To update a Cracker lyric: What the world needs now is another producer-driven electro-pop duo like I need a hole in my head. David Lowery wrote that 22 years ago about folk singers, and, of course, it did nothing to stem the tide of new folk singers, especially good ones. Which brings me to Made […]
There’s some of the Local Natives’ DNA running through “The Freak,” the new single from L.A.’s Torches. Singer-guitarist Azad Cheikosman and drummer-vocalist Eric Fabbro (joined live by bassist Adrian Acosta) couple pummeling beats with a keening lament about needing to feel a sense of belonging. The song appears on Torches’ new EP “Endlessly Repeating,” which […]
The pool-party pop of Melbourne-bred, L.A.-based duo Wunder Wunder figures to make a big splash next week when their debut full-length “Everything Infinite” is released via Dovecote Records. The work of Aussie transplants Aaron Shanahan and Benjamin Plant (both of Miami Horror), the album lives up to its title with purely visceral expansiveness, inspired, its […]
Remember all that agitated pop-punk-cum-new-wave on the Active Set’s 2011 album “11?” The L.A. quartet’s new single “Shut ’Em Down” is not that. Not at all. A couple of years and lineup changes later, the Los Angeles four-piece of singer-guitarist Matthew Stolarz, bassist Alen Racedo, drummer Gabriel Grinta and guitarist-keyboardist Francis Ramsden takes a more […]
Silver Lake’s Distant Cousin, singular, not to be confused with Distant Cousins, plural, is a new solo project from Boston-born artist and multi-instrumentalist David Zukofski that fuses electronica and programming with live instruments and textures. His four-track, self-titled EP is about “chosen solitude and [his] desires to sometimes roam the city at night alone†and […]
Dorothy Martin certainly is camera-friendly. Is that her on the pin-up websites? Was that her with DJ Ashba back in the day? Maybe, but this just in: The model/writer/(former?) health and beauty blogger can wail, as evidenced in “After Midnight,” the first single from the four-piece that bears her name, Dorothy. In a city that […]
Despite their name, Heathers doesn’t include one single female member (although they may don dresses from time to time for performances). And the L.A. guitar-pop trio is nowhere near as vindictive as a young Winona Ryder starring in the ’80s black comedy of the same name. From the sound of their “I Know” EP, Michael […]
Through two EPs, the music of WALLA has proven the perfect antidote to a low blood sugar level – the L.A.-based quintet’s songs work their way from your ears to your hips and back to your face, which is smiling. The band – the multinational coalition of Ian Charlie, Alessio Balsemin, Maricio Carcamo, Jonathan Hoonch Kim and […]
You don’t dream dances like this – or if you do, they’re called nightmares. Director Ethan Berger tackles the intense piano pop of Harriet in the video for the new single “Ten Steps.” The song follows up the single “Burbank” and is the latest from the quartet fronted by singer/multi-instrumentalist Alex Casnoff. Harriet’s main man reports […]
If you like your electro-pop with a bit of goth, then L.A.-based duo Vow may be your next fix. The duo of Julia Blake and Andrew Thomas extract the pulses from the dance floor only to blanket them with dark wave and post-punk textures. Their latest single “Planks” boasts a gauzy take on ’80s and […]
