Barcelona

How to Design an L.A. Opera Production

L.A. Opera's current production of Rossini's La Cenerentola (aka Cinderella) has no glass slippers, no coach that turns into a pumpkin, no evil stepmother and absolutely no bippity boppity boo. But it is a fun visual feast, a comic opera in cartoon colors, thanks largely to the work of set and cost ... More >>

Promised Land Review: Gus Van Sant Directs a Screenplay by Matt Damon and John Krasinski

Wreck-It Ralph Influenced Not Only by Video Games But Harajuku, Gaudi and the San Diego Chargers

Wreck-It Ralph won't be in theaters until November, but the buzz for Disney's forthcoming animated film has already begun. Directed by Rich Moore (The Simpsons, Futurama), the movie stars John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch as video game characters whose lives are more comp ... More >>

ESPN X Games Los Angeles 2012: Confronting Fear, Pain and Mortality

The world of sports may be focused on London, but during the past week athleticism of a decidedly ballsier kind was on display in Los Angeles as wide-eyed kids, patient parents and industry hangers-on oohed, ahhed, gasped, and clapped at the feats of physical imagination and occasional crashes that ... More >>

Damsels in Distress Review

Whit Stillman returns with a toe-tapping college-girl fantasy

Odd Future - The Palladium - September 29, 2011

Andrea Domanick​Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All The Palladium September 29, 2011 Better than... L.A.'s other live acts (still). Strobe lights, blood and bubble guns: Ladies n' gents, Odd Future is back in town. Last night's set at the Palladium was the kind of raucous horrorshow audience ... More >>

El Bulli: Cooking in Progress Review

Nic Fanciulli Gives us Free Mix MP3 to Tease His DJ Set Saturday at Avalon

He's got Fanciulli eyes.​House is back? Huh? When did it ever go away? And why does everyone who plays this so-called house sound like the progressive kings of yesterday? The British titans of momentous, electronic, melodic house still rule if you ask us. Nic Fanciulli is one of those stone h ... More >>

BIUTIFUL

Meet Your Underground Olive Maker: Orgasmo De La Boca's Alessandra Innamorato

Flickr user nourishedkitchenNow Among Those With The Power To Make You Blush​We try to refrain from devoting too much time to descriptions that equate food with soft-core porn, but we were curious about the woman behind what some have dubbed "the crack meets hot sex of olives." Curious and a b ... More >>

DJ Q&A: Pete Tong Says 'L.A. Is The Home Of The BIG Event' When It Comes To Global Dance Music

It's all going Pete Tong Saturday at Monster Massive.​Pete Tong, as the U.K.'s Independent newspaper put it, is "the god of dance music." With BBC Radio 1's "Essential Selection" and "Essential Mix" shows, he certainly is global clubland's most influential DJ. He's the guy who every other A-l ... More >>

Live Review: Manu Chao's Secret Show at the Troubadour

Timothy NorrisManu Chao at The Troubadour​ Even with a stripped-down version of his crack backup band Radio Bemba, the French-Spanish world-music star Manu Chao was anything but mellow at last night's surprise concert at the Troubadour. There were certainly some disarmingly lovely interludes, ... More >>

Toe-Sucking, Vacuum Sex, Epic Boobs and ... El Guincho? Watch the NSFW Video for 'Bombay'

El Guincho stars in the tits-filled surrealist masterwork, "Bombay." (Adria Canemeras)​Barcelona psych-pop musician El Guincho, who performs at La Cita on Wednesday, October 6, is the star of a tits-filled surrealist masterwork called Bombay. Those already familiar with the man's incredible n ... More >>

Your Walter Manzke Update: 4 Days at Test Kitchen, El Bulli, Chicago, Etc.

A. ScattergoodSanta Barbara prawn with brown butter, lemon and capers​ As you will know if you read Jonathan Gold's most recent review, the Test Kitchen has been up and running for a few weeks now, featuring a rotating group of chefs like guest performers in a how-do-you-get-reservations-for- ... 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 >>

Mugshots and Tequila Shots: Rocking out at Pete Wentz Angels & Kings Bar

Not a Pete Wentz fan, let's get that out of the way up front. He may be a nice guy and we've got nothing against guyliner or fellas who know their way around a flat-iron (or even his lip-synching wifey), but having to endure his band Fall Out Boy's pop-"punk" schmaltz once for an assigned live revi ... More >>

Liberty, Equality, LudoBites

Ludovic Lefebvre’s french revolution, 4.0

Music Picks: Neil Innes, Korean Music Festival 8, Avi Buffalo, Lupe Fiasco, Coheed and Cambria

Also, No Age, Sheila E & the Escovedo Family, Greg Laswell and others

Watch: The Amazing El Guincho Plays in Rainforest [MP3]

El Guincho in different climes.​The good folks at L.A. audio institution Dublab have finally released this excellent clip of Barcelona's El Guincho performing in the viney wilds of South Los Angeles. The rainforest in question is actually one of the life-size dioramas found at the Natural Hi ... More >>

SXSW Roundup: KCRW Jason Bentley on Bad Mixes, Bad Bands and the Best Booze/iPhone Battery Ratio

Jeff MillerJason Bentley playing the Virgin Freehouse, SXSW 2010​KCRW's music director Jason Bentley is one of the patron saints of bands at South By Southwest. Countless bands playing the fest got their start from DJs at the station, and Bentley himself has championed dozens of them on his da ... More >>

Interview: 2020Soundsystem's Ralph Lawson "Ready To Rock Huge Gigs"

Ralph Lawson is a British mainstay in the DJ world, a spinner known for his refined house music that contains a touch of electronic progressivism. In the mid-1990s he held down the Back To Basics club night in Leeds that helped inspire his 2020Vision record label and put him on the international spi ... More >>

Cristina Natsuko Paulos Creates Hanafuda Cards with a Lolita Sensibility

Cristina Natsuko Paulos at Work​ A painter, animator and puppet-maker, Cristina Natsuko Paulos has a whimsical, almost Lolita sensibility that we can appreciate. Central to her work are The Twins, mirror image little girls each bearing eyes of different sizes. Her pieces have appeared in galle ... More >>

Oktoberfest L.A. Drowns in Sorrows

View more photos in the Oktoberfest slideshow. When the air becomes crisp and the summer turns to fall, Germans host a raucous event as a gateway to season change: Oktoberfest. The mere mention of Oktoberfest conjures up images of sauerkraut and sausages, beer maids shuttling steins overflowing wit ... More >>

FYF Fest 2009: Parks and Inspiration

Event's new mission: Save Our State Parks (and deliver a mind-bending roster of punk, electronics and noise)

Rivera's Olive Oil Cake & Caramel Sauce: If You Haven't Tried It Yet, Make It At Home

John Sedlar, whose downtown restaurant Rivera opened in January, is known more for his flower-embedded nixtamal tortillas, his mole-sauced kurobuta pork chops, his buratta-stuffed chile relleno, his duck enfrijoladas, his chile-powder-as-art plate stencils, and his curating of Latin food history (th ... More >>

Staches, Glasses, and Scarves: Style at the Downtown Art Walk

The Downtown Art Walk displayed the finest scarves, staches and glasses of L.A.'s artsiest

Beards, Blazers & Glasses: The Hold Steady

Record Reviews: Bodies of Water, Conor Oberst

Also, the Pinker Tones

Behind the Velvet Fence

Prince of the desert; VIP couch; and other tales from Coachella

Jamón, Jamón

Finding happiness in a slice of Ibérico ham at Bar Pintxo

Finding Happiness in a Slice of Ibérico Ham at Bar Pintxo

Jamón, jamón

Luminosities

Czech Mates

Rock Picks: The Slits, Squiddo, Electrocute

For the week of August 2 - 9

The Rise of the Seventh Letter

Mad society kings

The Treatment: Shrink Wrapped

Heads and hearts collide

Film Reviews: Disturbia, Perfect Stranger and More

Also Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Thetaers, The Ritchie Boys and this week's pick, Red Road

Milestones in MAP History

From Edward Roybal to Alberto Gonzales

We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen

In Memoriam: Derek Bailey, 1930–2005

The Architect of Space and Time

Michelangelo Antonioni returns to Los Angeles

Dirty Work Afoot

Small Plates

Summer Songs

Music for changing seasons and future days

Sore Winners (and the Rest of Us) in George Bush’s America

Life as Music

John Adams goes public

Beauty and the Beholder

The forbidden colors of Ryuichi Sakamoto

Wrestling With Demons

Mario Duane Gardner, 1968 - ­2002

Doom With a View

Hidden Spain

The Kids Are All Right

Headbanging for credit at the Musicians Institute