L.A. psych-pop explorers HOTT MT etched their names in music lore in January, when they drove to Oklahoma City and arrived on the doorstep of Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne to deliver him a birthday present. Instead of chasing them off, Coyne invited HOTT MT into his home and studio, and they ended up staying […]
Here’s the way things used to work: You pick up your copy of the Los Angeles Times, you read a well-written profile of a local rock quartet and you make a note to see if the local record store (I favored Fingerprints in Long Beach or Noise Noise Noise in Costa Mesa in those days) […]
The Orwells have been creating quite a buzz since their SXSW debut, so it’s not a surprise that the Chicago-based garage-rock group, comprised of five 17-year-olds Mario Cuomo, Grant Brinner, Henry Brinner, Dominick Corso and Matt O’Keefe, came out of that swarm with a new deal. Autumn Tone, the Aquarium Drunkard-affiliated imprint, will release their […]
When Vancouver’s Japandroids packed the house at the Echoplex on Friday night, it felt like a monumental moment. It was, in a couple of regards. Their new album “Celebration Rock” came out last week on Polyvinyl, and it was one of the duo’s first opportunities to play many of the new songs live. Plus, the […]
7Lions, “Born 2 Run” – Now that the Kings are toting around the Stanley Cup, we feel compelled to acknowledge the song that, ostensibly, got them their hardware. (We’re not fully conversant in jock rock, but do other pro teams in L.A. have “theme songs” as the Kings have had?) Anyway, “Born 2 Run” is […]
The first EP from Future People feels far too precise to have sprung from a casual collaboration, but that’s how the L.A. quartet started: a bunch of talented guys who happened to be living under one roof. Originally the brainchild of drummer-programmer Dan Marcellus and singer-guitarist Chris Cosgrove (and now featuring bassist Larry Sheffey and […]
Wake Up Lucid doesn’t make nice. Not musically, anyway. The band of cousins – Ryan, Ian and Jamie Baca – mete out scuzzy blues you imagine sprung from gear that barely works, seething with emotion and crackling with defiance toward those who would water down rock ’n’ roll for the digital age. After thundering onto […]