It’s been a rockin’ year for Eastern Conference Champions. The L.A. trio of Joshua Ostrander, Melissa Dougherty and Greg Lyons landed their song “A Million Miles an Hour” in the soundtrack to “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.” They did a bang-up Spaceland residency. They finished work on their next full-length “Speak-ahh” while entertaining dalliances with record […]
[Birthday wishes go out today to Karen O …] Top 3 shows/events for your divergent musical interests: ‣ New Zealand quintet the Naked and Famous (taken from a Tricky lyric and not the Presidents of the United States of America song) seem to have taken MGMT’s ball and run with it. Well, the part of […]
At the risk of provoking a few afternoon tears, I’ll give you a short preview of “Tear the Fences Down,” the forthcoming album by L.A. quartet Eulogies. It is a eulogy, in a manner, or at least songwriter Peter Walker’s meditation, on the all-too-short life of Pablo Castelaz, the son of Dangerbird Records co-founder Jeff […]
In “Fields of Green,” the first song on the new Giant Sand album “Blurry Blue Mountain,” legendary desert-rock explorer Howe Gelb muses about being over 50, and those inevitable times he is sought out as some sort of swami: “I tell them with a crinkled smile / and a smoldering spark eyed glisten / to […]
It’s no surprise that Pepper Rabbit has charmed the socks off indie-pop fans this year – not if you’re heard the L.A. duo’s debut album “Beauregard,” and especially not if you’ve seen frontman Xander Singh’s instrument-juggling during his live shows. What’s remarkable is that, after releasing two EPs in 2009 and “Beauregard” last month on […]
Top 3 shows to improve your possibly flagging midweek disposition: ‣ NYC indie-pop quartet Bear Hands [pictured] are pals of MGMT whose debut album “Burning Bush Supper Club” is full of downright infectious tunes. They headline Spaceland with Cantora Records labelmates Rumspringa. ‣ Fitz & the Tantrums wind down an amazing year by playing to […]
Dear Rumspringa: I keep waiting for something to click between you and me, but it just hasn’t happened. I feel like it should, so many of my friends are in your corner and keep telling me that if I like psych-rock (and I do) and blues-rock (and I do), I should be keen on your […]
Whatever shape her solo music ended up taking, Morgan Kibby was determined not to play to expectations. “I’m a woman who plays keyboards, and there’s the whole Tori Amos sensibility,” says Kibby, the singer-keyboardist who joined French popgazers M83 for their last album “Saturdays = Youth.” “I know I could have written the girl-at-a-piano record, […]
Freelance Whales’ debut album “Weathervanes” oozes with affected chamber-pop and synthy, sugary charm. But the hard-touring New Yorkers’ latest single, “Enzymes” – recorded for the soft drink-sponsored imprint Green Label Sound – reveals a more seasoned approach both lyrically and thematically. Written on a laptop as an exercise in time signatures, “Enzymes” finds the band […]
[Disclosure: This trio is made up of longtime FOBB (Friends of Buzz Bands). Drummer Dave McKay is a contributor to this blog.] The members of Non Ultra Joy come from such disparate backgrounds you’d hardly expect their work to cling to one aesthetic. Chris McRitchie made saw-toothed hard rock in Flupejac and Big Stone City; […]
