Los Angeles – Coming out on stage with floppy ball-caps and cut-off jeans shorts, Slam Dunk certainly have the look of a road-worn touring band. Despite the fact that the band members played fast-and-loose with their songs’ structures and had no issue taking short break mid-song to goof around with each other, the skuzzy noise-pop
Los Angeles – Music fans at Hollywood’s venerable Hotel Cafe were treated to an impressive display of songwriting and instrumental talent thanks to Dillon Hodges and his firekid project. Raised just across the Tennessee River from Muscle Shoals, firekid displays ample amounts of the region’s musical influence. Performing as a three piece, that included a banjo
Los Angeles – The musical landscape has changed quite significantly over the first half of this decade; there is no better proof of this rapid shift in tastes than the situation in which West Chester, PA melodic hardcore trio Spraynard find themselves. In the early 2000’s, the band’s brand of raw, emotional pop-punk was hugely
Los Angeles – Though outside The Echo the temperatures had fallen a few degrees from their scorching mid-day high by Jacco Gardner’s late 11:30 start time, the venue’s ancient cooling system still failed to provide relief inside the packed club. Thank goodness Gardner specializes in a brand of baroque pop that is not really meant
Los Angeles – As The Echo’s house lights dimmed and the eager audience shuffled into place, an ominous drone filled the otherwise empty stage. One by one, Franklin James Fisher, Ryan Mahan, and Lee Tesche took the stage, each member of Algiers sporting a glare as menacing as the music playing behind them. At this
Los Angeles – The latest band to join the recent trend of psych bands that sound a lot more like Hawkwind than The Grateful Dead is Philadelphia-based three-piece Ecstatic Vision. Signed to Relapse Records following an impressive demo tape and a reputation for a frenetic live show, Sonic Praise is the band’s first full-length release.
Los Angeles – Those that arrived early to The Troubadour for last week’s Surfer Blood-headlining show were treated to the guitar-driven rock and roll of Edmonton’s own Alex Calder (though he now resides in Montreal). Although his band’s opening performance was not particularly long, it was packed full of some of the best tracks from
Los Angeles – On their third album, No Joy does not attempt anything that has not been done by the myriad “nu-gaze” bands of the last few decades; they just do it better. Yes, the band loves guitar tones that are dripping with distortion; but they make them more aggressive and engaging. The time signatures
Los Angeles – While there is no question that psychedelic music is making a huge comeback in both the underground as well as the mainstream, it has mostly skewed too heavily in the pop-oriented direction, losing the roughness that gave it an edge over traditional rock. On the other hand, there are bands like Ancient
Los Angeles – Along with his two backing mates, Villagers head-honcho Conor O’Brien brought his lyrically thoughtful and instrumentally lush folk rock to the friendly confines of Los Angeles’ The Echo. The band recently released its third full-length record, Darling Arithmetic, this April on Domino Records. While United States audiences are just now beginning to