L.A. singer-songwriter Terra Naomi has been giving her fans easy access to her music since 2006 when she launched her innovative "Virtual Summer Tour" from her Hollywood apartment and scored a viral hit with her song "Say It's Possible." Long before Justin Bieber came along with his feathery haircut, Naomi was the first one to self-promote original songwriting through a social media world that was just in its infancy back then. Her drive as an internet pioneer has turned her into YouTube's [...]
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Choirboy-turned-indie magician Pat Grossi arrived early last year as something of an angel from outer space, his bedroom pop under the name Active Child marrying his arching falsetto and twinkling harp to electronic textures seemingly concocted by Hal. Now he's following up his "Curtis Lane" EP with an album, "You Are All I See," due Aug. 23 on Vagrant. The full-length, produced by Ariel Rechtshaid (the Foreign Born bassist who has helmed records by We Are Scientists, Glasser and Cass McCombs, among others), recalls the orchestral splendor and ambient elements of the 1990s albums by Golden [...]
Back in the day , Sebu Simonian was lending his vocals to the anthemic rock band Aviatic, whose songs were so expansive they'd fill festival grounds. But Capital Cities — Simonian's new project with Ryan Merchant — is content just fill dancefloors. Their new "Safe and Sound" EP offers up shiny, happy electro-pop with infectious bounce and doubled vocals. Simonian and Merchant first met via Craigslist, and their initial collaborations involved writing jingles — does that sound familiar? — but in Capital Cities it's all about selling the party. Which in today's electro-pop marketplace does not [...]
In 2007, Trevor Beld-Jimenez had a handful of melodies, but didn't have any other place besides his head to keep them until the Ventura-based multi-instrumentalist was offered some studio time at Beehouse Records. Fast forward to four years later, and his resumé under the moniker Tall Tales and the Silver Lining has racked up on-stage experiences with other carefree souls such as Kimya Dawson, Little Wings and Blitzen Trapper. His fifth release on the label, "Nice to Meet You Again," reveals that that he's mastered unblemished, picturesque folk-pop, best exemplified on the upbeat summer track, "Dyed in the [...]
By: David Schultz Perhaps it's not a good idea to laud effusive praise on a psych-folk rock band's debut effort. The universal hailing of Fleet Foxes 2009 self-titled debut as a magnificent work of art couldn't help but convince Robin Pecknold and the other Foxes that they were quite unique and special, something precious to be nurtured and treasured. While lavish in its generosity, the
A couple years ago, Django James & the Midnight Squires — a young band fronted by Django Stewart — made some noise around Hollywood with their Bowie-inspired rock. Not long after, Django's older brother Samuel Stewart perked some ears himself with the elastic pop on his EP "The Beginner." Now they are brothers in arms as Nightmare & the Cat, with a self-titled EP on the way later this year. The sons of the Eurhythmics' Dave Stewart (hey, Dad has a new album coming out in August) and Bananarama's [...]
By: David Schultz At this year's South By Southwest Festival, Deer Tick shunned the customary, possibly mandatory, practice of previewing whatever new material might be looming on the horizon. In an inspired bit of PR, the Americana-tinged outfit opted to close out SXSW at Lustre Pearl with a set of Nirvana covers, billing their showcase as DeerVana. After resurrecting the gimmick with a surpr...
[This made for a nice trip into the Buzz Bands archives ; check out the two bands I featured almost five years ago ...] Five years ago Shanna Halligan arrived, with some degree of sultry splendor, as the vocalist of Bitter:Sweet , an electronic duo whose trip-hop/bossa nova stylings seemed perfect for spy movie soundtracks and slick TV commercials, if not the occasional candlelight dinner. The daughter of Blood Sweat & Tears' Dick Halligan moved on after two albums, her vocals appearing [...]
By: David Schultz With a whole host of songs conveying a modest sense of emotional urgency without the repellent tinge of desperation, Okkervil River courted a national audience who bought in to lead singer Will Sheff's open pleas for existential companionship. The Austin, Texas outfit reached an apex with 2007's The Stage Names on which Sheff masterfully engendered a sense of empathy, showing
The debut EP from Hand is titled "Antiquities," and it is in no way disparaging to point out that it feels like a museum piece. The work of L.A. songwriter Eric J. McEntee stokes the fires kindled by '70s folk and pop song artists whose lush, clarion songs are easy on the ears, if hard on the heart. McEntee himself likens "Antiquities," recorded in his home studio in Los Feliz and released in April, to an album by a long-lost artist found in a thrift store. Indeed, the warm arrangements and pristine production make songs such as "Hymn [...]
Crystal Swells Make Your Ears Bleed....In A Good Way"Mellow Californian" mp3 link: http://www.bantermm.com/tracks /CrystalSwells-MellowCaliforni an.mp3Picture a beautiful beach on a sunny day. Think of all the families, pets, children, joy, happiness and normality intertwining on those sandy recesses. Now imagine this saccharine boredom getting swamped by a tsunami of sludge, noise, waves and
Whether you find beauty in darkness or just think it's downright scary, the gothic sheen of Chelsea Wolfe's ethereal pop noir can be pretty compelling. Whereas Austra's dark disco is rooted in pop-opera and Tamyrn's brew is a mixture of psychedelia and stoicism, Wolfe's reverb-heavy doom-folk bristles with bluesy elements, her shadowy guitar riffs and intense crooning setting her apart from the dramatic Zola Jesus types. On her forthcoming album, "Ἀποκάλυψις" (pronounced Apokalypsis and out Aug. 23 via Pendu Sound Recordings), Wolfe sings, "We could be two straight lines in a crooked world," suggesting that she's just another [...]
Acoustic pop and soft electronica go hand-in-hand these days, and if there's a new L.A. band who has embraced this concept, it's Mind the Gap . The duo that formerly went by Cahn & Yang (and the Driving Force before that) expanded to a quartet once founders Greg Cahn and Alex Yang moved from the Midwest to the West Coast and met up with producers Ruwanga Samath and Oscar Doniz. Their new collaborators had a resume that included producing songs for big names such as Britney Spears, Beyoncé and Norah Jones, so it figured strong pop melodies would be [...]
By: David Schultz The Grateful Dead famously sang about Casey Jones, the loose cannon of a train conductor with a penchant for working while under the influence of serious narcotics. If you ever wondered about what went through Casey's head while he sped on down the line, White Denim's latest, D, may give some insight to the soundtrack scoring Mr. Jones' inner thoughts. Moving along at renegade
"Heavy You," the new EP from Los Angeles' Bowery Beasts , is like having a 19-minute flashback lunch. Frontman Marion Belle roars through five tracks as if he can't wait get out of his tight jeans, or commune with the ghosts of L.A. rock gods past. The Beasts' beastly but sharp garage-glam sound was cultivated by producer Ken Andrews, the On/Failure/Year of the Rabbit singer-guitarist who's worked in the studio with the likes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, A Perfect Circle and Pete Yorn. The results are a little metal, a little psychedelic, a little classic rock ... and [...]
The bio says Andrew Verner is the son of a record label manager, reared around guitars, keyboards and assorted musical gear. But synths and sequencers are his playthings now as Short Circuit , a purveyor of insistent, vocoder-addled disco that posits Los Angeles as a technicolor dreamland populated by robots. Which might not be far from the truth. Anyway, Short Circuit's "Late Night Drive" EP, which came out last month on L.A. electronica label Binary Entertainment (home to Keenhouse and Nightwaves, among others), is a 26-minute dance party all by itself. If synths were light sabres, you'd [...]
The list of past band affiliations for the guys in Handshakes reads like the Buzz Bands CD drawer in my old office — Controlling the Famous, Wintergreen, Sputnik Monroe. But that was then and this is now: Singer-guitarist Drew Mottinger and bandmates Patrick Doyle, Max Hellman, Todd Ramsey and Mark Balane display a deft touch for a poppier, West Coast strain of indie-rock on their debut EP "Cryptozoology" (which came out in April on Old Flame Records, home to Dead Confederate, Millionyoung and, now, L.A.'s Letting Up Despite Great Faults). Spry guitars and sprightly melodies — combined with [...]
Promising female trios surface every now and then, but they often seem to follow an obvious formulaic path. However, twins Paris and Amber Strother, along with Anita Bias of L.A.'s KING , have managed to step back and chill outside of the commercial limelight that fed the egos of groups such as Destiny's Child. Brimming with emotional textures that range from soft hushes to cathartic cries, KING radiates influences from Motown greats like Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder. Yet the twirling melodies and auxiliary soundscapes all three women have written, orchestrated and produced on their own are also deeply [...]
Ears of the Beholder Outdoor Show! Blackbird Blackbird / Phantom Kicks / Old Arc / Yalls / Soft Metals (DJ) El Rio Patio / June 18th / 4pm / $8... (Visit my blog for more!)
Buzz Bands
The Word Is Bond
EARVOLUTION
Nerdy Frames
Ears of the Beholder
The orchestra is dreaming
American Idol Finalists: where are they now?
