Having just debuted their first album Love to Live, the very talented Living Sisters filled Walt Disney Concert Hall 75%, though mostly with a supper club crowd, to see the 1950’s inspired quartet’s homage to Patsy Cline. The women began with a stirring rendition of ‘Walking after Midnight’. Living Sister Alex Lilly educated the crowd ‘Patsy Cline was the first women to play the Hollywood Bowl’ and other noteworthy achievements made by the famous singer. The group consists of Alex Lilly, Becky Stark, Inara George, and Eleni Mandell wore 50’s styled blue dresses because Cline’s "favorite color was blue" which was no doubt a play on words. The evening was packed with star appearances placed out of their elements. John C. Reilly sweetly crooned a duet of ‘The Wayward Wind’. After another upbeat number, he retired, for the duration of the show, to the faux living room where couches were strategically placed near the very talented backup band. There was a truly successful time capsule element to the evening. Former Garbage front woman Shirley Manson stated ‘It’s fitting that I should be here singing Patsy Cline songs for Mother’s day, since my Mom was a big fan’. She nailed ‘Never No More’, ‘Strange’, and ‘Leavin’ on your Mind’. Her voice was very powerful but she has a higher pitch voice and she seemed to be dialing it down to an unnatural level in moments unfortunately. It was glorious to watch her tackle these numbers in such a acoustically rich venue. Zooey Deschanel had the best pitch for Cline songs and sang with a beautiful lilt fall off. She opened with ‘I fall to Pieces’, which was a lacking the swooping vocal eloquence of the other girls, cutting hard on the word ‘pieces’ each time around. She evened out on ‘She’s got You’ which sounded like pure gold. ‘This next number was written by Wllie Nelson, I met him an all you can eat buffet..on Maui.’ announced Dechanel as she launched into a gorgeous rendition of ‘Crazy’. John Doe, formerly a punk rocker from the LA band X, was a complete dark horse, nailing ‘Three cigarettes in the Ashtray’ and ‘Back in Baby’s Arms’. The Living Sisters finished with ‘Poor Man’s Roses or a Rich Man’s Gold’. Their harmonies were rich and delicious sounding in this beautiful venue. The ladies best effort of the entire evening was undoubtedly ‘Sweet Dreams’ with exquisite harmonies and sparse composition. The Living Sisters give a rich, refreshing performance and enjoy sharing their spotlight with other great talents.                                                       Michele McManmon

Shooting out of the mid-west into the city of silicone comes The Violet Lights. Composed of Green Bay, Wisconsin natives Joel Nass(guitars, lead vocals) and Amber Garvey (keyboards, backing vocals), the band hits the scene with a new EP that was crafted in the heart of Los Angeles only last May. The EP has a marching undertow with bobbing bass lines, distorted keyboards, and even a little psychedelic trip here and there to tickle the ears and highten the senses. Stand out songs include their title track "Sex and Sound", and newly released single "Your Love/Not Enough". "Sex and Sound" mixes clean echoing guitars with sweet vocals and magnetic keys, while "Your Love/Not Enough", will make the hair rise on your neck with it’s salty lyrics, backing vocals, and angular drum beats and fills. Both creative and diverse, they’re only small tastes of the recipe this band has cooked up in their new EP.

With a raw and natural arrangement sure to keep you interested, Sex and Sound will hit iTunes and other music stores on May 24th.

You can stream portions of ‘Sex and Sound’ or preorder it on band’s website.

-Mary Broadbent
 

White Apple Tree has opened for Ghostland Observatory, Starfuckker, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and will rock the stage for electro pioneers Dirty Vegas at the Echoplex in Los Angeles on Friday, May 6 for their new Electric Love Tour. This bands pop rock melodies and poetic lyrics will put a smile on your face and fill your day with sunshine. Their next LP, Smooth Jaws, will be out by the end of summer. To tide hungry fans over for now, the new single “Circles” will be available May 17.  Michele McManmon

 Check out "Broken Bones" Video        

You heard right! Indie pop darlings The Submarines — if their music strikes you familiar, you might have heard them in an iPhone commercial — are playing the Troubadour with Deli favorites Pepper Rabbit and White Sea on Saturday, May 7th and we’re giving away a pair of tickets.

How do you enter to win? It’s a two step process:

1) Follow The Deli LA on Twitter (we’re relaunching our Twitter and will be packing it with juicy bite-sized music news).

2) Tweet "I love @TheDeliLA and @TheSubmarines <3".

The only catch is you have to be 18 years or older. A winner will be randomly selected and can pick up their tickets at willcall with a valid ID.

-Angelo Lorenzo

Dengue Fever, is burning up critics and fans with their Indie-Cambodian Pop stylings on their latest release Cannibal Courtship. Mixing a LA surf sounds with traditional Cambodian music is ironic, but even moreso when it works, making this their most co-hesive album to date. This six-peice LA based band just finished up their west coast tour and are heading to Europe this summer. To celebrate their new release and tour, they are playing 3 free shows, 6/4 at the Do-Division Fest, Damen Stage in Chicago, 6/18 Sat off the 405 at The Getty Center in LA, and Lincoln Center Out of Doors 2011, Damrosch Park, Bandshell, Manhattan, NYC.  

Michele McManmon

USC based indie band sensation Y Luv recently had their thumping record release party at Silverlake Lounge. Bassist Luke Hanna entertained the crowd by dancing "Coyote Ugly style" on a table during their song "Milo Greene" according to singer Freddy Janney. The two year old group has their next show May 14th at The 3 of Clubs for the New Limbs residency. Being fans of local favs Foster the People and Superhumaniods gives an inkling of their tastes, but Y Luv kicks out more rootsy grooves that hook you front to back. Currently working on their latest video for their song "All Night", these guys are going to burn up the LA indie scene with their latest EP, How Chill Can You Let Go which is FREE HERE for a limited time.  Michele McManmon

I had seen Leftover Cuties a few weeks ago with Milo Greene and Honey Honey and they feel like a relic from the past transported to absorb today’s culture (much like Pauly Shore’s Encino Man). The band’s beautiful pop orchestration of ukelele, upright bass, accordion, and drums set the mood for vocalist Shirli McAllen’s gorgeous prohibition era voice. I’ve yet to mention their speakeasy inspired attire or their smile inducing cover of Lady Gaga’s "Poker Face".

The group will be playing tonight, May 2nd @ The Bardot in case the mood strikes to sip down a few whiskeys. If you miss the show, Leftover Cuties debut LP, Places to Go, comes out May 31st.

Listen to title track "Places to Go"

-Angelo Lorenzo

Falling Still somehow occupies this niche of space between post-Cobain grunge and glam rock, taking the musical taste from the former and the swagger and slight crassness from the other. While Don’t Kick The Whiskey is off being mastered at Bernie Grundman, I was able to take a listen to the boy’s work. The lyrics to "I am the Dr" are dragged through the dirty gutters of the Sunset Strip and leave you feeling a bit sexy, a bit filthy, and a bit high. The rest of the album is more focused from their previous offering, May All Magic Guide and Change You, while still retaining that unique genre bending that has the party pounding beers and swaying to the beat. No official release date as of yet.

-Angelo Lorenzo

i am the dr by Falling Still

For Slideshow go to: http://www.flickr.com/2010domino

Ghostly soulful, rich vocals reverberated out through the sold out Troubadour show for The Airbourne Toxic Event last evening. ‘All I ever wanted’ warmed up the room. By ‘Book of Love’ 5 songs in, the intimate venue matched the eloquent heart felt song. After ‘Numb’ Singer/guitarist Mike Jollett said ‘So we have a record out today, sounded like I was fishing there, but we’re just a small band from LA playing all over the world’. He added how he just spent the ‘last 2 years of my life singing about my ex-girlfriend’. Painful thought. ‘All for a Woman’ sounds like a Irish limerick and as the set continues it’s obvious that the storytelling lyrics are the essence of the band. The mellow crowd started hopping to ‘Happiness’ and dropped back down to hawker mode unfortunately. The band had fun, which was obvious by their on stage antics for ‘gasoline’, they had a violen vs guitar moment, they body checking the equipment roadie who was fixing the mic, and just smiled and laughed more than any band I’ve ever have seen on stage. It’s all good fun which is sweet to witness at the level of success they have achieved. ‘Kids’ according to Jollett, raised the questions in European journalists to ask if they were ‘anti America’ and their response was they are ‘anti lying’. Agreeable concept, but the song seemed, at first, like a forced anthem, like an Indie version of ‘American Idiot’ because it rolled right into ‘Wedding Day’. Their hit song ‘Midnight’ blasted the crowd and really confirms the power this band can generate live. When Jollett said ‘Thank You’, it was the most appreciative moment of gratitude I’ve seen onstage in awhile. Encore ‘all at once’ has a funky surf punk vibe which rocked even though his guitar malfunctioned. He jumped in the crowd and sang ‘Moving On’ much to many fans delight. They turned ‘Misery’ into Springsteen’s ‘I’m on fire’ which sounded a bit country with the violen and sped up two step beat. They ended up the show with Johnny Cash’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ which added to the high energy of the night. Being somewhat judgemental of this band being a one hit wonder when I entered the show made me feel guilty as I left with a great appreciation for their diverse musical talents. It was also refreshing to see success worn so well and egos checked as Jollett hung out with fans post show, fresh off the stage. Though their songs gravitate towards anthems, they have a unique blend of songs that gives everyone a taster of damn good, powerful music with a story.  Michele McManmon

The wonderfully talented, and I hesitate to agree with the following, psychedelic pop band The Glass Canoe recently premiered their video for "First Ideas" over on My Old Kentucy Blog. We’re reposting it here for your visual and aural pleasure.

"First Ideas" is aptly named, being the first single from the group’s debut album Chimera. The song is carried across the shoulders of a lullaby-inspired guitar melody before fleshing out with equally wonder-inducing instrumentation and sleepy-eyed vocals. There are two intriguing vocal breaks, the latter leading to the crescendo of the track before fading into bliss. The video, directed by Michael Shainblum, reflects the mood of the song with golden, technicolor, nostalgia inducing landscape.

-Angelo Lorenzo

"First Ideas"

"What a Green Taste"

Useless Keys mixes quiet blues, psychedelia rock and adds a punctuation mark. Guitar riffs sound like a sirens song and driving drums accentuate sweeping melodies while vocals inaudibly croon. This quartet’s most recently released EP "Is the Painting Changing" is available online and at shows.  If you like their song "White Noise", just wait and see what they have in store for you next.  Catch this LA Indie scene staple play their brand of strung out rock at The Satellite with Brother Tuesday, April 26 at 10pm.  Michele McManmon

This San Diego based trio are blazing a new trail on the Indie music scene. Their recently released debut EP "Roar" (from Auto Tone records) mixes a tropical island beach style with romantic lo-fi sensibilities. Dirty Gold‘s video for the single "California Sunrise" echoes fuzzy memories of days past intertwined with a shattered idealistic hope for the future. Their music is of a youthful offering for a time when disillusionment meets maturity. The greatest answer for this confusing time in life is to have a good old fashion beach party with some frosh tunes like those found in the Dirty Gold hills of SoCal.  Michele McManmon