[File under Things I Slept on During March Madness:] Oxnard native Nic Hessler had a good thing going a few years back, making music under the name Catwalk while he was still in his teens and prepping an album for the Captured Tracks label. In late 2012, he was sidelined with the autoimmune disorder Guillain–BarreÌ […]
None other than British luminary Don Letts directs the video for U.K. rabble-rousers Palma Violets’ new song “English Tongue,” which stars Paul Kaye (“Game of Thrones”) and answers the age-old question “What if you went to church and a mosh pit broke out?” The song is from the band’s second album “Danger in the Club” […]
Have you ever had a friend who just seems too repressed to be happy? Somebody you wish would come out of his or her shell? That’s what the video for the new StaG song “Hide a Few” is about. Directed by Taylor Phillips and written and produced by Connie Peterson, it stars Miki Matteson as […]
Some tears were shed on the local scene in November when indie-rockers Moses Campbell announced they were through, but that their discursive energy is living on in Moaning. The new trio features Sean Solomon, Pascal Stevenson and Andrew MacKelvie from Moses Campbell, and today, via video, they released their first proper song (which will be […]
Speedy Ortiz’s eagerly anticipated sophomore album “Foil Deer” came out this week, and it does not disappoint. The Massachusetts indie-rockers — Sadie Dupuis, Darl Ferm, Mike Falcone and new addition Devin McKnight — unleash a primal, fuzzed-out tour de force with some sharp observations on cultural matters, as well as some strong affirmations (“I’m not bossy / […]
Massachusetts-born Alexa Melo is only 20, but the singer-guitarist sounds like she’s been through the wars. And she has, in a manner. Signed to a major label as a precocious teen, Melo was passed from producer to producer to producer before finding a sonic ally in Christian James Hand (who produced the Mowgli’s). Now “emancipated” […]
On their debut album “Great River,” Long Beach five-piece Children become the latest band to follow the unsteady currents that lead back to the ’60s psychedelic rock movement. The album, recorded last fall in Mississippi, follows the “Feel Time” EP in 2014 and finds the quintet — Tom Gil, Jeff Steiskal, Graham Walker, Trevor Wallace […]
Since the Happy Hollows released their sophomore album “Amethyst” in 2013, the L.A. trio has quietly been working on a follow-up. The first song “Astrid” continues the trio’s path of interlacing guitars and synths in their agit-pop, with frontwoman Sarah Negahdari’s agile vocals slip-sliding all over the scale. The album found the trio — Negahdari, Charlie […]
Indie-rock quartet Travelers have had an album nearly completed for two years, but only now has the L.A. outfit unveiled the first two songs. The band features the collaborative talents of guitarist Eric Cannata and drummer François Comtois from Young the Giant, along with guitarist Aidin Sadeghi and bassist Bret Leinen, all of whom trade […]
LA Font continue to be one of the finest indie-rock bands on the local landscape — prolific, melodic, intelligent (maybe too smart for their own good, but that’s just a longtime follower’s hare-brained theory) and, well, lovingly caustic. Their first substantial release since the 2013 full-length “Diving Man” comes out this week, and it’s an […]
