We’re caught in the sun-drenched tape echoes of Golden Daze‘s new single "Salt", where murmurs of Brian Jonestown Massacre, Beach Fossils, and Days-era Real Estate are hitting us in the feels. Like, so hard. Songwriting duo Ben Schwab and Jacob Loeb — who have opened for acts like Jacco Gardner, Mild High Club, and Honeyblood — reveal their love for ’60s guitar jangle and endless washes of drone in this dreampop banger. 

Feel their warmth live on December 9th at The Satellite, where they’ll play with Gothic Tropic and Waterstrider. Golden Daze’s self-titled debut LP is set for release February 19 via Autumn Tone Records. – Ryan Mo, Photo: Liza Mandelup

100 Onces are arguably the most hardcore duo of Southern California’s mathrock scene. In their five years of existence, guitarist Barrett Tuttobene and drummer Richard Ray have raised money to book six DIY tours, and played the ArcTanGent Festival twice with the likes of Deafheaven, The Fall of Troy, and The Dillinger Escape Plan. During their recent Fall Europe tour, 100 Onces played a show in Russia where a dead body had washed up nearby. The venue subsequently burned down — dudes got their gear out and no one got hurt.

Sadly, last month the two announced that they are officially finished with the project, and will play their final show for their 818 homies at Wake Up, SFV. December 13th is your last chance to get angular with these guys. Will they strip down and crowdsurf for old times’ sake? Find out next Sunday. – Ryan Mo

We haven’t been able to get Elohim’s anthemic single "Bridge and the Wall" out of our heads, and neither will you. Synthesizing trillwave and electropop styles from her summer split release "She Talks Too Much"/"Xanax", this deceptive indie banger nurses your aches of liberosis with the warmth of early Passion Pit. Elohim’s sounds have tapped into the restless ears of the Internet, and the night wanderers of Los Angeles with her recent Monday night sets for The Big Pink‘s Echo residency (which slayed our hearts, tyvm). Her identity is still a mystery to us, but that’s not a concern as revealed in a recent interview with The 405.

"I am a musician first and foremost. I have been playing and making music my entire life. It is important for me, as a female, to show that. All sides of me. Well, except my face."

Elohim’s next split release "Bridge and the Wall"/"Pigments" is due out next month, January 8th, via Bay/LA tastemaker B3SCI‘s record label. – Ryan Mo

After months juggling studio time, rehearsals, and shows across California, Los Angeles darkwave trio Ghost Noise will release the follow-up to their 2013 debut This is the Next Part of Your Dream.

Our Heaven of Darkness, the full-length recorded through 2014 and produced in part with Jessica Nicole Collins (BERU)and Jöseph Solomön Calleirö, comes out this week on December 5th.

The Deli reached out to Ghost Noise about what fans new and old can expect from Our Heaven of Darkness. "We’re exploring a lot of darker tones on this album," says Gawby Moon. 

John Connolly adds, "It’s an album born out of a lot of hurt. These are the most deeply personal songs we’ve ever written."

Ghost Noise and BoredToDeath are hosting a record release show at Non Plus Ultra with Intimatchine and BERU. The evening will be complete with visual projections by Wes Johansen, vinyl grooves from KXLU’s Mukta Mohan, and delectables by Joshua Ploeg. You can also catch an early show this Thursday at The Smell with Band Aparte and Parallax Scroll. Listen to the lachesist "Farther and Fainter", the second single from Our Heaven of Darkness, below. – Ryan Mo

Get hyped, San Fernando Valley. Your city rocks. Your people rock. And to show you just how much, the lovely birds at Wake Up, San Fernando Valley collective are throwing a fest that’ll put you on the map, more so than HAIM or System of a Down did.

WSFV -IV- (wait, the fourth?) celebrates homegrown talents from the deep San Fernando Valley at the longstanding White Oak. Over a dozen local bands are billed for your 818 pleasures, including Fever The Ghost, R!OT, and The Unending Thread. Art vendors, food trucks and more, ya heard?

It goes down on a spoopy December 13th. Expect this to be a packed show; wear your Sunday suits, or whatever. – Ryan Mo

Between the heartfelt prose of her blog posts and her casual ’90s R&B mashups, the humble singer-songwriter mesmi creates temperate compositions that exemplify her singing prowess. Her name, a gift of her college friends, is intentionally undercapped to convey a mindfulness that "music and art is about much more than me."

Even so, mesmi’s voice naturally commands the attention of others. Hers is a luster that’s reminiscent of Mandopop artists like Jay Chou — her 2013 debut EP was painted with the rosy veneer of studio production which gave some young Sarah McLachlan feels. Outside of the mixing room, mesmi’s unplugged café performances make you forget about the woes of your workweek, if only for a few minutes. Her journey is neither glam nor grunge — the artisanal and artistic qualities of mesmi’s musicianship, coupled with her attentiveness to fans, brings mesmi closer to earth than you’d expect. 

Having played across the disparate and disconnected sprawl of Los Angeles for years, from Long Beach to the San Gabriel Valley, mesmi is ambivalent of the city’s sheer size.

"It can be hard to feel at home or to feel like you matter sometimes, but the fact that there’s always something going on and you can find creatives of so many different types is really special."

We couldn’t agree more. Rest assured — you do matter.

mesmi performs back-to-back shows this weekend: on Saturday at The Roar Room in La Crescenta, and Sunday at Art Share LA for So Soul Sundays. Listen to her newest released single "Gloria" below. – Ryan Mo

There’s heavy VHS nostalgia in Sextile‘s newest music video for "Visions of You", off their debut album A Thousand Hands. The band worked with Jesse Kelly, a local video editor whose contributions include music videos for Hammered Satin, Whispering Pines, and Alana Amram. The video bombards with heavy tape noise, strobe lights, and color inversions, conveying the rawness of Sextile’s homegrown sound. It’s definitely 90’s Goth Klub material. – Ryan Mo

Singer-songwriter Miya Folick is not all that strange. She grew up in Santa Ana, went to college for Theatre, and moved to New York for a short period of time. In a recent interview with Drunken Werewolf, Folick concedes that she didn’t consider pursuing music in her adolescence.

"I think I came to music fairly late. I didn’t grow up thinking I’d be a working musician or even thinking that that was in the realm of possibilities for me."

And yet "Talking with Strangers", the first song we heard Folick half-nervously perform at James Supercave‘s 11/11 show, commanded a je ne sai quoi seldom felt from rosy-eyed musicians, and even less seldom heard by Los Angeles. For those six minutes, the Echo resonated with her voice and guitar, an off-white Telecaster finger-plucked with precision — unequivocably serene. As she performed alone, it was difficult to consider Folick’s singing with embellishment, but listen to the studio version in her newly released "Strange Darling" EP.

Like the devil winds of Santa Ana, the katabatic pianos, synth dust, and guitar arpeggios fan Folick’s verses into flames, burning presumption to leave us in the ashes of wonder and awe.

"Strange Darling" is available to stream on Miya Foick’s Soundcloud and Bandcamp page. Watch Miya Folick perform at The Bootleg Theatre on December 3rd with Lena Fayre. And maybe buy some underwear, if you’re a strange darling. – Ryan Mo

The two things you need to know about multi-instrumentalist Dre Babinski: she’s idiosyncratic and particular. Older fans might remember Dre as the violinist/vocalist of Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, or as one half of the folkpop project Miracle Days. As a working musician, Dre admits that her job distanced her from creativity, and hence the local scene.

"I’ve had a pretty insulated experience. It wasn’t til quite recently that I’ve felt the courage to lead a project and begin sharing my own work, and I’m quickly finding how nice it is to be a part of a community."

Her new solo project Steady Holiday digitally released "Your Version of Me", first single off the 2016 full-length Getting There. The looming progressions, cinematic strings, and lofty Spage Age vibes toy with a confession of (co)dependence. It might be a snapshot of Dre’s musical and personal growth, but that’s not up for discussion today.

"The only evolution I can speak on is a personal one, but we’ll save that for my Oprah tell-all next week."

We’re pumped all the same to hear Dre’s Getting There next year. Steady Holiday performs tomorrow at Club Bahia with the Hunter Hunted extended family: Justin Cornwall, Sympathetic Frequencies, and Air Life. Stream "Your Version of Me", available on Bandcamp, Soundcloud, and through Infinite Best. – Ryan Mo

Realigned Silverlake quartet Sun Drug (fka Vanaprasta) want to trepanate you with the video to their newest single "Soaked". Shot in the middle of Joshua Tree, "Soaked" is the second vanguard of Sun Drug’s darker visions, following June’s digital foray "Easy In Your Attitude".

The summer departure of drummer Ben Smiley, and the counsel of Rocco DeLuca changed the band’s course from their 2011 debut Healthy Geometries. A full 180 on sound, the Sun Drug EP doesn’t uplift; it agitates. It doesn’t embrace guitar warmth; it fucks with synthesizer chills. Heavy doses of noise play, electric beats, and zipper-fuzz riffs will leave you burning through dusk. Metabolize with care.

Sun Drug’s next gig is Chris Douridas’ School Night Mondays with Caverns, Hazel English, and The Shadowboxers at Bardot. – Ryan Mo

The twinkle is strong in Ferbus, a relatively new emo-rock band of Oklahoma City transplants and Los Angeles natives. First single they ever put out, "Explain Yourself", featured halcyon instrumentals and the deep baritone voice of Henry Dillon, which strangely makes me reflect on King Krule’s absence. And the newest single "Four Word Song Title" resonates American Football angularities with opaque lyricism — a bit of a downer journey through textures dense and sparse.

Played against the backdrop of Los Angeles’ winter, it has a slight warming effect, makes the winds bite just a bit less.

Ferbus are making their way through LA’s music circuit, and they’ve already hit up DIY venues like Bridgetown and the HiFi Deli with bands such as Twin Peaks and Slow Hollows. Heads up for the release their self-titled debut December 11 through Danger Collective Records — these guys are making plans for a release party on the same date. Stream "Four Word Song Title" below. – Ryan Mo

The TÜLIPS release party last Saturday night was DIY tight — a full Doom & Bloom experience from dizzying start to shoegazing finish. L.A. Girlfriend Sydney Banta DJ’d and slipped in some new tracks from her upcoming LP Neon Grey, while San Pedro girlfriends Bombón worked the house with some frothy surf rock jams. As Angie and Taleen took the stage, they gave shoutouts to their producer Greg Katz way back in the audience, and introduced Jen Spazmaster to dance as the crowd got up close and cozy. And then TÜLIPS roared, had everyone spinning from "Vertigo" to the oscillating dregs of "Hopefully Hopefully". 

Terminal A‘s heavy synthpunk noise closed Non Plus Ultra, and we walked home feeling pretty sweaty. TÜLIPS are currently on tour; stream and purchase their new album Doom & Bloom, cassettes available via Lolipop Records. – Ryan Mo