This trio of sisters spins out serious pop (not pop-inflected goth or whatever) with the kind of easy, a capella style harmonies that come easy to siblings. I like to picture Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim, all in their early 20s, singing along to Hanson in their parents’ car together as kids. Then, like, they grew up and moved to L.A. and started making music that references ’80s pop curios like Kate Bush and Stevie Nicks. I don’t actually know their real story — I’ll have to investigate this further. For now, I can’t stop listening to their three-song EP, particularly the dancey “Forever.” Get it free here.

 

White Arrows – “Fireworks of the Sea” 

White Arrows have been making it happen for a while now with superb live shows and a handful of released recordings hinting at the cool things they’d be doing down the line — I once called them “Paul Simon in space,” and I can’t really think of anything better than that at the moment to describe their sound, so we’ll just go with that. Their new song, “Fireworks of the Sea,” certainly fits that mold, with swirling synths intimating some digital acid trip over Mickey Schiff’s snaking vocal. Their debut EP hits April 3 from Votiv Music. They’ll be at the Roxy March 27. Listen over at Spin. 

Pangea – Live With Tony and Gabe

My buds at TonyandGabe.com have made a habit of corralling the best garage rock bands in So. Cal. for intimate performances in alternative venues, like bathrooms and empty school yards and such. For this entry, they got Burger Records greats Pangea and Audacity to perform Pangea tunes together. Lots of beer ’n’ burrito shenanigans on this one.

Show picks this weekend:

Friday: Zola Jesus and EMA @The Natural History Museum (First Fridays, FREE, 6:00 p.m.)
Saturday: Ty Segall, White Fence @The Troubador (read my interview with Ty Segall here)
Sunday: Fidlar, Pangea, Lovely Bad Things, and Anus Kings w/DJ Blaque Chris @The Echo (6:30 pm, get tickets here)