Arcade Fire returns Oct. 29 with the double-album “Reflektor” via Merge, but the Grammy-winning band always seems to have something up their sleeve when it comes to promoting a new release. This time they’ve gone into the studio with DFA founder and LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy to record the album, and we get a […]
Folk singer Jake Smith has been holding audiences rapt as the White Buffalo for nearly a decade. Blessed with a messianic presence and a baritone that seems to originate from the back of a dusty 19th-century saloon, the Orange County-bred songwriter wrestles with all the demons and angels of traditional country music, weaving good, evil […]
Having relocated from Seattle to L.A. to work on his musical career, singer-songwriter-producer Jaymes Young trades in anthems of love and loss, all rendered with an achingly beautiful electro sheen. Young, 23, found near-instant Internet fame a few months ago after releasing his first track, “Dark Star,” quickly followed by mixtape that created even more […]
A lot of things have changed since the release of the Blow‘s beloved album “Paper Television.” Khaela Maricich’s collaborator Jona Bechtolt went on to concentrate on beats for his own project many know as YACHT, and Melissa Dyne joined the band with her installation, sound and conceptual art. Also, instead of K Records, The Blow’s long-awaited new and […]
The show lineup for Tuesday: ‣ AFI, with the new album “Burials” due on Oct. 22, warms up for a U.S. tour with a date at the Troubadour (they’ll be back to the play Fonda the day the album is released). Above, the video for “17 Crimes.” ‣ Long-running Seattle indie-rockers Minus the Bear headline […]
It’s been a lousy few years for angst. Oh, not the faux-punk, I-only-care-about-cheap-beer angst, or the I’m-so-insecure-I’d-better-snap-a-dozen-more-selfies anguish. I mean the dripping-with-existential-dread, blow-the-doors-off-the-arena angst. (Too many hyphenates? Sorry.) Anyway, the new L.A. quintet Fine approaches that kind of bombast in an artful way; many of the arrangements on its debut album have Radiohead in their […]
Rock show, anyone? Nothing fancy here, except L.A. quartet Great White Buffalo working up a sweat with their single “Thanks for Nothing.” Sounding very much like the no-frills alternative rock bands of the 1990s and armed with guitar riffs we wish we could bottle and sell (except GWB has beaten us to it), the foursome […]
When Moving Units materialized in the dark days of 2002, the L.A. trio was on the vanguard of the dance-punk renaissance – in some ways, ahead of their time. They had some lousy label luck, but that first EP and the 2004 full-length “Dangerous Dreams” sound darned-near like classics these days. In the ensuing years, […]
Your Monday menu: ‣ Pixies begin their four-night stint in L.A. with the first of three nights at the El Rey Theatre, with Meg Myers as support. ‣ Austra stop by the Echoplex in support of their latest album “Olympia.” Diana and Telepathe open. ‣ And downstairs, Tobacco headlines the Echo. Zackey Force Funk also […]
Incoming: Pixies, Meg Myers, Together Pangea, Austra, Ariana Grande, OneRepublic, Minus the Bear, MGMT, Julia Holter, the Mission UK, AFI, Boz Scaggs, ON AN ON, Meiko, St. Lucia, the Zombies, Jonathan Rice, Jimmy Cliff, Dave Stewart, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Body/Head, Titus Andronicus, AlunaGeorge, the Jacksons, Local Natives, Jose James, Morgan Page, Matt Wertz, Alice in […]
