Tim Hill is a Los Angeles based musician, most recently known as the touring keyboardist for the Allah-Las. His own unique brand of songs echo the folk and roots traditions of Neil Young and Bob Dylan, while simultaneously distinguishing themselves with a wise and soulful sound all their own. It’s as though his songs transport the listener to some dark and empty bar, long past last call, where Tim’s music plays as expansive and as lonesome as the American West. His style is moody, but with a steady, plodding groove.
Tim Hill’s highly anticipated debut 7” single, “Paris, Texas”, which is available now on the Calico Discos label, is inspired by the film of the same name. The B side is a cover of Warren Zevon’s “Steady Rain”, featuring a mellow mid-tempo shuffle with the soul of the original still very much intact. Hill has collected more than enough material for a full length record, planned for later this year.
Out 09/21/18 on vinyl 7″ 45 RPM via Calico Discos Cover of “Steady Rain” by Warren Zevon
Illuminati Hotties, aka L.A.’s Sarah Tudzin, seems plagued by the past on “Cuff.” But over a chorus of explosive guitars, backed by simple, steady drum programming, she settles on a solution: “I cuff my T-shirt sleeve / and grit my teeth / How else can I tell myself I can do most anything?”
In a new video for the track, featuring animation from Sam Lane, the protagonist is a humble fish that has fantasies of flight. As the chorus explodes, dreamy visions of possibilities flash, the colors shifting. For the film’s fish protagonist, despite the cost, hope remains. And for Tudzin, the final chorus offers relief in letting another in.
“After watching an animated short film that Sam created for part of her coursework at CalArts, I knew I wanted to collaborate with her on something,” Tudzin says. “The animation and storytelling she does is so sensitive, emotionally aware, and poignantly relatable – it sneaks right into your guts and twists them up in the most winsome way.”
The same can be said of Tudzin’s debut, a record that balances humor and heart, illuminating the ways in which we cope with coming into our own, no matter our age.
The Apparition / Melt the Arms is the third release from Los Angeles band Flat Worms (Tim Hellman, Justin Sullivan, Will Ivy) released on New York’s Famous Class Records. The 7″ single follows their debut LP on Castle Face records. These songs were recorded with Ty Segall in his home studio during a global heatwave.
“The dream was an apparition.” Teju Cole Open City
Back again and this time with a killer new 7” from LA rippers Flat Worms. We’ve been hounding these guys to do a record ever since their first 7” dropped back in 2016, so we are thrilled to have them on board now. Flat Worms consist of Will Ivy (Dream Boys, Wet Illustrated), Justin Sullivan (Night Shop, Kevin Morby, The Babies) and TimHellman (Oh Sees). Their debut LP on Castle Face dropped last year and the boys have been touring like mad men ever since.
Some nice sitar and Farfisa action going on, here… good pop sensibilities, too..
Los Angeles Psych rockers Triptides have just made their finest album yet !. After the acclaimed Azur (2015) and Afterglow (2017), Triptides are back with their sixth album! With Visitors, the LA based band are probably delivering their most accomplished album yet. Visitors deepens the exploration started with Azur, digging more profoundly into fifty years of psychedelic pop music with the band’s trademarked pristine elegance of melody.
However, the finer production and musical arrangements this time round show a real advance in the band’s ability to capture on record what they offer live: the songs of Glenn Bringman & Josh Menashe never chimed so beautifully or with such mature accomplishment.
“L.A.’s Triptides have psychedelia down to a science” (LA Record, US), “This artefact is something especially nice to have and hold and sit alongside The Young Sinclairs, Silver Factory and Allah-Las in your collection. They deserve far more attention than has come along so far” (Shindig)
“The romance that is begining with Triptides will last more than this summer”. (Rock & Folk)
The LP contains 10 songs pressed but CD and Digital contains the full album (12 songs)
Those who wants the two additionnal songs on vinyl can take the Limited edition 7″ (CRM022 Heavy Cloud / My Friend).
Released April 6, 2018
Glenn Brigman : Vocals, guitars, farfisa, mellotron, drums, sitar, electric harpsichord, tambourine
Josh Menashe : Vocals, guitars, bass, farfisa, flute, piano
Modeste Cobián : Flute on Mary Anne and Heavy Cloud
Dylan Sizemore : Backup vocals on Sunday In The Park
Recorded and mixed by Triptides in Los Angeles, CA
It’s the exact brand of 40-drinking, skate-punk, crunchy guitar-riffing sort of debauchery for which we’ve come to know and love Fidlar. The lyrics are short and simple so you can still sing-scream them while you’re flailing in the pit—if you can remember “Hello / Goodbye / Are you high?” you’ll be good to go. The track also comes with a music video that is equal parts so-so quality concert footage and DIY editing.
At the core of Death Valley Girls, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Bonnie Bloomgarden and guitarist LarrySchemel channel a modern spin on Fun House’s sonic exorcisms, ZZ Top’s desert-blasted riffage, and Sabbath’s occult menace. On their third album Darkness Rains, Death Valley Girls churn out the hypercharged scuzzy rock every generation yearns for, but there is a more subversive force percolating beneath the surface that imbues the band with an exhilarating cosmic energy.
Death Valley Girls ‘Darkness Rains’ out October 5th, 2018
Beyond-beyond excited to present to you “Disaster (Is What We’re After)” from our new record, DarknessRains, out October 5th on Suicide Squeeze Records. Video starring Iggy Pop and directed by Kansas Bowling,
The Kansas Bowling-directed clip is a direct homage to a scene in Danish filmmaker Jørgen Leth’s 1982 film, 66 Scenes of America, in which Andy Warhol eats a hamburger. Iggy Pop of course puts his own spin on the simple activity, nodding along to Death Valley Girls’ infectious rocker and even taking a healthy, low-carb approach halfway through when he discards one of the buns.
“We’re strong believers in opti-mysticism and connecting with people through rock n’ roll,” Death Valley Girls said of the video. “Having Iggy dig our music was more than amazing for us. When [director] Kansas told us she had a dream about recreating the ‘Andy Warhol Eating a Hamburger’ short film but with Iggy starring for our music video, we were cautiously excited about the possibility. Next thing we know we’re in Miami with Iggy himself, and a rock n’ roll dream became reality!”
Album opener “More Dead” is a rousing wake up call, with a hypnotic guitar riff and an intoxicating blown-out solo underscoring Bloomgarden’s proclamation that you’re “more dead than alive.” The pace builds with “(One Less Thing) Before I Die”, a distillate of Detroit’s proto-punk sound. At track three, Death Valley Girls hit their stride with “Disaster (Is What We’re After)”, a rager that takes the most boisterous moments off Exile On Main Street and injects it with Zeppelin’s devil’s-note blues. Darkness Rains retains its intoxicating convocations across ten tracks, climaxing with the hypnotic guitar drones and cult-like chants of “TV In Jail On Mars”.
For all the appeal of Lord Huron’s elegiac, ethereal Americana, Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver were ahead of them in a very crowded field. So after two albums of hymnal beauty with acoustic guitars – and the track, The Night We Met, the Michigan band led by Ben Schneider have changed course.
Now on a major label, the songs no longer conjure up vast rural or mountainous landscapes but the even more widescreen spaces of the cosmos. The title means “black void”, and vast swaths of reverb and echo (sculpted by Flaming Lips’ producer Dave Fridmann) create a celestial wall of sound; many of the songs have astral themes or metaphors. Writing on bass guitar has given the music a more powerful chassis, from Killers-like throb to subtle funk. Any remaining acoustic guitars have been blasted beyond recognition.
With their first release on a major label, Los Angeles based band Lord Huron are more popular than ever. Their third album Vide Noir is beloved by critics and fans alike and we welcome them for a live set in the midst of a nationwide headlining tour.
Lord Huron has morphed from the solo project of Ben Schneider to a full-fledged band and their sound has grown with it. It’s a bountiful collection of texture and rhythm from one of our favorite american bands.
Schneider’s best songs tap into the desolate beauty of the loner, who now has a much bigger universe to get lost in
Musicians:
Ben Schneider – lead guitar/lead vocals
Mark Barry – drums
Thomas Renaud – guitar/backup vocals
Miguel Briseno – bass
Brandon Walters – guitar/backup vocals
April Boyce – keys/backup vocals
Pkwy is a garage-y indie rock band from Los Angeles whose first single “Come on Baby, Let’s Go” was featured in many a music blog. This week they dropped a brand new track called “Punisher” and announced the upcoming release of their debut EP Giant.
Whereas “Come on Baby, Let’s Go” was a sparse, minimal indie slow-jam, “Punisher” is uptempo and features lush, shreddy guitar power chords and pummeling percussion. The song opens slowly and slithers along as the instrumentation snowballs and eventually crescendos into a huge, thrashy ending climax. It’s a cathartic garage-rock song with lyrics full of vibrant imagery and heavy on the matter-of-fact slacker vibes: “Slackers are acting tough/ Born in Los Angeles/ Light up a Camel Crush just for fun/ Just for fun…” Overall, it’s an impressive sonic leap forward for pkwy, and a perfect single for those low-stakes summer hang-out vibes.
The band hasn’t yet announced an official release date for Giant yet, but recently indicated that it’s coming out “soon.” .
Los Angeles band The Feels, are desribed as “Psych punk future rock+roll post-everything melody music,” goes the effusive run-on sentence, “from LA.” it closes. Even as someone paid to write about how music sounds, feels, and fits into the grand scheme of things, I can’t think of any better way to describe Feels, so I’m going to go with that.
Fronted by Laena Geronimo previously of the band Raw Geronimo Feels’ self-titled debut came out in 2016 on Castle Face Records and was produced by Ty Segall. The rest of the band is made up of Shannon Lay (backup vocals, guitar), Amy Allen (bass), and Michael Rudes (drums), to compose a formidable four-piece who play the kind of garage rock that makes talk of rock being “dead” sound downright ridiculous. The record is just nine songs and twenty-nine minutes long, but it’s still impressive enough to cement them as one of LA’s best new bands. Given their last record came out two years ago, the band is ripe to release some new music.
Regret’s is the worst thing ever? If you’re not careful, that shoulda-woulda-coulda will eat you alive, or at the very least, make you lose your mind for a bit . Goon’s Kenny Becker knows all about that, as detailed in the band’s tops new standalone track “Enter Bethel Admissions,” .
Though the track’s title is just a play on the song’s E-B-A chord progression, its lyrics delve into the madness of missed opportunities and past mistakes. Couched in the LA outfit’s signature scuzzy shimmer and Becker’s alternately lackadaisical and pleading vocals, it’s ultimately uplifting—both heartbreaking and gentle as Becker sings, “I won’t beat up myself, about it…I wanna show my tremor.” It’s less an affirmation than a Hail Mary.
Here’s what Becker said about the tune, which lands alongside the Partisan re-release of LA grunge-gaze outfit’s Dusk of Punk/Happy Omen double EP today.
I was dealing with this intense regret that used to come up a lot. It was usually centered around this girl from college that I botched things with before they even began. Actually it’s the same girl that also inspired a couple tunes from our upcoming LP. It was a crazy type of regret, I kinda thought my brain was broken sometimes. It seemed like every day I could very tangibly feel my life going further and further down some wrong path because I missed a crucial opportunity with her that I was “meant” to take years earlier. I’m happy to say that I’m now very over it, but it fucked me up good for a while.
So with all that in mind, I made Enter Bethel Admissions as sort of pleading with myself to not get down on myself for any of that stuff. However, despite my desire to not cause myself harm for things that are out of my control or are in the unchangable past, I still very much end up seeking that harm in other ways, which is the desire for a metaphorical “tremor” in the choruses.
The Fat Angel Sings 