Antony and the Johnson’s “The Crying Light” was released Tuesday, and Pitchfork.tv premiered the striking video for the track “Epilepsy Is Dancing.” It’s a remarkable work, conceived by the Wachowski Brothers, with painters Tino Rodriguez and Virgo Paradiso creating the costumes and Sean Dorsey doing the choreography. The “Deer Monster” character is played by Antony’s […]
[Happy birthday, Mac Davis — I hope you’re keeping it in the fairway …] The Ettes’ female-fronted garage rock, first unleashed on L.A. ears about four years ago, is hardly better than on its September release “Look at Life Again Soon” – urgent, low-fi, gnarly and making you wonder who’d win if the Ramones arm-wrestled […]
If nothing else, this week’s political transition has improved musicial productivity — at least when it comes to songs saluting Barack Obama. DJ/producer Adam Freeland, who splits his time between England and Los Angeles, has mashed up Daft Punk and come up with “Aer OBAMA.” The stop-motion video comes courtesy of directors Richard Farmer and […]
[I’m extending my hand; you’re unclenching your fist; maybe now we can raise a glass to the real new year:] The Walkmen [pictured], whose tour de force “You & Me” was one of the best albums of 2008, have had a whirlwind two days – they kicked off a West Coast tour with a visit […]
[A quick patriotic note on inauguration eve:] Bruce Springsteen’s new album, “Working on a Dream,” will be out Jan. 26 — but you can stream it starting at midnight Eastern time (9 p.m. where we live), thanks to NPR. Hey, that’s almost now. Follow this link … On the local front, Vosotros Music has posted […]
[Birthday greetings go out to Dolly Parton on this holiday Monday …] Shapes up as a rather light night, concert-wise, unless you like your music free. The three Eastside resident bands are still going strong, and they have some fine guests too. L.A. alt-folk quintet the Amateurs [that’s their newish video for “Omaha Nights” above] […]
It’s hard to come up with a much better story than John Bigham’s resumé, but the veteran multi-instrumentalist — on his third album as the Soul of John Black — has conjured up a sensational narrative: It’s the tale of a pawn-shop Stella guitar with special powers, the unknown Chicago bluesman who wielded it and […]
[In case you missed it, the podcast to this morning’s Little Radio show with guest Mark Sovel can be found here.] In the past several years of covering the L.A. music scene, I’ve had the privilege of spending time and talking music with Mark Sovel, aka Mr. Shovel, who was the music director at Indie […]
[Susanna Hoffs slices up some birthday cake on Saturday, and I hope it’s sweet. Here’s a small slice of what’s on your plate this weekend …] Friday: A crazy-busy night to start a bustling weekend has several offerings in the big rooms. Boyz II Men, with local dance outfit Jupiter Rising opening, visits Club Nokia; […]
[I was checking out the digital Indie’s stream just now and an Editors song dropped out right in the middle, a cumbia song started playing for about 30 seconds, then the stream cut back to a Shins song …] [And LA Weekly’s blog has a statement from Steve Jones here.] Mark Sovel, aka Mr. Shovel, […]
