Johnny la Rocha knows his classic rock – whatever fertile soil he’s overturning. He does business as Ocha la Rocha, and “Ocha Scores,” his forthcoming album on JAXART Records, demonstrates the he would be equally comfy jamming with the Marshall Tucker Band, the Flying Burrito Brothers or any number of cowboy country guitar-slingers. The album […]
In a broad view, the music of Seven Saturdays is all about Los Angeles – the emotional and geographical sprawl, the grandeur and the grit, the language the city speaks if you hold still long enough to listen. Native Angeleno and composer Jonathan Haskell embraces it all on “Seven Saturdays” (out next week), a collection […]
The spiritual uplift of communal folkies Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros is in full force on “Better Days,” the first single off the 11-member L.A. troupe’s forthcoming third full-length. The album, a self-titled affair, will be out July 23 via Community Music, and this single finds frontman Alex Ebert and crew dispensing their Summer […]
Now into their second decade, L.A. quartet The 88 has pretty much done it all: The foursome of Keith Slettedahl, Adam Merrin, Anthony Zimmitti and Todd O’Keefe have been next-big-things (ah, that Spaceland residency) and major-label shoulda-beens;Â they’ve released five full-lengths; they’ve scored movies; they’ve been serial contributors to films, TV shows, video games and […]
Next-gen indie-pop fans, meet the old school: The Ocean Blue’s atmospheric music came on the radar more than two decades ago, their early albums drawing comparisons to the Smiths, Cocteau Twins, New Order and Aztec Camera. Now the Pennsylvania-bred quartet of David Schelzel, Bobby Mittan, Oed Ronne and Peter Anderson has released its first-full-length in […]
L.A. quartet the Shakers covered a lot of well-trodden ground on their debut full-length “Oh So Loud,” which boasted heavy-metal riffage straight out of the Sunset Strip’s past, thunderous rhythms and a singer, Jodie Schell, intent on making it sound urgent and fresh. Schell and bandmates Chris Lee, Kyle Kozlowski and Nick Woods have been […]
New York City-born, UCLA-educated singer Gabrielle Wortman launched her career as rock frontwoman before segueing to the electronic project Tempest (aka TEMP3ST). However, upon meeting fellow New Yorker Jason Rosen – the ex-keyboardist and guitarist for the pop-rockers Honor Society – things took a turn. And from the sound of their new side project Smoke […]
Everybody who heard the soulful first volleys from Jillian Banks – doing business simply as Banks – figured there’d be more good things to come from the L.A.-based songstress. Indeed, Banks’ second single, “Warm Water,” arrived this week with a tingle, and with production courtesy of U.K producer Orlando Higginbottom, aka Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. […]
Based out of Los Angeles, the quartet WALLA formed amid turbulent circumstances, yet soon recognized a chemistry during the early stages of their collaborative process. Due June 4, the band’s EP “Nature” is the result of the disparate tastes of members Ian Charlie, Alessio Balsemin, Mauricio Carcamo, Jonathan Hoonch Kim and Gabriel Nava Rodrigues – […]
The best thing about KG Bird’s folk music is how it doesn’t settle for just being folk music. The sextet – anchored by former Cue the Moon bandmates Chris and Tim James and Ryan Parmenter – can play aching balladeers one moment and tortured indie-rockers deftly playing the loud/soft dynamic the next. Their debut EP […]
