The cool night air flowed through the dark Brooklyn warehouse, packed to its fully exposed rafters as the blonde-wigged troupe of “virgens” took their places—be it onstage or amongst the audience—and let loose a divine chorus of lamenting love ballads and ’60s rock ’n’ roll dance numbers complete with formation dance moves and multi-nippled costumes.
On her first ever appearance in Los Angeles; Anika played with her full band to a full house at The Echolpex - in the sketchy gone hipster neighborhood of Echo Park in Los Angeles. The sounds were among the experimental edges between Nico/VU, Slowdive, Laurie Anderson, and Ladytron, with backdrops spun out of electronica and trip-hop. The latter part not being surprising, as Portishead's Geoff Barrow became a musical collaborator with Anika, once she started looking for like-minded musical souls in her home-town of Bristol, by way of Berlin.
Peter Bjorn & John seem to have single-handedly created a Swedish musical invasion, with their "All You Can Eat" tour, in support of their latest album Gimme Some. After taking over New York, the band continued on their cross-country journey to Los Angeles; with four sold-out LA concerts at different venues, an art opening, and a food truck event. Peter, Bjorn & John succeeded in garnering countless new devotees - in a big way. Culminating their week-long stay in the city of angels, was their concert at The El Rey Theatre. This visit looks like it's cementing the band Sweden's most visible export --- move over Ikea, Volvo, & Abba.
I met up with Tasseomancy’s twin sisters, Sari and Romy Lightman, backstage at the Bowery Ballroom after a sound check for another music project they’re working on with Austra, whom they met at surf camp. We spoke of some differences between Halifax and Toronto (where they are from), the very moving history of their great-great-grandmother, how Edgar Allen Poe had an influence on their new record, and then the sisters sat down and took a brief quiz. Read the interview here.
Having arrived in town on a Sunday towards the end of summer and the beginning of the school-year for many; Bright Eyes brought their melancholy and angsty folk sounds to the 5k+ Santa Barbarians at the County Bowl - Southern California's equivalent of Red Rocks. This time out on the road, front-man Conor Oberst & band preformed a quintessential sampling of more-albums-than-I-can-keep-track-of, though featured their latest release The People's Key, and delivered another solid set of indie-folk/rock tunes.
Peter Bjorn & John's "Gimme Some" tour is bringing some exciting happenings to the The City of Angels. Starting with Thursday night's (9/29) packed art exhibition at "THIS, Los Angeles" and rolling into a massive food truck give-away event on Tuesday (10/4), and last but certainly not least 4 live dates at four different venues. The first of their four LA shows on Saturday October 1st at the sold out Troubadour, then hit The Smell on October 3rd for another sold out gig, followed by a set at the already sold out Echo on October 4th and then wrapping things in LA on October 5th with a show at the El Rey - mind that the El Rey still has a few tickets still available.
Having waited a long time to see LOW; it was a treat to have the stars align this time around, to see them at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. The crowd filling the venue for Low's poignant, slow-core performance was an eclectic mix: hipsters to goths, rockers to old-peeps, all the way to those apparently melting into the wall-paper...
Gracing Los Angeles' El Rey Theatre, The Joy Formidable hit the stage, and in little time showed that their current buzz is something worth actually paying attention to. Formed in North Wales and later settling in London, the members (as well as touring lineup) consist of: Ritzy Bryan on Vocals/Guitar, Rhydian Dafydd on Bass, and Matt Thomas on Drums. The trio opened the night with "A Heavy Abacus" from their sophomore & latest album "The Big Roar." They played a good selection from it, as well as touched on songs from their first release "A Balloon Called Moaning." Having an interesting mix of vibes, their sound filled the evening air with thick chords, primal drum-beats and celestial vocals. 
Sleep ∞ Over - Casual Diamond (OFFICIAL VIDEO) from Christine Aprile on Vimeo.
Boston-based songstress Marissa Nadler and NY collaborative project Cloud Seeding have released a brand new video for the track "Ink Jar," as Nadler prepares for a set of North American dates with James Vincent McMorrow and a European fall tour. Spearheaded by Brooklyn-based guitarist Kevin Serra, Cloud Seeding is a music singles project conceived as a space of collaboration to showcase vocalists he admires. Nadler is the first vocalist to team up with Serra, penning the vocals for this song. Directed by Christopher Arcella, the video features actors Ray Lorini and Vera Balyura on a cosmic love journey and can be watched at below.
Erick Mertz interviews Matt Bauer for kevchino.com. I spent a fun-filled day with Matt Bauer and Dana Falconberry as we trekked around Manhattan and they both performed some of Matt’s songs live songs for Kevchino.com. We filmed in the tram to Roosevelt Island and in a rowboat in Central Park. Then after a long day of live filming, we sat on a bench in Central Park for this interview. Read it here. Be sure to check out the video of Matt Bauer & Dana Falconberry live in Central Park for kevchino.com
Wow! For not having an album or even an MP3 floating around Lana Del Rey sure has a ton of fans. Were counting the days till we have this on our drives.She reminds me of Nancy Sinatra and has a little bit of Amy Winehouse vibe.
I just stumbled upon this cool dreamy artist called Pandit. Pandit consists of Lance Smith of Lumberton, Texas. He released a FREE download EP called Steady Nerves and a Strong Heartfor his fans. Download it for FREE here. The EP is great but I am hooked on this track "Kathryn, My Love" below.
It was my first time hearing Boston’s Faces on Film who opened for Marissa Nadler’s latest East Coast Tour. Faces On Film is Mike Fiore who has an extremely unique and beautiful voice for a male singer. It calls to mind a young Neil Young but a bit more silkier, like Jeff Buckley. He played solo using both acoustic and electric guitars. His song writing was great he had very nice subtle hooks and he even did an amazing cover of Clinic’s “Distortions.” I’m not yet to familiar with his catalog but songs that stood out were “Manitoba” and “Knot in the Vine.” You can preview three songs off his new LP Some Weather over at his bandcamp page but I highly recommend picking up his new LP and his 2008 gem The Troubles via iTunes.
Marissa Nadler took the stage wearing a red dress and started right into her solo set. She sounded amazing. Hats off to the soundman who helped project her beautiful sounds perfectly by blending her voice and guitar throughout the room. On her second song, she busted out a 12-string guitar and rocked out “Salutations in the Dark” acoustically. She blithely mentioned in between songs “Brooklyn is the last show on my tour and I still love Brooklyn despite my car being broken into.” “They broke all the windows but didn’t take anything.” Then, she launched into “Your Heart Is A Twisted Vine” off her new EP Rain Arrangement. After this great tune, she gave fans a real treat playing “Fifty Five Falls” the first track off her first album. Marissa switched microphones in this song to one filled with reverb and delay and did a bit of a vocal solo with layered melodies. Mike Fiore of Faces on Film then joined Marissa on stage and played guitar and sang harmonies with her for the latter half of her set and brought a more alt-country vibe to her songs, giving them an interesting nuance. She left the stage after playing “In Your Lair, Bear “ off her new LP. She was quickly convinced to return for and encore by the loud and persistent crowd. She and Fiore played a stripped down version of one of her singles off her new album “The Sun Always Reminds Me Of You.“ Fiore left the stage and Marissa said she would play us one more song; her beautiful cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Famous Blue Raincoat.”
On August 2nd Friendly Fire Recordings will release a 7 inch split with Violens and Erika Spring (Au Revoir Simone). Check out Erika's track "6 More Weeks" below.
As if an animated-elastic-tiger had twins and named them Matt & Kim; the irreverently playful synth & drum duo bounced into Hollywood's MusicBox Theatre, spreading their audaciously fun brand of Indie-Pop. This outing for the Brooklyn based twosome, was in support of their third and latest album “Sidewalks,” though shared album representation with "Grand" as well as their self titled release.
When I heard the Flaming Lips were coming to the Los Angeles area, I was excited to see them again, this time outside of the festivals that they've been playing in the last few years. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect of the two special events at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. What I knew though, was that the band would be preforming "The Soft Bulletin" & "Dark Side of the Moon" on June 14th & 15th respectively; allowing the full albums to be presented as their unified concepts.
