Brooklyn-based synth-pop connoisseurs Body Language have been keeping busy since their inception in 2008. Founding members Matt Young (vocals) and Grant Wheeler (multi-instrumentalist) cut their teeth working for Passion Pit while at the same time writing and releasing their own music in the form of 2010’s “Speaks” EP.  Since then, the band has released three more EPs […]
Strange Babes shot straight to the top of the jangle-pop heap last spring with their infectious first single “Holiday.” The band, built around the core of L.A.-based New Zealanders Sam McCarthy, Leroy Clampitt and Maddie North, this week unveiled the second single, “Come Back Around,” another track rooted in the lineage of the Beatles, Byrds […]
Any of LANY’s seven songs sound as if they could soundtrack a John Hughes film, but on their latest “Bad, Bad, Bad” they’ve reached peak catchiness. Painting a picture of a young relationship in its “honeymoon phase,” the single is set to atmospheric â€80s production, with its dreamy vocals making it noir-pop perfection. The electro […]
Too cool to cut loose? Not Spencer Ludwig and Ryan Merchant, the duo [pictured at center and right above as part of Capital Cities] who recently released the first song of their side project, HISTORY. The song is titled “History,” co-produced by André Anjos (whom you know as RAC). And it’s an outsized anthem that […]
“I’m sick of being dumb,” Colleen Green sings on the title track of her new album “I Want to Grow Up.” Either as a reply to the Descendents’ 30-year-old “I Don’t Want to Grow Up” or as a cautionary note to a scene that celebrates youth-infatuated culture and all its foibles, it’s a welcome rallying […]
L.A. quintet Folk Riot are far from the explosion of twang their name might suggest. No, the a band trades in gothic Americana, with simmering songs rich in atmospherics and storytelling. The Silver Lakers are fronted by singer-guitarist Brandon McCulloch, once of the underrated band Silver and then at the helm of Brandon McCulloch and […]
The newest single from Max and the Moon sees the SoCal quartet frolicking in familiar indie-pop territory, populated by myriad young bands bound and determined to give the world another Passion Pit whether it needs it or not. “Modern Love” is well-crafted and hooky, and it’s a meditation (a danceable one at that) on whether […]
How do you spell love? If it’s not “L-O-V-E,” the title of the 2002 single by L.A. indie-pop band Irving, then it’s “f-r-e-e m-u-s-i-c.” So, in time for Valentine’s Day, L.A.-based independent label Eenie Meenie Records has a free 10-song mix that offers a look into their small but eclectic catalog. Besides Irving, there’s a […]
The title of Talk in Tongues’ forthcoming album is “Alone With a Friend,” but it could just as easily be “Together Through History” — the Los Angeles psych-rock upstarts cover a lot of ground on their debut. They invite comparisons to the Byrds, and for that matter any number of “Nuggets”-era artists, the independent U.K. […]
If you haven’t fallen completely into a rabbit hole by the end of “Rabbit Hole,” you are undoubtedly far too grounded to be hanging out here. It’s the rapturous first song from the duo Riothorse Royale, who leaked the song last year when they were going by the name Riothorse and added the Royale part […]
