Kevin Litrow (L) and Avi Buffalo (R). Photos by Matt Cohn.
Standing behind his synth-pulpit, dressed in a natty suit, Kevin Litrow comes across as part preacher, part wild man.
Comfortable performing alone, the veteran musician became the first and only member of his band Litronix, in which he sets up beats using a looper, adds synthesizer and guitar, then sings his stories and exhorts the audience.
Influenced by off-the-beaten-track bands such as Can, Harmonia and 60s electronic duo Silver Apples, Litrow has developed an unconventional and uninhibited musical voice.
“I started out as a one-man band,” said Litrow. “This band is an extension of all my previous bands rolled into one. A decade and a half ago, in the band Dance Disaster Movement, I was looping and playing guitar. It was all about simple, repetitive loops and having a drummer play to that. My next band, 60 Watt Kid, was a little more psychedelic.”
About a year ago, Litrow joined forces with East Long Beach music prodigy Avi Buffalo, whose precocious songwriting and mature, fluid guitar playing helped land him and his band (also called Avi Buffalo) a contract with Sub Pop Records while he was still in his teens. As the second member of Litronix, Avi is brainstorming with Litrow, applying his production chops and expanding his guitar approach.
“I’ve been into experimental guitar for a long time,” Avi said during a Post sit-down with Litronix in El Dorado Park, near the neighborhood where Buffalo roamed as a kid. “Since I was 15 I was chasing down [Wilco guitar virtuoso] Nels Cline. I think if there’s a modern-day Jimi Hendrix, it’s Nels.”
The result of Litrow and Buffalo’s collaboration is a new Litronix album, Pump The Gas, to be released soon on Long Beach’s Porch Party Records. The album’s first single, “Are You New Age?” will drop in advance of Pump The Gas, and has already earned “Song of the Week” honors on KPCC.
Pump The Gas features many Long Beach musicians and was co-produced by Dylan Wood, who’s an old friend and Millikan High classmate of Buffalo’s and was a drummer for 60 Watt Kid.
The new album is inspired by the wild and dark episodes Litrow witnessed while living in a Venice apartment, directly over a gas station at the corner of Lincoln and Venice Boulevards.
“It’s a crazy area,” said Litrow. “I basically captured what happened in the gas station, looking out my window every single day for three years. Screaming drunks, hookers, tweakers, everything you could imagine.”
In recent weeks, Litronix has been performing live in venues like Silver Lake’s Bootleg Theater, Pehrspace in Echo Park (where Litrow lives), and the famously eclectic Elbo Room in San Francisco.
Tomorrow night (April 29), Porch Party Records is presenting a show featuring Litronix and labelmates Whisper Kitten at 4th Street Vine: Expect a free-wheeling, audience-grabbing vibe from Litrow and Buffalo.
“We try to connect with the audience and let them know they’re part of this too—part of the excitement of something new going on,” said Litrow.