If nothing else, Foreign Born has become very astute at biding its time. The L.A. quartet arrived in ’05 with and EP and a single (“We Had Pleasure”) that should have put them on the map immediately. After they recorded their debut “In the Remote Woods,” the indie labels that should have come calling didn’t. […]
Wayne Coyne needs to put a lid on it. Or maybe crawl outside of the plastic bubble he’s obviously spent too much time inside. I won’t reprint all the dialogue here – follow along here or here – but the Flaming Lips frontman’s broadside to the Arcade Fire reeks of a guy who overdosed on […]
[Heard on the local beat …] L.A. quartet Bigelf is described as “30 years behind and five years ahead of what’s happening,” and I’ll buy that. Fronted by Laurel Canyon-bred Damon Fox, the foursome channels Black Sabbath into a sprawling, gnarly mountain of sound – and while you’re not liable to find many of the […]
There’s no Olin in Olin and the Moon, but there’s plenty of good-natured lunacy. Cherubic frontman David LaBrel, 22, moved to L.A. over three years ago from Sun Valley, Idaho, and older brother Travis, along with drummer Marshall Vore, soon followed. But it took a while for the newbies to find bassist Kyle Vicioso and […]
[More L.A.-made tunes from the Buzz Bands fountain …] Sometimes you have to jog Buzz Bands’ memory, and that was the case when I heard “Bliss & Death,” the new album from National Skyline. Oh, yes, there on the shelves was the band’s self-titled 2000 release on Hidden Agenda Records, purchased long ago via mail […]
Meet John Wood. He’s Learning Music. He’s 27, a profilic composer, a whiz-bang keyboardist, almost stupefyingly ambitious and, when it comes to making music, a communalist, if not a communist. He’s performed shows with as many as 15 or 20 musicians onstage without the benefit of rehearsals. And he’s ready to start his second season […]
Eleven L.A. artists cover Paul (and Linda) McCartney on the new charity compilation “RAM on L.A.,” being released digitally on Monday through local blog Aquarium Drunkard’s Autumn Tone Records. Justin Gage, the man behind the blog and the label, explains that as he hatched the idea for a compilation of local bands last year, he […]
NPR nails it again – they have an exclusive stream of Neko Case’s sixth album, “Middle Cyclone,” due out March 3. I heard some of the music at a recent noon-hour showcase in Hollywood, and Case has never been in finer form. It’s as if when she opens her mouth your conscience assumes physical shape. […]
[I’m going to ratchet up the frequency of Ears Wide Open, my series of quick-hits on the new L.A. music that reaches my ears – and laptop. Here goes:] Ventura three-piece the Spires have been spreading their Anglophile wings in SoCal for a about five years, their” sweet indie-pop recalling the days of C86 and […]
It was bad enough that Nico Vega had to postpone its hometown album-release show at the 11th hour on Feb. 5 – the aftermath caused some heartache too. “You get pictures from people, ‘This is me, standing outside the Roxy after driving two hours in the rain,’” singer Aja Volkman says. “Honestly, it was hard […]
