Here’s a little late-afternoon smile for you – the Adam Sacks-directed video for Brooklyn singer-songwriter Peter Squires ditty “I Would Hate to Be You.” You know the moral … don’t be that guy. But that bit with the Scrabble tiles? Genius. ||| Download: “I Would Hate to Be You” ||| Live: Peter Squires performs at […]
[Buzz Bands LA today welcomes a contribution from Richard Cromelin, former pop music writer for the Los Angeles Times, who weighs in on the new “All Tomorrow’s Parties” documentary:] By Richard Cromelin Los Angeles fringe-rock followers might be forgiven if they have mixed feelings about “All Tomorrow’s Parties,” a documentary DVD marking the 10th anniversary […]
Only a couple of years ago, Michael Bauer was making music to feed his twentysomething angst. Now, fronting the L.A. quartet Useless Keys, he’s making music that mirrors our unsettling times. “John Lennon said art should be a reflection of the time period you live in, and I think what we’re doing now does,” Bauer […]
Local Natives, the local quintet whose harmony-laden indie-pop put smiles on faces all over L.A. in 2009, are signing to Frenchkiss Records. Official announcement is expected later today. Frenchkiss, the NYC-based indie founded by Les Savy Fav’s Syd Butler, has released music from the likes of the Hold Steady, Passion Pit, the Dodos, the Antlers, […]
[Holy Thanksgiving leftovers, it’s almost December. And happy birthday, Steve Aoki …] The fun folks at Buddyhead are throwing a party at the Hotel Cafe, and the loaded lineup looks like this: Imaad Wasif, Dios, Olin and the Moon and Mini Mansions, among others. … Seasons, whose song “The Weight” will be somewhere near the […]
I spent Saturday revisiting the Mixtape That Changed My Life, teetering between tears and the urge to fly into a stereo-smashing rage. The 110-minute cassette is titled “KPEN 1992,” and it was a gift from my friend and former colleague Mike Penner. Penner, the Los Angeles Times sportswriter who made headlines in 2007 when he […]
Three years ago, weary from touring and wan from the chasm separating their dreams and reality, Jim Evens and his bandmates in L.A. trio Helen Stellar decided to take a little break. They’d just had a song in the Cameron Crowe movie “Elizabethtown” and released “A Prayer to Myself,” a compilation of their first three […]
[This week’s Stolen Lyric:] ||| Source: J Tillman, “Though I Have Wronged You” ||| Live: J Tillman plays Wednesday at the Troubadour
[Everything digested? Here’s how to burn off the calories this weekend …] Tonight: Julian Casablancas, doing his different-strokes solo project [review 1 and 2], winds up his residency at the Downtown Palace Theatre, with local quintet Haim opening. Danielle Haim plays in Casablancas’ band too. … Vancouver garage rockers Japandroids visit the Echo, with Surfer […]
[Happy birthday to Tim Armstrong. Tonight’s pre-holiday schedule is light but still promising …] You can think of tonight’s shows downtown as a way of working up your appetite for Thursday – Simian Mobile Disco, brings its ear-bending synth-rock and eye-popping light show to the Mayan Theatre. The U.K. duo’s newest album is aptly titled […]
