entire band at their most productive. It’s the sort of song that would appear towards the end of a prolonged preview of a new TV series highlighting the protagonist’s “Ah-ha!” moment while she runs down a rain-soaked city street before tearfully embracing her square-jawed beau in a fit of fiery passion.

Lee has a smoky and sultry voice that perfectly complements the atmosphere that the band is trying to create and it’s evidenced throughout “The Perfect Crime,” but is especially effective and abundant on “I Keep Falling,” a muted track that doesn’t go where you think it will, but instead takes bold turn after bold turn culminating in an interesting conclusion.

Lee’s voice is a hybrid of the aforementioned Adele, the scratchingly cathartic quantity of female singers from the 1990s like Fiona Apple and Sarah McLachlan while also channeling soul and jazz legends like Etta James and Billie Holiday. It’s an interesting combination that has of course been attempted before but she manages to successfully pull it off.” – Steve McElwee, Center Daily Times

Read Full Article: Center Daily Times Weekender