What to take away from LA Font’s video for its very good single “Fine Lines?” That being an indie-rock band is no walk in the park? The clip, sprung from the apparently vivid imagination of director Hank Friedmann, includes guitar weaponry, a rocket-powered dog, Sasquatch, knife-throwing, watermelon, floating gear and somebody’s untimely demise. All very […]
Next thing you know, Glitch Age will be the New Rage. … Although, there’s more than a kernel of seriousness in that quip. With producers and beatmakers always seeking new sonic turf, the ambient soil of New Age music seems fertile territory. And if Jimmy Tamborello (aka Dntel) is experimenting there, others may follow. Tamborello, […]
[Tour diary of Eastern Conference Champions’ SXSW sojourn. ] Day 2, Monday, 11:51 p.m. I-10 East, outside Blythe, CA, | 52 Degrees/Clear Something happens as soon as I get behind the wheel to drive – I immediately want to go to sleep. When someone else is driving, I can’t sleep ’cause I feel guilty. Sleep […]
The Submarines debuted in 2006 with “Declare a New State!” – a bedroom pop record about romantic entanglements and disentanglements. A fine slice of boy/girl indie it was, as was the 2008 follow-up “Honeysuckle Weeks” – undeniably sweet and with adult smarts, like candy that’s good for you. To hear the newest track from their […]
L.A. indie poppers Walking Sleep shed their long name (the Flying Tourbillon Orchestra) in 2010, added Sarah Radle of the Rentals to the lineup, put out their debut album “Measures” and now have come back with new material, less than a year later. Only this time, they’ve opted for more of an acoustic sound to […]
Jonathan Bates’ great leap into the future actually transported his music back in time – in a manner of speaking. Bates, former frontman of the late, lamented L.A. band Mellowdrone, started his bedroom project Big Black Delta after acquiring a laptop from his friend Alessandro Cortini, the Nine Inch Nails keyboardist, and learning how to […]
In a brave new world where vintage Americana has helped the likes of Mumford & Sons and the Avett Brothers achieve headliner status, Los Angeles duo Honeyhoney ought to be rising stars. And maybe they will be, once fans get their ears around “Billy Jack,” the sophomore album from the duo of Suzanne Santo and […]
On its last two albums, one for Aquarium Drunkard’s Autumn Tone imprint and the follow-up for ATO sub-label TBD Records, the Henry Clay People straddled two decades, jangling through Tom Petty’s ’70s and stabbing at Pavement’s ’90s. The latter must have won a coin toss, judging from “California Wildfire,” which just premiered via AD. The […]
The first thing you need to know about Dante Vs Zombies is that Dante is winning. The frontman of the Silver Lake art-punks, Dante White-Aliano (aka Dante Adrian White and a few other bedeviling variations), reliably channels Suede’s Brett Anderson on the sextet’s initial single “Yes, I’m Stalking You.” He gives the tune an edgy […]
No matter what you might think of the Airborne Toxic Event’s Modest Mouse-y new single “Changing” – and for FM radio fare, it’s all right – it’s impossible not to squirm in your seat during Jon Danovic’s slickly produced video for the song. The Los Angeles quintet sprinted out of Silver Lake in 2008 on […]
