There is no shortage of “People Are Strange” covers in the world, but “Todos Son Raros,” a Spanish rendition by Tropa Magica, is 100% worth your attention. The L.A.-based band reimagines the Doors classic as a groovy cumbia with some surfy reverb and an expanded guitar solo that ventures into Middle Eastern psychedelia. It’s wild and lives up to the title of Tropa Magica’s latest album, Para Bailar y Tripiar.
Continue reading Tropa Magica Cover The Doors “People Are Strange” on New Album
On Pirouette, the latest album from New York-based Model/Actriz, there’s a lineage that runs from the funkier, Gang of Four side of post-punk to the noisy, late 1990s aftermath of hardcore that led to indie dance bands like The Rapture, The Faint and !!! to the L.A. DIY scene of the ‘00s and early ‘10s that spawned bands like Health and clipping. It’s noisy, driven by an urgent energy and will probably scare off those who like nice pop songs. It’s music for people who like to keep things weird, but still need structured songs and a good dance beat.
Continue reading Model/Actriz Brings the Noise Back to Dance Rock on Pirouette
Breton singer, musician and producer Quinquis just released her latest album, eor, on Mute Records and it’s exquisite. Inspired by mermaid lore and made with modular synthesizers, eor will have you imagining tales filled with fantastic beings, set against against gray skies and cold, tumultuous seas. This isn’t TikTok-friendly mermaidcore, this is something darker, richer and altogether more interesting.
Continue reading Breton Singer and Producer Quinquis Channels Mermaid Lore on eor
Sextile kicks off Yes, Please with one hell of an “Intro.” It’s all alarms, distorted vocals and squelching electronics that make you think the L.A.-based duo have plans to drop you back into a 1992 Prodigy jam. They don’t. Instead, Sextile diverts you to the sweat-drenched warehouse of right now with “Women Respond to Bass,” a banger for the afters where the subs send the low-end pulsing through the soles of your Docs, and the previously released single “Freak Eyes.”
Continue reading Sextile Drops Rave-Punk Bangers on Yes, Please
Lost Records: Bloom and Rage is a new video game from French developer Don’t Nod. Since I’m not much of a gamer, I can’t tell you anything about that, aside from that it’s narrative-driven and about grown women in 2022 reconnecting with a secret from their 1990s teenage past. What I can tell you about, though, is the soundtrack, which, like the game was released in two parts, the second of which dropped this week. And, really, the reason I’m telling you about the soundtrack is because 3/4 of Chromatics— Ruth Radelet, Nat Walker and Adam Miller— reunited to contribute five songs to the Lost Records soundtrack album.
Continue reading Three Former Members of Chromatics Reunite on New Video Game Soundtrack
L.A. Witch is back with their first full-length since the pandemic. For Doggod, released on April 4 via Suicide Squeeze Records, the local three-piece headed to Paris, where they recorded at Motorbass, the studio founded by late producer Philippe Zdar (Cassius) where Phoenix recorded Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.
Even though the album was made in a studio with a French indie pop pedigree, the sound of Doggod is very L.A. Specifically, the album makes me think of the city’s 1980s post-punk scenes. At that time, you had deathrock, which became goth, and included bands like Kommunity FK, Christian Death and 45 Grave. There was a scene known as the Paisley Underground, which was ‘80s psyche and spawned bands like The Bangles and Opal, who evolved into Mazzy Star. Then, you had a band like the Gun Club, that was really its own vibe, playing dark Americana. Doggod sounds like the point where those three tangents intersect. My point being, you can take the band out of L.A., but you can’t take L.A. out of the band, especially when the city is in their name.
Continue reading L.A. Witch Explores Psychedelic Post-Punk on Doggod
Last year, I saw Miki Berenyi Trio live at the Fonda in Hollywood and, since then, have been waiting for the British indie group’s debut full-length. Tripla came out on Friday, April 4, and was well worth the wait. The tl;dr version is it’s fantastic. Get it, but don’t expect a rehash of the 1990s. Keep reading if you want more details.
MB3 is named for Miki Berenyi, former guitarist and singer for Lush and author of the must-read memoir Fingers Crossed, but it isn’t a solo project. The trio is rounded out by KJ “Moose” McKillop, and Oliver Cherer. All three musicians share songwriting duties and that’s reflected in the album’s title, which is Hungarian for triple. Still, Berenyi is the most recognizable member of MB3.
Continue reading Miki Berenyi Trio Makes Dance Floor-Friendly Dreampop on Tripla
About two-thirds of the way into Music Can Hear Us, DJ Koze drops a secret weapon on listeners in the form of an exceptionally short and spooky cover of “Vamos a la Playa.” With German artist Soap&Skin on vocals, Koze strips away everything that makes the 1983 song from Righeira an Italo disco classic. The beat is gone. The “oh-oh-oh-oh-oh“ is replaced with a faint breath in the background. What remains are the lyrics, a story about going to a radioactive beach. It’s creepy af. I love it.
The problem with the 21st century’s persistent ‘80s nostalgia is that most people miss the point of a whole decade’s worth of pop culture. They’re like, “the music was so much better.” But, the music was good because people were making perfect pop songs about nuclear annihilation and the evils of capitalism. It’s protest music for the Reagan-Thatcher era that, tbh, probably went over people’s heads back in the day too. (There’s a similar argument to be made about movies here too, but we’ll save that for another day.) Koze and Soap&Skin bring the point to the forefront of this cover version.
Continue reading DJ Koze Unleashes Spooky Cover of “Vamos a la Playa” on Music Can Hear Us
Amongst the new releases for March of 2025 were Night Life, the first new full-length album from The Horrors since 2017, as well as clipping.’s new latest album, Dead Channel Sky, both of which were previously covered here. Plus, earlier this month, Agender dropped Berserk, an album I liked so much that I interviewed singer Romy Hoffman for Beatique.
Click to read “Agender: ‘Some Songs Need to Be Fast and Furious’”
But, wait, there’s more. This month also brought new albums from CocoRosie, girlpuppy and Takuro Okada, plus a smashing debut album from Texas’ Night Ritualz, as well as reissues of worthwhile albums from electronic music pioneer Bruce Haack and ambient composer Hiroshi Yoshimura. Check out the reviews below and get yourself some new music.
Continue reading Night Ritualz Debut, Hiroshi Yoshimura Reissue and More March 2025 Music
With a title like Night Life, one might assume that The Horrors would drop listeners into the sweatiest, dingiest, bassiest warehouse after-hours on their latest album. That’s a semi-reasonable assumption if you heard the band’s 2021 EPs, Lout and Against the Blade, but it’s also an incorrect one. On the U.K. band’s six album— their first full-length in seven years— night life is hushed and melancholy. It’s gothic, not goth, i.e. more Brontë sisters than Sisters of Mercy.
Continue reading The Horrors Bring Melancholy to Night Life