Boisterous Athens, Ga.-based Reptar perked our ears up with their bright dance music on last year’s “Obangle Fizz Y’all” EP, and the first taste from their debut album “Body Faucet” is bound to gain more praise for electro-pop fans who indulge in Afro-pop through a Southern psychedelic lens. Graham Ulicy’s vocals may sound a bit […]
To leap or not to leap: ‣ Midwestern satirists Leslie and the Ly’s, fronted by the audacious Leslie Hall (aka Mother Gem) bring their campy hip-hop and pop to the Satellite, supported by Pennyhawk and Ramona & the Swimsuits. ‣ French electronica artist Mr. Oizo headlines the Roxy behind his new album “Stade 2.” ‣ […]
I don’t quite know how to close the book on Rademacher’s “Baby Hawk” album trilogy except to say that it’s as masterful as music about the music life can be. Ostensibly a body of songs that follow the career trajectory of the mythical indie band Baby Hawk, the albums bristle with morality tales, commentary that […]
L.A. by-way-of Green Bay, Wis., band the Violet Lights may let their Britpop influences overshadow over their NYC garage-rock and indie-pop urges, but it’s certainly not anything to be upset about. In fact, the duo comprised of Joel Nass and Amber Garvey make it hard to believe they even recorded their “Sex and Sound” EP […]
Buzz Bands LA is partying next month at the South by Southwest Music Festival. “DEAR AUSTIN: LOVE, L.A.” brings nine southern California bands to Austin for a kickoff party on Wednesday, March 14, at Opal Divine’s Freehouse, 700 W. 6th Street. The showcase (11 a.m. to 6 p.m.) is free, no RSVP in necessary and […]
A bounty of excellent local shows tonight: ‣ Soft Swells celebrate the release of their self-titled album with an early show (8 p.m.) at the Hotel Cafe, where the Ruby Friedman Orchestra plays an even earlier set (7) and King Washington plays later. [See Soft Swells’ “Put It on the Line.”] ‣ The Dead Ships […]
Jenn Wasner and Andy Stacks couldn’t have placed themselves farther apart Thursday night, but even from opposite ends of the Troubadour stage, the duo known as Wye Oak connected for an hour of electrifying shoegaze and folk-pop. Their set-up was spare, with Wasner minding her guitar and pedal board on the right, while Stacks took […]
Races is all about esprit de corps – or maybe it’s esprit de chords in this case. The L.A. sextet dispenses uplifting songs for treacherous times, and their we’re-all-in-this-together attitude can make even the harshest deceit seem like a dot on the emotional landscape. So it is with their florid ballad-turned-guitar jam “Lies,” with lush […]
The first two albums from L.A. trio Gliss tread in the footsteps of some of rock’s great shoegazing bands, taking their sometimes-inscrutable wall of sound and ladling on a thick coat of danger and angst. Martin Klingman, Victoria Cecilia and David Reiss had hinted that the follow-up to 2009’s “Devotion Implosion” would be different, and […]
As two-piece garage-rocks acts go, the Dead Ships are fisticuffs to Hanni El Khatib’s knife fight – the music of both can leave a mark. The Dead Ships’ buzzing barrage of guitar-and-drums comes recorded to analog tape on the duo’s debut album, “Electric Ahab,” released this month. Yes, the pool of blues duos has deepened […]