­Electric Flower Group had a most unlikely of beginnings. The first time they met, Josh Garza and Imaad Wasif were strangers in an elevator in London. Garza was carrying his kick drum and Wasif had his guitar in hand. They were at the BBC Studios to film performances on “Top of the Pops,” Garza with his band Secret Machines and Wasif, an established solo artist, was appearing as a guest musician with Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Eyeing one another suspiciously, the two maintained a curious silence, until the elevator came to a screeching halt, between floors. Wasif began frantically hitting all the buttons to get the metal box moving, but the lights just flickered and the elevator remained eerily still and suspended. While waiting for the emergency operator to dispatch a technician, the two eventually set about jamming, Wasif, to ease his claustrophobia and Garza, ever-cool and stoic, to deal with the boredom, and, in his own words, to “just get this freak to calm down.”

Another three years passed before the two men randomly collided again, this time on a street corner in Los Angeles. They decided to head to Wasif’s rehearsal space. In a blast of inspiration from the cosmic weirdness of it all, they wrote “Circles,” the epic track off of their debut EP. With the pounding of blood, the rumbling of thunder, and the indelicate sensations delicately rendered; its finesse lies in the grafting on such libidinous roots of the more visceral stems of Electric Flower Group.

“Four16”, the lead track off the EP, is a roaring tower of power inspired by Kurt Cobain’s iconic performance of Leadbelly song “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” during 1993’s MTV Unplugged In New York concert. A warped pop song about reincarnation, “Four16” refers to the minute mark (4:16) during Cobain’s performance where we see him become possessed and as Wasif believes, “Kurt’s soul leaves his body.” The chorus “4:16, 4:16, Your god ain’t clean,” is a lyric for the ages. The strength and hooks of Wasif’s lyrical and melodic sense balance the primitive spacial quality of the music and Garza’s beats.

With their sophomore EP, entitled EP II, showcases the band expanding their sound beyond the rawness of their first EP to explore the dimensions of depth and width. “Eclipsed,” part loose metaphor, part nod to Dylan’s ‘Don’t Think Twice’ and Big Star’s ‘September Gurls,’ casts a shadow of its own. “Cocoon” is a markedly weirder track; the repetition of the mantra-like lyric “To see your love come shining” gives way by sudden schism into an unexpected extraterrestrial soundscape, veering between CAN-esque Mesmer beats and a guitar angularity akin to This Heat, all the while carrying the current of a song unlike either. EFG EP II is proof that music today can be cinematic and conceptual without the complications of over-instrumentation. Side two of the EP is dedicated to a cover of Scott Walker’s dark symphonic ode to S&M, “The Electrician.”

If the world ever catches up to them, we can then be sure that times really have changed, that the end is nigh, that the circle is unbroken. Electric Flower Group are on a journey through a modern kaleidoscope of rock 'n' roll, transcending mainstream influence and incorporating strong minimalist elements into their modern psychedelic music. Electric Flower Group wakes the ghosts of rock's most daring days, while never following them.
Interstellar Overdrive for the Modern Age

Sabrosa Purr are a genre-defying band from Los Angeles, California, composed of Will Love, Jeff Mendel, Angie Mattson and Mahsa Zargaran. They released their self-produced début EP, Music from the Violet Room on Dangerbird Records (Silversun Pickups, Sea Wolf, Hot Hot Heat, Minus The Bear) to critical raves in 2006, finding themselves in the Top Ten Albums of many tastemakers’ lists, including that of Bagel Radio, CMJ’s Speciality Music Director of the Year. The follow-up Volaras EP was released on June 26 2009. Their full-length album, To the Crickets and the Ghosts, is scheduled for release in fall 2010; it was produced by Tracy Chisholm (Stone Temple Pilots, Belly, Scott Weiland, Devics). The line-up consists of Will Love (vocals/guitar), Jeff Mendel (lead guitar), Angie Mattson (bass guitar) and Mahsa Zargaran (drums). They have performed successful residencies in some of LA's most notable venues, including Spaceland. The Purr have shared the stage with other LA notables, Burning Brides, Silversun Pickups, Cold War Kids, Devics, Pedestrian, Cheem, Far, and The Revolution Smile, and served as an opening act for 30 Seconds to Mars on their tour supporting "A Beautiful Lie". The band has toured the US and Japan.

LA-bred Cinderella MOTEL combines the eclectic madness of 70’s punk, the amped-up attitude of garage rock, and the sly sensibilities of 80’s pop to create an outfit never seen around the LA scene, at least not like this. CM creates a captivating wave of sound by melting eccentric audio arrangements, breakneck tempo changes, and subversively carnal and profoundly whimsical lyrics with JFR’s wailin
g guitars, Guerrero’s thunderous drum chops, Robles’ thick-filled bass licks, and Tomahawk’s full-force growling, howling yet lady-like vocals, crunchy rhythm guitar, and occasional punk-styled accordion.
CM’s first full-length release bolts straight out the gate with the bombastic title track ‘Automatic Pleasure.’ With songs like the horns-in-the-air, Sabbath-invoking ‘Clearance Valentine,’ the accordion-laced, punk barn burner ‘Put It Out’ and the hedonistic pleasure anthem ‘You Were Never My Boyfriend (So Let’s Dance),’ Cinderella MOTEL provides the soundtrack for all of us who want to live life with the knob cranked to eleven.
The album was recorded at The Cave Studio in LA by LightFM frontman Josiah Mazzaschi (William Reid-The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Blood Arm, Built to Spill) and mastered by Jon Drew in Toronto (Metric, F**ked Up, Tokyo Police Club).
Basically, if Iggy, Joan Jett, The Kills and Peaches had a baby backed by the Sioux nation, you'd have Cinderella MOTEL.

“Cinderella Motel’s thrashy old-school squalor owes a huge debt to black-dressed songstresses of the past — fans of Siouxsie Sioux and Joan Jett, take note — with frontwoman Tammy Tomahawk juggling guitar and accordion and howling at ghosts wearing studded belts and leather collars. Or maybe they’re not ghosts at all. The quartet, working on a full-length scheduled for a fall release, features thundering rhythms from bassist Dustin Robles and drummer Raul Guerrero, and appropriately shreddy licks from lead guitarist Janice Reid. L.A. once thrived on a steady diet on a steady diet of post-punk like Cinderella Motel’s; now we have only occasional side dishes to make you scream like a banshee.” –Kevin Bronson, Buzzbands.la

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Black Lullabies are a Los Angeles-based boy/girl duo drawing inspiration from spooky movies, haunted houses and noisy guitars. Drummer Melissa Pleckham and guitarist Ken Ramos trade vocal duties and feed off of one another's energy to create an effect akin to the Cure meeting the White Stripes in a dark alleyway.

The pair has already shared the stage with such local luminaries as Kissing Cousins, Programmed for Pleasure and Dylan Trees at venues including the Echo and Silverlake's Beauty is Pain Boutique. Their songs "Spine Tingler" and "Valerie Lazarus" were played by DJ Tom Ravenscroft on his BBC 6 Radio show, while the song "Black Lullabies" has been played on college radio, including L.A.'s KXLU, and was featured on the Magic Monster Radio Compilation #2.

Do you dare listen to these black lullabies? Whatever you do, don't listen alone....