Austin bands such as Harlem can really make waves this week at SXSW, playing on their home turf and knowing which touristy BBQ joints to avoid. The three-piece come across like snotty sons of the Dave Clark Five, bashing out a raggedy British Invasion-inspired bierkeller backbeat on their cheap but undeniably cheerful second album “Hippies.” […]
There are mutterings in the blogosphere about the liberal use of an vintage Japanese synthesizer on Minus the Bear’s new single “My Time” – is frontman Dave Knudson the new Thomas Dolby? Does he have more Omnichords than Jemaine Clement? “My Time,” taken from the new album “Omni” (out May 4 on Dangerbird), is a […]
Maybe the eternal summer sunshine in Norway is the reason Oslo’s Serena-Maneesh sound like they do – suffering from “persistent and pervasive elevated or irritable mood,” stumbling into the blessed darkened sanctuary of a cave decked out as a recording studio, what other music could they make? Blurry sonic shock tactics, plowing the same space-dance […]
The title of Holly Miranda‘s debut release “The Magician’s Private Library” (out now on XL Recordings) suggests a cornucopia of aural delights, and it does sound very good, with a shimmering sonic palette applied by TV on the Radio’s David Sitek. Miranda, who made noise a couple years back as a member of the Jealous […]
Wearing badges is not enough for Ted Leo. A committed live performer, treading the boards for more than a decade now with his dynamic brand of agit-pop, Leo has a new release “The Brutalist Bricks” coming out on Tuesday on Matador, and the album, his sixth, packs a familiar one-two punch – brash new wave […]
If the Runaways came from Memphis and had Dan Penn as a mentor instead of Kim Fowley, they’d have sounded like the Pack A.D. Hell, with song titles like “Don’t Have To Like You,”, Vancouverites Becky Black (guitar/vocals) and Maya Miller (drums) probably don’t care what I think anyway, and that’s a fine attitude, if […]
[Buzz Bands LA welcomes new contributor Keith Shackleton, this blog’s special correspondent in the Southern Hemisphere, who will help with occasional track reviews:] What could be more appropriate than the patchwork art on the album cover of “Weathervanes?” New York City-based quintet Freelance Whales stitch together a variety of textures from an array of acoustic […]
