[Happy Cinco de Mayo, and here are a few musical party options;] Iglu & Hartly, the Los Angeles-via-Colorado quintet who hit it big in the U.K. with its party-minded amalgamation of rock, rap (lite) and cheesy synths, brings its dance show back to the U.S. in earnest, playing a KROQ-sponsored record release show at the […]
L.A. rapper Kenan Bell is currently rocking New York City – big gig on Tuesday at the Mercury Lounge – one week after releasing his first mix tape. Bell’s effort features eight songs, all remixes, originally offered by various blogs around the country, plus his take on XTC’s “Dear God.” Other artists he re-worked? Pink […]
Matt Gangi and Lyle Nesse – the men behind the machines in the L.A. duo Gangi – imagine their music as cinema, in hi-def on a widescreen. “We were talking to a producer and Matt told him, ‘I really want it to sound like an industrial silo in the middle of an open field,’” Nesse […]
[A sampling of recent sounds that fell into my mailbox:] The sophomore album from Deer Tick, “Born on Flag Day,” is due June 23, and the hard-touring band led by John McCauley has some East Coast and Midwest dates in June supporting Jenny Lewis before heading west to hook up with L.A.’s Dawes for a […]
[New from a couple of Los Angeles bands:] You know how hard it is to get decent tones out of your cymbals under water? Leave it to the guys in the Bronx to figure it out. Just watch out for the stage-diving shark. (Shot in a friend’s pool in the U.K., this is the video […]
So much music, so little time. I’ve fallen woefully behind when it comes to acknowledging non-album releases (EPs and singles) from L.A. bands, so this edition of the Buzzsicle will make a dent in that. Buzzsicle 5 is an hour’s worth of music – 16 songs that have caught my ear in the past few […]
More on the album when it lands in my mailbox, but for now here is the music video for His Orchestra’s “Black Coffin.” It’s directed by Leah McKissock, with cinematography by Aaron Lavinsky and choreography by Kristin Rapinchuk. The six-piece band, fronted by Douglas Smith (Ben Henrickson on “Big Love”), recently released its debut, “Field […]
On its new EP “Seven Days Now,” L.A. septet Xu Xu Fang continues its explorations in ambient shoegaze, the kind of contemplative psychedelia made for shadows, smoke machines and patient listeners. Included: “Your Way,” which was used on “Gossip Girl” this week, and a stoner cover of the Cure’s “Fascination Street.” Not to mention the […]
Great Northern, “Remind Me Where the Light Is” (Eenie Meenie, today) – Solon Bixler and Rachel Stolte have bad dreams and big dreams, and both are embodied on their sophomore album. Their fears are framed meticulously – though more musically than lyrically – in their shimmering arrangements and soaring melodies, and just when you think […]
Castledoor’s first album is titled “Shouting at Mountains,” but members of the Los Angeles sextet had to feel as if they were climbing them the past three years. After they arrived on the scene with a winsome tune and a smile, Castledoor’s career has proceeded by fits and starts, with two EPs (“‘Til We Sink” […]
