Dead Sara’s ferocious, inventive take on blues-rock coalesced on the band’s 2012 self-titled album, but it’s taken a minute for the quartet to come up with a second helping. After a series of small club shows last year whetted appetites, Dead Sara is finishing up work on a sophomore album, the fan-funded “Pleasure to Meet […]
The debut single from the new quartet Monarch comes steeped in melodrama, dripping with melody and drenched in synth, all of which seem to be ingredients for success in today’s pop world. The L.A.-based band features two members of OneRepublic, keyboardist Brian Willet and bassist Brent Kutzle, along with drummer Joel Plotnik (A Fine Frenzy […]
L.A. duo the Cold and Lovely made a huge statement with 2013’s “Ellis Bell,” an EP that embraced the arena-sized alt-rock of the 1990s and was embraced by many who remember it. Singer-guitarist Meghan Toohey (who counts the Weepies, Lenka, Schuyler Fisk on her resumé) and bassist Nicole Fiorentino (Smashing Pumpkins, Veruca Salt, Spinnerette) have […]
In single after single after single after single (six in all, so far), L.A. duo Street Joy have propelled garage-rock beyond its fossilized limitations, crafting scratchy, guitar-driven nuggets that are alternately heartsick and trippy, wry and bellicose. Fans will be able to collect the whole set on Friday when singer-guitarist-bassist Jason DeMayo and drummer-singer Scott […]
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 […]
Under the name Breach the Summit, founding members Sam Beresford, Jacob Berger and Olen Kittelsen did the typical dances young bands do — battles of the bands, regional awards competitions, making a name for themselves on their Orange County home turf — all while doing that important other thing young bands do: Search for a […]
The bulletin here is that the debut album from Avid Dancer, “1st Bath,” will be out April 14. Which is welcome news, whether you knew songwriter Jacob Dillan Summers when he was paying his dues on the L.A. scene, or whether you heard him when he emerged from Raymond Richards’ studio in early 2012 with […]
The first single from young L.A. rockers Hunny possesses a pop heart and post-punk spine. After a scratchy, marching intro you’d expect from Modest Mouse or Franz Ferdinand, “Cry for Me” cuts loose with emotive vocals, declaring “I can make you cry for me.” The sextet — Jason Yarger, Jake Goldstein, Jacob Munk, Gregory Horne, […]
In an age where performers like Miley Cyrus and Rihanna are at the forefront of pushing boundaries and buttons in pop culture, a new, even younger generation is emerging. Pop debutante Gia is only 18 .. and she’s tackling an often-delicate topic in her first single “Only a Girl.” The song expresses having a relationship […]
Christian Letts’ debut album — due Feb. 17 under the name Letts — could hardly have a more apt title. “Hold Fast” adheres to timeless songwriting traditions, the finest being the notion that an artist can somehow lay bare a piece of his soul in under four minutes. The England-born, L.A.-reared singer-guitarist, who spent the past […]
