Indie-pop trio Dark Furs — U.K.-born Suzanne May along with guitarist Chad Philipps and drummer Nathaniel Meek — released dreamy EPs in 2013 and ’14, and today they kicked off the new year with a new single, “Hearts (F*ck you, Goodbye)” (available on a name-your-price basis). It sounds like a farewell, but it’s only a […]
Max Kala sound pissed off, and on their debut full-length “Amplification & Super Regeneration” (out Feb. 3) they delight in telling you why, even if the current State of Things isn’t self-evident enough. The Pomona punk-rockers — singer-guitarist Amit Pandey, guitarist Bryan Elliot, bassist Kerry Dowling and drummer Jason Jeffrey — pound home their points with leaden […]
Oakland-reared, Los Angeles-based Aaron Valenzuela’s music under the monkier Harriet Brown is equal parts funky and seductive, harking back to the magical purple Minneapolis scene of the 1980s while updating the nostalgic R&B sound for modern day. The one-man band as performer, producer and songwriter released his debut EP, “New Era,” via Feel So Real […]
Tommy Alexander has been working on his first batch of songs as Imaginary Persons so long they must indeed seem unreal. Alexander, bassist in the underrated (and currently underground) band Low Flying Owls, first unveiled his Floydian tendencies in 2013 with the single “Give.” This week, his “Imaginary Persons” EP is out, five originals and […]
Soko is a punk rocker. And why not? Stéphanie Sokolinski has been a lot of other things — the French-born, L.A.-based artist has been a successful actress, a dabbler in indie-folk, a DIY videographer and a collaborator with outsider types like Ariel Pink. She just announced that her sophomore album, the boldly titled “My Dreams […]
In 2013, brother duo Pacific Air culminated a couple years of work by releasing “Stop Talking,” a summer-breezy album of buoyant electro that languished amid a wave of similar-sounding music. With brother Taylor having put music on hold to pursue his education, Ryan Marshall Lawhon has carried on as Mating Ritual, having released a trickle […]
The bright, earnest indie-rock of My Double, My Brother falls into the lineage of bands such as the Little Ones, Local Natives, early Vampire Weekend and the Postelles — the rush of sharp guitars, clattering percussion and winsome vocals. The Long Beach quintet’s new single “I’ll Die” isn’t nearly as fatalistic as its title; the song […]
I’d like the cocktail table in the corner, thank you, and may I have a whiskey neat? No, it’s just me … and what, there’s no smoking in here? That’s OK, I suppose, because The Singer and the Songwriter will probably be smoky enough. I heard a couple tunes on a local blog. They’re a […]
The playful indie-soul on Carly and the Universe’s debut album “The Whole Shabang” is so endearing that we’re almost forgiving them for not consulting a dictionary for the proper spelling of “shebang.” Almost. The band is comprised of Carly Liza along with George Fry, Cameron Clarke and Young Creatures’ Mike Post and Spencer King, but […]
L.A. shoegaze quintet Draag follows up their 2014 self-titled debut on Jan. 27 with “Traci Lordz.” Produced by the Mae Shi’s Jeff Byron, the seven-track EP continues to demonstrate Draag’s interpretation of shoegaze with their first two bold singles. Their fuzzy chords are stretched out further to meet Acosta’a ethereal vocals in “Lavender Hole,” while […]
