The 88 are a week into their tour with Ray Davies, and the members of the L.A. pop quartet – Keith Slettedahl, Adam Merrin, Todd O’Keefe and Anthony Zimmitti – still seem to be pinching themselves. The foursome is playing as the Kinks lead singer’s support act, as well as his backing band on the […]
Back in the early part of last decade, a group of sharp-dressed guys who called themselves the 88 started playing their roughed-up power-pop around town. Some reviews, especially of their first two albums, fingered the Kinks as an influence. The 88 may have lost the suits that were their trademark early on, but the quartet […]
[Birthday wishes to Ride’s Mark Gardener, who turns 40 on Sunday. Here’s what’s up for our weekend:] Tonight: Big night for the Airborne Toxic Event – the local quintet, just back from a European tour, is playing Disney Hall. They’ll be joined by the Calder Quartet. TATE also recently released a Midnight Ridazz-inspired video for […]
L.A. trio Nico Vega should have been spending this week gearing up for a monthlong national tour with London rockers Placebo. But it wasn’t to be. Placebo was forced to cancel its U.S. tour in August after singer Brian Molko collapsed onstage in Japan from the effects of a virus. So Nico Vega, coming off […]
The 88 have begun work on the follow-up to its third album “Not Only … But Also,” which helped get them picked up by Island Records last year. There are few finer purveyors of power-pop around, and the L.A. quartet this month is doing something of a return to its roots – a Tuesday night […]
[Notes gleaned on a gorgeous Saturday morning in L.A. …] Half of me wishes I were in Grant Park in Chicago for Lollapalooza – the other half thinks that it’s OK that I missed a rain-soaked Day 1. Of local interest: The Henry Clay People (recommended by the likes of MTV) played early and didn’t […]
In their early days, the 88 used to get compared a lot to the Kinks. Now, as they showed on last year’s “Not Only … But Also,” they’ve come into their own, and three albums into their career they can flex their musical muscles any which way. Tonight at the Key Club, the L.A. outfit […]
There are 112 albums in my “L.A. stack” for this year, and a few might have been misplaced in my job transition. Here are my favorites: 1. Darker My Love, “2” (Dangerbird) — A wide-ranging psych-rock record with the legs to take you almost anywhere. 2. Everest, “Ghost Notes” (Vapor) — Indie Americana that will […]
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 […]
