New Zealand pop princess Kimbra struck gold in 2012 when she teamed with Gotye on the mega-hit single “Somebody That I Used to Know.” Her own song “Goldmine” uses the precious metal symbolically, and so too does the striking video, “representing the message of ‘inner wealth’ and calling on a strength from within,” the 25-year-old […]
Sisters Bianca “Coco” and Sierra “Rosie” Casady reveal the first tune from their as-yet-unnamed album due Sept. 18, their sixth record since forming in 2003. This live recording of “Heartache City” was done while on tour in Milan recently, with friend-musicians Tez and Takuya Nakamura. It represents a return to the more minimalist flavor of […]
The Manchester-born, London-based artist Shura, née Aleksandra Denton, is a singer, songwriter, producer, and remixer, who has not only reworked Jessie Ware’s “Say You Love Me,” but also been remixed herself by the likes of Delorean, Jungle and Warpaint, among others. Raised by a British documentary filmmaker father and a Russian actress mother, with a […]
It’s best not to over-analyze the squishy love songs made by L.A. quintet Babes, or wonder to what degree irony may or may be involved. Because, the band says in announcing that their debut album “Untitled (Five Tears)” will be out Oct. 30, “Life is shit and if we all wink and laugh, then we […]
The third annual Viva! Pomona festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday, July 18-19, at the Glass House. We’ve compiled a hefty 42-track mixtape of bands performing this weekend. From indie rock to punk, garage, rap, DIY, and dream pop, there’s a good variety of sounds to encounter, and Latin American acts peppered in with California […]
Jonathan Bates must have a heart of gold. In the past year, his father died of a stroke, he lost a best friend to cancer and the storage unit containing all his music gear was emptied by thieves. So what does the Big Black Delta main man do? He releases a new song (a free […]
The space explorations of O.C. trio Glorious Wondour are powered by Matt McKenzie, Thomas Dumont and Tony Tancredi, who with phasers firing and bass lines in overdrive, took off this spring when they unveiled their first single “Lunar Love.” (Come for effects, stay for the sample at the 3-minute mark.) The trio’s second single is […]
It feels as if Julia Holter is lifting the veil on her new single “Feel You.” The L.A.-based singer-songwriter-composer has birthed three albums of painterly, highly conceptual art-pop since 2011 — one based on Greek playwright Eruipes’ “Hippolytus,” another based on the French writer Gig’s 1944 novella “Colette.” On those, along with the beautifully cinematic “Ekstasis” […]
By the time their third album comes out in September, Wand will have crafted a catalog it takes most bands half a decade to create. “1000 Days,” due Sept. 25 on Drag City, will be their third full-length release since August of last year, when they blasted onto the scene with “Ganglion Reef.” They followed […]
So snug and insistent are the beats on MOTION CNTRL’s new single “It’s on You,” the song almost feels like it’s coming from inside your head, not outside. The song is the latest tease from the synth-pop duo’s first proper EP after debuting in 2013 with a the three-song “Demo.” It finds the duo of […]
