Pop culture from Southern California and beyond.

Concert review: Tanlines bring breezy beach party to the Echo


The Brooklyn duo Tanlines are Jesse Cohen and Eric Emm, who dig deeply into the 80s new wave.

Over the last decade, Brooklyn’s music scene built a reputation for cultivating cool, experimental art-rock, personified by bands like TV On The Radio and Dirty Projectors. Often producing music that could be termed “difficult” by the masses, they helped set a tone that Brooklyn was a haven for musical artists looking to make something challenging yet still critically acclaimed enough to receive positive reviews on sites like Pitchfork and Stereogum.

But as the second decade of the new millennium rolls out, lush synthesizers and perky electronic dance beats are quietly replacing that spirit of abstract experimentalism. Due in no small part to James Murphy and his band, LCD Soundsystem, aggressively dosing their brainy alt-rock with dance music aesthetics, his label DFA has gone on to become the new sound of New York nightlife. Culminating in LCD Soundsystem’s sold-out farewell shows at Madison Square Garden (documented in the movie Shut Up And Play The Hits), Brooklyn is now home to a new set of emerging acts like Bear In Heaven and Rewards that owe more to Depeche Mode than Sonic Youth.