Middle of the week: ‣ Cold War Kids gear up for the April release of its fourth album “Dear Miss Lonelyhearts” by playing the Bootleg Theater. Superhumanoids open. ‣ Sir Sly dives into the second week of its Wednesday night residency at the Echo, heading up a lineup that includes Tapioca & the Flea, Frank+Derol […]
Yellow Red Sparks sound like the folk band you’d invite home for a sit-down dinner (you know, as opposed to the ones you’d wanna slip out back and share a flask with). Which is OK; nothing sounds affected on their self-titled debut album, due Jan. 29 via Org Music. Songwriter Joshua Hanson, in concert with […]
As great as this year was on the Los Angeles music scene, 2012 was only foreplay compared to what awaits in 2013. This year’s “Bands to Watch” could go on and on and on, like one of those “whoa-oh” choruses that populated our 2012 playlists. No fewer than 22 L.A. bands are signed and ready […]
Joshua Hanson has a troubadour’s tenor that will stop you in your tracks – and it has, more than once – and since the singer-guitarist moved to L.A. from Idaho he’s been polishing his orchestral folk music as Yellow Red Sparks. With multi-instrumentalist Sara Lynn and singer-drummer Goldy, Hanson takes an economical yet cinematic approach […]
Eleven months ago, Grouplove and Milo Greene played an exhilarating night at the Hammer Museum, the most successful of 2011’s Also I Like to Rock Series. On Saturday on the main stage at Make Music Pasadena, the two L.A. indie-rock bands reprised that performance, Milo Greene’s jammy, harmony-laden folk leading into a headlining set from […]
Fine fare for your Wednesday: ‣ Portland sextet Blitzen Trapper visits the Troubadour behind their 2011 album “American Goldwing” – that’s director Brian Adrian Koch’s video for “Taking It Easy Too Long,” above. Opening are the Parson Red Heads, the former L.A. residents whose recent turn on “Portlandia” had everybody buzzing. ‣ Two influential rockers […]
The 2nd New Los Angeles Folk Fest goes off Saturday in a strange, wonderful and probably overheated place known as Zorthian Ranch in Altadena. To give you a taste of the event’s deliriously eclectic lineup – the music ranges from old-timey to fractured folk to psychedelia, with a lot in between – this edition of […]
Prince is doing three shows tonight at as-yet-unannounced locations, and here’s what else is up: ‣ The Twilight Singers visit the Music Box behind their fifth album (and first in five years), “Dynamite Steps.” Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s and Jonneine Zapata support. ‣ Austin quartet White Denim hits the Echo behind its […]
Yes, this video’s a year old now, but I’ll use it to reinforce a familiar Buzz Bands mantra: early arrival recommended. If you are subjecting yourself to the overwrought strains of Kings of Leon tonight at the Hollywood Bowl (or if you’re there for indie-rock veterans Built to Spill), get to the amphitheater early for […]
[This belated Monday missive is brought to you by my holiday weekend hangover:] Top 5 reasons to mumble “Hawl-uh-day, what hawl-uh-day?” and venture out tonight: Four promising residencies kick off: Folk-rockers Mississippi Man at the Echo (Rumspringa opens); Summer Darling (whose debut is coming out digitally Tuesday on Origami) at Spaceland (Twilight Sleep supports); the […]
