Christoph Hochheim has an intimate history with New York's shoegaze/dreampop scene, as a past member of the now-defunct shoegaze/chiptune The Depreciation Guild and a current member of The Pains of Being Pure At Heart along with Anton Hochheim.

However, the brothers have also been working as Ablebody, a Los Angeles passion project that first featured remixes and covers, but later grew to self-release High Home, a three-song instrumental EP with ethereal cries, bent-out guitars, and dying electronics. 2013's All My Everybody EP developed with 80's soft and clipping synth vibes. Slower and more sensual, the five songs now had Christoph's warm and reassuring in front of the mix, even as the album dealt with more serious feels per an interview with BYT. Ablebody's latest release dates back to last year, but does a complete 360-reverse-moonwalk to the dancey indie pop "After Hours" before getting rugged with fuzzy B-side "Lose Your Head".

Ablebody will play their first set since early January this Friday for Young Lover's fifth night of residency along with Sacramento's glazed out indie pop quintet Soft Science and the jangle-psych group Deep Fields. Listen below to their 2014 7" split "Ablebody". - Ryan Mo, photo credit Nick Marshall

Crystales are a band from Highland Park sporting that ‘60s beach vibe with fuzzy facial hair and fuzz pedals. Brothers Nick and Billy Gil go halfsies on guitar and vocals while Jason Hanakeawe and Tony Infante keep the crew rocking. Splashing through C86 guitar tones with just the right amount of reverb and kicking down walls of sound, Crystales have shimmered through Los Angeles and Pasadena nights with Roses, Michael Vidal, and Hyacinth Girl.

Join them tonight at Pehrspace as they open for Young Lovers’ night of residency with Echophonix and Judy Gloom, and next weekend at Make Music Pasadena. Listen to “I Don’t Care” below. - Ryan Mo
 

Young Lovers - Omnia from Alfred Aquino II on Vimeo

The paramount post-rock boys Young Lovers are proud to release their debut music video for the song that started it all: "Omnia". Directed by Alfred Aquino II, the video is a tale of a young man's imagination led by the written word through exhilaration, anger, and sorrow. 

Starring nu-folk singer/songwriter Sienna Moffitt, Crown Dancer vocalist Jesus Barron, "Omnia" features landmarks of Los Angeles: the Urban Light installation (Chris Burden) at LACMA, Walt Disney Hall, the Jewelry District, and more.

Young Lovers will perform this Saturday for the fourth night of their residency at Pehrspace with Crystales, Echophonix, and Judy Gloom. Come experience the grandeur live — there are only three nights left! - Ryan Mo

Facebook likes aren't everything; just ask Crown Dancer. Formed in 2013 somewhere in South East LA, the five musicians Fernando Nunez, Keith Hernandez, Jesus Barron, Marlow Coloma, and AJ Dungo were more interested in crafting wildly poppy songs from their prismatic and far-flung influences: outwards from Japanese post-rock math group Toe and the British jazz-punk King Krule, to the hip hop messiah Kendrick Lamar and late soul wonder Lee Moses.

What came out from hours in the studio was a sound consciously inflected by emotive synth, crash, and fuzz. With noisy-yet-catchy compositions and high-energy lives fit to open for acts like No Age, Future Islands, and The War On Drugs, it’s almost heinous that they're still infants in the social media scene.

But don’t take their sparse Internet presence as a sign of youth: Crown Dancer have performed with the finest underground acts in all corners of city, sounding off with the progpunk duo The Littlest Viking, glistening noise trio Take Pictures, and the Gutter Trunk hip hop muse Bizzart aka GOTHIC CHOLO.

Crown Dancer are currently working on their first EP “Leftovers”. Recorded and mixed by Dylan Wood (Pageants, Time of Wolves, ex- 60-Watt Kidd), this year-long labor of love is slated to finish by the end of June. They have plans to begin recording a full-length soon, and will make their last appearance (for a while) tomorrow at Young Lovers’ third night of residency with The Littlest Viking. Listen to the first three demos of “Leftovers” EP and see them live tomorrow night at Pehrspace! - Ryan Mo

Three years ago, The Deli caught a whiff of The Littlest Viking on their self-titled LP off Mountain Man Records. It was hairy. It was sweaty. It was 12 songs of start-stop rhythms and callus-inducing riffage that would make Pete & Pete beam with pride.

The labor and lust of Ruben "Emo" Cortez and "Metal" Christopher Gregory (first released in 2009) matches breakneck shredding and irregular time signatures that are as fun to play as they are to dance to, influenced by bands like Jawbreaker, Drive Like Jehu, and American Football. Fans of Giraffes? Giraffes! and Cinemechanica will feel right at home in TLV's whirlwind of perspiration and referential music jokes.

This year, Littlest Viking is setting out to do the near-impossible: work a new album with a well-thought out pop direction. Says Cortez:
 
"While the first album was a portrait of two young punks trying to play every lick and fill we knew with ridiculous speed and the second album was a more self-aware album where we were trying to sift through the previous work, this new album is a focused collection of songs that is more methodical and self-edited than previous. We joke around that it's going to be an emo Santana's "Supernatural" album, which will make sense once it's fully completed and we can finally get a callback from Michelle Branch."

And if you're itching to see, smell, and hear these guys perform, you're in luck: Littlest Viking will be joining Young Lovers for their third night of residency/music video premiere at Pehrspace on May 25th.

Not sold yet? Listen to "Lumpy Space Princess" off their self-titled LP below. - Ryan Mo