[Happy birthday today to Sir Mix-a-Lot, who gave the world “Baby Got Back” …] Tonight’s show list is not lacking for quality or quantity: ‣ It’s the end of a long summer of touring for Mark Oliver Everett and Eels – who played to thousands in Glastonbury, rocked Beijing, saw a concert scotched in Shanghai […]
Sole & the Skyrider Band last month released its latest album “Hello Cruel World,” which features collaborations with Xiu Xiu, Lil B, Sage Francis and Pictureplane. On the video for “Immortality,” they teamed up with Decadence Comics artist Dave “Lando” Lander, whose animated line drawings pack as much as the song’s sci-fi storyline – which, […]
Considering AM & Shawn Lee’s cool, misty, electro sound, it wasn’t a surprise that their debut single, “Dark Into Light” (which we premiered), took off and found homes in iPods owned by fans of Broken Bells and the Postal Service. Since the track’s release, the duo comprised of the L.A. singer-songwriter and the London producer […]
Tonight’s things: ‣ I love lyric videos, because, well, you know, I might miss a magical turn of a phrase or something. So in honor of her sold-out show at the Troubadour tonight, there’s the clip for Christina Perri’s “Arms,” which, along with other hits “So You Think You Can Dance” made famous, appears on […]
San Francisco’s Girls have returned with a new single to follow up their beloved (and apathetically titled) album, “Album,” and it’s a slow-burning, seven-minute track in which guitars roar instead of toying with the simple melodies that characterized their debut. Although the band’s melancholy had always been endearing, especially with Christopher Owen’s heart-wrenching and forlorn […]
‣ Buzz Bands LA’s SecondTuesday songwriter night at Lot Cafe features Radical Face, Cerise, Paulie Pesh and Alanna Lin of Fascinoma. Details here. ‣ Deerhunter visits the Wiltern. ‣ Allah hLas’ residency at the Echo continues with Farmer Dave Scher, the Tyde and Tomorrow’s Tulips supporting. ‣ And Wet & Reckless return to the Satellite. […]
L.A. three-piece Pollyn is emerging from the shadows. Last spring’s “Songs for Sale” EP saw Genevieve Artadi, Anthony Cava and Adam Jay Weissman trading in dark, sensual electronica. But in the trio’s new music, molasses-slow synths have morphed into eccentric rhythms laced with cowbell, deep bass lines and flirty guitar and keyboard riffs. “How Small […]
Funeral Party’s “New York City Moves to the Sound of LA” roared back in the days of the dance-punks’ “Bootleg” EP, and three years later on the East L.A. band’s major-label debut “Golden Age of Knowhere,” it’s no less of a scorcher. In spirit, anyway, it reminds me of the 1977 song by the Randoms, […]
Your Friday fodder: ‣ Magnolia Memoir, the L.A. jazz-pop quintet that conjures up the heyday of Billie Holiday, headlines the Troubadour. That’s the band’s Margaret Cho-directed video for “Broken Cup,” above. ‣ Summer Darling, working on material for a follow-up to last summer’s well-received debut, plays the Satellite, supported by Polls and Future Ghost. ‣ […]
Considering Tim Rush’s experience in editing TV and films like the documentary “DIG!,” his foray into songwriting hasn’t been too far of a stretch in terms of his storytelling skills. Strange Markings, Rush’s project with current bandmates Zach Miller, Ryan Hailey and Chris Lovejoy, initially caught the ear of songwriter and producer Linda Perry, and […]
