THE ECHOPLEX OCTOBER 12 8:00 PM The Echoplex PLACE 1822 Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90026 STAMP HERE When Adrian Pillado formed Sea Lions in 2007, he wasn't really sure what it would be. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sea Lions But Were Afraid to Ask is without question the next giant step forward for the band. Something as simple as the backing "oohs" on the song "Grown Up," become transcendent. The use of toy piano at the beginning of the song could easily be cloying, but instead feels tasteful and necessary. Sea Lions capture, where so many young bands try and fail, it is not simply the sound of young Oxnard, it's the sound of youth everywhere. LINE UP Courtney Barnett – 10:00 PM Melbourne-based singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett first came to light in 2012 when her self-released EP, I've Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris. Her conversational, deadpan delivery and garage rock-infused folk-pop style caught the attention many and was named Best New Tracks during the summer of 2013. The Babies – 9:20 PM In 2008, Kevin Morby of Woods and Cassie Ramone of the Vivian Girls shared a small apartment in Clinton Hill, Brookln for a few months and wrote some songs. The idea was to recapture the early, stress-free days of playing music before they were both in groups that had gained some success and created accompanying pressures. Juan Wauters – 8:40 PM Juan Wauters left his Uruguayan home in 2002 to join his father, who had migrated to New York. Wauters stepped out on his own with his first solo album, NAP: North American Poetry, a much gentler approach to skewed folk than the often demented Luddite garage rock of the Beets. With Special Guests Shark Toys – 8:00 PM Shark Toys have crafted a sound that could be a direct line to the quirkiness of early L.A. weirdos. They’re catchy, have off-kilter song-writing, and fun zipping toy keyboard sounds makes them THE ECHOPLEX extremly wacky. Their self-titled LP is a clanging, rock and roll romp you shouldn’t miss. Thursday, October 12.