Ears Wide Open: Sky Parade and the Minor Canon

[Here's an installment of Ears Wide Open, a periodic series highlighting two of the unsigned acts that populate the sprawling little soundboard we call the Southland:]



More than two years ago, Sky Parade caught the ears of the L.A. underground with the song "Losing Control," a joyride of dense, churning guitars that sounds like Primal Scream getting Spiritualized. You figured good things were in store for the quartet if there were more where that came from. Now, a couple of drummers, a lot of sweat and a back injury later, Sky Parade is emerging with a new album. Appropriately, "Love Is Forever" will be self-released on Valentine's Day.

Simple concept here: "Every song is a modern indie rock-inspired love song," says front man Tommy Dietrick, who spent much of last year fine-tuning the record -- when he wasn't laid up with a back injury.

Dietrick, a former member of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, credits new drummer Joel Patterson, who joined a lineup that includes bassist Bobby Bones and guitarist Mathew Lindgren, with helping him put the pedal to the metal and get the album finished. Featuring guest vocals from Miranda Lee Richards and Guylaine Vivarat-Goodich (Molecules), "Love Is Forever" figures to hit the spot for fans of British psychedelia, or anybody else who misses the Verve. 

||| Exclusive download: "Love Is Forever" by Sky Parade.

||| Sky Parade opens for Midnight Movies on Thursday at Spaceland.

Photo: From left, Bobby Bones, Matthew Lindgren, Tommy Dietrick and Joel Patterson.

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There's no shortage of musicians who toot their horns in Silver Lake. Ah, but those who play horns -- they're noticeable. Take the Minor Canon, a six- or seven-piece (depending on the night) that have been crowding onto club stages to dispense a brassy orchestral pop that, while no threat to make the Top 40 charts, ought to find its way into the hands of an indie filmmaker in need of a soundtrack.

Singer-songwriter Paul Larson has roots in the indie scene that date back to the '90s, when he was a member of Strictly Ballroom with Chris Gunst (Beachwood Sparks) and Jimmy Tamborello (the Postal Service, Dntel). In fact, Larson contributes guitar work to the forthcoming Dntel album "Dumb Luck," due in April.

"No Good Deed Goes Unpunished," the Minor Canon's initial foray into the shadows of pop melancholy, will be self-released on Feb. 20, and even at its birth the debut album has a history, since it was recorded at the Silver Lake house where the Postal Service's "Give Up" took shape (and, Larson points out, where the movie "Heathers" was written). Larson and bandmates Ryan Blake, Ben Eisen, Erik Soderstrom, Mario Frias and Mike Richardson will play the April residency at Spaceland.

||| Exclusive download: "It Never Was ..." by the Minor Canon.

||| The Minor Canon performs Feb. 15 at the Echo; the band also performs a record-release show at Sea Level Records in Echo Park on Feb. 20.

Photo of the Minor Canon by Erin Barajas.

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Tonight's touts: Japanese fun bunch Polysics entertain at the Knitting Factory, with support from L.A.'s the Outline. ... Kaki King brings her distinctive guitar work to the Hotel Cafe. ... And Helmet begins a two-night run at the Troubadour.

Comments

[Ivy Janssen]

The Minor Canon is the best band ever, even better then Coleflatch!

[wayne]

Sky Parade is HOT.