Leftover from a 30-day songwriting challenge by Samira Winter, the happiest musician in Los Angeles. Essentially all of her songs are about dreaming and longing for love, and as with many of the others she's released, "Dreaming" sounds like most every movie made about drugs. She'll be at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles tomorrow with Ducktails.
Since being turned onto London nu jazz ensemble Kinkajous two years ago, they've actually taken a really fantastic turn, letting go of some of the electronic influence and embracing the jazz aspect of their genre. Which is really much easier to latch onto and more conducive to a live setting. Still happy to see the clarinet getting its due. They'd be enormous for a bit if they lived on the west side of Los Angeles.
The third Terry Malts record just came out last Friday and it's so incredibly straight ahead. Between the faux English accent, the three-minute track average, and the quality production that seems to have softened them up, it's a reliable go-to for poppy California rock, but is neither as jarring nor as humorous as it needs to be to make itself memorable. Still, they're good for a half-hour live set.
Jay Som's Turn Into is getting re-released on November 18, and though female acts generally don't deserve to be lumped together, she'd make a perfect fourth to Speedy Ortiz, Mitski and Winter on a single lineup. This record is dreamy and thoughtful, but she's halfway between Ash Bowie and Sadie Dupuis on guitar, wonderfully innovative. And she'll be at the Echo in Los Angeles on December 3, as part of a San Francisco lineup.
Pesaro, Italy coldwave revivalists [feeling ridiculous with these genre names] Soviet Soviet are putting out a sophomore record called Endless on December 2 and they've just released its first single. The album is in pre-order mode for another month and a half, and there are only 78 copies remaining of the initial 1000 pressed!