Deep into the Luxembourg Signal’s self-titled album is the song “We Go On,” a dreamy four minutes of popgazing that evokes the sweet melancholy of Sarah Records bands and all the contemporary indie-poppers who have followed. There’s a literal truth to “We Go On” too – the Luxembourg Signal is comprised of members who were […]
L.A. agitators Spaceships graduate from lo-fi to a-little-more-fi on their new self-titled EP, coming Nov. 4 via New Professor Music. Oh, the duo of singer-guitarist Jessie Waite and drummer Kevin La Rose still sound like they’re making power-pop with power tools, but that’s the charm, with Waite sounding only moderately interested when she sings, “I […]
The first single from Spectacular Spectacular is a pulsing, dark-disco number with one of those watch-what-you-wish-for choruses: “Show me the monster inside of you,” singer Jessica De Grasse sings forebodingly amid a swirl of pained backing vocals. It’s the first song from an album-in-the-works titled “Blur” from Grasse, Isley Reust and Millie Chan. Originally based […]
Hanni El Khatib is all about moving on. This week the L.A.-based musician/graphic artist/skateboarder unveiled the title track to his third album, “Moonlight,” which is a departure from his savage 2013 album “Head in the Dirt,” which was a departure from his 2011 debut “Will the Guns Come Out.” In announcing the new record – which […]
The four noiseniks in Drinking Flowers straddle the space between two raging scenes in L.A. right now – the hyperkinetic garage-rockers and the ’60s-mining psychedelic rockers. The quartet’s new EP “Shadow Show,” which follows up last year’s “Sanity Restored 1972” and is out now on Lolipop, roars either way. The foursome of Alexander Galindo, Jade Christensen, […]
The first single from new L.A. quartet Crook is as beautiful for what it isn’t as what it is. “Fault” inhabits the modern synth-pop world that allows its purveyors to transform four-minute songs into widescreen cinema. But absent much of the squishy production gimmickry that make what are ostensibly soul songs sound machine-made, “Fault’s” skeletal […]
This one’s for anybody who misses early Rilo Kiley. New L.A. quintet Tiny Stills bring that kind of unvarnished energy and directness to their debut album “Falling Is Like Flying,” self-released last week. The band is spearheaded by singer-songwriter Kailynn West, a Pennsylvania-bred multi-instrumentalist and audio engineer who narrates her cherub indie-rock with a punky […]
Thankfully, there’s Butch Walker. The 44-year-old singer-songwriter, who counts six albums, a Grammy nomination and a host of production credits on his resumé, has seduced with his keen sense of melody, deft lyrcism and everyman charisma dating back to his days in Marvelous 3. Last week he announced that his seventh solo full-length, “Afraid of […]
After a five -plus year hiatus, L.A.’s psychedelic brooders Xu Xu Fang are back and plenty of people are happy about it. Others are so glad they’re back that the band’s latest album has some special touches from special guests. As we previously mentioned, Queens of the Stone Age bass player Michael Shuman has contributed to […]
L.A.-based singer-songwriter Eddie Cohn fashions intimate songs with stadium-sized emotions, and his new album “Guarantee Me Love” (out Tuesday) takes his craft to the next level. The album, Cohn’s third, is a lush affair, boasting string arrangements on piano-based compositions that milk every ounce of gravitas out of romance without coming off as overbearing, despite […]
