Posts Tagged ‘Los Angeles’

The BIG PHONY – ” The Big Phony Mix “

Posted: March 6, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

http://

Big Phony is a Seoul, Korea based singer/songwriter, originally born and raised in New York City. Off stage Big Phony is simply known to his friends and family as “Bobby.” At an early age Bobby began secretly practicing his older brother Eddy’s guitar in defiance of warnings that he would surely get his ass kicked if he so much as laid a finger on it. Because of Bobby’s dedication to and success in surpassing his brother’s skill level, mom eventually transferred ownership of that guitar over to Bobby.

Bobby’s family relocated to Los Angeles, leaving him in New York City so he could attend the legendary School of Performing Arts and Music and Art, which has produced a long list of talent including Al Pacino, Adrian Brody, and Bela Fleck. Living alone at such an early age, Big Phony devoted his time to writing in his New York City apartment.

With strong religious conviction, Big Phony left for Boston to attend a Christian college to study to be a pastor. He quickly realized that this was not the path for him and returned his focus to his music. After college, he moved to Los Angeles to be closer with his family. It was in Los Angeles where Big Phony began his pursuit to be a singer-songwriter. He quickly built a devout fan base with his songs and performances. In early 2006 he returned to New York to build that same kind of following and began splitting his time between both cities crashing on couches.  In 2011, Big Phony moved to Asia and where he currently resides in Seoul, South Korea. There he continues to write & perform, and furthermore, he is learning more about his “roots”.

Big Phony delivers honest lyrics and natural talent. There’s a fragile but controlled quality in his voice, which he attributes to thin apartment walls and easily disgruntled neighbors. Fans of Elliott Smith, Bright Eyes, and Death Cab For Cutie will instinctively gravitate towards Big Phony’s sound. His latest projects “LONG LIVE THE LIE” (electronic album) & the alternative release “BOBBY” (acoustic album) are available now.

IRENE DIAZ – ” Tricky Game “

Posted: March 4, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0

Irene Diaz is Los Angeles’ modern day Torch Singer Songwriter. Within only a short amount of time Irene has gained national acclaim. Anyone who hears your voice will wonder where you have been all this time”.

In late 2011 Irene began a career move making her way into the music scene playing at various venues around the Los Angeles area, from small coffee shops to eventually playing well known singer songwriter venues such as Room 5 and Hollywood’s House of Blues. In February of 2012 Irene’s song I Love You Madly caught the attention of NPR Alternative Latino’s Jasmine Garsd after by chance opening an email from production company Mucho Music based in L.A. which featured a live video performance. Jasmine Garsd featured the song on her program and said “you can’t fake the soul… Irene is so believable in her emotion.”

In fall of 2012 Irene began the production of her first E.P. titled I Love You Madly. To help fund her project, Irene raised over $10,000 backed by supporters using the website Kickstarter. With the help of these funds, Irene was able to produce and record her E.P., make a music video for Crazy Love, and fund her way to the East Coast for a small tour .

July 31st 2013 release date of “I Love You Madly”, Irene celebrated her CD release party at the classic noir downtown venue The Edison in front of a packed crowd. “She brings back classical American soul and blues and elevates it to a whole new level for today’s audience…. quite possibly, someday (Irene) could join Ella and Nina and Billie and Rosemary as a queen of torch.”

The BIG PHONY – ” Long Live The Lie “

Posted: March 3, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , , ,
0

http://

This album “Long Live The Lie” is a bit of a departure from what people might be used to from Big Phony and his singer-songwriter acoustic sound. (If that’s what you’re looking for I’ve simultaneously released an album titled “BOBBY” to uphold that tradition and familiarity (if any). Please check that album out too, thanks!)
My older brothers listened heavily to 80’s new wave and that sound/genre really made an impression on me during my formative years. In early 2013, a friend of mine asked me if I could write a song in that style for a scene in an independent movie of his (“Chu & Blossom”) and so I made the song “All Bets Are Off”. I had so much fun with it that I decided I wanted to try more. I really didn’t have a set plan to attempt an album but I was having so much fun that things kind of just unfolded the way it did. That’s why I really made this album, because it was fun. I enjoyed taking a break from my normal routine of building songs mainly around lyrics and an acoustic guitar.

I started out writing all the “Long Live The Lie” songs on my laptop, really with limited knowledge of making electronic music. I asked my producer/artist friend Enik Lin (of electro pop band IAMMEDIC) for his help. He graciously agreed so I flew out to Taiwan and also Los Angeles to work with him. We transferred what I had (or what was useful) to his system and he helped bring this vision to life. For most of the songs he took the crappy beats I made and switched them out with better sounds. He also helped with making the beats and synths I had more dynamic in the arrangements by taking apart, stripping away, adding on to, and so on. On top of all that, he mixed the album as well. It was incredibly educational working with him. Such an incredible talent and true friend.

There are literally countless people I need to thank from the bottom of my heart for helping to make these albums possible. You all know who you are and I hope to repay you in being just as great to you as you’ve been to me over the years.

L.A WITCH – ” Get Lost “

Posted: February 28, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: ,
0

L.A Witch live up to their name with a mysteriously moody sound that alternates between the psychedelic garage-rock clangor of “You Love Nothing” and the ethereal cooing of “Heart of Darkness.”
recent years and through the buzz echoes from various articles from various publications the world over, L.A. Witch have sustained themselves as an indelible specter to the Los Angeles indie circuits. The current line up of Ellie, Irita, and Sade are about to release their debut EP March 18 on Manimal, but first a listen to the dead soul shaking and amplifier earth-quaking bruiser, “Get Lost”.

The amazing thing about “Get Lost” is that it embodies practically everything that has made you love the rock and roll medium for however many decades you feel like counting. L.A. Witch drink from the gold goblet of rebellion, detaching themselves from many, to the close-fisted shouts of, “I don’t need nobody else.” The guitars create the sensation of anxiety felt around some of L.A.’s cuttiest corners, with lyrics ripped from the wildest apartment complex matches, and domestic disturbances. “Save me from my self, take me where you go, to get lost from myself, to get lost from my soul.” The “get lost from my soul” denouncement becomes the drifter’s creed, as guitars and percussion illustrate the air of every pool hall in town, and the jukebox machine glow of every dive and haunt in the entire L.A. area.

KERA and the LESBIANS – ” After 23′ “

Posted: February 27, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , , ,
0

http://

Hailing from San Diego and currently residing in Los Angeles, Kera and the Lesbians lovingly refer to their musical style as ‘bipolar folk’. Bipolar in the sense that in one song drummer Michael will pound his drums, expelling his demons with sheer force, while Kera croons and screams and serenades, enchanting all within earshot. Eamon’s guitar playing is reminiscent of sleepy desert afternoons, spent on porches accompanied by the smell of leather and aging wood, while Phil’s bass lines get the crowd moving and grooving. Brandon’s use of brass is at once warm and rounded, but so tactfully manipulated that it inevitably raises goosebumps. Kera brings heaps of charm to the set, with her joking between songs and her Elvis-like dance moves, it’s obvious that she and the whole band live for this. Their range has allowed them to perform with a diverse list of acts including Devendra Banhart, Best Coast, and Crystal Castles. The band has a definite DIY work ethic, having self released two EPs, and their first debut “YEAR 23” released on Lolipop Records. They also do their own booking and artwork internally. Their newest release “Year 23″‘ is a manic story covering one of Kera’s most aggravating habits and instilling in the listener a mounting feeling of tension that it mercifully relieves, while still giving a taste of the madness of obsession.

 

SLUTEVER – ” Almost Famous “

Posted: February 26, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , , , , ,
0

http://

The first sounds of Slutever’s latest EP are a propulsive smash of drums and three notes on a guitar that hit the listener like an elbow to the face. Rachel Gagliardi and Nicole Snyder have been regulars in the L.A. grunge-pop scene for roughly a year, playing sweaty sold-out gigs at the Smell and dropping a split tape with Girlpool. But their new EP “Almost Famous” was recorded in a blitz right before they left Pennsylvania – and right when they thought the band was over.

Snyder and Gagliardi met as teenagers in a music program at their Pennsylvania high school, but it wasn’t until they were both in college that the two joined forces. Both were devoted followers of the same rip-and-rock brand of punk; both were studying the music industry and gunning for similar gigs. It seemed to make sense… plus, they were bored.

“A little bit of curiosity, and a little bit of boredom,” laughs Snyder. “That’s how Slutever was born.”

After that came a string of demo collections and early EPs (their debut, according to Snyder, “sounded shitty” but was “really popular on Tumblr… I think because it had a girl throwing up as the cover art”). For a few years, the band tread water in the Philadelphia scene — and then Snyder got an internship in Seattle. The concept of a new album took on a do-or-die urgency.

Slutever-by-Faye-Orlove-sm

“We just basically like… emptied our bank account and said, ‘All right, we’re using all our money, recording all the songs and we’ll see what happens.’”

“’Smother’ and ‘Maggot’ were written literally two days before we went into the studio,” adds Snyder, “and we didn’t finish them until we were halfway into the recording process.”

The burst of activity ended when Snyder packed her bags in June 2013… and then the songs went into artistic cold storage. Gagliardi wound up hoofing it to Los Angeles just four months later — and after nearly a year in the northwest, Snyder joined her. It wasn’t until the duo joined forces with fellow Angeleno twosome Girlpool for an East Coast tour that they finally unfroze “Almost Famous”.

“We were kinda nervous [the songs] would never see the light of day,” Snyder admits. “The tour with Girlpool really helped us realize we should just do it ourselves. We started as friends so we should just keep ourselves the focus.”The result? A half-dozen tracks of driving drums and gut-crunching guitar, squeezed into a cassette tape and covered in a hand-drawn label done in Magic Marker. The two spent the last few weeks on a speedy tour up the Left Coast, but are back in town on Friday for a night at the Smell. After that, the future is decidedly up in the air. But now that they’re back together — and living in a cramped Hollywood apartment — it’s also bright.

SPRINGTIME CARNIVORE – ” Name On A Matchbook “

Posted: February 26, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , , ,
0

Springtime Carnivore is essentially a solo project for local artist Greta Morgan, whose pedigree made her self-titled debut album noteworthy when it was released in the Autumn. For one, it was produced by Richard Swift, currently a touring member of both The Shins and The Black Keys. In addition, it was offered up by local label Autumn Tone, an extension of L.A. institution Aquarium Drunkard. But none of this speaks to the actual sound of Springtime Carnivore, which takes hazy California rock & roll with classic pop and R&B flourishes, and gives them all a contemporary spin.

springtime carnivore

BLOODY DEATH SKULL – ” Girls Like You “

Posted: February 26, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0

Like a children’s party band in a David Lynch film, Bloody Death Skull play sweet, twinkling, ’60s-inspired pop with pitch-black lyrics, delivered to psychedelic effect in a haze of toy instruments and reverb. Head Skull Daiana Feuer’s guileless vocals and strummed ukulele hold together the whole clattering ensemble, which can sometimes swell to 18 members whimsically costumed members in live incarnations. Their only release last year was an absurdist EP “Oh my Gosh” based on an issue of Dum Dum Zine, but they promise more musical head-trips in 2015.

“Girls like you”, they come in two. Girls like you, they come froo. I love you…love you. I’m off rhythm because your wisdom comes from so much prostituting experience and it throws me off. But I still love you. Ooh. Ooh. Oh your the most tall prostitute. Boots. Leather, it’s better in color. That’s why you have so many pairs of boots. It keeps you getting everybody’s money. Honey, it’s all about the money. Do what you can. You gotta get paid so you have to get laid all the time. At least 10 times a day. A good day’s a little bit longer. But if you’re stronger you can make it through. Ooh ooh hoo. I love you. You. Though you’re a prostitute, I’ll always be with you… Bitches, none of us will ever know what it feels like to grow in our pants.

AVID DANCER – ” All Your Words Are Gone ” and ” An Introduction “

Posted: February 26, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0

http://

Avid Dancer aka Jacob Summers, a former U.S. Marine and a world champion at the art of rudimental snare drumming. While his first song ever, “Stop Playing With My Heart,” certainly sported a steady rhythm, the focus here is on the bigger picture with specifically the way his bright vocals, swirling guitars, and buzzing keys evoke the psychedelic sound of Tame Impala, though somehow sent back to the ’60s so all that soulful loveliness can rattle around in the heyday.  Of course, if the Los Angeles-based Avid Dancer continues down this promising path, there will be a whole new batch of  new songs to come.

http://

The debut four-song set drifted closer to mid-’90s Brit pop (on the title track) and laid-back psych (“Stop Playing With My Heart”), delivered with just the right combo of confidence and vulnerability. The solo project of Jacob Summers, Avid Dancer has yet to announce a debut LP. But if the energetic live shows have been any indicator, the project’s sonic palette is still developing.

GIRLPOOL – ” Cut Your Bangs ” Radiator Hospital Cover

Posted: February 23, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , , ,
0

LA duo Girlpool cover ‘Cut Your Bangs’ the original was  by Radiator Hospital at a special NME session at The Macbeth in London.
If Kurt Cobain alive today, he would probably be declaring Girlpool the greatest band in the world and name-dropping them to fame. The Nirvana singer loved riot grrrl pioneers Bikini Kill and obscure British indie groups such as the Raincoats – and those sounds seem to have inspired this Los Angeles duo.

For a pair who didn’t expect to ever leave the LA underground scene, and whose self-titled debut EP began life as a homemade cassette before being re-released by Wichita, Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad must be happy with their progress to date.
Written for electric and bass guitars and two shrill voices, Girlpool’s songs are sparse, needling, angular and caustic – they could be Marine Girls gone grunge, or First Aid Kit raised on Sleater-Kinney. Even if their material sounds like extended intros awaiting drums that never crash in, their purist aversion to clutter places intense focus on their lyrics, which are rawer than a pair off freshly skinned knees. Plants and Worms, Ideal World and Paint Me Colours are misfit anti-anthems about self-empowerment, boredom, anger and the intense sexual and romantic desires and discomforts of youth.
It is best to think of the singers less as a band without a rhythm section than as a duo doing an amped-up, confrontational take on the singer-songwriter genre – which they also seem capable of doing on more polite terms. When they resist their natural instinct for abrasion with a show-stopping harmony-drenched cover of Radiator Hospital’s Cut Your Bangs, Tucker and Tividad show they can do “pretty” just as well as harsh.

Older Entries
Newer Entries