The Henry Clay People's latest EP, Working Part Time, captures the restless energy and desire not to conform or grow old that define being in your twenties. Each song begins with a hard hitting drum groove and explodes with choruses that sound like a bunch of roommates gathering on Friday night to sing and drink away the work week. "Working Part Time" is an anthem for minimum wage survival partly because employment is hard to find (I was broke but still alive) and partly because being in a band and trying to hold down a job can feel like caging an animal (We got drunk but called in sick whenever we felt like it). "Andy Sings" continues the theme of reclaiming your youth when on the verge of adulthood (We were old enough to know better but we were young enough to not care) with a sweet bridge that showcases the vocal range of the band's three singers. Equal parts The Replacements and The Clash, Working Part Time is exactly what you want to hear driving home at 5pm as you're ripping off your tie or at any other liberating moment during the work week. Jaime Pannone - website

Ah, Submarines! These menacing, dark and sneaky war machines have picked up a psychedelic, colorful, innocuous meaning thanks to one the most hideous Beatles songs - hey, HUGE fab four fan here! "We all live in a Yellow Submarine..." -blah! LA's own Submarines obviously exploit this pop association, offering us a light, vaguely psychedelic indie rock, with plenty of wavy melodies and inventive, sometimes quirky arrangements. Even the cover of their new EP "Honeysuckle Weeks" is slightly reminiscent of the Liverpool band's colorful underwater cartoon. Blake Hazard's mellow and somehow innocent sounding vocals will surely find fans among those always on the lookout for a new interesting next door kinda girl. This is perfect indie pop for that summer vacation we desperately need. - PDG - website

When embodying a free-spirited music, a band’s reputation oftentimes pays the price in coming off as oblivious, ambitious, or flat-out pretentious. Long Beach's Codpiece buries these creative myths by producing a clusterfuck of confusing noises on their highly entertaining (and in no way arrogant) EP, Epic Code. Conflict is seldom this fun.
Codpiece have a gift in not giving two shits about your presumptions -- and one gets that impression from the dismissive attitudes in the punk influenced "They'll Dine on Your Remains" as well as the defeat-laden "I Know." It's a mess of rock noises that range from comfort organs and bells to terrifying tribal toms. Epic Code's success is in leaving their 20-minute tale open-ended with more unanswered questions than a season finale of Lost.
The Epic Code EP is loud and unfiltered. It teases you with bottomless potential of this local rock trio. You can pick it up at Long Beach’s famed indie store, Fingerprints, and bask in the missing closure. - Hugo Gomez - website

Sea Wolf’s fall release from Dangerbird Records, Leaves in the River, is an attractive example of how Indie rock and poetry can meld.
“…to want to live and move…If it were not for this, life would be dead.” – Jack London
Alex Church, who began this concept three years ago, brings together his own experienced musicianship with an ever-evolving group of others. Though, technically, he is the only ‘permanent’ member, Alex seems to have no interest in calling himself a singer-songwriter, though he is his talents lie in both. A group dynamic allows for each musician to bring different skills and sounds to the table of talent that is Sea Wolf.
Sea Wolf has an extensive tour lined up, and it would be a good idea to get on it. Friday night Sea Wolf will be at the Glass House in Pomona at 8pm, then on to San Francisco at the Fillmore on Saturday. If you can’t make it up there, on the 25th Sea Wolf will be in Sacramento at Harlows. Have a lick from the Sea Wolf lolly: - Mean Dean - website - buy it now