Light reflected brilliantly from Jack Kilmer’s wavering tremolo arm as Glimmer dipped into the Non Plus Ultra last Saturday. Oxford shoes, white kicks, and the cowboy hat that had loitered under the haze of cigarettes, drew into the swirl of stretched-out, torrid chords. The first intermission allowed a quick survey of the room: there was spilled beer and little space to move. The audience tripled in size as Golden Daze gave more than a taste of their narcotic, new self-titled debut, even revealing an unreleased track "Within" to closed eyes and mesmerized ears. The night was still young as FYF veteran and self-proclaimed "biggest trashcan" Evan Weiss (ex-Wires on Fire) stepped up with JUNK for some innocent, destructive fun.

You did miss out; but you can still catch Ben and Jacob next week as they support Fell Runner‘s March residency at the Bootleg, presented by KXLU. As always, check our Instagram @TheDeliLA for more pictures of the night. – Ryan Mo

Changing seasons have seen changing sounds in Let’s Drive to Alaska, but Christopher Garcia’s electronic post-rock outlet remains as verdant as it did in 2005, when it was just a laptop project. LDTA has warped and whittled down, with only the ardent Patrick Haag (ex-Mississippi Men) on drums, percussion, and noise while Garcia multi-tasks synths, loops, and effects—they were a quartet at one time. But through the decade of production struggles and lineup changes, quiet releases and whispered tours, comes an official debut album that breathes new purpose in songs from A Bell and A Mirror (Muerte Pop) and "Indigo Children," and some new ones, to boot. The polyrhythmic blossom "Sejatski (Brother)" is the first released single from LDTA’s 13-song LP In the Fifth House, set to release March 8, 2016. A syncopated beat and motif picks up wind, climbs and falls to the hum of pop-inflected waves—it’s a reaffirmation of the duo’s efforts, a taste of what’s to come, and a resounding sign of life in the quietude of Whittier.

Join Let’s Drive to Alaska for a release party on March 10th at Au Lac in Los Angeles with The Grigori Dance Company, as well as The Littlest Vikingand The New Octaves. – Ryan Mo, photo credit: Jacob Pulido

Despite radio-ing out from the foggy northern city of Sendai, Repeated Measures‘ tripped out, overcast garage trickles through the Internet, and it feels like he’s still here in Orange County. Guitar harmonics. Negative-range sine waves. Obfuscated sighs. Christopher Norwood’s electronic ephemera dabs UK beats with West Coast psych, coming up distinct from the Los Angeles beat scene with the Grn+Gld collective: Dirty Merlin, Kalva Won, Cicero, Chip Monk, Dripping Gems, and more. After last year’s ambient love letter Transmission, Norwood’s been teasing out his upcoming release Dark Matters over the past two months, and the wait is finally over. You can still listen to the entire album via Norwood’s Bandcamp, including our personal favorite sonic imprint "Rooftop Comedown"—contemplative, detached, poignant. – Ryan Mo

The Deli LA is proud to premiere this jagged new track from Rex Osterkamp’s dancepunk-for-funsies project REXX. "Motion" cuts about an inch deeper than the bedroom slackers of his previous album I Really Tried to Save the Day, with its visceral lyricism and kick-in-the-teeth dissonance. If Osterkamp’s description of 30 foot dads with Oakley shades doesn’t spin you, the breakneck rhythm will make sure you’re on the ground by song’s end. "Motion" is the first single from REXX’ upcoming yet-to-be-named cassette, slated to release on the fiercely DIY Danger Collective Records in May. – Ryan Mo

For the five minutes that I listened "f a n t a s y l o v e" by LUV, nothing else mattered. The tip-of-the-tongue ’80s intro, diffracting into effervescent, luminous meloromanticism left a taste half-metallic, half-citric in my mouth. It was like witnessing the birth of a musical deity, like the ones we’ve come to know through larger publications: Solange, Blood Orange, Sky Ferreira.

The bedroom project is as youthful as its sound, started by the enigmatic johnny since August 2015, with some material that s/he’d "been working on for years." Listing N’Sync, Prince, Britney Spears, and Ready for the World as major influences, johnny mixed ’90s pop, new wave and R&B inspirations with homespun technique, taking on a markedly different sound from the debut single "leave."

"Empress Of, MNDR, Kimbra, ABRA, this wave of female producers all inspired me to start taking my lil bedroom jams more seriously," johnny says.

LUV is currently planning shows in the Los Angeles area with .paperman in April; check back for more info. Until then, listen to the bedroom producer’s newest EP and hope that this is anything but a fantasy.– Ryan Mo

When the trio VUM first got together, they had an idea to get music out—in a recent interview with Impose Magazine, Jennifer Pearl thought to "throw everything on the wall to see what sticks." Perhaps to their surprise (definitely to ours), "New Girls" stuck, and stuck around for nearly eight years. While it didn’t make the cut for VUM’s debut album, we’re glad they dusted it off and (after laying new vocals) set it out as the third single to their upcoming LP Cryptocrystalline. "New Girls" carmine pop-noir casts a familiar umbral shadow that long-time listeners can trace back to Strange Attractor, complementing the hypnotic oscillations of "Katrine" and stellar frequencies of "This is the Witch", both released in 2015. 

Watch the music video to "New Girls", the latest track from VUM’s upcoming album Cryptocrystalline, out digitally on 3/25 and physically on 5/3 through their own Secret Lodge Recordings, and catch a special (FREE) single release show with them and Intimatchine on the 25th at LA MOTHER. – Ryan Mo

Hollow Ran is hi-speed cyberpunk dissonance with an unstable core reactor—a locally-sourced organic alternative for the Tera Melos-starved patrician. They’re the lost ark, the result of Nick Reinhart and Damon Che performing a fusion dance, and like their now-deceased senpai 100 Onces (rip in peace), eschew the power trio and full band. They go hard. They go fast. And they will melt your face faster than a chemical burn.

If you caught their performance last Friday at the Frida Theater—where they played to a collage of anime sequences including FLCL and Cowboy Bebop—or at Top Acid’s Anniversary show, you’ve already fallen in love and you’ll agree the duo should have scored the soundtrack to Tekkonkinkreet. But if not, get acquainted with their 2015 four-way split with Jitters, Dagrons, and MILKIS before running off to see them this month.  – Ryan Mo

2/16 Costa Mesa, CA @ La Cave (presented by Wordovmouth)

2/20 Los Angeles, CA @ DIY Fest 3

2/26 Gardena, CA @ [location tba]

2/27 Fullerton, CA @ Programme HQ

It was our first night out to Highland Park’s newest music venue The Hi Hat, but we weren’t nervous. We were excited to see the spacious hall from floor to rafter, and the change of scenery was welcome.

Beyond the decor that whispered Bootleg in our ears, there was plenty of room to move, and plenty of room to sit and enjoy the coquetish charm of Family Hahas, whose reverb-bespoke guitars and Hofner thump rang out something familiar in the audience. But Nightgown‘s Laurel Noone, with her elastic expressions and fulltone swagger, gave the half-converted pool hall a fuzzy bear hug, blasting a Marcy Playground cover while residents sipped on disco lemonade. Her performance was topped, only marginally, by the joie de vivre of experimental pop sextet Easy, whose setup gave the sound technician a run for his money. We’d be lying if we said the cookies they passed around didn’t affect our judgment. Regardless, we wrote our number on the napkin and passed it on to the bartender. Check our Instagram for photos from the night @TheDeliLA! – Ryan Mo, photos by Michelle McCausland

If music be the food of love, then consider The Golden Tongues polyamorous. That’s the name of a new project by Chris Garcia, one half of Whittier’s electronic post-rock duo Let’s Drive to Alaska. 

In the first track to Golden Tongues’ upcoming b/w, "Always On My Mind," Garcia sings in heart-on-sleeve cadence with an airy inflection that calms interjections of cardamom synths and guitar jangle. It’s a measured effort, not to mention a solo effort since last year. And while the result might not capture the naiveté of Wild Nothing or Real Estate, it does rekindle the fluttery feeling of a new crush. As with his debut EP "Extractions," Garcia is still finding his love, but takes greater pleasure exploring musical flings than brooding in alexithymic solitude.

Hang out tonight at Lot 1 Café as The Golden Tongues play a Counter Culture-curated show with Ablebody and Foliage — it’s free and starts at 8 pm. – Ryan Mo

Los Angeles folk trio WILD got started in different areas of the music industry: Kristina Antuna tracked vocals for EDM projects, while guitarists Zach DeGaetano and Tyler Thompson worked as music writers. An eventful writing session for music briefs diverged to their first single "Stay", leading the three to their self-titled debut album. Now, the band’s newly released single "Vagabond" spins bright-eyed, anthemic hooks and arpeggios with an acoustic twang as Kristina Antuna nods to a life’s path — perhaps theirs — trailing off into the unknown. We point them towards the direction of Run River North, Lumineers, and Of Monsters and Men — open-armed coastal folk pop acts that you can sing along to.

WILD are flying off for a quick minute to perform in New York, before trekking back for a pair of free shows; listen to "Vagabond" and catch WILD’s live performances below. – Ryan Mo

2/10 New York, NY @ Top of the Rock

2/11 New York, NY @ Rockwood Music Hall

2/15 Los Angeles, CA @ The Mint

2/16 Los Angeles, CA @ Dirty Laundry with Bishop (Free Show)

2/24 Los Angeles, CA @ The Redbury (Free Show)

The life of the salaryman is dead in Shinya Mizoguchi, the Japan-to-Los Angeles producer/multi-instrumentalist with roots in jazz, soul, and R&B. Saved by the grace of Low End Theory after years locked in a cubicle, Mizoguchi’s project starRo made its first digital footprints with the Vib collab single "I need you" — since then he’s taken strides with future music collective Soulection and supported Chet Faker on the rapper’s 2014 tour. Last year was especially momentous for Mizoguchi: he dropped the debut EP Emotion in February, performed with Japanese instrumental rock band toe, and flew out for a winter tour in Asia that touched Manila, Fukuoka, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Jakarta.

Enter the present: starRo’s recently released single, featuring kouhai producer/singer/songwriter One T, marks a change in direction. Says Mizoguchi in a Facebook post, "I am excited to show my love to funk, garage, pop music and 80’s synth soundscape in this song."

From slap bass to sawtooth delicacies, modulating pulsations to indelible vocals, we can honestly say: we feel that love.  

Listen to "Relapse" and watch starRo’s live band performance this Friday at The Lyric Theater with Jarell Perry, VŌX, and guest DJs Sosupersam and NALA. – Ryan Mo

Drummer Byron Pagdilao and bassist/vocalist Lee Lewallen of The Electric West haven’t missed a beat since last summer’s departure of guitarist Dee Kay. New blood keeps the band pumping, and with a fresh body on the six-string, the grave-rocking post punk heralds have released a new song for 2016. "Death Birds", with its lurching rhythms and creeping feedback, comes as an early release following 100 RSVPs to their upcoming show at The Echo.

Listen to "Death Birds" and catch The Electric West howling this Thursday at The Echo with Green Gerry as they support Figs Vision. – Ryan Mo