Local Bands We Love

Several releases into a fine discography, local husband and wife duo Rainbow Arabia have crafted a consistent sound that is equal parts 80s synthpop and “World” music. Like Bjork’s excursions into polyethnicity, the duo’s sound fetishistically fused North African desert rhythms and Middle Eastern percussion with the neon glow of early MTV. 

On their follow-up to 2011′s Boys and Diamonds, they’ve turned up the glow. …

When I set aside a few hours to listen to new music, most of it is fine, but rarely is it special. However, in the midst of all that, the diamonds really shine through.
I’m not a huge folk fan, but when I saw a CD from a band called Holy Folk, I had to listen based on their sense of humor alone.
Come to find …

Cut from the same summery, sundress cloth as Poolside, Cosmic Kids & Classixx local producer Josh Legg, known as Goldroom, crafts laid back, dreamy nu-disco that is the sound of Los Angeles sunsets and beach breezes.
Building on layers of melodic synth washes and lovely vocal musings, Goldroom’s tracks have the romantic air of Washed Out but with a more playful slightly elevated tempo reminiscent of …

I’m willing to bet that fans of LA breakout collective Grouplove will have a field day with The Mowglis, a cheery, high energy group who are clearly having an excellent time playing music they describe as “rock n’ roll with Southern California soul”.
There are 8 of them, so they fill the stage like another band of locals, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and …

Music is an ether. It is born of the essence of a time and place.
Street music knocks like pavements and machinery, country music lopes and jangles like a wagon.
Hailing from Palm Springs, DJ Day (Damien Beebe) crafts laidback, desert breeze post-millenial lounge music that glimmers like the desert sun reflecting off elegant pools.
Executive Produced by Thes One (of LA’s People Under the Stairs,) DJ Day’s new record bumps like old …

LA’s Pharoahs are one of the best live acts I’ve seen in the city in a hot minute. Boasting a handful of extremely talented local dudes, Pharoahs create trance inducing swirling synth, epic tribal house jams…with an emphasis on jam.
Comprised of wunderkind producer Suzanne Kraft, Ale Cohen (of dublab,) synth-surfer Sam Cooper, Andres on live percussion, and this super awesome big dude on baritone sax, Pharoahs sound spectacular on …

KCRW DJs have jumped all over the new track from Sun Rai. One listen to “San Francisco Street” and it’s easy to see why. Stream it below and download it here.
San Francisco Street by Sun Rai
As DJ Anne Litt described to me yesterday, it’s pure 70’s AM gold. Something she can imagine hearing on the radio as her mom drove her to …

Inc.’s teens are growing up and are trying to figure out how what it takes to be men.
Formerly known as Teen Inc., the brothers Aged (Daniel and Andrew) are post-millenial LA-stalwarts whose prodigious RnB jazz-funk talents have seen them recording and/or touring with everyone from 50 Cent to Elton John to Beck to Raphael Saadiq.
I saw them perform years ago at a smokey after-hours …

It’s obvious to anyone who is a fan of local music and who listens to KCRW that Los Angeles has one of the best scenes in the world.
It really is THAT good.
Over the past dozen years or so that I’ve been paying close attention, I’ve been rewarded numerous times with bands that encapsulate the best that music has to offer. Pop magicians The Little …

Teasing the music that is coming up on the radio is just part of the job when you’re a DJ.  It sets the stage for the listeners, letting them know what to expect in the next stretch of programming, and hopefully offers them encouragement to stick around longer.  Now that we have tools such as Twitter, we can also throw these teases out online, …