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More blonde than the fans at a Prussian Blue show, Pearl Harbor definitely look like the coolest band in town. The girls are so cute that it’s painful, and the singer can sway. For all the attention the girls get, though, the bassist is probably the most gorgeous of the bunch. He dresses and grooms his hair like a kid in a Sunday School class, and I found myself fixated on his steely-eyed snarl for most of the performance.

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Time again for L.A. RECORD‘s release party—this time with Piper from Pearl Harbor (as seen on the cover of the new issue) and Cole from Haunted Graffiti (UPDATE: Cole can’t make it but don’t worry, we got plans…) joining us in the back booth with the turntables plus who knows what other special guests? Free [...]

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New issue! See you at the release party Monday! Find print issues here and contact us if you’d like to advertise in the next one!

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Rose Melberg found fierceness in Tiger Trap and even more fierceness in softness with the Softies before beginning a solo career early in this millennium. Her new album Homemade Ship is out now on K and she speaks on Sunday morning from her mother’s house. This interview by Chris Ziegler.

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Download: The Hoof and the Heel “Fireworks” [Audio clip: view full post to listen] (from the And All The Tigers EP available from the band) The Hoof and the Heel is the new band from longtime L.A. RECORD illustrator Christine Hale—she does all our comics as well as many many illustrations!—and her friends from Montreal, [...]

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In keeping with Curio’s egalitarian populism, the night’s artists hang out among the audience until their turn in the line-up. Then, like a Happening straight out of the ‘60s, they get up and do their thing, three feet away.
Fortunately, it’s the ideal venue for an artist like Shelley Short, whose gentle crooning and guitar plucking lulled the audience into a happy trance, as though she were gathering us all around some invisible campfire.

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The lead singer would occasionally set down his instrument and grasp the mic while he convulsed his body and spat vocals that sometimes seemed like incoherent, self-muttering. He was not afraid to involve the crowd or antagonize them. Shoving his microphone into faces, running into a girl by the doorway, holding onto another’s head while he yelled maniacally at them—he put everyone standing up front on edge, all we could do was smile and try not to make eye contact. There they were, 60 Watt Kid, a trio made up of two older guys with guitars and a young guy on drums, and we were afraid to look at them. How great is that?

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The extinct Los Angeles Public Access studio brought David Liebe Hart and Adam Papagan together. They are now known for their music, which merges Adam’s multi-instrumentalist pop compositions with David’s soulful narratives about women and trains and extra-terrestrials. They met Drew Denny to discuss religion, UFOs and lotus flowers.

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As the songs progressed during the band’s set, thoughts transcend early Beach Boys, and visit Beachhouse sans echo trails, stare at the sea with the Cure, climb through a popping bass strolling Superfly, and suddenly a cowboy appears, faintly. I can only hope that Cryptacize’s move to L.A. this summer will entice that cowpoke apparition hiding behind the endless summer beach party to hang out for a clambake.

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