Garage-rockers the Futures League came on the radar last year with self-titled EP full of crisp guitars, sunny melodies and carefree attitude. That EP has now been taken down from Bandcamp and retooled as a new EP, appropriately (considering its tone) titled “Don’t Be a Drag.” The new release, out next week, features three songs […]
Wild Awake is the new band helmed by Brijesh Pandya, the drummer for funk/jazz/R&B revivalists Air Life, among other bands. The EP Pandya has made with mates Sherman Pascoe, Antonio Dangond and Blake Estrada couldn’t be farther from Air Life’s sleek ’80s stylings, and it belies Pandya’s background in jazz studies at Cal State Northridge. […]
When Avi Buffalo’s self-titled debut came out four long springs ago, Avi Zahner-Isenberg was hailed as a teen prodigy, which was probably true, although it turned out he wasn’t ready for all the hailing. In the time since, the singer-guitarist has gone through an experimental period, a difficult period, a growing-up period and a creative […]
In March we shared the demo for “Singing Bridges,” a work-in-progress by EFG, the talented triumvirate of Imaad Wasif, Josh Garza and Tom Biller. Having started as a duo under the name Electric Flower (eventually morphing to Electric Flower Group), Wasif and Garza released two EPs of tantalizing, next-level psych-rock before adding Grammy-winning producer Biller (who […]
Nine months after the release of their full-length debut “Exhibitionists,” L.A. electro-poppers Superhumanoids are exhibiting their icy cool again. The trio of Cameron Parkins, Sarah Chernoff and Max St. John, who churned out a B-sides/remixes collection this spring, unveiled a new single this week, “Come Say Hello.” It features Chernoff’s high-altitude vocals over a valley […]
Guy Blakeslee is turning the noise down and turning himself up. The mastermind of the stoner-rock trio the Entrance Band – known for their pedal-propelled, often-indulgent trips to the nether regions of psych-rock – has made his first solo album in 10 years. Like the Entrance Band’s November release “Face the Sun,” Blakeslee’s “Ophelia Slowly” […]
Joe Purdy makes it sound so easy. The Arkansas-bred, L.A.-based songwriter, who released a dozen albums between 2001 and 2010, has built a grassroots legion of fans attracted to his plainspoken, evocative folk music, which is about as pure as it gets. Purdy’s calling card is his “voice” – wry, world-weary and guardedly optimistic all […]
In case you missed last month’s introduction, Babes are a little bit peculiar. Not in a so-strange-I’m-averting-my-glances way. Kind of in a please-cast-me-in-your-“Twin Peaks”-spinoff way. When not contemplating being sad or horny, or answering the “Babes Hotline” (470-BABES-77), siblings Sarah, Aaron and Zach Rayne and bandmates Bryan Harris and Jeffrey Baird. make seriously fetching retro-pop. The […]
With each song to emerge from Kan Wakan’s debut album “Moving On” – whose release is now only one week away – we’re beginning to think that none of 2014’s albums-of-the-year lists will be complete without it. The L.A.-based septet – the brainchild of composer/multi-instrumentalist Gueorgui Linev, guitarist-producer Peter Potyondy and singer Kristianne Bautista [pictured] – arrived in […]
Roll the Tanks’ new album “Broke Til Midnight” sounds as red-white-and-blue as a backyard barbecue, so today feels like an excellent day to share. The quartet of singer-guitarist Danny Carney, guitarist Aaron Stuart, bassist Mike Wakeman and Joe Sirois signed to Epitaph Records in April, bringing with them 13 spine-stiffening songs cut from the cloth […]
