Pop Levi aims to become L.A.'s favorite Liverpudlian

[This item was published in the Calendar Weekend section last Thursday, but for those of you who never get ink on your fingertips -- and I know you're out there -- here it is again:]

If anybody is amazed by the sleight-of-hand that yielded the music on Pop Levi’s debut, “The Return to Form Black Magick Party,” it’s the artist himself. “I knew a song was finished when I said to myself, ‘I can’t believe it hasn’t already been written,’” the L.A.-based singer-guitarist says. “At times I felt I was watching songs come true.”

The album, a saw-toothed blitz of psych, pop, blues and glam, was recorded in Levi’s native Liverpool, before he and his quartet took up residence on the West Coast. Both the music and the presentation are updates on ’60s mod — “Post-mod,” Levi says humorously, “also known as ‘flunk.’”

It’s a classic cut-and-paste of classic rock influences, from Dylan to Hendrix to Bolan, catchy and more than a little bit audacious. But if the first outing from the ex-Ladytron bassist seems bold, wait till you hear what he has in store for his sophomore effort.

“I want to make the first R&B record by a Caucasian four-piece from Liverpool,” he says, detailing plans to record later this year in Hollywood. “I want to make a crucial dance record that sounds leagues from what any indie rocker would make — I want it to sound like the noise coming from those BMWs cruising down Hollywood Boulevard on a summer night.”

Photo of Pop Levi performing at Coachella by Kevin Bronson / LAT.

||| See Pop Levi open for Mando Diao tonight at the Troubadour.

||| Watch the video for "Sugar Assault Me Now":

And speaking of Mando Diao (I think that translates to "cool garage rock played by cute Swedish boys"), here's their video for "Long Before Rock 'n' Roll":

Comments

[t.rex]

i think your swedish translation is spot on.