The last time L.A. indie-rockers Busy Living unveiled the song “Lie Better,” the first to emerge from the band’s recording sessions with Jim Eno of Spoon. Two weeks ago the band – singer-guitarist Mike Moonves, bassist Tim Hutton and keyboardist Matt Leddy – issued a newer new single, “LYD.” Also produced by Eno, it’s a pretty […]
WALLA’s music springs from a seemingly inexhaustible supply of four-on-the-floor beats, candy-coated melodies and relentless optimism, all of which are on display in their new single “The Kids Are Alright.” The quintet – Ian Charlie, Alessio Balsemin, Mauricio Carcamo, Jonathan Hoonch Kim and Gabriel Nava Rodrigues – followed up EPs in 2012 and 2013 with this summer’s […]
The Lonely Wild’s debut long-player “The Sun As It Comes” was filled with the kind of vein-bulging anthems about emotional duress and social upheaval that somehow made you feel better about the said conditions after you heard them. The quintet – Andrew Carroll, Jessi Williams, Andrew Schneider, Dave Farina and Ryan Ross – addresses different neuroses on […]
Orange County native Jake McMullen fronted the Americana outfit York in 2012 and last year went on his own, releasing an EP in collaboration with fellow Orange Countian Ellex Bree. The latter was recorded in Nashville, and this year, McMullen, 21, relocated to Music City USA to further his songwriting exploits. Last week he unveiled […]
L.A.-based rockers Dengue Fever remain in a class – no, a world – of their own, melding the psych-pop of singer Chhom Nimol’s native Cambodia with vintage surf- and garage-rock to form a euphoric exotica. Over more than a decade that has seen the band – Nimol, along with Zac and Ethan Holtzman, Senon Williams, David Ralicke […]
In 2010, about the time the wheels started to wobble for California popsters Rooney (who were releasing and touring behind their final album), the quintet’s guitarist Taylor Locke was just getting rolling. His side project Taylor Locke & the Roughs released two albums seven months apart. But except for launching the (great) cover band Rumours: […]
“Encino,” the new EP from Henry Wolfe, is the singer-songwriter’s first release since his 2011 full-length “Linda Vista,” which put his evocative but understated music on the map. Like the title track, “Miracle Mile” draws inspiration from from Wolfe’s time in Los Angeles wrestling with the city’s dualities and geography. Produced by Thom Monahan (Pernice […]
The two latest singles from the Controversy take a more arty approach than most of the synth-pop duos raising our blood-sugar levels. At the very least, “Queen of Chinatown” (especially) and “Two Voices” carry an air of sophistication that “Real” – the 2012 album from the twosome of Laura Vall and Thomas Hjorth – only hinted […]
In terms of sheer scope, few albums to emerge from Los Angeles artists this year can match Bell Gardens’ sophomore effort “Slow Dawns for Lost Conclusions.” Kan Wakan comes to mind, or Warpaint. Or Ariel Pink in his quirky way. On their 45-minute long-player, Bell Gardens stitches together a warm blanket of keys, guitars, pedal […]
As Freedom Fry, Marie Seyrat and Bruce Driscoll have made a couple of EPs and a handful of singles of boy/girl indie-pop informed by the couple’s dual (but not dueling) sensibilities: she, a Parisian; he, a breadbasket Midwesterner. They can be buoyant and they can be melancholy, but Freedom Fry’s new single “Blackmailed” is a […]
