A frame of mind can be a lonely place to be, especially when your thoughts and memories seem out of control. So reflects L.A. indie duo, Ruby Haunt, on “Sanctuary,” the second single off their most recent record, Blue Hour. A wistful attempt at clearing a headspace...
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Grey Area – Jerry Paper ft. Weyes Blood
Like a Baby is Lucas Nathan’s latest release as Jerry Paper and his first record since moving back to L.A. from New York City. The move inspired in Nathan the existential theme of human desire and satisfaction, heavy material he explores in the sweet and breezy track,...
Keeping it Cool with Rejjie Snow
“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...
The Magic of Future Islands
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,...
The unbound past and future of Waxahatchee
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 finds his voice with Negro Swan
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...
Mitski saves herself: Becoming the Cowboy
“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...
Hawaiian Shirts and Indie Rock
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...
Defining bedroom pop: Clairo’s catapult to fame
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...
Animal Collective’s return to the introspective world of Sung Tongs
“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. ...