Ballerina Black’s music – like the ’80s post-punkers and ’90s alt-rockers from which they draw – is the sonic equivalent to the light at the end of the tunnel. Frequently, that tunnel is dark, and for the L.A. quartet, it has been long; singer-guitarist Bobby Moynahan and various compatriots have been at it for about […]
The Vaccines apparently spent some time in Los Angeles. Their new song “Melody Calling” sounds like it. The prolific London quartet, just getting into a busy run of summer festival performances, made the new song at Eldorado Studios in Burbank with producers John Hill (Rihanna, M.I.A, Santigold) and Rich Costey (Muse, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys). […]
The current wave of retro psychedelia has its serious adherents – artists who seek a more organic environment for their messages – as well as its nostalgia-mongers. The latter group, of course, faces the challenge of evoking nostalgia for a time period they know only through its music and other cultural artifacts, which frequently proves […]
Nika Roza Danilova, aka Zola Jesus, has always marched to the beat of her own drum. The pint-sized, opera-trained vocalist’s knack for producing songs that were icy, hypnotic and melodramatic shone in the gothic-tinged synth-pop of her breakthrough album, 2011’s “Conatus.” So it’s not a shock that Danilova goes a step even further with her […]
Sisters Jessica and Jennifer Clavin, now enjoying success as Bleached after putting Mika Miko in the rear-view mirror, have been the pin-up girls for punk and cool since releasing early singles such as “Searching for the Past” on Suicide Squeeze. From riding motorcycles to crowd surfing, their lackadaisical attitude and scuzzy melodies won even more […]
Paul Waclawsky once called Los Angeles home, and he gave birth to the Boxing Lesson here a long decade ago before packing his bags for Austin. Musically, the singer-guitarist has relocated to a space station for “Big Hits!,” the band’s first full-length in five years. Always purveyors of the psychedelic tip of shoegazing, Waclawsky and […]
There may be no rock ’n’ roll configuration more exhausted creatively than the power trio. Belters and shredders come and go, substituting bombast for vitality and technical showmanship for true musical dialogue. Which brings me to young L.A. trio the Vim Dicta, who have succumbed to none of the perils of cliché. The band – […]
Western Scene debuted their expansive pop-rock last year after Tom Pritchard, formerly of San Diego’s the Dynamite Walls, began collaborating with Jason Burkhart (Kenan Bell’s bandmate). Their melodically rich music, made with producer Hugo Nicolson, ranges from propulsive singles such as “Listening” to lovelorn tracks like “For You,” and last week the band, without much fanfare, […]
Bosnian Rainbows are the rare all-star group that sounds like all-stars in their own right, instead of hints of their members’ previous projects. Their self-titled debut, which comes out next week via Sargent House, is a taut, vicious affair that draws from post-punk, hardcore and dark electro to sound like some sort of lost ’80s […]
Grouplove’s happy-pill of of a debut album sold a tick over 150,000 tablets, a total that seems a little low considering the radio play afforded the L.A.-based quintet, which included a No. 1 song in “Tongue Tied.” Maybe people took the album title “Never Trust a Happy Song” literally? Or maybe the whole collectivist exuberance […]
