The Buzz Bands-hosted party certainly isn’t the only show in town tonight, but, well, for selfish reasons I will tout it first. It’s a night of great guitar rock at the Echoplex – doors open at 8:30, with the Broken Remotes playing at 9, Amusement Parks of Fire at 10, the Lassie Foundation [pictured last […]
[It’s Kanye West’s birthday, and I wonder what you’d get a guy who has his own line of limited-edition glow-in-the-dark sneakers.] Can’t think of another album from this year that has been a more slam-dunk mood elevator that Metric’s “Fantasies.” The Canadian-bred band, who seem to have had more homes that an Army brat (they […]
[File under “self-promotional:”] About nine months ago, to no fanfare whatsoever, I used my laptop and some change rescued from under the seats of my car to launch BuzzBands.LA, a blog that, in a manner, continued the column I did for the Los Angeles Times for seven years. I’ve been flattered by the attention and […]
[Welcome to June. We’ll celebrate by kicking off some new residencies – and by wishing the Broken West’s Ross Flournoy a happy birthday …] Oliver Future takes another big step in its morphosis by launching a residency at the Echo, and the first night will offer Useless Keys as main support. … At Spaceland, Castledoor […]
[Serving up birthday greetings today to Master P. Now for a busy night on the club circuit …] She won me as a fan as South by Southwest, and now Thao Nguyen – that’s Thao With the Get Down Stay Down to the uninitiated – hits the Hotel Cafe for a big show with Samantha […]
[Just got back into town from the desert, and darn if it doesn’t feel like the desert here …] Quickly: The buzziest show of the evening is the Whip’s unlikely slot at the Henry Clay People’s residency at Spaceland. Not exactly a good fit, bill-wise, but the Manchester, U.K., foursome [pictured] are as good as […]
[Happy birthday to Chris Tomson of Vampire Weekend …] Tonight: I think I’ve made this a monthly ritual: First Fridays at the Natural History Museum [pictured: Michael Stock DJing “in the wilds” last month]. Tonight’s fare includes talks by experts on Charles Darwin; then you can check on the evolution of music by Fool’s Gold […]
[If I had time to trawl all the Hollywouldya sites, I’d clue you in on all the Grammy parties you won’t see me at. As it is, read about some of them here. Meanwhile, it’ll be a busy weekend even without the award-dispensing, or the Garth Brooks birthday party …] Tonight: What a night to […]
Oliver Future frontman Noah Lit tries to hide the hurt in jokes and quips – he’s good at those, too – but it’s clear he’s still wounded over the decision last year by bandmates Jordan Richardson and Jesse Ingalls to join Ben Harper’s new rock quartet, Relentless 7. “I told myself all I was gonna […]
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. […]