Cincinnati duo Bad Veins, a new addition to the roster at L.A.-based Dangerbird Records, release their self-titled debut today. My take on the album is that, while it’s lacking that one song you might remember in 2010, it’s catchy, clever indie-pop – imagine the Killers with much fewer resources but lots more imagination. Here’s the […]
The songs of Miss Derringer are filled with tears, and blood, and an unhealthy dose of weaponry and various sharp objects. The Los Angeles quintet, not unlike the visual art of its frontwoman Liz McGrath, roots around in a sort of Gothic-tinged Americana while applying a whimsical veneer to its tales of felonies, misdemeanors and […]
The first music from supergroup Monsters of Folk has emerged – the quartet is giving away a song from its forthcoming self-titled album (out Sept. 22 on Shangri-La Music) as a free download. The foursome, including Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and singer-songwriter M. Ward, began their collaboration […]
[Ears to the ground for new music from L.A. …] So I arrive back in L.A. today thirsting to catch up on all the sounds that have been sent me, and I immediately happen on this song by Jonathan Haskell, who makes music as Firs. Talk about air-conditioning for the soul. This instrumental piece is […]
The music of L.A.’s Courtenay Green ping-pongs between the confessional (and even confrontational) pop of ’90s songstresses such as Natalie Merchant and the carefee confections of ’80s girl groups. It’s clever, maybe sassy (though if it’s sexist to use that adjective, I humbly apologize), and very self-aware – in her video for “Beyond Therapy,” after […]
The Veils’ third album, “Sun Gangs,” establishes Finn Andrews as a frontman who can do just about anything, and will. The son of XTC founding member and Bowie/Eno sideman Barry Andrews, Finn shape-shifts from acoustic pop to electrifying anthems to piano ballads to thrashy noise over the album’s 10 tracks, his moods ranging from Bono […]
File under shoegaze revivalism: Seaspin, the new project from former Your Enemies Friends bandmates Ronnie Washburn and Jennifer Goodridge, has fashioned a vaguely turbulent strain of dreampop on their initial EP, “Reverser.” The touchstones come right out of the hall of fuzz – the Cocteau Twins, early Lush and perhaps the peppier ‘gazing of the […]
[One in a series on new music hitting the local scene …] I confess that all Ingenue had to do to get my attention was boldface the influences. Singer-songwriter Lauren Dolan professes a love for the Boston power pop scene (check); “The Lolita EP” was produced by Letters to Cleo’s Michael Eisenstein (check) and features […]
Fuzz fetishists, here is your next objet d’amour. Dum Dum Girls, whose blissed-out garage pop will get shelved with your Raveonettes, Jesus and Mary Chain, Ronettes, Flatmates, Vivian Girls and maybe Talulah Gosh, have been signed to Sub Pop, which will release their debut in early 2010. Who are Dum Dum Girls? Various lovingly penned […]
Hope Sandoval is fading back into you – the former Mazzy Star siren, who has since collaborated with the likes of the Jesus and Mary Chain, Air, the Chemical Brothers and Massive Attack, has a new album, “Through the Devil Softly,” coming out Sept. 1 as part of her project with My Bloody Valentine’s Colm […]
