The preeminent psychobilly bandleader returns to the valley with blues-funk revivalist Black Joe Lewis, featuring mariachi-punk outfit Piñata Protest. A variety of goofy, punk-inflected roots music for the whole (Harper) family.
Classic Southern California punk outfit The Zeros re-re-unites, this time apparently without founding member Robert Lopez, a.k.a. "El Vez" the world's preeminent Mexican Elvis impersonator. Opening acts the Jerk Officers, as the aesthetics of their name suggest, espouse a back-to-basics hardcore punk philosophy; French Girls also tread familiar territory, though perhaps not as a principled stance.
Lead singer Richard Araiza's theatrical baritone and a healthy helping of bongos define the sound of Los Angeles indie surf-punk band The Buttertones, a staple of the Echo Park hipster scene. Israel's Arcade explores a similar sound, blending post-punk instrumentals with Strokes-like indie sleaze vocals.
Alternative indie group Practically People headline this local band roundup at the Valley Bar. Bands? Four. Cost? $15! An ideal HarperQuest.
Sophia Allison, alias Soccer Mommy, emerged as one of a crop of indie-rock revivalist girls in the late teens, but quickly distinguished herself with her clever, ironic lyrics; her catchy pop harmonies; and her louche, modishly-depressive perspective. Also writes a hell of a bass riff. Hana Vu shares Allison's bedroom-indie aesthetic, mining the crunchy, distorted guitar sounds of 90s indie alternative bands and filtering them through a skein of teenage-girl journal pages.
Shaggy Miami alt-funk collective Magic City Hippies merge the sensibilities of funk and indie rock, with a soupcon of smooth R&B, acid jazz, hip-hop lyricism, and the sample-driven eclecticism of early Beck. Intentionally genre-bending, the band in many ways resembles the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but much less irritating; and, above all, is just trying to groove.
LCD Soundsystem and Justice headline the McDowell Mountain Music Festival, with supporting acts including Alvvays, Slow Pulp, Confidence Man, Summer Salt, and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.
Phoenix band Playboy Manbaby headline this indie punk roundup with their chaotic, absurdist garage rock, wearing satirical punk influences like The Dead Kennedys on their sleeves. Fellow ironists Dune Rats and Boy Wonder open the show.
The Rebel Lounge hosts this roundup of local female-fronted bands. sarah june. headlines with soft, introspective acoustic pop that evokes modern sadgirls like Phoebe Bridgers. Incongruously, Maeby appears to perform some kind of electroclash technopop. Many of these other bands don't even have an Internet presence! So underground!
Saint Motel's perky indie pop sounds suspiciously like it might be used to advertise a Target summer sale, but it's poppy and fun and maybe we don't have to think about this stuff quite so much and are allowed to just dance occasionally. Great Good Fine OK take this sound in more of a dreampop, indie-electro, MGMT direction. Falsetto abounds.
Sir Woman's bouncy bedroom pop rests on a foundation of synths and drum machines and borrows more liberally from funk, soul, R&B, and disco than her sadgirl peers, with a sound closer to smoothcore, ready-for-NPR contemporaries like Lake Street Dive and easy-listening forebears like Hall and Oates.