It was hard not to sway to tracks like “Hands of Steel” off of Moostache‘s first EP, but now Patrick, Sean and Brian Wardell – plus Ryan Radcliff – are back with more on their recently released “Anything, Alone” album. Sure, you may still need time to get over the band name, but lyrics like […]
Ever since we first saw him in the young band Simon Dawes, Blake Mills has been a marvel. And the guitarist, songwriter and (now) producer continues to be. He’s the subject of a new mini-documentary that takes a look at his prodigious talents. Mills, 25, has not only played astride myriad L.A. artists (and released […]
It’s been six years since Chan Marshall’s released original material (2006’s “The Greatest”) and four years since her last studio album (2008’s “Jukebox”), but Marshall, aka Cat Power, finally returns with “Ruin.” The surprisingly spirited Latin-flavored track is the first single off her forthcoming album “Sun” (due Sept. 4 via Matador) and may surprise fans […]
[Three new tunes from locals we’ve recently written about…] Everest, “Raking Me Over the Coals”– Upon the preparation for their forthcoming album “Ownerless,” Everest has just announced fall tour dates with Neil Young and given out their latest single “Raking Me Over the Coals” as a free download. Inspired by a cold, overcast day in […]
When it comes to suspending your brain somewhere between stoner oblivion and psychedelic bliss, JUJU has mojo. The trance-y rock is the new venture of singer-guitarist Phil Pirrone (Jeffertiti’s Nile, A Static Lullaby, Casket Salesman) and Incan Abraham drummer Andrew Clinco. Over the drummer’s thunderous rhythms, Pirrone loops guitar and bass, building an almost primordial […]
Canadian pop romanticists Stars still have some swoon in them. The Montreal band (with a fervent L.A. following) today unveiled plans to release their sixth album, “The North” (due Sept. 4 via ATO Records). The first single “The Theory of Relativity” starts with a heavier-than-usual (for Stars, that is) synth burst before chugging along with […]
Damin Suarez told me a while back that that Go West Young Man was going break up, but thankfully they have not. Purveyors of razor-sharp pop (and architects of a rather criminally overlooked album back in early ’09), GWYM earns high marks in pop’s old and new schools, with full-on keyboard and horn arrangements and […]
[A quick preview of your weekend with these three bands…] Milo Greene, “Take a Step” – After a successful residency in their hometown and a massive national tour with the Civil Wars, L.A. folk and pop-rock quintet Milo Greene is preparing for the release of their self-titled debut by keeping busy on stage and sharing […]
L.A. psych-pop explorers HOTT MT etched their names in music lore in January, when they drove to Oklahoma City and arrived on the doorstep of Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne to deliver him a birthday present. Instead of chasing them off, Coyne invited HOTT MT into his home and studio, and they ended up staying […]
Here’s the way things used to work: You pick up your copy of the Los Angeles Times, you read a well-written profile of a local rock quartet and you make a note to see if the local record store (I favored Fingerprints in Long Beach or Noise Noise Noise in Costa Mesa in those days) […]