On his first two releases as the Western States Motel, L.A. songwriter Carl Jordan impresses as a songwriter whose four-minute snapshots feel like landscape paintings of yearning and disconnectedness. Like many a bedroom popster, Jordan can’t quite live in his own pictures, but the simple melodies and plaintive narratives on “The Western States Motel” (2007) […]
It’s nice to hear that three albums of marital bliss haven’t dulled the Submarines’ songwriting chops any. Starting with 2006’s “Declare a New State” and with “Honeysuckle Weeks” two years later, the husband-and-wife team of John Dragonetti and Blake Hazard have fashioned smart, sweetly melodic boy-girl pop delivered with big smiles and often subversive undertones. […]
[Shows to consider while waiting to hear Jason Bentley interview electro-pop sensation David Lynch this morning on KCRW (10:15 a.m.):] Tonight’s top outings: ‣ Olin & the Moon, their new album “Footsteps” getting them some deserved attention, continue their residency at the Echo with fine support from Wire in the Walls and Family of the […]
Cold War Kids have logged a lot of miles since the SoCal-bred quartet first arrived six years ago with their spare, bluesy indie-rock. Two albums, “Robbers & Cowards” (2006) and “Loyalty to Loyalty” (2008), established them as deft storytellers, but for their third, “Mine Is Yours” (due Jan. 25 on Downtown), they’ve turned the narratives […]
[Birthday wishes Saturday go out to Martha Davis of the Motels. Here’s your busy weekend:] ‣ The Melvins continue their residency tonight at the Satellite – they will play what many feel is their best album, “Houdini.” ‣ Illinois-born, Ojai-based songstress Lissie [nice profile in the Times today] headlines the Music Box on Saturday. Her […]
Considering the adroit manner that Pepper Rabbit shape-shifts its buoyant pop via a web of guitar, banjo, ukulele, horns, clarinet, keys and drums, there’s something perfect about the video for the single “Harvest Moon,” off the L.A. trio’s debut album “Beauregard” (Kanine Records). The piece was directed by Alex Disenhof and David Altobelli, with nifty […]
Dan Horne has played in so many bands we’re starting to lose track – he can list the Lilys, Mezzanine Owls and the Street & Babe Shadow on his resumé, to name a few. So when we get an e-mail that he’s gone “totally Hollywood,” we have to smile. But it’s true, kinda: Fiction Company, […]
Just because you’re not an overnight sensation doesn’t mean you can’t be sensational. So it is with Olin & the Moon, the quintet that has scrapped, scrambled and scraped by in the four years since brothers David and Travis LaBrel and Marshall Vore moved to Los Angeles from Idaho and hooked up with Brian McGinnis […]
Dan Crane has carved out pretty enviable stage personas as Jean-Luc Retard in the cheeky fake-French band Nous Non Plus and as air guitar legend Björn Türoque. But in his newest endeavor, the Quick Hellos, he plays non other than Dan Crane, a guy who writes downright pretty songs. “I felt that maybe it’s time […]
Top 5 shows on a very good night for local music: ‣ It’s officially the release date for Olin & the Moon’s new album “Footsteps” – the L.A. quintet (augmented by string players) is celebrating with a Tuesday residency this month at the Echo, where tonight Coyol and Paulie Pesh support. ‣ Willoughby, with Henry […]
