Moon Block Party has just announced the lineup for this year's Desert Daze Music & Arts Festival in Sunset Ranch (near Mecca, CA) on Saturday, April 20, 2013. Acclaimed “Touareg” band Tinariwen and former Amoeba Home Grown artists Warpaint headline the festival, with Chelsea Wolfe, Fool's Gold, Mini Mansions, Night Beats, The Entrance Band and many more performing.

Tickets are on sale now via Brown Paper Tickets and “the fair-trade ticketing company” will donate a portion of the proceeds from the festival to the charity of the ticket purchaser’s choice. You can buy general admission passes ($35 + $2.22 service fee) or there are three additional ticket options that include camping (tent, lakeside or RV) for a bit more. Buy tickets here.

Keep an eye on Moon Block Party's Facebook page for more updates and ticket giveaways in the coming weeks.

 

Continue reading...

The Second Annual Moon Block Party is coming back to the Downtown Pomona Arts Colony on Saturday, June 23rd and Amoeba is delighted to be a sponsor!

The free and all-ages event starts at 2:00pm and runs till midnight with over 30 live acts including Fool's Gold, The Entrance Band, Sleepy Sun, Crystal Antlers, Allah-Las, SuperTall Paul, Dante vs. Zombies and more. The bands will be joined by tons of live artists, handpicked craft vendors, art galleries, large sculptures, and art installations. Plus, 5% of the proceeds will go to benefit the local School of the Arts and Enterprise, a public charter high school in Pomona.  

More info HERE!
RSVP on Facebook HERE!

King Tuff has released a new record on Sub Pop, and all I can say is OMGGG. King Tuff is looking to be the garage banger of the summer. You should definitely pick this one up, and you can even preview it on YouTube for the time being. Check out a stream from Sub Pop below, and order the album here.
 

 

Up-and-coming L.A. pop band Kitten is releasing a new EP called Cut it Out on Aug. 28th. Teenage frontwoman Chloe Chaidez sure sounds like a star in the making on this buzzy electro single, which has the post-punk feel of Metric while upping both the catchiness and shoegazey sonics. I feel like we’ll only be able to claim Kitten for so long before they move on to bigger and better things, so check them out while they’re still local!
 





Shows This Weekend
 
This is a big weekend for local singer Nite Jewel, who recently released her fine album One Second of Love, which manages to be dancey (check out the title track) and cool, with atmospheric and experimental electronics throughout, while remaining classy, with Ramona Gonzalez’s sultry voice more reminiscent of classical pop singers like Barbra Streisand and Diana Krall. Tonight Nite Jewel headlines a krautrock-themed show titled “Krautrock Classics: A Night of German Cosmic Music,” presented by Dublab and the Goethe Institut. It will take place at the Ford Amphiteatre, with Nite Jewel performing a classic of the genre, Kraftwerk’s Computer World, with help from friends like Stones Throw Records’ Peanut Butter Wolf. The show also will include performances from the likes of Sun Araw, Dntel and Daedelus. Starts at 8, all ages, $15, get tickets online here.
 
Then, on Saturday, Filter Magazine holds its Summer Sessions series at the Original Penguin Store (8215 Melrose Ave.) from 2-6 p.m., featuring a performance by Nite Jewel. RSVP here.
 
Also on Saturday, California acts Cass McCombs and The Entrance Band play at the El Rey Theatre.
 
On Sundays it’s usually hard to beat Part Time Punks at the Echo, and this Sunday is certainly no exception: Violens, whom fellow Amoeba-ite Brad also loves, will play alongside Capured Tracks band Catwalk and Surf Club, which features members of Craft Spells. Slumberland's Violens play blurry swoony guitar pop much in the same vein of their labelmates, but they stand out from the back with their strong melodic songwriting (check out the beautiful "Sariza Spring") and the fact that they bother to rock out once in a while (watch the "All Night Low" video below). Their album True is one of the best of the past couple of months. It's a whole lot of shoegazey, guitarry goodness for only 10 bucks. Get advance tickets here or in store at Ameoba.
            

Mr. Little Jeans – Runaway (Wavves remix)
 
Mr. Little Jeans’ electro-pop ditty “Runaway” was already a pretty sweet Spring surprise of a song, but the L.A.-by-way-of-London rising star has been remixed by So. Cal. in human form Nathan Williams aka Wavves. I have to say I’m digging this remix even more than the original, and I’m not really a remix guy. Williams slows down and reverbs out her vocals to sound like they’re whispering through seafoam, while adding heavy drums and, I’m gonna say, naughty Nuggets organs. I think I like this remix so much because it’s like a big welcome to L.A., stripping a song of its cosmopolitan cool and washing it in sonic warmth. We’re happy to have you, Mr. Little Jeans.

 

New Beach House song “Lazuli” — I don’t care that they’re not from L.A.
 
Does the new Beach House song “Lazuli” sound like Enya? Do I love this new Beach House song? Does this new Beach House song sound like Enya but is still somehow amazing? Do I love Enya? Do I kind of like Enya sometimes? What is a lazuli? Does Beach House spend a lot of time researching things like rare bright blue stones that sound cool and mysterious for sick song titles? (Preorder the new Beach House album Bloom now! And come to Record Store Day April 21 to buy the "Lazuli" single!)

Desert Daze 
 
Coachella needs me to hype them like I need to hear that terrible Fun. song again (thanks, Chevy!), but there’s still time to make it to Desert Daze, a festival that started yesterday and runs through April 22. Today the biddies at L.A. Record along with Blundertown and Burger Records are throwing a massive show with Bleached, Audacity, Pangea, Lovely Bad Things and so many more L.A. goodies. The show is only a $5 suggested donation. It takes place at a secret location near Dillon’s Roadhouse in North Palm Springs; email moonblockmotel@gmail.com to book a room. (Disclaimer: I have no idea if there are any rooms left available, but email them and find out before it’s too late! Unless it already is.)
 
Highlights from the rest of the festival:
 
Saturday: Moving Units, Gangi, Dante vs. Zombies (ALSO: see them live for free at Amoeba Hollywood tonight at 7 p.m.),
Monday: Allah Las, Driftwood Singers, Pool Honeys
Tuesday: The Fresh & Onlys, Crystal Antlers, Babies on Acid, Henry Clay People (hear their newly released jam “25 For the Rest of Our Lives,” courtesy of Buzzbands.la)
Wednesday: Breakestra, Funky Sole DJs Miles and Clifton
Saturday: Dead Meadow, Spindrift, Dirt Dress
Sunday: Akron/Family, Here We Go Magic, The Entrance Band

Grass Widow – “Goldilocks Zone”

San Fran trio Grass Widow have a new album coming out May 22 on HLR called Internal Logic. The first song from it, “Goldilocks Zone,” sports the casual girl cool of The Breeders with a bit more post-punk angularity and noise-rock sound effects. Definitely excited to hear the full-length!

 

Dante vs Zombies – “Natural Disaster”

L.A.’s Dante vs. Zombies are set to release their first full-length April 10 from Neurotic Yell, called BUH. This is a band I wasn’t sure I’d like from reading about them, seeming kinda kitschy. Listening to “Natural Disaster,” I hear exquisitely polished, noir-ish indie rock with style to spare, reminding me a bit of another L.A. band, Fool’s Gold, and also recent Yeasayer. Plus singer Dante White-Aliano has killer pipes. Love the speed-up at the end. (Download via RCRDLBL.com)

 

 

Races – Full Album Stream

Races are a band I’ve written about a couple of times here as their sweeping orchestral pop showed major promise. Now their first full-length, Year of the Witch, is imminent, and they’ve put the whole thing up for streaming via SoundCloud. Sounds awesome!