Dead Oceans Inc.

Yes, Jennifer and Jessica Clavin Used to Be in Mika Miko, But Now They're Bleached

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Let's just get this out of the way. Until now, Jennifer and Jessica Clavin have been primarily known for singing and playing bass in the seminal Smell pu ... More >>

Music to Pick Up/Download

Tonight: Phosphorescent, Villagers, Jesca Hoop, Midnight Juggernauts, Polls, Twin Sister

Sebastian MlynarskiPhosphorescent​Good things some to those who ... make good music? Ah, it'd warm our blog band-besotted cackles if it were always so. But there is a happy story to tell about Phosphorescent, the Brooklyn-based, Athens, Ga.-born alt-country band who this spring released the t ... More >>

Music Picks: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Bridget St. John, Bad Astronaut, Kings of Leon

Also, Lilith 2010, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Smokey Robinson, Antibalas and others

Music Picks: Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, VoicesVoices, Peter Gabriel, Jakob Dylan

Also, Ane Brun, the Melodians, Kate Miller-Heidke, Ian Whitcomb and others

Best Alt-Country Folk Records 2009: Willie Nelson is Still A Badass

ALT-COUNTRY/FOLK Meet the Folk-ers Noah W. Bailey slices the Americana pie and determines that, yes, Willie Nelson is still a badass. We spent 2009 sorting through piles of folk and Americana releases, revising this list in our heads till the bitter end and failing repeatedly to understand the hyp ... More >>

Rock Picks: Willie Nelson, Maude Maggart, Two Tears

Also, Cold Cave, Ceci Bastida, Califone, and others

MP3 Exclusive: Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band's New Holiday Song, 'Inuit'

In honor of the Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band show at Spaceland tonight, West Coast Sound is pleased to present a brand new, exclusive holiday track from Seattle-based quintet. All wrapped up, ready to go.​

INCHES006: New Wax from HEALTH, Mayer Hawthorne, and White Shit ( MP3s, chart, video)

In the unpredictable wake of music's digital rebirth, vinyl has experienced a modest boom in popularity, seen by many (with delicious irony) as a replacement for the awkward middleman that is the compact disc. INCHES seeks not only to review the output of L.A.'s healthy vinyl community (artists and ... More >>

INCHES005: New Wax from The Mars Volta, Glasser, Wet Hair, Kissing Cousins ( MP3s, video, chart)

In the unpredictable wake of music's digital rebirth, vinyl has experienced a modest boom in popularity, seen by many (with delicious irony) as a replacement for the awkward middleman that is the compact disc. INCHES seeks not only to review the output of L.A.'s healthy vinyl community (artists and ... More >>

SXSW '09, Day 2: On Applying for Secret Canadian Citizenship, The Tidal Wave of Tastemaking, and Dirty Projecting

Last year was my first year in Austin, so I can't really speak to nebulous notions of the SXSW "good ol' days." Anecdotal evidence suggests that the place has expanded exponentially each year since the rise of the Internet, and the demolition of the quasi-mythological monoculture. In layman's term ... More >>