A deliriously busy Tuesday: ‣ Wilco plays to a sold-out Palladium behind last September’s release of the band’s eighth album, “The Whole Love.” White Denim opens. ‣ Few purveyors of guitar-driven pop and heavenly jangle are as adept at plastering smiles on the faces of fans as Tommy Keene. The veteran songwriter released a highly […]
I’ll remember 2011 as a year with more good music than I had time to devote to it. Because my primary focus is music emerging from SoCal – and because there was so much of it this year – I found myself taking only passing interest in many hyped albums … and not finding a […]
Since Buzz Bands hasn’t yet expanded to the Land of Cheeseheads, I’m not terribly conversant in a lot of the indie music emanating from the state of Wisconsin. But what the compilation album “Wisco: A Tribute to Wilco’s Summerteeth” lacks in familiar names it makes up for in musicianship and good intentions. The tribute (not […]
Old friends took a look at Neil Young’s life on Friday night, and by the time the dinner concert honoring him as the MusiCares 2010 Person of the Year was over, there wasn’t merely a lot of love for the 64-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, but a lot of cash raised for the […]
In two short years, Everest has gone from nice-local-guys-making-warm-and-fuzzy-Americana to full-fledged touring rockers, who, through their affiliation with Neil Young’s Vapor Records, gained slots opening for the likes of Young, Wilco and My Morning Jacket and played festivals such as Bonnaroo and Bumbershoot. It’s been a period of revelation and growth for frontman Russell Pollard […]
Deastro, the nom de tune of synth-wielding 22-year-old Randoph Chabot [pictured] of Detroit, released his debut album, “Moondagger,” this week, and fans of the likes of M83 and New Order will want to have a listen. [Download, via Pitchfork: “Vermillion Plaza.”] Deastro visits Spaceland tonight, supported by Telephone Jim Jesus. … Wilco ends its L.A. […]
[Birthday greetings today for nice-guy troubadour Jason Mraz. Here’s a snapshot of tonight’s offerings:] After what seems like an interminable wait, Foreign Born’s sophomore album “Person to Person” is out today on Secretly Canadian. The L.A. quartet is eschewing a club show to celebrate the release, instead opting to play a 6 p.m. in-store at […]
[Happy birthday to Cyndi Lauper – here’s how to start your week …] Incubus has announced a surprise show tonight at the Echoplex – a $20 ticket, no lineups before 7 p.m – celebrating the the release of “Monuments and Melodies” retrospective; physical copies of the album come with a download code for 500-plus rare […]
[Why, it’s Paula Abdul’s birthday today. Isn’t that nice …] Today: A seriously busy weekend gets started with the seriously beautiful orchestral maneuvers of Grizzly Bear, who are joined by Here We Go Magic to play a (very) sold-out show at the Wiltern. … It’s also opening night at the Hollywood Bowl, where the Bowl […]
Only Saturday, Casey Meehan, one of the guys behind Chicago-based digital music distributor Rock Proper, spoke excitedly with Jay Bennett about a venture through the fund-raising website Kickstarter to finance a vinyl pressing of Bennett’s 2008 solo album, “Whatever Happened I Apologize.” Meehan, like many artists on Rock Proper, had recorded his own music at […]
