Neon Trees | The Wiltern (Los Angeles, CA) | June 14, 2014 | It’s really easy for a band with brand spanking new material to play said material exclusively on tour. Thankfully that is not the kind of show that Neon Trees like to put on. And while this is the Pop Psychology tour based off their new album of […]

James Bay | The Hotel Cafe (Los Angeles, CA) | June 10, 2014 | With merely a guitar between a singer and his or her audience, 50 minutes can seem like an eternity. And likewise for an audience watching said artist and his/her guitar (a.k.a. “wake me up when it’s over”). The watchword is communication: that exchange where information is given, […]

Max Collins | The Hotel Cafe (Los Angeles, CA) | June 4, 2014 | It seems a little odd when an acoustic, “stripped-down” show involves double the amount of players as a rock band but that’s exactly what happened last night when Max Collins closed out the evening at The Hotel Cafe. Not that his solo work is anything like […]

Familiar Looking Strangers | The Hotel Cafe (Los Angeles, CA) | May 29, 2014 | FACT: The final time slot of the evening at most club venues – in this case, midnight – is oh so rarely ideal or any band’s choice. But so goes the road that every young or new band that is not a super group or […]

Tim Minchin | The Wilshire Ebell Theatre (Los Angeles, CA) | May 29, 2014 When asked to describe Tim Minchin to the uninitiated, the words “mad musical comedic genius” come to mind. He certainly looked the part- strolling on stage in black garb, bare feet, black-rimmed eyes and electrified mane. Though there were a few lyrical hiccups, punctuated by increasingly frustrated expletives, the […]

Howlin Rain | The Echo (Los Angeles, CA) | May 23, 2014 | For quite some time, Howlin Rain (basically Ethan Miller) has been that crash course in full-blooded psych rock ala those albums from the 70’s that you wish you still had on vinyl and only the luckiest of bastards do. Howlin Rain just released a live album appropriately titled Live Rain and live […]

Gabrielle Aplin | The Hotel Cafe (Los Angeles, CA) | May 21, 2014 | What do you do if you’re from the UK visiting Los Angeles and want to soak up some local culture?  If you’re singer-songwriter, Gabrielle Aplin, you eat a lot of kale, sip on cucumber water and attempt to get a spray tan before heading to The Hotel Cafe […]