All photos by David Greenwald

As decades of rock history can attest, bands tend to get faster and louder on the road. In the case of plenty of softer acts, compensating can be a bad thing — but not so for Pepper Rabbit, whose bedroom Baroque pop turned impressively anthemic at Spaceland on Friday night, one of the last dates of the trio’s recent headlining tour. The band’s been good live since Day 1 — or at least since I first saw them at the Bootleg Theater in January — but in the last half-year, they’ve grown, as Kanye West or Obi-Wan Kenobi might say, even stronger. That can only bode well for their still-awaited debut LP, which the band’s in the studio recording at this precise moment. (OK, probably: they might be taking a burrito break.) More photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

All photos by David Greenwald

On record, Candy Claws sound a lot like Holland-era Beach Boys playing from the bottom of a tissue box. Live, the headband-clad young group (Luc from headliners/tour mates Pepper Rabbit had to sub in on the skins for the band’s 17-year-old drummer, who couldn’t get into the club) sounded much the same — without the tissues. Going mostly unmuffled was a good move for the group, who played likable pop in a kind of cutely cultish conga line. More photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

All photos by David Greenwald

Lonely Trees, the latest band with some form of foliage in its name, pretty much sounded like indie rock — or at least kinda like Death Cab For Cutie. A trio of boozy 30-something women (Cougars? Pumas? Anistons?) were flirting with me at this point, so I may have been a little distracted. More photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Memoryhouse / photo by David Greenwald’s phone

I don’t think I’ve heard this many synthesizers since my parents went to that Duran Duran show while I was still in the womb. (That never happened. My parents listen to Joni Mitchell.) Here’s how the neon night went down: Read the rest of this entry »

Puro Instinct with Ariel Pink / all photos by David Greenwald

What you love is often the product of (very) personal history. Mom listening to Jobim during my childhood has made me forever twitterpated for major 7th chords, for instance. So I’m not sure why I’m so taken with Puro Instinct, who play abstract psych-pop that sounds like Christine McVie taking up downers and hiring Felt as her backing band. Acid tabs in my Fruit Loops? Dad sneaking listens to The Cure in between Fleetwood Mac sessions? I can’t explain it, but it’s there, that magnetic attraction to the band’s pillowy vocals — if lead singer Piper didn’t sway during their set, she could actually be asleep — and glistening guitar lines. Now a quintet, the band sounded an f-stop or two sharper than they did when I caught them at SXSW, but the L.A. group remains soft-focus. Go your own way, girls. (Ariel Pink, pictured with the hair, makes a fine Lindsey Buckingham, don’t you think?) More photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

All photos by David Greenwald

A magician never reveals his secrets. Magic Kids gave theirs away before they played a single note: “Did anyone bring a violin to the show?” they asked during their lengthy set-up, prolonged by technical difficulties and first major tour growing pains. It took the youngsters a few songs to get warmed up, but after playing blog hit and so-far discography stand-out “Summer,” the six-piece indie-pop act enchanted. Their sound was filled with bits of the Magnetic Fields, along with the defunct Pants Yell!’s wry edge and a touch of the also defunct (sad face!) Crystal Skulls’ jazz-chord athleticism. A brief but prodigious set — I’m looking forward to hearing the Kids grow up. More photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

All photos by David Greenwald

Los Angeles is full of irrepressible personalities: Manny being Manny, Miley just being Miley, Ariel Rosenberg being Ariel Pink. A taste of indie fame hasn’t changed the lo-fi mad scientist: he opened his set with a good 20 minutes of defiantly not-Before Today songs, and then, giving in and playing “Bright Lit Blue Skies” and “Round and Round,” responded to one fan’s “I love this song!” with a subtle sneer. “Is this the first time you’ve seen me play?” Pink questioned. “You should be ashamed.” I’m paraphrasing, but for what should’ve been an all-out hometown opening night party to kick off his national tour, Pink’s back catalog did deserve a little more attention. Whether he likes it or not, though, the singer’s new material is his most weirdly approachable and obsessively listenable; live, songs such as “Fright Night” were looser but no less charismatic. Even more awesome was Pink as metal-god-of-yore, romping around the stage and clutching the microphone like Ronnie James in his hey. Ariel being Ariel, Ariel being a rock star, Ariel having no shame — and no need for it. More photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

All photos by David Greenwald

As they did at SXSW, Austin, Texas, act International Waters were on-point at the Echoplex last month. The angular indie-pop band sounded as sharp on a bigger stage as they did at Plush in March, tearing through a sweet ‘n’ sour set with a bunch of new songs and should-be-hits such as “Olympia.” More photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »