Debate Team makes the kind of hook-filled rock that mobilizes power-pop armies, and they’d probably do more of it if it weren’t for their day jobs. The L.A.-based quintet counts among it members guitarist Drew Brown of OneRepublic, bassist Bob Morris of the Hush Sound and drummer Dan Konopka of OK Go, who, with singer […]
Soft Swells, whose new single we premiered on Wednesday, has been added to the bill for Buzz Bands LA’s show next Tuesday at the Satellite. The new project from singer-songwriter Tim Williams will play the late set, replacing Hot As Sun, who were forced to cancel because Jamie Jackson is recovering from a bout with […]
In 2009, after three releases for Dovecote Records and one open-heart surgery, Tim Williams was ready to turn the page. He moved from Brooklyn to a strange, strange land, Los Angeles. “I needed to get out of New York and come to a place where I didn’t know anyone,” he says. “Sometimes you have to […]
In an era when pristine, pitch-perfect harmonies dominate indie-pop, the loose choruses meted out by AV Club are actually refreshing – engaging and organic. The six songs on “Whale Talk” (Manzan Records), the first EP from singer-guitarist Austin Eastlee, keyboardist Sean Guerin, guitarist Jay Oligny, bassist Carson Lere and drummer Spencer Lere, are a lot […]
Blurring the lines between psychedelia and pop isn’t groundbreaking these days with the likes of Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective swirling their harmonies in between tight rhythms. However, it is refreshing to hear a band take the formula and bring it into new light. In that way, L.A. quartet Incan Abraham has allowed its sound […]
L.A. songstress Sara Lov has a voice that can quell storms, or maybe create a few emotional ones. Her 2009 album “Seasoned Eyes Were Beaming” (Nettwerk) showcased the dreamy songwriting that she undertook while Devics – her collaboration with Dustin O’Halloran – was on hiatus. Now she’s self-releasing “I Already Love You,” a collection of […]
Unless a band diverges onto treacherous experimental ground, there’s not a lot of soil left to be tilled in electronic indie-pop. With juggernauts like MGMT and Passion Pit having harvested their crops and myriad groups like Foster the People and the Limousines hoping their hybrids bear fruit, it’s hard to imagine there’d be room left […]
Just in time for tonight’s kickoff of its residency at the Satellite, Red Cortez has released the first of four free EPs the L.A. quartet will issue this month. Some of those songs figure to be a taste of the hard-charging rock’n’ soul planned for Red Cortez’s long-awaited debut album “Virgin Ideas.” The foursome of […]
Songwriter Andrew Carroll’s previous band You Me & Iowa never got the respect it deserved – but to hear his new music, that’s the least of the world’s problems. Carroll, with former YM&I bandmate Ryan Ross, guitarist Andrew Schneider, singer/keyboardist Jennifer Talesfore and drummer Edward Cerecedes, are now doing business as the Lonely Wild. Later […]
“Darling, I love you” – it’s an honest, time-honored declaration, and as the clarion chorus of “Stars Far Above,” the first single from the new L.A. sextet Duniven, it feels like a mission statement. In his new persona as Duniven, frontman Patrick Thomas moves away from the Britpop-influenced churn of his previous band, the Capshuns, […]
