Billboard.com

The Best Concerts to See in Los Angeles This Week

For any show in town see our regularly-updated concert calendar. Monday, April 29 Merx THE SMELL If dub spelunker Keith Hudson had gotten hold of synth-punks like Suicide or The Screamers, or if Chrome and PiL had been melted together by cosmic rays into one shrieking hunk of post-punk man-machine ... More >>

Music Picks: Shuggie Otis, The Rolling Stones, Juvenile

The Five Greatest Showmen in EDM

This week's cover story on Steve Aoki attributes much of his rise to the EDM shift from wallflower DJs to over-the-top showmen. World's Douchiest DJs: The Top Five Aoki is not the only DJ to elevate the dance floor from the collective trance of rave's past to the kind of fist-pumping festivals rep ... More >>

Wonder Girls Interview: Sometimes L.A. Korean Food Is Better Than In Korea

A few years ago, none of the Wonder Girls spoke English; today they are all nearly fluent. Formed in 2007, the five woman K-pop group was on the forefront of the cultural crossover phenomenon with a string of hits. All in their early twenties, the Girls -- Sun, Lim, Sohee, Yenny and Yubin -- have o ... More >>

The Best Concerts To See in L.A. This Week: Nov 12-15

Monday, November 12 In The Valley Below BOOTLEG BAR Looking like Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman walk-ons, and with an eye-contact connection to rival Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham in their good times, Echo Park hubby-and-wife Angela Gail and Jeffrey Jacob patchwork together love-in-ready bluesy ro ... More >>

Is The Dove Shack's "Summertime in the LBC" the Perfect Summer Song?

[Editor's note: Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. Be sure to also check out the archives.] See also: KDAY, the Gangsta Rap Oldies Station, Breaks New Ground by Playing Music From the Bad Old Days This is the city and the season for the summer jam. Yo ... More >>

Blue Ivy Carter: Top Five Worst Examples of Rap Nepotism

Barely two days after his and Beyonce's baby Blue Ivy Carter was born, Jay-Z put her on a song. "Glory" is a tribute to his new daughter, who closes the track out with a guest feature -- crying. Jay-Z may be starting his kid off young, but nepotism is standard practice among rap superstars. There' ... More >>

Is "Kiss From a Rose" to Blame for "My Heart Will Go On"? Maybe, but It's Still Awesome

[Editor's Note: Fuck Guilty Pleasures celebrates the over-produced, commercial, artless, lowbrow music that we believe is genuinely worthwhile. Like, among the best music ever.] We've all been there. What normally would be a forgettable moment of your existence -- standing in line at the supermarke ... More >>

Why This Song Sucks: Cobra Starship's "You Make Me Feel..."

[Editor's note: Why This Song Sucks determines why particular tracks blow using science. It appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday.] Song: Cobra Starship's "You Make Me Feel..." featuring Sabi History: Cobra Starship is a pop band and just about the most hardcore thing to come from New York ... More >>

The Problem With Lana Del Rey (Is You)

See also: Is Lana Del Rey The Kreayshawn Of Moody, Electro-Tinged "Indie"? Why have singer-songwriter Lizzy Grant and her press people taken to depicting her as a "Lolita in the hood" and a "gangsta Nancy Sinatra"? Perhaps she doesn't feel she is very interesting. At least, not interesting enough ... More >>

Why This Song Sucks: Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger," featuring Christina Aguilera

[Editor's note: Why This Song Sucks determines why particular tracks blow using science. It appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday.] Song: Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger," featuring Christina Aguilera History: God (likely) intended for Maroon 5 to be an important-but-middling critic's darling, ... More >>

Kanye West - Call of Duty XP 2011 in Playa Vista - September 3, 2011

Lina Lecaro Kanye West​Kanye West Call of Duty XP 2011 event in Playa Vista September 3, 2011 Held Friday and Saturday at the Hercules Campus in Playa Vista (where the Spruce Goose was built), Call of Duty XP 2011 was a two day convention centered around the titular military-themed video game ... More >>

Compton Rapper Game Returns to an Industry That's Gone Soft

Will his old tricks still work?

Filter and Saliva - Key Club - 7/31/11

Richard Patrick of Filter at Key Club​WHO: Filter and Saliva WHERE: Key Club WHEN: 7/31/11 Better Than... Staying home for KROQ's '90s weekend. If the 90's were good to you, then you were probably at the Key Club last night for Filter and Saliva. At the packed house the scent of cheap weed o ... More >>

Bonnie McKee: Pop Tart

The singer-songwriter behind Katy's and Britney's sugarcoated hits

The Flaming Lips Releases New Music in Life-Size Gummy Skulls, Teases Gummy Wayne Coyne Statue

The Flaming LipsGummy skull​Silver trembling fetus ornaments and posters screen-printed with human blood--the colorful antics of The Flaming Lips' promotions are well documented. In January, Lips singer Wayne Coyne announced the band was planning to release small batches of songs in unorthodo ... More >>

This is How Motley Crue's Vince Neil Likes to Party in Vegas Waiting for His DUI Verdict: Eyewitness Account

Vince Neil: his DUI mugshot from June, 2010 (left) and a candid shot for a fan at a secret, decadent Eyes Wide Shut style party this past December​ According to Billboard, Motley Crue singer Vince Neil "avoided the media and quietly pleaded guilty Wednesday [today] to driving drunk last summe ... More >>

Waka Flocka Flame Surrenders to Police, His Mom Still Denies She's a Pimp

​Billboard reports that rapper Waka Flocka Flame has "turned himself in on drug and gun charges [...and] his bond was listed at more than $31,000." This incident follows another one from two weeks ago when ATL police barged into the houseof Waka Flocka Flame's mom, a lady by the name of Deb A ... More >>

Slow Soul: The Rise of Neoclassical Soul

Can R. Kelly’s latest be called “throwback” when all of R&B seems to be playing Back to the Future?

Lady Gaga's Raw Meat Dress: Your VMA Meat ID Test

MTV/Christie BishopLady Gaga's VMA Meat Dress​If you tuned in to Sunday night's MTV Video Music Awards and thought that Lady Gaga looked like a piece of meat, you'd be right. The singer, praised as much for her extreme fashion sense as she is for her consistent presence on Billboard's Top 10 l ... More >>

Doc Hammer, Jackson Publick and the Cult of 'The Venture Bros.'

The Venture Bros., which begins the second half of its fourth season Sunday night at 11:30 on Adult Swim, is a curious show. It hasn't won the awards that Robot Chicken and The Boondocks have. It didn't spawn a rock band with a Billboard top 20 album like Metalocalypse did. It doesn't have the super ... More >>

Music Picks: BB King and Buddy Guy, Silversun Pickups, Hard Summer, W.A.C.O.

Also Lady Gaga, Frazey Ford, Whispertown 2000, Ludacris and others

This Weekend's Good Deed: Rising Songwriter Rocco DeLuca at "White Light White Night" Fundraiser

​[West Coast Sound's Lily Borghi points out this very special fundraiser happening this weekend:] "Rocco DeLuca will be headlining this Saturday's summer party, White Light White Night. It's the big annual fundraising event for Walk With Sally, a local non profit that provides mentoring progr ... More >>

Today in Artists Sticking It to the Record Industry: Liz Phair Self-Releases Weird New Album, Tom Jones Delivers Christian Hymns Record Instead of "Sex Bomb, Part 2"

Stuff MagazineNot a Photoshop: The actual Liz Phair​Remember Liz Phair? And Tom Jones? Sure you do--they're both adult artists with a sizable fanbase who still buy records and have the income to pay for concert tickets. They might not be making Bieber or Bublé moolah, but the right record ind ... More >>

Anita Baker and Snoop Dogg Put Final Touches on "Super Fly" Soundtrack Cover

​We hear that last Monday RnB legend Anita Baker was in the studio working on her upcoming album due out in the Fall. This woulnd't be so newsworthy, but we've left two very important details out: she was putting the final touches on a duet with Snoop Dogg and that duet was Curtis Mayfield's " ... More >>

Johnny Mathis' "Kol Nidre" (Guest Bloggers: The "Jews on Vinyl" Project)

[Ed.'s Note: Roger Bennett and Josh Kun are the masterminds behind the amazing Jews on Vinyl project, where they have digged deep to retell the history of Jewish recorded music from the 1940s to the 1980s. Their projects include a blog, a book and a traveling museum exhibit which is coming to LA's S ... More >>

Whatever Happened to N.W.A's Posse?

The Eazy-E True Hollywood (or True Compton) Stories behind the legendary L.A. hip-hop cover

Nacional Records on Fire: The Ten Best Spanish-Language/Latin Albums 2009

By Christopher Lopez It's been a year of surprises in "Latin music," (whatever that catch-all genre term for Spanish-language music means in 2009). Reggaetón continues fading, albeit slowly, and the industry's mainstays aren't garnering the attention they used to. Case in point: Don Omar's summer ... More >>

Phish to Take Over Coachella Site for Halloween Festival. Like, Whoa.

Whoa. This could be huge! Billboard is reporting that Phish has announced a three-day festival called "Festival 8" at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio. Writes Billboard's Michael Ayers: After several weeks of speculation and a shape-shifting "Save the Date" map decorating its homepage, Phish h ... More >>

LA People 2009: Buckskin Blues — Pat Boone

SXSSXSW Day 4/Days Late (Pt. 1): On Rap/Rock, The Legacy of the Beasties, and Asher Roth Vs. The Knux

Other than freshman Delta Sigma Theta rushes at Cal-State Chico, no substrata of the American population has worse taste in rock than rappers. Sure, your little brother likes Fall Out Boy, but eventually, he's going to grow up and discover The Clash, then weed, then hopefully Junior Murvin and Lee ... More >>

Tonight at USC's Annenberg School: Music Writers Ponder the Life and Death of Criticsim

So tonight at 7:30 at USC's Annenberg School, I'll be participating in a forum on the future of music criticism. Organized by the L.A. Times' chief pop critic Ann Powers, the panel discussion features fellow L.A. Weekly contributors Ernest Hardy and Oliver Wang; Pulitzer Prize-winning music criti ... More >>

Exhuming Nostradamus: Judas Priest's Lead Singer on UFOs, Concept Albums, Motörhead and Dio

There is only one Metal God, and his name is Rob Halford

Annie Lennox: Songs of Mass Destruction

Record review

Awesome Music

What might the classical music establishment learn from pop?

The World According to Björk, Aoki, Tweedy and a Gaggle of Teenage Guitar Girls

Music Picks

For the week of June 1 - 7

A Mexican and an Irishman Walk Into a Bar...

East Vs. West, Part II

February 24, and Tangier, February 25

California Love

The Game and Daz bring gangsta back where it belongs

When Legend Precedes

The erstwhile John Stephens’ uphill battle with the hype

Subcultural Sing-Along

How 60,000 Pixies fans can renew rock’s forward march

Los Chalinillos

The next generation

Wayne White, Mixed Media

Dandyland

Polaroids from Silver Lake

Nouvelle Cuisine

French pop non-stop

In the Beginning

Too Much To Dream

The Devil in Miss Spears

Something Old...