As EW.com noted Tuesday when it premiered Army Navy’s video for its new single “World’s End,” the variety-show schtick is not a new angle for music videos. But director Mark Schoenecker’s episode of “Making It With Chester Felt and Viv” is exceedingly well-done, owing to performances by Martin Starr (“Freaks and Geeks”) as the show’s […]
An abundance of excellent music came my way from the SoCal community in 2011. My favorite 20 albums follow, with some special mentions/recommendations beyond that. It was an especially rich year for folk-rock and singer-songwriter albums, not so much for hard rock. Most of the nouveau electro and experimental releases left me cold. I didn’t […]
Here comes the third installment in my countdown of my favorite 20 local albums of the year. Did you miss the first two? Here they are: Nos. 20-16; Nos. 15-11.
Happy Wednesday … ‣ M83 and Anthony Gonzalez soar into the Music Box behind their new album “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.” Active Child opens the sold-out show. ‣ The Bangles visit the House of Blues behind “Sweetheart of the Sun,” their first album in eight years. ‣ Army Navy brings the bright guitar pop on […]
Army Navy’s new video for “Ode to Janice Melt” takes “talk to the hand” to a whole ‘nother level. It’s directed by Jeremy Konner (“Drunk History”) and stars Jason Ritter (“The Event”), along with Gudrun Flaherty and a cameo by “Big Bang Theory’s” Simon Helber. The song comes from their excellent sophomore album “The Last […]
A mostly local Tuesday: ‣ Army Navy, with their first national tour behind their new album “The Last Place” kicking off in October, plays the Satellite on a local bill that also includes JJAMZ and the Damn Sons. [Stream Army Navy’s album and get a download of “Ode to Janice Melt” at their website.] ‣ […]
[Happy birthday to Ida Maria, who rocked our shoes off a couple weeks ago at the Roxy …] Your midweek menu: ‣ Army Navy’s second album “The Last Place” came out this week, and the L.A. band will join U.K. quartet A Silent Film for a show at the Bootleg Theater. ‣ Malian stars Tinariwen, […]
Down to every candy-coated collision of chord and chorus, Army Navy’s “The Last Place” is one of the finest guitar-pop albums you will hear this year, the kind of record – along with, for example, Apex Manor’s “The Year of Magical Drinking” – makes power-pop sound as if it were just conceived. We previewed the […]
[Happy weekend. Just a reminder that today is the day tickets go on sale for the Hollywood Bowl season. Yeah, including the National’s show on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11.] I don’t wanna say that if you aren’t out tonight you aren’t breathing, but it is the busiest Saturday night in recent memory: ‣ Their […]
[And so SXSW ends … ] Elephant Stone (at Spill) – Strange that two names on the Saturday night calendar stirred fond memories of Britpop past. The first, Babe Rainbow (the title of a fantastic 1992 album by the House of Love), turned out to be a Vancouver DJ. Not in the mood for that, […]
