If Ben Gibbard got his hands on the debut EP by LA’s new indie electro duo, Sacred Caves, he’d be utterly jealous of what he would hear. Composed of longtime friends Greg Bertens and Nyles Lannon, Sacred Caves demonstrates an impressive pop sensibility and aptitude for creating delicate electro beats that could have easily made it on to a Death Cab for Cutie or Postal Service record.

From "Slomo," which is pure indie pop goodness with thoughtful layers, a steady beat, and gleaming, sentimental vocals, to the overly infectious dance party of "On the Outside," the four-song EP called "Sanctuarium" covers a lot of ground. Like Gibbard, Sacred Caves manages to create songs that have a strong sense of vulnerability and then surprises the listener with well-crafted beats that are both fuzzed out and dazzling. A more mellow and airy track called "Diamonds" wraps up the EP like a good, heartwarming bed time story. Sacred Caves is scheduled to release a full-length album later this fall. – Karla Hernández

You might remember He’s My Brother She’s My Sister from the cover of The Deli LA’s third print edition, back in 2010; if anything, that charming way Lauren Brown adds a little tap-dancing to the beat of her drums, or even their colourful outfits will ring a bell. If none of that does, time to get acquiainted with them. Fact is, after three years of hard work and as much fun, this high energy five-piece retro-blues-folk cabaret number has landed a deal with Park The Van Records to release this winter a first full-length album, ‘Nobody Dances In This Town‘; and to introduce it, here’s a little extra dose of electric guitars on the adequately named ‘Electric Love‘ which brings a touch of rock’n’roll to their rootsy aesthetic and a swinging summer flavour to our ears. Before they set off on an extensive thirty-odd dates US tour, starting in Santa Barbara on September 15th, catch them for a last summer show at LA’s California Plaza next Friday (8.24)! 

Lively local collective The Mowgli’s have been lifting the spirits of their eager disciples this whole summer. They’ve been tirelessly trekking the local circuit promoting their latest release Sound the Drum, and it all culminates with an upcoming performance at the Roxy Theatre as part of the Sunset Strip Music Festival, which takes place this upcoming weekend. Sound the Drum is still available as a full stream on their bandcamp page.

Things are looking mighty fine for indie pop outfit Youngblood Hawke, who are beginning to sense the smell of success with their spangling summer jam "We Come Running". It’s the kind of celebratory charge that’s fueled with an innocent pop panache, meant to consume your radio dial for weeks on end. Due to their recent success, their self-titled EP was pushed forward to coincide with its "single of the week" mention on iTunes. The band will be making an appearance at the Echo Park Rising event on August 25th.

San Diego-based post-hardcore band Being As An Ocean will be releasing on October 23rd its first full-length album ‘Dear G-d’ on InVogue Records, which will be available in a limited edition double 12" vinyl. They introduced this debut with its title track, a powerful crossover between metal’s clean melodic guitars and the guttural screams of the brutal trash/hardcore tradition; the preview shows off a taste for spoken word breakdowns and the vital tension of the band’s aesthetic, a beautiful contrast of soft and violent appealing to a larger audience, seeing the considerable fan base they’ve already established in the US and beyond. They’ll be on stage at San Diego’s Soma tomorrow evening (8.11) with local bands My Iron Lung and Keyes. 

Coolbreeze, released June 1st, is Luna Is Honey’s second EP (and fourth record). Under the cheeks, a fuzzy package of punk/post-punk/new wave/shoegaze influences sizzling under the California sun, with a warm energy and rollercoaster structure that switches between slow shimmering tracks and rough rapid ones, up and down and up again. The distortion & reverb de rigueur are sure present on the first couple of tracks, turning into pure instrumental freakouts punctuated with random sax spurts by ‘¿Cuál es Luna? ‘. Other than that though, hispanic flavours and smothered vocals don’t hurt a bit when it comes to brightening up their dense 80s-infused foudations. The band will be headlining a KROQ showcase of local talents on August 22nd at On The Rox (The Roxy), which will also feature Margate and Act As If.

Here’s belying the old saying ‘dont judge a book by its cover‘, for the truth is, their music is just as weird as they look on this shot. Hailing from San Diego, (although currently based in LA) The Burning Of Rome specialises in a spectacular concoction of most anything, a playful genre-busting exercise somehow coordinated at ease. Kicking off with some spacey folk-pop stretching between a Heart of Glass and the Futurama theme track, their first album then drifts onto singalong stadium rock with heavy bass, heavy drums and a pint in the air (of their own brew, please), gypsy new-wave/folk-punk, epic electro-rock and what have you; frankly, it’s a goldmine for any bored critic avid of neologisms.

‘With Us‘ will be released on September 18th (Surfdog); in the meantime though, to see them, you can join in on the SSMF fun at The Roxy on August 18th, or catch a couple of San Diego shows before the end of summer. 

Why reinvent the wheel if it spins just fine? A fierce female voice and some rolling engine-like basslines spell rock’n’roll in dirty major, loud and sexy, a great cocktail if you ask me. Well Hung Heart is Greta Valenti and Robin Davey, a high-energy duo from Orange County with a crisp sound and a taste for shreds to top it off. The basics, a little conventional perhaps, but only ’cause they don’t care as long as it hits the spot, and for sure, it does hit the spot. They released a couple of weeks ago ‘Devil‘, the video for which is featured below, first single off their upcoming debut album ‘Young Enough To Know It All‘ (announced for October). A catchy track, packed with youthful arrogance at a blues-laced crossroads between The Kills & early Stooges, which, take it or leave it, has the kick of Jet’s classics. In the wait for more, see them live at 9pm at Molly Malone’s Irish Pub tomorrow evening (8.10). – Tracy Mamoun

Travis Warren and Sarah Scarlata’s story goes back ten years, when the pair began playing with Rain Fur Rent, a San Luis Obispo indie rock quintet that disbanded in 2006. It’s only in 2011, after both drifted their own ways, that they eventually came back together and formed The LookOut Kids, as a duo led in alternation or in harmony by Warren’s lush soulful vocals (which already attracted attention as he fronted Blind Melon post-RFR) and the furious outbursts of his partner. He’s on guitar, she’s on drums, sounds familiar doesn’t it? The energy of the performance, a glorification of the riff perhaps, is a trait they share with Jack&Meg, but their influences are deep rooted in straightforward hard rock, heavy metal and glam too certainly, cooking up something big, bold and loud with striking vocal freak-outs and distorted guitars. Their first EP ‘Snitches get Stitches‘ will be out on August 14th.

You can catch The LookOut Kids tomorrow (8.10) at The Echo Country Outpost, with solo artists Daniel Hart & Sleepers Work for an evening of live music, which they’ll be kicking off at 9pm. – Tracy Mamoun

The band is called Alto, their debut self-titled (released June 26th); one girl plays the bass, another the viola and the third the violin, but if you’re imagining anything like a chamber ensemble you’re far off. These three lovely ladies, who met within the walls of UCLA back in 2009, play with the help of some accomplices on the drums, sax, guitar & mandolin, a catchy acoustic folk-pop with a gypsy touch in times and some hints of mid-20th century French chanson. Their vocal harmonies and strings none-too-overbearing or grand-sounding make for a most charming trio that tells stories of love and other troubles, all served in a conversational mode, light-hearted and genuine. Currently touring California, Jessica, Veronica & Nicolette will be back in Los Angeles this fall with a show at The Mint on September 25th. – Tracy Mamoun

After five years of a fructuous collaboration with Juan Mendez, ‘Permissions of Love‘ is Tropic of Cancer’s first output clearly established as Camella Lobo’s solo venture, a three-track EP released in May on the Italian minimal/industrial label Mannequin. If the transition is virtually seemless, the emotional generosity of this record further discredits most labels that were attributed to the band, shoegaze, goth, coldwave, you name it. What Lobo sings is as ever hard to grasp, an end would suggest the titles but the voice itself is deep drowned in reverberation; there’s only this persistent smashing beat to hold onto, but somehow that’s enough to draw one into a strangely reassuring droning atmosphere which soon enough becomes so familiar that in contrast, the silence afterwards feels like a cold and oppressive void. Next step for Camella Lobo? ‘I Feel Nothing’, a new EP announced for October (Sleeperhold). – Tracy Mamoun

It’s not only their name Wildcat! Wildcat! that’s borrowed from Ratatat, it’s a taste for the swagger of a hip-hop beat that sets them at a vital distance from the hundreds of synthpop acts flooding the indie scene every year. The name, it turns out, they actually owe to Eli Cash’s play Wildcat (The Royal Tenenbaums); yet where his project led to failure, things are looking up for this lot. No glee, no kitsch, and for that, hats off. No obsolete vernacular either, for that matter. Just three guys, some spotless keyboard arrangements and a sexy bassline, which amount to a catchy groove stuck in your head until the next takes its place. With only two singles to their name, they’ve already made quite a reputation for themselves. Recently landing a residency at The Echo, they’ll be playing the famous LA stage every Monday evening throughout the month of August.