[Birthday greetings go out today to Simon Le Bon … and here’s what’s in store tonight:] Critics have heaped accolades on Sunset Rubdown’s latest album “Dragonslayer,” a labrynthian blast of image-heavy art-rock. The Montreal-based ensemble, led by Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug, ends the U.S. leg of its tour tonight at the Troubadour, where tUnE-YaRdS opens. […]
The Voyeurs debuted this video for “Things People Say” on Tuesday at the Echo – fun stuff, directed “on no budget” by John Duarte, involving a disgraced scientist and a 60-foot giantess. The song is off the band’s January release “Well Known Drag,” [My interview with them, and a download, way back when.]
[Andy Bell of Oasis, and Ride before that, turns 39 today. Cheers, mate. And in L.A. environs …] Black Francis hits town for a pair of solo acoustic dates at the Mint, with Mere Mortals [whose new music I previewed a couple of weeks ago] opening. … Let’s see: A 60-foot giantess, a discredited scientist […]
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 cheers go out Sunday to Donovan, and I hope this abbreviated rundown isn’t too late to inform your weekend plans:] Tonight, updated: Here’s where it gets loud – Spectrum, who will be joined by members MGMT, plays Club Underground at the Echo tonight, along with the Entrance Band and Abe Vigoda. … Grand Duchy, […]
[Just got back into town from the desert, and darn if it doesn’t feel like the desert here …] Quickly: The buzziest show of the evening is the Whip’s unlikely slot at the Henry Clay People’s residency at Spaceland. Not exactly a good fit, bill-wise, but the Manchester, U.K., foursome [pictured] are as good as […]
I have seen Alfred Darlington perform live and I know the colors in this video to be accurate. Or maybe I was just imagining them. Whatever, Darlington, stage name Daedelus, just released this Eli Stonberg-directed video for his song “LA Nocturn,” from a split EP he did on the new label Friends of Friends with […]
[Happy birthday to Duff McKagan, rock star, online columnist and … mountain climber.] My, what a diverse music menu you have tonight, Los Angeles. Let’s start with a couple intriguing small shows, like at the Silverlake Lounge, where Andy Friedman & the Other Failures are in from Brooklyn. Friedman is a New Yorker cartoonist-turned-poet-turned-folk singer […]
[Happy birthday to Mike Patton — who’s apparently performing at Coachella in April not with Faith No More but with beatboxer Rahzel. … No Coachella lineup announcement this morning, by the way. Stay tuned.] Big goings-on at the Echo, where the Voyeurs and Go West Young Man celebrate their album releases, and the Echoplex, where […]
The way they bond, Jonathan Hylander and Sean Johnson may as well be twin drummers of different mothers. The pair, the driving force behind the Voyeurs, were pounding the skins for different South Bay bands when they met. They went on to play in the formidable but ill-fated (and hard to type) quartet E>K>U>K before […]
