Fitz’ & the Tantrums’ “Breakin’ the Chains of Love” might be the best 1960s song made 40 years late. Next week, that song [downloadable here], along with “Winds of Change” , will get a proper release on Fitz’s debut EP, “Songs for a Break-Up, Vol. 1.” Already out on iTunes, it’s garagey soul that’s the […]
That was fast. Yeah Yeah Yeahs have replaced Beastie Boys as co-headliners at Lollapalooza. The Beasties were forced to cancel their upcoming tour because Adam “MCA” Yauch is undergoing treatment for a cancerous tumor in his salivary gland. ‣ Nice gig: Local rapper Kenan Bell has been tabbed as the opening act for the upcoming […]
Red Cortez and Glasser have been added to the benefit show for the fire-ravaged TacoZone truck, which I posted about earlier in the day. Kenan Bell and Robert Francis are the other principals for Friday’s shindig at Spaceland.
Tuesday afternoon update: The Mae Shi have dropped off the bill for this benefit, and a new lineup is in the works. Stay tuned. Vandals on Friday night set fire to the locally famous TacoZone taco truck stationed on Alvarado a couple blocks north of Sunset. The setback knocked the popular dispensers of late-night munchies […]
L.A. rapper Kenan Bell is currently rocking New York City – big gig on Tuesday at the Mercury Lounge – one week after releasing his first mix tape. Bell’s effort features eight songs, all remixes, originally offered by various blogs around the country, plus his take on XTC’s “Dear God.” Other artists he re-worked? Pink […]
It’s been too long since I posted a podcast, so this is Step 1 in catching up. This fourth edition of the Buzzsicle features songs from 17 L.A. artists whose names I heard in the aftermath of last month’s South by Southwest Music Festival. In my Austin wanderings, I mostly avoided L.A. bands, figuring I […]
[Birthday cheers to Steve Tyler, even if Blender magazine won’t be celebrating any more …] I’ll start with a couple of fun-sounding under-the-radar things: Canadian genre-hoppers Hot Panda [pictured] plays the early set at the Silverlake Lounge. Then there is the electro-cool Alaska in Winter at Bordello. [Sample both below]. … Rosemary’s Garden, the new […]
[A summary of my Thursday at the South by Southwest Music Festival, which, unfortunately, did not include any secret shows, one-offs or autograph sessions by the Stone Roses:] Highlights: Witnessing Grizzly Bear perform in a church, Iron Works Barbecue, finding out Britt Daniel was as enthused about That Petrol Emotion as I was; stopping to […]
Approximately 4,213 musical acts from Los Angeles will descend on Austin, Texas, next week for South by Southwest, and probably that many industry types, hangers-on and, yes, blogpersons. On the Buzz Bands show in Little Radio this morning, I will chat with some of them – including Kenan Bell, whose first single “Fruits and Vegetables” […]
[Second of two parts] The past few years, in the halcyon days when I toiled for the local newspaper, I wrote an annual L.A. music review, handicapping the bands I thought might, for one reason or another, have the stuff to break out of the local scene. Following are my Bands to Watch 2009 [and […]
