You might remember Kris Orlowski from a BestNewBands.com feature back in May, when he performed for an audience at my home in Silverlake. He stopped by the house again on his way to San Diego last week, this time for a more intimate patio performance in my backyard. With humble beginnings as a solo singer/songwriter
Moving Units This Friday, Los Angeles-based Moving Units and Brooklyn’s Crystal Stilts will perform as part of the continuing “First Fridays” series of musical performances at The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Moving Units is a dramatic, glamorous synthrock band fresh from Coachella and a recent venture with TOMS shoes , while Crystal
I spoke with Young Man‘s Colin Caulfield last October (for the full BestNewBands.com exclusive interview, please click here), but I still had yet to see any of his performances in person until the mega-behemoth festival that is South by Southwest. The Parish was already packed by the time he went on at 11pm last Wednesday
If I had to name my favorite performances at South by Southwest, Lovett would definitely be on the short list. I walked quite a ways off the beaten festival path to catch their set at Lovers Ball, and it was absolutely worth it. Somehow they squeezed ten musicians behind Ben Lovett’s enigmatic visage, and the
It seems like bands will do try just about anything to distinguish themselves and attract the attention of potential fans. But a precious few are able to naturally and instantly appeal to both the eyes and ears in such a way as to not only draw attention, but keep it. The Nervous Wreckords is one
Tristen is by no means new to BestNewBands.com. I spoke with her last October, and we discussed the impending release of her debut album Charlatans at the Garden Gate (for the full BestNewBands.com exclusive interview, please click here). Her song “Baby Drugs” ranked #5 on our list of Top Ten Songs of 2010, and we
Listening to the alt-country duo The Civil Wars’ debut album put me through the emotional wringer. Joy Williams and John Paul White write and perform heart-wrenching duets full of breathy vocals accompanied by sparse acoustic instruments. With voices like theirs that harmonize so beautifully, that’s all they really need. The subject matter of the songs-
No amount of pre-show research could have possibly prepared me for Les Savy Fav’s performance last night at The Echoplex. The New Yorkers first started playing together in 1995 but have been on and off since then, having made something of a recent comeback with their August 2010 release Root for Ruin. Having met many
Los Einstein performed to a healthy crowd at Cinespace last night, the five members outlined onstage in front of a large screen of swirling abstract psychedelic colors and shapes. The undulating patterns were vaguely reminiscent of Austin Powers, which is strange because their first music video for “One More Time” (see below) pays homage to
Becoming a fan of Agent Ribbons is like an invitation down the proverbial rabbit hole: you have no idea how deep you’re going to get involved after that first tentative step. I was at first intrigued by their genre-defying album Chateau Crone, becoming more interested after talking about the album and the band with lead