The Little Ones have been laying low, dealing with what singer-guitarist Ed Reyes refers to as “trials and tribulations.” But although recently separated from their second label, Chop Shop (which released their debut “Morning Tide” in 2008), the L.A. quintet continues continues to churn out its sunny pop. They are announcing the first installment of […]
Anybody feeling sentimental for the big, hooky guitars we loved so much in the ’90s should look out for “Sugar,” the new album (out this week) from Dead Confederate. After touring both nationally and overseas with Dinosaur Jr., the Athens, Ga.-based quintet hooked up with producer John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, the Hold Steady) […]
By Liam Gowing What do you get when you combine a funk-folk journeyman and an indie rock singer-songwriter with the son of a rock music icon? A hell of a lot of secrecy, apparently. At least that was the case Tuesday night when KCRW music director Jason Bentley welcomed a star-studded audience to The Village […]
File under first (and strong) impressions: That small group of people you might have seen pinching themselves on Tuesday night in Silver Lake were the invitees to an intimate listening party for Neil Young’s new album, “Le Noise” (due Sept. 28). The party was at the lakeview manse of Daniel Lanois, and both the host […]
Band names just get stupider and stupider. If you’re a fan of the English language as well as music, it’s all you can do these days to swallow hard and give tunes by people calling themselves Cymbals Eat Guitars or Gobble Gobble a chance. Which brings me to Dale Earnardt Jr. Jr., the Detroit duo […]
Have to admit it was a dark day at Buzz Bands HQ when Eddie Chacon and Sissy Saint-Marie announced they were relocating their Polyamorous Affair from L.A. to Europe. Their second album “Bolshevik Disco” remains one of the highlights of the Manimal Vinyl catalog, and now they’ve followed it up with “Strange Bedfellows” on Winter […]
Judging from the long, checkered history of L.A. garage-punkers veterans the Morlocks, you wouldn’t think they had a reverential bone in their bodies. When it comes to music, though, they do. They’re keenly aware of the lineage of the music they’ve made for two-plus decades, and on their new album have taken great pains to […]
[Any corporate sponsors out there interested in underwriting a blog? I mean, I don’t write songs, but I write about them. Just sayin’ …] Ryan Bingham has a new, T Bone Burnett-assisted album coming out on Aug. 31 that figures to certify him as a roots-rock star – as if his Grammy win for “The […]
Perfume Genius is the alias of Mike Hadreas, whose debut album “Learning,” out now on Matador, is garnering increasing attention for its emotion and fragility. Home-recorded in his mother’s basement in Seattle and using only various combinations of voice and keys, “Learning” is a collection of stark memoirs, so honest they’re haunting, so wistful they’re […]
Pepper Rabbit’s orchestral indie-pop overflows with exuberance, especially when the duo of Xander Singh and Luc Laurent plays it live – Singh is like a neighbor who shows up on your doorstep with a bag of goodies and heart full of largesse. His back of tricks, of course, includes horns, woodwinds, keys, guitar, ukulele and […]
