Black Flag (Band)

Fans Share Their Favorite Henry Rollins Memories

It's Henry Rollins week here at West Coast Sound. In conjunction with Ben Westhoff's cover story interview with our columnist -- who has a new book out of collected L.A. Weekly writings -- we asked our readers for stories about meeting him, and about what his work meant to them. See also: "Henry R ... More >>

Fanatics! Sunday's Show Is Packed With Mix Tape Goodness

RADIO BROADCAST #215 05-12-13 Fanatics. I would like to thank the girls from Honest Marquee for giving us one of their new tracks for us to play. I think it's a great one. Sunday's show is packed with mix tape goodness and I think you're going to dig it. I want to thank you for all the letters yo ... 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 >>

The Best Concerts in L.A. This Week

Monday, February 25 The Residents EL REY THEATRE Somewhere between rock & roll's spiritual mystique and a distinctly unhinged surrealist pathology, you'll find the lair of bizarro-art-imitates-music tribe The Residents. Unprecedented, with no discernible frame of reference save for a magnificently ... More >>

Let's Be Honest: Sonic Youth Are Really Boring

In the annals of rock there are many bands that people pretend to like, bands with fandoms consisting entirely of people desperately wanting to appear interesting by proxy. Royal Trux is a good example, as are Ween. Basically any Burzum fan who isn't a corpse paint-wearing, basement-dwelling Nazi fr ... More >>

Parquet Courts - The Echo - 1/15/13

Parquet Courts, Wet Illustrated The Echo 1/15/13 Among the most notable music trends in 2012 was the arrival of a handful of punk revival bands, who drew from indie rock and old school punk influences like Minor Threat and Black Flag to give the genre an updated sound. With bands like Metz and Merc ... More >>

The Power of the Riff - Fonda Theater - 12/20/12

The Power of the Riff Fonda Theater 12/20/12 Better Than... counting down your Mayan advent calendar at home alone. Despite the US Government's attempt to convince us otherwise, we attended metal festival The Power of the Riff last night hoping that the end was, to quote 28 Days Later, "extremely ... More >>

Aquarium Drunkard Is a Cool, Weird Music Bar on the Internet

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Justin Gage's business card for Aquarium Drunkard bears a simple mantra: "Just the good shit." This might seem self-evident for the proprietor of a music ... More >>

Top 20 L.A. Metal Albums: 20 - 11

When it comes to discussion of the top metal scenes, Los Angeles never gets its due. Maybe it's because we're not known for being pioneers of a single subgenre (Bay Area thrash and Florida death metal for example), but there's still no doubt that the city has been vital in the evolution of metal. ... More >>

Saint Vitus: Addiction Still Fuels Their Fire

When their 1986 album Born Too Late was released, it's fair to say not many had picked up on the genius of Saint Vitus. Check this YouTube clip of a performance at the Palm Springs Community Center that year, for example. It appears to have been attended by fewer than a dozen people. Today, Born T ... More >>

FYF Fest Day Two - The Faint, Converge, Dinosaur Jr - September 2, 2012

FYF Fest Day 2 The Faint, Converge, Dinosaur Jr and Others September 2, 2012 See also: *Our review of FYF Day One *Take our FYF quiz Better Than: Striking for a 40 hour work week. After a series of intense showers and professional-assisted dust removal, we were back for day two of the purporte ... More >>

Katy Goodman: Ya Gotta Have Heartbreak

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here. Katy Goodman makes breakup albums. Her latest, Sees the Light, largely concerns her failed relationships with two former beaux. Sure, there are some happy tracks, about a third ... More >>

Esther Wong: Her Flawed Legacy

Contrary to revisionist history, her club Madame Wong's did not propel L.A.'s punk scene

Henry Rollins: The Column! I'm Not Dead Yet

​[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.] A few days ago, I was sitting backstage at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, in the same area ... More >>

Punk Rock Museum Opens Today: Our Exclusive Preview

See all our pictures from the Punk Rock Museum Opening. L.A. scenester icon Taquila Mockingbird made a heartfelt promise three decades ago to keep "keep punk alive," and she's been doing it pretty much everyday of her life since. It fuels her very existence. But this weekend, the writer/singer/arti ... More >>

Union Cattle Co. Closing; Becoming Abigaile

This Sunday, South Bay local Jed Sanford will close down a Hermosa Beach landmark. Union Cattle Co. will shutter for a month-long overhaul and will reopen in early February as Abigaile, an upscale American brasserie with touches of Italian, French and Spanish influence. The chef is Max DiMare of Woo ... More >>

Moshe Brakha, Legendary Photographer, Collaborates with Son on Project of Interviewing One Subject a Week for a Year

Black Flag, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Keanu Reeves and Devo have all been shot by famed photographer Moshe Brakha. Charismatically colorful from the start, his photographs burst with movement and personality. He shot the cover for Boz Scaggs' Silk Degrees album in '76, shot Run DMC for Rolling Stone, a ... More >>

Nirvana Little-Known-Facts Revealed: The Band and Jon Stewart Celebrate Nevermind's 20th Anniversary in New York

Jena Ardell​Who: Nirvana Where: SiriusXM's studios in New York City When: September 24, 2011 Better than... bands inspired by Nirvana. Saturday marked the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's Nevermind, an album most people feel changed the landscape of music. To celebrate, SiriusXM satellite radio ... More >>

Pacific Standard Time: Timeline 1945-1980

A short, admittedly reductive guide to postwar L.A. art

Henry Rollins: The Column! Ghosts of Los Angeles Music Past

​[Look for your weekly fix of the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.] Tonight I was driving to the Trader Joe's on Santa Monica Boulevard, east of Gardner. I re ... More >>

The Many Travels of Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins: The Column! Now It's Dark, and I Am Real

Timothy Norris​[The one and only Henry Rollins contributes a weekly column and far-reaching reportage to the music section of the LA Weekly. Look for your weekly Henry Rollins fix right here on West Coast Sound every week and make sure to tune in to Henry's KCRW radio show every Saturday eveni ... More >>

Music to Pick Up/Download

SXSW Bands from A-Z: M-Q

​ Here we are once again, with our servicey enterprise that's both informative and educational. A mix of genres awaits you at the jump as we go through awesome bands in M-Q playing SXSW official showcases.

Jane's Addiction's "Nothing's Shocking": The Word Cloud

​ Hey gang--guess what popular West Coast Sound feature is back? The Word Cloud! The 'Cloud has been M.I.A. for a few months, but we're restarting this Friday tradition with a great one--as per usual very suitable for making stencils and T-shirt iron-ons. For those of you with memories oblit ... More >>

HENRY THE GREAT

KNOW YOUR PUNK

Who is Behind LA's Mystery Supergroup HIGHONS?

​You love blind items, so here's a little blind item for your guessing pleasure: One of our tipsters has pointed us towards this release doing the press runs: You are graciously invited to the closing cocktail reception of INSTANT LA SUMMER. We are proud to host musical guests HIGHONS and ... More >>

Q&A: The FYF Fest

A Punk Rock Interview with Shepard Fairey, Featured Artist for Alternative Press Magazine's 25th Anniversary Exhibit

Shepard Fairey, the DJ​Although his most recognizable (and controversial) work is 2008's Barack Obama "HOPE" poster, influential street artist Shepard Fairey's biggest motivation comes from connecting with music, not making splashy headlines. Old school album art, flyers and T-shirts from band ... More >>

Re: Versions

I Love Rock & Roll (Movies): The Nightranger's Guide to LA Band-dom On Film

[Lina Lecaro writers our amazing Nightranger column every week. Check out her explorations of LA nightlife here.] With The Runaways bringing rock n' roll to movie theaters this week (see a report from the premiere here), we've been thinking about our favorite band n' beat packed films lately. Docum ... More >>

Tupac's 'All Eyez on Me': The LA Weekly Word Cloud [NSFW]

West Coast Sound has been analyzing classic Los Angeles albums for the past six months by creating word clouds from the lyrics. We've tackled Black Flag's Damaged, the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton, Guns 'n Roses' Appetite for Destruction and, most recently, just for kicks, ... More >>

ALBUM ANALYZER

Get to the bottom of lyrics with Wordle.

N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton: The Word Cloud

​ In an ongoing effort to better understand the many classic albums of Los Angeles, we've come upon an equation that gets to the heart of the matter without much thinking, analysis, verbiage or any of those other "old-model" music criticism techniques that have become obsolete. Specifically, ... More >>

Red Line Fever: It’s Casual

Coming to an off-ramp near you

Brick’s Picks: the Real McCoy

Mullen on Music

Lightning Bolt, Black Lips, Tim & Eric, No Age to Headline Festival Formerly Known as F Yeah Fest

Lightning Bolt at WFMU​ It's been a crazy past few months for F Yeah Fest principals Sean Carlson, Keith Morris and Phil Hoelting. The annual summer music festival, which changed its name from the Fuck Yeah Fest two years ago for obvious reasons, has been the sturdy little engine of the punk/ ... More >>

It's Casual's Video for "The New Los Angeles": Roboshobo Moves from Metallica to the Streets

Eddie Solis doesn't mess around. If he's not up at the Southern Lord Records offices in East Hollywood working the drone, black, dark, avant, speed, and proto metal that one of Los Angeles' best labels trades in, he's down the street at the Relax Bar. There, he books the four- and five-band bills of ... More >>

The Dirty Projectors Swirl Around the Troubadour

View more live photos in the Dirty Projectors at the Troubadour slideshow. Brooklyn's Dirty Projectors performed at the Troubadour last night for the first time since their wildly imaginative, critically heralded new album Bitte Orca was released. The last time they played LA the band was supportin ... More >>

Flyer of the Week: Sarcastic and Rong

Okay, the flyer itself ain't the best -- competing fonts, a non-sequitur collection of LAX, an astronaut and a zebra standing on the moon, faux-thrown-together vibe -- but the intent and the message more than make up for the design deficiencies. To wit: Rong Music, which has been releasing some of ... More >>

Ozomatli in Myanmar: Punk's Not Dead

Randall RobertsPunk's Not Dead scribbled on a wall in Yangon, Myanmar No, Ozomatli's not a punk band, at least not in the traditional sense -- though Uli Bella does have a Crass button pinned to his requinto jarocho strap -- but that doesn't mean they don't have the attitude. Long story short: I' ... More >>

Target Video at Silent Movie Theatre Tonight: First Wave Punk, First Wave Video Collide

Target Video/Joe ReesLA's The Bags in a Target still from a 1979 performance Interested in LA punk rock and early renegade video production? Tonight Cinefamily at Silent Movie Theater delivers Target Video presents: Raw Power, featuring appearances by Targeters Joe Rees and Jackie Sharp. Cinefa ... More >>

Weekend Report: Lynda Kay, Henry Rollins, Keith Morris, Geneva Jacuzzi Do the Montalban

View more photos in Timothy Norris' day one and day two slideshows. This weekend the LA Weekly celebrated its annual People issue with LA Weekend, a two-day cultural happening at the Nike Store at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre that offered music, art, food and drink (100-proof Belvedere vodka, whi ... More >>

Mike Watt Interviewed by Ian Svenious for Soft Focus

Not many people have acknowledged that this June will be the 25th anniversary of the release of the Minutemen's seminal Double Nickels on the Dime. As part of an ongoing celebration of that monumental, transformative album, we'll be tossing up classic Minutemen moments in the coming few months. Th ... More >>

Mika Miko Announce Release Date for We Be Xuxa on PPM Records

Mika Miko: They be xuxa. Given that they've been around since 2003, it's kinda shocking that LA's Mika Miko have released only one proper full-length. Yeah, they've had their cassettes and demos and 7-inches and compilation appearances and their fantastic 666 EP on Post Present Medium. Last year's ... More >>

Weiss' 50 Best Albums of the Year (#40-31) (Sponsored By Crystal Pepsi)

If you're going to drink one clear cola this year, make it Crystal Pepsi. Please.40. No Age-Nouns (Sub Pop) Face it, *Nouns* is this decade's *Let it Be* (The Replacements, not The Beatles): A ragtag posse of scruffy dudes sonically illustrating their homes with spectacular tunes and pure passi ... More >>

L.A. Weekly's Top Ten Dance Collections of 2008, Both Mixed and Unmixed

Any knucklehead with DSL and a laptop can now make an electronic track. With a half hour of clicking and fiddling, you can sample enough cheesy beats and mashups to clog arteries from here to Berlin. Simple dropdown mouse maneuvers can transform electro tracks into progressive house tracks (from dry ... More >>

Diplo, Santogold, Cutty Ranks Re-imagine Black Flag's "Six Pack" (MP3)

There's only one CD that matters in my car right now, and that's Diplo's raucous and sharp recent Santogold mixtape, called Top Ranking. It moves all over the place, from early '60s girl groups -- a stunning reworking of the Dixie Cups "Iko Iko" -- to 60s rocksteady (Desmond Dekker's "Shanty Town" ... More >>