The Morales brothers could feel resentful. The core members of the rock quintet Astra Heights moved to L.A. over five years ago and quickly got signed to Universal Records, only to have the release of their debut album bog down in a major-label quagmire. For two years they spun their wheels, the album “Good Problems” […]
Music Go Music [download], the ’70s-channeling persona of the principals from L.A. band Bodies of Water, returns home after touring Europe behind its debut album “Expressions,” which came out in October on Secretly Canadian. In the mood for some Euro-pop? Get your ABBA to the Echo, where Wounded Lion opens. … At Spaceland, the Idaho […]
[Benefits, holiday shows, good local shows … and Moz and Metallica: Tonight has a bit of everything:] Morrissey’s show the Gibson Amphitheatre is not yet sold out; not so for Metallica’s gig at the Honda Center in Anaheim. … Staying in the M’s alphabetically, Alanis Morissette, joined by Greg Laswell, plays a Live Arts benefit […]
[Happy 40th to Flaming Lips drummer Steven Drozd. Now keep the beat while I run through tonight’s exhausting list of shows:] Give the Church credit – most bands who are still going concerns at the end of their third decade are just playing greatest-hits sets. The Australian quartet, touring behind a new album, “Untitled #23,” […]
[Happy birthday to Ed O’Brien from Radiohead. Now on with the shows …] Big doings tonight at the Sports Arena, where Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band play the first of a two-night stand; at the Palladium, where Bloc Party [pictured] holds forth; and Club Nokia, which features India.Arie. … There’s another pre-Coachella show at […]
[Nifty new sounds from L.A. bands just on my radar …] Maybe it’s the leviathan drums or maybe it’s the story in the lyrics, but “Cleopatra” makes Anglos sound like they’re more than a flavor of the moment. The big, patient anthem, the title track off the foursome’s debut EP, is the work of songwriters […]
[Happy 30th birthday to Norah Jones …] Nico Stai’s residency at Spaceland this month has been a high-energy affair, owing first to his quartet’s squeezing every ounce of juice out of his ’90s-vintage pop-rock, and second, to a lineup of buzzy opening bands that got things tingling. Tonight’s Flaunt Magazine-stamped finale (which follows Stai’s taping […]
Fol Chen, “Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune’s Made” (today, Asthmatic Kitty) – As with his previous project Bedroom Walls and its self-christened genre appellation “romanticore,” Adam Goldman remains just as much about creating mythos as music. Oh, he’s still twee as heck, and every bit the art-schooler, only cleverer now. He goes by Samuel […]
[Happy 70th birthday to Ray Manzarek, the pride of DePaul University …] Busy, busy busy: Besides the sold-out concert at the Music Box @ Fonda featuring the Airborne Toxic Event, the Henry Clay People and Rademacher, there are a couple nice record-release shows: Lemon Sun [pictured] rocks the Troubadour in support of its latest, “Run […]
Their name is barely known outside of a few small clubs, but already Local Natives are telling us all the places they’ve been – and, in doing so, all the places they intend to go. The L.A. quintet makes music that crackles with frenetic beats, agile melodies and cascading harmonies, tightly assembled in songs that […]
