Tennis System

If upheaval and uncertainty are the undercurrents of our times, few musicians sound more like the rumblings of our discontent than L.A.’s Tennis System.

The band that shined so brightly on the city’s scene that it prompted LA Weekly to dub Tennis System “one of the city's best live acts” has returned with “Lackluster,” a track that burns with buoyant energy. Debuted on “Last Call With Carson Daly,” “Lackluster” signals a turning point for the band -- an end to dreamy disaffectedness in favor of a raucous reckoning with the demons of plasticine L.A.

Behind Tennis System’s sweat-drenched performances, the Orange amps, and squalling anthems, is the trio of guitarist and singer Matty Taylor, bassist Sam Glassberg and drummer Garren Orr.

It was in gritty Washington, DC, that a young Taylor, the band’s founder, steeped in the music of Fugazi, Bad Brains, and Nation of Ulysses -- the sounds of discord and dissent that now underpin Tennis System’s sound. And yet, it was Los Angeles that inspired the band’s most recent album, Technicolour Blind. A heady fever-dream of a record, it mined the city’s thrilling beauty and starkly menacing underbelly in songs such “Such a Drag.” Consequence of Sound called Technicolour Blind “a beautiful ode to feeling really shitty.”

Tennis System’s slash-and-burn live shows, however, are proof this is a band best experienced in real time. Their reputation has led to shows with the likes of The Flaming Lips, Ride, Dinosaur Jr, Japandroids, Kendrick Lamar and Diiv at Austin Psych Fest, SXSW, Noise Pop Fest in San Francisco, Echo Park Rising and the Air + Style festivals, and the Ace Hotel Palm Springs. Tennis System has also performed at L.A.’s legendary Amoeba Records, held court during a residency at the Echo and performs regularly at the city’s iconic Part-Time Punks showcase.