Tristeza December 2, 2005

San Diego band Tristeza (2) (3) once featured The Album Leaf's (2) Jimmy LaValle on guitar. It's a bit disingenuous to say they're similar, but both bands do seem to have some common ground in their sources of inpiration. Simply put, Tristeza is more rock oriented. Driving beats, multiple guitars, there's bass and keyboards... it's a bonafide rock group, but a particularly dreamy and heady one. They are really good live.

Opening for them is Languis (2) (3) (4), an LA-based electronic/post-rock duo originally from Argentina, whose warm, glitchy, ambient pop leanings hint at a multitude of influences. Some folks had this to say about them: "raised on a steady diet of kraftwerk, neu, harmonia... tortoise, aphex twin and oval... beautiful menagerie of electro bliss... brilliant" (mean street), and "joy division raised on warp records... glitch with soul" (flyer)