Swahili Blonde at the Echoplex – Photo: Matt Fisher OK. There is a LOT going on here. I mean there is a hell of a lot going on here. Swahili Blonde’s newest release Psycho Tropical Ballet Pink mixes elements of krautrock, Afro-beat, psyche, dub, skronk, no wave and I don’t think I’ve even covered […]

Keep Shelly in Athens (KSiA) are the hottest duo duo out of Greece and probably a band you have yet to give a listen. Radiating all the sonic bliss that you would expect from a proper down-tempo, ambient ensemble, KSiA have just shared another track, “DIY,” from their dazzling  Our Own Dream 12″ EP.  The song bustles with sexy […]

Grimy Goods presents The Black Ryder at the Satellite Shoegaze and goth go together like “Whapbobaloobop” and a “whapbamboom,” so a Grimy Goods-presented show of  the Black Ryder, Lower Heaven and Swamplands could only mean one thing—the Satellite’s crowd last Thursday was as leather-bound and eye-linered as I’ve ever seen on a weekday night in […]

Well, this is just a two-song EP with some remixes so it’s going to be a quickie. Spoek Mathambo is the newest singing to SubPop and there is a lot going on here. Spoek is a South African rapper with multiple styles, sing-songy, backpacker, dub, dense, sparse—his flow is distinct or all over the place, depending […]

The two lovely ladies and two lovely gents that make up London four piece Veronica Falls, just released their self titled debut album on Slumberland Records on September 20, 2011. This album has been out less than a month and it’s grown on me. It’s become addictive, even. To put it simply: this haunting, graceful, […]

AA Bondy at  FYF 2010 – Photo: Matt Fisher AA Bondy has quite a history. Discovered as the hillbilly Kurt Cobain, his first band’s first major label record, Verbena’s Into the Pink was produced by Dave Grohl and was pushed by a dying 90s Modern Rock industry as the saviors of grunge. This may sound […]

Loney Dear aka Emil Svanangen’s new album Hall Music which came out today, October 4, 2011 was influenced by playing shows throughout his native Sweden with chamber orchestras and coupling that influenced the reworking of some of his older material. The result is an orchestral rooted soundscape pairing the simple and complex, the clear and […]

Grouplove at MINI Countryman Wanderlust (Malibu) – Photo: Dominoe Farris-Gilbert Everyone in the world should listen to Never Trust a Happy Song. This is the title of the debut full-length by the Los Angeles ensemble, Grouplove. This album is a blissful jewel of ripe sounds and sugary vocals coated to perfection. We’ve covered Grouplove numerous times and […]

Everyone, please rise and welcome back New York City’s very own pop-dance prodigal sons, The Rapture, and with them—In The Grace Of Your Love, the first studio album in a whopping five years, released on DFA records. After surviving a decade as a band, losing members, gaining producers and ultimately changing their minds, they return with an […]

Sacramento’s Ganglians are back two years after their last dual-album release of their self-titled debut and Monster Head Room in 2009. With producer Robby Moncrieff on board (Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca) this time around, they’ve taken some time to present their newest album Still Living, released August 23, 2011.  Does it hit the musical bull’s-eye? Well […]