The first proper EP from Warships’ is so bright and propulsive it’s hard for us to sit still. When the SoCal quintet first brightened our mood last May, they had an album finished and seemingly ready for release, but things apparently take time. “Shadows,” produced by Raymond Richards, came out this week, with Eric Chirco, […]
Pam Shaffer makes chamber-pop for dimly lit chambers. The meditations on her second album, the fan-funded “It Is Happening Again” (out this week) seem to materialize from the shadows of a roomful of old things, illuminated only by a single candle. Piano, guitar, strings and Shaffer’s plaintive vocals conspire to draw slow-mo vignettes on “Orpheus” […]
There’s probably a riveting docu-drama waiting to be made about the life and times of Annie Hardy, the rail-thin singer-guitarist who roared out of Orange County eight years ago as party of grunge-gaze (OK, we just made that up) duo Giant Drag. Hardy’s prickly and hilariously R-rated observations and her wounded-waif persona made Giant Drag’s […]
Your Wednesday night show menu: ‣ Psychic Friend – the new vehicle for the music of Imperial Teen’s Will Schwartz – celebrates the release of its debut album “My Rocks Are Dreams” (out this month on Dangerbird) with a show at the Satellite. Schwartz’s very funny pal Sarah Silverman will open the show. [See “Once […]
With Unknown Mortal Orchestra‘s latest album “//” just out on Jagjaguwar last week, their first L.A. show since Culture Collide was bound to be crowded. However, no one could have imagined how packed the Echoplex would have gotten on Friday night. Of course, the Check Yo Ponytail lineup was also enticing: New York’s spastic pysch […]
Singer-bassist Lorelei Plotczyk knows her way around the moody shoegazers – she handled those duties for the Los Angeles incarnation of Bay Area-bred Film School. Now based in San Diego, she’s fallen in with singer-keyboardist Susie Ghahremani (formerly of the Boston-area indie-pop band Snoozer), singer-guitarist Itai Faierman (The Mashtis, Mu) and drummer Luis Galvan (Galactic […]
With their latest album “Holy Fire” produced by Flood & Alan Moulder, English rock band Foals has had a successful and strong comeback. But their lead single “Inhaler” may be a bit misleading as it diminishes the “tropical prog” and almost completely replaces it with a sinister hard rock foundation underneath the math rock elements. […]
If you’ve been to Mystery Skulls‘ residency this month but still wonder why the guy behind this one-man show looks familiar, it’s because you were probably a fan of Luis Dubuc’s previous project, the Secret Handshake. Although the former moniker gained a following in the electronic realm, Mystery Skulls leaves the soul-influenced bubblegum electro-pop behind […]
Tuesday things:Â ‣Â The Lovely Bad Things continue their residency over at the Echoplex. This time Pangea, Dirt Dress, Wyatt Blair, Summer Twins and the Aqua Dolls are also on the bill. ‣Â Meanwhile, Brooklyn’s Buke & Gase [pictured] headline the Echo upstairs. Aleuchatistas open. ‣Â Mike Patton and Duane Denison’s experimental alternative metal band Tomahawk plays the […]
Sunday’s second day of the Year of the Snake Lunar New Year Festival in Chinatown was a little more chill than the parade-filled first day, but there was plenty of energy on the local music stage, where random ninjas crashed the set by the taiko-drum-wielding Random Ninjas, young trio the Vim Dicta played a set […]