Kevin Bronson on May 9th, 2011

3

Black Flamingo describes its music as equal parts Beach Boys and Bauhaus, and although the year-old Los Angeles sextet is flying a flag that says “tropical goth,” that seems a little too pat for the shadowy, surfside fuzz concocted by principals Amberlie Bankoff and Kimi Recor. Last year’s “Luau in the Graveyard” EP sounds like something the Cocteau Twins or the Jesus and Mary Chain would’ve cooked up had they communed with Phil Spector under a palm tree. Wielding four-part harmonies, the twinkling guitar work of Christopher Vick, keyboards by Mareesa Stertz and dual percussion from Alex Posell and Poul Johansen, Black Flamingo does “pretty” and “dark” pretty well – “Proud Head” is a languid kiss-off that easily could have worked in the ’60s.

||| Download: “Proud Head”

||| Live: Black Flamingo plays Saturday, May 21, at the Silverlake Jubilee and Thursday, May 26, at Space 15 Twenty.

||| Also: After the jump, check out Black Flamingo’s performance of “All That She Wants” at the Wilcox Sessions: