Incoming: Chinatown Moon Festival, Lobsterfest, Fenech-Soler, Soft Swells, Lou Barlow, Linus Young, Fathers & Suns, Gary Calamar, Barcelona, Miles Tackett, Decorator, the Entrance Band, Charlotte OC, YG, Swans, Waters, Wartime Recitals, Boyz II Men, EFG, Sturgill Simpson, Band of Heathens, Lily Kershaw, Marc Anthony, Linkin Park, Earth, Goldroom, Sean Hayes, Slow Magic, Too Short, Katey […]
It’s another scorchin’ Sunday, the first of a new month, and the first weekend of a month with so many concert and festival options that my head is spinning. In the next two weeks alone, there are Tarfest, the Chinatown Moon Festival, the Sunset Strip Music Festival and Lobsterfest, and that’s just a partial list. […]
Sunday Sunday Sunday, as the commercials shout … ‣ Kimbra, the New Zealand-born, L.A.-based singer whose second album “The Golden Echo” came out Aug. 19, kicks off a free Sunday night residency at the Bootleg HiFi. The nights are going by the name “Space Jam” and will feature other musicians and collaborators. On her track […]
The New York duo of Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel brought Phantogram to the Fairbanks Lawn at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Friday night for a show that was as striking visually as it was sonically. Doing material from their new album “Voices,” the duo performed amid real-time digital projections made by a Kinect and a […]
The Rentals are back, and not a moment too soon, especially since it’s been 19 years since “The Return of the Rentals.” As Matt Sharp and gang show on “Lost in Alphaville,” the new album released last month, they still hold the key to a lot of pop hearts. At the Fonda Theatre on Friday […]
Happy Saturday:Â ‣ The Hollywood Bowls hosts a night with Elvis Costello and Ben Folds. ‣ If you’re looking for something else outdoors but a little more low key, Yuna performs at California Plaza as part of the Grand Performances. That’s Yuna’s video for “Come Back” above. ‣ Buzz Bands LA presents She Keeps Bees, […]
Norwegian-bred, Brooklyn-based crooner Sondre Lerche has always given pop music a quirky spin; this skill has yielded six jazzy yet highly accessible studio albums, a original movie soundtrack (“Dan In Real Life”) and a special live album (“Bootlegs”). Lerche returns with “Please” on Sept. 23, via his own imprint Mona Records. Heavily influenced by his […]
When the Ocean Blue came back round last year with “Ultramarine” – the Pennsylvania quartet’s first full-length in 14 years – it set plenty of ’90s hearts atwitter. Their jangling guitar-pop and beautiful melancholy found some new fans too, and both constituencies will be happy to learn that the quartet (David Schelzel, Oed Ronne, Bobby Mittan and […]
There is no better description of Slow Magic’s sound other than the self-described “sound made by an imaginary friend.†In a world desperate to categorize things, Slow Magic (artist and sound) manages to stay impressively enigmatic. New album “How to Run Away” will be released next week on Downtown Records and after an early sneak […]
Rock ’n’ roll and fashion have always had a snug relationship, and nobody knows that better than Steve Jones, he of punk-rock icons the Sex Pistols, a band formed to help sell clothes on King’s Road. Jonesy is the producer behind the debut EP from Jesse Jo Stark. The daughter of Richard Stark and Laurie […]