The Beta Machine, a passion project founded by multi-instrumentalist Matt McJunkins (A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, 30 Seconds to Mars) and drummer Jeff Friedl (A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, Filter, Devo), are still somewhat under the radar as they spend more time in the studio with producer Mat Mitchell. They debuted live at the Viper Room, April […]
If the falsetto-drenched disco-funk of U.K. septet Jungle doesn’t give you happy feet, maybe you’re standing in cement. The latest from the band, whose self-titled 2014 debut was nominated for the Mercury Prize, is the brilliantly choreographed video for “Julia.” It’s another in a series of collaborations between Oliver Hadlee Pearch and Jungle co-founder Josh […]
Highland Park seven-piece Seasons are finally ready to release their anticipated full-length entitled “Everything Changes” on March 31. This is a group that has certainly dealt with change in the ebb and flow of being an indie band in Los Angeles, an experience which has inspired some very cinematic tracks which are just the right […]
Year-and-a-half-old L.A. trio the Electric West spring from the same, gnarled post-punk tree that yielded Interpol, Bauhaus, Gang of Four and Joy Division. Last year the band released an LP titled “The Dusty Trails Demo,” which for all its sturdy parts sounded like the DIY affair it was. But now the threesome — Lee Lewallen, Byron […]
Hanni El Khatib’s new album “Moonlight” furthers his rep as a rough-and-tumble rocker; it’s a perfectly imperfect collection of garage-blues that works up a heavy sweat yet doesn’t draw blood and inflicts some pain but no mortal wounds. “Knife-fighting music,” he called his work when his debut “Will the Guns Come Out” came out in […]
The first single from L.A.-based trio Midnight Swim Club evokes the squishy neo-soul of the ’90s with the modern flourishes of artists such as How to Dress Well and The Weeknd. “Sleepwalker” is the work of singer-guitarist-keyboardist Derrick Oshana, bassist-keybaordist Gray Robertson and beatmaker Chris Chamberlain. Oshana released a solo EP of folk-pop back in […]
Before we talk about Ghost Hours, a pop quiz: Who is Ron Fountenberry? One point if you remember the SoftLightes, the indie-pop quartet who were the first American act on the Australian label Modular (and included among its members Kristian Dunn and Tim Fogarty, who went on to form El Ten Eleven). Their album “Say […]
We know it’s always warm in SoCal, but Bobbie Allen — aka Young Summer — conjures up images of the beach with songs like “Waves That Rolled You Under.” Despite the facts of Allen is actually from D.C. and the subject matter of her electro-pop songs are actually heavier and more introspective, the shimmering textures […]
Some of Los Angeles’ most compelling music evolves from accidental collaborations, wandering spirits, lifetime underdogs, the chronically curious and people without fancy managers/publicists/”teams” who are the diametric opposites of bands who look like they’re right out of central casting. Rough Church has some of those qualities. The band is helmed by Silver Lake long-timer Greg […]
I owe my devotion to the music of Statistics to a publicist’s sleight-of-hand. About a year after professing love for Desaparecidos’ debut album “Read Music/Speak Spanish,” I received a missive saying that if I liked Desaparecidos, I should check out their guitarist Denver Dalley’s side project, Statistics. Of course, the Conor Oberst-fronted emo-punk of the […]
