It’s been a long road for Tommy Walter, but the multi-instrumentalist (and co-founder of Eels) is on the brink of releasing his third album as Abandoned Pools. “Sublime Currency,” due Aug. 28 on Tooth & Nail Records, follows 2005’s “Armed to the Teeth” and 2001’s “Humanistic,” two releases that while critically well-received fell prone to […]
Minneapolis-based Poliça (that’s with a soft “c”) might have released one of the most compelling R&B-influenced albums this year, but it’s hard to get over the fact that every syllable lead singer (and Gayngs member) Channy Leaneagh utters is drenched in heavy auto-tune. Together, producer Ryan Olsen, Bon Iver’s Mike Noyce on additional vocals, live […]
The Baseball Project, who showed us their stuff at SXSW in 2011, has done a great job on two albums in combining two our two favorite things, pop music and the national pastime. Recent developments in San Francisco inspired the Baseball Project’s Scott McCaughey to write and record “Why Melky Why? – a lament directed […]
Today’s Buzz Bands LA Show on Moheak Radio is bursting with freshness. I have new music from many artists with whom longtime readers and listeners are probably familiar – the Deadly Syndrome, Earlimart, So Many Wizards, Lavender Diamond, Cassettes Won’t Listen, El Ten Eleven and He’s My Brother She’s My Sister. But, by way of […]
Hot night in the city, to dredge up a line: ‣ The Sunset Strip Music Festival goes all-out on the eve of the fifth annual event’s big street festival: X, doing their album “Los Angeles” headlines the Roxy Theatre (Ray Manzarek is X’s special guest, and the Stripminers support). Hank III holds forth at the […]
“Doom soul” may sound a little scary and a bit more dreary than you’re ready for, but when you realize it’s a type of blues music the term “doom” seems appropriate. Canadian singer-songwriter Al Spx, aka Cold Specks, a soul singer who currently resides on the other side of the pond in London, England, even […]
More than five years after their uneasy parting of the ways, Grandaddy has returned to the stage, and on Monday night at the Fonda Theatre it felt like a triumph – even if the man who closed up shop, songwriter Jason Lytle, sounded a bit tentative about the whole process. “So this getting back together […]
There’s something about Sean Rowe‘s baritone that are so charmingly inviting no matter what emotion he conveys. Always paired with conviction, Rowe could be an a cappella artist and tell a story with just his burning tone and peculiar melodies. But the musician, whose journey with music began around the same time with his fascination […]
Audio-engineers-turned-synth-pop-maestros Father Tiger got ambitious with the video for the single “Shell,” off the L.A. duo’s first EP. The clips stitches together more than 5,000 images processed through Instagram (including 400-plus fan submissions), dozens of original pieces of art and a bunch of iPhone footage. It’s the work of director/editor Jeff McHale and artist John […]
‣ The Sunset Strip Music Festival begins in earnest, with club events leading up to Saturday’s big outdoor street fair. Topping the list: The Doors and their legacy are celebrated at the House of Blues, and the “Godfather of Goth” Peter Murphy headlines the Roxy Theatre. [More SSMF listings after the jump.] ‣ Neil Diamond […]