Album reviewing isn’t that glamorous: we get so many submissions that literally, all we want to do is curl up in the shower naked like Glenn Close in the beginning of The Big Chill because we just feel so defeated and confused, without answers to the meaning of it all! By providing us with those answers, you also provide yourself with a big leg up against the competition.

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On the surface, We Be Xuxa almost seems like a retread of old school American punk, but actually it evokes without constant copying—it’s fresh-faced punk, yet my heart hears Born Innocent-era Redd Kross in their sisterly choruses, and early early Black Flag or even Ramones in their strumming (minus Greg Ginn’s noodling) and Wipers downturns on the chords, and a Darby Crash-like insistence on writing lyrics too self-referential and profound to sing straight into the microphone. And there’s even a Urinals cover!?! And there’s a Beach Blvd-esque melodicism to Jessie Clavin’s bass lines, one that perfectly matches their Descendants-like love of making up pragmatic gerunds such as “Totion.” A lot of reviewers have said these gals (et dude) sound like X-Ray Spex, but that is a lazy lie!

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Download: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros “40 Day Dream” [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros—photographed here supporting Glasser, and spotted alongside L.A. RECORD in an L.A. Times article on new music in L.A.—will release their debut album Up From Below on July 14 on Community Music and [...]

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paul rodriguez Download: Fool’s Gold “Surprise Hotel” [Audio clip: view full post to listen] (from the self-titled full-length due Sept. 29 on IAMSOUND) L.A. Afro-pop band Fool’s Gold—including such vital L.A. musicians as Luke Top and Brad Caulkins, and interviewed by L.A. RECORD here—will be releasing their debut full-length on the formidable IAMSOUND label, noted [...]

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This is an album to listen to in the dark, and to listen to LOUD. By the time you get to the last track, and Timms starts screaming like Cronos from Venom, you’ll realize that while these guys are playing their cards a bit close on their first release, they’ll probably be doing some really original and evil stuff in the years to come.

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[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtNmur4IsU8] Download: Grouch and Eligh “Say G & E” [Audio clip: view full post to listen] From Living Legends’ (and L.A. RECORD cover alum) Grouch and Eligh’s new album, releasing next week!

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Some reviewers seem to be approaching Nathan Williams’ band Wavves with caution because of his similarities to more successful noise bands, when what this dude really needs is a high-five and some nurturing love to help him move into the more original style he hints at—and sometimes really nails—with Wavvves. Some songs on here are repeats of what we’ve seen before—even repeats of each other. But the album still really rocks and shines, and could shine more if Williams could be encouraged to dive head first into his own headspace.

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