Amateurs sound anything but

[We'll play catch-up this week on album releases and reviews. We think ...]

 

Amateurs, "Speak

Easy" (self-released): L.A. quartet Amateurs can't quite decide what they want to

be, except good. Their first album nods to classic rock, folky '70s radio fare, modern

indie titans and maybe even prog rock band or two, if they used strings. Whether you

hear a lot of Wilco or a little Fleetwood Mac, Fairport Convention or the Band, it's the

emotional range that makes Amateurs' an impressive debut. Its melodic bounce, gorgeous

wedding of harmonies with Shannon De Jong's strings and smartly spun vignettes by

singer-guitarist Keith Waggoner give "Speak Easy" a warm, organic sheen. It's

folk-rock that doesn't need to resort to gimmickry or conscious deconstruction.

||| See Amateurs tonight at their album release show at the Scene in Glendale.

Touts

for Tuesday, May 29

It's an album release party for ex-Fur

singer Holly Ramos tonight too -- an early show

at the Hotel Cafe ... Toca celebrates its album

release with a show at the Knitting Factory. ... Icelandic blues-country songstress Lay

Low performs at the Silverlake Lounge. ... And that's in case you're missing the bigger

shows, the Arcade Fire at the Greek and Voxtrot at the El Rey Theatre.