[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

this band has really had me reflecting on original LA music and what LA has contributed to the Americana music tradition. Each region has its thing, and LA seems to have cornered two kinds of innovative and original musics, west-coast hip-hop/gangsta rap and dark, dreary, ambient rock music.

The epitome of this indigenous LA sound of course is found in tool, but was even obvious in the beginnings of our scene with the Doors. Also Autolux or Mazzy Star and even Black Flag show a bit of LA's darker side. A lot of the bands I know delve into ambient, dark, emotive music and also a lot of soundscapes which is another LA original. My own original music also bears this dark finger-print, and I also emphasize ambient, atmospheric, shoe-gazing guitar rock relying on dreary, bass-lines, drone electronic effects, heavy drum work, and the original LA guitar work I think again tool best acccentuates. This band WarPaint are almost like LA's all-girl tool, and it shows. They are perfectly representing the LA sound, but our sound is so obscure, so individualized that it is not quite popular or accessable, which is interesting. We are a niche genre of music, for those who like to here dreary stuff. Truly, bands like earth and other stoner rock bands probably would have done better here in LA then up north, where people have a taste for such music. Quite a few of the dreary LA music people who adore tool also listen to the stoner rock which is similar in sound and color..

I must admit I love it, not just because I play it, but because it touches me, but I am not quite sure how or what in particular does it or creates it.