Allah-Las are an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, formed in 2008. The band consists of Miles Michaud (vocals, guitar), Matthew Correia (percussion, vocals), Spencer Dunham (bass, vocals), and Pedrum Siadatian (lead guitar, vocals).

History

The group was founded in 2008, when school friends Matt Correia and Spencer Dunham met Pedrum Siadatian while working together at

Amoeba Records Amoeba Music is an American independent music store chain with locations in Berkeley, San Francisco, and Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1990 in Berkeley, California, and remains in operation, having survived the decline ...

in Los Angeles. They began jamming, and together with Correia and Dunham's fellow school friend, Miles Michaud, formed the band. They released their first 7-inch recording in 2011, "Catamaran/Long Journey", produced by

Nick Waterhouse Nicholas Ryan Waterhouse (born February 8, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer from Los Angeles. He is a guitarist and singer known for a sound rooted in rhythm & blues, jazz, and soul. Early life Waterhouse was born in ...

for his Pres label. In 2012, they released a second single, "Tell Me (What's on Your Mind)/Sacred Sands", produced again by Waterhouse but this time for their new label,

Innovative Leisure Innovative Leisure is a Los Angeles-based record label founded in 2010 by Nate Nelson, Jamie Strong, and Hanni El Khatib. Its genre-spanning roster is anchored by artists including BADBADNOTGOOD, Classixx, De Lux, Hanni El Khatib, Nick Waterh ...

. One reviewer commented that "their sound is steeped in the pop sensibilities of

The Zombies The Zombies are an English rock band formed in the early 1960s in St Albans and led by keyboardist and vocalist Rod Argent and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group had a British and American hit in 1964 with "She's Not There". In the US, two fu ...

The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm ...

and

The Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell ...

, laced with Northern Soul, lo-fi funk and the ever-enduring influence of Arthur Lee and

Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

". Allah-Las were featured in a

Daytrotter Daytrotter is a recording studio, music venue and subscription-based music discovery website located in Atlanta, United States. It hosts recording sessions with indie music acts. The original studio in Rock Island, Illinois, was founded in 2006 ...

session in May 2012 and their performance of Catamaran was named one of the top 200 Daytrotter songs of the year. In September 2012, Allah-Las released their self-titled debut LP, also produced by Waterhouse for Innovative Leisure. The album has been described as "an effortlessly wistful batch of starry-eyed, minor-key beauties that gently ruminate on the usual young-guy subjects: sex, freedom, the ways the former can interfere with the latter and vice versa". In October 2012, NPR's World Café featured two songs of Allah-Las, noting that "the music captures the carefree, breezy sounds of California... dreamy romanticism

ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...

a vibe that can feel both joyous and melancholy". In October 2019, the album landed at no. 22 on
Happy Mag
''s list of
The 25 best psychedelic rock albums of the 2010s
, labeled as "a staple in surf-rock and ’60s revival." Allah-Las completed their first tour in 2011, up the California coast from

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. They toured the East Coast and Europe during 2012, where their first show in

London, UK London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

was described by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as "a blissful 45 minutes on a cold night". In 2014 they released their second album, ''Worship the Sun''. The group released their third album, ''Calico Review'', on September 9, 2016, out on

Mexican Summer Mexican Summer is an independent record label founded in 2009 by Keith Abrahamsson and Andres Santo Domingo. Based in Brooklyn, New York, the label has released recordings from artists including Best Coast, Kurt Vile, Ariel Pink, Allah-Las, Weye ...

. The album was recorded in mid-2016 at the Valentine Recording Studio in Los Angeles, California. In August 2017, an Allah-Las concert in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

was cancelled after Dutch police, acting on a tip-off from their Spanish counterparts, stopped a van containing gas canisters near the venue. The event occurred six days after an Islamist terror cell killed 16 people in the Barcelona area. On November 3, 2017, the band released the EP ''Covers #1'' on Mexican Summer. The EP consists of four covers of songs by

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

Television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, Kathy Heideman, and

Further Further or Furthur may refer to: * ''Furthur'' (bus), the Merry Pranksters' psychedelic bus * Further (band), a 1990s American indie rock band * Furthur (band), a band formed in 2009 by Bob Weir and Phil Lesh * ''Further'' (The Chemical Brothers a ...

. ''Noisey'''s Lindsay MaHarry said of the EP: "Despite their sound’s inherent lightheartedness, the weight of a certain melancholy is palpable. It’s a dichotomy that, on both ''Covers #1'' and the band’s previous releases, elevates Allah Las’s work beyond the confines of the two-dimensional 60s pop they’re often compared to." The EP was recorded in Topanga Canyon, California at the Pump House with the help of Kyle Mullarky. In October 2019, the band released the album '' LAHS''. The album was received with generally positive reviews. ''

Exclaim ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'''s Allie Gregory dubbed the album "the perfect atmospheric soundtrack for a backyard party with boozy beverages and adult tokeables", whereas ''

Clash Magazine ''Clash'' is a music and fashion magazine and website based in the United Kingdom. It is published four times a year by Music Republic Ltd, whose predecessor Clash Music Ltd went into liquidation. The magazine won the Best New Magazine award in ...

'''s Jack Docherty labeled it "a record where the sunshine is too few and far between."

Discography

Albums

Singles

* "Catamaran" / "Long Journey" – Pres, 2011 * "Tell Me (What's on Your Mind)" / "Sacred Sands" – Innovative Leisure, 2012 * "Don't You Forget It" (Record Store Day split with Nick Waterhouse) – Innovative Leisure, 2012 * "Had It All" b/w "Every Girl" – Innovative Leisure, 2013 * "501-415" b/w "No Werewolf" – Innovative Leisure, 2014 * "Autumn Dawn" (alternate version) b/w "Hereafter" – Mexican Summer, 2017 * "Famous Phone Figure" b/w "Burning in Heaven" – Mexican Summer, 2017 * "Could Be You" b/w "Brittany Glasz" – Mexican Summer, 2017 * "Raspberry Jam" – Mexican Summer, 2019 (from the soundtrack for ''Self Discovery for Social Survival'')

Other appearances

* "Marionberry Jam" – ''A Decade Deeper'' (track 9) – Mexican Summer, 2018 * "Mulberry Jam" – ''Self Discovery for Social Survival'' (track 2) – Mexican Summer, 2019 * "Raspberry Jam" – ''Self Discovery for Social Survival'' (track 4) – Mexican Summer, 2019 * "Blueberry Jam" – ''Self Discovery for Social Survival'' (track 5) – Mexican Summer, 2019 * "Boysenberry Jam" – ''Self Discovery for Social Survival'' (track 7) – Mexican Summer, 2019 * "Blackberry Jam" – ''Self Discovery for Social Survival'' (track 8) – Mexican Summer, 2019

References

{{Authority control Rock music groups from California Musical groups from Los Angeles Because Music artists