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PRESS

With Yard Of Blondes...

 

"Nothing more fun than finding a new band to love (...)full of passion and live power.

 

Murder balladry and the reckless echoes of Neil Young-style guitar explosions mix with daydream harmonies.

Their videos on yardofblondes.com show a sly sense of humor too, full of dark imagery and the giddy highs of sonic soul.

 

CAMERON CROWE - OSCAR WINNER MOVIE DIRECTOR & WRITER 

«One thing’s for sure, I know this won’t be the last time
      we’ll be hearing from Yard of Blondes.»

 

HIGHLIGHT MAGAZINE

«Yard of Blondes has pushed my musical taste in a new direction I thought was not possible.» 

 

GARETT BRZOZOWSKY - STUDY BREAKS

Yard Of Blondes are to be featured in music business consultant Bobby Borg's upcoming book about DIY music marketing.

With Baby Alpaca...

Band of the week on Vogue.com, July 2013

"They are worth adding to your internal musical line-up and blasting while you are cruising in your old-school Lincoln, top-down, on PCH."

FAY - LA CANVAS

LA Weekly Interview:

Taylor Locke has long been a fixture on the SoCal power-pop scene, first as lead guitarist for the band Rooney and later with his own '70s-influenced group, Taylor Locke and the Roughs. Now he's working on his first proper solo album, Time Stands Still — and whenL.A. Weekly saw the video for the first single, "Running Away From Love," we just knew we had to feature it. 

Not only is "Running Away From Love" a ray of Big Star/Rundgren-inspired power-pop sunshine, the video features Locke cruising around the streets of Los Feliz is his very own motorized Couch Car. Yes, it's a couch that's also a car. And it's real. We'll let Taylor explain.
 

 

 

L.A. Weekly: So the Couch Car is a real thing? How did you find out about it?

Taylor Locke: The Couch Car is real. I found out about when my neighbor drove by on it. I knew at that moment that it would be the only mode of transportation that I'd ever need to plan a music video around. 

Did you have to buy a Couch Car for the video, or were you able to get one on loan?

I am not at liberty to discuss my relationship with Couch Car Industries. Let's just say I have an artist agreement with their team. 

What was the funniest reaction you got to the Couch Car from random people on the street?

I think the funniest reaction is well-documented in the video... a large, undulating woman, with an ample breast endowment, chased me down the street wearing only Nike Air running shoes. It was later determined that she was on vodka.

Is "Running Away from Love" pretty representative of what the rest of Time Stands Still sounds like?

Not necessarily across the board. The record has sparse, intimate acoustic moments, where it sounds like the band took a break. Solo artist territory is new for me, so I wanted to be sure that the lyrics were personal, and forward in the mix. I avoided the trend of reverb-drenched or overtly lo-fi sounds. I'm generally working with a fairly classic '60s/'70s preservationist palette, although my next record will probably be an EDM meets spoken word feminist slam poetry meets Germanic beatboxing meets jock rock affair. Anyone who knows me knows I'm always trying to nail that whole "techno meets Korn" thing.

Who have you been working with on the album? 

The impetus of the project was a folder of lyrics given to me by the infamous Kim Fowley. I was pretending to be Elton John, and he was pretending to be Bernie Taupin, which lasted for two songs. 

My main right hand man became co-producer/engineer/mixer/multi-instrumentalist Kyle Fredrickson. He and I were the main midnight oil burners. I did a ton of cowriting with my good friend, the fantastic singer-songwriter Kelly Jones. Her last record Alta Loma is spectacular. One of my comrades Chris Price appears as a writer and player on a few songs. We've worked together a ton, and have very similar taste. The exceptional drummer in my live band, Ben Lecourt, plays on most of the album.

I'm sure the ladies will want to know: Did you already own a pair of lime-green briefs, or were those purchased especially for the video?

No new wardrobe was purchased for the video. I was already the proud owner of those Borat briefs.

with the Taylor Locke Band

 

LA Weekly Shot

Kevin Bronson/buzzbands.la about Bebopalula:

The music of L.A. quintet Bebopalula will have old-schoolers diving to the back of their closets for bell bottoms and military-style peacoats. It’s retro, yes, but it’s far from the rock being made by the Ramones- and 13th Floor Elevators-worshiping bands that populate L.A.’s garage scene. Named for the classic Gene Vincent song that turned 60 years old this month, Bebopalula is more Harry Nilsson meets British Invasion — the kind of psych-pop perhaps imagined by John Lennon and Nilsson when they were drinking buddies in L.A. in the mid-1970s.

The band comprises Chris Price (once of the band Price and most recently producer of albums by Emitt Rhodes and Linda Perhacs), Emeen Zarookian (of the band Spirit Kid), Alex Jules, Corey Perez and Ben Lecourt. The debut EP, recorded at Rhodes’ home studio and engineered by the man himself, is a starburst of tricky changes, sticky melodies, playful freakouts and cascading four-part harmonies. It’s fun, and so is Hollywood Panograph’s360-degree video for “All Fall Down,” which was produced by Shawn Adams and directed by Jyrki Rantasuo and filmed at Salvation Mountain near Slab City. Click, drag, spin and, maybe, go back in time.

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