The latest scribbles in my notebook: ‣ Word on the smoking patios is that L.A. electro-soul newbies Electric Guest, the Danger Mouse-produced guys who’ve done audience-building gigs all over town this summer, are doing a deal with Downtown Records. The project, the brainchild of songwriter/composers Asa Taccone and Matthew Compton, has wrapped up an album […]
Dum Dum Girls release yet another promising track from their forthcoming album “Only In Dreams,” due Sept. 27 via Sub Pop. Progressing from their simple, jangly and heavily reverbed tunes from the previous album, “Bedroom Eyes” is another mighty stride towards more of a power-pop sound that showcases strong vocals from frontwoman Kristin Gundred, aka […]
Just in time for this year’s FYF festivities: FYF Fest and Analog V. Digital, a collaboration between former L.A. photographer Benjamin Hoste and Lomography, has come together for a nice recap of the local music scene through particular lenses used last year. Featuring photography and perspectives from musicians and fans – in addition to some […]
There are singers, and then there is Ruby Friedman. The L.A. songstress comes at you like a weather front, a thunder-and-lightning barrage of soul and nerves, capable of wrapping more drama into a phrase than most singers do in their autobiographies. Since we last visited with the flaming-haired diva, her Ruby Friedman Orchestra has completed […]
Australian pro surfer-turned-musician Ry Cuming had some great instincts when it came to trying his hand at music. Making a splash in a different industry with his raspy falsetto and soul-anchored choruses, Cuming’s songwriting outstrips those trite, beachy sounds most are used to hearing from other fellow pro surfers. His piano- and guitar-based tunes go […]
Fare for your Wednesday: ‣ Arrica Rose & the …’s celebrate the release of their new album “Let Alone Sea” with a date at the Bootleg Theater’s bar, supported by Chop Love Carry Fire. [Previously on Rose; previously on CLCF.] Also at the Bootleg, The du Bouchet Center for the Performing Arts presents a night […]
By Monica Alvarez Six years away have apparently done nothing to mellow the Butthole Surfers, or to make the cult-inspiring Texans more cohesive. Their Sunset Junction makeup show on Saturday night at the Echoplex (the venue that rescued a couple other notables from the doomed festival’s lineup) was more of an acid flashback than an […]
Ready, Art Brut? Because Los Angeles wasn’t, of course. ||| Photos by Debi Del Grande The U.K. quintet brought its winking, self-referential (and self-pillorying) garage rock to town over the weekend, and judging from their hastily arranged show early Saturday evening at the Satellite, they were all pent up with no place to go. It […]
Although it’s still 2011, Domino artist Cass McCombs has already scheduled a second album titled “Humor Risk” for release on Nov. 8 this year. Teaming up again with producer Ariel Rechtshaid, the Foreign Born bassist who has produced McComb’s “Wit’s End” and “Catacombs” in addition to albums for Glasser and We Are Scientists, the new […]
Jon Pebsworth has been known as “Pebs” since he was a kid, and it’s this moniker he chose for his newest incarnation as a scratchy-voiced troubadour. As he shows on his debut album “Sweet Surrender” (out independently Sept. 20), it’s a role he inhabits well – he has logged plenty of miles as vocalist for […]