[Weekend items that have everybody talking:] ‣ Ronnie James Dio, the heavy metal singer who replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath and also fronted the bands Rainbow, Heaven & Hell and Dio, has died in Houston after a battle with stomach cancer. He was 67. The Associated Press obituary. ‣ Greyson Chance, the sixth-grader whose […]
Add twangy L.A. quartet Dawes to the list of young L.A. bands with big summertime tours. The foursome, riding growing support for its Jonathan Wilson-produced debut “North Hills” (which came out last year on ATO), spent the winter on smaller club tours, including one with Rilo Kiley’s Jason Boesel. On May 26, Dawes begins a […]
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers get all bluesy on “I Should Have Known It,” the first single off his forthcoming album “Mojo” (due June 15) and a song that features a nice bit of shredding from guitarist Mike Campbell. “Mojo” will be the first disc of new material from the band in over seven years, […]
The “new” video for Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros’ hit “Home,” produced by Ryan Gall, is kind of a highlights reel – a “Home” movie that uses some of the images from the original, “official” video for “Home.” Cheating? Maybe, but it makes for a pretty nice warm-and-fuzzy from a band who’s going to […]
To label Montreal quartet the Besnard Lakes as shoegaze, or prog-rock, or even post-rock, is almost demeaning. Those terms each have implied deficiencies, very few of which you will find on “The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night,” the third album from the band anchored by husband and wife team Olga Goreas and Jace Lasek. […]
[Smile, break into song and wish the man born Stevland Hardaway Judkins, whom you know as Stevie Wonder, a happy 60th birthday. As icing on the cake, I offer tonight’s music desserts:] Massive shows, mini shows, tonight has it all – just for grins, I’ll start out small: The lineup of local bands at the […]
Pennsylvania-bred, L.A.-based Evan Voytas makes spacey, whimsical synth-pop that borders on the cheeky, but there’s more than a little bit of soul in the series of EPs and singles he has self-released so far. Prior to his relocating to Los Angeles, Voytas apprenticed as a sideman for teen phenom Teddy Geiger; Voytas has an innate […]
[Tip of the cap to Billy Squier on his 60th birthday. Here’s what’s out there tonight:] Diane Birch, the 27-year-old preacher’s daughter who once did duty as a lounge pianist at the Beverly Hills Hotel, was last spotted in L.A. opening for Nick Jonas early this year at the Wiltern. The pop-soul songstress, whose 2009 […]
Local Natives – today’s Beach Boys? Well, Silver Lake’s favorite harmonizers are in Matthew Lessner’s video for “World News,” a song off the quintet’s hit debut album “Gorilla Manor.” I’m not sure what to make of the clip’s uniformed interlopers, except that somehow the fact that they are inspired to crash the beach party subtly […]
Except to point out that “The Royal We” remains my favorite song on Silversun Pickups‘ sophomore album “Swoon” – yeah, I love its every sawed string – I will defer comment on Matt Mahurin’s video to James Montgomery at MTV.com, who dissects its blurry moments better than I could. Good analysis.
