Mikael Wood

article placeholder

Miguel Finds His Place

Mikael Wood
On a blazing, late-August afternoon, Miguel is hiding out from the heat inside the air-conditioned stillness of a Sunset Boulevard rehearsal studio. The L.A.-based R&B singer ostensibly is here to do a final run-through with his live band — guitarist, drummer, two keyboardists — before heading to London for a......
law logo2x b

Charli XCX, Io Echo, Kitten

Mikael Wood
This young London lass arrives in L.A. fresh from opening a string of Midwestern arena shows for Coldplay, which has to rank among the least appropriate bookings ever: On You're the One, a four-track EP released in June by the local indie IAMSOUND, Charli XCX layers her yelpy-but-sensual vocals over......
law logo2x b

Robyn, Royksopp

Mikael Wood
Much of the media coverage surrounding Robyn's 2010 Body Talk trilogy tended to dwell on this Swedish singer's confounding inability to break America à la Katy Perry, whose North American crowds she warmed up this summer. But with a headlining date Saturday night at the Hollywood Bowl, it's easy to......
law logo2x b

Cap'n Jazz

Mikael Wood
Fans of the Promise Ring and Joan of Arc — twin pillars of late-'90s Midwestern emo — know that both bands sprang from suburban Chicago's Ca...
law logo2x b

Sally Seltmann, Jasmine Ash

Mikael Wood
This Australian singer-songwriter spent the '00s as New Buffalo, releasing a couple of well-regarded indie-pop discs that eventually led (in one way or anot...
"We have this experience together when we're singing where our voices become one voice": Becky Stark

The Living Sisters: Sibling Harmonies

Mikael Wood
Because the three unrelated members of L.A.'s Living Sisters harmonize as intuitively as real-deal blood siblings, you might assume that Inara George, Eleni Mandell and Becky Stark share a sort of hive-mind worldview. They don't. We're sitting in a corner booth at Little Dom's in Los Feliz, talking about "Cradle,"......
law logo2x b

Chris Isaak

Mikael Wood
Chris Isaak hasn't really thrilled anybody since his 1989 smash, "Wicked Game" (or perhaps since the Herb Ritts–directed video for his 1989 smash, "Wi...