Tag: Dangerbird

Feature: 12 L.A. Indie Labels You Should Know — from Sargent House to Anticon to Southern Lord to Dangerbird to IAMSOUND and more …

Dean Spunt on the skins, No Age drummer and PPM Records owner

It’s awesome time in L.A., people. Either get on the Good News train or get left behind. Music, frankly, is great — always has been, but when so much great music exists in one’s own backyard, when the people responsible for tending the flame all seem to gather within the same ten-mile stretch, when there’s no shortage of good ideas or good tunes, well, a person is likely to get real happy and start writing silly things like this.

Far less silly, and actually quite informative, is “Twelve Indie Labels You Should Know, a Primer” (I say “prymer,” please don’t say “primmer”) which is on the L.A. Times blog, Pop & Hiss, right now, as I type. This piece is the culmination of a three-parter. Read the Sunday print feature, “L.A.’s Indie Labels Succeed with a Jack-of-All-Trades Approach,” if you please. And find a supplemental piece (with a choice MP3) over yonder.

Feature: Los Angeles’ String of Indie Labels Thrives in the New Music Business

Amanda and Britt Brown of Eagle Rock indie label Not Not Fun pose for Los Angeles Times (photo by Jay L. Clendenin)

Well, it has been a long, long time coming, but I’m pleased to share my debut pair of links over to the Los Angeles Times. The main feature, which runs in print in Sunday’s Calendar section, profiles the ways in which independent labels in L.A. are adapting to the changing landscape of the music biz. Read about it here:

L.A.’s string of indie labels succeeds with a jack-of-all-trades approach

With noted input from the Dangerbird, Stones Throw, Alpha Pup and Not Not Fun imprints, plus tons of help from folks at Sargent House, Hydra Head, Southern Lord, Anticon, Manimal Vinyl, and Post Present Medium.

Also, there’s a supplemental blog piece to read, featuring a free download of Aloe Blacc’s stunning “I Need a Dollar” here:

Indies in L.A.: Alpha Pup and Not Not Fun talk the thriving L.A. scene

Feature: Valley Boredom Inspires Baths to Great Heights on His Anticon Debut, ‘Cerulean’

Baths contemplates a cerulean sky.

So we’ve really made no attempts to hide our enthusiasm for Chatsworth producer/musician/singer Baths, a.k.a. fresh Anticon signing Will Wiesenfeld. We’ve previewed his gigs, big-upped his ambient works as Geotic, talked about the young star on the radio, and basically become dude’s personal documentarian via news updates (a couple of those below).

Finally, things may cool down a bit.

This isn’t so much because anything’s cooling down for Wiesenfeld, a rising star in indie music, but because we were able to do a lengthy feature on Baths for L.A. Weekly, dubbed, “The Great Escape.” Wiesenfeld was kind enough to donate a few hours to the cause, which meant lunch at the estimable Islands, and hang-time with him and his mom at the family home in Chatsworth.

So if you haven’t already, go to L.A. Weekly to read that.

Further listening/reading:

(both stories via West Coast Sound, via L.A. Weekly)

Roundup: Pablove Benefit, Jump Clubb + Elliott Smith, Brainfeeder Sess’ns, 60 Watt Kid

Quick bloggy bits* from around the L.A. underground (and up):

  1. Pablove to Throw Benefit Show in Honor of Founder’s Cross-Country Ride: Tom Morello, BRMC, Others Confirmed
  2. Jump Clubb Covers Elliott Smith’s “Angeles” (MP3)
  3. Brainfeeder Hosts Audio/Visual Experimentation with Daedelus, Gaslamp, Jeremy Ellis, more
  4. 60 Seconds of Video Terror from 60 Watt Kid (mp3)

    5. (all stories via West Coast Sound, via LA Weekly)

*If you like it, then you better put a tweet on it.

Dangerbird Special: INCHES reviews Darker My Love, Silversun Pickups, Sea Wolf, Eulogies

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It’s true. This week’s installment of the INCHES L.A. vinyl column focuses entirely on the output of local indie , Dangerbird Records. I hand-picked a combination of the label’s best-for-listening and most innovative releases, including stuff from all of the bands mentioned above — flagship players like Silversun Pickups, Sea Wolf, Darker My Love, and Eulogies. MP3s from all four are included,  along with the requisite photos, reviews, and recommendations, plus a Top Ten chart from Origami Vinyl.

Darker My Love's 2008 7-inch series

INCHES004: New Wax from Division Day, Nosaj Thing, Anticon/Dublab and Bygones (+ MP3s, chart)

INCHES004 has landed over at LA Weekly‘s West Coast Sound. Installment number four picks off where last week left off, an unthemed collection of just-released (this week!) L.A.-relevant vinyl reviewed, photographed, and MP3’d, accompanied by a top ten vinyl sales chart from one of our neighborhood record shops. Inside, you’ll find a Velveeta-yellow slab of wax by Bygones (Zach Hill + Tera Melos’ Nick Reinhart), the latest from Division Day, the premier Anticon/Dublab release (featuring music by Hecuba, Lucky Dragons, Julia Holter, matthewdavid, and four others), and the long-delayed vinyl version of Nosaj Thing‘s Drift. Plus, check out the local-friendly list from Origami Vinyl.

Bygones, "by-"

Stay tuned for much, much more, and if you’ve got ideas, reach out.

Cult Bit: Silversun Pickups on Jeopardy!

The LA Weekly runs an exceptionally solid music blog called West Coast Sound. I’ve contributed little bits in the past (Coachella coverage, and this Snoop Dogg thing), but in conjunction with WCS stepping up its coverage yet further, I’ll soon be contributing weekly. Expect breaking news, brief interviews and the occasional wry note on my usual musical obsessions (peep the Tag Cloud, yo).

Today’s posting is somewhat old news, but odd news nonetheless: