Tag: Southern California

Doulos – Birth Pains This band was my big surprise hit at Audiofeed Festival last summer. Sure, I’d heard the name for several years and probably sampled a track or two online, but I’d never fully experienced the band until that live set in a hot tent in July. They blew me away with their energy and riffs galore. Lots of tempo changes, fast parts, mosh parts, exactly as hardcore should be! And so, while I was excited to review this album, my excitement also come with some degree of trepidation.… Continued →

Charity Empressa is essentially a solo project of Eric Campuzano (The Prayer Chain, Lassie Foundation, Stranger Kings, ex-Starflyer 59, Cush) with a revolving cast of support and collaborators. While the list of those giving input is lengthy, among them are Troy Daughtery (Hoi Polloi, Duraluxe), Wayne Everett (Prayer Chain, Lassie Foundation, ex-Starflyer 59, solo), Frank Lenz (Fold Zandura, solo, ex-Starflyer 59), Andrew Prickett (Prayer Chain, My Brother’s Mother), Herb Grimaud (the violet burning, Raspberry Jam, Stranger Kings), Josh Hagquist (ex-Dogwood, The Beautiful Mistake), and many others.… Continued →

Brilliant alternative rock band Model Engine (formerly Black Eyed Sceva) have posted a ‘new’ song recently. “Soapbox” was recorded in the late 90s as a possible addition to The Lean Years Tradition, or to be included on the follow-up album that never happened. The song showcases everything that was great about the band: rootsy, alternative, progressive, earthy, it’s all there. You can read the whole story about the rediscovery of the song on the band’s Bandcamp page, and also download the song for a mere 50 cents!… Continued →

Indie pop duo Bon Voyage was a collaboration of Jason Martin (Starflyer 59, and about a dozen others) and his wife Julie on vocals. The project was somewhat accurately described as “Starflyer with female vocals,” which is not inaccurate though not really complete either. Whereas SF59 added layers and layers of guitars and fuzz, Bon Voyage stripped things back to the pop essentials. Julie’s vocals are akin to Julee Cruise, most famous for her work on the Twin Peaks soundtracks. The band released three albums for BEC and/or Tooth and Nail, and we haven’t heard from them since 2008.… Continued →

I’ve been a fan of Starflyer 59 since the affectionately titled “Silver” (officially self-titled) released in 1994. So when offered the chance to interview Jason Martin in advance of their new album Lust for Gold, I jumped at the chance. Always known for being brief in interviews, he still managed to be substantial in his correspondence. LH: The response to the new single “909” has been incredible so far, with many people commenting how the sound hearkens back to 90s-era SF59 with the later style of vocals.… Continued →

One of the funnest and most interesting aspects of the Christian indie/punk/metal/whatever scene is that no matter how long you’ve been involved and no matter how much of an expert you may think you are, there are always new–or in this case, old–bands to discover. I found out about The Living via our friends over at Christian Tape Underground, a blog that specializes in unearthing rare and underground cassette tapes and demos from indie bands of all genres. The Living was a great little post-punk/goth rock band with lots of potential.… Continued →

Every Day Life, commonly known as E.D.L., was an early innovator in the rap-core scene, fusing hip-hop and hardcore into something new, several years before it morphed into nu metal and became ubiquitous on rock radio. The band came from Southern California, and while musically innovative (our featured track also has a slight nod to industrial), they were also not afraid to touch controversial subjects in their lyrics, especially those related to racial relations in the United States, and other social topics and justice-related issues. Their debut album cover featured a scene from the L.A.… Continued →

One of the larger, more legendary cyphers in Christian hip-hop, L.A. Symphony came to us from where else but Los Angeles. They emerged in the late 90s with a few 12″ singles and a full-length album on member Flynn Adam Atkins’ own independent label Eartube Empire, via which Flynn had also released a full-length solo album earlier. The group’s breakthrough came in the form of 2003’s The End is Now for Gotee Records. I had the privilege of booking/hosting the group for a youth event in Atlanta in the mid-2000s.… Continued →

Independent Christian music lost another legend recently. Jimmy Hotz (inventor/producer/solo artist/band member/producer/engineer/electronic music pioneer/author/multi-instrumentalist–and we’re not even exaggerating) died in June. Hotz first recorded in CCM in the 1970s with the group Dove, and then a handful of other mostly CCM artists before recording his solo album–and many would say his magnum opus–Beyond the Crystal Sea, released in 1980 on Oklahoma City-based Vision Records. Fortunately for fans, Born Twice (a division of Retroactive/Boone’s Overstock) re-issued the album in 2010. Hotz wasn’t content to release one of the greatest Christian rock albums of all time (this claim is verifiable too, repeatedly making appearances in all-time lists from reputable sources like HM, CCM, and various others).… Continued →

The most legendary holy hip-hop cipher of them all? Perhaps. Tunnel Rats’ debut Experience (1996) was truly mind-blowing. It’s one of those rare albums where the line between art and artist was completely blurred, if it even existed in the first place. The lyrics (as well as the passion behind them) reflected absolute love of hip-hop music and culture, and absolute love of God and his Gospel. Very few artists, very few albums or artistic endeavors reach that climax of full integration where neither the message nor the artistic medium was compromised in any way whatsoever.… Continued →

The first time I heard this band, I was completely blown away. The year was 1988. I was about 14 years old, and I had just started getting into Christian metal via bands like Jerusalem, Whitecross, and Barren Cross. Sacred Warrior was probably the heaviest I’d heard at the time. Then one night I was listening to KOKF 91FM out of Oklahoma City, a Christian radio station that had a late night metal show. I heard the most intense, loud, gnarly thing I’d ever heard in my life.… Continued →

I’ve never been a huge fan of pop-punk–just dabbled here and there–but darn it all if this isn’t a catchy tune! I popped this into the car CD player earlier this week, having not listened to it in years, and that opening tune was so ridiculously familiar! I think I must have heard it on a compilation somewhere too for me to remember it so well. Anyway, Olivia the Band was originally from Hawaii, but eventually relocated to San Diego. They released their self-titled debut in 2005 on Essential Records.… Continued →

If you’re of the opinion that only melodic music can be godly, then you might want to navigate your browser elsewhere. If, on the other hand, you see the possibility of the Spirit working and moving in the new, the avant garde, the experimental, and the downright weird, then Ganglia just might interest you. Sometimes stylized as GÅNGLÎÅ, this one-man project was started by David Smittcamp in Los Angeles in the late 1990s. He took the already experimental genre of grindcore (lightning-fast tempos and ultra-short songs fused into an extreme form of hardcore and metal), and flipped it on its head by utilizing only electronic instruments.… Continued →

There was a lot of hype surrounding this band when they were first signed by Facedown Records, in large part based on the fact they had three vocalists. While the hype, and sadly also the band, were short-lived (they only released one full-length and one 3-way split album), they definitely generated a healthy buzz in their short existence. And for good reason too. Soli Deo Gloria (roughly translated as “to the glory of God alone”) dropped in 2001, and stylistically the album shows its age. Torn in Two were building off of the heavy, metallic, chugga-chugga or “new school” style hardcore of the 1990s, and adding more metallic leads and riffs without ever fully crossing over into metalcore.… Continued →

I’ve been listening to Ronnie Martin’s music since the late 80s, when he and brother Jason (of Starflyer 59 and many others) were known as the duo Dance House Children. That group reveled in synth-pop, but with a super quirky edge. There was nothing in the Christian nor secular markets quite like it. After two underrated albums, the pair split. Jason started the legendary indie rock monster Starflyer 59, while Ronnie carried on with synthesizer-created music in the form of Joy Electric. Picking up where Dance House Children left off, Joy Electric took the quirkiness to extreme new levels.… Continued →

For a brief moment in the early 1990s, it looked like electronica (or techno, or rave as it was being called at the time) was going to take over popular music. It had a huge following in Christian alternative music for a good two years. Although the synthesizer-driven genre had little to do with the guitar-dominated alt-rock, grunge, and hardcore punk of the era, what it did have in common with those genres was simply being an oddball style of music with which to glorify God.… Continued →

Metalheads are divided over whether the subgenre dubbed “speed metal” actually exists or not. Often confused with shred metal and/or Neo-classical (yes, those guys play fast, but that’s not the same thing), it’s almost synonymous with thrash except there are often clean vocals and/or slightly cleaner guitars. In the Christian scene, the most obvious examples are the seminal and fantastic Valor, Tourniquet’s early work (also adding a progressive element) and the mighty Deliverance. While Deliverance has flirted with a lot of different styles (speed/thrash, gothic metal, alternative metal, groove, etc.),… Continued →

Among the plethora of pop-punk bands in the Christian scene, Slick Shoes were one of the best, probably top 5 out of hundreds. Formed in 1994 in Southern California (like most Christian pop-punk bands), they released their debut EP for Tooth & Nail in 1997, then proceeded to release 6 full-lengths, a split with mainstream band Autopilot Off (FKA Cooter) and a live album. The band won a lot of points with me by taking their name from one of my favorite movies of all time, The Goonies.… Continued →

One of the longest-running indie/alternative bands in the Christian scene, The Choir emerged in the 1980s initially as Youth Choir, shortening the name after the release of one album and one EP. The band formed in 1983 and were instrumental in the early 80s Calvary Chapel scene in Southern California, that also included stalwarts like Undercover, Altar Boys, and 4-4-1. Where some of their counterparts flirted with punk and harder alternative sounds, The Choir’s sound rarely ‘rocked’ so much as it created atmospheres and layers that have never been easily pigeonholed into any particular scene or sound and yet have toyed with dream pop, indie pop, and at times even shoegaze.… Continued →

Adam Lohrbach of Home Grown fame returns with his latest creation, Radical Radical. He dropped his debut song titled “Misfit Toys” which is a wild, nostalgia driven ride through pop-punk soundscapes and grasping close at those heart strings. You can find this new song in music video format which fully expresses the joy, the hope, the past, and the future all rolled up into one tasty song meant to inspire. If you dig pop-punk of old with a little “EMOtion” thrown in for good measure all the while sharing this story from Adam’s view point, well then “Misfit Toys” is for you.… Continued →

Mad at the World has had a very interesting and diverse career as a band. They started out doing somewhat dark synth-pop on their self-titled debut (in the vein of Depeche Mode, New Order, Clan of Xymox), then added guitars to their new wave sound for Flowers in the Rain. By their third album, they ditched the synths and morphed into a full-fledged alternative rock band with metallic influences. This carried on for three albums (Seasons of Love, Boomerang, and Through the Forest).… Continued →

SoCal hardcore band Point of Recognition (or Point of Wreckinthangs as they were affectionately known by fans) released 3 full-lengths, an EP and a pair of split releases before disbanding in the mid-2000s. Members popped up elsewhere in the scene, but the band’s existence was sadly short. Nonetheless, their impact was felt strongly in both the Christian and secular hardcore scenes. Playing a heavy form of “new school” or “tough guy” hardcore, they stuck close to their roots, not following into the more and more metal-influenced versions of hardcore that were developing rapidly around them.… Continued →