Alec Hanley Bemis

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Slack Dreams

Photo by Do Lee Animal Collective’s new Sung Tongs is a midcareer revelation, forging an entirely new sound so obvious, so natural, that it seems like what they should have been doing all along. In that way, it ranks with Radiohead’s O.K. Computer, the Notwist’s Neon Golden and My Bloody......

'My Name Is Bill . . .'

Illustration by Julie West Date: Tue, 27 May 2003 17:46:01 -0700 (PDT) From: The Mob Project themobproject@yahoo.com Subject: MOB #1 To: themobproject@yahoo.com You are invited to take part in MOB, the project that creates an inexplicable mob of people in New York City for 10 minutes or less. Please forward......
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Intima

Photo by Alejaddro Ros My first encounter with Argentine singer-songwriter Juana Molina was in 2002, with Segundo — deeply private music full of detuned synthesizers, acoustic guitars, bird sounds, deep-space chirps and Molina’s singsong melodies. The rhythms were complicated yet leisurely, in a way familiar to fans of Brazilian music......
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Joiners in Believing

Photo by Anne Leithauser By my count, there are at least four new records by young bands that derive influence — direct or indirect — from that most bastard of genres, progressive rock, the early-to-mid-’70s music whose stock-in-trade was bloat, pretension and opaque references to the incomprehensible. And I think......

The Story in the Soil

Photos by Jay Muhlin Leave behind buildings, the city planners got mapped out. Bring with you history and make your hard-earned feast. Then we’ll go to Omaha, To work and exploit the booming music scene. —Rilo Kiley, “The Execution of All Things” I left Los Angeles around midnight with few......
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Daylight Drive

Photo by Alicia J. Rose DECEMBERISTS at Spaceland, January 18 Two-thirds into their set, Decemberists front man Colin Meloy slung his guitar around his back, bandmate Chris Funk did the same, and the two staged a mock guitar duel. Both were solid though not virtuosic, and it came together more......

Strange Memes and Nascent Trends

Music is a constant source of inspiration, but in 2003 the trends surrounding it mystified us with weird citations, dark prognostications and odd developments. Skim this list for key tracks. 1 DIGITAL MUSIC STORES: On the plus side, Napster is back and has a sharp ad campaign. On the minus,......
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It’s Too Funky in Here

Photo by Kevin Westenberg I am extremely Caucasian. My background would be a liability in discussing the new disco-punks except for the fact that they’re extremely Caucasian, too. And though they may not have listened to Poison and Phil Collins in their youth, they certainly absorbed Van Halen and the......

A Day With The Locust

Photos by Gregory Bojorquez There is a famous novel about Los Angeles. It was written in 1939, and even in these post-literate times, you may have read it. It’s about this city’s low-rent decadence, its entertainment culture, and the pestilence that infects it. The author was an angry young man......
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Music for a New World

Photo courtesy Domino RecordsJUANA MOLINA at the Silent Movie Theater, July 25 Last week, the Argentine singer-songwriter Juana Molina played an invite-only show at the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax — “an intimate concert for industry and press.” Molina lived in Los Angeles for a spell in the late ’90s......