The biggest surprise about the Bixby Knolls‘ album “Near & Undear” is actually that it’s finally being released. Anybody who’s seen the L.A. quartet around town knows their game – dark, edgy rock mixed with driving anthems, all of which sound as if they could have blared out of a London pub in 1991. Work […]
Your Monday menu: ‣ Their new EP “Villains and Crooks” just out last week, Handshakes [pictured] continue their residency at the Silverlake Lounge. Buzz Bands LA hosts this installment, which also features performances from Wires in the Walls, Future Dancing, Bedcake and Orange Umbrella. [Recently post on Handshakes and Future Dancing.] ‣ The Bixby Knolls […]
Maximum Hedrum is the brainchild of new-media renaissance man Sam Spiegel, whose impressive resumé as a producer includes overseeing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Grammy-nominated “Show Your Bones.” In 2009, Spiegel himself came to prominence as an artist, founding alternative hip-hop duo N.A.S.A. Likely a tribute to Spiegel’s talents as a producer, some of his most […]
Like the characters conjoined (conceptually, anyhow) in their new single, L.A. pop-rockers Future Dancing have undergone some changes since they released their debut “You Were Already Great Long Before You Met Me” in March 2011. Frontman Brandon Kaiser’s sister Maggie departed the band, and the now-quintet has worked on new material, including the New Wave-ish […]
It’s been three years since Gliss released “Devotion Implosion,” so it’s understandable for connoisseurs of local shoegaze to be anxiously awaiting the arrival of the trio’s forthcoming record “Langsom Dans.” Slated for a Jan. 22 release via Modern Outsider, it can already be said the new material is a sophisticated foray into noisy romance. Gliss’ […]
The Ellen Frances-directed video for the Reflections’ second single, “Disconnected,” reminds us all too much of the zoning out many people do while traveling during the holidays. Its kaleidoscopic focus on subway tunnels is like a zany limbo between zombie-like autopilot and alertness upon destination. Like the clip, the song itself is riveting but wonky […]
Jim Putnam is no stranger to loud, dynamic music – he was once in popgazers Medicine, who were known to turn things up to 11, after all – but his music as Radar Brothers has been known for its nuance and narrative. The Silver Lake veteran stretches out on “Eight” (due Jan. 29 from Merge, […]
Apparently taking control of the label he co-founded, Dangerbird Records, was not the most punk-rock thing Peter Walker will have done this year. Walker – who has released albums with his band Eulogies and under his own name – today unveiled the new project Broadheds, a ska-punk-leaning quartet with an all-star cast. And we do not […]
Queen Caveat has been around the bars and clubs of Hollywood and the Sunset Strip enough to know this dude’s game. With their new single “Mr. California,” the L.A. hard-rock quartet fronted by siren Lauren Little offers a pile-driving response to the artifice their home turf seems to breed. The video was filmed in the […]
[More of those cover songs we promised, some downloadable:] The Living Sisters, “Can You Get to That” – Imagine that, the Living Sisters taking on Funkadelic. Well, if you know the respective works of the all-star ensemble, nothing will surprise you. Becky Stark released a Lavender Diamond album this year; Eleni Mandell weighed in with her […]
