There’s Amanda Jo Williams’ voice – a playful, birdlike instrument, flitting around her country-fried arrangements like an intrepid hummingbird. And then there’s what she’s saying; she delivers her lickety-split vignettes and stream-of-consciousness observations as if she expects you to be on the same page, immediately. If you missed her first three albums, it’s worth getting […]
When we first discovered You Me & Us early last year, Carlee Hendrix and Ignacio Caniza had just released their “Paperweights” EP, a charming blast of fuzz-rock. They didn’t have a song over 2 minutes and 30 seconds then and their latest song “Swim or Sink” off of their forthcoming Bobb Bruno-produced “Stay Inside” EP […]
Johnny la Rocha knows his classic rock – whatever fertile soil he’s overturning. He does business as Ocha la Rocha, and “Ocha Scores,” his forthcoming album on JAXART Records, demonstrates the he would be equally comfy jamming with the Marshall Tucker Band, the Flying Burrito Brothers or any number of cowboy country guitar-slingers. The album […]
New York City-based quartet the Dig made plenty of friends in Los Angeles last July, when they summered here and pulled a residency at the Silverlake Lounge. The fact that the foursome of David Baldwin, Emile Mosseri, Erick Eiser and Mark Demiglio brought with them an armload of propulsive, dreamy rock ’n’ roll didn’t hurt, […]
In a broad view, the music of Seven Saturdays is all about Los Angeles – the emotional and geographical sprawl, the grandeur and the grit, the language the city speaks if you hold still long enough to listen. Native Angeleno and composer Jonathan Haskell embraces it all on “Seven Saturdays” (out next week), a collection […]
The spiritual uplift of communal folkies Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros is in full force on “Better Days,” the first single off the 11-member L.A. troupe’s forthcoming third full-length. The album, a self-titled affair, will be out July 23 via Community Music, and this single finds frontman Alex Ebert and crew dispensing their Summer […]
Camera Obscura return with “Desire Lines” to follow up their beloved “My Maudlin Career,” and once again the Glasgow quintet manages to dole indie pop tunes that stomp as much as they sweep. With Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, R.E.M., Sufjan Stevens) on production, ballads such as “Fifth in Line to the Throne” with a depressing subject […]
The last time we checked the Postelles out, they had just released their long-awaited debut, and now they’re back with sophomore release “”¦And It Shook Me.” The former Albert Hammond Jr.-produced record inevitably had them falling somewhere in between the Strokes and the Kooks, and the new record simply expands on those strong pop hooks. […]
Just in time for Memorial Day Weekend, all those graduation parties and the down time somewhere on the distant horizon the next three months: the new video for Handshakes’ single “Vacation.” The L.A. outfit’s sprightly power-pop song – think the Weezer or the Rentals with horns – is a giddy excursion that suggests everything you […]
Lots of things have happened for the Parson Red Heads in the last few years. They made the trek from Los Angeles to their native Oregon, settling in Portland,; they released the lovely album “Yearling;” and the band’s married couple Evan and Brette Marie Way had a baby boy. Even with a baby in tow, […]
