Whittier, CA-based Let’s Drive to Alaska is the ambient/experimental project of Christopher García, whose developed a soothing soundscape of gleaming, almost anthemic instrumentals that oscillate between delicate synth textures and spacey, melodic loops. The arrangements are minimal and hypnotic, each piece perpetuating a flutter of pulsing artificiality that digs deep into classic kosmische territory. Christopher will be playing with a full band tomorrow night at Huntington Beach’s Shanghai’d Room.

Here’s one which just stepped right out of the lot. Early October, Whittier’s The Littlest Viking released a second full-length, twelve tracks of a skilfully led exploration of structures, textures and rhythms, most of which are instrumental, made consumable by Ruben Cortez & Christopher Gregory’s ability to turn a math-y extravaganza into a well constructed, cohesive ensemble. Oh, yes; there’s only two of them. Meaning if that’s what you can do with effect pedals and a little elbow grease, what is everyone else up to? Another thing, their tracks have the best titles. Some are straightforward, like Give Me Motorhead and its speed-thirsty cavalcade. Some playfully misleading. Like Puppies Forever and its on-and-off shred-machine intro. Some plain improbable. Like Mary-Louise Parker Has AIDS..A Lot. And so forth. You can catch them tomorrow evening (11.15) for their residency at Hungtington Beach’s Shanghai’d Room, and then on December 7th at Kim’a Bar in Riverside.  

This is long overdue, but finally, here’s a selection of the LA region’s best emerging artists, compiled into a playlist which you can find streaming on the top right of our homepage. Featuring tracks by Gothic Tropic, Io Echo, The Peach Kings, The Burning Of Rome, Robert Delong, Pyyramids, Tashaki Miyaki and more, The Deli LA Soundcloud Channel will be updated as we go – check it out!

STREAM PLAYLIST HERE

Yellow Red Sparks, dynamic guitar/double bass/drums indie folk trio from Los Angeles, fronted by this sprightly young man that is Josh Hanson also happen to be one of the first acts I saw during this year’s CMJ. Early afternoon, upstairs at Pianos. Not the easiest crowd to work with, but thanks to some joke cracking, involvling us all in some thirty-second-singalong of ‘I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You’, and, let’s not forget the essentials, playfully swaying through their set of ‘cinematic’ country. Engaging, entertaining, upbeat; so far, they’re ticking a far few boxes to stand aside your average folkies, right? Catch them this evening (11.03) at LA’s El Cid, with Dustbowl Revival and Sad Robot. All the info’s available here.

Seattle/Los Angeles-based lo-fi garage band The Intelligence, who have certainly been around for a while (over a decade, that is), yet are still restlessly putting out records at the solid pace of an album a year since 2004 (along with a parade of EPs, singles and splits), recently released the video for their latest track ‘Hippy Provider‘. Taken off the band’s latest full-length ‘Everybody’s Got It Easy But Me‘, the single’s a short, cherpy ode to doing whatever the heck you may thingk is right, built upon a bed of delicate dissonances and swarming synth sounds. Currently on tour, sharing the stage with King Tuff in New Orleans this evening, the band will be back your way on November 8th, playing at San Diego’s The Griffin. Meanwhile, check out the video below.

Brash and relentlessly energetic, East LA’s Criminal Hygiene are a trio of snotty buds that play pop hooks in disguise, littered with loads of reverb and trenchant guitar lines. Fuzz may be the overlying element in their sound, but it’s merely an accouterment to songs that merge somewhere between blissfully ragged and straight up garage rock. Their latest self-titled LP can be described as defiant except that it also coupled with a laconic attitude, piling up one sloppy arrangement after another as if they’re unpreoccupied with the end result. But it’s also refreshingly loose in execution, trying to make sense out of different generations of rock with boundless vigor and with much more swing than its surface implies.

Guess what? We’re near the end of the year already. And assuming the Apocalypse doesn’t happen between now and December 21st, that means it’s time for some wishful thinking. To that end, The Rescues have come and delivered the first song to celebrate the end of 2012 with new single ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Better Next Year.’ Ready for your New Year’s parties everywhere, the song details relationships new and old, and even ends with a rousing verse to ‘Auld Lang Syne.’ Taken from their forthcoming release ‘Blah Blah Love And War,’ (set to be released at the start of next year) the band’s trademark 4-part harmonies are back in a big way. Should give us all something to look forward to next year. Check out the track below. – Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)

With Halloween just around the corner, the desolate, wicked sounds of synth duo Branes is the perfect soundtrack for zombie dance parties and haunted houses, but in reality their music should be enjoyed all year round. Listening to Branes’ album Perfection Condition, which was released earlier this month on Burger Records, is like running through a sci-fi movie, full of suspense, lasers and creatures from other worlds. Vocalist Ivy and her male counterpart Susan Subtract create a world that is dark and foggy, but one that is fun and animated. Considering that Branes started as a performance art project, it is not surprising that the music has a lot of movement that evokes visual characteristics. The synths are the deep and fuzzy backbone, but the sharp percussion adds some bounce to the music, while Ivy’s vocals move from sounded robotic to gargled. She has a pull and release vocal quality that makes it seem like she is telling a gripping ghost story around the camp fire. Her high energy and style of vocals bring to mind UK post punk bands like Essential Logic and Au Paris. Branes will be heading overseas to take part in Drop Dead Festival in Berlin, Germany on Halloween. – Karla Hernández 

A band that certainly needs no introduction, Silverlake darlings Local Natives are back it after a three year wait with the announcement of a new full-length. The follow up to 2010’s Gorilla Manor, Hummingbird is slated for a release date of January 29th on Frenchkiss Records. They’ve also shared a first taste of the record in the form of "Breakers", a clattering, slightly oft-kilter cut that doesn’t abandon their knack for vocal harmonies and twinkling melodic tones. 

French New Wave films usually portray fleeting moments of human connection. The relationship start like a fairly tale (when two people are infatuated with each other), then things get complicated when they get to know each other on a deeper level (boredom begins to set in), and finally, grow apart without any defining reason. Inspired by this transitory period, Jordan Corso wrote Votive Flower with his band Cotillon, a seven track EP of fuzzy garage tunes that illustrate the difficulty of maintaining a relationship in the bustling urbanity of Los Angeles. The overall core of the record is informed by garage, but a closer listen unravels much more depth than it seems at first glance – the mid-tempo drive of "I Wanna Move to Paris" has a jangly, upbeat vibe reminiscent of Teenage Fanclub; "The Fall" invokes a classic country-meets-R&B dirge with its strained guitar licks, and "The Devil Lives in Lyman" has a strong pop hook alongside its old-school reverb drench. Corson’s snotty, disaffected vocals are the centerpiece in a story that brims with awkward, lyrical quips and lovestruck clichés. A sad record indeed, but its light burns bright.

It’s not about creating this century’s musical revolution – only about imagining truly original variations for some of today’s indie scene’s most familiar themes. Once Superhumanoids are done recycling their favourite patterns of the last few decades’ catalogue, what you’re left with is ethereal garage, synthpop with a zest of deep bass, sun-kissed new wave, or for sure the most unexpected cover of The Ramones’ ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’, which, if it weren’t for the lyrics, you definitely would NOT recognise. As many improbablities as they have on their track record, the world in which they blossom is a cotton-coated dreamy bubble, in which any crazy idea lodges itself as comfortably as could do. Not many rules apply here – but one thing’s sure, Superhumanoids are unlikely to be dishing out chaotic nonsense. They know what they’re doing. You can see them every Monday throughout the month of October at The Echo, the next show being on October 8th, with locals Mr Little Jeans and Brooklyn’s Carousel.

Here’s two things about Mini Mansions. One, their guitarist is no other than Queens Of The Stone Age bassist Michael Shuman. Two, anything to do with ‘mini’ is as far from being reflective of their output as could be. 

The first notion that comes to mind, listening to just about any of their tracks, is that these three guys are very fond of The Beatles. More specifically, The Beatles’ juicy take on psychedelia. But where the Liverpudlian lads might have privileged a softer, elusive aesthetic, Mini Mansions are heading for grand and somehow stable key-driven tracks, dark & deep effusions of generously reverberated goodness and polyphonic deliriums. Add to those some vocal harmonies that will TRULY take you back to memories of the four most famous Northeners in rock&roll history, and you’re in for a lush out-of-time psych-pop treat made of many layers to venture through as you please. You can listen to their recent EP ‘Besides‘ here, and catch them at The Observatory on Friday (10.5) with Brooklynites Pegasus Warning & Twin Shadow.