Ariel Pink

Racism Charged Against Hollywood Bar That Forbids Hip-Hop

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] One man's purity is another man's segregation. You don't expect to encounter those ideas in Hollywood in 2013, but they creep in through coding and innue ... More >>

Rapper and Boxer Rheteric Ramirez Flows Like He Fights

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Rheteric Ramirez raps like a welterweight prizefighter. His flow bobs and weaves. Double-timed uppercuts of words follow methodical chants. Rhyme schemes ... More >>

Music Picks: Eagle Rock Festival, New Order, Madonna

The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Week

Monday, September 17 Josh Nelson VITELLO'S Josh Nelson looks much younger than his 34 years but has already become a seasoned veteran and one of the most respected pianists on the L.A. music scene. Nelson's talents are strong enough to have won him a job as Natalie Cole's primary touring pianist w ... More >>

Music Picks: Fiona Apple, Austra, and the Hives

The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, August 3 Rusko AVALON Quite possibly the most honest man in dubstep, Leeds-born, L.A.-dwelling producer Rusko has taken responsibility for the existence of the much-maligned "brostep" trend -- which is to say, injecting the dark atmospherics and effects of the original genre with a distinct ... More >>

Music Picks: Rusko, HARD Summer, SMOD

Also, Beachwood Sparks, Jesca Hoop, Ravi Coltrane and others

Tween Art: OHWOW Gallery's New Show Explores the Disney Channel Demo

To understand the new exhibition of tween-influenced art Alex Gartenfeld curated at West Hollywood's OHWOW gallery, it's best to rewind half a century. Billie Jo Spears, a tame Texas country singer, was 13 in 1950. That year, she cut her first single, "Too Old for Toys, Too Young for Boys," a "chil ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Week

Monday, July 23 The xx FONDA THEATRE These U.K. goth-soul ghouls haven't played in the United States since 2010, when The xx wrapped up support of their self-titled semi-hit debut and subsequently went into studio-hibernation mode. This summer, they're back on the road ahead of the Sept. 11 release ... More >>

Music Picks: Rome, The xx, Aretha Franklin

Also, Cannibal Corpse, I See Hawks in L.A., Smokey Robinson and others

Slutwave, Tumblr Rap, Rape Gaze: Obscure Musical Genres Explained

Everything You Wanted to Know About Metal but Were Afraid to Ask Top Ten Metal Albums for People Who Don't Know Shit About Metal Top Ten Jazz Albums for People Who Don't Know Shit About Jazz Top Ten Rap Albums For People Who Don't Know Shit About Hip-Hop In our music feature this week, Jason Roche ... More >>

Kurt Vile, Santigold, Rusko

Also, Star & Dagger, Charli XCX, Church of Misery and others

Sex on Camera

Ashley Huizenga is an academic-minded singer and performance artist. She wants to get you off

The Five Best "Awful" Prince Albums

Gustavo TurnerPrince, wielding the world's largest metaphor​How can an artist be hailed as one of the greatest of all time, when a big chunk of his later career is dismissed or hated on by his fans? Sure, lots of young firecrackers age into old snoozes and perhaps this means they're not the gr ... More >>

Peanut Butter Wolf, Gaslamp Killer, Jason Bentley -- 11/11/11/ Party -- Eagle Rock Center for the Arts

Lainna FaderGaslamp Killer​Peanut Butter Wolf, Gaslamp Killer, Jason Bentley, Hyasynth and others 11/11/11/ Party Eagle Rock Center for the Arts Since 2006, Stones Throw label head Peanut Butter Wolf has specialized in numerically-aligned calendar day parties. Last night's party, which went f ... More >>

Top Five Reasons Why Grouplove is About to Blow Up

Grouplove​You know that autumnal mix of optimism and anticipation that arrives with the electricity in the newly-crisp air? That's what Grouplove's debut full-length, Never Trust A Happy Song, sounds like. The work dropped Tuesday on Atlantic Records, just in time for fall, following a year ... More >>

Bring in Da Kraut Funk: Nite Jewel Performs Tomorrow for Re:Play L.A.

Justin LoyNite Jewel​Ramona Gonzalez, aka Nite Jewel, was the first artist we considered here at LA Weekly when putting together our Re:Play L.A. series, which consists of four local indie artists covering their favorite classic albums, for free, at the Hard Rock Cafe on Hollywood Boulevard. ... More >>

Nite Jewel on performing Kraftwerk's Computerworld in L.A. Weekly Re:Play L.A. Series

John Maus at the Echoplex, July 15, 2011

photo by Drew Denny​ We've passed the first climax in the genealogy of post-modern pop karaoke performance, but John Maus' powerhouse sing-a-longs with himself makes us think we're in for multiple musical orgasms.

Music Picks: Bob Dylan, Azalia Snail, Makabert Fynd, Seun Kuti

Also, No Age, Crystal Antlers, Imelda May and others

Carmageddon Survival Guide: 10 Artsy Ways to Salvage Your Weekend

Cult soul singer Evie Sands in the 1960s; Sands is performing at Viva Cantina this Sunday.​ With the impending shutdown of the 405, everyone's unsure of what to do this weekend. Quoth a friend: "Should I leave? Should I stay? And if I stay, what should I do?" Have no fear, we've got you cove ... More >>

Live Review: Basement Babies at The cAbin, By George!

Sam BlochBasement Babies​Review by Sam Bloch. WHO: Truman Peyote, Matthewdavid, Sun Araw, Basement Babies WHERE: The cAbin, By George! WHEN: 7/5/11 In September 1995, an MTV reporter caught Bjork backstage at England's massive Reading festival. A few months earlier, she'd released her seco ... More >>

Music Picks: Prince, Amanda Jo Williams, Kendrick Lamar, Xzibit, Civet,

Also, Miguel, L.A. Bluegrass Situation, Heidecker and Wood, the Ditty Bops and others

Music Picks: Coachella, Girls in Trouble, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Paul Simon

Also, Mary Anne Hobbs, Yoni Wolf, Emmylou Harris and others

Coachella Lineup Announced: We Told You Odd Future Was in There!

​This is the official press release: Coachella 2011. Music. Art. Culture. Community. With the Coachella line-up announcement serving as the official kick-off to the annual U.S. festival season, festival organizers Goldenvoice can now reveal details for the 2011 Coachella Valley Music & Art ... More >>

Top 5 Hottest Girls from the Hottest Indie Bands in L.A. in 2010

​ [For the Top 5 Hottest Guys from the Hottest Indie Bands in L.A. in 2010, click here.] You may not have noticed, but there is a new and interesting trend wherein women actually play music! In bands! With instruments and everything! Pretty crazy right? I know. I have no idea where they got t ... More >>

Best Music of the Year Lists: Do Pitchfork, Billboard, NME, Vibe Have A Certain Gender Bias?

"Hey bro, we hear you like bros, so we put some bros in your End of the Year Best Music Lists so you can bro while you bro!"​Well, 'tis the time of year for lists and charts! Several mags and blogs attempted to answer the question you've been dying to ask: Who had the best album/"new music"? ... More >>

Ceci Bastida Interview: "You Need To Feel Free"

ceci bastida​ Tijuana might be better known right now for its crooked cops and affordable prescription drugs, but Ceci Bastida has been sounding off for the border city's next generation since she was a feisty 15 year-old fronting politically-minded Mexican ska band Tijuana No! (famous for th ... More >>

Music Picks: Liz Phair, the Weepies, Tom Tom Club, Evan Voytas

Also, the Lee Boys, Klaxons, Macy Gray, Eels and others

This weekend: Scissor Sisters, Sheryl Crow, Pink Martini, Bonerama, the Watson Twins, Dead Confederate, Trey Songz

Scissor Sisters​Scissor Sisters' new album Night Work -- three years in the making, and re-making (they scrapped 18 months of work and started over) -- is a typically frisky, preening mash-up of glam and disco that contains a lot of you're-gonna-have-to-be-there moments. Fun, to be sure. But ... More >>

Live Review: Nite Jewel and Teen Inc. Get Funky At The Troubadour

Daiana FeuerTeen Inc. takes up space ​Study the line between letting loose and letting go. Letting loose is something accomplished with the body. Letting go might be a cerebral thing done at a Nite Jewel and Teen Inc. show. These two bands participate in a nebulous music cluster residing in ... More >>

Q&A: The FYF Fest

Vinyl of the Week: One-Man Band Hanni El Khatib = Black Keys Shangri-Las on 'Dead Wrong' 45

In the strange wake of music's digital rebirth, vinyl has experienced a modest boom in popularity, seen by many as a replacement for the awkward middleman that is the compact disc. INCHES reviews the output of L.A.'s healthy vinyl community, believing that good music deserves much more than a handfu ... More >>

This Weekend: El Guincho, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Harlem, Dawes, Peter Case

El Guincho​Yes, that's the voice of Julieta Venegas on the re-imagined "Mientes," one of the five tracks on El Guincho's new EP Piratas de Sudamérica. El Guincho, the nom de tune of Barcelona experimentalist Pablo Díaz-Reixa, fueled some underground buzz with his 2007 album Alegranza. A pri ... More >>

Adam Ant Taken to Nuthouse after Kinda Awesome Performance

King of the really wild frontier: Adam Ant, recently​Everyone else is reporting that long-time mental-illness sufferer Adam Ant has been hospitalized again after going loco during a show. Well, we tracked down a Daily Mail story that actually describes the performance and it sounds kinda awes ... More >>

Vinyl of the Week: CX Kidtronik's Booty-Crack Picture Disc, Plus MF DOOM Cameo [MP3]

In the strange wake of music's digital rebirth, vinyl has experienced a modest boom in popularity, seen by many as a replacement for the awkward middleman that is the compact disc. INCHES reviews the output of L.A.'s healthy vinyl community, believing that good music deserves much more than a handfu ... More >>

Music Picks: Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, Donovan, Ana Tijoux, John Wicks

Also, Janelle Monae, Devendra Banhart, the Low Anthem and others

Raising the Romantic Bar a Little High: Girls at the Troubadour

Caution, a Girls concert induces post-amorous nostalgia. You'll seek the last time someone lovingly said "nothing compares to you" during "Ghostmouth," and if nobody's fought for your honor lately, "Goddam" is a downer. Singer Christopher Owens raises the sensitive romantic bar a little high. Timo ... More >>

Public Access Lives! (On DVD): One Of 'The Threee Geniuses' Talks The Re-Death Of Psychedelia

Taking LSD over seven times may or may not make you legally insane (if the myth were true, some of us here at West Coast Sound might have just missed the loony bin), but we can assure you, watching the psycho-delic circus known as The Threee Geniuses as many times is likely to drive you nuts, at lea ... More >>

INCHES010: New Wax fr. Pelican, James Pants, Foot Village, 60W Kid, MMC ( MP3s, video debut!)

In the unpredictable wake of music's digital rebirth, vinyl has experienced a modest boom in popularity, seen by many (with delicious irony) as a replacement for the awkward middleman that is the compact disc. INCHES seeks not only to review the output of L.A.'s healthy vinyl community (artists and ... More >>

Rock Picks: Winifred E. Eye, Stagecoach, Marianne Dissard, Thao

Also, Franz Nicolay, Sweet, Tinted Windows and others

West Coast Sound: An L.A. Music Pro's Guide to South by Southwest

Ten to watch: The next Ford jingle?

Rock Picks: Rupa & the April Fishes, Gnarls Barkley, Emmylou Harris

Also, Black Kids, Chromeo, Alejandro Escovedo

the Familydavid Kramer, Sammy Harkham and Tahli Harkham

Benefits of Being Dumped

To Live and Die (But Not Show) in L.A.

Jason Rhoades, 1965–2006

Screwball Diva

Darcey Leonard

Music Picks

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