PAPA’s hometown blowout on Thursday night at the Troubadour came off as a little … well, loose – especially if you’d seen them this spring at South by Southwest, where they hit every note as if they were playing for lunch money. The perils of performing to a sold-out crowd of friends and family? Perhaps. […]
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 […]
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 – […]
Run River North, the San Fernando Valley-bred ensemble who last fall enjoyed a “Candid Camera” moment and ended up performing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” has signed to Nettwerk Records. Formerly known as Monsters Calling Home, the folk sextet of singer-guitarist Alex Hwang along with Daniel Chae, Jennifer Rim, Joe Chun, John Chong and Sally Kang […]
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 […]
First off, happy birthday Eric Burdon. The lead Animal turns 72 today, and that soulful voice of his keeps on giving. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, who in January released a new solo album titled “’Til Your River Runs Dry,” has teamed with L.A. siren Jenny Lewis for a remake of the Animals’ […]
[pictured: his view from Griffith Park, via Instagram] We’ve heard Danny Choi’s smooth chops before when we became smitten with the warm R&B tune “Blow.” Now Choi – aka Ghost Loft – has a new track on the new compilation from the French label Kitsuné, “America 2.” Ghost Loft’s “So High” emits such euphoric summer-night […]
