Dazzler’s art school-contrived take on 1970s music has proven reliable party fodder around L.A. the past year or so, even if I can’t imagine listening to the quintet’s music without a three-drink buzz. (Until now.) As with the band that spawned Dazzler, the Devo-devoted Totally Radd, the remarkably proficient music of Neil Schuh, Adam Villacin, […]
[Happy birthday to longtime Buzz Bands fave Michael Penn on Saturday. Here’s what’s huge, and not-so, this weekend:] Tonight: Told somebody I was eager to see Stellastarr* at the Troubadour and was asked, “What is this, 2003?” And I thought, you know, it some ways it would be better if it were. Stellastarr was one […]
Over the course of three-plus years and three releases (two EPs and a single), Mere Mortals have cultivated a gritty-but-pretty take on Britpop, one that in another city and perhaps another era might earn them the keys to Madchester. Alas, L.A. tends to take bands like the Mortals for granted, seeing as they’re not chasing […]
Orange County-based garage rockers the Willowz have announced that their fourth album, “Everyone,” will come out Oct. 6 on Dim Mak (via Downtown), and the first single from the record, “Repetition,” is a two-minute stomp that’s more White Stripes than Stooges. It’s been two years since the Willowz released “Chautauqua,” but frontman Richie James Follins […]
Dr. Dog has moved on – the Philadelphia popsters announced yesterday that they’d signed with Anti- Records – but Park the Van Records still has a roster full of eclectic distinction, and a couple newbies are hitting the L.A. area in the next few days. Dr. Dog-endorsed Floating Action [left photo], the nom tune of […]
[I’m posting these more for the quality of the songs than the videos. Enjoy:] “This Sweet Love” is one of the stellar tracks off Londoner James Yuill’s debut “Turning Down Water for Air,” as well as his new “This Sweet Love” EP. The video is the work of Alex Emslie. Yuill’s shows in L.A. earlier […]
[Let’s start Thursday by wishing Kate Bush a happy birthday …] And let’s continue it with with a song off the Sounds’ new album, “Crossing the Rubicon”: ||| Download: “Dorchester Hotel” The Swedish quintet’s Blondie-indebted rock has cast quite a spell on SoCal audiences the past couple of years. Their new album, recorded in L.A., […]
My only quibble with “New Tales to Tell: A Tribute to Love and Rockets” is the “tribute” part, which seems a bit presumptive. Call me stuffy, but only the truly seminal bands should get tributes; the good ones can be saluted, and the others, well, covered. In a decade-plus of tailoring the Bauhaus aesthetic to […]
Had the Trashcan Sinatras emerged in the middle of this decade instead of the mid-’80s, I suspect they’d be festival-playing, Pitchfork-approved indie-pop heroes. As it is, the Scottish sextet has had an up-and-down ride – three brilliant albums in the ’90s (and some MTV buzz) followed by record-label woes that caused the band to declare […]
