Seattle’s serial harmonizers Fleet Foxes poked their heads out of the forests of the Northwest today to announce that their new album “Helplessness Blues” will be out May 3 via SubPop. For the follow-up to 2008’s self-titled debut, the sextet again turned to producer Phil Ek, who, judging from the title track released today, didn’t […]
The Wind did not take the notion of their debut release lightly. The Long Beach-based quartet didn’t tease with a single, or an EP, or even just a full-length album. No, “Harum-Scarum,” the collection that Kevin Jaemes, Chad Marshman and Chip and Nick Knechtel unveiled in November, is a double-album – all 23 tracks and […]
As frontman of Omaha indie-rock quintet Neva Dinova, Jake Bellows made three albums of uncommonly poignant, dreamy folk music – two for the L.A. based Crank! label and one for Saddle Creak. He also collaborated with Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst on 2004’s stellar “One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels,” expanded and re-released last year. Now […]
L.A. quintet Lonely Trees put the finishing touches on their debut album over the holidays, and based on their early outings [see also: “No Man’s Love” premiere], it should be a good one. Release plans are still fuzzy, though, and in the meantime Christian Stone, Annalee Fery and bandmates have made a video for their […]
[So long, January. Happy 55th birthday, John Lydon. Onward:] Top 5 ways to start your week: ‣ Peter Bjorn & John have been making the rounds as if they’re an up-and-coming buzz band. Secret show Saturday night, gig at the Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock on Sunday … and tonight, an appearance at […]
Please welcome Seraphina Lotkhamnga, who will join Buzz Bands LA this week as a staff writer. Lotkhamnga, a steady presence on the L.A. music scene since she moved to the city almost three years ago, will provide strong second voice (not to mention a fresh set of ears) to this website, launched two-plus years ago […]
The true value of those best-of-the-year lists that some love to pillory is to alert you to music you’ve slept on, or dismissed too quickly. So a tip of the cap to anybody who mentioned the Fresh & Onlys, the San Francisco quartet whose cocktail of winsome jangle-pop and brooding psychedelia is stirring indeed. The […]
When the Vaccines landed in Los Angeles last Tuesday, the young British quartet brought a satchel of catchy songs and a few suitcases of hype. That baggage – they were, after all, trumpeted on the cover of NME as “The Return of the Great British Guitar Band – proved burdensome to most who witnessed their […]
[Thirty well-spent minutes on a rainy Sunday morning:] The Bronx are the most exciting (if not most honest and uncompromising) bands I’ve witnessed in eight years of writing about music around L.A. They also famously have a flip side, Mariachi El Bronx, and they’re playing Coachella this year. This documentary from Babelgum, filmed in London, […]
Join me for two hours of pretty-mostly-kinda local music today at 3 p.m. on MoheakRadio. I promise not to bite. The playlist will appear on this very post as the show proceeds and the sun sets over the distant Hollywood Hills. If you’re in the eastern part of the country shoveling snow, you’ll just have […]
