The low tones of the cello are more visceral and deeply convulsive than the high-flying melodic sorties of a violin. In Zoë Keating's hands, the cello becomes an even more expressive instrument that's capable of expansive grandeur on her 2018 EP, Snowmelt. Keating is a former member of Rasputina and has recorded with Amanda Palmer, but she reveals more of her range in her own engrossing compositions ..read more

Imogen Heap has been working behind the scenes for the past few years. She hasn't toured the United States since 2000, and the English singer's most recent full-length album is Sparks, which was released in 2014. Heap composed the music for the 2016 play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which was released as an album last year ..read more

A lot of dance-music performers insist that they want to make you think, but French Vanilla are one of the few bands whose lyrics really will get your brain to do the twist while you're in a glittery daze out on the dance floor. On their new album, How Am I Not Myself?, the L.A. quartet pump up their compelling post-punk grooves with subversive sociopolitical intentions ..read more

Andrew Bird belies the seemingly sarcastic title of his new record, My Finest Work Yet, with a set of contemplative songs that take a look at the current political and emotional climate. The musical settings range from the jazzy, space-cabaret piano idyll "Bloodless" and the aching ballad "Cracking Codes" to the full-band dramatics of "Olympians" and the elegant string-laden chamber pop of "Archipelago ..read more

"Conversation don't come easy, but I've got a lot to say," Lucy Rose declares aptly enough on "Conversation," the first track on her latest album, No Words Left. Even as both the song's lyrics and album's title imply difficulties in communication, the British singer-guitarist eloquently expresses herself in a series of folk songs rendered carefully with acoustic guitar and her gentle vocals ..read more

The Stranglers have been touring since 1990 without Hugh Cornwell, the group's original, misanthropically romantic lead singer, and they've never had quite the same impact without their main voice. On the other hand, The Stranglers haven't performed locally in years, so this concert is a rare chance to be dazzled again by the intricate, Doors-y flurries of notes from keyboardist Dave Greenfield and the wiry, hard-edged bass lines of Jean-Jacques Burnel ..read more

It's hard to quickly summarize the wide-ranging musical career of Phil Ranelin, but the new three-album set on Wide Hive Records, Phil Ranelin Collected 2003-2019, is a good place to start. The Indianapolis native has been based in Los Angeles since the late 1970s, and over the course of his career the straight-ahead trombonist-composer has worked with such musicians as trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Freddie Redd, vocalist Sarah Vaughan, saxophonist Art Pepper, vocalist Ella Fitzgerald and trumpeter Gerald Wilson ..read more

The Hives' new single, "I'm Alive," is another triumphant rise from the grave by the ever-demonstrative and rambunctious Swedish garage-rock band. They're co-billed with their countrymen Refused, who mix hardcore and metal on their sludgy 2015 release, Freedom. The bill is brightened by locals Bleached, who are emerging from a long absence with songs from their upcoming album, Don't You Think You've Had Enough ..read more

Like many guitarists, Loren Connors plays the blues, but he does it in a way that is experimental and unpredictable rather than slavishly traditional or nostalgic. The native of New Haven, Connecticut, describes his music as "avant blues," and the extended musical passages on such albums as The Departing of a Dream, Vol. VI, and Angels That Fall unfold as eerily glowing new-music soundscapes ..read more

DJ Moist on hump night? Kinda perfect ain't it? The L.A. based R&B and hip-hop selector can be found spinning sexy sounds on Mondays (at his long-running Moist Mondays at La Cita Bar) and Fridays (spinning '90s and early 2000 body-rockers at The Lash) but here we recommend his newest jam for a middle of the week flashback — Back In The Day at The Short Stop ..read more