LA LOM Signs to Verve Records, Announces Debut Album Out August 9
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June 5, 2024 – LA LOM has announced their debut album, to be released August 9 on Verve Records. The self-titled, 13-song collection of all original music seamlessly weaves together the diverse genres and cultures of Los Angeles, their hometown and a major source of inspiration. Short for The Los Angeles League of Musicians, LA LOM is composed of native Angelenos Zac Sokolow (Guitar), Jake Faulkner (Bass), and Nicholas Baker (Drums/Percussion). With just a handful of singles released so far, LA LOM's rise has been meteoric: millions of views for their rich-hued and self-made videos, hundreds of thousands of followers on socials, and fans that include Beck, Zane Lowe and more. For a group that has just started touring nationally, they are selling out major rooms across the U.S., will make their festival debuts at Newport Folk and Pitchfork London among many others this year, and a run with Vampire Weekend begins tomorrow in Houston.
Listening to LA LOM is like turning the radio dial to discover a series of stations that music obsessives could only dream of. They find inspiration in the classic Mexican Boleros and the Cumbia Sonidera woven into the very fabric of LA's soundscape, resonating through the streets from car stereos, backyard parties, and lively dance halls. Added to this is the guitar-driven twang of Peruvian Chicha, Bakersfield Country, traditional folk music from Sicily, Turkey and beyond, plus soulful ballads from the 1950s and '60s that they grew up listening to on LA's oldies station, K-EARTH 101, evoking the laid-back aesthetic that defines the region.
Along with today's debut album announcement, LA LOM has shared a new song, "Danza de LA LOM." Watch/listen here: lalom.lnk.to/LaLom
Says Sokolow, about "Danza de LA LOM": "The song in a lot of ways is our homage to the Cumbia and Chicha from Peru. Bands like Los Mirlos, Los Shapis, Los Destellos, Los Wembler's de Iquitos, and others have been a huge influence on us and the music we make. Particularly in the way they use the biting twangy guitar to lead the melody of the song. When we started out playing in bars full of dancers around Los Angeles, covers from the great Chicha and Cumbia bands of Peru were a big part of our repertoire. We knew we wanted to have our own 'Danza de LA LOM,' and this song gets people dancing as well as any song we have ever covered."
While LA LOM has broken out over the past year, it didn't happen overnight. Similar to The Beatles in Hamburg, LA LOM coalesced as they cut their teeth playing extensive sets, five nights a week, at the historic Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard. With buzz building around Los Angeles, they headed to the studio and began cutting singles - their first EP was released in 2022.
The Los Angeles League of Musicians was produced by Elliot Bergman (Cage the Elephant, Major Lazer, Wild Belle) and recorded mostly at his studio Figueroa. The 13 songs, recently written and recorded for this album, swirl together LA LOM's aforementioned and widely varied influences. Laid back and lo-fi, they bottle up the energy of a crowded dance floor, a hot, sweaty night - songs that were designed to make you want to sway your hips. The album begins with the cumbia swagger of "Angels Point," a nod to LA's Elysian Park. With the rhythm section in lock step and dancing melodies from Sokolow's fuzz-kissed guitar, it's followed by one intoxicating groove after another. "San Fernando Rose'' is an homage to groups like The Ronnettes, The Marvelletes, The Chantelles. "A lot of these melodies in those kind of songs have a way of making you feel nostalgic and both uplifted and sad at the same time," says Sokolow. "'72 Monte Carlo" imagines an old spy film with a classic hot rod driving fast through the hills of Los Angeles.
The roots of LA LOM run deep. Zac Sokolow's musical lineage spans generations, starting his creative journey performing alongside his father, a respected figure in LA's bluegrass community, whose family relocated from Buenos Aires to LA in the 1930s. Jake Faulkner comes from a family of Venice artists and met Zac at age 16. Zac and Jake honed their craft through years of collaboration in various bands within Southern California's vibrant Rockabilly scene before eventually joining to form LA LOM. Nicholas Baker was steeped in Latin music from childhood by his grandmother, who hailed from a musical family in Durango, Mexico, and gained fame as a DJ on a Spanish-language radio station in Tucson, Arizona. He studied Latin percussion with renowned Nuyorican bassist and percussionist Roberto Miranda.
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