-
Stockholm’s Shout Out Louds have just finished their US tour in support of the new album Optica with a two-night stand at LA’s El Rey Theater. It was their first visit to the city in three years. If you haven’t heard them before, their music can be described as often bleakly wistful lyrics completely camouflaged by bright, sunny tunes (More…)
-
The terrible news yesterday was of Jason Molina’s passing. Jason was the force behind the Songs: Ohia moniker (largely for his own solo work) and Magnolia Electric Co (which saw him working with a regular band). I saw Jason perform three times, in 2004 (Charlottesville), 2006 (Baton Rouge), and 2007 (New Orleans). I spoke with him on two of those...
-
In March of 2012 Stephen Merrit released the best Magnetic Fields album since 2004’s i. The album features songs with classic Stephin Merritt charm and benefits from vast improvements in production over recent releases. This album should have been nothing but aces, but it could have been a whole lot better (More…)
-
I have had several conversations about which band/artist can claim responsibility for setting the precedent of touring behind a long since released back-catalog album that has reached ‘classic’ status for a full cover-to-cover live rendition. Many have done it, and based on my sampling, I have been generally pleased that the concept has taken hold (More…)
-
We saw Danish group The Raveonettes in what was our second show at The El Rey Theater in about a ten-day span. This was another band I had been wanting to see for a very long time — readers who have seen my “Best of” lists will know that their records consistently make it into consideration, but they never came...
-
Menomena kicked off their latest tour here in LA last week. I was curious to see just how their complex arrangements would translate into live performance — especially since they’re no longer a trio. They showed up with three touring band members and put on a hell of a show.
