Orange County-bred quintet Young the Giant soared onto the SoCal indie-rock landscape in 2008, back when they were called the Jakes. Their new, slightly obtuse moniker aside, the Giants are young – Sameer Gadhia, Jacob Tilley, Eric Cannata, Payam Doostzadeh and Francois Comtois are all 21 or younger – but their songs brim with grown-up […]
[Midweek text message from a friend: “Dude, what’s up with all the folk recently on Buzz Bands?” Noted.] The Stone Foxes have blasted out of the Bay Area with scuzzy but hooky take on bluesy garage rock – edgy, sometimes twangy stuff that might make you think the these twentysomethings have warrants out for their […]
Kid Cudi and Travie McCoy have been added to the lineup for the Sunset Strip Music Festival, which during its Aug. 26-28 run will be bookended by a Thursday evening Tribute to Slash at the House of Blues and a Saturday night headlining performance by the Smashing Pumpkins. The indoor-outdoor event, which features stages on […]
[Our weekly Stolen Lyric, happily beached:] ||| Source: Candy Claws, “Catamaran” (Get the song via Pitchfork.) ||| Live: Candy Claws perform tonight at Spaceland, supporting Pepper Rabbit.
Singer/dancer/actress/pitchwoman Gavin Turek – she of the massive curls who’s the spokesperson for the Rimmel London cosmetics line – has aligned with local imprint Sonata Cantata Records to release her first album. But before that, she’s exercised her electro jones on one of her favorite duos, NYC’s Ratatat. Turek is releasing a free EP of […]
[Happy birthday, Louise Wener. With all these girl groups cooing at me so many years later, I really miss Sleeper.] Too much of a good thing this weekend – here are my picks: Friday ‣ Catch Pepper Rabbit while you can. They headline Spaceland supported by Candy Claws. ‣ Manchester quintet the Answering Machine do […]
If the forests made music, it would sound like Colorado’s Candy Claws. The duo of Ryan Hover and Kay Bertholf, which expands to a thicket of musicians when they tour, trade in lush, intricately arranged orchestral pop with vocals so hushed you need to wait for the wind to die down to hear them. They’ve […]
[Happy birthday, Geddy Lee … and here’s what’s up on our happy Thursday:] Top 4 shows to not-so-surreptitiously tweet from: ‣ Brooklyn’s Here We Go Magic, whose thicket of hypnotic beats, dizzying synths and spry melodies coalesce nicely on their sophomore album “Pigeons,” visits the Troubadour (with Beach Fossils opening). That’s HWGM’s video for “Collector,” […]
Missouri-born, Denver-based singer-songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff pens songs as provocative as novels, thick with details, characters and unexpected twists. His new album “In Memory of Loss,” out now on Rounder Records, is a collection of vivid memories and naked words about the future, produced by Brian Deck (Iron & Wine, Califone). Sparse, organic instrumentation and gorgeous […]
Top 3 reasons to go out tonight (after watching “Paul McCartney: In Performance at the White House” on KCET at 8): ‣ Laura Marling, the U.K. folk singer who’s nominated for a Mercury Music Prize for her sterling sophomore album “I Speak Because I Can,” plays the El Rey Theatre. That’s her video for “Rambling […]
