Molly Bergen

Three years ago Peter Walker decided he was tired of the solo life and wanted to settle down...musically. He asked the musicians who were touring with him if they wanted something more permanent. They did and Eulogies was born. Last month, Eulogies released their promising sophomore disk, Here Anonymous, on Dangerbird Records. The album in question is full of the kind of pretty introspective pop that would make Ben Gibbard green with envy. Front man Peter Walker was kind enough to talk with us last night from his home in Los Angeles about his brand new album.

"Our music isn't that serious," Phil Shaheen admitted. "All of the bands I looked up to growing up weren't serious, either. They would have serious lyrics and silly music or serious music and silly lyrics. Music should be about having a good time." As the drummer of the Tijuana Panthers, one of SoCal's best surf rock groups, he knows all about that. Heavily influenced by classic 1960s surf rock fused with punk, the Panthers will make you want to put on your wet suit, grab your board, and make a beeline for the beach. Office meetings, florescent lighting, and paperwork be damned! It's a beautiful day outside, let's call in sick and hit the beach. (I wouldn't be surprised that after perusing this article if half of you got up right now and did just that.) Phil was kind enough about his band's new EP and their upcoming show at Spaceland. Here is some of what was said. Tijuana Panthers - Creature

Let's hope it doesn't come to that, but if the big one should show up on Thursday...these New York rockers are toast. Poor bastards. They think they're coming here to headline the El Rey. Of course this information wasn't shared with Donald Cumming during our interview with him on Saturday. (Yes, the lead singer of the Virgins is named Donald Cumming. Go ahead. Giggle. We'll wait. Feel better? Okay.) I mean, we can't scare the Virgins off before they get here. It's the only way to save California from sinking into the sea. Although this would mean killing off one of the best neo-disco acts around, which would be a shame. These guys have put out a slinky debut album which would make even a nun's blood run hot.

It is always unnerving as a fan when an artist you like experiments with his genre. We always want them to ride that line between doing something new and different and changing their sound completely. We want something fresh, but also something we can recognize. So when an artist jumps genres, we get nervous. Don't get me wrong, experimentation is essential for any sort of artistic growth to occur. We don't want to hear the same song over and over again or even the same album twice, but at the same time we worry about the unknown. Will it be a successful leap like Nelly Furtado's foray into dance pop? Or will it crash and burn like Garth Brooks' disastrous attempt at reinvention as Chris Gaines? Her Space Holiday (otherwise known as Marc Bianchi) made the leap with his latest album XOXO, Panda and the New Kid Revival in which he changes his sound from the light synthetic, electronic pop of his previous five albums and ventures into the world of alt-country and folk.

If you were on an adventure with Indiana Jones, and were in desperate need of a sunny, happy pop album that discusses the dangers of cannibals, dinosaurs, octopi, and volcanoes, the Miniature Tigers' new album might be the one to choose. (Obviously this would be in your down time. It's not the soundtrack you would want for when you were fighting Nazis or sneaking around in tombs.) However, Tell It To The Volcano which was released on Modern Art Records in February might just do the trick for when you were having lunch or getting from one cave to another. Which is not surprising considering the founding members, Charlie Brand and Rick Schaier, cite the jungle imagery in Lost and Indiana Jones as some of their influences when writing this record. Honestly it is surprising there aren't more cannibal ditties out there considering the popularity of both of these cultural icons. Or maybe a few mysterious pop songs about "others"? Just a thought.

When the Aussie rockers, the Lovetones released their debut album, Be What You Want, in 2003 through Bomp! Records the critics freaked out. Rolling Stone hailed Matthew Tow' as being worthy of wearing paisley on Caranby Street and hanging out with Ray Davies. Three albums later, the Lovetones haven't lost any of their magic. They will be bringing their classic, psychedelic, 1960s influenced sound back to Los Angeles. The Lovetones will be playing at the Spaceland tonight, and gracing the Redwood Bar tomorrow. Last weekend lead singer and founding member, Matthew Tow, was kind enough to give us a few moments of his time. Here is some of what was said.

Several months ago, rock 'n' roll photographer, Christopher Wray-McCann, had an idea. What would happen if he got some of his musician friends to drop their cell phones, their laptops, and their lives and hole up in Maui in tree houses for a month to record an album? Taking all the equipment they could carry, various members of Maroon 5, Gomez, Phantom Planet and a few other bands agreed and descended upon their new jungle home. Fourteen members of what was now known as, Operation Aloha, created a light, breezy tropical album, which was created captured the spirit of Hawaii without the usual constraints of songwriting and recording.

If Wonder Woman had hung up her cape and chosen to give up her life of fighting crime and instead wanted to get into the local music scene, she may have asked some pointers from Ashley Jex. At the tender age of twenty five, Jex has created a local music empire. Not only has she launched a very influential record label, JAXART out of her living room, she still makes time for her music blog,Rock Insider, and her band The Monolators, and somehow her day job. She can do it all. LAist caught up with Jex in her industrial epicenter (aka living room) to ask her how the heck she manages to stay awake. Here is some of what was said.

There is no Santa. George Bush did not win the 2000 election. And Jean-Luc Retard and Bonnie Day are frauds. Inspired by 1960s French pop, these ex-Brooklynites have been spreading their cheeky, retro pop all over the world. We sat down with Jean-Luc Retard and Bonnie Day (aka Dan Crane and Emily Welsch) for brunch in Silver Lake last Saturday, in order to get to our burning questions answered. How French were they? How many Skittles did Emily have to consume in the Loli video? Was it true that Dan had an alter ego that was an air guitar champion? And did they really get sued by their former band member? Here is some of what was said. For frauds, their answers were surprisingly honest.

Friday night at the El Rey Theatre, the guitarist for Tilly and the Wall, Derek Pressnall, opened for the Black Lips with his new band, Flowers Forever. The only adornment on-stage was a tangled mass of lights that glowed like a giant light-up hairball that served as a visual embodiment of the Flowers Forever sound: bright, messy, pretty ugly, but intriguing nonetheless. Each song jumped around from melody to melody with no smooth transitions. Drums...