Tuesday night in the city: ► Singer, multi-instrumentalist and looping wizard Emily Wells visits Largo behind her new album "Mama," which was recorded on a horse ranch in Topanga. That's her homemade video for "Passenger," above. Appearing with her: The Portland Cello Project, whose own new album "Homage" features arrangements of hip-hop songs. No kidding: Check out "Canon on a Lollipalicious Theme," their take on Lil' Wayne's "Lollipop." ► Light Asylum heads up a Check Yo Ponytail bill at the EchoPlex that includes Chelsea Wolfe , Tearist [...]
Little Tyrant Productions recently shared a video of Travis Shettel performing performing The Rock Revolution Will Not Be Televised . These days, the former Piebald frontman is hard at work on a new project, TS and the Past Haunts . It also includes members of Summer Darling and Kissing Cousins .
Thursday's toil and trouble: ► L.A. four-piece Vintage Trouble spent much of 2011 thrilling audiences in the U.K., where their retro rock 'n' soul transported Jools Holland fans back to the '50s and '60s , they opened for Bon Jovi and they earned reviews comparing singer Ty Taylor to a young James Brown. They bring their hip-shaking fury back home tonight, playing a sold-out show at the Troubadour. ► Summer Darling heads up a diverse bill at the Echo that includes Birds & Batteries , the Hunting Accident [...]
Partied out from the holidays? "Liberty St.," the gorgeous meditation from Ben Heywood, Dan Rossiter and Summer Darling , will help you take inventory. The new tune from the indie-rockers whose self-titled 2010 album offered an uncompromising look at Heywood's own battle to keep his life on the rails, is, he says, "dedicated to all our friends in this wonderful musical community." The song says the rest. ||| Live: Summer Darling plays Thursday at the Echo along with Baron Von Luxxury, Birds & Batteries, Vice Cooler and the Hunting Accident.
Something dark and immense haunts the pop that Ben Heywood (Summer Darling) masters on his new release Skills for the Long Emergency under the name Heywood . From the depths of a post rock, shoegaze haze, Heywood will just as readily produce mind-melting noise as it will dive into an obscure, dream-like melody. The former is where we find ourselves at the early moments of "Spectacular Violence", with a wild guitar riff. But Heywood is not one to stay in once place too [...]
Odd Future tend to get the credit for being L.A.'s most violent act, but consider Summer Darling frontman Ben Heywood. "Spectacular Violence" is a vicious song, from the hailstorm guitars of its opening moments to his matter-of-fact depiction of a drunken murder. It's fiction, of course, or so Heywood says: the track joins seven other narratives on Skills For the Long Emergency , his solo debut and a concept record chronicling the aftermath of "a state's war over dwindling natural resources" that's "forced the dissolution of the Union." Is it his Stephen King moment? Decide for yourself: [...]
Your picks for Tuesday: ► Buzz Bands LA's SecondTuesday songwriter night at Lot 1 Cafe goes off with Nik Freitas , the Sister Ruby Band , Ben Heywood of Summer Darling and Adeline & the Philistines . The festivities start at 9; details here . ► We Are Augustines , the new project from Pela's Billy McCarthy and Eric Sanderson who were explosive when they visited the Roxy back in May, swings back through L.A. for a show at the Bootleg Theater behind their album "Rise Ye Drunken [...]
You have to hand it to Ben Heywood. When the frontman of the L.A. indie-rock band Summer Darling found himself confronted by writer's block last year after the release if his band's well-regarded album, he didn't break out by dashing off some 3-minute pop ditties. He dug deep. He imagined a chaotic, environmentally devastated American West whose denizens fight to eke out an existence. His forthcoming solo album "Skills for the Long Emergency" embraces that concept in stark cinematic fashion. Says Heywood: "It's a compilation of eight short stories set in the western United States after a [...]
Nik Freitas , the L.A. based singer-songwriter whose new album "Saturday Night Underwater" came out in June, will headline the September edition Buzz Bands LA's SecondTuesday songwriter night at Lot 1 Cafe in Echo Park. Joining Freitas will be Marlon Rabenreither of the Sister Ruby Band and Ben Heywood of Summer Darling — each doing solo sets — and Adeline & the Philistines . Freitas, who's played in Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band and Broken Bells and lent his talents to myriad other notable artists, released his new album on Pierre de [...]
Tonight in our fair city: ► Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks , their new album "Mirror Traffic" out today, play a 6 p.m. in-store at Amoeba that will be streamed live on the Internet . ► Local psych-rockers Xu Xu Fang have some new music in the works, and a show at the Satellite with Alain Johannes and Irontom. ► Retro rockers the Allah Las continues their free residency at the Echo, supported by Jeffertiti's Nile and the Shirley Rolls ► The Damndogs , who feature [...]
Every week, we'll be offering you early picks for some of the week's best concerts. Do you think we omitted something worthwhile? Let us know in the comments! Be sure to visit our Local Concert Calendar for an expanded set of daily listings. Wooden Shjips' West Coast pre- West tour Wooden Shjips ' West Coast tour with Night Beats hits Bottom of the Hill on Thursday, [...]
Summer Darling "My Reminder" (Official Video) from summer darling on Vimeo . In which L.A.'s Summer Darling make a slasher-film-style case for not being their No. 1 fan. Which you might be anyway after hearing this song, or their self-titled album, which remains a free download and highly recommended by yours truly. The band's West Coast tour starts tonight - dates after the jump. 8/12 Chico, CA @ Cafe Coda * 8/13 Portland, OR @ The Woods * 8/14 Seattle, WA @ [...]
On Summer Darling's self-titled album, released one year ago this week, the L.A. quartet wound prickly guitars and passionate lyrics into powder-keg indie-rock that seemed loosed from the '90s. If flashbacks to the darned-near-mathematical precision of bands such as Cursive and Braid weren't reward enough, Summer Darling exuded a working-class, no-frills aesthetic that ran counter to today's gimmick-a-minute indie scene. And resolute they remain in their new video for "Son," directed by Tuan Quoc Le and Casey Levental and filmed on a downtown L.A. rooftop: A band seemingly dropped from the sky, making it hurt and then making [...]
A WEEKEND AT SILVERLAKE JUBILEE The Silverlake Jubilee this year was quite the event: two days packed full of excellent musical talent, delicious food and drink, and friends old and new. After downing a Deschutes and watching Will Wiesenfeld change his pants in the green room I saw a little bit of LA fitness phenom SWEAT SPOT before walking down to catch the end of JAIL WEDDINGS . The mood on the street was buoyant, which was strange considering that the world was supposed to end [...]
This installment of our intermittent mixtapes, The Buzzsicle, Vol. 13, is devoted to the weekend's second annual Silverlake Jubilee , which gives you a lot of bang for 5 bucks. I've compiled an hour's worth of music from 18 of the artists playing the festival. Enjoy. ||| Download: The Buzzsicle 13 (84 MB) After the jump, the tracklisting: Songs by 18 of the bands playing the 2011 Silverlake Jubilee, May 21-22. Mix curated by [...]
The Silver Lake Jubilee , the neighborhood festival that debuted last year with 50 bands on three stages (along with an army of food trucks and art exhibits), will be back at its Sunset Junction-adjacent locale May 21-22. The set-up, along Myra Avenue between Santa Monica and Sunset Boulevards, will be similar to last year's — as will the admission fee, $5. An announcement is expected later today. The music lineup probably won't be announced until after SXSW, but some of the acts I've heard are in the works are White Sea, Summer Darling, El [...]
Lou Barlow has spent the past (almost) 30 years playing indie rock's resident everyman, splitting time between Dinosaur Jr., Folk Implosion, Sebadoh, and his solo career. Everything from his endearingly scruffy appearance to his tendency to mingle with fans and hawk merch before shows betrays a sort of person-ability that sets him apart from most of his rough-looking lo-fi brethren and lends his music an especially relating quality. Friday night at the Echoplex was no exception for the indie icon, as he took time out before the show to work the merch table, selling shirts, signing autographs, taking pictures with [...]
Best of 2010 : EPs/Singles | Songs | Albums | Rawky Awards Since I've already made my feelings about rankings, best-ofs and lists in general clear, here are a few things you need to know about 2010: For those of us nerdy and foolhardy enough to keep up with Internet indie culture, there were more "relevant" albums to listen to than ever before. Thanks to a blogosphere in which any band with an MP3 can find someone to like them (and in which I caught a lot of shit [...]
WHITE ARROWS, SUPERHUMANOIDS, STONE DARLING, MODERN TIME MACHINES, VANAPRASTA, HANDS, THE FRANKS, THE HOLLOYS, LIGHT FM, FUTURE GHOST, NIGHTMARE AIR, TWILIGHT SLEEP, SUMMER DARLING, AND GLISS ON FRIDAY DEC. 10TH AT THE GLASS HOUSE, 200 WEST SECOND STREET, POMONA AND ALADDIN JR., 3161 NORTH GAREY AVENUE, POMONA. 6:00PM/ $12/ ALL AGES.
Buzz Bands
BUZZGRINDER
Fensepost
L.A. RECORD
The Rawking Refuses To Stop!
The Bay Bridged
Future Sounds
Consequence Of Sound
Pictures Of Andre 3000 As Jimi Hendrix
The Corner Laughers “Poppy Seeds”
Today I Feel I’ve Sprung A Leak
10 Free Songs You Should Download Right Now
