London quartet Wolf Alice may have performed at Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds ,as well as won Best Breakthrough Artist at the UK Festival Awards and been deemed by BBC Radio 6 as 2013’s most-blogged-about band, but these folk-grunge-rockers are only just now about to make a bigger splash across the pond. With two EPs under […]
Glaswegian band the Vaselines formed in 1986, broke up in ’89 and ever since their reformation in 2008 have kept their fans on their toes with three fuzzy full-lengths, including last fall’s “V for Vaselines.” Principals Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee have a standing as cultish indie-rock icons, even beyond their infamous place in Kurt […]
There were roses, of course, because the title of the album is “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” And there were other things exceedingly romantic, too, like virtually every song on that debut from Night Terrors of 1927. The L.A.-based band built around the collaboration between Jarrod Gorbel (ex-The Honorary Title) and Blake Sennett (Rilo Kiley, the […]
Under the moniker Itasca, lo-fi folkie Kayla Cohen released another full-length in October titled “Unmoored By The Wind.” In keeping with her motif of intimacy and solitude, the New York-bred singer-songwriter records at her current home in Los Angeles. She recently supported fellow folk songwriter Ben Watt, where she shared her characteristic dreaminess. Her newest […]
Forty-six seconds into the Girlpool documentary “Things Are OK,†directed by Cory McConnell, bassist Harmony Tividad lets out a piercing shriek as they perform their song “Jane†in front of an intimate audience. The yearling L.A. duo consisting of Cleo Tucker along with Tividad boast unapologetic confrontation amidst raw harmonies. From “Things Are OK†we […]
Tobias Jesso Jr. certainly isn’t the first or last musician to hand his demo over to another band, but he is one of the few to be acknowledged for it. The Vancouver singer/songwriter opened up Saturday night at the Roxy by thanking headliners Foxygen for their support after he handed them a demo at one […]
The Wiltern was very much alive on Friday night during Flying Lotus’ performance behind his fifth studio album “You’re Dead!” (released Oct. 7 on Warp Records). FlyLo, born Steven Ellision, gave a show that was like falling into the black hole of a beatsmith’s bizarre subconscious. He took the stage wearing a mask with glowing […]
The Black Keys worked up a sweat Thursday night at The Forum as they let loose in front of an audience of both die-hard and casual fans. They opened their set with “Dead And Gone†from 2011’s “El Camino” and continued with a top-heavy set of songs mainly from their last three albums. Dan Auerbach […]
Rising Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett brought her shambling, charming rock to the El Rey Theatre on Tuesday night, mixing her droll narratives with brash, animated guitar playing. Decked out in grunge-era flannel and backed by Bones Sloan on bass, Dave Mudie on drums and Dan Luscombe on guitar, Barnett opened with “David†from her double […]
Two and a half years since their first Los Angeles show at Bardot, U.K. rockers Alt-J took the stage on Monday night at the Greek Theatre – now with a second album and a Mercury Prize under their belt. Although the band lost original bassist Gwil Sainsbury earlier in the year, they performed just has […]
