It’s been two years since post-punk agitators Dirt Dress released “Donde La Vida No Vale Nada,” which featured nine quick hits of insurrectionist shout-alongs. The new EP “Revelations” feels like a ray of sunshine by comparison, while still abiding the band’s compulsion to throw sonic curveballs. That’s a skronky sax in the middle of the […]
L.A.-based White Dove has always worn its California rock and pop influences well. Elements reminiscent of the Byrds and Fleetwood Mac have seeped into their sound yielding wonderfully filtered nostalgia. Alex Johnstone, Jack Long, Carl Harders and newest member Michael Morgan now follow up their excellent 2013 debut “The Hoss, the Candle” with a 7-inch […]
Singer-guitarist Christian Letts has spent several years as a key ingredient in Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, contributing the beautiful ballad “Child” to the band’s 2012 album “Here.” He is stepping out under the name Letts to release a solo album, “Hold Fast,” on Feb. 17 via Alex Ebert’s Community Music (and Vagrant Records). […]
Robert DeLong will follow-up his excellent debut “Just Movement” with the “Long Way Down” EP. The highly-anticipated 4-track release from the young electronic meastro of Wii-motes, joysticks, game pads and controllers, drums, keys and much more is slated for Nov. 10 via Glassnote Records. Those lucky enough to have caught him as the midnight special […]
Sami Akbari and Aaron Mort had respective musical projects in Brooklyn and San Francisco before they teamed up for a new one in Los Angeles, called The Bad Years, which combines their diverse backgrounds in pop and rock into something that sounds both new and retro. They nailed it with “Common Mistake,” a catchy pop-rock […]
Indie-folk quartet Heaps n Heaps emerged late last year with their “Dancing on the Moon” EP, showcasing the sometimes-lilting, sometimes-exuberant boy/girl vocals of Aussie ex-pat Alisa Fedele and American Zach Moon, who had recruited John Pruitt and Ben Spear to round out the four-piece. “Berlin” is the first single from their second EP, “Like No […]
“Pisces,” the long-in-the-works album from the Sarah Negahdari side project bearing the name of the 12th sign of the Zodiac, seems born of faeries, or at least sprinkled by fairy dust. Pisces’ music has been described as the “mystical side” of the Happy Hollows frontwoman, but it’s not like her indie-rock trio isn’t a little […]
After teaming up last year to release the collaborative album “Run The Jewels,” rapping duo El-P and Killer Mike are back with their appropriately titled follow-up “Run The Jewels 2” as a free download. It’s another high-energy assault of hard, fast and fun rap, as Jaime and Mikey go tit-for-tat verbally with eloquent and intricate […]
Looking for some muscle in your rock ’n’ roll? The last volley from L.A. quartet Dorothy is like pumping iron. The new L.A. quartet featuring Dorothy Martin and her merry band of shredders –guitarist Mark Jackson, bassist Greg Cash and drummer Zac Morris – made a lot of friends fast with their first two singles, […]
Linda Perry has had the career of a hitmaker – whether writing songs for herself or for others like Christina Aguilera and Gwen Stefani. Now Perry (last spotted as a frontwoman in Deep Dark Robot, who played BBLA’s 2011 SXSW showcase), is known for discovering and nurturing other talents. Enter Candice Martello, aka Hemming, a singer-songwriter […]
