Join me on Indie 103.1 at noon today as Buzz Bands LA Playlist 2009 – the countdown of my favorite local tracks of the year – continues. Today’s show will pick up where last week’s left off, at song No. 72. The final week, on Dec. 16, I will be sharing the top 40. After […]
It’s one of those nights to rekindle old friendships. The Good Listeners [pictured], the L.A. duo of Nathan Khyber and Clark Stiles, just released their third album, “Don’t Quit Your Daydream,” a record conceived on the road and to be accompanied by a documentary about two musicians who travel the country in an RV. I […]
[Corrected] This will warm your cackles – it’s a video of women in the northern Ugandan village of Gulu singing “Home” as a way of thanking Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. The women were the beneficiaries of proceeds from the L.A. group’s album-release show July 14 for “Up from Below.” Through the Gulu Widows […]
We don’t process a lot of hip-hop here at Buzz Bands HQ [go here if you don’t already], but with a big show headlined by fast-rising U-N-I coming up this weekend, I figure it’d be a nice time to introduce Audible Mainframe. The Boston expatriates’ rock- and soul-infused rap has gone down like a happy […]
[Things I noticed while wondering why Willie Nelson’s show tonight at Club Nokia isn’t sold out …] ’Tis the season for benefit shows and Christmas music. But first, a word from two SoCal bands who are releasing new EPs in time for the holidays. Parade of Lights celebrates its self-titled debut with a show at […]
Brooklyn shoegazers Zaza sound like thunder that rolls in atop fog. The mix of big rhythms and ambient fuzz on duo Jennifer Fraser (ex-Warlocks) and Danny Taylor’s “Cameo” EP, released in August, has drawn comparisons to heavyweights Ride and Slowdive, and while I might not put them in that lofty company, their big, haunting (and […]
By Viktor Phoenix Think of Toronto power trio Danko Jones as the AC/DC side of Andrew WK’s party coin. From counting Bad Brains, Slint and Jesus Lizard as influences, to touring with Turbonegro and Blonde Redhead, Jones – whose band landed a slot as the opening act on the Canadian leg of Guns N’ Roses […]
[One in a series on notable new music from SoCal artists …] Long Beach quartet Parade of Lights – first heard here back in April – has released its debut EP, full of gorgeously crafted anthems that float somewhere between the youthful, earnest pop of artists such as Jack’s Mannequin and the expansive, Anglophile-leaning romanticism […]
For Silversun Pickups, earning a Grammy nomination for best new artist must be like getting asked to the Sadie Hawkins dance by the richest girl in high school – who is obstreperous, grating and generally insufferable. The indie world that birthed bands such as SSPU regularly and justifiably mocks the Grammys, bloated monuments to crass […]
[Happy 30th birthday today to Sara Bareilles. Here’s how to get your week started …] The headliners at month’s free residencies should be familiar faces to Buzz Bands readers. Here’s a refresher course: Mere Mortals, freshly returned from a successful tour of Japan, bring their gritty Britpop to at Spaceland, where I hear that the […]
