Plenty to do on this Friday: ‣ Jenny O. headlines the Skirball Center’s “Into the Night” series, with In the Valley Below and Body Parts opening. KCRW DJ Travis Holcombe will also spin on a night that also features crafts, zoo animals and, of course, the Skirball’s exhibitions. ‣ The Regeneration Tour brings Erasure’s Andy […]
Ballerina Black’s music – like the ’80s post-punkers and ’90s alt-rockers from which they draw – is the sonic equivalent to the light at the end of the tunnel. Frequently, that tunnel is dark, and for the L.A. quartet, it has been long; singer-guitarist Bobby Moynahan and various compatriots have been at it for about […]
Happy Sunday: ‣ Santa Cruz quintet Audiafauna play the Bootleg in support of their latest album “Grow Down.” [That’s their video for “Roots” above.] Tempest [see Friday’s post], Big Tree, and Body Parts [see “Doing Things”] support. ‣ Ballerina Black, Peeling Grey and Flaamingos all rally up for Part Time Punks at the Echo. ‣ […]
Our heads are spinning already … and two weeks of this to come: ‣ Madchester favorites James, with a deluxe boxed set “The Gathering Sound” (all 11 of their studio albums on USB stick, 3CDs, a DVD, vinyl and more – whew) on the way, play a pre-Coachella show at the El Rey Theatre. Elizaveta opens. […]
Prince is doing three shows tonight at as-yet-unannounced locations, and here’s what else is up: ‣ The Twilight Singers visit the Music Box behind their fifth album (and first in five years), “Dynamite Steps.” Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s and Jonneine Zapata support. ‣ Austin quartet White Denim hits the Echo behind its […]
Tonight’s top shows: ‣ Swedish songstress Lykke Li brings material from her acclaimed new album “Wounded Rhymes” to the sold-out El Rey Theatre. Johnossi opens. ‣ Asobi Seksu has a worthy new album too, “Fluorescence,” and the NYC shoegazers visit the Troubadour supported by Brahms. ‣ Exene Cervenka celebrates the release of her new album […]
Fans of the Cure, all-black wardrobes and anything Factory Records should get their dancing shoes on for Ballerina Black, the two-year-old L.A. trio that, like its forebears, turn mopery on its ears and into something cathartic. Frontman Bobby Moynahan and mates Esli Sugich (bass) and Tony Antos** (drums) have the formula down – in-your-face bass […]
Top 3 pre-Thanksgiving shows: ‣ Psych-rock feast at the El Rey Theatre, with Black Mountain and the Black Angels. ‣ Talib Kwel’s “Gutter Rainbows” album-release party at the Roxy is free with a donation of a blanket, scarf, gloves or socks. (Subject to capacity, of course.) ‣ And for something a little more chill: A […]
La Crescenta-bred rapper Kenan Bell debuts a new single today when “Good Day” hits iTunes – the B-side is track called “T.G.I.F.” that features a guest turn from Aceyalone. Bell, who headlines Spaceland tonight, has been busy finishing up his debut album “Until the Future,” which will be released in March on Sonata Cantata, a […]
[Birthday greetings go out today to Simon Le Bon … and here’s what’s in store tonight:] Critics have heaped accolades on Sunset Rubdown’s latest album “Dragonslayer,” a labrynthian blast of image-heavy art-rock. The Montreal-based ensemble, led by Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug, ends the U.S. leg of its tour tonight at the Troubadour, where tUnE-YaRdS opens. […]
