Ben Westhoff

Riff Raff and Kapparot Chickens: Readers Respond

Snoop Talks About Being a Non-Violent Dude

Snoop Dogg has pledged nonviolence in his music, and, as we wrote recently, we should support him in that endeavor, not mock him. But now that his trip to Jamaica and Reincarnated project has come and gone, what is a gangsta rapper who's no longer a gangsta to do with his time? The answer, at leas ... More >>

Pala Riches and Mom's Rich Boyfriend: Readers Write

Pride's Fall and Henry Rollins' Appeal: Readers React

Which Coachella Stages Have the Best (and Worst) Sound?

It's the last day of Coachella. Your last chance to smuggle in drugs, possibly get caught, possibly make things easier on yourself in court later, and possibly be out on bail in time to see some more good shows. But which stages are the best? The sound quality varies widely, so much so that where ... More >>

Lil Wayne 'Sitting Up, Drinking Water'

By Ben Westhoff, reporting from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Reports of Lil Wayne's demise have been exaggerated, it would seem. The rapper tweeted tonight that he's fine. He was indeed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center near Beverly Hills. But reports that he was in a medically induced coma after a s ... More >>

The 20 Worst Albums Of The '90s: 10-1

The 20 Worst Albums Of The '90s: 20-11 Sure, you had the Bill Clinton blowjob scandal, OJ, Pakistan and India going nuclear, mad cow disease, the Rodney King decision, and Titanic. But what made the '90s truly awful was its music. That's not to say that there weren't bright spots -- early Beck, say ... More >>

The 20 Worst Albums Of The '90s: 20-11

Sure, you had the Bill Clinton blowjob scandal, OJ, Pakistan and India going nuclear, mad cow disease, the Rodney King decision, and Titanic. But what made the '90s truly awful was its music. That's not to say that there weren't bright spots -- early Beck, say, or Ok Computer and much of hip-hop's g ... More >>

Pop Music Questions That Remain UNANSWERED In 2013

Did you ever end up getting back together with that guy?

Our Most Popular Stories of 2012

It was a great year for the L.A. Weekly music section and our West Coast Sound blog. On the print side, we specialized in well-reported profiles, news stories, and essays that helped our readers understand better the music they love. On the blog we churned out compulsively-readable pieces that start ... More >>

The Top 10 L.A. Albums of 2012

Los Angeles music was a big part of the national conversation this year, from Frank Ocean and Miguel's artisan R&B to Top Dawg Entertainment's hip-hop dominance to the electronic inspirations of Flying Lotus and Gaslamp Killer. Picking but ten albums from this crop as the West Coast Sound writers ha ... More >>

The 20 Greatest EDM DJs: 10-1

See also: The 20 Greatest EDM DJs: 20-11 Electronic dance music's recent resurgence has made the genre more popular than ever before, but it's still often not taken seriously as an art form. And yeah, many goofily-dressed ravers are so high they'll literally dance to anything. But below we've highl ... More >>

The 20 Greatest EDM DJs: 20-11

Electronic dance music's recent resurgence has made the genre more popular than ever before, but it's still often not taken seriously as an art form. And yeah, many goofily-dressed ravers are so high they'll literally dance to anything. But below we've highlighted 20 top-notch spinners who put real ... More >>

The Best Musicians in L.A., 2012

Our Best Of issue just hit stands! We found our fairy tale, and now we present it to you: 435 of the most fabulous things in all of Los Angeles. From the city's most amazing restaurants to its tawdriest dive bars, from its edgiest art exhibits to the top spots for live music, we've got it all covere ... 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 >>

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 >>

The 20 Best Albums Not in the Canon: 10-1

See also: The 20 Best 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 10. Built To Spill Perfect From Now On (1997) Not really grunge but not springy ... 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 >>

The Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All-Time: The Complete List

*Top 20 Worst Bands Ever: The Complete List *Top 20 Musicians of All-Time, in Any Genre: The Complete List *Top 20 Sexiest Female Musicians of All-Time: The Complete List *Top 20 Sexiest Male Musicians of All-Time: The Complete List Considering that most all of today's popular music -- be it roc ... More >>

The Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All Time: 5-1

See also: *The Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All-Time: 20-16 *The Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All-Time: 15-11 *The Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All Time: 10-6 *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time 5. Radiohead Go ahead and turn on VH1 right now. You know those bands playing in the background of your favor ... More >>

Top 20 Sexiest Female Musicians of All Time: The Complete List

*Top 20 Sexiest Male Musicians of All Time: The Complete List *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: The Complete List *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre: The Complete List What we talk about when we talk about sex and rock 'n roll is often dudes, the lusty front men and axe-grinders who, perhap ... More >>

Ximena Sariñana: Five Things She Loves About Echo Park Boys

See also: Ximena Sariñana: An Indie-Pop Star In Mexico, Anonymous In L.A. Ximena Sariñana knocked the wind out of us at the SXSW PlayNetwork showcase last week. We weren't quite as delirious as a pair of Mexican twink uber-fanboys who'd traveled hundreds of miles, but we were certainly smitten. ... More >>

Five Attractive Strange People Working for Tips at SXSW

Paying homeless people $70 a day to serve as human wifi hotspots is a bizarre way to make a buck, but it's indicative of the hustler's spirit at South By Southwest this year. Folks are grinding hard and employing increasingly-gimmicky measures to make money. But there's more to it than that. Lik ... More >>

Fiona Apple and the Best of SXSW Yesterday

​See also: Five Attractive Strange People Working for Tips at SXSW If you're familiar with chaos theory, which in its basic form is the attempt to find patterns in the random acts of shit on Earth, then you may understand the difficulty that comes with describing a full day at SXSW. To break down ... More >>

Fidlar - SXSW - March 13, 2012

Fidlar and Superhumanoids SXSW Black & White Iris Showcase March 13, 2012 Better than: Playing bridge with your grandma. Once everyone got over the homeless guys being used as hot spots and the half mile line for tacos made with Doritos shells, folks settled in for the music portion of SXSW. Weekl ... More >>

Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: The Complete List

​What makes a terrible band? Is it being prepared to do the wrong thing, whatever the price? That and a pair of testicles. Only, some of the below groups possess testicles only in the symbolic sense. Because, even if you're composed of ladies, it takes balls to make music that is simultaneousl ... More >>

Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: #5-1

See also: *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: #20-16 *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time, #15-11 *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time, #10-6 5. Animal Collective I really wanted to like Merriweather Post Pavilion, even going far out of my way to appreciate the record as it was surely intended: super-stoned, mi ... More >>

Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time, #15-11

​See also: Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: #20-16 15. Pretty Ricky Emerging with their mid-aughts hit "Grind With Me," Pretty Ricky somehow managed to lower the bar when it came to heartthrob groups with baby-oil-smeared chests. It's excellent that they've got great abs, and they certainly ha ... More >>

Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: #20-16

See also: *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time, #15-11 *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time, #10-6 *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: #5-1 What makes a terrible band? Is it being prepared to do the wrong thing, whatever the price? That and a pair of testicles. Only, some of the below groups possess testicles ... More >>

Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre: The Complete List

Yeah, yeah, we know. The top 20 greatest musicians of all time, in any genre. Where do we get off? Well, we'll tell you where we get off -- at Accuracy Station. Our team of writers listened to thousands and thousands of hours of music for this list, digging deep into the annals of history and explor ... More >>

Top 20 Musicians of All Time, In Any Genre: #5-1

​See also: *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, In Any Genre: #20-16 *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, In Any Genre: #15-11 *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, In Any Genre: #10-6 5. Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong was jazz's first superstar. Satchmo's explosive creativity defied conventions of early New ... More >>

Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre: #20-16

See also: *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, In Any Genre: #15-11 *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, In Any Genre: #10-6 *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, In Any Genre: #5-1 Yeah, yeah, we know. The top 20 greatest musicians of all time, in any genre. Where do we get off? Well, we'll tell you where we get of ... More >>

Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: The Complete List

​See also: *Chuck Klosterman's Favorite Hair Metal Albums One day I was sitting around thinking I want to write a song about ménage a trois...and the line 'love in stereo' came into my head. Inspiration can happen anywhere at any time. -Jani Lane, Hit Parader magazine History has not been ... More >>

Catching Up With Grandmaster B

The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #10-6

​See also: *The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #20-16 *The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums of All Time: #15-11 ​10. Warrant Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich (1989) RIP Jani Lane. Warrant's lead singer, who was found dead in Woodland Hills this summer, didn't have the strongest voice, ... More >>

The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #20-16

See also: *The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #15-11 *The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #10-6 *The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #5-1 *Chuck Klosterman's Favorite Hair Metal Albums One day I was sitting around thinking I want to write a song about ménage a trois...and the l ... More >>

LA Weekly Writers Win Big at L.A. Press Club's National Entertainment Journalism Awards

​Last night at the Biltmore Hotel, the Los Angeles Press Club handed out glass stars for the National Entertainment Journalism Awards, and LA Weekly walked away with quite a few. Steven Leigh Morris won Print Critic of the Year for his theater reviews. Gendy Alimurung nabbed second place in ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: The Complete List

​Editor's note: In conjunction with our music issue we rolled out the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time this week, as picked by Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff. But the list was broken up into four posts, which can get a bit unwieldy, so we've compiled the full list ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: 10-6

​See also Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums of All Time: 20-16 Editor's note: For our music issue, out on Thursday, Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff run down the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time. We're unveiling the list all this week on West Coast Sound. 10. Freesty ... More >>

Strip Clubs And Indie Rock: A Match Made In Heaven?

Ben WesthoffJenny Lin​Strip clubs have long been important hip-hop testing grounds in the south. Artists try to bribe DJs to put their songs on, the logic being that lapdance tracks get seared into dudes' brains. Plus, in places like Atlanta, influential music industry folk tend to hang out th ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: 15-11

​ See also Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums of All Time: 20-16 Editor's note: For our music issue, out on Thursday, Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff run down the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time. We're unveiling the list all this week on West Coast Sound. The party ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: 20-16

​Editor's note: For our music issue, out on Thursday, Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff run down the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time. We're unveiling the list all this week on West Coast Sound. The party waits for no man. So while we watched the tubes for Detox, Los ... More >>

Best Posts of the Week

Kelly ClancyLionel Boyce​TGIF. Who's ready for a drink? We're here to offer you a bit of pregame entertainment, by way of our best West Coast Sound posts of the week. Let's start by bringing you up to date on our new columns. If you haven't yet, be sure to check out Odd Future member Lionel B ... More >>

Smith Westerns and Comedy Stage - FYF Fest - September 3, 2011

Ben WesthoffSmith Westerns​See also: FYF review: The Descendents, Kid Dynamite, and Ty Segall FYF review: Fool's Gold FYF Slideshow! Fuck Yeah! It's the FYF SAT Quiz! FYF Preview: The Descendents Attempt To Clone Themselves FYF Preview: Drinking Tequila With Tijuana Panthers FYF Preview: Keith ... More >>

Fool's Gold - FYF Fest - September 3, 2011

Ben WesthoffFool's Gold​By Anna Westhoff See also: FYF Review: The Descendents, Kid Dynamite, and Ty Segall FYF review: Smith Westerns and the comedy stage FYF Slideshow! Fuck Yeah! It's the FYF SAT Quiz! FYF Preview: The Descendents Attempt To Clone Themselves FYF Preview: Drinking Tequila ... More >>

I Spent Friday Night Drinking Beer and Seeing Bands at the Zoo

Ben WesthoffThe Steelwells​My wife and I went to "Brew at the Zoo" on Friday night. We and scads of beer aficionados -- which I call bullshit on, but more on that later -- sampled "craft" beers, peered at animals and saw some music. It wasn't Friday night jazz at LACMA, but it was something. ... More >>

Worst Press Conference Ever: Jacksons Announce Tribute Concert in Friggin' Wales

Ben Westhoff​"Reminder to photographers: If you get out of your seat, you'll get kicked out," warned the flack at the Beverly Hills Hotel, shortly before the arrival of five Jacksons and three white guys, there to announce the details of the big Michael Jackson tribute concert. Only, they rea ... More >>

Ben Westhoff Named LA Weekly Music Editor

Ben Westhoff​Ben Westhoff, a New York music writer and author of two recent books, has been named music editor of LA Weekly. He fills an opening created earlier this year when music editor Gustavo Turner decided to return to writing full-time, becoming a contributing writer. Westhoff has writ ... More >>

Wu-Tang Clan's 8 Diagrams

Wu-Tang Clan 8 Diagrams (Loud/SRC/Universal) By Ben Westhoff The long awaited fifth Wu-Tang Clan album, 8 Diagrams, just leaked, and it’s fucking solid. After just a few listens, it’s already in my 2007 top ten, and it will surely battle Graduation for supremacy on hip hop critics’ year-end l ... More >>