LA LOM has finally confirmed the imminent arrival of their self-titled debut album The Los Angeles League of Musicians, on August 9th via Verve Records. Sharing its lead single, “Danza de LA LOM,” the first of 13 tracks coalesce around the pulse of culturally ingrained music that thrives across the city they all grew up in. In the fall, the trio will head out on a headlining tour, including a stop at The Mayan in Los Angeles on October 18th. They’ll also open for Vampire Weekend at Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre in San Diego on June 10th.
“Danza de LA LOM” is the first taste fans will receive of LA LOM‘s first record and it does not disappoint. Scorching riffs weave themselves rapturously between a tangled enchantment of percussive rhythms. Zac Sokolow and Jake Faulkner trading smoldering guitar-bass lines as Nicholas Baker fills the scene with a roiling fervor. The result is a burning ode to Peru’s cumbia and chicha bands like Los Mirlos, Los Shapis, Los Destellos, and Los Wembler’s de Iquitos.
“When we started out playing in bars full of dancers around Los Angeles, covers from the great Chicha and Cumbia bands of Peru were a big part of our repertoire,” Sokolow said of the single. “We knew we wanted to have our own ‘Danza de LA LOM,’ and this song gets people dancing as well as any song we have ever covered.”
The band has come a long way since their five-night gigs at the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard. Now, they’re selling out shows all over the country and taking the stage at major music festivals like Newport Folk and Ohana Fest, earning the praise of everyone from Beck to Jenny Lewis in the process.
Yet their commitment to showcasing the community they’ve inherited as Angelenos is also rooted in their family’s generational past. For Sokolow, that started with his father’s family, who left behind Buenos Aires to travel to Los Angeles in the 1930s. The latter eventually grew up to become a notable member of the city’s bluegrass community.
Sokolow and Faulkner, who hailed from an artistic household in Venice, became friends as teenagers before starting LA LOM. Baker received an early education in Latin music from his Durango-born grandmother, studying later in life under Nuyorican bassist and percussionist Roberto Miranda. After making a name for himself as a DJ on a Spanish-language radio station in Tucson, he joined the band to complete the trio.
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When their new album arrives, it will serve as much as a love letter to the sounds of Los Angeles — boleros, cumbia, oldies — but also the intimacies and uninhibited passions of Latin dance halls. Like their arresting, passionate, and self-made music videos (one of the linchpins for their explosive arrival in the spotlight), fans can expect the collection to manifest those sweltering atmospheres with delightful delirium.
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The Los Angeles League of Musicians is out on August 9th via Verve Records.
You can see LA LOM at The Mayan in Los Angeles on Friday, October 18th. They’ll also be opening for Vampire Weekend at Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre in San Diego on Monday, June 10th.
Visit LA LOM on their website and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
Listen to “Danza de LA LOM” the new single from LA LOM below!
LA LOM Tour
06/06/24 – 713 Music Hall – Houston, TX – WITH VAMPIRE WEEKEND
06/07/24 – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory – Irving, TX – WITH VAMPIRE WEEKEND
06/09/24 – Arizona Financial Theatre – Phoenix, AZ – WITH VAMPIRE WEEKEND
06/10/24 – Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre – San Diego, CA – WITH VAMPIRE WEEKEND
06/25/24 – TD Victoria International JazzFest – Victoria, BC
06/27/24 – Le Festival International de Jazz de Montréal – Montréal, QC
06/28/24 – Longboat Hall – Toronto, ON
06/29/24 – Ottawa Jazz Festival – Ottawa, ON
07/01/24 – SummerStage in Central Park – New York, NY
07/26/24 – Nelsonville Music Festival – Nelsonville, OH
07/28/24 – Newport Folk Festival – Newport, RI
08/03/24 – Pickathon Festival – Happy Valley, OR
08/04/24 – Pickathon Festival – Happy Valley, OR
08/06/24 – Whiskey Creek Zócalo – Arenas Valley, NM
08/08/24 – Globe Hall – Denver, CO
08/09/24 – Fox Theatre – Boulder, CO
08/11/24 – Telluride Jazz Festival – Telluride, CO
08/12/24 – Launchpad – Albuquerque, NM
08/31/24 – Fool in Love – Inglewood, CA
09/14/24 – Lowbrow Palace – El Paso, TX
09/15/24 – Ballroom Marfa – Marfa, TX
09/18/24 – The Kessler Theater – Dallas, TX
09/19/24 – Scoot Inn – Austin, TX
09/20/24 – Stable Hall – San Antonio, TX
09/21/24 – The Heights Theater – Houston, TX
09/24/24 – Hotel Congress Plaza – Tucson, AZ
09/25/24 – The Orpheum Theater – Flagstaff, AZ
09/28/24 – Pappy & Harriet’s Outdoors – Pioneertown, CA
09/29/24 – Ohana Music and Arts Festival – Dana Point, CA
10/03/24 – The Observatory North Park – San Diego, CA
10/10/24 – Felton Music Hall – Felton, CA
10/12/24 – Bimbo’s 365 Club – San Francisco, CA
10/18/24 – The Mayan – Los Angeles, CA
10/19/24 – Ventura Music Hall – Ventura, CA
11/01/24 – Crossing Border Festival – The Hague, NL
11/02/24 – Take Root Festival – Groningen, NL
11/09/24 – Pitchfork Music Festival – London, UK
LA LOM
The Los Angeles League of Musicians
Verve Records
August 9, 2024
01 Angels Point
02 Figueroa
03 Maravilla
04 ’72 Monte Carlo
05 El Sereno
06 Lorena
07 Lucia
08 Danza de LA LOM
09 Espejismo
10 Ghosts of Gardena
11 Moonlight Over Montebello
12 Rebecca
13 San Fernando Rose
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