Low Flying Owls swooped in out of Sacramento eight years ago, guitars buzzing and a very good album of psych-rock, “Elixir Vitae” in hand. They’ve been an on and off proposition ever since, in and out of other projects. Now Jared Southard, Andy Wagner, Mike Bruce, Robby Dean and Thomas Benjamin Alexander have reconvened to […]
The swooning songs of indie-pop’s latest contenders KO KO are constructed from the most basic of building blocks: falsetto vocals, lithe melodies, shuffling percussion and a bit of whistling. What brothers Ryan and Taylor Lawhon exhibit on their debut EP “Float” is admirable restraint; their first three songs do indeed have a buoyant quality that, […]
Much ado about Monday: ‣ Garbage, its new album “Not Your Kind of People” due May 15, play the first of two sold-out nights at the El Rey Theatre. ‣ Nico Vega (pictured), now a foursome and with news of a new album coming soon (we hope) play It’s a School Night at Bardot, along […]
It’s Coachella week, already. And the L.A. Buzz Bands Show – tonight at 7 on KCSN (88.5 FM, streaming at KCSN.org) – will nod to a half dozen or so local bands who are playing the doubleheader in the desert, which goes off April 13-15 and April 20-22. As for the rest of your SoCal […]
Happy Easter: ‣ Young lo-fi rockers Moses Campbell (pictured above) headline the Bootleg with Peter Pants, Emperor X and Bodhi rounding out the night. ‣ Brass Tax – the side project of Dante vs Zombies and Jail Weddings’ Jada Wagensomer – heads over to the Central S.A.P.C. to join Matt Van Winkle Band, Silver Phial […]
Rodrigo y Gabriel’s exhilarating mix of rock, jazz and Latin – all stirred together on acoustic guitars – have won the Mexican duo a passionate following ever since they started gigging in Dublin pubs a decade or so ago. Their new album “Area 52” – made with legendary producer Peter Asher and a 13-piece Cuban […]
A superb Saturday for all tastes: ‣ Nineties alt-rock innovators Swervedriver swing through L.A. for its first show since last summer, this one at the Key Club; Adam Franklin and crew have some new songs, including a made-for-a-movie track called “Good Times Are Hard to Follow,” sung in the movie by Robert Caryle (“Trainspotting”). Heaven, […]
The music of the L.A. trio Detective sounds as if it could have come from dusty tapes found in the 4AD archive. Named in honor of the Jean-Luc Godard film, Detective is the collaboration between bassist Guylaine Vivarat (Useless Keys and ex-Tennis System), James Greer (the author, screenwriter and ex-Guided By Voices bassist and biographer) […]
Dave Dupuis knows noisy. A guitarist who played with nu-gazers Film School and a sound engineer who’s worked with the likes of Silversun Pickups, the Duke Spirit and Jenny Lewis, Dupuis debuted his agit-rock trio Nightmare Air in late 2009 before relocating to Seattle, temporarily, so singer/bassist/girlfriend Swaan Miller could finish college. Now back in […]
After a week off (I was cavorting around the Midwest), the Buzz Bands LA show returns to Moheak Radio today with two hours of fresh local music. Your host has scrambled to keep up with the influx of new arrivals in these post-South by Southwest weeks. Still, I have some songs that just won’t leave […]