Akron

Legendary DJ Alan Freed Received a Strange Form of Payola

Henry Stone is one of those legends in the music biz; he ran ventures including the mega-successful, disco-heavy TK Records (responsible for KC & The Sunshine Band and many more), and helped pioneer the way popular music is distributed and promoted. Hint: In all the sleazy ways you can imagine. In ... More >>

Jane's Addiction, Black Keys, Mumford & Sons - KROQ Acoustic Christmas - 12/11/11

Timothy NorrisThe crowd​Jane's Addiction, Black Keys, Mumford & Sons, Foster the People, Florence and The Machine and others KROQ Acoustic Christmas, Night Two Gibson Ampitheatre 12/11/11 For the second night of its 22nd Acoustic Christmas extravaganza, KROQ put on a strong show featuring bo ... More >>

Say "Cheese" (for a Really Long Time)

Music Picks: Nicole Eva Emery, Hard NYE, Peter and the Wolf,

Also, Jesus Makes the Shotgun Sound, Octavius, Cosmologic and others

Haiku News: Manson Goes Indie, Guns 'n' Roses Talk 'Chinese Democracy' Followup, New Sleigh Bells Video, & New Dirty Bastard?

Haiku News: Manson Goes Indie, Guns 'n' Roses Talk 'Chinese Democracy' Followup, New Sleigh Bells Video, & New Dirty Bastard?

Live Review: The Black Keys at The Hollywood Palladium

Timothy NorrisThe Black Keys play the blues​ [For more exclusive pictures of the show see Timothy Norris' slideshow "The Black Keys @ The Palladium".] Out of the sweltering night air poured hundreds of Black Keys fans, who openly gasped in relief as soon as they got through the Hollywood Pal ... More >>

Music Picks: Ooh La La Fest, Pavement, Beach House

Also, Kris Kristofferson, the Black Keys, Bettye Lavette and others

"I'm Not So Hateful As I Used to Be": The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde and Former Lover J.P. Jones Discuss New Band JP, Chrissie & the Fairground Boys

Chrissie Hynde and J.P. Jones​ After 30 years of leading the Pretenders, singer-guitarist Chrissie Hynde has run away and joined the circus. Or, to be more specific, she's joined JP, Chrissie & the Fairground Boys, a new band with the Welsh singer-guitarist J.P. Jones. In Great Britain, fairg ... More >>

Warpaint Signs to Rough Trade, Gigs the Standard for the Zero Film Fest

LA buzz band Warpaint has been busy of late. They just signed to the venerable Rough Trade Records imprint, recently concluded a tour opening for Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, gigged at the Echo with Vic Chesnutt on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday night played an intimate rooftop performance a ... More >>

Rock Picks: THE JOE KROWN TRIO, THE FIERY FURNACES, THE LILYS, MR. GNOME

Also, Simian Mobile Disco, Wolfmother, El Perro del Mar and others

Movie Reviews: The Invention of Lying, Whip It, Zombieland, Paranormal Activity

Plus, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, In Search of Beethoven and more

Rock Picks: Os Mutantes, Hall and Oates, Bat for Lashes, Davila 666, Maia Sharp

Also, the Mars Volta, Nine Inch Nails, Gun Outfit, the Pretenders and others

Rock Picks: BLK JKS, Lambchop, Efterklang, Yelle

Also, Michael Gira, The Pretenders, Foreign Born, and others

Rock Picks: Everest, Mumiy Troll, Busta Rhymes

Also, Faun Fables, Chris Darrow tribute, Allen Toussaint and others

Chris Darrow's Kaleidoscopic Vision

A mentor to Ben Harper; a "world music" propenent before there was even a name for it

Octuplet Blacklash

It had to happen. Immediately after the birth of the Bellflower octuplets, TV anchors cooed and newspapers trembled with feelgood reports of the miraculous C-section. It wasn't long, however, for the births to reveal the fear and anger about immigration and race that simmer just below the surface of ... More >>

Let the Listing Begin: Ten Great Folk Records of the Past Decade

You're going to be seeing a lot of lists in the next few weeks. Lists of bests and worsts of year, lists of disappointments, lists of dance mixes and YouTube clips. We figured we'd begin our weeks of lists with one that captures not the year in music, but one aspect of the decade in music: new wei ... More >>

Whip the Vote: Devo Plays for Obama Back Home in Swingin' Ohio

Mark Mothersbaugh: "Some counties in this state were won by as little as nine votes"

This Weekend: Devo, Chrissie Hynde, the Black Keys Stump in Akron for Obama

I'm finishing a larger piece for later this week on Devo, Chrissie Hynde and the Black Keys' devastatingly great Obama benefit in their native Akron (reassure my editor that it's on its way, really!), but for now I'd like to offer you what for me was the highlight of the night: the band's furious, N ... More >>

Letter from Akron: Devo, Chrissie Hynde and Black Keys Performing Tonight for Obama

TV Reviews: Crash and My Own Worst Enemy: When Worlds Collide

Navigating L.A.'s social and racial minefields, plus Christian Slater's mind games

Rock Picks: Sunset Junction Street Festival, El Vez, Café Tacuba

Also, Veruca Salt, Mike Einziger, Kings X and Junior Brown

Word on the Street

A Meeting of the Strange Minds: Peter Ivers, David Lynch and Devo

History is made at midnight: Excerpt from Josh Frank's In Heaven Everything Is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre

Mark Mothersbaugh: On the Cutting Edge of Designer-Wallpaper Chic

Climbing the walls

Rock Picks: Stagecoach, Alicia Keys, Vetiver

And other shows happening May 1-8

Are You Not Devo? You Are Mutato

How Mark Mothersbaugh, an Agent of De-Evolution, wormed his way into America’s subconscious

Datarock's Binary Numbers

Norway band creates disco anthems for the geekoid masses

Rock PIcks

For the week of December 7 - 14

Used Country

Waiting for the Black Keys

Mental Ward

Fever

Laugh Your Week Off!

I’ve Got You Under My Skin

Remembering the stinging lungs of an L.A. boyhood

Oh, Yes! It’s Devo!

The ’80s’ “most misunderstood” band rock America, again

Letters

The Terrors of Nashville

On the far side with David Allan Coe and Billy Joe Shaver

The Kids Aren’t Alright . . . They’re Amazing

Why what was old and lost and a bit odd is young and new — and exciting — again

Made in the USA, Part III: US Company Listings N-Z

Made In the USA, Part III: US Company Listings A-M

Boy Wonder

Liam Lynch has more in his utility belt than silly songs and sock puppets

Slushed in 2002

Edited by Kateri Butler

Gut Feeling

Edited by Kateri Butler

Repotted Palms

Hinterlander goes Hawaiian

Letters

Hollywood, Straight Up

The craps-shooting cop, the hungarian brawl and other stories from Steve Boardner's bar

Are You . . . Experienced?

Hum

Gorky's sweet weirdness

Big Boss Man

Breaking the Law

Rob Halford outside the metal machine