[Sharing random but righteous additions to my iTunes libary …] Just out on Kemado Records, Marissa Nadler’s “Little Hells” makes for a sweet addition to your Americana shelf – her gleaming vocals and billowy atmospherics are perfect for breezy afternoons in the country, or quiet moments of window-gazing. The Boston singer-songwriter visits the Hotel Cafe […]
[Amusement for your afternoon, in 10 minutes or less …] A few ideas in this video should have been chucked – how many times have we seen a tennis player assaulted by volleys of returns? – but the sight of Cursive’s Tim Kasher shredding on a mandolin is good for a few laughs. The song […]
What do you get when you combine rock ‘n’ roll musicians, a love for trompe l’oeil and a fascination with 18th- and 19th-century portraiture? “Gooseberries,” apparently. Which is not the same as goosebumps, although L.A. photographer Sterling Andrews might have gotten some of those too in creating the images in her “album,” which will be […]
Mark this one down: The sophomore album by Echo Park ensemble the Faraway Places is due May 12. “Out of the Rain, the Thunder & the Lightning” is sneaky-catchy, with nods to ’70s power pop, soul and a few decades of pop left-fielders who make music that is somehow familiar but not too obvious. The […]
[Birthday greetings to Angus Young of AC/DC today, and now we rock on:] Is it my imagination, or is this a rare slow day? Well, I guess it’s not slow if you’re the Newno2, the band helmed by Dhani Harrison and Oli Hecks [pictured]. Their debut album “You Are Here” comes out today, and the […]
[Another installment of the new L.A. sounds series …] L.A. five-piece Vanaprasta is working on its debut album, “Healthy Geometry,” and what I’ve heard so far points to a familiar but welcome take on 1990s indie rock – gnarly guitar interplay from Collin Desha and Cameron Dmytryk, arresting rhythms courtesy of Taylor Brown and Ben […]
[News & notes from a weekend of catching up …] ‣ I recently revisited “Sleepwalking Through the Mekong,” the 75-minute film by John Pirozzi that documents Los Angeles sextet Dengue Fever’s 2005 visit to singer Chhom Nimol’s native Cambodia. It’s just as striking now as it seemed when I saw one of the initial screenings […]
[Happy 30th birthday to Norah Jones …] Nico Stai’s residency at Spaceland this month has been a high-energy affair, owing first to his quartet’s squeezing every ounce of juice out of his ’90s-vintage pop-rock, and second, to a lineup of buzzy opening bands that got things tingling. Tonight’s Flaunt Magazine-stamped finale (which follows Stai’s taping […]
They’re not kids anymore, the Cold War Kids. They are men, capable of articulating a broad range of emotions and sustaining that dialogue for more than a few minutes. And, as they demonstrated at the sold-out Orpheum Theatre in downtown L.A. on Friday night, they know when to turn down the lights. The Long Beach […]
[Two things that made me smile today …] None of the people in the video for Richard Swift’s “Lady Luck” is Richard Swift, although all bear a resemblance to the frizzy-haired, fuzzy-cheeked, dark-suited pop maestro. The Swift imitators, in fact, are played my the significan women in his life, with the role of the singer-pianist […]
