I’m told the principals are not yet giving interviews, but since I spent some time jamming out to electric blues on MySpace this morning I thought I’d give you a heads-up about Relentless7. It’s the new project of Ben Harper, and the songs’ vintage guitar-god trappings take me back to more … er, innocent times. […]
[A quick look at a couple of releases today by local acts:] Spindrift, “The West” (Beat the World) — I’m not quite sure what parallel universe Spindrift’s music belongs in — maybe a post-apocalyptic landscape where art movies are projected across the desert sky while what remains of the flora comes to life, wielding double-neck […]
L.A. quintet the Broken West were their feel-good selves in an opening slot for the Heartless Bastards on Friday night at Spaceland — well, maybe except for the band’s new drummer, Sean McDonald. He is playing the band’s four West Coast dates this month without the use of his right arm, which he fractured in […]
For years, Jon Hershfield championed the L.A. music scene on “…Is Good,” his show on Internet portal Killradio. Now “… Is Good” is stretching its wings: Perhaps as early as next week, Hershfield will launch IsGoodMusic.com, a music and networking website that aims to serve as an online community and platform for L.A.’s burgeoning scene. […]
Like a lot of guys, Bram Inscore has relationship issues, and to listen to the first album he has made as B.R.A.M., plenty of those woes stem from breakdowns in communications. But like a like of songwriters, Inscore, curiously, has little problem communicating those miscommunications. Written and recorded over a three-year period during which the […]
The 88, “Not Only ”¦ But Also” (Island) — The third album (released last week) by these power-pop purveyors benefits from the studio help of Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds (Eric Clapton, Fall Out Boy, Madonna) and Matt Wallace (Maroon 5, Paul Westerberg). Suddenly, the 88 sounds darned near arena-ready, rather than the scrappy Kinksians who help […]
Honeyhoney are the buskers you’d bring to a bar brawl. Sure, “First Rodeo” — the debut (out Tuesday) from the L.A. songwriting braintrust of Ben Jaffe and Suzanne Santo — rings with the pop-jazz-cabaret familiarity of your friendly neighborhood lounge act. But don’t mistake them for warm-and-fuzzy banjo-toters: Whether it’s Jaffe’s shadowy storylines or Santo’s […]
The Lassie Foundation is a lot like that old flame you never quite give up on: You hear the name and you smile; a chance encounter on the street quickens your pulse; lasting romance seems only another full-length album away. In my mind — excuse me for being less dispassionate than usual here, because my […]
Jane’s Addiction brought Hollywood to downtown Los Angeles on Thursday night, 20 years late. Or maybe just in time. The fearsome L.A. foursome, in their original lineup, played a muscular 10-song set that reminded you of when some other guy named Bush was president (and before). And they played it to a crowd of 157 […]
The Weather Underground, one of the most promising young bands in the L.A. orbit, is burying its name. The quartet makes its debut — well, on the Internet, anyway — today as Red Cortez, with a new batch of songs and a new member. “It was simple,” frontman Harley Prechtel-Cortez says of the name change. […]
