Young quartet Dreamers Dose is already doing a few things right. First, they nuked their name Blowing Up the Moon and changed their point of origin from Seal Beach to Los Angeles. Then there is what they do: Andrew Stogel, Josh Conway, Levi Dylan and Jesse Perlman play every note as if it’s their last, […]
Tsar were retro before you were. The Los Angeles quartet, embracing the power-pop hooks of Cheap Trick, the glammy affectations of Sweet and punk-rock swagger of the Stooges, released two albums last decade that were the antidote of weighty angst of grunge and its progeny. Neither exactly heaped riches on their labels (the self-titled debut […]
Don’t get the Reflections confused with Mack Winston and the Reflections. Although it would be understandable since both bands involve Darian Zahedi (who formerly went by Mack Winston). The Reflections are an entirely new project between Zahedi and Jon Safley, and their sound is far from anything dance related. Linking indie pop with retro production, […]
Michael Davis (of Michael Davis With Lions), Alaska Reid and the Sweet Hurt will play Buzz Bands LA’s SecondTuesday songwriter night at Lot 1 Cafe on Sept. 11. Davis, whose full-band show Saturday at Echo Park Rising was a hit, unveiled his “Bandages” EP this spring and has a Nik Freitas-produced album ready for release. […]
Jimmy LaValle has been working hard under the moniker The Album Leaf since 1998, and the years have only made him a stronger songwriter. The San Diego-based musician hits his stride as an exceptional maestro of ambient electronica and post-rock with his follow-up to 2010’s “A Chorus of Storytellers.” Although he’s shed the vocals for […]
And while we’re on the subject of music-videos-as-retro-TV-shows, we also love this episode of “Teen Talk” hosted by “professional educator Dale Antwerp.” Who better to to highlight a curriculum on punk rock than OFF!, yes?
Orange County-bred Paulie Pesh put himself on the map locally with two EPs of life-affirming orchestral pop – notable not only for their inherent glee but for the compositional fortitude it took to make them. Pesh and his wife Cristal were abetted by a band numbering as many as 15. Now Mr. and Mrs. Pesh […]
The Pacific Festival – the one-day gathering of rock, pop and electro artists now staging at its third venue in as many years – has announced set times for Sunday. Mayer Hawthorne headlines the event at Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort & Marina (1131 Back Bay Drive in Newport Beach), but the festival figures to draw […]
Cooper Gillespie has channeled pedal-to-the-metal rocker grrl (in her old band Bang Sugar Bang) and electronic seductress in the early trip-hop work of Mad Planet. On the Silver Lake quartet’s new album “Ghost Notes” (out today), the singer-bassist is finds a comfy middle ground, her sultry vocals alternately biting on the rockers and sweetly vulnerable […]
Echo Park quintet NO arrived last fall with free, six-song EP that reminded everybody of the National and a predisposition to play those songs live until their fingers were raw. Some 50-plus shows and who-knows-how-many-free-downloads later, singer-guitarist Bradley Hanan Carter and crew have added to their catalog. “What’s Your Name” is a new 7-inch single […]
