Tag: Los Angeles CA

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Dale Nicholls is a Los Angeles, CA-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who has spent stints residing in Detroit, MI; Dublin, Ireland; Paris, France; New Zealand and elsewhere. When Nicholls returned to Los Angeles, he ended his previous band and initially started his latest project Sky Chefs as a solo recording project, but has recently expanded into a full-fledged band, featuring members of Cherry Glazerr, The Black Keys, Pageants, Psychic Temple and the backing bands of Fiona Apple, Lou Reed and Chris Cohen.

Last year, was a busy year for Nicholls and his backing band, as Sky Chefs released their full-length debut, three EPs and a single and building upon a growing profile, the project’s Chris Schlarb-produced, sophomore effort Ghosts & Goblins carefully walk the tightrope between sly, winking nature and wry, heart-wrenching confessionals as the material thematically focuses on brokenhearted lovers, embittering relationships, our new, perpetually anxious age, batshit crazy families and family members, designer riot gear and the seemingly comic absurdity of living in Los Angeles. And reportedly, the material may arguably the most straightforward Nicholls has written — the material was mostly written and composed in Dublin and Los Angeles, whereas some of his previously recorded material was written in piecemeal and as patchwork affairs in several different locales.

“Poltergeist,” Ghosts & Goblins’ latest single as Nicholls explains is about “toxic relationships and self-destruction. Framed in a spooky groove, with lots of fun percussion. This was the first tune we tracked for the record. Once we got a take, we drenched everything in reverb and went out for shawarma.” Sonically speaking, the shuffling and strutting “Poltergeist” sounds as though it draws from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “Red Right Hand” and Tim Cohen‘s solo work and his work with Magic Trick, complete with a loose, boozy, improvised vibe, 60s psych rock-inspired organ, a soulful horn line and a propulsive bass line paired with Nicholls’ equally boozy crooning describing a viciously dysfunctional and fucked up relationship fueled by a confusing push and pull, deceit and tortuous, zero sum mind games. And as a result, the song possesses a murky undertone.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Ward White is a Los Angeles, CA-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, who is arguably best known for his work as one-half of the critically applauded chamber pop duo McGinty and White, which features Joe McGinty, a former member of Psychedelic Furs, and the creator of The Loser’s Lounge tribute series; in fact, the duo’s debut effort together received praise from  The New Yorker and The New York Press.  And while a member of McGinty and White, White has quietly developed a reputation as a solo artist of note as 2013’s Bob and 2015’s Ward White is the Matador were released to critical praise from iTunes, New York Magazine, Magnet Magazine and CMJ for a songwriting approach and sound that has been compared favorably to Scott Walker (one of the great and sadly under-appreciated songwriters of the past 50 years or so), 1970s  David Bowie, T. Rex and others.

 

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the course of 2015, you may recall that I had written about White’s Ward White is the Matador, an album that while clearly drawing from 70s classic rock and AM rock, also possessed an experimental art rock sheen. And while unquestionably, a very New York rock sound, at points the material lyrically and thematically covered things that we become conscious of as we get older — that life is increasingly about a series of loss; that most relationships throughout one’s life will inevitably end; and of a rapidly disappearing New York into eccentrics and lunatics, and improbable situations.

It’s been a while since I’ve written about White, and as it turns out, White has been rather busy. Over the past couple of years, Ward has relocated from Brooklyn to Los Angeles — and his soon-to-be released tenth full-length album As Consolation chronicles his relocation to the West Coast; in fact, the album’s first single “Dude” will further cement his reputation for crafting 70s AM radio friendly rock in the veins of the aforementioned Scott Walker, David Bowie, T. Rex and Roxy Music — with a winking and witty irony; but under the surface is the hazy confusion of being disconnected, of being a stranger in an even stranger place that you can’t quite figure out with people who seem completely alien to you. And as a result, the song evokes the recognition of not fitting in — while wondering if people are looking at you with disapproval and disdain because you can’t quite tell.

 

 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

L.A. Witch is a Los Angeles, CA-based indie rock trio that has started to receive attention for a ragged, scuzzy, reverb-filled garage rock/punk rock sound that some have compared favorably to the likes of The Black Angels and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and if Kim Deal were inspired by Nirvana among others —  although as you’ll hear on their boozy, bluesy-leaning “Ain’t Comin’ Home,” the band’s sound reminds me more of JOVM mainstay artists The Coathangers, Sharkmuffin and Death Valley Girls; but with a dingy, honky took vibe that subtly nods towards 60s psychedelia. Interestingly, this version was recorded live during their Levitation Festival a couple of years ago, but I think it’ll give the listener a good sense of their live sound, as they will be road testing their new material throughout the rest of the year — and the tour will include two NYC dates, more on that below.

Tour Dates

04.21.17 – Detroit, MI @ UFO Factory

04.22.17 – London, ON @ Call the Office

04.23.17 – Montreal, QB @ L’Esco

04.25.17 – Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory

04.26.17 – New York, NY @ Berlin

05.01.17 – Las Vegas, NV @ Beauty Bar

05.02.17 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Vague Space

05.03.17 – Denver, CO @ Hi Dive

05.04.17 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar

05.05.17 – Norman, OK @ Opolis

05.06.17 – Austin, TX @ Levitation Presents at Hotel Vegas

05.07.17 – Dallas, TX @ Transit Bike Company

05.09.17 – Indianapolis, IN @ Pioneer

05.10.17 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas

05.11.17 – Iowa City, IA @ Gabe’s

05.12.17 – Milwaukee, WI @ Milwaukee Psych Fest

05.13.17 – Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar

05.14.17 – Springfield, IL @ Alter Fest

05.16.17 – Amarillo, TX @ Golden Light

05.17.17 – Taos, NM @ Mesa Brewing

05.18.17 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar

05.19.17 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar

06.02.17 – Nelsonville, OH @ Nelsonville Fest

06.24.17 – Pomona, CA @ Glass House

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Cinematic and Mournful Visuals for Mark Lanegan Band’s “Beehive”

Mark Lanegan is a Ellensburg, WA-born, Los Angeles, CA-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, best known as the frontman, and founding member of Seattle-based grunge rock pioneers Screaming Trees, and for collaborating with an incredibly diverse array of artists and bands throughout his lengthy career including Nirvana‘s Kurt Cobain on an unreleased Lead Belly cover/tribute album recorded before the release of Nevermind. The Ellensburg-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter was also a member of renowned grunge rock All-Star supergroup/side project Mad Season with Alice in Chains‘ Layne Staley and Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready. After Screaming Trees broke up in 2000, Lanegan joined Queens of the Stone Age and is featured on the band’s last five albums — 2000’s Rated R, 2002’s Songs for the Deaf, 2005’s Lullabies to Paralyze, 2007’s Era Vulgaris and 2013’s . . . Like Clockwork. He’s also collaborated with The Afghan Whigs‘ Greg Dulli in The Gutter Twins and has collaborated with former Belle and Sebastian vocalist Isobel Campbell on three albums. Additionally, he has contributed or guested on albums by Melisa Auf der Maur, Martina Topley-Bird, Creature with the Atom Brain, Moby, Bomb the Bass, Soulsavers, Greg Dulli’s The Twilight Singers, UNKLE and others. And although he’s managed to be rather busy throughout the years, Lanegan has also developed a low-key solo career in which he’s released nine studio albums that have been critically applauded and have seen a fair amount of commercial success.

Lanegan’s 10th full-length effort Gargoyle is slated for release next week through Heavenly Recordings and interestingly enough, Lanegan can trace the origins of the album’s material and sound back to early 2016. At the time, the renowned grunge rocker and singer/songwriter was working on some ideas for material, which could possibly be a new, solo album, when he received an email from a friend and collaborator, the British based musician Rob Marshall, who he had first met several years before when Marshall’s former band Exit Calm had supported Soulsavers, a band that Lanegan had been fronting. The email thanked Lanegan for his participation on an album that Marshall had recorded with his newest project, Humanist while offering to write music for Lanegan to return a favor to the grunge pioneer. As Lanegan recalls in press notes, his response was along the lines of “Hey man, I’m getting ready to make a record, if you’ve got anything? Three days later he sent me 10 things… !”

Early on in the writing process, Lanegan had written “Blue Blue Sea,” a rippling mood peice that he thought and felt would be more fruitful direction for the songs on the album. “It’s almost always how my records start,” the Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter explains in press notes. “I let the first couple of songs tell me what the next couple should sound like, and it’s really the same process when I’m writing words. Whatever my first couple of lines are, tell me what the next couple should be. I’ve always built things like that, sort of like making a sculpture I guess.” Within about an hour, Lanegan and written words and recorded vocals for two of the instrumental tracks Marshall had written and recorded at Mount Sion Studios in Kent UK. Interestingly, the music Marshall had written had managed to fit perfectly with the direction Lanegan had been thinking of for some time — an expansion of the Krautrock-inspired electronic sounds and textures of his previous two albums Blues Funeral and Phantom Radio. Eventually Marshall wound up co-writing six of the album’s 10 songs with the remainder of the album being written and produced by Lanegan’s longtime collaborator Alain Johannes at 11AD Studios in West Hollywood.

As the story goes, everything was polished and finished within a month, which has been unusually fast by Lanegan’s recent standards. “I definitely feel like I’m a better songwriter than I was 15 years ago,” Lanegan stays in press notes. “I don’t know if I’m just kidding myself or what, but it’s definitely easier now to make something that is satisfying to me. Maybe I’m just easier on myself these days, but it’s definitely not as painful a process, and therefore I feel I’m better at it now. But part of the way that I stay interested in making music is by collaborating with other people. When I see things through somebody else’s perspective it’s more exciting than if I’m left to my own devices.”

Gargoyle‘s second and latest single “Beehive” pairs Lanegan’s imitable boozy, growling baritone vocals with a bluesy and swaggering production featuring shimmering guitar chords and enormous tweeter and woofer rattling beats, essentially pushing Lanegan’s recent forays into the blues into the 21st Century; but in a way that feels both warmly familiar and yet new.

Directed by Zhang + Kang and produced by Agile Flims, the recently released video for “Beehive” follows two young lovers — two vampires, actually, who are desperately trying to kick their craving for blood. Before presumably deciding to kill themselves, they spend a sad yet beautiful romantic night together — and at the core of the video is a heavy, world-weary and fatalistic ache.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The 70s AM Rock and Renegade Country-Inspired Sounds of GospelbeacH

Perhaps best known for stints in Further, Beachwood Sparks and The Tyde, the Florida-born, Los Angeles, CA-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Brent Rademaker’s latest band GospelbeacH, which features Rademaker collaborating with producer Jon Neiman, Jason Soda, Ben Redell, Derek Brown and a rotating cast of friends and associates, will further Rademaker’s growing reputation for crafting sunny and optimistic Americana/roots music-leaning indie rock that evokes Southern California — and in a subtle fashion, the Summer of Love; in fact, interestingly enough, the band’s forthcoming sophomore album Summer of Love is slated for a June 15, 2017 release.

“You’re Already Home,” Summer of Love’s latest single reportedly pays a subtle tribute to Chris Hillman’s “Girl With No Name” and while clearly drawing from 70s AM rock and renegade country — i.e, Gram Parsons, America, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, The Highwaymen, etc. — the song reveals both a careful attention to craft paired with a soulful, world-weary intelligence and a rousingly anthemic yet honky tonk jukebox-like hook. And along with that a “you-are-there” catching a bunch of musicians jamming, improving and having a helluva lot of fun vibe. But at its core is a song about the freedom, seemingly endless possibilities and loneliness of a life on the road, of falling in love while on the road — and the innate desire to go out into the world to see and experience as much as you could.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Initially formed in San Francisco, CA and now Los Angeles, CA-based indie rock quartet Jet Trash — currently comprised of Paul Kemp (vocals, rhythm guitar), Keith Shughrou (lead guitar), Marshall Fassino (bass, vocals) and their newest member Eric Peters (drums) — have a developed a reputation for crafting gritty, garage rock-inspired rock. And if you had been frequenting this site for the past couple of years, you may recall that I wrote about the blistering “Baby C’mon,” and the New Wave-leaning “Photography Is Over” off  2015’s self-titled EP.

Now, it’s been a while since I’ve personally heard about them; but as it turns out after touring to support their self-titled EP, the band relocated to Los Angeles and went through a lineup change before writing and recording their Alex Newport-produced follow-up Shake at Elliot Smith’s old studio, New Monkey Studio. Slated for a May 12, 2017 release, the EP’s first single, EP title track “Shake” is simply put, no frills, old fashioned, balls to the wall, power chord-based rock that nods at The Hives — i.e., “Hate to Say I Told You So” — as it possesses a feral, snarling explosiveness.

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Noirish and Bluesy Sounds and Visuals of KaiL Baxley’s “Killin’ Floor”

KaiL Baxley is a Williston, SC-born, Los Angeles, CA-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, who has seen praise from the likes of NPR and KCRW for a sound that draws heavily from old school soul and Mississippi Delta – – and for songwriting that draws from characters of his life — including an outlaw father, whom he only met once; but whom Baxley insists is a good, decent man; his mother, who was once an inmate at the same state penitentiary James Brown was in — and as Baxley mentions, Brown sang at the prison’s church and later taught a shy, young Baxley how to dance; his wise and very dear grandfather, whose anecdotes and wisdom he still quotes to this day; and the best guitar player, he personally ever met, his small town’s local mechanic. But along with that, his material draws from his own life and experiences. At one point Baxley was a Golden Gloves champion, with a chance of competing for the US Olympic boxing team before a run in with the law and a gunshot wound on his left shoulder sidetracked that dream. Sometime later, as a singer/songwriter and guitarist, Baxley left his small town and drove across the country with a few dollars and his guitar. And when he arrived in Los Angeles, he slept in an RV parked on Selma Blvd to pay for the studio time to record his full-length debut, Heat Stroke/The Wind and the War, an effort that went on to be nominated as NPR’s album of the year.

Building on his growing reputation as a singer/songwriter, Baxley’s sophomore effort A Light that Never Dies was released last year to critical praise from KCRW and NPR, who hailed the album as a reflection of the Williston-born, Los Angeles, CA-based singer/songwriter’s greatest talent — seeing beauty in our darkest and most desperate moments. Interestingly, with the release of “Killin’ Floor” and “High on the Moon” earlier this year, the Williston-born, Los Angeles, CA-based singer/songwriter continues with the bluesy and soulful sound that won him critical praise and national attention.

“Killin’ Floor,” Baxley’s first single of 2017 draws heavily on classic, back water blues, “the acapella, foot stomping kinda thing you find in the rural south where I’m from,” the Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter explains. “The song stems from the feeling of you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t.” Sonically speaking, the slow-burning song sounds as though it bears the dusty, old-timey imprint of legendary singer/songwriter and producer T. Bone Burnett — thanks in part to a sparse, atmospheric arrangement featuring shuffling guitar chords, brief bursts of soulful organ, gently padded drumming that gives Baxley’s soulful vocals enough room to express a familiar, timeless and visceral ache.

Directed by Ryan Sheehy and based on a general idea that both Sheehy and Baxley came up with about a Black Widow type, driving into the desert to bury the young lover, she just killed, the recently released, cinematically shot video features Baxley’s friend Michelle Forbes as the female lead. And while possessing an old-fashioned sensuality, there’s a palpable sense of dread an unease throughout.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the last 6-8 months starting from the last few months of 2016, you’ve likely come across a handful of posts featuring Gothic Tropic, the solo recording project of Los Angeles, CA-based guitarist and vocalist Cecilia Della Peruti, who’s arguably best known as a touring and session guitarist for Charli XCX and BØRNS; however, with the release of “Stronger,” Peruti quickly established herself for crafting New Wave/post-punk inspired guitar pop with an infectious hook that sounded as though it drew from Go-Gos, The B52s and Too True-era Dum Dum Girls while her second single “How Life Goes” was a lush and atmospheric track with an anthemic hook.

“Your Soul,” Peruti’s fourth and latest Gothic Tropic single will also appear on her forthcoming effort Fast or Feast, which is slated for a May 19, 2017 release through Old Flame Records, and much like its preceding singles, it reveals an ambitious singer/songwriter, who has an innate ability to craft a sharp and rousing hook paired with punchy guitar chords, swirling synths and a propulsive rhythm section within a swooning and urgent song focusing on a fiery and passionate yet unrequited love between potential soulmates.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Hayley Johnson is a 26 year-old, San Diego, CA-born, Los Angeles, CA-based folk singer/songwriter, who writes and performs under the moniker The Little Miss.  Inspired by Fiona Apple and Jewel, jazz, classic blues, folk and Americana, Johnson can trace the origins of her music career to when she was a child, starting girl bands during recess at school and writing lyrics in notebooks. And while in middle school, Johnson had begun performing original music at coffee shops and surf competitions around the San Diego area with her father. After performing for several years with the stage name Hazel, Johnson came up with The Little Miss while studying philosophy at San Francisco State University — and upon graduating, Johnson relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a music career in earnest.

Johnson has begun to receive attention for a sound and overall aesthetic that nods at the likes of the great T. Bone Burnett as both a solo artist and as a producer, or in other words, a sound and approach that’s comfortably anachronistic, in the sense that it bridges both the contemporary and old fashioned, while being soulful and viscerally earnest. “Doubt,” Johnson’s latest single is a bluesy bit of Americana featuring a scuzzy guitar line and a trippy organ chords paired with her soulful, whiskey and cigarette-tinged vocals. And while some will suggest that the song nods at Fiona Apple, whose voice Johnson’s bears a similarity to, or the White Stripes, the song reminds me a bit of The Mountain-era Heartless Bastards, as “Doubt” possesses a similar sense of regret and longing. Interestingly, as Johnson explains in press notes “‘Doubt’ concerns itself with the intellectual understanding that life’s answers cannot be summarized, but takes note of the relentless desire to still call for said answers. Eventually, it’s about asking questions that you know you will never have an answer for — i.e., “I pray everyday and I pray every night,/ but I’ll never know if I am getting it right/Or will I?”

Now, as I’ve mentioned a few times on this site, as I’m listening to tracks on Soundcloud, I’m usually multitasking — as I write this post, I’m watching the New York Yankees season opener down in Tampa Bay. And because my mind is in several different directions, I wind up being introduced to a track by a new artist I had never heard of, or going through an entire artist playlist.  So unsurprisingly, while listening to tracks I stumbled across The Little Miss’ haunting, dusty and old-timey folk-leaning cover of Johnny Cash‘s “Ring of Fire.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Monica da Silva is an Los Angeles, CA-based, Brazilian-American singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentliast who has released a critically applauded solo album Brasilissima; however, she may arguably be best known as the frontwoman of the Bossa Nova influenced, indie pop act Complicated Animals with her longtime collaborator Chad Alger. And whether as a solo artist or as a member of Complicated Animals, da Silva has seen her music featured during the 2014 World Cup, TED, Ibiza Beats and Putumayo World Music’s Brazilian Beat compilation.

Now, it’s been some time since I’ve last written about da Silva or Complicated Animals, as the duo relocated to the Los Angeles area last year but in that time da Silva, Alger and Bruce Driscoll, da Silva’s brother, producer and other long-time collaborator, who’s best known as a member of Freedom Fry and Blondfire have spent their time working on da Silva’s latest solo foray, the haunting and cinematic “Soladado de Amor,” a simply arranged song that features da Silva’s gorgeous, old-timey, jazz-leaning vocals, Alger’s Latin guitar stylings, marching, polyrhythmic percussion and twinkling piano. And while evoking smoky, late night, jazz clubs and classic film noir, the song is largely inspired by the vintage marchinhas (marches) and popular samba songs of Brazilian Carnival.

Unsurprisingly, the song was recently placed on the BBC TV dramatic series The Replacement and will be included on da Silva’s forthcoming solo, sophomore album.

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Murky 80s MTV-Inspired Visuals of Second Still’s “You Two So Alike”

Over the past month or so, I’ve written a bit about the Los Angeles, CA-based post-punk trio Second Still. And as you may recall, the band, which is comprised of its founding members Ryan Walker (guitar) and Alex Hartman (bass) along with Suki San (vocals) can actually trace their origins to when Walker and Hartman met in 2007 in Los Angeles. Four years later he duo had relocated to New York and at that point, they had recorded over 100 instrumental demos, which were largely inspired by French coldwave and No Wave. While in New York, Walker and Hartman spent a significant amount of time, searching high and low for a vocalist that they felt could match their intensity and creative output — and when they met Suki San, they felt an immediate simpatico.
The trio’s first show was a party at the now-condemned McKibbin Street Lofts that was famously shut down by the police during their set’s second song. And building upon the buzz of that incident, the band recorded their debut EP, Early Forms, which was released last March as a limited edition cassette that quickly sold out. Making the most of their time, while they were living in Brooklyn, the members of the band wrote and recorded the material, which would eventually comprise their soon-to-be released, self-titled, full-length debut — and the material on the album thematically covers deeply post-modern subjects: depression, frustration, anxiety and alienation.

Relocating back to Los Angeles, the band released two singles “Walls” and “Recover,” that revealed a decided sonic departure from their previously released EP; in fact, “Recover” finds the band nodding at 80s post-punk, in particular Sixousie and the Banshees as San’s gorgeous vocals, which to my ears bear an uncanny resemblance to Sixousie Sioux’s are paired with angular and shimmering guitar chords played through reverb and delay pedal, a propulsive bass line and stark, industrial-leaning drum programming. And as a result, the song simultaneously possesses a brooding chilliness and a motorik groove. “Strangers,” the second single off the band’s debut sonically continues on a similar vein, sounding as though it drew from Siousxie and the Banshees’ “Happy House” and “Israel” but with a clean, modern production sheen and a slashing and forceful guitar solo.

Although it may arguably be one of the shorter running singles on their album as it clocks in at a little over 2 minutes, “You Two So Alike” is one of the eeriest songs they’ve released to date, as it was inspired by “an article Suki read about Brittany Maynard, a woman who decided to commit suicide after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, a few years ago,” and by the End of Life Clinic in The Netherlands, as the band told Buzzbands LA. Sonically speaking, it continues the same mood and tone of the album’s previously released singles as the band pairs a sleek and chilly, motorik groove, propulsive, industrial-leaning drum programming and shimmering guitar work — and while clearly drawing from 80s post-punk, the material balances slick production with a raw and visceral emotionality.

Directed by the band and Alison Littrel, the recently released video manages to be reminiscent of early 80s music videos. Shot on grainy VHS-style tape, the video features the band playing and brooding in front of projection screens, which gives the video an appropriate murky and eerie vibe.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of “Tilt A Whirl,” the first single off their John Angelo-produced debut EP, Crush, the Los Angeles, CA-based indie rock/dream pop duo Alyeska began to receive attention across the blogosphere for a sound that draws equally from 80s post-punk and New Wave, as it did from contemporary indie rock. And if you had been on this site earlier this month, you may recall that I wrote about Crush‘s second single “Motel State of Mind,” a moody and dramatic song that as the band’s frontperson and primary songwriter Alaska Reid explained in an interview at Billboard wasn’t about illicit behavior, like truckers, hookers and cooking meth, but an attempt to “rip off The Replacements;” however, to m ears, the song reminds me much more of Concrete Blonde‘s “Joey,” complete with a swooning heartache at its core.

Interestingly, the EP’s third and latest single “Sister Buckskin” continues in an 8os post-punk/New Wave/alt-rock vein as it bears a resemblance to The Pretenders, thanks in part to an anthemic hook and gorgeously shimmering guitar work, along with an explosively cathartic ending; but just under the surface is a bitter sense of nostalgia over what could have been — and wasn’t.