Another bountiful night in the city, starting at the Bootleg Theater (2220 Beverly Blvd.), where Great Northern, Xu Xu Fang and Obi Best come together to play a benefit for the children’s cancer charity the Pablove Foundation. The guys from Division Day will DJ. … At the Knitting Factory, Jonah Matranga reunites Onelinedrawing and opens […]
[Apologies for the server problems that befuddled Buzz Bands all morning. Back to disseminating:] Big doings all over town – under the stars, there is Jackson Browne at the Greek Theatre; Buddy Guy, Dr. John and the Lower 911 and James Cotton at the Hollywood Bowl; and, on a smaller scale but no less enjoyable, […]
[Andy Bell of Oasis, and Ride before that, turns 39 today. Cheers, mate. And in L.A. environs …] Black Francis hits town for a pair of solo acoustic dates at the Mint, with Mere Mortals [whose new music I previewed a couple of weeks ago] opening. … Let’s see: A 60-foot giantess, a discredited scientist […]
Marcos Chloka cops to being something of a sonic fetishist – fond of “creating soundscapes and music that just surrounds you,” he says – but how that has played out in the L.A. quartet Lower Heaven is a little bit different. Chloka has incorporated the autoharp into the band’s reverb-soaked compositions, adding a little shimmer […]
Good stuff in the Silver Lake/Echo Park environs tonight, starting at the Echo and Echoplex, where there is a double dose of free shows. Restavrant, along with Spirit Vine and Mini Mansions (pictured), performs downstairs, while the Growlers’ residency continues upstairs. … Resident guys Local Natives, who enjoyed line-down-the-block status last week at Spaceland, do […]
[Welcome to the first in a new weekly series on Buzz Bands, Stolen Lyric. Quite simply, it’s the marriage of songwriting and photography. Every Friday, Buzz Bands will feature a Stolen Lyric from a band performing in the L.A. area.] ||| Source: The Dodos, “Walking” ||| Live: The Dodos, whose third album “Time to Die” […]
[Birthday greetings go out to Kristin Hersh, long may she rock …] Today: Color me curious about this weekend’s shows by Elefant, the New York City quartet who made a modest splash with their tamed-for-radio dance-punk back in 2003-04. “Misfit” was pretty irrestistible, and the band’s male model-type frontman Diego Garcia did a great job […]
Kissing Cousins’ name sounds cute, sure, but the Los Angeles quintet’s debut album “Pillar of Salt” [recommended] is serious stuff – brooding, yearning music that, in a stealthy way, is about as punk-rock as you can get with a flutist (Karo Haro). Songwriter Heather B. Heywood and bandmates Melissa Pleckham, Beth Zeigler, Alexis Woodall and […]
[Elliott Smith would have been 40 years old today. I think I will spend a meditative hour with “XO” this afternoon …] John Doe and the Sadies bring their collaboration to the Echoplex tonight behind “Country Club,” a new album of country covers (plus three Sadies’ compositions and one by Doe and Exene Cervenka). Jill […]
Dawes, the L.A. quartet whose previously self-released debut “North Hills” gets a shot of adrenaline when ATO Records re-releases it on Sept. 29, starts its L.A. residency (the foursome is also doing Mondays at the Detroit Bar) at the Echo. Supporting are Slang Chickens and a band called Big Echo – whom Web In Front […]
