[Birthday greetings this weekend to local rockers Michael Bauer (Useless Keys) and Annie Hardy (Giant Drag). Meanwhile:] One great thing about living in this neighborhood is that if you wait long enough, festivals come to you. Like this weekend – when eight of the acts who graced stages at Coachella 2010 are playing around town. […]
[Fabrizio Moretti hits the big three-oh today. Drinks at the Little Joy?] Top 5 ways to get through your humpday: ‣ Born-again indie band Hot Hot Heat (that’s the video for “21@12,” above) kicks off its residency at the Bootleg Theater, with up-and-coming pop fanatics Chasing Kings and swoonworthy Stone Darling opening. ‣ School of […]
[Hello, hello … Anybody out there on a Monday holiday? No? Yes?] Add the Young Veins to the latest batch of groups diving into the Swell Sounds of the Sixties. Or Something Similar. The L.A.-based quintet, spearheaded by ex-Panic at the Disco dudes Ryan Ross and Jon Walker, conjoin a little British Invasion with a […]
[Birthday shout-out today to Colbie Caillat, all of 25. Enjoy your weekend, everybody.] Top 6 things asterisked on my concert calendar this weekend: ‣ Flight of the Conchords swoop into the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday to tickle your funny and musical bones. ‣ Also Sunday, Miike Snow plays the first of 2,721 sold-shows in and […]
The third day of the South by Southwest Music Festival was a full-on music orgy, including performances by Frightened Rabbit [top, at the Don’t Mess With Texas event], Metric, Billy Bragg and Dead Confederate, among many. Photographer Scott Dudelson tirelessly made the rounds, and submitted these images.
[My reference material tells me Simon Cowell turns the big Five-Oh today. I know that name from somewhere. … Here’s what’s happening somewhere else:] Fever Ray, the solo incarnation of singer Karin Dreijer Andersson of critical darlings the Knife, plays to a sold-out Fonda tonight behind its wonderfully eerie self-titled album [Above, the video for […]
[Birthday greetings go out to Matthew Sweet today. And, tonight:] Not a good thing when your band name is more memorable than your music. Portland quartet Starf*cker – who brings its modest dance-pop to the Echo tonight – is doing something about its career-assassinating name, anyway. The band just called upon its fans to participate […]
Could’ve sworn I heard DJ Paul V spin a mash-up of the classic Inspiral Carpets songs “Two Worlds Collide” [Michel Gondry’s equally classic video here] leading in to Sunday evening’s twinbill of Miike Snow and Jack Penate at the Echoplex. In pairing Penate and Miike Snow, worlds didn’t collide, but they at least bumped hips. […]
“He’s probably mad at us for listening to him,” somebody said to me as Eddie Argos preached to the choir Tuesday night at Spaceland while his Art Brut bandmates cut through the evening haze with a Stooges-worthy din. “And I salute him for that,” I replied, smiling like almost everybody else in the house. Indeed, […]
[Apologies – this installment of Tonight in L.A. was delayed by the, ahem, aftereffects of Last Night in L.A. …] It’s no secret how much Art Brut is admired around Buzz Bands HQ; we’ve even been known to affect corny English accents and say “brilliant” as we witness Eddie Argos’ shout-sung self-flagellations. The British quintet […]
