Brian Chidester

When it comes to the life of Bruce Haack, separating truth from fiction is not easy. The groundbreaking electronic music composer and inventor is said to have taught himself to play piano by age 3. By 8, he apparently was escaping his abusive mother's wrath by sneaking off to Indian......

In 1959 — as the last Victorian mansions of downtown's Bunker Hill were being flattened — an illustrator named Leo Politi drew each edifice for a self-published book he titled simply, Bunker Hill. Politi, who made his mark as the author of over 30 children's books, called it “a book......

From July 25 through August 3, the International Pop Overthrow – an annual janglefest featuring the latest in power-pop talent – returns to Los Angeles for its 17th year. IPO, as the event is affectionately known, remains the number-one showcase for global bands in the mode of Badfinger, Big Star,......

Ophelia Slowly finds Guy Blakeslee - leader of neo-psych act The Entrance Band  - reflecting on Shakespeare's most tragic heroine in an artful song cycle. Produced by Chris Coady, whose credits include production for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Beach House, it emits melancholy and hope in equal doses. Ophelia Slowly calls......

Seventies ambient pioneers Robert Bearns and Ron Dexter may be the unlikeliest psychedelic heroes in today's underground music world. Indie reissue label Real Gone Music will release a retrospective of the best from their New Age-y six volume LP series, Golden Voyage, tomorrow. The timing seems about right. Over the past decade,......

Stephen Kalinich's A World of Peace Must Come is a spoken word curio produced by Beach Boy Brian Wilson in 1969. First released on CD six years ago, it flew under the radar, but later this month, reissue dynamo Light in the Attic Records will give it another shot. It deserves......

As laid out in our recent cover story, it turns out that Brian Wilson - leader of the Beach Boys and notorious recluse during the early 1970s - wasn't just lying around in bed letting his beard grow. See also: Brian Wilson's Secret Bedroom Tapes Rather, from 1968-1974 he amassed a huge quantity......

In 1970, singer-songwriter Linda Perhacs released what may have been Topanga Canyon's greatest musical export, Paralellograms. It sold few copies upon its original release, but the album's rediscovery during the early 2000s led Los Angeles historian Kim Cooper to dub it a "dreamy evocation of nature and sexuality." Mojo magazine said its "depth and......