Consisting of minimalist noise and intermittent snippets of discernible “music,” ambient drone can feel overwhelming or serene, psychedelic or horrifying, focused or completely scattered. In a live setting, that broad range of sounds can result in a lively, bustling audience, or a meditative, intensely focused one. Los Angeles’ tiny, intimate Pehrspace venue hosted all of
In the late ’80s, “Madchester” took its hold on the city of Manchester, England, capturing the ecstasy-laden hearts of Brits everywhere with its groove-focused, psychedelic strain of dance rock. The scene produced such acts as The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and now–two decades later–an upstart Aussie outfit called Jagwar Ma. Formed in late 2011,
It’s tough going for singer-songwriters. If you’re not a natural poet or have some truly unique angle, you better have one hell of a voice and a perfect live act. At this point, the guitar-toting James Bay out of Hitchin, UK, is pretty close to having the latter. With his Thursday night performance at the
When it comes to Savages’ debut album Silence Yourself only one thing is certain: this is a confrontational piece of music. It’s a smack of spittle to the face; the recoil of a revolver blast; the hang time of a jump into the deep end. This is post-punk at its hardest hitting, the kind
It’s 2013, and it’s time to face the fact that deep down, everyone’s got a hipster streak when it comes to listening tastes. We’re a bunch of jaded post-modernists–obsessed with avoiding cliché, experts at calling out the shortcomings of others’ handiwork. Bubblegum pop? Boy bands? What kind of hack would ever support this drivel? But
Even though Canadian punk band METZ has just one studio album to their name, Wednesday night they tore through the Troubadour in West Hollywood like hardened veterans. Having already rocked through the European and East Coast legs of their 2013 tour, the trio was poised and confident, foregoing a written set list in favor of