[Happy birthday, Mac Davis — I hope you’re keeping it in the fairway …] The Ettes’ female-fronted garage rock, first unleashed on L.A. ears about four years ago, is hardly better than on its September release “Look at Life Again Soon” – urgent, low-fi, gnarly and making you wonder who’d win if the Ramones arm-wrestled […]
If nothing else, this week’s political transition has improved musicial productivity — at least when it comes to songs saluting Barack Obama. DJ/producer Adam Freeland, who splits his time between England and Los Angeles, has mashed up Daft Punk and come up with “Aer OBAMA.” The stop-motion video comes courtesy of directors Richard Farmer and […]
[A quick patriotic note on inauguration eve:] Bruce Springsteen’s new album, “Working on a Dream,” will be out Jan. 26 — but you can stream it starting at midnight Eastern time (9 p.m. where we live), thanks to NPR. Hey, that’s almost now. Follow this link … On the local front, Vosotros Music has posted […]
It’s hard to come up with a much better story than John Bigham’s resumé, but the veteran multi-instrumentalist — on his third album as the Soul of John Black — has conjured up a sensational narrative: It’s the tale of a pawn-shop Stella guitar with special powers, the unknown Chicago bluesman who wielded it and […]
[Good things come in threes?] Neko Case and Anti- Records are giving it away — on two fronts. She is offering “People Got a Lotta Nerve” — the first single from her forthcoming album, “Middle Cyclone” — for free download. And then, for each blog that hosts the download, the artist and her label will […]
It’s late at night and I’m feeling ambient, and not a little bit twee — a good time to discover London-based singer-songwriter Erin Lang (a collaborator and co-founder of the upstart label 99X/10 with former Cure keyboardist Roger O’Donnell). On the Canadian-born singer’s recent EP, Jimmy Tamborello (wearing his Dntel hat) gives the remix treatment […]
[Today we quickly bid happy birthday to David Bowie and move on to our regularly scheduled madness …] The lovely dreampop quartet Wait Think Fast [pictured] was so psyched to play tonight’s Spaceland On Ice that they have offered their latest single for free download. You should be psyched to add it to your playlist […]
It’s Monday afternoon, and 26-year-old Nima Kazerouni is in a workshop in Gardena gutting vintage television sets and rigging them with LCD screens. In a manner of speaking, it’s a “rehearsal” for So Many Wizards’ upcoming shows. “It’s my new idea for a live show,” says Kazerouni, explaining that his “bassist” and “guitarist” for upcoming […]
Longtime local treasure and musical changeling Eleni Mandell [pictured] plays the first of three dates this month at the Hotel Cafe (others: Jan. 16 and 30) in advance of her new album “Artificial Fire,” due Feb. 17 on Zedtone Records. [Download: “Bigger Burn.” ] … Also at the Hotel Cafe tonight for the first of […]
It was hard not to completely swoon last spring, when I heard the fresh-out-of-the-studio recordings of Sara Lov’s album “Seasoned Eyes Were Beaming.” The Devics frontwoman — like her collaborator, pianist Dustin O’Halloran — had gone solo, crafting a batch of languorous pop that retains the cumulus quality of Devics but harbors the lightning-bolt intensity […]
