Picks for a super Saturday: ‣ The 13th annual Eagle Rock Music Festival goes off along Colorado Boulevard, highlighted by the Low End Theory Stage and its group of beat-scene all-stars (Flying Lotus, Gaslamp Killer, Nosaj Thing, Tokimonsta, Nobody and more) but also featuring some great indie artists, including Health, Rooney, Shadow Shadow Shade, Mia […]
Jonathan Wilson titled his new album “Gentle Spirit,” but you suspect it’s only because “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” was already taken. Wilson, the North Carolina-bred singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer and keeper of the Laurel Canyon flame, has birthed a 78-minute opus that takes deep, long breaths, its lush orchestration and serpentine arrangements rewarding patient […]
Friday fun: ‣ Tinariwen visits the El Rey Theatre as part of the Ooh LA L.A. Festival, abetted by TV on the Radio. The Malian band recorded their new album “Tassili” (which came out in August) in the Algerian desert with contributions from TVOTR’s Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone (as well as Nels Cline and […]
The Polyamorous Affair’s sultry, subversive electro was made for dark places. And the Berlin-based duo of Eddie Chacon and Sissy Sainte-Marie, who not so long ago called L.A. home, go there in the video for “Fantasy,” which transfers the notion of appetite to someplace a little bit grisly. The single comes from 2010’s synth-laden “Strange […]
Hot As Sun’s blissed-out music exists only in small quantities so far – their four-song EP released last November – but the electro-popgazers anchored by Jamie Jackson and Deborah Stoll have more songs in the works. And their recent trip to New York to perform amid glitter and go-go dancers at artist Peter Tunney’s gallery […]
Some may know Marchelle Bradanini as the “Pony” half of international DJ duo Pony vs. Tiger (with the other half being Natasha “Tiger” Noramly), who spins everything from Hot Chip to Os Mutantes to Orange Juice. However, Bradanini’s solo moniker Pony Boy zooms in on a sound that she considers “junkyard country music.” With smokey […]
The New Division’s debut album “Shadows” (out this week) has its share of dark places, some more menacing than others, and all of which fly the black flags planted long ago by the likes of Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk and Gary Numan. The Riverside quartet of John Kunkel, Michael Janz, Brock Woolsey and Mark Michalski arrived […]
Wednesday’s show offerings: ‣ Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman visits the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever behind his new EP for Secretly Canadian, “An Argument With Myself.” ||| Download: “An Argument With Myself” [audio:http://www.scjag.com/mp3/sc/argument.mp3] ‣ It’s be a night of fun electro at the Bootleg Theater, where Neon Indian and Com Truise perform. That’s the video […]
Jonathan Bates’ formidable foray into electronica – chronicled in our posts on “Huggin & a Kissin” and “Capsize” – comes to fruition this week with the release of his project Big Black Delta’s “BBDLP1” (in very pretty vinyl, apparently). The former Mellowdrone frontman’s bombastic take on ’80s synth-pop has turned more than a few ears […]
From the moment Kristin Gundred (aka Dee Dee) and her Dum Dum Girls mates jumped into the girl-group fray, it’s been a battle of style vs. substance, with neat bangs and black mini-dresses usually coming out on top. The quartet’s sophomore album, “Only in Dreams” (out Tuesday on Sub Pop) changes that – it’s sturdy […]
