We continue our "Best of LA Countdown", this time covering two of the artists that made our Year Ends Best of LA Poll list (a chart compiled by a jury comprised of local bloggers, music writers, promoters, record store personnel, DJs, and our writers and readers).
The Fling should definitely be checked out by lovers of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or The Jesus and Mary Chain. They play soaring, melodic rock with surging guitars, pounding drumbeats, and a psychedelic undertone. Their songwriting is intimate and a bit on the dark side. They will be playing at The Casbah in San Diego on March 1st and 10th, and The Prospector in Long Beach on March 8th.
Michael Runion‘s soothing folk pop is easy on the ears. A master of the acoustic guitar and story-telling lyrics, it’s no surprise that Runion also has worked with other talented L.A. artists. Above is a video of "The Daylight", a sweet and romantic tune featuring Elizabeth Z Berg of The Like. Visit the main website for free downloads of his music, and check out his new band The Chances, where he is 1/3 of a soft and classic sounding folk trio.
"Paint Your Lips" is the new single from local trio Wake Up Lucid off their recent EP, Sugar. What starts with a four count, ends with sex-drenched vocals, high octane guitar, and a glorious drum solo outro. The band holds true to their blend 70’s blues driven British rock and balls-to-the-wall garage lo-fi across all five new tracks, while title track "Sugar" gets my nod as another song to pay special attention to.
If you braved the cold and the rain, you may have seen them a few nights ago at Origami Vinyl, but if you stayed warm at home then have no fear – Wake Up Lucid is packing April with a residency at the Silverlake Lounge.
We continue our "Best of LA Countdown", covering every day one of the artists that made our Year Ends Best of LA Poll list (a chart compiled by a jury comprised of local bloggers, music writers, promoters, record store personnel, DJs, and our writers and readers).
Adding some Latin flare to The Deli’s emerging artist poll, Ceci Bastida‘s rise in 2010 was not unexpected. Spending the 90’s fronting punk/ska band Tijuana NO, and more recently backing Julieta Venegas, Bastida has only recently gone solo. In 2009 she was named as part of SXSW’s Top 21 Performers at the festival and followed up her success there in early 2010 with the release of her first full length solo album, VEO LA MAREA ("I See the Tide"). The album pulls sounds from all of Bastida’s influences: from her Latin roots, to a taste of ska horns, with the pop sensibilities of her time with Venegas, and a dash of electronica for good measure.
You can check out the remix edition of her album Veo La Marea, released in November, on BandCamp.
Olin and The Moon has been pretty busy since the release of their album "Footsteps" back in January. Their version of the theme song for The CW’s hit television show "One Tree Hill" airs tonight, and they are also feature and make a guest appearance in an upcoming episode! The band also played with country-punk legends Lucero last week at Echoplex, selling over 700 tickets. Their raw folk rock is diverse and has a youthful, honest feel. The more country sounding "Change Your Mind" is about writing the perfect song for a beautiful girl, with the lyrics "She’d be in that blue sundress/And Lord knows she’d be mine/And if I told her everything/I wonder if she’d stay", capturing the hearts of hopeless romantics dreaming of summer love. "Payo" embodies all the harsh realities of life and struggle, starting out with slow acoustic guitar strums and dark piano keys, and transitioning into resentment and angst.
It’s not surprising that the OATM has been chosen as an official showcasing artist for the SXSW festival this month. They will be playing at Black & Tan on Wednesday the 16th at 9:30 p.m. But before they head out to Austin, you can catch them at The Satellite(formerly Spaceland) here in L.A. on the March 13th.
We continue our "Best of LA Countdown", this time covering two of the artists that made our Year Ends Best of LA Poll list (a chart compiled by a jury comprised of local bloggers, music writers, promoters, record store personnel, DJs, and our writers and readers).
Babe-a-licious duet Hot As Sun gives our ears a tasty treat with their lo-fi ambient waves of sound. As shown above, their music resonates danceable and fun electro-pop, but is certainly far from mainstream. Although the girls do have occasional help from other members, the masterminds behind the group are Deborah Stoll and Jaime Jackson. "Come Come", their most popular song has hip-hop beats and Madonna-esque vocals, while "Only A Woman" has a smoother, transient sound. They have played venues like The Echo and Bardot as of late, and they are offering a free download of "Come Come" off of their 4 track self-titled EP.
If you mix strong bass chords with off-kilter jazz beats, shimmering keyboards, and powerful vocals, you will get Mad Planet. Add Cooper Gillespe’s style, reminiscant of Joan Jett, and Greg Gordan’s afro and you’ve got a sensational duet with contagious chemistry. They just released their EP "Gliese 581g" today, and will be playing at The Viper Room on March 9th.You can also catch them at SXSW.
The hardest rocking band on our 2010 Emerging Artist poll, Queen Caveat is starting 2011 of strong with the release of their music video for "What Built Me", which we’ve been lucky enough to exclusively debut on their behalf. Directed by accomplished AFI graduate Evan Urman, the beautifully shot, gritty, video forces itself down your throat thanks to frontwoman Lauren Little’s infectious aggressiveness. To celebrate the release of the video, Queen Caveat is offering a free download of "What Built Me" so click here. President’s Day needed a little bit more attitude anyways.
This bright eyed and bushy tailed Tulsa transplant is playing the Viper Room’s acoustic lounge Tuesday, Feb. 22nd. $5 Advanced tickets, or $7 with a cd, are available through sundaylanetickets@gmail.com.
Sunday Lane‘s debut ep, Bring Me Sunshine, is an ode to just that. The album starts off with the pop drenched diddy "How Long It Takes", but it’s apparent from the first lyric that Sunday’s voice has integrity: a gentle gruffness reeled in by a nervously sad vibrato. Looks aside, you’d have me hard pressed to deny she sounds like the little sister of Tegan and Sara. I have a feeling that while her single "Won’t Go Back Down" will get snapped up for TV usage (you might want to learn how to sing the hook now, to show off your music cred) however, the most striking song of the collection is "Heavy Heart, Heavy Hands". Perhaps I’m a sucker for sad songs but if there was any thoughts of this pop musician going through the motions like so many do, this song puts them to bed. Perfect for this rainy weekend.
We continue our "Best of LA Countdown", this time covering three of the artists that made our Year Ends Best of LA Poll list (a chart compiled by a jury comprised of local bloggers, music writers, promoters, record store personnel, DJs, and our writers and readers).
#40 is Angelenos-by-way-of-Pennsylvania Eastern Conference Champions who will be releasing their first full album of new material, Speak-ahh, this April. The band released their EP, Santa Fe, in 2009 sans former record label Suretone/Universal and have been loving the self control ever since.
Leaning towards a more introspective and melancholy version of Modest Mouse, ECC’s twist on the theme works perfectly — so well, in fact, that it landed them on the (cringe) Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack with artists like Florence and the Machine, The Black Keys, and Bat For Lashes.
If you could splice the musical genes of Coldplay, Death Cab for Cutie, and Phantom Planet into one band, you’d end up with #39 Chasing Kings. Their debut offering, The Current State of Our Future, in 2009 with rave reviews and accolades from the LA scene (including ours) and after a dedicated year of jumping on any tour they could find, and a November residency at the Silverlake Lounge, the band released the single for "Just Our Luck"/"Maybe It’s The Distance". The single teases new material in the same vein as their debut album, but shows off a new layer of refinement and confidence.
Chasing Kings will be playing tonight, Feb. 18th at PB&J in Pomona.
#38 Fight From Above released their debut album, LA Kids, in 2009 and have been going full speed since on the back of catchy, pop-minded singles like "Between The Curves". Like anything in life, bands mature and change, and when guitarist and founding member Zach Jerome left in the summer of 2010, it changed the creative trajectory of the band who placed guitarist Jeremy Miner (brother of vocalist Justin Miner) in his stead. While they’ve been compared to bands like MGMT, Hot Hot Heat, and Modest Mouse, strong hooks and the love/hate relationship with LA do all the talking on LA Kids. No word on any studio or writing activity, but they recently brought down the house at Pacific Beach’s VFW for a Valentine’s show.
Before you get all dolled and swagger’d up and hit the Sunset Strip next Friday with no destination in mind, stop by The Roxy and check out Purple Melon. These imports from the U.K. play pure rock ‘n’ roll, with an old school L.A. Guns type sound, and are always dressed to kill with looks to match. They have conquered venues like The Mint and The Viper Room, and are known to put on a hell of a live show. You won’t want to miss their first show of the year on February 24th at The Roxy next week!
We continue our "Best of LA Countdown", covering every day one of the artists that made our Year Ends Best of LA Poll list (a chart compiled by a jury comprised of local bloggers, music writers, promoters, record store personnel, DJs, and our writers and readers).
George Glass, a Los Angeles based trio, plays unevolved indie rock similar to how it was when the term "indie" all started, without the whole "hipster" aspect. Singer and guitarist Nicholas Ceglio, bassist Peter DiBiasio, and drummer Nathan Condor met in the fall of 2009, and released their 7 track, self-titled EP a year later. Ceglio sounds a bit like Elliot Smith and Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, while their music keeps the low-fi harmonies and mellow sound. They have a Tuesday night residency at LaBrie’s Lounge in Glendale starting March 1st.
Mellow rockers Kiev are knee deep in their month long residency at Bardot in Hollywood. Two more performances are planned for the 20th with The Familiars and The Colorist, and the 27th with The New Limb and Deli favorite Vanaprasta.
They recently self-released their debut EP Ain’t No Scary Folks In On Around Here. Smooth, Thom Yorke, inspired vocals flow through an album with musical arrangements that span from modern jazz to the slightly electronic overtones familiar to fans of Bonobo’s live shows. "Rational Animal – Layered Lines" sports influence from the latter, opening up with glitch drums and synth, and matured into portions of sweet melodies and aggressive breakbeat driven breaks. "Crooked Strings" starts off in a more traditional sense, building a crescendo into what most would expect a distortion filled chorus, but turns out to be a raucous mix of saxophone, jazz piano, and shaker percussion. The album is worth a listen and can be found on the band’s site.
The amazingly talented Lelia Broussard has been nominated for Rolling Stone’s "Do You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star?" cover contest. Sixteen unsigned artists are in the running, half of which will be eliminated by March 16th, and the final two will compete onstage at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. The winner will be the first unsigned act to ever appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, and will also receive a recording contract with Atlantic Records.
Her fourth independently released album, "Masquerade" has received ranting reviews. The fun, eclectic song "Satellite" is about a lovesick robot stuck in L.A., looking towards the sky, and "Hipster Bitch" is about that hot artsy Williamsburg or Echo Park girl you love to hate. Not only can Broussard hit a note, but her songwriting is witty and unapologetic. She’s offering a free download of the previously unreleased acoustic heartbreaker "Alone On A Train". Clearly having spent a good amount of time in both New York and Los Angeles, the 21 year old singer/songwriter has a lot to say, and it would be beneficial to listen.
