L.A. folk-pop ensemble Eagle Winged Palace is finishing up work on its debut album “Where We’re Coming From,” and the first taste of the new music is available on their label’s fall sampler. “Timber” is constructed of acoustic guitar and fragile, haunting harmonies. The rest of the Park the Van Records sampler includes tracks from […]
Voxhaul Broadcast is quartet that discovered a fountain of soul in its native Orange County a couple of years ago and drank from it to wash down a steady diet of freshly prepared guitar rock. The urgent, scratchy licks on their” “Rotten Apples” EP two years ago earned them some notice in L.A., but after […]
[Here’s the full version of the piece I wrote for LA Weekly on Autolux, in advance of the band’s show tonight at the El Rey Theatre:] There are fans who would go to the end of the earth to hear the new album from Autolux. So when you’re offered a chance to talk to the […]
Samuel Stewart might come from a pop music lineage, but, one year into his apprenticeship on the Los Angeles scene, he’s intensely aware that he must make his own way, and that there’s some serious dues yet to be paid. “I think that’s the danger of being a professional musician’s kid,” the 21-year-old son of […]
It was 2007: A little group named Silversun Pickups had a song called “Lazy Eye” climbing the charts; the Airborne Toxic Event were just another new band with an unruly name; and Dim Mak seemed like a pretty cool little label on which to put out a record. And L.A. quartet the Deadly Syndrome released […]
Seven months after releasing its most recent album “Run With the Faithless,” Lemon Sun resurfaces with a new track, the first that singer-guitarist Rob Kolar has made with the quintet’s new lineup. Kolar, who says the song is inspired by Graham Hancock’s “Supernatural,” steers the band in a more psychedelic direction here, his eyes to […]
Hard to believe that the guys in Hollywood punk quartet Orange are barely old enough to drink. Even harder get your mind around the notion that the foursome is already three albums into its career. Orange’s newest, “Phoenix” (out this week on Hellcat Records), is vintage West Coast pop-punk, and if you like that sort […]
Chris Garneau’s quirky pop music seems to float through midair, his tinkling piano and gentle strings carrying a voice so featherweight at at times it seems like the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter doesn’t want to wake his neighbors up. His sophomore album, “El Radio” (just out on Absolutely Kosher), was recorded in the sticks in New Hampshire […]
Australian four-piece the Drones really pack a punch with their almost-post-rock shoegaze. I saw them at SXSW, secured a copy of their very good album “Havilah” and caught them once since, their challenging music getting more dynamic with each listen. I would think that fans of Autolux and Silversun Pickups might want to take heed. […]
Here’s one that’s long overdue – Dios (they’ve thankfully reverted to their original name after spending time as Dios Malos) soon will release their third album, “We Are Dios,” via the mellow fellows at Buddyhead Records. I’ve had the unfinished mixes for a while, and they’re gorgeous – a realization of the trippy psychedelia and […]
