Ears Wide Open: Glacier Hiking and Mere Mortals

[First in an occasional series of ruminations on some of the unsigned bands that populate our fair city, how you can find their music and where you might see them perform:]

Mere Mortals sound as if they're angling for a spot in the Britpop pantheon, nurturing a jangly, neo-psychedelic sound that brings to mind early Primal Scream, Supergrass or maybe Oasis as fronted by a man who smiles at the world rather than sneers. The merry band of do-it yourselfers self-released the all-wheat, no-chaff "Rebel Radio" EP late last year, and several of the disc's seven songs cracked the specialty charts (which track the amount of airplay on "specialty" shows where the DJs program their own music). German-born, London-reared Axel Steuerwald's deft songwriting touch makes the Mortals slam-dunks to make Jonesy's jukebox. Maybe  they can make yours too.

Exclusive download: A non-album track by the Mere Mortals: "Reverberations" The band's "Rebel Radio" EP is available at iTunes.

||| Mere Mortals play tonight at the Silverlake Lounge.

Photo, from left: Wil Holland, Mimi Star, Sean Burgess and Axel Steuerwald (by Terresa Burgess).

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Glacier Hiking gets a lot of mileage out of two bodies. Of course, one of those bodies is Tommy Walter (Abandoned Pools), who plays guitar and manipulates an array of samples that give the duo's music an almost caustic electronic backing. And since wise-guy vocalist Ross Golan can write (and deliver) big, clever choruses, you figure Glacier Hiking will end up on the radio somewhere. The twosome is finishing up its debut album, "Life Expectancy," which Golan says might be expected in April. A video for the song "Cried for You" is also forthcoming.

Exclusive download: "Wish Me Luck," off the forthcoming album by Glacier Hiking.

||| Check the band's MySpace page for upcoming local dates, which include a Feb. 19 show at the Echo.

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Tonight's touts: Linus of Hollywood plays at the Hotel Cafe. ... Gliss and Gosling head a nice lineup at the Indie 103.1-sponsored night at the Viper Room. ... The Idyllists and the Rolling Blackouts tee it up at Safari Sam's. ... The Western States Motel and Ferraby Lionheart support the Broken West at the latter's residency at Spaceland. ...  Signal Hill Transmission supports the Submarines at the latter's residency at the Echo. ... And Jonezetta, New Year's Day and Waking Ashland perform at the Troubadour.

Comments

[PODO]

Great info, thanks a lot!!! I wish I will have such a writing skills.

[PODO]

Nice pic, Mortals!!!