We’ve followed We Barbarians since their days in Long Beach when they first started shaping their gritty, arena-ready indie rock. They were scrappy cousins to Cold War Kids, releasing a roof-raising album “There’s This There’s That” (2009) and a couple EPs that represented a great start to realizing their grand vision. They moved to New […]
Fans who’ve had 2007’s “Further North” on repeat since their first crush will be happy to know that Scottish-American singer-songwriter Johnathan Rice is back. Not that the L.A.-based troubadour ever went anywhere, of course, except to form a tandem with girlfriend Jenny Lewis as Jenny & Johnny. Rice’s new solo album “Good Graces” (out Sept. […]
Clare Means’ voice ranges from a mere flicker to full-on conflagration; there’s always a little smoke there, as if she’s been singed, or done some singeing herself. Her new album “War for Love” isn’t so much all-out combat as it is a lyrical boxing match – Means’ nimble wordplay has been her calling card since […]
A heavy-duty Thursday: ‣ Joseph Arthur visits the Troubadour behind his ambitious new album “The Ballad of Boogie Christ,” a psych-soul record with horns, back-up singers and roots, conceptually, in David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust character. Ben Haper and Juliette Lewis are expected to play in Arhthur’s band tonight. Above, the slideshow video for “All the […]
No more need to fear inmates anymore. At least that’s what we get from this Simon Cahn-directed video for Hanni El Khatib’s doo-wop number “Penny.” The Los Angeles-based garage rocker may have surprised fans with this pop ditty, but it doesn’t get much edgier than getting these orange suit-clad men to empathize with his sentiments. […]
Indie-rock sextet NO [pictured], folk-rockers Chief and indie adventurers So Many Wizards have been announced as headliners for the Los Angeles Zoo’s annual summer music series, this year going by the name “Roaring Nights.” The 18-and-older events also feature comedy, food, libations and other adventurous encounters, with the zoo’s residents and zookeepers. The series runs […]
“Habitats,” the second EP from Young Creatures, suggests that the L.A. quartet is a psych-rock band in pop clothing. The foursome of singer-guitarist Mike Post, guitarist Justin Cook, bassist Spencer King and drummer Michael Escalante, who formerly went by the name Four Round & the Sound, plays it pretty straight-ahead lyrically and compositionally, but their […]
Dream-pop duo Magic Wands will join Beat Club, the Dead Ships, Dear Boy, Haunted Summer and Irontom on Saturday night, July 20, for the season’s second edition of Chinatown Summer Nights. Music starts at 6 p.m. on the LA Weekly Live Music Stage just south of Chinatown’s Central Plaza on a night that features sets […]
Diverse L.A. producer-cum-rapper Jonwayne is readying his first non-instrumental mixtape as a wordsmith, “Marion Morrison.” The first track to appear is “Notes to Myself,” with the rapper giving himself just that, over a dusty and dreamy vintage J Dilla beat. His rhymes range from over-analytical and self-deprecating, to insightful and uplifting. He slaps himself with, […]
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, AWOLNATION, Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, Wale and Logic will join previously announced headliners Linkin Park on the outdoor stages of the three-day Sunset Strip Music Festival on Aug. 3. Street Drum Corps, Asher Roth and Finch were among the other lineup additions announced for the two stages on Sunset Boulevard […]