I’ll remember 2011 as a year with more good music than I had time to devote to it. Because my primary focus is music emerging from SoCal – and because there was so much of it this year – I found myself taking only passing interest in many hyped albums … and not finding a […]
The rundown for tonight, as accompanied by Nellie McKay’s rendition of “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” by the late Broadway composer Frank Loesser (“Guys and Dolls”): ‣ The Henry Clay People, LA Font and Races party at the Satellite, with Buzz Bands LA DJing and Paulie Pesh and Joe Napolitano/Jillinda Palmer doing sets […]
Buzz Bands LA covered a lot of SoCal artists in 2011 — more than 300 of them. Some albums and EPs we were only able to give a mention; others were covered via song posts, videos or live reviews. Here, alphabetically by band, is an index of our coverage: A Abandoned Pools, “In Silence” single […]
Buzz Bands LA closes out a busy 2011 with a special show at 11 a.m. today on Moheak Radio, as staff writer Seraphina L takes over the program to count down her favorite songs of the year. She won’t be sticking to local music today – anything goes on her soundtrack for the 2011. Here […]
One special show: ‣ Matthew Sweet’s “Girlfriend” remains one of my favorite albums of all time – along with the Posies’ “Frosting on the Beater,” it was the best power-pop album of its era, and deservedly earns mentions on any shortlist of the top power-pop albums ever made. Sweet’s sweet melodies and bittersweet lyrics were […]
Thursday things: ‣ Part 1 of FMLY Fest – two days of music and communing thrown by the L.A. branch of the eco-conscious collective – goes off at Catnap (1726 N. Spring St. in Chinatown). We posted on the preview mixtape earlier this month. And there’s a very good lineup today, featuring Gangi, Gothic Tropic, […]
The last time I witnessed the Henry Clay People play a New Year’s Eve show: The Satellite was known as Spaceland; the Henry Clays covered “Sometime Around Midnight” at, well, about midnight; there was an onstage marriage proposal; the band played 90-plus minutes of classic rock covers in addition to an hour of their own […]
Wednesday’s top picks: ‣ Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bob Seger visits Staples Center for his first L.A. show in more than four years. Good piece on him in Sunday’s Times. ‣ The Growlers roar into the Echo for a sold-out show. ‣ East L.A. eight-piece Upground, whose sound fuses rock, reggae, ska and […]
In 2011, I saw more than 500 bands perform live over 265-plus days of show-going, and still I feel as if I missed a lot. Plenty of what I did see remains etched in my memory, though, from festival adventures big and small (SXSW, Coachella and FYF to the Silverlake Jubilee, the substitute Sunset Junction […]
A quiet but not totally silent night on the club scene: ‣ The Aggrolites bring their dirty reggae to Saint Rocke in Hermosa Beach. The hard-touring quintet this year released its fifth album, “Rugged Road” and are on a week-long mini-swing of SoCal venues that includes a date Thursday at the Key Club opening for […]
