Kevin Bronson

K'naan's single "Wavin' Flag" is nothing if not global. After the song got the nod as Coca-Cola's official World Cup jingle -- and its lyrics were, ahem, tweaked, to make it more uplifting -- the Somalian-born Canadian rapper trotted "Wavin' Flag" out in 86 countries on FIFA's World Cup Trophy......

When vocalist Anthony Green broke away from the Orange County screamo outfit Saosin six years ago, it didn't look like the best of career moves. Saosin was a rising star on the post-hardcore scene and poised to sign a major-label contract; Green was headed back home to Pennsylvania. There, however,......

You never know where you'll find Ferraby Lionheart, either geographically or in song. The L.A.-born, Nashville-reared singer-songwriter spent much of last decade in Los Angeles, eventually sequestering himself in a Koreatown apartment to write his debut album Catch the Brass Ring (Nettwerk, 2007). But L.A. had run its course, and......

The list of artists who've had the starch to release triple albums of original material and not choke on the reviews is pretty short, especially recently. The last great one to go triple-wide on our shelves was probably the 1999 opus by the Magnetic Fields, 69 Love Songs. Early this......

There seems to be a lot on Ramona Gonzalez's mind these days, at least judging from the title track to Nite Jewel's new EP, Am I Real? "How did it get so wrong with me?" she asks at the outset, moving on through a spandex-worthy web of bass, beats and......

One week, two acclaimed U.K. folk singers: Somebody must have planned this thing. Last night it was Conor O'Brien, aka Villagers, giving a mesmerizing solo performance at the Hotel Cafe. (And, yes, this Conor O. very much recalls Conor Oberst.) Tonight, Laura Marling visits the El Rey Theatre, riding a......

Good things some to those who ... make good music? Ah, it'd warm our blog band-besotted cackles if it were always so. But there is a happy story to tell about Phosphorescent, the Brooklyn-based, Athens, Ga.-born alt-country band who this spring released the twangy nugget Here's to Taking It Easy,......

Australian dance-rock trio Midnight Juggernauts have all the bombast of a Shiny Toy Guns, but, instead of an emo bent, the synth-pounders from Down Under have managed to put a psychedelic twist on their bottom-heavy dance-rock. Their new album "The Crystal Axis" puts Pink Floyd at the controls of the......

Tonight's installment of Grand Performances at California Plaza -- one of our town's finest, free music al fresco opportunities -- figures to be especially grand. Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, the composer/producer/arranger/multi-instrumentalist who boasts a resume longer than most Mel Gibson diatribes and whose stylistic forays span electronica, avante-garde jazz, hip-hop, classical and......

Indie-rock has just about exhausted all its permutations, hasn't it? You think so, and then you stumble across somebody like Chicago four-piece Maps & Atlases, whose don't let their technical prowess and penchant for experimentation (or impressive beards, for that matter) get in the way of a decent song. Perch......