[Fresh sounds from the L.A. scene …] With the Fugazi-inspired art-rock of his former trio the Front now in his rear-view mirror, singer-guitarist Michael Bauer has entered the vortex of psychedelic rock. In the new quartet Useless Keys, Bauer is joined by” Rory Modica, Guylaine Vivarat (ex-Molecules) and Michael Regilio (ex-Green and Yellow TV). The […]
To mark the two-month anniversary of the new Buzz Bands, I’ve created a compilation CD from 18 of the songs this site has offered for download. Almost all of the tunes have been exclusive to this blog, and most of them are from SoCal artists. There’ll be more like this in the future [watch for […]
[Happy-hour nuggets as you head into your weekend …] ‣ “Chinese Democracy.” Sigh. You can compare the reviews by Chuck Klosterman and Ann Powers and draw your own conclusions. I will go listen for myself, maybe even record the stream, but I won’t set foot in a Best Buy. There’ll be a used copy at […]
[From the clipboard of an Interweb sieve:] ‣ This almost qualifies as a brazen theft: An upright bass belonging to Mike Ibarra of the local music collective Killsonic was stolen from his van in downtown L.A. about 2 a.m. Nov. 16. There’s a benefit to help replace the instrument at 8 p.m. Saturday at Edgar […]
If the Henry Clay People and Nico Stai have a sense of humor (and they might), each ought to play a cover song tonight at the second installment of Indie 103.1’s Check One Twosdays at the Echoplex. The Henry Clays could play a Neil Young tune, and Nico Stai one by Wilco — as a […]
[Music from two up-and-comers who are playing residencies this month:] Not even two years old, SoCal collective Francisco the Man has set out for the general sonic space occupied by fellow Orange Countians Limbeck. Singer-guitarist Scotty Cantino’s orchestrated, twang’d-up take on surfside pop hits me somewhere between Wilco and the Pernice Brothers, maybe in a […]
Steve Gregoropoulos is a mellow fellow in his role as keyboardist for L.A. indie-pop band Lavender Diamond. What the crowd witnessed at Sunday’s Part Time Punks Festival was the original — Gregoropoulos [above] reconvened with his bandmates in the Wild Stares. “The bands I’m in now are all quiet,” he tells me mildly. “The Wild […]
“I told the label we’d never played a carnival,” frontman Ed Reyes [above] said before the Little Ones’ homecoming show Friday night at the Echo. Well, that accounted for the balloon sculptor and the cotton candy man, not to mention the passel of extended family dotting the packed room. All that was missing was a […]
[Catching up with Morgan Kibby’s M83 tour diary — the band has now begun the U.S. leg of its tour, which ends Nov. 29 at the Music Box @ Fonda.] Chapter 16: Last week I got to spend five days at home. In Los Angeles. In my own bed. I also enjoyed two big victories. […]
The delicious intersection of tragedy and comedy in matters of heart hardly gets tastier than in the first single from L.A.’s Fascinoma. “I’m walking this road / Because you stole my car / I’m singing this song / ‘Cause you have all my CDs / You want me to believe / in your love / […]
