LA County's kickoff festival is here: Make Music Pasadena is happening tomorrow, June 6th, with over 150 bands playing at the heart of downtown Pasadena! Along with main stage big-timers like Kishi Bashi, How To Dress Well, Sir Sly, Nick Waterhouse, and rising stars Jr., Kera & The Lesbians, and Autumn in June, music & arts collectives around the county will also curate some of the tastiest home-grown acts. The main stage activities end with Pasadena Symphony & Pops' grandeur performance, but these side venues will be going strong late into the night.

You can find the complete schedule here on MMP's site, and we definitely recommend hitting up these side-stages below:

All Scene Eye presents two live stages at Armory Center for the Arts: check out Kat Myers & The Buzzards, The Electric West, Draag, Holland Belle, Tashaki Miyaki, and more.

Sherpa Music MGMT, One Question Sessions, and De La Vie TV presents at Old Towne Pub: DARK FURS, Crystales, Sanglorians, LA Takedown, Le Cos, and more.

For Friends Of Sound presents at Der Wolfskopf in the evening: OYLS, Kid Bloom, Slow Graffiti, GDNA, and more.

Montecito Music and Media presents at Shoppes at Stats: Shattered Skyline, Cool Face, The Wild Reeds, Valley Queen, bed, and more.

Open Kanvas presents at Club 54: Veteran Assassins, Noah V, Kennis Clark, Born Allah, and more plus a surprise headliner.

Remember: this music festival is FREE and starts at 11 AM. Parking structures are dotted across the city, but will definitely fill up soon, so make it out early! - Ryan Mo, photo credit: Chris Molina

Baroque pop outfit Sanglorians first caught our attention last year with their debut full-length Initiation, which we previously honored the title of Artist of Watch last year for their vigorous, yet mirthful take on classic power pop. One of the most commanding tracks off Initation, "Everybody Likes a Pretty Girl", will soon get the full treatment with a music video that complements the song's powerful message. It's one of the more musing moments on the album, a snarky assessment on how American society places physical beauty on a pedestal. We'll be posting up the video shortly, and starting today we're offering a free mp3 of the track that you can download by clicking the link below. 

Wouldn't you say that most of what falls under the indie-rock tag can occasionally feel too serious, as if great art can only be accomplished by writing brooding poetry and exhaustive introspection? Sometimes, a great song can communicate a bevy of emotions by hitting the gut instead of the head. And Echo Park sextet Sanglorians achieve this by invoking high-energy melodies and sweetly muscular guitars that rush in like a skydiver plunging headfirst into a vertical dive. The incredibly infectious band decree big moments with ascending notes and blistering fret work, gushing with celebratory harmonies that vibrate with life. One may misconstrue these descriptions as silly or witless, but the plain truth about their debut effort, Initiation, is that its uptempo anthems are aesthetically unified and smartly arranged. This is power pop or the highest order with a bit of an orchestral slant, peppered with a bit of glam metal excess, as if Marshall Crenshaw and the Young Brothers collaborated together to reimagine an Electric Light Orchestra record. It surprisingly works, and its technical riffs and major-key dynamics are merely small elements that contribute to an all-encapsulating experience that is pulsating with life-affirming zeal. - Juan Rodríguez