[File under: Stuff I Missed 2014 …] In 2010, HT Heartache, the nom de tune of Mary Roth, released her debut album “Swing Low,” an intoxicating, filmy collection of Americana whose songs seemed on perpetual simmer. She brings a similar restless warmth to the follow-up “Sundowner,” released in May. A mix of Western noir and […]
[As much as we covered in 2014, there were things I simply didn’t get to. So file today’s posts under Stuff I Missed …] The best thing about The Garden’s sonic experiments is that if you don’t like one, hold tight: The next one will begin in about a minute and a half. The Orange […]
Veteran bar-hoppers might recognize Ken Franklin as a doorman, but hearing the first two songs from his band Dutch Party will make you wish you chatted him up some more. The quintet’s sprightly piano-based indie-pop is the soundtrack to a good mood, especially “Echo Girl,” an homage to the female denizens of Echo Park. Franklin […]
Nate Mendel is currently best-known for playing bass in the Foo Fighters, but long-timers know him for being a founding member of the influential emo band Sunny Day Real Estate, as well as other activities, such as helping the Jealous Sound reboot in 2011. Now comes the news he is captaining his own ship – […]
Given the month-by-month song teases, the forthcoming second album by Los Angeles quintet Milo Greene could be anything – well, anything except their folky first album. Four songs have now been released from “Control” (out Jan. 27 via Elektra), revealing the band’s new electro-inspired direction. Three might be described as bedroom disco, propulsive nuggets that suggest […]
Despite their saccharine name, roots-rock duo Honeyhoney has never been short on attitude. There are moments on their two albums, 2008’s “First Rodeo” and 2012’s “Billy Jack,” where you sense that singer-fiddler-banjoist Suzanne Santo would just as soon whup you as serenade you; afterward, of course, her foil Ben Jaffe would buy you a drink, […]
Go Betty Go gave pop-punk fans plenty of kicks in middle of last decade, when the all-Latina rockers released an EP and a full-length on SideOneDummy Records. So it’s fitting that their comeback EP is titled “Reboot” – after eight-plus years on the sidelines, engaging in real-life things like marriages, families, college educations and jobs, […]
The Mowgli’s are like those smiling kids who come to your front door every so often with an armload of salvation, if only you’d become a True Believer. And if you are, you’ll smile at learning the L.A.-based missionaries of positivity announced this week that their sophomore album “Kids in Love” will be out in […]
You hear those over-driven guitars? Pummeling rhythm section? Angst-y yowls? It’s 1995 calling, in the form of Orange County trio Dronen. The band – Daniel Olivas, Victor Aguilar and Carlos Chevez – announced their presence in 2013 with the album “Digital Pathways (Analog Pathogens),” which served as something of a shout-out to the radio giants of the […]
Open Mike Eagle describes his music as “on that laugh to keep from crying tip” early on his album “Dark Comedy,” released earlier this year, while his label touts it as “a record that captures the perennial struggle between art and commerce, the last half-century of widening class rift, and the need to be funny […]
