This is probably the first year that I’ve listened to enough current music that I feel comfortable making a top ten list. Some of my favorite bands released new records that I loved, a few released records that I don’t love as much as I wanted to, and I found a bunch of new bands that took me by surprise, overwhelmed me, and wouldn’t let me go. This list reflects both the bigger bands (though still not big by mainstream, stadium-going standards) and the local bands that I’ve grown to love – I’ll admit my bias for mixed-gendered bands with a focus on female vocals right now, because you’ll notice it anyway.

Click through for my top ten albums of 2009, some honorable mentions, and a rundown of some of favorite live shows of the year.

Read More

The Submarines never fail to put a smile on my face, even when they’re at their most nauseatingly adorable, as in this video. Somehow I don’t even care how cutesy Blake can be, I just want to put her in my pocket and take her home. But, well, John already has that job, doesn’t he? Anyway. “Submarine Symphonika” is the first track on their 2008 album Honeysuckle Weeks, and they’ve just released the video for it. Last I heard (in September), they were recording their third full-length, so I’m hoping that’ll be out sometime next year.

hat tip The Scenestar

When I moved out to Los Angeles a little over a year ago, my major motivation was the access to a greater range of cinematic options than I was getting in the midwest. And that’s certainly held true. But what I didn’t expect to find (at least not to the degree I have) is such a vibrant, booming music scene. Consider this a love letter to LA and the fantastic music I’ve found here. It’s literally possible to go to a show nearly every day of the week and find bands I like, and pretty inexpensively, too. Even going much less often than that (three or four times a month), I’ve discovered many bands that keep me coming back for their shows, opening bands that I seek out everywhere they play, and seen what a great and supportive music culture exists here (if you look at the band line-ups below, you’ll find several people who are in multiple bands – nearly everyone is involved in more than one project, creating really interesting cross-pollination). I’ve arranged them roughly from lesser known to better known (sort of an opening band – second opening band – headliner sort of thing), but that’s not completely accurate. Just a general rule of thumb.

A mural in Silver Lake, the center of the LA music / arts culture

All songs in one zip: I Love LA Mix.

1. Hello from Reno – It Comes and Goes

2. The Sweet Hurt – Bright Ideas

3. The Belle Brigade – 4%

4. Angie Mattson – Leanne

5. Local Natives – Airplanes

6. Obi Best – Swedish Boy

7. The One AM Radio – Old Men

8. Army Navy – Dark As Days

9. Earlimart – Face Down in the Right Town

10. The Whispertown 2000 – Pushing Oars

11. Juliette Commagère – Overcome

12. Lavender Diamond – Open Your Heart

13. Great Northern – Fingers

14. The Airborne Toxic Event – Gasoline

15. Munchausen by Proxy – Uh-Huh

16. The Submarines – Xavia

17. The Bird and the Bee – Love Letter to Japan

18. Jenny Lewis – The Highs and Lows of Being Number One

19. Silversun Pickups – Panic Switch

20. Rilo Kiley – I Love LA

The tracks provided here are for sampling only. If you like the bands, please support them by buying their music and going to their shows. If you are or represent any of these bands and would like the .mp3s removed, please let me know. Full mix details are after the jump, with info and photos for every band. Most photos are not mine. Promo-type photos obviously aren’t. Crappy iPhone-looking concert photos probably are.

Read More

The Submarines are a favorite local LA duo starting to make a splash in a bigger way, thanks to the inclusion of their song “You, Me and the Bourgeoisie” in recent iPhone commercials and the appearance of “Xavia” on the soundtrack for the film Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. And if you look beyond the poppy, commercial sound bytes, you’ll find songwriting with a good deal of depth and literary quality. Plus, they’re so freakin’ adorable you’ll just want to put them in your pocket and take them home with you. Unless you’re the overly cynical type, in which case you may want to stop reading now.

The main members of the band are Blake Hazard and John Dragonetti, who both sing and play guitar (she also plays xylophone on several songs); when they perform live they include drummer J. Stare. Blake and John initially met a few years ago through mutual music friends, dated for a while then broke up. Both kept writing songs individually and then discovered that all the songs they’d been writing were about their sadness at having broken up. So they got back together. Super-awww, right? They recorded their break-up songs and one of their friends produced their first album Declare a New State! as a wedding present to them.

The songs on Declare a New State! alternate between Blake and John, with opening and closing songs that they both sing, celebrating their reuniting after the break-up that the other songs lament. Their second album Honeysuckle Weeks (released in 2008) is more upbeat, sunny, and an infectious celebration of love. Blake is the great-granddaughter of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, and though her lyrics tend to be much happier than his work, it’s not hard to think that some of his way with words got passed down to her. Note especially the evocation of a newly empty apartment after a breakup in “Brighter Discontent.”

I’ve been fortunate enough to see them twice (and I’ll pretty much see them every time they play a local show); thankfully last Saturday I thought ahead enough to order tickets in advance, because they played to a sold-out house at West Hollywood’s Troubadour venue for the last stop on their recent tour. They’re so adorable live, because every once in a while Blake and John share a look and you just melt; not to mention the fact that I think they’re still a little dazed by all the attention they’re getting. Here are a few shots from the Troubadour show – not the greatest quality, since I took them with my iPhone, but I’ll try to remember take my actual camera to get better shots at future shows I go to.

And a few MP3s for sampling. From Declare a New State!:

Brighter Discontent – Brighter Discontent
Peace and Hate – Peace and Hate

From Honeysuckle Weeks:

Swimming Pool (this one is my ringtone right now ^_^) – Swimming Pool
1940 – 1940

More info/buy albums:
Amazon MP3
Official Site