The Los Angeles League of Musicians, often abbreviated as LA LOM, is an American

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

band originating from

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The band consists of

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

Zac Sokolow,

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

Jake Faulkner, and

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Nicholas Baker. The trio began playing together at the

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, also known as Hotel Roosevelt, is a historic hotel located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. History Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel was built in 1926, in what is known as t ...

, where they experimented with a mix of distinct genres, including

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...

and Peruvian chicha. The band has been noted for its fusion of multiple different styles.

History

The Los Angeles natives Zac Sokolow and Jake Faulkner met each other as teenagers and later began performing together in the lobby of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in 2018, covering classic

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

and

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

songs from artists such as

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

and

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were ...

. Nicholas Baker, also a native of Los Angeles and a friend of Faulkner, later joined the band; his introduction of

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

s led to LA LOM adopting a higher-tempo, Latin-inspired sound, incorporating genres such as cumbia and bolero. The band's three-hour sets, played five days a week, became a fixture at the hotel. In 2021, they released their debut EP and began to upload their performances online. The band's covers and original songs have received millions of views on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

. LA LOM eventually stopped playing solely at the hotel and started to perform at bars and nightclubs around the Los Angeles area. Covers of cumbia and chicha bands form a large part of their discography; Sokolow cited bands such as Los Mirlos and Los Shapis as influences for their music. Their discography also contains numerous original tracks; many of them have titles that pay homage to specific locations in Los Angeles, such as Santee Alley and

Figueroa Street Figueroa Street is a major north-south street in Los Angeles County, California, spanning from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington, Los Angeles, Wilmington north to Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, Eagle Rock. A short, unconnected continuation of ...

. Sokolow described their music as an attempt to capture a "nostalgic feeling" of 1950s- and 1960s-era Los Angeles. Following an April 2024 concert, the

KCMP KCMP (89.3 FM, ''89.3 the Current'') is a radio station owned by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) that broadcasts an adult album alternative (AAA) music format including a significant rotation of songs by local artists. Licensed to Northfield, Mi ...

radio host Bill DeVille praised the band's style, which he described as a "blend of

surf rock Surf music (also known as surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is inst ...

, cumbia sonidera, country twang and Peruvian chicha music." Tyler Fox of ''The Pitch'' additionally praised LA LOM's "unique

pastiche A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking ...

of musical influences and styles". The band's members have cited their Latin heritage and childhoods, when they were exposed to genres like

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

and

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It h ...

, as inspiring their inclusion of Latin themes in their music.

''The Los Angeles League of Musicians'' (2024)

On 9 August 2024, LA LOM released its first album, ''The Los Angeles League of Musicians''. The album was released through

Verve Records Verve Records is an active American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Ca ...

, which signed the band in June 2024. The band recorded the album with the intent of expanding on their live performances, including through the incorporation of instruments like the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

. The album was produced by the

Wild Belle Wild Belle is an American band composed of siblings Elliot Bergman and Natalie Bergman. They appeared on '' Conan'' on November 26, 2012. Their debut album, '' Isles'', was released by Columbia Records on March 12, 2013. They have released three ...

member Elliot Bergman and mostly recorded on Figueroa Street in Los Angeles. The band toured with

Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend are an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chr ...

in support of the album. It debuted at number five on Billboard's

Tropical Albums The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

chart, making it the third album to debut in the top five in 2024. It also reached number 18 on the

Emerging Artists The Emerging Artists is a music chart released weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine listing the most popular developing musician, music artists. The chart uses the same formula as the all-encompassing Artist 100, ''Billboard'' Art ...

chart and number 44 on the

Top Current Album Sales The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ' ...

chart. The album was generally well-received by critics; Mary Siroky of ''Consequence'' called the album "excellent" and a "stellar listen". Additionally, Eric Schuman of

WXPN WXPN (88.5 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that broadcasts an adult album alternative (AAA) radio format, along with many other format sh ...

labelled it "confident and instantly likeable".

Discography

Studio albums

* ''The Los Angeles League of Musicians'' (2024,

)

Singles and EPs

* ''LA LOM'' (2021) * ''Juana la Cubana'' (2023) * ''Maravilla & Lucia'' (2023) * ''Angels Point & Figueroa'' (2023) * ''Llorar'' (2023) * ''Alma Florecida'' (2024, with

Gaby Moreno Maria Gabriela Moreno Bonilla (born 16 December 1981) is a Guatemalan singer-songwriter and guitarist. Singing in both English and Spanish, Moreno's music covers many genres including Latin, alternative, blues, folk and Americana. She has won ...

) * ''Danza de LA LOM'' (2024) * ''San Fernando Rose'' (2024)

References

{{Reflist American instrumental rock musical groups Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical groups established in 2018 Verve Records artists