After temporarily settling down in the small Mexican farming town of La Punta Banda, Long Beach natives Crystal Antlers have spawned the follow up to their 2010 debut with their impressive new album Two-Way Mirror. Fusing different styles and genres on their already eclectic palette, the Crystal Antlers have added new elements of avant-garde pop, […]

After two amazing EPs, Washed Out has finally dropped a full-length studio album: Within And Without. Washed Out (aka Atlanta’s, Ernest Greene) first caught people’s attention back in 2009 after placing some bedroom-recorded tunes on MySpace, which would later appear on the notable and first Life of Leisure EP. It’s here that fans began to […]

First of all let me start this album review by saying I LOVE THE JAPANESE MOTORS.  Unfortunately, shortly after their self-titled debut album made a splash, they got washed out to sea. Luckily, singer-guitarist-surfer Alex Knost, of the Japanese Motors is freaking back with his new band, Tomorrows Tulips. Accompanied by girlfriend Christina Keyes, the […]

I have never heard the Bouncing Souls before this week. Heard of ‘em.  Never heard ‘em. Not sure how that happened, probably bad timing — just as these guys were getting a name for themselves, that third wave of punk bands that directly preceded them weren’t my taste.  Anyway, somehow I missed them.  My understanding […]

Sparking their third studio album off with a zombie surf-punk, organ infested intro,” Las Kellies set the tone for an unusual album full of delectable twists and turns. The fiery threesome from Buenos Aires, Argentina power through Kellies, their 14-track LP dousing your ears with feral garage riffs, exotic dub and a variety of post-punk […]

I believe in archetypes in rock n roll. They are are all around. There are the early adapters, the sensitive poets, the experimental ground breakers, the self-destructive rebels.  However, one group of rock and rollers has never received the full the credit they deserve — the laid back California folk rocker. Starting with the Byrds, […]

Straightforward snare hits, pressing guitar and Matt Pond’s slightly breathy vocals lead immediately into the first track off Matt Pond PA‘s new Spring Fools EP entitled “Love to Get Used.” “Let’s hang on to abandon, let’s hope we lose control, to be out in the open, baby, and let go of the road.”  This is perfect […]

As it turns out evolution is not as we thought. It’s not as simple as monkeys turning into men. Hundreds of thousands of years ago. A few kinds of humanoids existed at the same time and only one of them evolved into humankind. There were, many evolutionary dead ends and only one kind of pre-hominid […]

Photo: Shabazz Palaces at the Troubadour – by Ben Irwin As the first hip-hop group signed to indie-rock heavy-hitters Sup Pop, Shabazz Palaces brings a new psychedelic style to hip-hop. Free off all the bullshit, hype and wannabe pop infused crap, Shabazz Palaces’ debut album, Black Up totally tears away at traditional hip-hop vibes to […]

Some things are inarguable: the earth is round, the atomic weight of Oxygen is 15.9994, the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. Try arguing these details and you will end up with an egg on your face. Other things not so much. It is […]