The Lonely Forest – the first signing to the Trans label launched by Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie – debuted their first batch of Walla-produced music this week, a digital-only EP of beautiful piano-driven rock. It has a lot going for it – sweeping arrangements crash in and out behind addictive melodies and […]
A few years back I wrote a short piece about an actress-turned-songwriter, her debut album and a lost guitar that was found again. The name on the album was Emma Burgess, but the person holding the guitar was Brandi Emma, who has returned to her given name and resumed making music, thanks to a bit […]
Funny thing happened some time after Silver Lake faves Mezzanine Owls went on (what now looks like permanent) hiatus in late 2008: Frontman Jack Burnside was asked to play a show opening for Swervedriver’s Adam Franklin. “I thought he was playing solo,” Burnside says, “but when I learned he had a band, I thought I […]
There’s plenty of the familiar in the music of U.S. Royalty, and not just because the co-founders of the Washington, D.C., quartet are named John and Paul. That pair – the Thornley brothers – along with Jacob Michael and Luke Adams are readying their debut album “Mirrors” for winter release, and from their early recordings, […]
A while back I discovered a nice series of online music downloads from Levi’s – now I get marketed some footwear to go with my jeans. A series of 10 songs (and videos) sponsored by Dr. Martens (happy 50th birthday) includes some pretty cool covers, including this one by the Raveonettes (even if the video […]
Warpaint’s vaguely tribal, sublimely smoldering post-rock has mesmerized plenty of fans the past year – especially, it seems, guys who sample the all-female quartet’s wares for the eye candy and walk away under some sort of magical spell. The foursome’s recent set at FYF Fest certified that Warpaint has it down, and everything else is […]
Not unlike fellow Angelenos HoneyHoney, the young foursome Infantree makes kitchen-sink folk-pop that’s baroque one moment and go-for-broke the next. A trio of singers and multi-instrumentalists, Alex Vojdani, Donald Fisher and Matt Kronish (abetted by drummer Jordan Avesar) wield guitar, bass, mandolin, banjo and keys to forge a quirky take on Americana that belies their […]
Clinic hail from the Super Furry Animal-school of oddball indie rock, and like the quirky Welsh troupe, this Liverpudlian quartet could never be accused of taking themselves too seriously. Still, the foursome’s light-hearted nature – they routinely take the stage wearing surgical masks and scrubs – never detracts from the very serious business of crafting […]
Click here to watch the film “White Horse,” with music by Shadow Shadow Shade. To say that the debut album by L.A.’s Shadow Shadow Shade is epic is … well, to use the word “epic” once too often. Let’s call it “poperatic.” The septet – born from the ashes of indie-rock quintet Irving and formerly […]
[Birthday greetings go out today to old pal Don Was. Here’s your Monday menu:] Tonight’s top 4 week-starters: ‣ L.A. lost an indie-pop contender last fall when You Me & Iowa decided to call it quits, but from the ashes of that quintet has sprung the Lonely Wild [pictured], a new project from YM&I’s Andrew […]