Quite a Tuesday in store: ‣ Mikal Cronin and Redd Kross team up for a night of good ol’ guitar fury at the El Rey Theatre. Cronin’s acclaimed second full-length “MCII” came out earlier this year, and Redd Kross’ “Researching the Blues” was one of our 2012 highlights. Cherry Glazerr opens. ‣ Equally delicious: LA […]
Norwegian rocker Ida Maria, who arrived with a bang in 2008 with her debut “Fortress Round My Heart,” has spent the past year-plus regrouping, some of that time in Los Angeles. Her second album, 2010’s “Katla,” went all-in for a big, polished rock sound and didn’t connect, and then the singer-songwriter battled addiction problems, she […]
If lines on the resumé were hits, D.A. Wallach would be platinum. Wallach is the Harvard-educated whiz kid who with schoolmate Maxwell Drummey released two albums as Chester French, which, despite an estimable pile of press clippings, combined to sell about 23,000 copies (the second, barely a thousand). Which is all right if you count […]
Incoming: KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, De Lux, Cat Power, Froth, VUM, the Wild Reeds, Xiu Xiu, BLEAUX, Entrance Band, Sam Smith, Howie Day, Tapioca & the Flea, Mikal Cronin, Redd Kross, Pretty Lights, Beyonce, Pusha T, Bright Light Bright Light, LA Font, Conquistador, Every Time I Die, Mirror Days, Problem, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, the […]
Sunday things: ‣ John Legend takes over the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in support of his latest album “Love in the Future.” That’s his video above for “All of Me.” ‣ The Peach Kings kick off their residency at the Bootleg Bar. This week they’ve also got Blac Jesus & the Experimentalists and Moon Honey on the bill. […]
Lots to offer on this Saturday night: ‣ London-based Jon Hopkins visits the Echoplex behind his June release, “Immunity.” That’s his video for “Open Eye Signal,” above. Clark and Nathan Fake open the show. ‣ L.A. rockers Together Pangea, their full-length album on the way in January, play a sold-out show at the Echo, supported […]
Highland Park quartet Black Hi-Lighter makes you feel like you’re caught between T. Rex and a hard place. The foursome of James Poulos, Eric Liljestrand, Mark Reback and David Wright are loud and proud and brash without resorting to Xeroxing bands whose ghosts haunt those 1970s videos uploaded to YouTube. In March, Black Hi-Lighter released […]
Here’s what’s in store before you stuff your belly with turkey (or tofurky): ‣ Justin Timberlake does this week’s second show in SoCal. This time he’s headlining the Honda Center in Anaheim. ‣ The Belasco hosts a night with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Suga Free and War. ‣ Run River North, the Eagle Rock Gospel Singers and Joe Fletcher […]
More than any one song on the album, Superhumanoids’ smoldering “So Strange” illustrates the the subtleties and sophistication of the L.A. band’s debut “Exhibitionists.” Stylistically their music might have its roots in the escapist 1980s, but “Exhibitionists” has a conscience; there’s tacit acknowledgement of the scars left by our breathless chase of the moment. And […]
Your things for a Tuesday: ‣ Justin Timberlake plays to a sold-out Staples Center. ‣ Bay Area electro-rockers the Limousines visit the Troubadour behind their latest release “Hush” (that’s their video for “Love Is a Dog From Hell,” above). Nashville-based rockers MONA and Portland indie-poppers Dresses support. ‣ Scottish trio PAWS [see last week’s post] […]
