Aaron Frank

10 People Who Are Transforming Hollywood

This year's People issue celebrates the 56 Angelenos we find most intriguing. Among those 56 are fashionistas, musicians and novelists -- and, of course, the movers-and-shakers in Hollywood. Check out all of our People 2013 profiles Their influence can be felt on both the screen and behind the ... More >>

Local Natives on Their Dark New Sounds

For our music feature this week, we spoke with acclaimed L.A. indie rockers Local Natives about their much-anticipated new album Hummingbird, out next week. Ascending from relative obscurity in Orange County to opening for Arcade Fire on tour in 2011, Local Natives helped breathe new life into the S ... More >>

Can Holy Fuck Become a Stand-Up Comedy Empire? It's Starting With a Punk-Inspired Album

On any given night in Los Angeles, you can find free comedy shows taking place in bookstores, restaurants, bars and art galleries around the city. In the case of comedian Dave Ross's show Holy Fuck, the venue happens to be a movie theater, specifically the Downtown Independent, which he's managed to ... More >>

Parquet Courts - The Echo - 1/15/13

Parquet Courts, Wet Illustrated The Echo 1/15/13 Among the most notable music trends in 2012 was the arrival of a handful of punk revival bands, who drew from indie rock and old school punk influences like Minor Threat and Black Flag to give the genre an updated sound. With bands like Metz and Merc ... More >>

Angel Olsen - Bootleg Theater - 1/5/13

Angel Olsen Bootleg Theater 1/5/13 On Friday night, Angel Olsen blew my expectations for her show to pieces with a shotgun. Making her L.A. debut at the Bootleg Theater, the 25-year-old singer-songwriter -- who could easily be called the anti-Taylor Swift -- swam effortlessly through an hour-long ... More >>

How To Dress Well - Soho House - 12/3/12

How To Dress Well Soho House 12/3/12 Whether it's Bradford Cox starring in the new Jared Leto movie or Terence Malick filming at Austin City Limits, it's always a strange occurrence when Hollywood and the indie rock world cross paths. One side always seems to have an ulterior motive, and How To Dre ... More >>

Tame Impala On The Meaning of 'Lonerism'

You wouldn't know it from watching them perform, but Tame Impala exists as the creative arm of one man, 26-year-old Kevin Parker. He's only just released his second album, Lonerism, a psych-infused pop masterpiece drawing equally from Serge Gainsbourg and harder influences like Led Zeppelin. But the ... More >>

Why James Adomian's Debut Is A Lock For Comedy Album Of The Year

On comedian James Adomian's debut album Low Hangin' Fruit, his celebrity impressions are so well-developed that it's sometimes hard to tell where they end and when his true voice begins. After honing his craft at Groundlings and the UCB Theater, the 32 year-old L.A. native has made his mark in rece ... More >>

The Best Los Angeles Concerts of the Summer

5. The Zeros and The Muffs Troubadour, July 20 Though the Zeros and the Muffs began their careers at the start of the punk era and in the middle of grunge, respectively, their billing this summer was inspired. Both play the kind of punk -- catchy pop hooks over wham-bam, cranked-up chords -- that, ... More >>

We Write About More Than Bad Hipster Bands. No Seriously

The internet's stomach continues to churn over our Top 20 Worst Hipster Bands post, which -- as I noted in our "correction" -- inspired widespread anger and funny death threats involving oral sex from sharks. Someone even whined that it made him want to quit writing about music. Boo hoo! Folks too ... More >>

Divine Fits - Bootleg Theater - 8/14/12

Divine Fits Bootleg Theater 8/14/12 Divine Fits features Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade and Britt Daniel from Spoon. Watching the new act at the Bootleg last night was probably a lot like watching a Phoenix rise from the ashes. Boeckner served as lead singer and guitarist, while Daniel played bass. ... More >>

Beachwood Sparks Are One of L.A.'s Most Influential Bands You Don't Know

With folk music back in the mainstream consciousness via acts like Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, the timing for Beachwood Sparks' reunion is right. "I think we were one of the bands that paved the way for that," founding member and bassist Brent Rademaker tells us. He's excited to talk about their new a ... More >>

Lower Dens - The Troubadour - 6/30/12

Lower Dens, No Joy, Alan Resnick The Troubadour 6-30-12 Saturday night at the Troubadour, Lower Dens showed they aren't easily classified. Fronted by singer Jana Hunter, the Baltimore band first introduced their inimitable strain of hazy, experimental indie rock on the 2010 full-length Twin Hand Mo ... More >>

Boiler Room: Live Streaming Phenomenon Touches Down in L.A.

Fans of the streaming music site Boiler Room have seen performances from folks like James Murphy, Thom Yorke, A-Trak, Animal Collective and Sun Araw. Founded in 2010 by promoter Blaise Belville, the site first started in London, but this month Boiler Room arrived in Los Angeles.

Make Music Pasadena - Old Town Pasadena - 6/16/12

Make Music Pasadena Festival Old Town Pasadena 6-16-12 With the Sunset Junction Festival filing for bankruptcy and the Silver Lake Jubilee upping admission to $20 a head, one's options for quality summer music festivals in L.A. have dwindled a bit. Meanwhile, at this point the only two free festiva ... More >>

House Shoes: Seminal Producer Talks New Album, J Dilla Beef

You may not always like what House Shoes has to say, but he certainly commands your respect. The sharp-tongued DJ and producer is known for calling out lame trends and fake rappers; for starters, he put rapper Charles Hamilton's career on life support in 2009 after the latter lied about his album be ... More >>

Father John Misty Just Quit Fleet Foxes: We Get High in His Van

Black Moth Super Rainbow - The Echoplex - 5/12/12

Black Moth Super Rainbow The Echoplex 5/12/12 Better than: watching Usher sing over watered-down techno on Saturday Night Live. In a rare live appearance at the Echoplex on Saturday, enigmatic psych-pop band Black Moth Super Rainbow exceeded their fans' expectations with a mind-expanding performan ... More >>

Comedian Moshe Kasher's Memoir Kasher In The Rye: 'I Was Violent. I Was Sexist. I Was a Pig.'

To say Moshe Kasher had a tumultuous upbringing would be an understatement at best. The 32-year-old comedian and author now appears regularly on E!'s Chelsea Lately and his clean-cut look, slicked back hair with thick black glasses, appears to dispel the notion of any momentous regrets. But Kasher I ... More >>

Nicolas Jaar - Echoplex - 3/26/12

Nicolas Jaar, Nicola Cruz The Echoplex 3/26/12 With only one full-length album and a couple EP's under his belt, it was quite a surprise to see electronic artist Nicolas Jaar's show turn into the hottest ticket in town on Monday night. The standby line outside the Echoplex stretched down the sidewa ... More >>

Ty Segall, White Fence, Mikal Cronin - The Troubadour - 3/3/12

See also: *White Fence's Tim Presley Moves Retro Rock Forward *Top 5 L.A. Garage Rock Bands *Mikal Cronin: Ty Segall's Homie on the Bay Area Scene, No Doubt, and Making Music His Mom Likes Ty Segall, White Fence, Mikal Cronin, The Feeling of Love The Troubadour 3/3/12 Though not technically from ... More >>

Flying Lotus - Cinefamily - 2/28/2012

Flying Lotus and Austin Peralta Live Score of Harry Everett Smith's "Heaven and Earth Magic" Cinefamily 2/28/12 See also: The Time Flying Lotus Pretended To Be A UCLA Physics Major If Flying Lotus' live score at Cinefamily last night was any indication of the direction of his upcoming fourth alb ... More >>

Electric Guest on Their Danger Mouse-Produced Debut

While recording Electric Guest's debut album Mondo, which comes out in April, singer Asa Taccone took several weeks off to recover from a bout of shingles. The condition had been brought on by the stress of finally recording his passion project, which included sifting through over 100 song ideas ama ... More >>

Alabama Shakes - Troubadour - 1/25/12

Aaron FrankBrittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes​Alabama Shakes Troubadour 1/25/12 Last night the Troubadour was packed with folks out past their bedtimes. They came from record labels, radio stations, music licensing companies, newspapers, and even Spoon. (Hi, Britt!) They were there to see ... More >>

Danny Brown and Kid Sister - The Echoplex - 1/24/12

Aaron FrankDanny Brown and Main Attrakionz​See also: Danny Brown is Hip-Hop's Cormac McCarthy Danny Brown and Kid Sister The Echoplex 1/24/12 Anticipation for rapper Danny Brown's first headlining performance in Los Angeles was already at fever pitch when I entered the Echoplex last night. A ... More >>

Four Tet - Low End Theory - 12/21/11

Aaron FrankFour Tet​See Also: *Our oral history of Low End Theory *Teebs: Flying Lotus' Former Roomie Speaks On Loss And Art Four Tet Low End Theory 12/21/11 Better Than... John Wall and David Guetta's heralded Spotify Playlists. Let's face it: straight vinyl DJ sets can either be delight ... More >>