Part poet, part wanderer, Troy Von Balthazar is a man of many words and places. He grew up surfing in Hawaii, cut his teeth as the front man of the ’90s sadcore band Chokebore, and now spends the majority of his time couch-surfing around Europe writing novels when he’s not writing songs. His second album, […]
During Lonely Trees’ recent show at the Bootleg Theater, I wisecracked that the new L.A. quintet reminded me of “mid-period Autolux.” It’s true that the band – co-fronted Christian Stone (ex-Campfire Girls) and Annalee Fery (ex-Monsters Are Waiting) – ventures into the same kind of alluringly dissonant territory, owing mainly to the rhythm section of […]
Like the murder ballad from which the band derives its name, there’s melancholy (if not subterfuge) in velveteen harmonies and languid atmospherics of “Into Yr Mind,” the first single from L.A. newbies Young Hunting. The quintet – singer-guitarists Ilya Malinsky and Hari Rex, bassist Patrick Taylor, keyboardist Tim Phillips and drummer Miles Senzaki – recently […]
Philly’s Dr. Dog have always had their feet squarely in the psychedelic messiness of the 1960s, and things haven’t changed on their new song, “Nobody Knows Who You Are”. On the track, singer Scott McMicken warbles charmingly about…well, something or other, the guitars jangle, the harmonicas harmonize, and, most importantly of all, the revolving-speaker rhodes […]
If a little turmoil helps the creative juices to flow, Mississippian indie-rockers Colour Revolt should be the most prolific band around. The lead track from their sophomore album “The Cradle” documents a stormy eight years of existence – record company indifference, destabilizing lineup changes, the incessant rattling of skeletons in the cupboard, the friction. Jesse […]
Small Black debuted in 2008 on their own CassClub label with five songs packed with swirling melodies and dreamy beats. Those recordings soon landed in the hands of the people at Jagjaguwar, who quickly signed the electropop duo and re-released the EP, complete with bonus tracks. The Brooklynites fleshed out the band for live performances […]
Raised a preacher’s son in southern Illinois, Jordan Irvin Dally did enough wandering through Spain, Colorado and northern California as a young man to lend some authenticity to his folk troubadour leanings. On new full-length “Despistado,” the now L.A-based artist showcases a ramshackle sound that is equal parts lo-fi bedroom experimentation and heartfelt, emotionally fragile […]
Regrets, Buzz Bands has a few. One from 2010 was missing the Local Natives/the Love Language shows in September at the Music Box. The former band, of course, was a known quantity here, but the openers, a five-piece from North Carolina, are a lot of fun too. Their album “Libraries,” released on Merge in July, […]
Fans of the first two albums of wiry, bluesy music from Long Beach’s Cold War Kids might be reaching for their stereo controls when they hear the quartet’s third, “Mine Is Yours” (due Jan. 25). The foursome worked with big-time producer Jacquire King (Tom Waits, Kings of Leon, Norah Jones and Modest Mouse) on the […]
Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes has upped the ante on latest album “False Priest” with a fuller, more bass-heavy sound owed in no small measure to producer Jon Brion (Fiona Apple, Kanye West), who has ratcheted the extrovert singer’s lo-fi recordings into much deeper sonic territory. Barnes’ supporting cast has also been given an upgrade, […]
