Lansing-Dreiden, Nov. 29

At: Mandrake, 2692 S La Cienega Blvd, Culver City, CA 90034

Info: Mini retrospective for Brooklyn-cool-kid-art-collective-and-band Lansing-Dreiden. From 7-9pm.

When I was living in NY, I went and saw a few of Lansing-Dreiden pieces at Rivington Arms and some galleries in Chelsea. Their work is intricate, meticulously thought out and most certainly, recognizable. Working in black, white and shades of grey, you can almost always pick out their work amongst others for its clean lines and purposefully placed/sliced/juxtaposed images.

On another note…I went and saw ‘them’ play a show somewhere in Chinatown, I forget the name of the place…and true to their elusive nature there was a seven piece band standing on stage with two girls as the vocals. Now…if you have ever heard any of their music, you would know that the vocals are, without a doubt, male. And, if you actually KNOW who is behind Lansing-Dreiden, then you would be one of the people in the crowd with a slight smile on your face because you would know that the band before you is, in fact, fake. And if you were smiling then you were most likely hanging out with the real members of LD, getting a kick at the baffled faces and the “I didn’t know that the vocals were chicks!”. Some people say its genius, LD chocks it up to being shy. Either way you spin it, they wanted to create a blanket of disguise and they have (kind of ) succeeded. There were true, hired Milli Vanilli’s up there on stage pretending to be a band that they weren’t. They have since gotten new guys to be the front men of their band, who, ironically, probably intentionally, kind of look like Milli Vanilli.

Either way. I like their art, enjoy their music and tonight they are having a mini retrospective at Mandrake in Culver City. Why not come out and see what they have to offer?

//j\\