Your Wednesday fare: ‣ Coldplay, with three Grammy nominations from its fifth album “Mylo Xyloto” visits Club Nokia for a Clear Channel-sponsored benefit show that helps out two Los Angeles-based youth charities, A Place Called Home and Youth Mentoring Connection. ‣ Acclaimed Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson performs at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery; […]
Don’t let the spelling of their name fool you. The Colourist is not from the U.K. On the contrary, they’re an electro-pop quartet from Costa Mesa, and their songs, filled with boy-girl harmonies and crisp guitar lines enveloped by punchy synth, are undeniable odes to sunny SoCal. But Adam Castilla, Maya Tuttle, Justin Wagner and […]
When Briertone first started playing around southern California, they were something of a novelty: Imagine, indie-rock played with folk instruments, like … banjo and violin and mandolin. “Punk rock-meets-‘Deliverance,’” I wrote in September, 2006. Turns out the San Luis Obispo-bred quintet fronted by Adam Pasion was ahead of the curve, considering the hills indie-rock has […]
This should surprise no one who’s followed U.K. trio Band of Skulls since they arrived on this shores in 2009: Their new album “Sweet Sour” is a scorcher. Out today via iTunes (and next week in general release), the follow-up to “Baby Darling Doll Face Honey” flexes every muscle a power trio can. Guitarist Russell […]
Tips for your Tuesday: ‣ Buzz Bands LA’s monthly songwriter series continues at Lot 1 Cafe in Echo Park, topped by Chicago-bred, L.A.-based songstress Haroula Rose (pictured), freshly returned from Athens, Ga., where she was working on recording her next album. Rose figures to have some new songs, and she’ll be joined by Geronimo Getty, […]
The epic pop jam of Shadow Shadow Shade turns to jelly a little bit in the latest song from the Los Angeles sextet, “Maybe I Could Love.” The band’s 2010 debut album was described in turns as cinematic and “poperatic” – a rousing indie cocktail of Queen, Arcade Fire, Pink Floyd and the Mamas and […]
Considered in the moment, the Mark Lanegan Band’s new album “Blues Funeral” seems the perfect antidote to today’s falsetto-wielding pop stars and harmony-high folkies. Of course, Lanegan’s moment has been going on for nigh three decades now, from his early work with grunge gods Screaming Trees to collaborations with Queens of the Stone Age, the […]
“Take,” the first single from L.A. quartet Nacosta, announces itself with a swirling, serpentine guitar riff that recalls the hazy, crazy days of the Stone Roses or the Cult. Their debut EP “Wilderness City” is not all delay and distortion, though – Nacosta also dwells in the more contemplative, acoustic shadows of psych-rock, where fear […]
Mauro Remiddi may not be a new name if you’ve followed his days of scoring short films in the late ’90s or if you were a fan of British indie pop band Sunny Day Sets Fire. However, Remiddi is currently gaining a following on his own for releasing music under the moniker Porcelain Raft. After […]
First Monday of a new month, and you know what that means: new residencies. But first: ‣ Youngblood Hawke, Lady Danville, Useless Keys and Yellow Red Sparks team up for a Pablove Foundation benefit at the Satellite, whose February residents, Milo Greene, don’t get started until next Monday. Above is the video for Youngblood Hawke’s […]