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 […]
We’ve name-checked Emma Ruth Rundle as one of the creative influences in the bands Red Sparowes, Marriages and the Nocturnes, and even as a contributor to Drab Majesty, but her solo debut “Some Heavy Ocean” (out this week via Sargent House) reveals the singer-guitarist as force herself. Indeed, “Some Heavy Ocean” is some heavy stuff, […]
Wow, the Raskins. They make rock ’n’ roll. And rock ’n’ roll videos that, it says here, rock more than 1.2 million plays on YouTube. Isn’t rock ’n’ roll in L.A. great? ||| Live: The Raskins celebrate the release of their debut album at the Viper Room tonight.
The L.A. duo Linus Young has a rebel aesthetic, boy/girl harmonies and slow-burning songs that are ever-so-rough around the edges. Comprised of members Joseph Walker and Iris Belson, Linus Young joins the likes of In the Valley Below in offering sultry vocals, light percussion and moody atmospherics as a sexier alternative to duos like the […]
L.A. duo DWNTWN’s roots as folkies shine through in their latest single “Missing You.” Yes, tucked in among the whooshes of their electronic production, breathy girl/boy vocals and dreamy synths are a lovely tickle of banjo and coat of strummed acoustic guitar. It all makes for a drop-dead-pretty pop song, even before you see Lenny […]
Army Navy’s veritable wellspring of jangling guitars and dulcet melancholy is flowing again. The L.A. trio of Justin Kennedy, Louie Schultz and Douglas Randall have announced that their third album, “The Wilderness Inside,” will be out July 15 (via their own Fever Zone Records). It follows last August’s EP “Crushed Like the Car,” whose title […]
L.A.-based singer-songwriter Zella Day has been laying low since her debut at Bardot earlier this year, but her breakout single “Sweet Ophelia” is still riding a nice wave on the Hype Machine charts. Her second single “1965” is also picking up steam, so the Arizona transplant is heading out on tour to try out some […]
Sometimes all you need is a sad voice and fuzzy, buzzing guitar tone to remind you that the simplest recordings can move you the most. Elliot Smith, Bright Eyes, Sparklehouse and Slowreader have all bent and twisted many hearts with emotions on their early material, and L.A.’s Jack Stansbury – aka Princess Reason – may […]
Smoke Season, the duo comprised of L.A. musicians Gabrielle Wortman (TEMP3ST) and Jason Rosen (Honor Society), returns with a new single to follow up their “Signals” EP. “Badlands,” a track that still teases with their smoky Americana ambience, is a lush arrangement that lingers just 10 seconds over four minutes. Wortman’s soulful wails and Rosen’s […]
Raw Fabrics are an L.A.-based trio of 21-year-olds with an armload of anthemic songs that mix the driving bass lines of modern dance-punk bands with production sheen of modern radio bands. The new single “Down the Drain” sounds like something Franz Ferdinand might’ve tried in another life, with its insistent chorus and hook. Raw Fabrics […]
