Ben Gibbard

Best of Coachella 2013: Weekend Two

The Visual Stimulations for People Who Were High Coachella's art installations -- the ones designed to impress you while you're high, aka all of them -- were particularly impressive this year. There was the tesla coil, the crane that was formerly a flower but now a praying mantis, the giant floresce ... More >>

Best of Coachella: Weekend One

Karen O's Outfit Karen O's wardrobe on Friday night was bad ass. The Yeah Yeah Yeah's front woman appeared on the main stage in a technicolor cape draped over a suit that looked like it was made of mercury. The vibrant collage was topped with a headpiece that Liberace might have worn had he ever bee ... More >>

Jon Glaser Prepares for Series Finale of Adult Swim's Delocated With Live Event at Largo

"Jon" took to Largo's stage last night in a ski mask and with his voice altered. He's a fictional character under an assumed identity, a man whose hunger for fame cannot be quelled by a pesky thing like the Witness Protection Program. No mask or vocal manipulation device can keep his bravado in chec ... More >>

Ben Gibbard: Folks' Obsession With My Personal Life Is Disappointing

Amidst a divorce with Zooey Deschanel, Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard soldiers on, focusing on a solo project, following baseball blogs, and jogging. Though the first single from his recently-released solo album "Teardrop Windows" has folks assuming that he's jumped back on the emo train, ... More >>

The 20 Worst Hipster Bands: The Complete List

The 20 Worst Hipster Bands: 10-1 Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All Time Who are these hipsters we see each day in the streets, on our Tumblr feeds, and on the local news? And why are so many in bands? It's not the mere existen ... More >>

The 20 Worst Hipster Bands: 20-11

Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All Time Who are these hipsters we see each day in the streets, on our Tumblr feeds, and on the local news? And why are so many in bands? It's not the mere existence of hipster groups that distress ... 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 >>

10 Best Standup Comedy Shows in Los Angeles

Live comedy is once again enjoying a boom period, even if some of the bigger clubs and bloated chains around the country are going bust. Thanks to the internet's generous enabling of DIY promotion, production, talent booking and ticketing, who needs a humorless industry gatekeeper when one can simpl ... More >>

The 20 Best Albums Not in the Canon: The Complete List

*Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre *Top 20 Sexiest Female Musicians of All Time *Top 20 Sexiest Male Musicians of All Time A few months back Rolling Stone put out their updated 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. (Here's a quickly-scannable version; Sgt. P ... More >>

Top 20 Albums Not In The Canon: 20-11

*Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre *Top 20 Sexiest Female Musicians of All Time *Top 20 Sexiest Male Musicians of All Time A few months back Rolling Stone put out their updated 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. (Here's a quickly-scannable version; Sgt. P ... More >>

Sun Araw, Eagles of Death Metal, Lil' Kim

Also, Harry Partch's Bitter Music, Jonneine Zapata, Alan Pasqua Trio and others

Fidlar Are Drunk, Reckless and Proud of It

The garage punks are about to blow up. Either that, or crash and burn

Zooey Deschanel and Ben Gibbard Call It Quits: The Year's Five Biggest Music Couples to Hit Splitsville

See also: Wherein We Hilariously Predict Katy Perry's 2012 It was a sad day in indieville yesterday as actress/singer Zooey Deschanel officially filed for divorce from Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard. Though the two had been rumored to be on the rocks for some time, fans held out hope that the du ... More >>

Music Picks: Janet Jackson, John Escreet Quartet, DJ Quik, Charles Bradley

Also, Charlie Haden Quartet West, John Williams, Philip Glass and others

Death Cab For Cutie - The Greek Theatre - 8/18/2011

Photo by Robert Mora​Review by Piya Sinha-Roy Death Cab For Cutie The Greek Theatre 8-18-2011 Better Than... trying to figure out how to spell "Transatlanticism." It's hard to imagine that a laid-back band like Death Cab For Cutie, who are better known for their soft indie-angst tunes, can ... More >>

Everything You Wanted To Know About Death Cab But Were Too Emo To Ask

This right here is my swag​I know this is going to sound like a lowball estimate, but there are approximately 102,000 little brothers in the United States. I know this because Codes & Keys moved 102 large in its first week, and the general consensus amongst your friends who "know better" is th ... More >>

Michael Cera No Longer in Indie Band Mister Heavenly. Turns Out He Never Was?

Evan CulbertsonMichael Cera​Story by Ian Joulain Back in December the music blogosphere got all hot and bothered. Turns out there was a new indie supergroup afoot, with Michael Cera on the bass! The band was tweely named Mister Heavenly, and it featured Islands' Nick Thorburn, Man Man's Hon ... More >>

Zooey Deschanel vs. Patt Morrison: Westside Actress Disses Downtown L.A., Then Blames Times Columnist For Pointing it Out

What she meant was that downtown was "duurty."​Zooey Deschanel fought back against venerable Los Angeles Times columnist and KPCC (89.3 FM) host Patt Morrison this week after the journalist called out the actress for dissing downtown L.A. during the royal couple's visit. Deschanel's retort wa ... More >>

Top 10 Bands That Should Have Broken Up Instead of the White Stripes

10 Bands Who Should Break Up

Rock Picks: DJ Spinna, Bodega Girls, Andre Nickatina, Elevated Suspects

Also, Hilary Hahn, People Under the Stairs, KROQ Almost Acoustic Xmas and others

Listen: New Dntel Tracks From Upcoming Album "After Parties" (Free MP3)

Listen: New Dntel Tracks From Upcoming Album "After Parties" (Free MP3)

Live Review: John Cale Performs "Paris 1919" at Royce Hall

John Cale​John Cale's album before Paris 1919 was called The Academy in Peril. Last night, at UCLA's Royce Hall, the academy was never in real peril. Sure, there were a couple of moments (see below), when the academy was under a vague risk of being slighted soiled, of being smeared a little w ... More >>

Tonight: Pavement, Sonic Youth, Spoon, John Cale, Jamie Lidell, Rob Zombie, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Sebastien Tellier

Marcus RothPavement, 1999​Pavement's year-long victory lap has been exhilarating for the band and fans alike -- we know people who haven't stopped grinning since Coachella. But the faithful who have it in the back of their heads that the pride of Stockton might keep the wheels turning and mak ... More >>

She & Him: Sentimental Hearts

Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward come to the Bowl

Music Picks: Liz Pappademas, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Mad Professor, Bill Frisell

Also, Taylor Swift, Los Tres, Saint Motel, David Allan Coe and others

Theater Reviews: The Mystery Plays, The Arsonists, There Is Truth, Love Is Real

Also, Richard & Felix: Twilight in Venice, The Drawer Boy and more

Stage Raw: The Mystery Plays

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSTHIS WEEK'S STAGE FEATURE ON THE L.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDSNEW REVIEW GO THE MYSTERY PLAYS ​Photo by Dlugolecki Photography Though its title alludes to the Biblical pageants of Medieval Europe, playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's 2002 pair of sup ... More >>

MAKE US LAUGH FUNNY BOY!

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

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

Farrar and Gibbard Perform Kerouac Score Tonight at El Rey

Tonight at the El Rey, Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard will be performing music they created for the film One Fast Move and I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur, a documentary based on words Jack Kerouac composed while living in Big Sur. The Firecracker Press's woodcut Big Sur poster​ The film premiered a ... More >>

Rock Picks: Sunset Rubdown, Alela Diane, Pelican, Rose Melberg

Also, Yacht, the Woolly Bandits, Linda Ronstadt and others

Rock Picks: Grizzly Bear, Michigan and Smiley, Meshell Ndegeocello, Aztlan Underground

Also, Ghostface Killah, Pi, Brother Ali and others

Over the Weekend: John Mayer's Cruise, Tom Morello's Justice Tour, Lucha VaVoom's Girlie Girl Catfight, Chris Anderson's "Venice"

It's only been a week since we returned from the deafening, drunken mayhem that was SXSW but that didn't keep us from spending our weekend cruising the concert circuit here in L.A. We'll sleep when we're dead (or when they cut off our bar tab). In addition to live performances by John Mayer, Tom Mor ... More >>

Ordinary Life in a Flooded World: Chris Anthony's "Venice" Opens at Corey Helford Gallery

Liz OhanesianChris Anthony (center) with Ben Gibbard, Zooey Deschanel, Davey Havok and guest, Jan Corey HelfordFor the past few years, artist Chris Anthony has had the urge to travel to Antarctica to photograph melting polar caps as part of an idea of a future world forming in his mind. "It seemed ... More >>

New Postal Service Record in the 21st Century? Perhaps, Perhaps Not

We keep waiting and waiting, the indie-geek version of hair-metal freaks wondering about Chinese Democracy, for the follow-up to the great first Postal Service album. Every once in a while a little tidbit of news will come from either singer Ben Gibbard or producer (and LA native) Jimmy Tamborello ... More >>

KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Night 2: Vampire Weekend, Snow Patrol, Scott Weiland, Franz Ferdinand, Death Cab For Cutie, Paramore, The Killers, The Cure

By Siran Babayan (All photos by Timothy Norris. Click images for entire KROQ slideshow.) In my worst nightmare, the Cure would be upstaged by Kanye West. Yes, the two would share a bill; West making a surprise appearance and leaving the crowd in a frenzy, the Cure headlining the show and making ... More >>

Yosi Sergant and the Art of Change: The Publicist Behind Shepard Fairey's Obama Hope Posters

The facilitator talks Obama, art, the DNC and Fairey's Denver arrest

The Islands' "Arms Way," Islands' Kona Pie and The Pros of "Miscenegenation"

Last year when Sasha-Frere Jones wrote his now-infamous piece on the whiteness of indie rock, he repeatedly included the phrase "miscenegation" to describe the cross-pollination of sound between black and white music. The diction seemed deliberate, a molotov cocktail designed to rile up the chatte ... More >>

Record Reviews: Atlas Sound, Chris Walla, The Clipse

Record Review

Supermayer's Save the World

Rock Picks

For the week of May 17 – 24

Rock Picks

For the week of May 10 – 17

Rock Picks

For February 3 - 10

Snakebites

Modestly Universal

Burning Questions

Soulful Spirit