Facebook likes aren’t everything; just ask Crown Dancer. Formed in 2013 somewhere in South East LA, the five musicians Fernando Nunez, Keith Hernandez, Jesus Barron, Marlow Coloma, and AJ Dungo were more interested in crafting wildly poppy songs from their prismatic and far-flung influences: outwards from Japanese post-rock math group Toe and the British jazz-punk King Krule, to the hip hop messiah Kendrick Lamar and late soul wonder Lee Moses.

What came out from hours in the studio was a sound consciously inflected by emotive synth, crash, and fuzz. With noisy-yet-catchy compositions and high-energy lives fit to open for acts like No Age, Future Islands, and The War On Drugs, it’s almost heinous that they’re still infants in the social media scene.

But don’t take their sparse Internet presence as a sign of youth: Crown Dancer have performed with the finest underground acts in all corners of city, sounding off with the progpunk duo The Littlest Viking, glistening noise trio Take Pictures, and the Gutter Trunk hip hop muse Bizzart aka GOTHIC CHOLO.

Crown Dancer are currently working on their first EP “Leftovers”. Recorded and mixed by Dylan Wood (Pageants, Time of Wolves, ex- 60-Watt Kidd), this year-long labor of love is slated to finish by the end of June. They have plans to begin recording a full-length soon, and will make their last appearance (for a while) tomorrow at Young Lovers’ third night of residency with The Littlest Viking. Listen to the first three demos of “Leftovers” EP and see them live tomorrow night at Pehrspace! – Ryan Mo

Culture Remixed and Sumo Hair come together for the third Cutting Room experience, celebrating four years of beat coverage by Culture Remixed! Come early to clean it up at downtown LA’s Studio R with cuts from Sumo Hair, then get dirty with sets from Aztlan Quetzal, Luke Cage, Josh Spoon, Nite N Dae, Point 10, and Rob Bliss.

Julián Félix is the man behind Culture Remixed, covering the Los Angeles Beat scene, emerging Latina/o electronic artists, and independent labels around the globe. As a writer, community college professor, and moonlighting DJ/visual artist, Félix began covering Lincoln Height’s experimental hip hop and electronic music purveyor Low End Theory, and started Culture Remixed as a way to improve his DJing. He has since branched out to write and feature producers across the country and in LA’s backyard, including Open Mike Eagle, Bür Gür, and Kenny Segal. Along with his bread-and-butter, Félix also spins jazz, soul, funk, R&B, Afro beat, and more from Boyle Heights’ Radio Sombra.

Stream Culture Remixed at Radio Sombra every Saturday Night from 6-8pm PST, and check out the eclectic lineup tomorrow, free from 7pm – 1am! – Ryan Mo

Three years ago, The Deli caught a whiff of The Littlest Viking on their self-titled LP off Mountain Man Records. It was hairy. It was sweaty. It was 12 songs of start-stop rhythms and callus-inducing riffage that would make Pete & Pete beam with pride.

The labor and lust of Ruben "Emo" Cortez and "Metal" Christopher Gregory (first released in 2009) matches breakneck shredding and irregular time signatures that are as fun to play as they are to dance to, influenced by bands like Jawbreaker, Drive Like Jehu, and American Football. Fans of Giraffes? Giraffes! and Cinemechanica will feel right at home in TLV’s whirlwind of perspiration and referential music jokes.

This year, Littlest Viking is setting out to do the near-impossible: work a new album with a well-thought out pop direction. Says Cortez:
 
"While the first album was a portrait of two young punks trying to play every lick and fill we knew with ridiculous speed and the second album was a more self-aware album where we were trying to sift through the previous work, this new album is a focused collection of songs that is more methodical and self-edited than previous. We joke around that it’s going to be an emo Santana’s "Supernatural" album, which will make sense once it’s fully completed and we can finally get a callback from Michelle Branch."

And if you’re itching to see, smell, and hear these guys perform, you’re in luck: Littlest Viking will be joining Young Lovers for their third night of residency/music video premiere at Pehrspace on May 25th.

Not sold yet? Listen to "Lumpy Space Princess" off their self-titled LP below. – Ryan Mo

Punkgaze trio Tennis System, who built an empire of sound in the DC and LA scenes, released their newest video for "Ungrown," the third track from their 2014 album Technicolour Blind. Produced by and featuring Erica Terenzi of Italy’s dreampop team Be Forest, the video matches swerving guitars and sun-blistered vocals with nostalgic memories simmered in psychedelic color. This release comes two weeks shy of Tennis System’s long-awaited residency at The Echo. Catch them each Monday night in June with local alternative acts new and old, including United Ghosts, Blood Candy, Teenage Wrist, and THE FLASH HITS.

When interviewed by Free Bike Valet on what to expect for the residency, Tennis System’s Matty T said: “We’re going to be trying out new songs, playing a lot off of our latest release Technicolour Blind, some off of Teenagers, and some really old ones. Each week will be different. I don’t want to give too much away, but I can assure you won’t want to miss one. Each one builds off of the week prior.”

Watch the new video for "Ungrown" below, and check out Tennis System on Facebook for more details on their upcoming Echo residency. – Ryan Mo

Pehrspace is holding its second ever No Voltage Night to coincide with Young Lovers’ second night of residency. All acts will perform their sets acoustically with only candles to light the venue.

Young Lovers have arranged their dreamy post-rock songs especially for the night, backed by a chamber orchestra with very special guests. Diverse musician Matt Kivel, (of Princeton, ex-Gap Dream) who just finished his newest album Janus, will perform along with back-to-back girl-boy duos: folk-inspired Sacred Destinies and acoustic instrumental rock Littlest Sister. Folk singer-songwriter Sienna Moffitt will make an appearance too; stream and download her recently released demo on Bandcamp!

Come tomorrow, May 18, and enjoy an intimate evening with friends and loved ones. The show is all-ages and completely free! Doors open at 7:30 pm.

The 8th annual non-profit festival Make Music Pasadena is nearly upon us! On June 6th, over 150 acts in alternative, jazz, folk, electronic, and more will be playing in downtown Pasadena from 11am til 11pm. Over 50,000 attendees are expected for this all-ages event located right outside of restaurants, gastropubs, and boutiques. And best of all: entry is 100% free!

Make Music Pasadena will span 20 city blocks in Pasadena, offering five main stages and over 30 supporting venues from IX-Tapa to the Old Town Pub. To help festival attendees cover so much ground, MMP and DoLA have created an interactive schedule to track the performances. Get from stage to stage more quickly with free rides on the Pasadena ARTS buses all day, and listen to the live sets on board.

If you’ve been itching for an outdoors music event without breaking the bank, then this is your chance to see rising Los Angeles notables like bipolar folk act Kera and the Lesbians, South Central synthwave revivalist Autumn in June, psych-pop team Kid Bloom, art rock outfit The Moth & the Flame, and indie funk jam brothers Jr.! Performances will also include renowned acts like Kishi Bashi, How To Dress Well, Hundred Waters, Lydia Ainsworth, Sir Sly, Hidden Charms, Opus Orange, Caroline Smith, and many more to be announced, with a special set by the Pasadena Symphony/The Pasadena POPs in the evening.

Check out Make Music Pasadena’s website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram for updates and cool giveaways! – Ryan Mo, Photo Credit: Chris Molina 

It’s difficult to contemplate music absent of pop structure or influences in the age of genre-revivalism and commercialized indie. Difficult, but not impossible. Just ask Media Jeweler.

Formed in 2013 from three members of the now-defunct Moon Pearl, an “8+ piece tidal wave of uncomfortable party music” based in Irvine, the avant garde Media Jeweler has ties to Irvine’s DIY arm Acrobatics Everyday, and two of the members simultaneously create musical/sexual tension as part of Santa Ana post-hardcore band Windy. Self-described as free rock, i.e. "not grunge, not punk, not alt, not anything," Media Jeweler have confused listeners (in a good way) playing convention-defying music across California venues with freaky local acts like So Many Wizards, Roman Candles, and most recently Girlpool. In time these musical entrepreneurs hope to establish a travel agency, produce a cooking show, and create a Media Jeweler smartphone app with the end-goal of making millions by playing popular rock music. Fingers crossed.

Media Jeweler’s debut album $99 R/T Hawaii will "come out" sometime this summer. Expect to see their 7” debut single “Looking Back” in June, a song about “the feeling of thinking about the stuff you did before the moment that you are in at that moment. It has no words but that is the sort of feeling you are supposed to feel when you listen to the song.”

They’ll be playing a string of shows in San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles this week to support touring band Ava Luna and Young Lovers. Watch their album teaser below. – Ryan Mo

Coldplay cinematics, Massive Attack instrumentation, and Depeche Mode lineage. That’s a pretty good triangulation of [debut]’s sound. While songwriter/producer Gareth Thomas is the locus of the project, he’s recently expanded the lineup for full-bodied live performances. And with his recent release party at Complex LA, things are off to a great start. Older albums had a more granular texture with plenty of analog synth action, but the new Kickstarter’d album Postcards from Berlin, released April 4, features significant amounts of piano and strings, adding dynamic to the bread and butter of 80’s sounds. Thomas also contributes vocals for the first time here, along with project mainstays Cyd Claire, Angela Bartys, and Sammi Doll.

Watch the video for “More Than This,” from the new album Postcards from Berlin. – Ryan Mo

Young Lovers are a post-rock band based in Los Angeles whose music perfectly captures the infinite of the moment. Listeners can trace elements of Broken Social Scene, Mogwai, and Explosions In The Sky from their debut self-titled LP, but the band’s combination of impeccable technique and sonic exploration is more than pastiche: the ideas behind their LP have been continually refined since the band’s inception in 2011. Their debut single “Omnia” is perhaps the brightest of stars in the album, rousing feelings of sublimity by building up riff and rhythm to glorious crash and rapture.

Young Lovers will be taking up residency at Pehrspace through the second half of May, and will be joined by other talented acts throughout Los Angeles County to perform. The Deli is proud to feature these select bands to raise awareness, as well as new and exclusive performances by Young Lovers. Best of all, each night of the residency is open to all ages, and entry is only $5! See them next Saturday with a diverse cast: Brooklyn’s experimental R&B group Ava Luna, Stones Throw’s minimalist soul/R&B duo SILK Rhodes, and OC’s math-rock upstarts Media Jeweler. Get your Friday feels on with Young Lovers’ track “Omnia” below.

If you missed Liphemra’s set at The Echo with Scottish hiphop Young Fathers and indietronica savant MAS YSA, it’s okay: Liphemra announced a show at The Airliner’s Wednesday night showcase "Low End Theory" on May 27. Low End Theory has hosted some groundbreaking local hiphop crews and DJs, and recently featured THE GASLAMP KILLER as resident act. We can only hope that Liphemra will be headed in this direction, with a debut EP over the horizon that will dutifully recreate the grandeur of their live performances. Mark your calendars, and listen below to Liphemra’s recently released "feel nothing," an ominous b-side that’s haunting in its sampling and brevity. – Ryan Mo

Photo credit: Marte Solbakken

Tasia Trevino and Kenny Carranza used to work at a record store somewhere in the Central Coast of California. They began to write songs together as a sort of dare. Truth: the results were pretty damn good. So they moved to Los Angeles and teased out the rest of it, switching out band names like Black Shirts and The Siblings, just for a hot minute. But then ghostporn hit, admittedly because the two words "looked nice together." An epiphany finds Tasia, who later explains:

"[ghostporn is] not about physical intimacy with a spirit or specter, but about the indulgence of dwelling on the ecstasy and agony of memories—of loved ones, moments, places, ideas, objects, emotions, and sensations of the past."

This much is true in ghostporn’s short but poignant discography and sound. In 2010, ghostporn self-released a demo LP titled Anaphase, and had “Razorface” featured on a compilation album by Deep South Entertainment. If the lo-fi gem was a testament to their jangly past, then the EP dream songs, released on Lollipop Records in 2014, might be a vision of what’s to come. Tape-y, springy guitar arpeggios intertwine with Karen O melodies and 60’s psych swirliness, balancing ephemeral sounds with emotive lyricism. Ghostporn just finished playing a show with Brooklyn-based dreampop Shana Falana at Pehrspace, and less recently with experimental musician Liphemra at Los Globos. They’re currently writing new material for an upcoming album; no details yet, but expect to hear hints of Scott Walker, Jeff Buckley, Broadcast, and more when they premiere the songs at future shows! Listen to “la bruja” off their dream songs EP below. – Ryan Mo