The Barbadian pop rebel joins forces with musical cohorts Nicki Minaj, Wiz Khalifa, Illy Da King and A$AP Rocky for the Los Angeles stop of her Diamonds World Tour. Although recently panned by some critics and fans for a very public reunion with former abuser Chris Brown, she remains... More >>

Usually, when songwriters are as wickedly intelligent as Thao Nguyen, they tend to write morbidly gloomy and/or overly serious anthems of great meaning and purpose. That's not to say the Virginia native doesn't have her grand and heavy mood swings -- sometimes every few seconds in the same... More >>

Austin’s Megafauna make feral prog-punk with (of course) mega-intensity, the kind of thing that switches from heartbreak to mindmelt in the time it takes to touch toe to guitar pedal. Case in point: minute 2:44 on 2012 track “Love Project,” where guitarist and singer Dani Neff... More >>

An institution-in-the-making in New York City and at Austin’s SXSW festival, Beatles Complete on Ukulele suggests that not only have the Fab Four’s best-known songs withstood the tests of time and bastardization, but that all of them can still emote almost regardless of delivery.... More >>

The London band Savages belie their name and their new album title, Silence Yourself, with thoughtful, elliptical broadsides that demand that listeners question everything they know while teaching “ourselves new ways of positive manipulations.” Gemma Thompson’s momentous,... More >>

In a sonic culture where so many remixes are aggressively chopped and screwed versions of their former, nicer selves, the spunky reinterpretations of Remix Artist Collective are a breath of fresh air. That is to say that RAC's current members André Allen Anjos, Andrew Maury and Karl... More >>

While NYC big-beat swamis Billy Miller and Miriam Linna’s Sandy-soaked Norton Records warehouse has enjoyed a variety of fundraising events in the last few months, this flat-out astonishing lineup is the most potent testimony yet to the power of Norton’s achievements and... More >>

Groundislava is one of those guys who makes music like Tao Lin writes — minimal and atmospheric at the same time. You can focus on each little tiny part or just let yourself dissolve completely. Yes, his recent Katy Perry remix is a bit of a departure, but not as much as you’d... More >>

Although Nirvana and Pearl Jam get most of the credit these days, it was really the mid-’80s Seattle band Green River that set the template for the heavy, sludgy, hard-rock sound that would later be called grunge. Green River singer Mark Arm and guitarist Steve Turner reconfigured... More >>

Merle Haggard is the only native Californian ever inducted into Nashville’s most exclusive club, the Country Music Hall of Fame, but he sure as hell does not play Los Angeles anywhere near often enough. And that is a damn shame, because Haggard’s brilliant original compositions and... More >>

Opus Eponymous, the 2011 debut album from Sweden’s Ghost B.C., was a refreshing blast of ’70s-inspired melodic metal that threw back to the days when Blue Öyster Cult reigned supreme. Songs like “Stand by Him” and “Ritual” were delightfully catchy odes... More >>

In the past when performers have been booked to appear at Coachella, they’ve been contractually prevented from playing other shows in the SoCal area during that time. Now, with the desert music festival spread out over two weekends, bands have increasingly been popping up at small clubs... More >>

Holy Fire, the third album from the Oxford, England-based outfit Foals, sees the art/dance, math/rock experimental dabbles of the group’s previous works take form. Under the tutelage of accomplished progressive producers Alan Moulder (Bloc Party, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins) and... More >>

Can I get a hallelujah? Because after far too long — their last LP together was in 2009 — the twin world-class rock & rollers Mark Sultan (aka BBQ) and King Khan are finally back together and doing an extended U.S. tour as the band that made us love them. (“Did they hate each... More >>

On their critically hailed “Two Hands One Mouth” tour, the, well, yes, legendary Sparks offer something so unusual, so artistically conceived and so wittily executed and fun that you’d be an utter fool to miss it. (We suspect you’re aware of that.) Mustachioed... More >>

Though allegedly influenced by club music, any party-hearty echoes on The xx’s 2012 sophomore album, Coexist, are almost literally that. Even when Jamie Smith’s beats get bulbous (and the kick drum certainly is cranium-cracking in places), their humble place in the mix makes them... More >>

Even if Public Enemy had never existed in the late 1980s and early ’90s, when the New York rappers released their most famous albums, they’d still have to be considered one of the most important hip-hop (and rock) groups of all time. How is that possible? While critics and fans seem... More >>

Amid the cold-ass, high-style world of electro-pop, there’s something refreshingly real and warm about La Roux. When the English duo, singer Elly Jackson and co-writer/producer Ben Langmaid, debuted with their eponymous 2009 album, it was hailed for the supple, soulful athletics of... More >>

Although it’s unlikely that the Rolling Stones and their sprawling entourage will descend on this sun-baked music festival for a surprise set, as was rumored earlier this year, there are still many intriguing storylines scattered among the scores of performers making the trek to Indio... More >>