Peach Kelli Pop Sounds like: If chiptune foremother Manami Matsumae composed California surf-punk for a Nintendo soundtrack inspired by Shonen Knife playing a sock hop. Ottawa transplant Allie Hanlon uses catchy bubblegum to cover her earnest lyricism with enough sugar to make it stick with adoring teens from Tokyo to Echo Park.
Sounds like a mixture of the post-punk rhythms of The Slits and spookiness of The Cramps as seen through blood-soaked ’80s punk, along with Minutemen chops and primal yells reminiscent of Olympia’s riot grrrl class of 1991.
OG riot grrrl Allison Wolfe (ex-Bratmobile/Cold Cold Hearts) gets acrobatic, and occasionally bloody, when she performs with her new band Sex Stains, who have a debut record set to release early next year. The talented group also includes a second vocalist, Mecca Vazie Andrews, a notable dancer and choreographer. They also have a zine called “Sex Stains: Exposed!”
Sex Stains, formed in early 2014, is a Los Angeles quintet comprised of stalwart members of the punk and indie underground. Lead vocalist Allison Wolfe was part of first generation riot grrrl bands Bratmobile and Cold Cold Hearts, both on the underground label Kill Rock Stars. Lead vocalist Mecca Vazie Andrews is a well- known choreographer and the artistic director of “The MOVEMENT movement” and has worked with artists such as Daft Punk, Toro y Moi, Marina Abramović, and Liz Glynn. On drums is David Orlando, who drummed in Warpaint and is a resident DJ for L.A. clubs Dub Club and Punky Reggae Party. Guitarist Sharif Dumani played with Atlanta soul man Cody Chesnutt and his Headphone Masterpiece band, and the Tyde. Puerto Rico transplant Pachy Garcia (Prettiest Eyes) rounds out the sound on bass guitar. Pulling from late 70’s and early 80’s post-punk, Sex Stains’ music alters between thought-provoking punk, infectious dance rhythms, angular guitar sounds and cacophony. Sex Stains play regularly throughout California, having graced Burger-a-Go-Go and Echo Park Rising festivals, as well as sharing bills with the lovely likes of the Pop Group, ESG, the Julie Ruin, Shannon & the Clams, the Coathangers, Chain & the Gang, and Alice Bag. The band just finished mixing its debut album at Station House Studio in Los Angeles, CA.
Miya Folick makes music that simply lulls me. She’s a storyteller, a teller of tales that are personal and universal. And though I first fell for her music, I have to say that feeling her passion and presence here at this tiny venue is what really hooked me. Maybe it’s that she studied movement and theater, perhaps it’s her Buddhist upbringing and hearing chants as part of her life. Her performance was captivating and personal and that, along with already loving her songs made this performance one that will stay with me.
If you like Sharon Van Etten or early Cat Power, then the golden vulnerability of this girl—communicated over slide guitars and somber synths—will leave you charmed, even as she warns you she may break your heart. And therein lies the twist: Raised in a Buddhist household in Santa Ana, CA, Folick has been around for the past fews months songs like the ballsier “I Got Drunk” and “Talking with Strangers” find her pushing away from more trad singer-songwriter tendencies, making music that’s more sparse, more moving.
One of the most popular artists on Hype Machine this year, Oakland-based Astronauts, etc, began as a bedroom project for Anthony Ferraro, following years of classical music training. A chance meeting with Chaz Bundick then led to his gig as touring keyboardist for Toro Y Moi. By the time he came to finally record a debut full-length, Astronauts, etc,had formed into a proper five-piece band, laying down these tracks live-to-tape in the pure analog surroundings of SF’s Tiny Telephone studio. Funky, smooth and chilled-out, The 405 says, “it will send you drifting back in time with its warm, vintage sensibilities.”
astronauts, etc. – mind out wandering
september 18th (hit city u.s.a.)
Anthony Ferraro has seen his exploratory outlet into the realm of pop music grow from a solo project to a full-band endeavor. already armed with a quartet of impressive singles, Astronauts, etc. should offer up a strong and nuanced debut full-length with mind out wandering.
Anthony Ferraro’s work as Astronauts, etc. has blossomed into a full-band effort; the Oakland outfit will release their debut album, mind out wandering, on september 18th via hit city usa. we’ve been anticipating this album for the better part of the calendar year, and the band’s prospects only improve with their latest offering, “Shake It Loose.” the track sits squarely on the front of the beat, in contrast to previous spaced-out offerings, and finds astronauts, etc. exercising their knowledge of pop mechanics, but “shake it loose” really flourishes once its melody disappears behind a curtain of psychedelic haze at the half-way mark
In her forthcoming LP Abyss (out Aug. 7th) these last three months, for singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe is slowly becoming one of the years most intriguing releases — and one that’s an follow-up to her 2013 breakout, “Pain Is Beauty”. She continues to entrance with the release of “Grey Days,” see earlier post .
As with her fourth full-length’s previous releases — “Iron Moon,” “Carrion Flowers” and “After the Fall” and “Grey Days” utilizes its droning, gothic production to dissect the nocturnal mind’s innermost regions. Constructed around a looping drum kick and haunting viola by longtime Chelsea Wolfe collaborators Dylan Fujioka and Ezra Buchla, the track doesn’t bear the same pronounced aggression as the California-based musician’s other fare. More a sorrowful lullaby built on industrialized distortions and wispy, howling vocals, it’s just as captivating.
“For this album I was interested in the subconscious, or unconscious mind, approaching it like a warehouse full of memories and emotions to be confronted,” Wolfe has said, “The title [‘Grey Days’] came from a conversation with someone I met on the road who had been in prison. He called that time his ‘grey days.’ It’s about something holding you back.”
“I’m drawn to the peace in feeling nothing, but I’m also afraid of feeling nothing,” Wolfe says of this dark dichotomy. It’s one seen throughout her body of work. “The song is a battle.”
Kaya not to be confused with the recent post from Okay Kaya who is also on this list, has been keeping fairly mysterious so far, uploading songs to her Soundcloud sporadically and with only a tumblr for us to get to know her. From it we’ve learned that she’s from California, but not much else, and maybe it’s best that way, because her gorgeous, still raw songs tell us everything we need to know.
On songs like “i don’t know what i’m doing anymore” and “Night time,” Kaya sings over simple piano, telling dark tales and delivering memorable phrases like:
woke up now it’s time for school
wash my face and brush my hair
put on clothes and tie my shoes
grab your lunch there’s lots to do
another day another life
another place another time
last night had a funny dream
this boy i loved was next to me
we kissed until the night went blue
he kissed my lips and said we’re through
another day another life
another place another time
but what am i to do
it’s obvious superfluous
it’s what we’ll do
i was counting on the two
but the lines run slow
you ask me why
i just don’t know
i used to know this girl from school
a pretty face and yellow curls
she smiled one day and said im done
then next day was a funeral
another day another life
another place another time
so maybe this is all a plan
you do what you’ve been given
but i’ve done everything they’ve said
still feel like i haven’t lived
another day another life
another place another time
Comparisons can be drawn maybe to early Lana Del Rey songs, but Kaya is certainly putting her own unique spin on moody singer/songwriter pop music, her untitled collaboration with producer blank body showing that she has an ear for beats that complement her vocals. Kaya is still raw, but seems like a true talent for the future.
Just added to the Bruce Springsteen Live Store!
The second night of a five night stand at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, 4/23/88 features 31 songs, including the debut of “Have Love Will Travel” (a garage rock classic by the Sonics, written by Richard Berry of “Louie Louie” fame) and the first appearance on the tour of “Sweet Soul Music.” The show, mixed from digital multitrack masters by Toby Scott, is available now in several download formats including DSD and 24 Bit HD files. A 3 CD set is on sale now and will ship starting August 4.
Jessie Jones’ new song “Lady La De Da,” off the California singer’s self-titled solo debut for Burger Records, out July 24th. Just a couple years ago, Jessie Jones was fronting the band Feeding People, from Orange County. A band that deftly navigated the void between psych and garage rock. How she ended up there and where she’d go next were the stuff of myths and rumour, whereas before she’d traded evangelical Christianity for music, by 2013 she’d hit the eject button on the rock ‘n’ roll world for some sort of cosmic soul journey.
Clearly she came back, but not an unchanged woman. This shows on her impressive self-titled debut, a diverse and huge-sounding collection of jangly pysch-pop and mystical acid-blues in the California tradition. Just like in the band Feeding People, Jessie Jones’ Grace-Slick-styled vocals kicked-up-an-octave voice is the best part, though a coiling sitar proves to be stiff competition for the spotlight on “Lady La De Da.” the entrancing song, which begins a little like The Doors’ “The End” and finds Jones moaning to the gods about wish fulfillment.
White Manna – ‘Pan’: California psych troupe White Manna return with their second LP following 2012’s self-titled debut and the results are no less gloriously sludgy. Most tracks clock in over the seven-minute mark, while the pervading atmosphere is of sitting in a stoner’s bedsit with the curtains shut forever. In a good way.
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