“1996,” the first single from the new L.A. duo Haunted Summer, floats past like four minutes of French cinema, pensive and preoccupied (possibly by its own beauty) and completely lost in the moment. It’s the lulling and lovely first step for the girl/boy duo of Bridgette Moody (ex-Torches) and John Seasons (ex-Seasons), who have moved […]
[With the new releases coming fast and furious in 2013, we’ve compiled six fresh tracks from notable artists here. Have at it:] Hanni El Khatib, “Penny” – Expanding from a two-piece to four and expanding his sound palette too, Hanni El Khatib will release his second album, the Dan Auerbach-produced “Head in the Dirt” on […]
The bulletin here is not that Cotillon went off to Mexico, had an adventure and lived to tell about it; it’s that the L.A. trio survived all the “beer, waves, tequila, Federales, mariachis, dancers, donkeys, drinkable water (or lack thereof), dogs, donkeys that looked like zebras, pot, prescription meds, mariachis, and street kids” to make […]
Los Angeles loves its rock ’n’ roll, and all its shades of pop, but the heart of the city mostly beats to Latin rhythms. And the forthcoming EP “Midnight Sands,” from the local quintet Sister Rogers, offers a sophisticated take on that pulse. The band – guitarist Samuel Aguirre, singer Ericka Sancé, keyboardist Carlos Vides […]
Beat-scene goddess Jennifer Lee, aka TOKiMONSTA, made her mark on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder imprint, her nimble production and oh-so-cool textures stretching boundaries in a world they’re already elastic. She steps up to Ultra Music for her new release “Half Shadows” (due April 9), which features collaborations with rapper Kool Keith, L.A. songstress Gavin Turek (April’s […]
As an exercise in surgical studio precision, the debut album from L.A. duo Inc. “No World” is masterful. But the first full-length from brothers and accomplished session guys Andrew and Daniel Aged aspires to little more than that. Last year’s release by Frank Ocean and this year’s rousing debut from Rhye show that R&B and […]
Brothers Andrew and Campbell Scarborough, the driving forces behind the L.A. quartet Black Apples, have moved out of the garage, if their forthcoming EP “Tales and Truths” is any indication. Their 2011 debut established the band, newly arrived from Colorado, as purveyors of a psych-meets-soul-meets-surf riot, perfect for any party where there were no breakables. […]
As the Milk Carton Kids, Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan have parlayed the simple vehicles of two voices and two acoustic guitars into something much greater. Just for grins, let’s call it “raconteurism.” From their early days as Hotel Café regulars, the pair found a special chemistry in their collaborations – folk music in the […]
Two of L.A.’s most inventive indie alchemists get together in this new version of “Roll Forever,” the lead track on White Arrows’ 2012 debut “Dry Land Is Not a Myth” – here, the track is sent rolling down a steep hill by Hands. The L.A. quartet of Geoff Halliday, Ryan Sweeney, Sean Hess and Alex […]
It took Los Angeles to bring French musicians Vincent Jacob and Fanny Hill together. Well, that and a mutual fascination with sprawling psych-rock, the desert and the shadowy places of the human heart. Their collaboration Yard of Blondes, which has come to include bassist Dean Chamberlain and drummer Ben Lecourt, has yielded an EP of […]
