5 Lane Freeways, Deep Sea Fish and analogue minimal techno.

It was time for some tourism so we rented a car on friday. Hertz tried to hustle us for nearly $400 for 4 days after we asked for the cheapest price. Amazingly they were suddenly able to make it much cheaper when we walked out.
The roads are pretty intense. Luckily I'm not driving.
We took a drive down to Long Beach to the Aquarium of the Pacific and a wee Long Beach harbour boat trip.

Recognisably Clyde built no?

One of the most interesting things about the boat trip were the oil islands out in the bay. The oil derricks have been beautified by Disney, their architects designing cladding to resemble a resort, and when they first started running they sucked so much oil out from under Long Beach the town sank by 25 feet in some places. THUMS Island Wikipedia entry

Here's a picture of the longest man made sea wall with the ugliest lighthouse in the world on it.

Its a bit far away.

Following that we fired up Downtown to our hotel. The Hollywood Inn. As glamorous as it sounds. It had a pool and a portrait of a movie star in each room. We got Liz Taylor's dirty protest.

We then had a rare night out at the Oneohtrix Point Never gig at The Echoplex.

The support act, Brooklyn 3 piece, Dawn of Midi, were excellent. Analogue minimal techno played on drums, a double bass and a yamaha piano with the lid open so the pianist could play the strings and keys. Well worth checking out. http://dawnofmidi.bandcamp.com/

Oneohtrix was also amazing, his album, R plus Seven, was at the top of many 'best of 2013' lists on electronic music blogs, it's full of old rave sounds and weird track structures. We had a good spot behind the sound/av desk. Not usually the best place to stand but as his music is so spacey standing behind all this kit was like being on the flight deck of the Millennium Falcon. The performance was as close to an art installation as any I've ever seen. Check him out too. http://www.pointnever.com/