New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
Nicky Flowers is back with a the follow-up to their 2018 album The Smynths. On The Smynths Return they tackle five more classics from The Smiths armed with only their Synth and a great contribrution from LA’s Echo Vessel on the EP’s closer "That Joke Isn’t Funney Anymore".
The album was released on February 14th via neo-detritus and is accompanied by the depressing video below.
The chilled 80s synth rock of Lower Dens and front person Jana Hunter creates a unique sort of rock enigma on stage, as evidenced by the gentle “Will you please have my babies” cried out by an audience member during their show at the Barracuda this past Friday.
The opening bands perfectly fit the dynamics at play within Lower Den’s aesthetic. Local jangle pop band, Slideshow, maintained a good energy and experimental sitar player and vocalist Ami Dang was transcendent. Both acts worked well with the crowd’s growing anticipation and made the venue their own.
When Lower Dens took the stage, they did not disappoint. As great as all of the band’s records are, the songs take on an entirely different form when played live. They become more vibrant, and the energy is amped up about a thousand times. The synth packs a deeper punch underneath the drums and bass when played live. Hunter also has a strong stage presence; he held all the attention in the room without demanding it or taking up too much space. New and old songs were played with the same amount of passion. “Drive” and “Ondine” were both played beautifully and received well.
The romantic dystopia that Lower Dens creates in their music is wonderfully replicated on stage, as well. Most of Hunter’s music deals with isolation in confrontation with desire and identity, and in doing so he creates a space for his audience to seek comfort they wouldn’t be able to find elsewhere. It was easy to find that comfort on stage, with warmth emanating from each member as they performed. The live performance cuts right through the bones of the loneliness the music speaks of. If this wasn’t obvious alone from their performance, the looks of comfort and quiet rapture on the faces of more committed audience members certainly provides enough evidence for it.
The quieter moments had a very ‘last call at the bar’ vibe. The band held intimate moments within each beat that gave people space to interpret the song however they wanted. “Suckers Shangi-la” was a perfect moment of catharsis. It was the soft, lonely fantasy world everyone needs to escape to once in awhile.
– Avril Carillo
Fetter (aka Jessica Tucker) recently released an emotional new single called "Shake Me". With proceeds going to The JED Foundation, a mental health nonprofit supporting teens and young adults, the single address the current emotional state of many individuals these days. Here is how Tucker puts it, "As we struggle to stay steady, "Shake Me" is a vessel for anger, aimed at mobilizing frustration so that we might better show up for each other and cultivate care every day".
You can catch Fetter on March 21st at The Hideout with Horse Lords and The Hecks. She will also be performing on March 27th at Cafe Mustache.
Photo by Annelies Verhelst
John Fatum (aka Jacksonport) has released his second single, and it is an ode to the area he grew up in called "Chicago". The video for the single was shot in his hometown of Wilmette at 5am after a fresh snowfall.
He takes his stage name from a small town in Door County Wisconsin, and clearly holds his Midwest roots in high regard. He recently left his home in Brooklyn to travel the country and release a song a month through out the year. January’s release was called "Time to Dream", and is a great start to what should be an impressive year for Fatum.
Seán Barna is an enigmatic everyman. For all the various idiosyncratic struggles he processes on new single “Eastern Junk Dancing,” the experiences of “scraping together whatever money you can to galavant up and down the last coast in a tour van,” the mental gymnastics of re-interpreting the steely resolve of Margaret Thatcher as a way to merely exist as a queer person, they’re delightfully idiosyncratic, yet immediately resonate with anyone who’s had to hustle for the dream or persevere despite feelings of inadqueacy or non-normalcy. These quotidian trials as narrative, which Barna chronicles in melancholy-yet-hopeful voice, one that evokes equal parts Destroyer and David Bowie, against a glammy, acoustic vamp, makes for a joyful bop; it’s a celebration of the radical act of staying alive, which after all, is something worth commemorating, if even for a few fleeting hours on Houston Street. Listen to it below if you’re feeling doubtful of your own starpower to remind yourself that, despite it all, you’re still here. —Connor Beckett McInerney
Andrew Robert Palmer has released a new album called "Beer & A Borrowed Pen". These are stripped down drinking songs that were recorded in a way that feels raw, intimate, and a lot of fun.
Double Bass Improvisor and Composer Jason Roebke has released a new album called Magic Timing. Jason is a staple in the local jazz scene and has been a part of several album over the last several years, but this is his first solo bass release since 2013’s Yutairidatsu.
You can catch Jason Roebke performing along side Steve Dawson for Dawson’s album release on May 8th at Old Town School of Folk Music.
White knuckle post-punk barrels down the highway on Support*, the standout 2019 effort by New York trio FREE $$$. Armed to the teeth with guitars and marked by an ear for infectious danceable grooves, the band’s first full length evokes the spirit of the Talking Heads infused with the larger-than-life bravado of early 70s experimental rock, this latter facet a product of frontman Ben Petrisor’s frothy vocal performance. Petrsior’s pipes are immediately evocative of several similarly guttural singers who precede FREE $$$ (Captain Beefheart and Joe Cocker are among the first to come to mind), the centerpiece of the outfit’s drama that puts their sound over the edge; it embeds Support* with a necessary energy that in large part makes the record feel just on cusp of spinning out of control, vocals that, alongside breakbeat percussive rides and driving guitars, exhilarate and enthrall even the passive listener. Stream it below (preferably while already seated), and catch the band at Our Wicked Lady on February 28th for the Winter Madness semi-finals.
Emma Charles continues to rise up the ranks of singer-songwriter notoriety in the LA area with the release of her new EP Connecticut, as well as the video for its title track. On "Connecticut", Charles uses her 2019 road trip from her home state of Connecticut to Los Angeles as an allegory for transitioning from the familiar to the unfamiliar, the comfortable to the unknown. The video for the track shows Charles as a child in many of her family’s home videos, but it ends with the present-day singer-songwriter smiling, showcasing her readiness to go forth into whatever comes next for her. Billboard named Charles a Best Emerging Artist of 2020, and NOW That’s What I Call Music named her a What’s Next artist, an honor given previously to acts such as Shawn Mendes and Billie Eilish. Take a look at the video for "Connecticut" below. – Will Sisskind
Pelafina has released a new EP called "Familiar Places". This is the follow-up to their 2018 EP "Sorry In Advance" and features their 2019 single, "Blue and Gold". The latest single from the EP is called "Significant Weather" and is accompanied by the Eleanor Lyon directed video below.
You can catch Pelafina at Downstairs at Subt on March 8th with Lettering, Bailey Minzenberger, and Termination Dust.
Americana Rock group Motel Breakfast recently released their self-titled debut full-length album. The album’s lead single is called "My Head" and is accompanied by the Madeline Houlihan directed video below.
This is the work Conor Brennan, Drue deVente, Jimmy Drenovsky, Mick O’Donnell, and Jesse Nasadowski.
You can catch Motel Breakfast on February 28th at Reggie’s Rock Club with Sleepy Gaucho and The Dead Bolts.
Brent Penny recently released a new single called "Equal". This is the first new music from the experimental bedroom pop artist since his 2019 debut album, Choose The Right.
You can catch Brent Penny on March 16th at Empty Bottle with 100% Cement, Forced into Femininity, and Stressica.
