Dan Auerbach

Hanni El Khatib: Hunka Burning Love

The hard-partying singer is sexy, raw, wild and, hopefully, dangerous

Hanni El Khatib Outtakes and His New Video (NSFW)

This week for our music feature we profile local guitar hero Hanni El Khatib, whose sophomore album, Head In the Dirt, came out Tuesday on the heels of some cherry licensing placements (hello, Super Bowl commercial). See also: Hanni El Khatib: The hard-partying singer is sexy, raw, wild and, hopef ... More >>

Under-the-Radar Acts to See at Coachella

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Beware any tutorial about the "right way" to do Coachella. Stay sentient, steer clear of phosphorescent forms in spirit hoodies, drink water, and never m ... More >>

Bizarre Ride: Jeff's Humorous Predictions and Most Anticipated Albums for 2013

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Half of January has elapsed and we've survived. There was no collapse due to fiscal cliff, Central American apocalypse or dubstep deluge. A new year unfu ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, December 28 Fishbone, Quinto Sol KEY CLUB Fishbone have gone through a lot of changes since emerging from South Central L.A. in 1979, but the group can always be counted on for a funky good time. Lead singer/saxist Angelo Moore, bassist Norwood Fisher and crew have evolved from a ska-reggae ... More >>

Music Picks: Fishbone, the Growlers, Redd Kross

The Best Concerts To See in L.A. This Weekend: Nov 2-4

Friday, November 2 Grace Potter & the Nocturnals THE WILTERN If anyone should be a star, it's Grace Potter. Commercial enough to sing duets with Kenny Chesney, she's also freaky enough to trip out occasionally with folks like Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, who produced part ... More >>

Music Picks: R. Kelly, Leonard Cohen, Cat Power

Music Picks: Lamb of God, Miike Snow, and Hanni El Khatib

The Five Best Shows in Los Angeles This Week: Grimes, Madonna

Monday, October 8 Superhumanoids THE ECHO L.A.'s Superhumanoids make pop songs out of star parts -- like the glow, the heat, the empty space and of course the wisps of fire that make NASA scientists curse every time a space probe gets singed by the stuff. This is heavenly stuff, with singer Sarah ... More >>

Music Picks: Eagle Rock Festival, New Order, Madonna

Cate Le Bon - Bootleg Theater - 10/2/12

Cate Le Bon Bootleg Theater 10-2-12 Better than: Staying home to do laundry. There were a strong trifecta of performances at everyone's favorite deep Beverly venue the Bootleg Theater last night. L.A.'s The Moor opened the show with a mellow set of piano/guitar/singing, which found every single p ... More >>

We Review Richie Sambora's "Indie Rock" Album

Stadium rocking superstar Richie Sambora is, for some reason, attempting crossover success in the vegan-chorizo taco world of Los Angeles indie rock. See also: Richie Sambora Is Putting Out an Indie Rock Album on Dangerbird. No, Seriously After getting clean and sober and renewing his relationship ... More >>

The Silver Lake Chorus Somehow Recruited All Your Favorite Indie Artists

The Silver Lake Chorus formed in the winter of 2010 through word of mouth, flyers ("can you or anyone you know sing tenor?") and Facebook. Auditions pared 60 hopeful singers down to a choir of 25 young men and women, many of whom had previous choral experience and most of whom actually reside in Sil ... More >>

Hot Chip, Passion Pit - Hollywood Bowl - September 9, 2012

Hot Chip, Passion Pit, Omar Souleyman Hollywood Bowl 9-9-12 Better Than: passionless pits, cold chips, obvious puns. When it comes to intricately grand disco-infused future rock for dance-loving adults, despite our continued sadness and confusion over LCD Soundsystem's breakup, we can take comfort ... More >>

FYF Fest - Los Angeles State Historic Park - September 1, 2012

Refused, Warpaint, The Vaselines, and others FYF Fest Los Angeles State Historic Park September 1, 2012 See also: F-Yeah! It's the 2012 FYF Quiz! Better than: Any cookout ever. Braving choking dust clouds, oppressive sunlight and the inevitable game of PortaJohn Roulette ought to deliver an eart ... More >>

F-Yeah! It's the 2012 FYF Quiz!

See also: Our slideshow from FYF Fest 2011: Death From Above 1979, Explosions in the Sky, Descendents, Simian Mobile Disco and More FYF Fest is upon us! With a second day added this year -- it's tomorrow, Sept 1 and Sunday, Sept 2 at L.A. State Historic Park -- fans can expect double the reunions, ... More >>

Gangi Makes Music From Instruments, Computers and Leaf Blowers

While the sound of the Glendale-based duo Gangi -- composed of Matt Gangi and Eric Chramosta -- has been called psych rock, that doesn't do justice to their delicate arrangement of noises and tones. It's art really, or sonic architecture (as they call it). That term might sound pretentious, if what ... More >>

Lord Huron: The Beauty of Life Is About the Journey to Death

On a warm summer afternoon, Ben Schneider lets me into his charming apartment at the top of one of those narrow, winding hills in Mount Washington. (The kind where if a car's coming the other way you are basically screwed.) Schneider is the frontman of Lord Huron, a solo project that has become a fu ... 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 >>

Michael Gross' New Album Considers: What If Dreams Don't Come True?

As musicians go, Michael Gross is a bit of a late bloomer. He didn't play music or harbor rock and roll aspirations as a kid growing up in Salt Lake City. He sang in his school choir for a year, but recalls that it "wasn't really for him." Mostly the self-proclaimed jock played sports, eventually ea ... More >>

Ariel Pink on His Name, and Why He Hasn't Left L.A.

See also: Ariel Pink Is the King of Whatever: Raised in Beverly Hills, he became the preeminent Eastside satirical musical madman In our music feature this week we profile Ariel Pink, the enigmatic Beverly Hills-raised rocker whose 4AD-released latest album Mature Themes is one of the year's best. ... More >>

Antibalas - The Echoplex - 8/14/12

Antibalas The Echoplex 8-14-12 Better than...outrunning the delirious coyotes in my neighborhood. I was asked more than once leading up to last night's Antibalas show, "Why would you listen to a band that sounds so much like Nigerian afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti when they could just listen to one of ... More >>

Divine Fits - Bootleg Theater - 8/14/12

Divine Fits Bootleg Theater 8/14/12 Divine Fits features Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade and Britt Daniel from Spoon. Watching the new act at the Bootleg last night was probably a lot like watching a Phoenix rise from the ashes. Boeckner served as lead singer and guitarist, while Daniel played bass. ... More >>

Grandaddy - Fonda Theatre - 8/13/12

Grandaddy Henry Fonda Theatre 8-13-12 Better than...drinking $8 Pabsts at home. Up until the last week, the Grandaddy quintet had not performed on stage together in six years. How many bands have come and gone since that time? How many bands will form and break-up before Grandaddy returns to Los A ... More >>

25 Gorgeous GIFs From Lollapalooza

By Reed Fischer See also: *Ten Things Your Lollapalooza Outfit Says About You *Lovely Ladies of Lollapalooza This past weekend's running of Lollapalooza in Chicago was intense. The heat, the monsoon-like storm on Saturday, and even the lobster corn dogs all exceeded what the human body can take n ... 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 >>

King Tuff Recorded His Album in an Abandoned, Haunted High School

The Problem With Lana Del Rey (Is You) How Boris Fucks With Their Fans -- In A Good Way Hanni El Khatib Makes an Album With Dan Auerbach, Gets Drunk Wavves of Pleasure: Indie Poster Boy Nathan Williams Makes Time For Recreation Portlandia Was Partly Inspired by Los Angeles Top 20 Worst Bands of All ... More >>

The Dirty Projectors' David Longstreth on Wearing a Haz-Mat Suit in the Largest Landfill in the Country

To listen to Swing Lo Magellan is to hear David Longstreth holding something back. Released on July 10 on Domino Records, Magellan is the seventh full-length album Longstreth has recorded as the Dirty Projectors, and the third since 2007's Rise Above, an idiosyncratic interpretation of a Black Fla ... More >>

Imagine Dragons' Dan Reynolds and Nico Vega's Aja Volkman-Reynolds' Weirdly Perfect Romance

The rock and roll fairy tale has more to do with booze-fueled, groupie-filled nights than it does babies and happily-ever-after romances. But for Dan Reynolds and Aja Volkman-Reynolds, the latter is proving to be true. At first glance the pair are a bit of an odd couple, Reynolds towering over Vol ... More >>

Exclusive: Levitt Pavilions Announce Summer Line-ups

In an exclusive to West Coast Sound, the Levitt Pavilions in Pasadena and MacArthur Park have revealed the lineups to their massive, free summer concert series -- almost 100 shows between the two venues. This year features everything from Latin alternative to folk, indie and world music. Highlights ... More >>

The Growlers Have a Shot at the Big Time, but It Makes Them Feel a Bit Uneasy

Hanni El Khatib Makes an Album With Dan Auerbach, Gets Drunk

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] "I'm blaming you if I puke later." "Fine. But admit it in the story," Hanni El Khatib replies, passing a vodka and soda that I didn't order. We've been ... More >>

Jane's Addiction, Black Keys, Mumford & Sons - KROQ Acoustic Christmas - 12/11/11

Timothy NorrisThe crowd​Jane's Addiction, Black Keys, Mumford & Sons, Foster the People, Florence and The Machine and others KROQ Acoustic Christmas, Night Two Gibson Ampitheatre 12/11/11 For the second night of its 22nd Acoustic Christmas extravaganza, KROQ put on a strong show featuring bo ... More >>

Music Picks: Fucked Up, Dolly Parton, Ty Segal, Fitz & the Tantrums,

Also, Soundgarden, Iceage, Earth, Wu Lyf and others

Music Picks: Batusis, Interpol, Minus the Bear

Also, Taj Mahal, Shakira, Sufjan Stevens and others

Live Review: The Black Keys at The Hollywood Palladium

Timothy NorrisThe Black Keys play the blues​ [For more exclusive pictures of the show see Timothy Norris' slideshow "The Black Keys @ The Palladium".] Out of the sweltering night air poured hundreds of Black Keys fans, who openly gasped in relief as soon as they got through the Hollywood Pal ... More >>

Music Picks: Ooh La La Fest, Pavement, Beach House

Also, Kris Kristofferson, the Black Keys, Bettye Lavette and others

Rap Supergroup Alert: Bun B Cool Kids Freddie Gibbs Black Keys Other Guy = P.O.C.

Freddie Gibbs collaborates with Bun B, Chuck Inglish, Chip tha Ripper and Dan Aeurbach​Hey! It's a new rap supergroup and Snoop Dogg isn't involved this time. Our favorite L.A. (via Gary, Indiana) nü-gangsta rapper Freddie Gibbs has teamed up with an almost all-star lineup for an outfit tent ... More >>

Rock Picks: GZA, the Ettes, A.A. Bondy, Mose Allison

Also, the Kris Special, Jesse Sykes, Mamak Khadem and others

Guest Blogger Jason Reitman Talks Early Soundtrack Influences

Editor's note: West Coast Sound is thrilled to introduce to our blogging world the director Jason Reitman, whose new film, Up in the Air, has just opened in Los Angeles and New York, and opens across the country on December 25. The movie stars George Clooney and Vera Farmiga, it's true, but like his ... More >>

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

Also, Ghostface Killah, Pi, Brother Ali and others

Saturday Night in LA: Phosporescent, Von Bondies, Dan Auerbach, Lyrics Born,

Saturday night in LA and you're looking for music? Here are four good ideas: Phosphorescent, Viva Voce at the Regent Theatre Chris Martins writes: Phosphorescent's Matthew Houck may be a city slicker by day, but once the sun sinks under the prairie, the cowboy comes out. Houck was raised in Alab ... More >>

Rock Picks: Dan Auerbach, Primal Scream, Lyrics Born

Also, the Von Bondies, Tindersticks, Dave Rawlings Machine & Gillian Welch, and others

Black Keys, Jay Reatard, Wiltern, 4/1

Black Keys, Jay Reatard The Wiltern, April 1 By Jonah Flicker We’ll get to the white-boy blues-rock in just a sec, but first we have a very serious matter to discuss: the awesomeness of Jay Reatard. I have had his most recent release, Blood Visions, playing on repeat for the past few months, and ... More >>

Rock Picks

For September 7-14

The Kids Aren’t Alright . . . They’re Amazing

Why what was old and lost and a bit odd is young and new — and exciting — again