James Frost, who directed videos for Radiohead (“House of Cards”) and Coldplay (“Yellow”), among others, fashioned this piece for the Silversun Pickups’ new single “Panic Switch.” I’m not sure what the Pickups are fleeing, but in keeping with the general tone of their album, “Swoon” (out April 14), there is a light at the end […]
I have seen Alfred Darlington perform live and I know the colors in this video to be accurate. Or maybe I was just imagining them. Whatever, Darlington, stage name Daedelus, just released this Eli Stonberg-directed video for his song “LA Nocturn,” from a split EP he did on the new label Friends of Friends with […]
[Happy birthday to Merle Haggard, good riddance to my jet lag, and let’s see if after a few days in a land far, far away I can get back in the swing of things …] I only need to visit my Midwestern hometown a few days before realizing how good, as a fan of live […]
[Wednesday doldrums? These two videos will chase them away …] Los Angeles quintet Low Vs Diamond has a busy few months ahead: After a headlining gig Sunday at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa, the band heads off on tour with Jack’s Manequin for seven dates and Ben Lee for 13. The fivesome is still […]
[Amusement for your afternoon, in 10 minutes or less …] A few ideas in this video should have been chucked – how many times have we seen a tennis player assaulted by volleys of returns? – but the sight of Cursive’s Tim Kasher shredding on a mandolin is good for a few laughs. The song […]
[Two things that made me smile today …] None of the people in the video for Richard Swift’s “Lady Luck” is Richard Swift, although all bear a resemblance to the frizzy-haired, fuzzy-cheeked, dark-suited pop maestro. The Swift imitators, in fact, are played my the significan women in his life, with the role of the singer-pianist […]
[Birthday cheers to Steve Tyler, even if Blender magazine won’t be celebrating any more …] I’ll start with a couple of fun-sounding under-the-radar things: Canadian genre-hoppers Hot Panda [pictured] plays the early set at the Silverlake Lounge. Then there is the electro-cool Alaska in Winter at Bordello. [Sample both below]. … Rosemary’s Garden, the new […]
Australian quartet the Temper Trap caused quite a stir last week at South by Southwest, attracting music industry scouts from far and wide to gigs that stamped them as, possibly, a Very Big Band – or at least one approaching their arena-sized sound.” Monday night’s show at Spaceland, then, was kind of a test to […]
For all the serious tones, goosefleshy emotions and half-whispered meditations on Great Northern’s sophomore album, the title came to songwriters Solon Bixler and Rachel Stolte as they sat in a darkened room brainstorming on that very issue. “I went to find a pen to write some of them down,” Stolte says, “and couldn’t find the […]
Sometimes Andrew Lynch seems like he’s everywhere. And maybe he is. The multi-instrumentalist has played alongside, or worked in the studio with, Afternoons, the Amateurs, the Black Pine, Castledoor, Earlimart, the Poor Excuses and Radars to the Sky, to name a handful. The Alaska native’s solo work merits attention too, for its occasionally playful and […]
