Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. at The Echo

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. packed the house at The Echo on Friday night, as Claire Gallagher‘s preview predicted (for the full BestNewBands.com article please click here). The band consists of Josh Epstein and Daniel Zott, joined by a drummer as well as live loops and samples. The trio came onstage in NASCAR jackets and hats,

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Q&A with Alexei of Blind Willies

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San Francisco’s Blind Willies is the kind of band whose music sharply divides listeners’ opinions almost instantly. While some might take that as a knock, I consider it a testament to the intensity and tenacity with which they explore their own boundaries. A heady mix of americana, blues, folk, and rock ‘n’ roll, their latest

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Words with Daniel Blue of Motopony: The new album, influences, and cruising Burning Man naked

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Motopony – King Of Diamonds Daniel Blue is equal parts open book and enigma. The artist-turned-fashion-designer-turned-musician didn’t get serious about music as a profession until he was in his late twenties, but you wouldn’t know it by listening to his project Motopony‘s self-titled debut album. I was charmed by the first track “June“, but it

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Kazai Rex at Silver Lake Jubilee

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Going to a new festival can be a bit of a gamble, and going to a new festival to see a new band (well new to me, anyway) can be a recipe for disappointment. Saturday’s crowd at the Silver Lake Jubilee was relatively tame compared to the drunken hordes at last year’s Sunset Junction, and

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Poolside interview with The Gromble

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The Gromble is pretty much everything you could want in a modern rock band: besides being proficient musicians and elegant, intelligent lyricists, they’re the kind of songwriters that know exactly how and when to satisfy and then exceed the listener’s expectations. Upon meeting five of the six members (and cracking many a joke at the

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