West Coast has been described as well-crafted, soft-focused music mainly made and played in California. Or: California soft rock with some jazz elements thrown in. Also labeled as Yacht Rock, it’s relaxing and perfectly for a lazy sunday morning. Because most of it doesn’t qualify as melodic rock we cover it only marginally on this website.
West Coast was especially popular from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s. You can find out more about relevant artists and albums in this detailed Encyclopedia of West Coast Music. Or listening to this top 100 songs.
Most music that becomes a genre never really disappears. That’s also true for West Coast. There are still quite a few bands making West Coast music. Here we present some of them.
Some recent West Coast albums
Ed Motta‘s 12th solo album AOR (2013) saw the Brazilian musician play songs in 1970s West Coast style, this time also singing in English:
Thierry Condor lives in Switzerland. A song from his 3rd album, with a little help of guitarist Jay Graydon, a genre legend (2013):
Young Gun Silver Fox is a project of veteran Shawn Lee and British songwriter/vocalist Andy Platts. From their impressive and only album (2015) to date:
Finally, the debut album (2015) of genuine West Coast super group CWF, with Bill Champlin (Chicago fame), Joseph Williams (Toto fame) and Peter Friestedt: