LA

“Maybe it’s because of my age, but I don’t really understand music these days… I think we’re mature alternative, but alternative has grown kind of outside of what I recognize the genre to be,” says James Mason, vocalist for LA outfit Paper Jackets.  Since last October the band has...

“I think I’ve learned a lot and grown a lot.  I’ve never gotten so personal, and maybe blunt.  I’ve never allowed things to feel this raw and vulnerable,” says Nashville-based singer/songwriter Madi Diaz of her forthcoming album, History of a Feeling, out August 27th on ANTI-.  The LP, which...

“I think coming from the last year and a half of this crazy stuff, spending time rehearsing and writing, we definitely have magical moments together where you really feel like, ‘This is why we started doing this in the first place’,” says Michael Rudes, drummer of LA alternative rockers...

Although Lisa Crawley may not quite be a marquee name in America, there’s a reasonable chance that you’ve heard her music featured in shows like Nancy Drew, Good Trouble, and Stumptown in recent years.  However, the New Zealand-born indie pop singer/songwriter, who recently relocated to Los Angeles, has been...

“I’m obsessed with FKA Twigs.  I’m obsessed with anything that’s inspired by goddess imagery, feminine empowerment, kink culture, anything subversive.”  Lea Cappelli, better known as L’FREAQ, is describing her sartorial style, but the characterization could just as easily apply to the sentiments of her music itself.  “I think it’s...

“For me really, I just fell into music by accident.  I was a gymnast first, which is where ‘Ariel’ came from, and then I wanted to be Avril Lavigne, so the guitar just fell into my lap,” says the exceptionally enthusiastic Ariel Bellvalaire during a recent phone chat.  The...

Upon seeing Jenna Kyle’s recent video for “Tell Me,” any former goth teen won’t be able to help conjuring comparisons to Depeche Mode’s Anton Corbijn collaborations.  The hyper-moody banger is equally suitable for midnight epiphanies and moderately-irresponsible nightclubbing.  And the accompanying music video, directed by Jay Harwood, has the...

Although Chase Cohl isn’t exactly a household name, she has been in the art and entertainment industry for quite some time now and managed to put her name on numerous of its facets.  With parents in the music industry, Cohl spent much of her youth on the road with...

Had they gotten their start about 20 years ago, Livingmore would surely have been sharing the stages of the TLA and the Trocadero with the likes of Morningwood, Shiny Toy Guns, and Kill Hannah during my college years.   The LA quartet kick out sassy and sparkly post-punk jams whose...