Ready to take listeners on a musical adventure that pays homage to their Los Angeles roots while exploring Latin musical genres, like cumbia and bolero, instrumental trio LA LOM is heading to your earbuds with their debut album.
LA LOM: A Musical Journey Rooted in Los Angeles
Hollywood Roosevelt, known for its classic glamor and rich history that goes back to the Golden Era, gave LA LOM their start. Founded in 2019, LA LOM, formally known as the Los Angeles League of Musicians, would play in the Hollywood Roosevelt’s lobby for three hours a night, up to four days a week. Hotel visitors could enjoy the band’s showcase of 1930s–1940s Latin music, with many taking notice and even dancing while LA LOM played.
The group’s guitarist, Zac Sokolow, stated, “That music was a big influence to us when we were starting out and still is really now. I think we first got into that music because we’re an instrumental trio—it’s guitar, percussion, and bass—and when we started playing cumbia, we looked at a lot of that music that was guitar-led because most cumbia is led on the accordion. [Peruvian cumbia and chicha] also has this kind of country twang to it.”
After the band’s percussionist, Nicholas Baker, suggested LA LOM start playing in other venues, the band found themselves performing in many small LA bars that were packed with dancers.
“In LA, cumbia is such a popular thing. You hear it on the radio. You hear it coming out of people’s cars, at parties, and at clubs all over the city. So that was one of the ways we really started playing cumbia—people showing up and requesting.”
Despite the music having words originally in Spanish, LA LOM members largely don’t speak the language—and they do not have a vocalist either. But for Sokolow, lyrics aren’t necessary, as the instrumental versions are universal and allow all audiences to meaningfully connect with the music, stating, “the fact that there are no words, people that speak any language hear it and can connect with it.”
Exploring Latin Genres and Nostalgia in Music
While the band worked through various sounds during their time at the Hollywood Roosevelt, including 1960s soul tunes from artists like The Temptations and Smokey Robinson, LA LOM currently hopes to guide listeners through mid-century renditions of Latin musical genres intertwined with elements of country twang and retro soul. Their latest single from their upcoming album is called “Danza de LA LOM,” which the guitarist described as a tribute to chicha and cumbia music from Peru in the 1960s and 1970s.
“Our music has this nostalgic feeling [of] this time in Los Angeles from the 1950s or 1960s, or maybe it’s this imaginary time and doesn’t even really exist, but there’s this feeling of nostalgia to it,” Sokolow says.
With musical roots in Latin genres, LA LOM stays loyal to its city. The group, which was formed of LA natives, named songs after streets like “Figueroa” and “Alvarado.” Sokolow explained, “We actually recorded a lot of our record on Figueroa Street… We usually come up with these instrumentals, the melodies first, and we start playing them sometimes, even in front of people, before they really have a name. And then we’ll often think of what it reminds us of, which is often a place or street name in LA.”
LA LOM’s debut album, which celebrates their diverse city while honoring Latin music, will be released on August 9th.
