Top 3 reasons to fly your music flag on Flag Day: ‣ The loaded lineup at tonight’s We Barbarians residency at Spaceland, which includes Long Beach folk-rockers the Fling and O.C. five-piece the Union Line [pictured], as well as Sucker for Pumps. ‣ The loaded lineup at tonight’s Line and Circle residency at the Silverlake […]
[Why, it’s Prince’s birthday. Apparently they celebrated in his hometown over the weekend …] Top 5 ways to start the week that doesn’t involve wearing my Cardinals red to Dodger Stadium tonight: ‣ Thao and Mirah With the Most of All – the teaming of indie-rock songstresses Thao Nguyen and Mirah for tour on which […]
[Raising a glass to Siouxsie Sioux on her birthday …] Top 5 musical entanglements this evening: ‣ Berlin techno/house duo Booka Shade visit the Fonda Theatre behind their recently released fifth album, “More!” (which includes the single “Bad Love,” featuring vocalist Chelonis R. Jones). ‣ Onetime indie darlings Voxtrot say goodbye to L.A. – their […]
With its close crops, quick cuts and vivid imagery, the video for the title track to We Barbarians’ debut album “There’s This There’s That” brings the same emotional intensity that the Long Beach trio’s music does. The album, which is out on Cold War Kids bassist Matt Maust’s imprint, has the anthemic feel of early […]
[Happy birthday, Elton John. Meanwhile, in L.A., my head’s going to explode from the overwhelming selection of good-to-great shows tonight:] First, two indie bands with new albums I highly recommend: The Morning Benders (with Miniature Tigers and We Barbarians supporting, play the Troubadour; and the Deadly Syndrome [Chris Richard, pictured] celebrating the release of “Nolens […]
A lot can happen in a year. About this time last spring, an unsigned band out of Australia, the Temper Trap [pictured], was one of the big buzzes of the South by Southwest Music Festival. Now the London-based band with the big, anthemic sound is riding a wave of support for its debut album “Conditions.” […]
[Happy August. And happy birthday, Shirley Manson …] The members of blues-pop provocateurs Gomez live all over the place these days, and for their sixth album, “A New Tide,” a lot of the songwriting was done online. Can’t do concerts that way, though – the quintet’s national tour behind its new album visits the Wiltern […]
[Happy birthday to John Frusciante, long may you shred …] Most L.A. music fans have seen Jessica Dobson – she’s the guitarist in Beck’s live band – but not many know her as Deep Sea Diver. Signed to Atlantic Records at age 20, Dobson is quite a performer in her own right. (OC Weekly had […]
By Monica Alvarez Dennis Lluy must feel as if he has gone home again. The man behind Koo’s Arts Cafe in Santa Ana (1994-2002), who spent the past five years struggling to make a go of his non-profit in Long Beach, has come back to the Orange County seat. With his Koo’s Inc. in control […]
