LA art-rock trio, The Happy Hollows, released their debut album, Spells, last month and have just unleashed their awesome new video, Death To Vivek Kemp. We’re giving away a Happy Hollows prize pack featuring a copy of Spells, a t-shirt, 7″ vinyl, magnet and two autographed stills from the video. To enter, just leave the name of the city you live in below this post.

Directed by Benjamin Hoste, the stop motion animation clip is accentuated by a barrage of random shapes, a matted water color palate and the occasional splatter of paint.  ‘Cause no one said that creativity was a clean sport, check out their canvas ready music video. Spells is available now courtesy of Autumn Tone Records.

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Punk was at least partially a rebellion against prog rock, but now it’s drawing new inspiration from the sort of music it once derided. Upsilon Acrux is firmly rooted in aggressive, snarling post-punk, but their music owes its complexity to bands like Magma, King Crimson, and Henry Cow. Of course, the LA-based band isn’t merely a revival act — it also lists technical death metal band Necrophagist and musical cubists US Maple as influences. Despite the dizzying polyrhythms and intricate melodies, this isn’t self-congratulatory or wanky music — these guys unleash an instrumental onslaught that is at once disciplined and wryly humorous.

The latest band to make LA proud is tropical-nu wave act Abe Vigoda. These guys are so new and so exciting that even your grandparents don’t know who they are. Yet! They describe themselves as tropical punk, but I like to think of them as nihilistic rockers — no form, no shape, just chaos. If LA’s new breed of punk popstars such as Health, Meiko Meiko and Pocohauntas make you tremble, then this band are sure to get you very worked up.