Popular With Me 2011: Buzz Band LA’s favorite local albums of the year (Nos. 20 through 16)

Kevin Bronson on
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2011 was a robust year for music in Los Angeles. Bands broke through, bands broke down; newbies arrived in swarms, some with a bang; and old favorites raised their game, or lost their way. Today, I start a countdown of Buzz Bands LA’s 20 favorite album of the year. [Last year’s list.] First up: Nos. 20 through 16:

20. Voxhaul Broadcast, “Timing Is Everything” (self-released)

Where timing might not be everything. The O.C.-bred, L.A.-based quartet’s debut was long-overdue, its 50-plus-minute mix of rock ’n’ soul, danceable indie and garage-y neo-psychedelia representing a kind of “look what we’ve done so far” (some material dated to 2007). It’s a great start, especially “Leaving on the 5th.” Frontman David Dennis and bandmates – now on the board with this release (and a follow-up digital EP)– can set about honing their artistic direction. Which is everything else.

||| Previously: Interview. “Leaving on the 5th” video. “Broken Nerve.”

19. The One AM Radio, “Heaven Is Attached by a Slender Thread” (Dangerbird)

Songwriter/producer/purveyor of all things bittersweet Hirishikesh Hirway makes some of the finest bedroom pop around, and on his second album for our favorite Silver Lake-based label he pulls up the shades and throws the windows open. Maybe owing to the production flourishes from Tony Hoffer, “Heaven” is electro-pop that feels bright and expansive even as Hirway gets all Moz about old lovers, the perils of Los Angeles and emotional regeneration. Recommended if you like a lot of current Swedish electro-pop, or if you remember Stars’ very early work.

||| Previously: “Sunlight.” “Everything Falls Apart” video. “Sunlight” video. “In a City Without Seasons” video. “A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours” (cover).

18. Mariachi El Bronx, “Mariachi El Bronx II” (ATO)

If you disbelieved the Bronx’s first excursion into south-of-the-border sounds (who, me?), the punk rockers’ alter egos took on larger-than-life personas on their second album as Mariachi El Bronx. Frontman Matt Caughthran, all anguished screams as a hardcore guy, can flat-out belt as an anguished romantic, and from the guitar and accordion stylings of Joby J. Ford and Vincent Hidalgo right down to their charro suits, Mariachi El Bronx make it clear their music is more than just play-acting. Hard to resist singing along, very hard.

||| Previously: “48 Roses.” “The Bronx vs. Mariachi El Bronx” video.

17. Gardens & Villa, “Gardens & Villa” (Secretly Canadian)

Maybe just as unlikely as falling for a band in charro suits: Tripping out over a band packing wood flutes. The Santa Barbara quintet’s beguiling mix of the organic and electronic is the stuff of half-awake dreams, precise and melodic in the foreground but a bit foreboding behind the curtain. The wizard who lurked there, Richard Swift, produced the debut from Shane McKillop, Chris Lynch, Adam Rasmussen, Levi Hayden and Dusty Ineman in his seemingly mystical place in Oregon. Jethro Tull it ain’t. An intoxicating first record it is.

||| Previously: “Black Hills.” “Star Fire Power.”

16. The Sister Ruby Band, “In Cold Blood” (self-released)

In an era when most psychedelia relies on heavy distortion and/or production that amounts to sonic graffiti, the Sister Ruby Band takes more painterly approach. Their under-the-radar release falls somewhere in the realm of the anthemic ooze of the Verve, the acoustic sprawl of Spiritualized and the woozy world of Black Rebel Motorcyle Club. Frontman Johnny Ruby (born Marlon Rabenreither) had worked on his music in between studies at art school in London, and now back home with solid backing band he can tap into L.A.’s vibrant psych-rock community. He should be embraced.