Psychedelic rockers Dengue Fever have played around the globe with both their outstanding support for political movements and tunes that are just as strong-headed. Hailing from Los Angeles (and always shouting out to Echo Park), Chhom Nimol, Zac Holtzman, Ethan Holtzman, Senon Williams, Paul Smith and David Ralicke have made their grooves accessible to fans […]
On two albums released during her tenure in Los Angeles – 2009’s “It’s Spooky to Be Young” and 2005’s “Items You Won’t Find Elsewhere” – songwriter Meredith Meyer proved adept at airy, dreamy pop confessionals. A year ago, the Oklahoma native forsook L.A. to take up residence in New York, and life in the concrete […]
Races began as Wade Ryff’s attempt at putting his solo material out there, but as the group added members, changed band names (from Black Jesus) and picked up steam – leading to their signing with Frenchkiss Records – it’s hard to imagine their music was originally planned for a one-man band. Ryff, Garth Herberg, Oliver […]
Aaron Embry’s solo material has often taken a back seat to his work with other artists – he’s been party to albums and tours for a host of A-listers, he produced Avi Buffalo’s debut album, and most recently he has played keyboards for Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. And his 2008 album as Amnion […]
L.A. fans know Lady Danville’s backstory: The trio of Michael Garner, Dan Chang and Matthew Frankel stormed out of UCLA’s Awaken A Cappella group in a moment of harmonic convergence, took up instruments and began carving out their own path. After a couple of under-the-radar releases and plenty of touring, the trio is now making […]
Maybe it’s because their hometown of Riverside is so far from the beach, but Summer Twins imbue their indie-pop with splashes of longing as well as rays of the sunshine. When we first heard from sisters Chelsea and Justine Brown in late 2010, they released the cherubic, rough-around-the-edges EP “The Good Things.” This week their […]
On the surface, Taylor Locke does not have it rough. He’s poster-boy handsome, dispenses guitar licks with the best of ’em and has played with Rooney for a decade or so. But Locke does wear his heart on his sleeve, and there lies the source material for the music of Taylor Locke & the Roughs, […]
Young folk-pop trio Warm Weather crafts exuberant three-minute nuggets out of tingling guitars, agitated beats and a sometimes-dizzying maze of vocals. Yes, Justin Lerman, Brendan Lynch-Salamon and Ryan Pollie can harmonize, but on their first two EPs – last June’s “Dances” (available for free download here) and this month’s “Looking Through” (pay-what-you-want) – they prove […]
Stephen Brower & the Silent Majority’s 2011 album “sb/sm” is a barroom brawl of bluesy punk and classic rock, the kind of old-fashioned stomp that, washed down with the right amount beer, pumps adrenaline and clouds judgment. So the Jacob Hatley-directed video for “Robbie” – the noisy intro ends at the 0:27 mark – how […]
Is folk-rock over? It is, quite possibly, for Delta Spirit, the SoCal quintet who won fans with the harmony-laden “Ode to Sunshine” in 2008 and cranked up the intensity with 2010’s “History From Below.” Both were albums that wore their hearts on their flannel-shirted sleeves, Matt Vasquez’s winsome voice sending fans scurrying to locate that […]
