Alexander, “Alexander” (Community Music/Vagrant) – After two-plus years of saving souls from the pulpit of the psych-folk collective Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Alex Ebert is still searching his own. “Alexander,” the 32-year-old’s solo debut, feels as if the songwriter is giving himself a pep talk, the overarching message being: Don’t give up the […]
Portraits by Laurie Scavo Downloads and videos appear below There is a felicity to Los Angeles about which I never want to become cynical. The waitress who hands you pancakes at Millie’s might be in a big movie two years later. The kid at the Apple store is working on animation that’ll knock your socks […]
The Wind did not take the notion of their debut release lightly. The Long Beach-based quartet didn’t tease with a single, or an EP, or even just a full-length album. No, “Harum-Scarum,” the collection that Kevin Jaemes, Chad Marshman and Chip and Nick Knechtel unveiled in November, is a double-album – all 23 tracks and […]
[Recapping today’s noteworthy album releases:] x x x x x x Of local interest Apex Manor, “The Year of Magical Drinking” (Merge) – Jangly, earnest songcraft from ex-Broken West main man Ross Flournoy. [Video. Interview/download.] Recommended. Cold War Kids, “Mine Is Yours” (Downtown/Interscope) – The quartet’s third album offers a bigger, bolder and more direct […]
Moving Picture Show’s ranks have thinned since they first turned heads at their gigs by entering the stage by romping through crowds as a marching band. Keyboardist Amy Oliver moved away, leaving singer-guitarist Matt Kap, bassist Jeremy Nesse and new drummer Scott Manley to carry on their ’80s radio-inspired exploits. MPS’s second album “Studies Have […]
It’s been six months and thousands of miles of touring since “Scott vs. the Volcano” – a battle that the volcano won but that did little to take the fight out of Scott Hutchison and his bandmates in Frightened Rabbit. The Scottish quintet was one of several bands marooned in European airports last April thanks […]
The new album by Los Angeles quartet the 88 – the band’s fifth – is titled, simply “The 88.” No gimmicks, nothing fancy, and entirely appropriate for four guys who the past eight years have been clawing their way toward the power-pop pantheon with timeless songwriting, deliriously catchy melodies and crackling arrangements. “As you get […]
The restlessness of indie rock and the ethereality of Latin pop. Spanish and English. Jacqueline Santillan and Matthew Beighley. They are marriages that work on “Luces Del Sur,” the second album from L.A. quartet Wait. Think. Fast. Now about that pesky punctuation in the band’s name … “It’s not wait-think-fast,” says Santillan, explaining the derivation, […]
L.A. rockers Everest had their share of gut-wrenching, hair-pulling moments during the months they were making their sophomore album, “On Approach.” But the quintet must have swallowed hard when they got word that their label owner and The Man They Admire Most – Neil Young, for cryin’ out loud – said he’d like to talk […]
In 2004, Gram Rabbit unveiled a debut album “Music to Start a Cult To.” The title was prescient. Six years later, the Joshua Tree quartet indeed has a cult following – but, mystifyingly, only that. Despite having released two more albums of some of the most far-thinking, far-out psychedelic disco around, membership in the “The […]
