[Happy Wednesday, and happy birthday Wayne Coyne …] The Phenomenal Handclap Band are one of those acts you have to suspend your disbelief to like. When I saw them at the El Rey Theatre last year, I couldn’t get past their preening hippiedom, let alone dial in to their mish-mosh of disco-folk. Some people seem […]
L.A. indie rockers Radars to the Sky have been at work on a new album with producer David Newton (who’s worked with the Little Ones, the Happy Hollows and the Blood Arm, among others), but they’re not messing with the formula that made them Eastside favorites: stabbing guitars underpinned by big rhythms and synth flourishes, […]
The Happy Hollows [pictured at the Eagle Rock Music Festival] have signed to Los Angeles-based independent label Autumn Tone Records, which in November will give wider release to the trio’s self-birthed debut “Spells.” The highly regarded (in Buzz Bands land, anyway) album will be released both digitally and physically, under Autumn Tone’s new deal with […]
[Good morning. I will say one thing about “The Essential Michael Jackson” collection – it’s an excellent way to drown out the drone of the helicopters covering today’s Michael Jackson Memorial.] Kitty, Daisy & Lewis [pictured] are rockabilly throwbacks who play the kind of music I imagine the nursing staff must have been listening to […]
[Birthday shouts to Noel Gallagher of Oasis and Tim Burgess of the Charlatans …] Today: Where to start this evening’s bulging schedule except with Animal Collective? Having hit the Troubadour and the Music Box @ Fonda earlier in the year, the critical darlings now sell out the Wiltern. … The buzziest shows of the night […]
[Kylie Minogue celebrates a birthday today, and on a more modest scale I submit to you a celebratory list of fine shows tonight …] St. Vincent, the nom de tune of Annie Clark, returns to L.A. for a show at the El Rey Theatre behind her new album, “Actor.” Should be good: The Times spent […]
So much music, so little time. I’ve fallen woefully behind when it comes to acknowledging non-album releases (EPs and singles) from L.A. bands, so this edition of the Buzzsicle will make a dent in that. Buzzsicle 5 is an hour’s worth of music – 16 songs that have caught my ear in the past few […]
What do you get when you combine rock ‘n’ roll musicians, a love for trompe l’oeil and a fascination with 18th- and 19th-century portraiture? “Gooseberries,” apparently. Which is not the same as goosebumps, although L.A. photographer Sterling Andrews might have gotten some of those too in creating the images in her “album,” which will be […]
[Once around the weekend, quickly and briefly, as we work toward Perry Farrell’s big 50th birthday on Sunday …] Tonight: Hard-touring Cold War Kids have just set off on a monthlong U.S. jaunt that brings them to the Orpheum Theatre in downtown L.A., with support from fellow Long Beachers Crystal Antlers. (Side note: On April […]
[Happy birthday to young Wisconsin native Holly Brook, who was just through L.A. opening for the guy who produced her album, Duncan Sheik …] Tiny Vaudeville, the monthly variety shows that raise money for 826LA’s free writing and tutoring programs for kids, have been going great guns. Music, comedy, craziness – these nights have offered […]
