[File under “self-promotional:”] About nine months ago, to no fanfare whatsoever, I used my laptop and some change rescued from under the seats of my car to launch BuzzBands.LA, a blog that, in a manner, continued the column I did for the Los Angeles Times for seven years. I’ve been flattered by the attention and […]
[Twenty-five years ago today, Bruce Springsteen released “Born in the U.S.A.” Salute something, even if it’s Annie Leibovitz’s album cover.] Around the clubs, for folks who don’t have tickets the to the big Green Day show at the Music Box @ Fonda, or who aren’t going to brave the elements for Video Games Live at […]
It seems like Paul Larson has been a familiar figure on the Silver Lake scene before there was even a Silver Lake scene. Larson, the lead singer and principal confessor in the Minor Canon, made an album with Jimmy Tamborello (Dntel, the Postal Service) and Chris Gunst (Beachwood Sparks) during the Clinton Administration, and has […]
[Welcome to June. We’ll celebrate by kicking off some new residencies – and by wishing the Broken West’s Ross Flournoy a happy birthday …] Oliver Future takes another big step in its morphosis by launching a residency at the Echo, and the first night will offer Useless Keys as main support. … At Spaceland, Castledoor […]
On one hand, everything you need to know about War Tapes is right here in “Dreaming of You,” the first song to put the quartet on the Los Angeles landscape. Over urgent beats and ringing guitars, singer Neil Popkin gives it his best Depeche Mode-meets-She Wants Revenge, making his girl reverie sound as foreboding as […]
Douglas Smith is a busy guy. Besides acting (he’s Ben on HBO’s “Big Love”) and lending his talents to the L.A. ensemble His Orchestra, Smith has teamed up with singer Ashton Lunceford to form Alaskan Summer. The duo’s old-school boy-girl pop is built on bouncy piano lines and crisp guitars – their debut EP, coming […]
[Nifty and new from L.A. artists, first of two today:] One tour through the Rhone Occupation’s new EP, and you feel as if the sun has just broken through the clouds. On “Would It Kill You to Talk This Out?” the L.A. quartet weaves guileless melodies into gentle textures to fashion pop that feels like […]
There’s no terrestrial radio station to tout it – and somebody get to work on that, will ya? – but the Hammer Museum’s summertime music series, “Also I Like to Rock,” returns to the Westwood Village institution in July with a lively slate of indie-rock bands. The series, promoted in past years by rock station […]
[Cheers to Paul Weller, who’s celebrating a birthday today … and here’s how you can usher out your holiday weekend:] The three Silver Lake/Echo Park residencies end with a bang: Gangi wraps things up at Spaceland with support from Local Natives and Warpaint; soulful kids Mississippi Man and shoegazers Lower Heaven [pictured] help residents Golden […]
A couple of weeks ago at the Los Angeles United Film Festival, I caught a screening of “Strictly Background,” director Jason Connell’s poignant documentary that looks into the lives of 10 people who chase The Dream by working as movie extras. [Here’s the trailer.] The film, just released in North America in March, not only […]