The Duke Spirit’s scorching soul-rock has always been good for a knockout punch (or three). But just because the London quintet’s new album is titled “Bruiser,” don’t think it’s a facsimile of their first two albums, “Cuts Across the Land” (2005) and “Neptune” (2008.) “Bruiser,” recorded in L.A. with Andrew Scheps, is a more raw-boned […]
[File under: Missives from the Buzz Bands Promotions Dept.:] In addition to the four excellent bands performing at the Buzz Bands LA Holiday Happening on Tuesday night at the Echo, our merch table will be offering a special on stocking-stuffers. We’ve thinned Buzz Bands’ overflowing shelves of CDs and assembled a box of promos and […]
A while back I discovered a nice series of online music downloads from Levi’s – now I get marketed some footwear to go with my jeans. A series of 10 songs (and videos) sponsored by Dr. Martens (happy 50th birthday) includes some pretty cool covers, including this one by the Raveonettes (even if the video […]
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 […]
Had to chuckle when I received the blast about the Duke Spirit’s “new” single, “Lassoo.” I think I had that track (which first appeared on the U.K. band’s “Ex-Voto” EP) on my Best-of-2007 mixes. The rivulets that carry music toward the mainstream run slowly sometimes. I’ve seen the band perform “Lassoo” live at least four […]
[Utter exhaustion vs. Saturday night at SXSW: Which will prevail?] Telekinesis (at the Parish) – Merge Records newbies Telekinesis seem to abide every diagram in the indie rock manual – its pop practices the loud/soft dynamic, a reverence for melody and a reliance on caffeinated percussion for propulsion. And as un-revolutionary as that is, the […]
The Top 10 1. M83, Saturdays=Youth” (Mute) 2. The Whigs, “Mission Control” (ATO) 3. The Futureheads, “This Is Not the World” (Nul Records) 4. Friendly Fires, “Friendly Fires” (Beggars/XL) 5. Cut Copy, “In Ghost Colours” (Modular) 6. Portishead, “Third” (Island) 7. MGMT, “Oracular Spectacular” (Columbia) 8. Mercury Rev, “Snowflake Midnight” (Yep Roc) 9. The Duke […]
The Times had a nifty preview today of “Rockville, CA,” the Internet series that debuts in 2009 on TheWB.com. Color me curious. The series, in five-minute “webisodes,” will chronicle the travails of some music scenesters surrounding the fictional Echo Park nightclub Rockville. It’s the product of Josh Schwartz (“The O.C.” and “Gossip Girl”) and is […]
