[One in a series featuring new sounds from SoCal bands:] Long Beach quartet Parade of Lights – featuring former members of Polus (before drummer Anthony Improgo departed to play with Metro Station) – is readying its debut five-song EP. This early taste from Ryan Daly, Matt Frey, Randy Schulte and Mike Nielsen features a heartsick […]
[New L.A. sounds for your ears, and your iTunes …] Links are an L.A. quartet with a Robbie and Robby (an Arnett and Barnett, go figure), and a passion for simmering, ’70s-styled blues rock, which they bring to a boil on their debut EP, “Tip Your Jester” (released in March). Singer-guitarist Arnett yowls like a […]
Australian quartet the Drones put on one of the best SXSW sets I witnessed, and now they’re coming to Spaceland on Saturday (mystifyingly, not as the headliner?) for one of the best non-Coachella shows of the weekend. The foursome’s craggly, passionate rock is on full display on their new album, “Havilah,” released on ATP Recordings […]
[Nifty new sounds from L.A. bands just on my radar …] Maybe it’s the leviathan drums or maybe it’s the story in the lyrics, but “Cleopatra” makes Anglos sound like they’re more than a flavor of the moment. The big, patient anthem, the title track off the foursome’s debut EP, is the work of songwriters […]
[I am haplessly behind on reviewing recent releases from local artists. Here’s the first installment of catch-up:] Eulogies, “Here Anonymous” (Dangerbird, April 7) – Ever since Peter Walker mushroomed into a full-band project a couple of years ago and christened it Eulogies, his music has taken on new urgency. Bandmates Tim Hutton, Chris Reynolds and […]
When the Gray Kid isn’t manning up in the kitchen or hanging with Daniel Baldwin, the L.A. soul man is busy finishing up “The Cost of Living,” his first album with the band he has assembled, Spirit Animal. In the meantime, he recently loaded up his website with enough complimentary music to make your hard […]
File this under spreading the music – and doing something socially conscious. The first song from Los Angeles sextet Castledoor’s forthcoming album “Shouting at Mountains” is available for free download. The track, “Hidden Treasure” can be downloaded at the Biggest Label Ever, an upstart social networking/social activism/music website. The Biggest Label Ever, along with CauseCast, […]
It’s been too long since I posted a podcast, so this is Step 1 in catching up. This fourth edition of the Buzzsicle features songs from 17 L.A. artists whose names I heard in the aftermath of last month’s South by Southwest Music Festival. In my Austin wanderings, I mostly avoided L.A. bands, figuring I […]
[Sharing random but righteous additions to my iTunes libary …] Just out on Kemado Records, Marissa Nadler’s “Little Hells” makes for a sweet addition to your Americana shelf – her gleaming vocals and billowy atmospherics are perfect for breezy afternoons in the country, or quiet moments of window-gazing. The Boston singer-songwriter visits the Hotel Cafe […]
Mark this one down: The sophomore album by Echo Park ensemble the Faraway Places is due May 12. “Out of the Rain, the Thunder & the Lightning” is sneaky-catchy, with nods to ’70s power pop, soul and a few decades of pop left-fielders who make music that is somehow familiar but not too obvious. The […]
