Kevin Bronson on March 1st, 2009

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[More L.A.-made tunes from the Buzz Bands fountain …]

Sometimes you have to jog Buzz Bands’ memory, and that was the case when I heard “Bliss & Death,” the new album from National Skyline. Oh, yes, there on the shelves was the band’s self-titled 2000 release on Hidden Agenda Records, purchased long ago via mail order from Parasol. National Skyline songwriter Jeff Garber (ex-Castor, ex-Year of the Rabbit) recorded his latest in 2008; “Bliss & Death,” released on iTunes via the Adventure Broadcasting Recording Co., ” is a painterly effort, with Garber sprinkling fuzzy guitar textures, sprawling arrangements and spacey sonics with pointed lyrics. Dark, yes, but with an occasional “Glimmer” …

||| Download: “Glimmer”
||| Watch: The animated video for “Revenge”

State Shirt is the the name of Ethan Tufts’ one-man band. The Massachusetts native, now living in L.A., makes music in the time away from his “mind-numbing day job,” and in November released “This Is Old,” the follow-up to his 2004 debut “Don’t Die.” His highly caffeinated, carefully textured folktronica takes a while for the ear to sort, but it’s time well spent – as is exploring his website, where Tufts details how he makes his music, how you can remix it, how to download a lot of it for free and how he dropped out of music school to deliver pizza.

||| Download: “This Is Old”
||| Download: “Fell Out of the Sky (Chris Fudurich remix).” Fudurich is an L.A. producer and member of the band Two Guns.
||| Watch: The chillingly good video for “Fell Out of the Sky,” which Tufts explains was inspired by last words on the black box data recorder from Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 airplane crash, Sept. 25, 1978.

Photos: National Skyline by Jason71; State Shirt from www.stateshirt.com