Radio Free Silver Lake

R.I.P: The Lights From Here

by Joe Fielder

Hate to dwell on sad things, but we miss the hell out of now-defunct LA post rock act The Lights From Here...

Many of their tracks inhabited the pretty/crashing space defined by groups like Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky, but they often diverged quite a bit from that as well -- like in the western-themed "Truth or Consequences" or xylophone-inspired madness of "Birdmouth." Their album off local label The New Black is definitely worth tracking down (inquire here).

We checked in with member Andres Cruzalegui to find out what happened and where all the members are now -- and he sent over a few unreleased tracks for us to post along with his answers.

R.I.P.: Automatic Drawing

by Joe Fielder

Big Black's Steve Albini wrote something in the liner notes for Songs About Fucking about how only the wrong bands seem to break up and sure it's not completely true, but hell if it doesn't feel that way sometimes.

LA's Automatic Drawing were what we like to call "indie pop charmers," the sort of immediately-likeable music that you want to hear more of and expect big things from. (Our friends at Classical Geek Theatre marked them as one of the top five local acts to watch out for last December.) Sadly, the members of the group went their separate ways earlier this year.

We checked in with the group to find out what happened and what they're all doing now -- and they gave us six songs to offer up to download. Some of them rare or unreleased, all free.