Twin Shadow came to the Troubadour in his first appearance in L.A. in about a year. He is slimmer, more handsome, more confident. he is stepping into his destined role as the future Prince. The band is absolutely on fire. He has managed to achieve what was only an attempt before: to raise the songs [...]

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The Detroit Bar has a capacity of 250, but the main room is at most half of that. That’s a tiny sardine can for a band with as much depth, power, fame and great material as the Horrors. They blew the roof off the place. Photos by Ward Robinson

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Cults’ full length came out this year, filling out the stage set by the brilliant 3 song EP they released in 2010. Their set at the cavernous Eagle Rock Performing Arts Center was gorgeous and energetic. The new material features a lot more Ronettes-styled grooves, and some doo-wop call and response. Gorgeous vocals and a [...]

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Autolux played in the courtyard of the Skirball Center as a part of the Night of Magic for the Houdini exhibit. Photos by Ward Robinson

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Austin band …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have lost some members, 3 of 5 to be exact, and are down to one (new) drummer. The replacement players are slicker and more facile than the departed members, and everyone certainly played with plenty of passion, but the change left the band [...]

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Giant Drag played to adoring fans at the Echoplex Tuesday 5.31. Annie was absolutely on fire. —Ward Robinson

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Try to think of terms that say rock and roll band: danger, sleeze, sex, charisma, Ike Turner, Stooges, hipshake…knife fight? The Icarus Line has it all in spades. Having them pop up every few months on the live radar is like a big game of duck duck goose: band, band, band, band, BAND, band, band. [...]

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“What to say about Yuck? Songs! Like with the G chord and all that. Something about Yuck’s “aw shucks” approach to recording and playing live is so disarming that all the “but wait, doesn’t this just sound like Teenage Fanclub and Yo La Tengo and Dinosaur Jr.” feeling goes right out the window.” —Billy Gil [...]

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There was a lot written about Salem being booed off the stage at SXSW, a lot of speculation that they were not the dark wizards of mystery they play in magazine articles, but just a few regular folks trying to get their time in the limelight. Well whatever happened in Texas, here in Los Angeles [...]

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Death Alison Mosshart may still be running around with Jennifer Herrema’s DNA, but when RTX rolls onto the stage you know who has been living the real deal forever. Unfortunately, the years of abuse have taken their toll and the fog that has settled over Jennifer’s gorgeous face and laserthinkingmusicalgenius pretty much makes impossible any [...]

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