Since self-releasing a homemade disc in late 2008, Los Angeles’ Spirit Vine has been sharpening its licks and putting teeth into its desert sun-blistered brand of psychedelia. The results, so far, are “Golden.” The quintet’s new EP by that name offers three bone-rattlers that lean toward the brashest of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s material, and […]
In a way, the title of the sophomore album by Year Long Disaster makes a promise it can’t keep. “Black Magic; All Mysteries Revealed” – oh, really? Forty-two minutes with one of Los Angeles’ best power trios is going to settle this whole good vs. evil thing for me? Maybe fill in the blanks on […]
The Morning Benders, the young Berkeley-based quartet with SoCal roots, sound downright grown up on the initial track they’ve released from their sophomore album “Big Echo.” The song “Promises,” released for free download today, finds the foursome’s sound not nearly as spindly, though every bit as nimble and engaging as it was on the band’s […]
Long Beach quartet the Secret 6 make the kind of churning, distortion-drenched pop that launched a hundred Britpop bands, a few of whom you probably wore a black shirt for, back in the day. Fronted by ex-Killingtons singer-guitarist James Killington, the Secret 6 aren’t as archly romantic as their Anglophile forebears – no eyeliner here […]
Fullerton-based quintet the Steelwells make big, open-hearted music that’ll put a smile on your suburban angst quicker than an afternoon latté or four open lanes at the Orange Crush. The band – singer-guitarist Joey Winter and mates Andrew Eapen, Robbie Gullage, Brian Manchester and Billy Kim – last year released its “Shallow on the Draft” […]
Guitarist Adam Ross has paid his dues. Now the singer-songwriter, who spent much of the last two years playing in Rihanna’s touring band, is paying attention to his own muse. Fronting the trio Yours Til Death, Ross this week releases his debut EP, “Delivered,” a five-song batch of earnest rock full of prodding guitars that […]
Now for something a little bit different: When Olin and the Moon kicks off a Tuesday night residency this week at the Echo, it won’t be the usual four-bands-and-a-cloud-of-dust routine. The tangy, twangy L.A. five-piece will basically be serving as hosts of a pizza, beer and bingo party during which only one support band will […]
Just 10 months after the release of its sophomore album “Good Friends Only I Can See,” L.A. five-piece the French Semester returned in December with a new EP, “Forces Afield.” That makes two EPs and two full-lengths in two years, so give them points for productivity, anyway. The quintet’s understated but engaging folk-pop seems to […]
The headline says “favorite,” not “best,” and I will not pretend to have allowed much in the way of objectivity to meddle with this list. Not in 2009, a difficult year, one that perhaps above any other I consumed music with my heart, not my head. It was a trying year, and probably for many […]
Jason Mandell has a handful of recordings and a fresh start. Mandell caught my ear three years ago as part of the U.S. Mail Band, which then became the Coles and then, for legal reasons, the Coals. Earlier this year writing partner Sutter Zachman left the project, so Mandell has put together a band around […]
