“This isn’t Hip Hop, this is an experience,” said Alexander Anyaegbunam, otherwise known as Rejjie Snow, to a handful of audience members on a Wednesday night at the Santa Ana Observatory. Wearing a blue jumpsuit and a black beanie, the Irish rapper’s mellow attitude...
“Walking in mines underground New York City.” The first words off Donzii’s debut single, “Mines.” With a funky backbeat and front woman Jenna Balfe’s unfazed tone, it’s a fitting introduction for the post-punk group that produces ominous yet danceable music. Hailing...
There’s a certain look that consumes Samuel T Herring’s face after performing a song, as the lights fade and the audience stops dancing. Somewhere between gratefulness and exuberance, a momentary pause from the euphoric nature of performance, a welcoming of reality,...
Waxahatchee has made a name of itself--or herself, rather. Though the name belongs to a river in Alabama, Katie Crutchfield has made something new of it, which she continues to do with her unconfined musical project as Waxahatchee. But Crutchfield wasn’t always known...
Blood Orange loves voices. Singing, talking, whispering. Fragments of conversation, monologues, prayers. Anything. Because it’s not the voice itself, but rather the emotions behind it. Attitudes, fears, desires revealed through the slightest vocal inflection. Accents...
“My God, I’m so lonely.” The first lines of “Nobody,” the lead single off Be the Cowboy, Mitski’s latest release, where alone, behind a piano, she pours out her soul and spills our secrets. That’s how it usually works with Mitski. She stretches her own vulnerabilities...
An intimidating line of teenagers in streetwear, sporting tracksuits and rare sneakers, curved around Santa Ana’s The Observatory, slowly moving through security as they removed cellphones and forgotten chains from their pockets, staring at a group of teens in...
It starts with a screen. But before that, a bedroom. Scotch-taped posters plastered on the walls and a thumbtacked string of lights; the familiar objects of Claire Cottril’s space which would soon be recorded and uploaded online as the minimal setting for her...
You probably know Huntington Beach, or HB as the locals say, as being the most popular "surf city" in Southern California. It's easy to see why. The 10 miles of sandy beaches provide waves for each advanced and beginners surfers who can all find happiness. However, it...
“There’s a place I know where we can go,” whispered David Portner, otherwise known as Avey Tare, into two conjoined microphones, strumming alongside childhood friend and bandmate, Noah Lennox, nicknamed Panda Bear, and along with Tare, one-half of Animal Collective. ...