[One in a series featuring new sounds from SoCal bands:] Long Beach quartet Parade of Lights – featuring former members of Polus (before drummer Anthony Improgo departed to play with Metro Station) – is readying its debut five-song EP. This early taste from Ryan Daly, Matt Frey, Randy Schulte and Mike Nielsen features a heartsick […]
[I’d like to welcome guest contributor and local music maven Steven Wallace, who will do occasional reviews as Buzz Bands tries to cover more releases.] The Boxer Rebellion, “Union” (self-released) – A surprise hit on iTunes after its January release, the sophomore album by this intercontinental foursome (an American, a Australian and two Englishmen) aims […]
[I’m still woefully in arrears on album reviews, so I’m setting a modest goal of one per day for the near future – there are some guest reviewers on the way, too.] Gliss, “Devotion Implosion” (Rykodisc/Cordless, April 7) – The L.A. trio’s sophomore effort boomerangs in and out of the shadows – occasionally those cast […]
I have not heard the entirety of Maria Taylor’s new album “LadyLuck,” but this video is so disarmingly charming I might smile all the way to iTunes. The taller half of Azure Ray mends broken hearts on “Cartoons and Forever Plans;” the song features a guest turn by Michael Stipe. Taylor will perform at the […]
It’s easy to be wowed by the primal noises that Robert Davis, guitarist for the L.A. quartet the Yelling, coaxes out of his axe. It’s a hypodermic needle of Zeppelin juice, or a long tall drink of Jack White, and if it doesn’t get your blood pumping then you’d better stick to your hippie-fied electro-pop […]
[New L.A. sounds for your ears, and your iTunes …] Links are an L.A. quartet with a Robbie and Robby (an Arnett and Barnett, go figure), and a passion for simmering, ’70s-styled blues rock, which they bring to a boil on their debut EP, “Tip Your Jester” (released in March). Singer-guitarist Arnett yowls like a […]
Australian quartet the Drones put on one of the best SXSW sets I witnessed, and now they’re coming to Spaceland on Saturday (mystifyingly, not as the headliner?) for one of the best non-Coachella shows of the weekend. The foursome’s craggly, passionate rock is on full display on their new album, “Havilah,” released on ATP Recordings […]
[Nifty new sounds from L.A. bands just on my radar …] Maybe it’s the leviathan drums or maybe it’s the story in the lyrics, but “Cleopatra” makes Anglos sound like they’re more than a flavor of the moment. The big, patient anthem, the title track off the foursome’s debut EP, is the work of songwriters […]
When we last checked in with local heroes Silversun Pickups, they were basking in the glow of having captured lightning in a bottle. Songs that had warmed in Silver Lake’s incubator since around 9/11 had been hatched into 2005’s “Pikul” EP, then their 2006 debut “Carnavas.” Two Top 10 singles, 350,000-plus in album sales and […]
I cannot listen to a note of Man Man without recalling Passion of the Weiss’ hilarious and spot-on takedown of the band a couple of years ago. But that’s tangential to this video, directed by Lex Halaby and starring Fred Armisen, Martin Starr and Charlyne Yi. Spun off the band’s song “Rabbit Habits,” it’s a […]
