For a large chunk of 2009, songwriter Jacob Summers, doing business as the Rhone Occupation, occupied a big chunk of my music memory I’ll call The Pop Place (to cop an old Trashcan Sinatras song title). It’s where the sounds of the ’60s and ’70s – shimmering and tremeloed guitars, vocal hooks and AM radio-ready […]
Besides its obvious charms – agile melodies, caffeinated percussion and twinkling keyboards – the debut album from Soft Swells feels like a pep talk from an old friend. It’s full of polite but candid imperatives. “Say It Like You Mean It.” “Put It on the Line.” “Shake It Off.” “Never Leave Home.” “Make It Go […]
American Royalty have always been good at slamming rock and electronica together. “Lately” from their debut “El Ardemo” EP featured an interesting wrestling match between the blues and synth-pop, and their new “Matchstick” EP (out this week on vinyl, next week digitally via Guns in the Sun Records) doesn’t stray far from mashing the unlikely […]
On her first couple of releases, Nite Jewel’s astral explorations in synth-pop imagined a space-age lounge, the kind of dive George Jetson might escape to in his flying car to drown his sorrows after a family squabble. Songstress Ramona Gonzalez’s forthcoming release for Secretly Canadian, “One Second of Love,” is not the stuff of gin […]
Tyler’s Lyle’s rhythmic folk music springs from the fertile loam of Americana, where broken hearts mend, indomitable spirits prevail and sad smiles tell a thousand tales. His voice carries the wizened optimism of a Ryan Adams, and his sharp lyrics, buoyant melodies and deft orchestration make the songs on his new album “The Golden Age […]
Don’t let the spelling of their name fool you. The Colourist is not from the U.K. On the contrary, they’re an electro-pop quartet from Costa Mesa, and their songs, filled with boy-girl harmonies and crisp guitar lines enveloped by punchy synth, are undeniable odes to sunny SoCal. But Adam Castilla, Maya Tuttle, Justin Wagner and […]
When Briertone first started playing around southern California, they were something of a novelty: Imagine, indie-rock played with folk instruments, like … banjo and violin and mandolin. “Punk rock-meets-‘Deliverance,’” I wrote in September, 2006. Turns out the San Luis Obispo-bred quintet fronted by Adam Pasion was ahead of the curve, considering the hills indie-rock has […]
The epic pop jam of Shadow Shadow Shade turns to jelly a little bit in the latest song from the Los Angeles sextet, “Maybe I Could Love.” The band’s 2010 debut album was described in turns as cinematic and “poperatic” – a rousing indie cocktail of Queen, Arcade Fire, Pink Floyd and the Mamas and […]
“Take,” the first single from L.A. quartet Nacosta, announces itself with a swirling, serpentine guitar riff that recalls the hazy, crazy days of the Stone Roses or the Cult. Their debut EP “Wilderness City” is not all delay and distortion, though – Nacosta also dwells in the more contemplative, acoustic shadows of psych-rock, where fear […]
It was packed from wall to wall for Wally De Backer on Thursday night at the El Rey Theatre. Known better by his stage name, Gotye provided an hour-and-a-half high for those lucky enough to get their hands on tickets to the sold-out show. Initially only a megastar on his home turf, the Australian multi-instrumentalist […]
