[Happy July. Are we really halfway through the year already? Is it really Missy Elliott's birthday? Should I really get on with this post?] Top 5 way to celebrate Canada Day, some of which may actually involve Canadians: ☛ I've told you all about Also I Like to Rock, right? Hammer Museum, 7 p.m. Free, all-ages. Saint Motel [that's the video for the Sam Sparro remix of "Dear Dictator," above] headlines, Kitten supports. KCRW's Dan Wilcox DJs. Hope to see you there. ☛ [...]
Year Long Disaster @ Download Festival 2010 photo gallery by Ben Gibson
Just the other day I lamented the fact that legendary stoner rockers Karma to Burn have a new album on the way and we hadn't even mentioned it, and those of you who commented seemed genuinely excited to hear the news. Today we've got more reason to rejoice as you can watch the official video [...]
Shame on us; recently reunited desert/stoner rock legends Karma to Burn have a new album coming out on April 30th and we haven't even written about it yet. Behind the scenes, Appalachian Incantation is seemingly at odds with itself; the record was produced by Scott Reeder (ex-Kyuss) which is a slam dunk, but it's being released [...]
In the continued game of one-upmanship that Download and Sonisphere have been engaging in for no good reason, today Download decided to annouce thirty acts. How the hell are we supposed to come up with enough snide and bitchy comments about thirty bloody bands? I ask you. Slash The Used The Damned Things Atreyu Cancer Bats BREED77 Sweethead Porcupine Tree No Americana Senser Halestorm Nonpoint As I Lay [...]
Here's our weekly round-up of stuff I just couldn't cover properly this week: Jagat Skad The German indie pop group are back with another album. Bloomsday is another dose of their infectious hooks that should appeal to anyone with even the slightest hint of Europhilia. Jagat Skad's Myspace Year Long Disaster LA's Year Long Disaster released their new album, Black Magic: All Mysteries Revealed
So we're less than a week away from another edition of South by Southwest. Soon the entire music world will descend on Austin for a week of endless drinking, party attending, and music viewing, all while failing to get an appropriate amount of sleep. An overwhelming thought to say the least, but we figured we'd get in a few more moments of normalcy before chaos ensued by putting together another hot edition of our Friday Mixtape. This week's collection features several of this year's SXSW attendees, as well as few heavy hitters. We hope you enjoy! [...]
Year Long Disaster's brilliant sophomore LP, Black Magic: All Mysteries Revealed hit stores this week via Volcom Entertainment. To celebrate the release, the band teamed up with Spin.com to debut the MP3 for the track, "Cyclone". Grab it here. Black Magic: All Mysteries Revealed was produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Alice in [...]
Year Long Disaster's new album—as hinted by the giant black cat hanging out on its cover—is heavily influenced by Mikhail Bulgakov's masterpiece The Master And Margarita , in which a sympathetic devil reveals a tiny bit of reality to the people of Moscow. This interview by Chris Ziegler.
Check out a sampling of Year Long Disaster's new record Black Magic: All Mysteries Revealed which will be released on March 9th from Volcom. "Show Me Your Teeth" has those dirty chunky blues riffs that should catch the ears of fans of Queens of The Stone Age, Wolfmother and The Sword. The band also launched [...]
After the 2009 edition of Rocklahoma - a.k.a. the Wacken of Hair Metal - turned out to be an epic fail, it was announced that AEG live, "the world's largest producer of music festivals," had been put in charge of "revamping" the fest for the 2010 version - including helping with "talent booking." At the [...]
Year Long Disaster's 2007 self-titled debut landed them tours with Foo Fighters, The Sword and The Cult, as well as praise from critics and fans alike, including Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister (with whom they also toured), who told Kerrang! Magazine that "Year Long Disaster plays rock and roll music like rock and roll should be played." In [...]
Year Long Disaster have launched a music video generator on their website . The idea is that you pick two words from a list, and then a music video is made based on them. The first time I picked "hot" and "pets," which generated a seemingly nonsensical live video from the band. Then I tried again and picked "smile" and "teeth," which actually created something that made a little more sense. A track list for the band's upcoming effort, Black Magic: All Mysteries Revealed , which is out March 9th, and a list of tour dates for [...]

[If you're near a computer, watch Buzz Bands this evening for a live webcast, courtesy of Spaceland Recordings, of the Yeasayer/Warpaint sets from First Fridays at the Natural History Museum.] Tonight: Brooklyn quartet Yeasayer , the electro-soundscapers (soundscapists?) whose suddenly dancey sophomore album "Odd Blood" comes out Tuesday, headlines the sold-out First Fridays event at the Natural History Museum. Warpaint also makes nice in the museum's Hall of Mammals. ... Dave Davies plays the El Rey Theatre, with the rock trio that [...]

[It ain't Radiohead — which raised over half a million dollars at its Haiti relief benefit on Sunday night at the Fonda — but here's tonight abbreviated show menu:] It'll be their last SoCal appearance before Coachella — San Francisco quartet Girls [pictured in August at the El Rey Theatre], still getting all kinds of love for their creatively titled debut "Album," play the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa. ... Meanwhile, the January resident bands bid farewell in raucous fashion: Year Long Disaster's stint at Spaceland [...]
Year Long Disaster is a power rock trio made up of some names that should ring a bell. The band is fronted by Daniel Davies, son of Dave Davies of the legendary Kinks. Karma To Burn's Richie Mullins is on bass and Third Eye Blind's Brad Hargreaves occupies the drummer's stool. The band's new album, Black Magic: All Mysteries Revealed, hits stores March 9th. Take a listen to their pure rock

What's going on in LA early this week....and most of it's for free!

[Buzz Bands is on an an extended weekend. ... Quickly, here's what's up tonight:] Spoon's cozy show at El Cid (with Deep Sea Diver opening) is sold out. Spoon's new album "Transference" is out this week. ... Oren Lavie [who caught our eye with his Grammy-nominated video for "Her Morning Elegance" last year] plays the Hotel Cafe, preceding sets by Dios and Slang Chickens. ... And the residency lineups are top-shelf: Imaad Wasif supporting Year Long Disaster at Spaceland; Light FM supporting the French Semester at the Echo; [...]

I suppose one advantage in taking so long to clear out my inbox is the large selection to pick from. I'm able to weed through all the "indie" stuff and skim the cream off the top. A couple of items of note from this purge session: Kandi Coded keeps the Seattle grunge tradition alive on their debut Fell for the Gift , which is out next month. Check out their amped-up take on Johnny Cash's tribute to a lost Viet Nam vet, which is just as meaningful now. In case you weren't aware, [...]

In a way, the title of the sophomore album by Year Long Disaster makes a promise it can't keep. "Black Magic; All Mysteries Revealed" — oh, really? Forty-two minutes with one of Los Angeles' best power trios is going to settle this whole good vs. evil thing for me? Maybe fill in the blanks on a little mythology? Shed some light on my dark side? Not quite. But the album, the follow-up to 2007's self-titled debut, takes a mighty righteous swipe at it, while delivering on another promise: Singer-guitarist Daniel Davies, bassist Rich Mullins and drummer [...]