Lord Huron, the local indie-rock band fronted by Michigan native Ben Schneider, has signed to L.A.-based IAMSOUND Records. Lord Huron’s debut album “Lonesome Dreams” will be out Oct. 9. No music is available yet, but the record figures to surprise (in a very good way) fans of the band’s first two EPs. Along with that […]
Having Neil Young take a shine to your band from the get-go must be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s Neil Young and holy crap he wants us to open for him. On the other (and I only intuit this), you’re writing your second or third or fourth album and you’re thinking WWND (What […]
“Let’s Boot and Rally” is a made-for-TV hit – yeah, it’s a hit – that pairs iconic punk rocker Iggy Pop with indie darling Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast in a way that recalls some of the stellar work of X. And it makes for a pretty good story: The tune, penned for the HBO […]
There’s no moment in recent memory that I’ve been happier glued to the floor than the chilly night this past February when Aaron Embry played to a completely hushed (!) room at the Silverlake Lounge. A voice, a special guitar, a board to stomp on, and a wide-open vein of emotions – those are the […]
Effervescent Scandinavian electro-pop duo Rebecca & Fiona released their Swedish Grammis Award-winning album. “I Love You,” in North America on July 10. High energy, uplifting and hopelessly catchy, Rebecca & Fiona feature shimmering vocals on the verge of being overcome by a torrent of electronica, a dance-floor version of the likes of School of Seven […]
Ariel Rosenberg has made a pop song. That seems to be what everybody was waiting for, right? For the mastermind of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti to get straight to the crates he’s been digging for more than a decade now? Ariel Pink’s widely praised 2010 album “Before Today,” while a musicologist’s wet dream, required an […]
Voxhaul Broadcast’s propulsive single “Turn the Knife” used to be called “Broken Nerve,” when we heard it last October. But as has been the case with the L.A. quartet’s material over its four-year run, David Dennis, Anthony Aguiar, Phillip Munsey II and Kurt Allen sent it back to the shop for a few tweaks, sharpening […]
Thurday’s things: ‣ They were electro before you: Pioneering electronic act and synth surrealists Tangerine Dream visit Club Nokia as part of the Electric Mandarine Tour. ‣ Brooklyn garage-poppers the Babies swing into the Echo, supported by Crazy Band, Low Flying Owls and Warships. ‣ Austin three-piece My Jerusalem, with an album produced by Spoon’s […]
I mostly do not bother with the likes of Perfect Dilemma, the collaboration between Jeff D’Agostino and Aaron Dudley that demonstrates how low the bar remains in the major-label world. But after reading some online debate today about Pitchfork’s laughable coronation of the milquetoast Twin Shadow record, I thought I’d share some of what litters […]
You can also see the sun glistening off ocean waves in the opening guitar licks of “Slow Days Fast Company,” the new single from L.A. quartet Blonde Summer. It’s been almost two years since Chris Pope and mates released “Eleganza,” a crunchy testament to the fact that ’90s-inclined indie-rock can still sound urgent and fresh. […]
