The music of the L.A. trio Detective sounds as if it could have come from dusty tapes found in the 4AD archive. Named in honor of the Jean-Luc Godard film, Detective is the collaboration between bassist Guylaine Vivarat (Useless Keys and ex-Tennis System), James Greer (the author, screenwriter and ex-Guided By Voices bassist and biographer) […]
Dave Dupuis knows noisy. A guitarist who played with nu-gazers Film School and a sound engineer who’s worked with the likes of Silversun Pickups, the Duke Spirit and Jenny Lewis, Dupuis debuted his agit-rock trio Nightmare Air in late 2009 before relocating to Seattle, temporarily, so singer/bassist/girlfriend Swaan Miller could finish college. Now back in […]
Talk about tough acts to follow. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, the band concocted by singer-songwriter Alex Ebert almost five years ago as he pulled himself from his personal abyss, have sold 300,000 copies of their 2009 debut “Up From Below,” much of it on the strength of the single “Home,” a timeless declaration […]
The alt-rock of L.A.-based Neon Hymns has a lot in common with locals Voxhaul Broadcast – prickly guitars, a sprinkling of soul and enough anthemic arch to make you think those U2 records are never more than arm’s-length away. The quartet is the creative marriage of Australians Josef Cruickshank, Simon French, Rob Ellmore and James […]
I’m not sure what I expected visually from L.A. trio Wildcat! Wildcat!, but it wasn’t a breakdancing feline. Director Tyler Rumph’s video for “Mr. Quiche” tracks a costumed Kian Khiaban as he frolics to the falsetto-spiked single in some familiar L.A. locales. Worth the tips, or not? ||| Live: Wildcat! Wildcat! plays April 9 at […]
Jessica Dobson has, in today’s parlance, mad skills. She was signed to Atlantic Records at age 19, back in the middle part of last decade, and in typical major-label fashion they had no idea what to do with an artist whose work could not be plugged neatly into some format. The Orange County native persevered, […]
New York City’s Morningwood had its 3 minutes, 55 seconds of fame in 2005-06 with “Nth Degree,” an oh-so-silly but very, very catchy single that should have its author, bassist Pedro Yanowitz, cashing checks well into the next decade. Some minor hoorahs followed, but nothing that spelled huge success for the band or its wispy-voiced […]
Christopher J. Ewing’s video for the Judson McKinney song “Meet Me in the Morning” reminds me of a bad dream I once had – only instead of colored plastic guns, bearded would-be musicians were pointed fake plastic guitars at me. The song, off Judson’s late-2011 release “Drink the Wine,” seems innocent enough, but between firing […]
So much good classic rock is being relegated to background music for TV, film and advertising these days, you wonder why anybody in his right mind would make an entire album. Alex Troup has – his L.A.-bred quintet Troup has synthesized the singer-guitarist’s keen sense of melody, arena-rock urges and deft juggling of the melancholy […]
White Arrows’ new Marshall Vernet-directed music video has a kaleidoscopic filter, and it’s a great illustration of what you hear in the new batch of songs on their “Fireworks of the Sea” EP (which just dropped this week on Votiv music). The clip also presents a mood that isn’t too far off from what fans […]
