Kevin Bronson on August 25th, 2009

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[One in a series on new music from L.A. environs:]

Mellowdrone has spent the past couple of years picking up the pieces – after its promising 2006 debut “Box,” the band was dropped by Columbia and a couple of members fell by the wayside, leaving the core duo of Jonathan Bates [pictured] and Tony DeMatteo to plot a new musical course. What emerged was the new album “Angry Bear,” out today on local indie Coming Home Records. The home-recorded collection reveals Bates and DeMatteo (now with Brian Borg on drums) leaning toward raw, fuzzed-out rock noir, tossing around off-kilter tones and stark images like cracked black-and-white photographs.

||| Download: “Elephant” and “Wherever You May Go”

||| Live: Mellowdrone celebrates the release of “Angry Bear” with a show tonight at Spaceland.

Photo by Duran Rose