San Francisco – This week Chaz Bundick (of Toro y Moi fame) embarks on a month-long tour across North America as Les Sins, Bundick’s dance music side project. The tour, supporting his recent debut release as Les Sins, Michael (on Company Record Label), starts in Vancouver and ends in Austin, with stops in major cities
New York – Kicking off an early show at Manhattan’s much-loved Mercury Lounge the other night, Avi Buffalo charmed fans with an hour-long set of melody-heavy, rambling tracks. True to this act’s quietly electric identity, the night was both intimate and moving, and offered a perfect pre-weekend mind state to the work-weary New Yorkers who found their
Austin – Reaching the end of Fun Fun Fun Fest was downright depressing. It was a bummer saying goodbye to festival friends after three short days, and remembering that 1) you don’t do something enviably cool every night and 2) your body exists, and needs a lot more sleep than you’ve been giving it. The
New York – Brooklyn’s raucous electro-pop duo Junior Prom is back with a catchy new single, “Cheap Thrills,” out today through Elektra Records (iTunes). The band has also premiered a lyric video for the song. Junior Prom is a music duo comprised of Mark Solomich and Erik Ratensperger. “Cheap Thrills” is their first new single
Los Angeles – Cult of Youth have just released their third full-length release for Sacred Bones this week. Ominously titled Final Days, the record sees the five-piece band from Brooklyn reaching a full-realization of their evolving blend of post-punk and neo-folk. Though the band’s rough-around-the-edges 2008 debut drew comparisons to genre-luminaries like Current 93, the band
Austin – By Saturday morning Fun Fun Fun Fest had gotten the gates under control, by which I mean it was elbow-to-elbow in the festival grounds. I can only assume things got weird in the designated make out area. Very few people seemed to mind. Saturday featured some great sets, including Twin Peaks’ daytime set.
Austin – Fun Fun Fun Fest definitely front-loaded its lineup. The five bands I wrote about played on Friday, along with Alt-J (who Best New Bands reviewed earlier this month), 2 Chainz, Dinosaur Jr., Death From Above 1979, Judas Priest, and lots of others. The festival got swamped on Day 1, and the line to
Chicago – On Friday night, Capital Cities started a massive dance party inside The Riviera that lasted well into the night. The LA electro-pop band has been performing with CHERUB and Night Terrors of 1927 on an epic North American tour sponsored by Xbox One and Forza Horizon 2. All three bands had Chicago jumping, singing, and dancing
Los Angeles – The independent woman has been picking up a guitar to spill her emotions for decades and Lonna Marie is making her predecessors proud. Her ballads have a simplicity that could easily be imagined being plucked alongside a campfire. They are a simple and lovely homage to love and life’s teachings. The raven-haired
Los Angeles – On a warm, peaceful Wednesday evening at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile district, Tijuana Panthers were anything but quiet as they revved up the large, buzzing crowd with their surprisingly unique brand of saccharine-laced surf punk. Opening for Mariachi El Bronx, the Long Beach-based band put on a performance that