LA

Album Review: Lionmilk – Intergalactic Warp Terminal 222 : ambient jazz sketches with lo-fi soul that goes deeper.
There can be moments as you are listening to ‘Intergalactic Warp Terminal 222’, Lionmilk’s absorbing new album on Leaving Records, when you feel like an intruder, sneaking into the musician’s back room in LA as he sketches and explores. After all Moki Kawaguchi (aka Lionmilk) admits that his music is a singular pursuit, an investigation …

Album Review: the black watch unveil the anthemic indie pop epic ‘Future Strangers’: a glorious album filled with a dream pop psychedelic glow.
Los Angeles indie pop icons the black watch are about to release their 21st album ‘Future Strangers’ and it is a testimony as to why this band has become such a veritable institution. Fronted by constant member John Andrew Frederick (who also is the author of four works of comic fiction and one book of …

Premiere: Stellar electro goth maestros Lunar Twin exclusively unveil the atmosphere, brooding video for track ‘Android Dreams’.
An electronic pulse throbs its way through the atmospheric track ‘Android Dreams’ by the inestimable Lunar Twin, and we are very honoured to present to you the premiere of the cinematic video that breathes life into the animatronic thrub. ‘Android Dreams’ has a statuesque presence with its motorik heartbeat and quiet understated drive that snakes …

Track: Shoegaze/dream pop exponents the Know are back with new single ‘Used To Be’ and all is right in the world.
It’s been over two years since husband and wife duo the Know released their shimmering EP ‘wearetheknow’ (see my review here), and as a sign that things can only get better, they have retuned with their signature cotton wool-wrapped shimmering sonic style in the new single ‘Used To Be’. The Know are Daniel Knowles and …

New Track/Video: Old friends/nu-jazz- Sam Wilkes and Jacob Mann announce collab album ‘Compositions’ with synth funk bubbler ‘Dr T’
What is genre? Is it a help or a hindrance to the maker and listener? LA’s pioneering label Leaving Records have an answer, flying with the strapline pun ‘Genre All’ and nuturing a catalogue that swerves definition, wide ranging in tone but unified by the drive to experiment whatever the starting points. Now comes news …

News: “Heartbreak you can dance to”: Tove Lo drops new single for ‘No one Dies From Love’ – Performing at Listen Out 2022 – Launches Pretty Swede Records with mtheory
Grammy nominated, multi-platinum selling Tove Lo returns with a brand-new track No One Dies From Love via her own, new label Pretty Swede Records/mtheory. The Swedish, LA-based artist has also announced a return to Australia in September and October for Listen Out Festival. Co-written with longtime collaborator Ludvig Söderberg, the uplifting disco of ‘No One …

Track: Alisa Xayalith (from New Zealand’s The Naked and Famous) unveils anthemic and powerful debut solo single ‘High Fidelity’.
One of New Zealand’s most fabulous exports, The Naked and Famous, exploded on to the international scene with some stunning indie pop singles and albums and some blistering live shows (see video for ‘Young Blood’ here). While the band is currently in hiatus, singer Alisa Xayalith (now based in Los Angeles) has just released a …

Track: Clarke and the Himselfs release the fuzzy low-fi buzz of ‘Weighted Down’
Like some glorious love child of Velvet Underground and The Jesus and Mary Chain, and best buddies with Courtney Barnett, Clarke and the Himself‘s debut single ‘Weighted Down’ has a fuzzy deceptively simple sweet drone attack: sibilant cymbals, grunge guitars and the sweetest repeated melody backed by a plonking piano. All the remarkable for the …

Track: Colleen Green unveils the cool and witty track ‘I Wanna Be A Dog’ and announces the release of the fittingly titled album ‘Cool’ for September
With an innate cool guitar driven bop, the new single by Colleen Green is an absolute joy. A simple three chord buzzing guitar rhythm, driving drums and a rousing chorus deliver a low-fi gem. Think of the vibe of a sixties jam and an nineties sensibility – The Ronettes meets The Breeders and The Raveonettes. …

Track: Vintage Fiction – ‘Alright, Okay’: a little nugget of sundazed LA psych-pop bliss
YOU CAN so hear it their sound, if you ask me: the sun. The West Coast gleams through those burnished guitars, those dusky vocals, fair glows from the song as a whole in the way the first Avi Buffalo album does; early House of Love does. Languor, sleepy eyes, coastal bliss. Formerly trading as DIAZ, …