Arty noise rock fans rejoice. This Friday two bands will fill the strange space that is Silver Factory Studios. Produce Produce are an amazing, interesting and fun band from northern California. They have weird & quirky pop songs buried in layers of noise & delay that are as fun as they are layered. They are playing with LA based She Saw who wrap shoegaze, art & noise up in [...]
I found this Ghost Puncher while trawling through myspace looking for decent music. I'm a huge IDM fan, ever since i was a child and i stumbled upon Aphex Twin, Lexaunculpt, Autechre, Squarepusher, Merzbow, Ubin & a million other awesome groups i have been lost in the glitch heavy, intricate production and strangely beautiful melodies. They play with my ears and make me feel more creatively stimulated. Their was a bit of a dry patch from 2000 till now, but recently people like Flying Lotus , [...]
The office is mad right now - everyone is running this way and that trying to get their schedules in order and their work completed before departing to SXSW next week. I leave Saturday morning, and I am taking a few days to get there, as I will have stops in Phoenix and Tucson before the very long drive to Austin. I'll be on the road with English band Kava Kava, whom you may remember from a sampler from several years back. If you're around, come see us! To download Volume 18, click on [...]
This Thursday the sin-famous? (sorry) Rumble continues to LA on its trek along the coast systematically leading up to its 4 Rumble Parties at SXSW in Austin. With 3 Clubs in Hollywood playing host to Rumspringa , Twin Tigers and The Beaters it is sure to be a heart melting, soul soothing and ass shaking night of romantic proportions. Rumspringa has been hailed as LA's best kept [...]
The infamous Rumble is back in San Francisco tomorrow with a line up that is sure to tantalize and terrorize your fertile listening holes. San Frans own Lilofee wil be performing alongside noise-dream pop merchants Twin Tigers and workaholics and collaborating genius's Stripmall Architecture who are soon to release new album Feathersongs for Factory Girls. Plus none other then DJ Bagel Ted. This is sure to be the best hangover party for the now [...]
Corporate shows are a weird monster. Big rock shows have been sponsored by corporations for eons, i imagine that you cannot see a Rolling Stones show or a U2 show without massive Virgin screens, or AT&T billboards. Still you don't expect to see one of Grunge's father figure bands presenting a show to celebrate the release of T-Mobiles new smart phone. Weirder still their was no mention of the phone throughout the entire show, barely a billboard or a poster even, albeit a few projected words referencing the aforementioned phone. [...]
Over the weekend their was an outstanding collection of free shows for the artistic or fashion inclined and internet savvy financial crises sufferers. On Friday the 12th at Hollywood retail experiment Space 15 Twenty their was a Valentines party at the hipster by numbers shop Urban Outfitters. Their was discounts galore and 16 year old hipster's in their brand new flannel + ironic shirt and skinny jeans combo wading through the rejected, last season clothes. But their was two things i was interested in, free alcohol and Pearl Harbor. [...]
Achieving some hype in 2006 when signing with Sargent House, Maps and Atlases set a strange tone in music. Part math, part finger tapping glory and a whole lot of whimsical pop cuteness. Check out the demos on their myspace for their soon to be announced 2010 release and you cant help but smile to their melodically intricate yet perfectly catchy new songs. It would be easy to point to other bands of now like Vampire Weekend as a reference point, merely due to the songs being melody [...]
Jaguar Love , comprised of ex Blood Brothers' shrieker Johnny Whitney and axeman Cody Votolato's new album Hologram Jams is about to be released on Fat Possum Records . The duo play one of the most infectious blends of punk, soul and grimy, dance-your-ass-off sounds we've heard in a long time. This is the fourth date of the West Coast RUMBLE Tour and opening the night are LA natives the The Rhone Occupation , bringing their brand of melodic indie pop ala Gibbard's Death Cab to 3 Clubs . Their digital EP WOULD [...]
The RUMBLE West Coast tour with Jaguar Love (at Portland's Holocene tonight) hits San Francisco TOMORROW. Jaguar Love -- comprised of ex. Blood Brothers shrieker, Johnny Whitney and axeman Cody Votolato-- make sultry and pulsing soul-soaked dance tunes that will have you standing (and then dancing) at attention in mere minutes.. it's ferocious and we love it. Also on the bill are SF electro-pop outfits Butterfly Bones and My First [...]
If ever there are two things that do not go together, its wind instruments and hardcore. At least i thought so until i witnessed San Fransisco band, Death Sentence: Panda! They are a three piece made up of heavily effected flutes, clarinets or saxophones, brutal math laden drums and occasional keyboard noise. Their singer (comparisons suck, sorry) reminds me of a fusion of Poly Styrene from X Ray Spex and Molly Seigal from Ponytail with her a-tonal screams riding high above the mix. The sound [...]
I am going to start this off with an equation. Music = Art. At least it should, it barely ever does though. Usually its more a case of greed + the need for sex + fashion + egotistical, look at me bullshit = music, thus = me sad. Any night of the week in any city in the western world your likely to find a four chord bar band singing Rolling Stones/ACDC derivative have sex with me because I'm "cool" music. "Hey check it out, vintage leather jacket, yep, got it at a [...]
Pearl Harbor's brand of California pop is reminiscent of forerunners Lush, but siblings Skylar and Piper Kaplan at ages 15 and 22 respectively, are a little young to remember the days of 90's shoegaze icons. Regardless, these Angeleanos effortlessly capture indie girl pop for 2010; with evocative dreamy tunes aligned with their laidback California roots. "Luv Goon" is a beautifully crafted simple track that I've had on repeat all day. [...]
San Francisco locals, Young Prisms takes sun-bleached California rock to another level, conjuring up dreamy and ethereal images of oceans and sky, minus the cheese factor. Part Beach House, Young Prisms are another Bay area favorite bringing more cred to the Left Coast with a haunting lo-fi sound. Tracks like "Feel Fine" and " Weekends and Treehouses" take on an almost hypnotizing quality, one perfectly suited for [...]
After an abrupt cymbal crash that opens Hawthorne, CA foursome Dios ' née Dios (Malos), new namesake album, the sound fizzles out into a swirling drone of reverb and serenity. The sound finds a low-point groove and Joel Morales sings alcohol and dumb decision go hand and hand when they're around…epileptic tunnel vision, my body hit the ground supported by a Beach Boys harmony and a through-the-rabbit-hole lead up as the song paces itself for the segue into the group's third album of progged-out, rainy-day songs that drift through a seaside carnival-like haze. Most tracks [...]
Listening to The Mantles is like rifling through the ultimate record collection, with their sound drawing influences from the 60's stalwarts like The Yardbirds to 80's garage rock. Their debut LP on Siltbreeze Records recalls the best of these decades plus a little hazy distortion thrown in to align with the wave of lo-fi grunge pop permeating the sound today. This foursome hailing from San Francisco, is already garnering favorable press and shouldn't be mixed up with Girls, that other much buzzed about bay area band specializing in this same brand [...]
Listening to The Mantles is like rifling through the ultimate record collection, with their sound drawing influences from the 60's stalwarts like The Yardbirds to 80's garage rock. Their debut LP on Siltbreeze Records recalls the best of these decades plus a little hazy distortion thrown in to align with the wave of lo-fi grunge pop permeating the sound today. This foursome hailing from San Francisco, is already garnering favorable press and shouldn't be mixed up with Girls, that other much buzzed about bay area band specializing in [...]
(photo from the band's MySpace) Remember when Laserdiscs happened? Those LP-sized shiny movie discs came to techno-trump the VHS tape into format oblivion. As we know though, it didn't work. VHS continued and shortly after the LD bubble, the DVD showed up to the party laughing all the way to the top. Los Angeles foursome Mikki and The Mauses might be helping the VHS' party cause with the release of their record, The Problem With Male Sexuality, for $9.99 which was released last September, on VHS tape via White Noise Records . [...]
On all-girl Bay Area trio Brilliant Colors ' debut LP Introducing , singer/guitarist Jess Scott evokes an aesthetic that falls somewhere between the spunky DIY gnarl of riot grrl or The Flying Nun (Records) days and the write-in-my-diary-about-you twee of say, Shop Assistants (or if you're feeling contemporary) her Slumberland labelmate-buzzers The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - especially on standouts "Absolutely Anything" and "Short Sleeves At Night." Introducing is everything is needs to be: nostalgic, taut, celebratory, grungy, blaring and even pensive at points. With each [...]
Things have been a bit slow around here to begin 2010. There's been all of the digital mail to go through from the holidays, phone calls to return, and tears shed because our Eagles got their asses handed to them by the Cowboys. We're slowly dipping our feet into the nightlife of 2010, but our big coming out party this year will be The Rumble, tomorrow night at 3 Clubs in Hollywood. The band we will be showcasing for you include: Aushua Chasing Kings Cat [...]
Stranded In Stereo
The Kills on Letterman (Video)
Download: James Blake Live Album (Unofficial)
My Funny Valentines
Lana Del Rey - Without You (Kill Paris Remix) [Dubstep]
