Franz Ferdinand

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 >>

Music Picks: As Blood Runs Black, Kelly Hogan, Regina Spektor

Also, Agalloch, Antibalas, Power of the Riff and others

The Five Best Cover Songs Ever Covered, Rediscovered!

​ Sometimes the artist who authored a song does a bang-up job in the recording and you never need hear from the song again, except to hear it over and over and enjoy its overwhelming awesomeness. And sometimes an artist writes an incredible song and does an amazing job, and later on, some oth ... More >>

Top 5 Hottest Boys from the Hottest Bands in L.A. in 2010

Boys in bands are cute but some of them are extremely cute. It almost doesn't matter that they're playing any music (although we're glad they are!). What follows is the five hottest boys in some of the best bands in L.A. Courtesy FutureSoundsthe Fling. Flinging it. ​ 5. the Fling Long Bea ... More >>

Tonight: The Futureheads, Broken Bells, Slash, Mexicans With Guns, CocoRosie, Nightmare & the Cat

The Futureheads​The Futureheads streaked out of Sunderland, England, in 2004 in jetstream of U.K. post-punk bands such as Franz Ferdinand (the respective quartets' debut albums came out only months apart) who looked to the likes of Wire, Gang of Four and XTC for inspiration. The difference-ma ... More >>

Jane's Addiction to Play Intimate 'Fans-Only' Show at the Roxy in Hollywood on Friday

Jane's Addiction, then​Late last week, Dave Navarro let slip via the Jane's Addiction website that the band will be playing an intimate show "for the fans" at an undisclosed Hollywood venue. Well, that venue's been disclosed. On Twitter about an hour ago, Navarro announced, "I'll be giving aw ... More >>

Flux Screening Series

WTF: Did Franz Ferdinand Rip-Off L.A. Band Foot Village?!

Foot Village, a "drum-n-shout" ensemble.​Can't say we saw this one coming. It's just come to West Coast Sound's attention that Factóide!, a blog in Brazil, is asking this searing question of Scottish indie-rock megastars Franz Ferdinand: "It would be an inspiration in the soil, Foot Village ... More >>

Franz Ferdinand Singer to US Label: I'd Rather Eat Cow Shit Than McDonalds!

James Freeman via FlickrHave You Had Your Break Today?​Stereogum and Rolling Stone report that Franz Ferdinand singer Alex Kapranos, "a noted foodie who compiled his eating adventures into a travelogue called Sound Bites," is really upset at the band's US label Epic Records for licensing one o ... More >>

West Coast Sound's Top Ten Cover Songs of the Decade

Cover songs are a massive gray area for music fans. If a band sticks too close to the original, they might be perceived as a cheap knock-off, but if the band makes a drastic diversion, the results might only be amusing for a moment. When a cover works, though, the payoff can be massive. Fans can be ... More >>

Franz Ferdinand at the Palladium: Let Some Professionals Show You How It's Done

Franz Ferdinand is my uncle's favorite band. They might be your uncle's favorite band. About five years ago, they were my sister's favorite band -- probably yours too. That was when Franz Ferdinand released "the song." You know -- "THE SONG." That moment of leyden jar lightning when circumstance and ... More >>

National Record Store Day in LA and at Coachella: Celebrating Brick, Mortar, Mom, Pop

Patrick O'DellFatbeats' DJ Rhettmatic Celebrating record stores as part of the second annual National Record Store Day, which is tomorrow, should be a no-brainer for Southern Californians. After all, the region is the undisputed center of the vinyl industry, with RTI, Rainbo and Erika all pressing ... More >>

Coachella Friday Set Times Leaked? Are These Real?

Greg Gillis, aka Girl Talk. The Coachella message board lit up this morning when someone posted a pretty convincing list of Friday set times, one of the last big secrets the festival reveals. For those of us going, the set times are obviously important because they dictate what we'll be missing, w ... More >>

Coachella Teaser MP3: Fucked Up Remixed By No Age

Exactly. In our ongoing effort to educate Coachella-goers on the underbill, and sway others that there's more to this year's roster than Girl Talk, Franz Ferdinand and Paul McCartney, we're offering mp3s.

West Coast Sound: An L.A. Music Pro's Guide to South by Southwest

Ten to watch: The next Ford jingle?

Friday Night: Franz Ferdinand at Amoeba

Franz Ferdinand live at Amoeba Music.There were 800 people inside Amoeba Music on Friday evening, maximum capacity for the Sunset Boulevard record store. The smell of rock 'n' roll sweat was pungent and immediate, a humid cloud lingering above crowds of anxious, half-asleep people waiting through a ... More >>

Coachella 2009 Announced: Amy Winehouse, Paul McCartney, My Bloody Valentine ... Throbbing Gristle! Leonard Cohen!

Yeah, so all the silly speculation probably isn't done yet, as Goldenvoice always adds a few heavy-hitters after the initial announcement, but the initial line-up is up. Click through to see it in all it's glory. We'll start analyzing it soon, but for now: Throbbing Gristle! No Pavement? Let the ... More >>

Franz Ferdinand Playing Free Show at Amoeba Next Friday

The band has been in LA a lot lately (word is they were spotted filming a video on an off-day at the Echoplex a few weeks back), and now comes word that Franz Ferdinand will perform a free gig at Amoeba Records next Friday, January 30. Expect a madhouse, for sure, especially after they dropped Uly ... More >>

Coachella Rumor Mill Works Overtime, but the Confirmations Continue to Trickle In

(Michel Gondry's video for the Chemical Brothers' "Let Forever Be.") Here's a list of "confirmed" (so far) acts to appear at Coachella 2009, according to the very reliable Monklish blog. His guarantee: "I've been told that these have been making arrangements to attend the festival as contractuall ... More >>

SXSW Day 2-Formed a Band, Everyone Formed A Band

Hey, Aren't You Juliette Lewis? Walking down 6th street yesterday, you had to wonder if everyone in the world somehow heard that Art Brut song, "Formed a Band" and decided that if Eddie Argos could do it, how hard could it really be? I've seen telephone directories thinner than the official SXSW ... More >>

Sunset Salutation

A few choice slots amid the abundance of the Sunset Junction Street Festival

Brothers in Arms

The Cribs look to extend their family

Rock Picks

For the week of May 31 - June 7

My(Space) Secret is Out: Cold War Kids Play For Free

If you have a MySpace page, then lucky you. You can diddle away hours at work, perp for dates, check up on exs, plug your band, and now...you can attend their secret shows. Well, they've been going on for a year, whether you knew you were invited or not. Last February, MySpace launched "Secret Show ... More >>

Take Me Out (to Eat)

Franz Ferdinand’s tour-food diary... yum!

Honey Catacombs

Voters Unguided

Do the Monster Mashup!

The Teddybears' Picnic

Meet Sweden’s newest black-metallers-turned-pop-tarts!

Bong Hits, Bluegrass, Pervy Puppets, and Tom Petty As Hipster

Snakebites from Coachella

Clusterfucked

Festivus Maximus

Do you enjoy crowds, music and exhaustion?

Don't Postpone Maximum Joy!

A buncha beloved Brit post-punk finds its day in the (reissue) sun

The Year in Live Music

Beyond Bubbly

The Style Council’s New Year’s Eve party mixes

Horsefeathers!

Pundits can’t stop calling Brokeback Mountain a “breakthrough.” The question is: Why?

Class Honors

HONOR ROLL

Bungle in the Jungle

Bubblegum Hip-hop and a Band With three Test Icicles

See Betty Rock

L.A.’s fave band-you-love-to-hate ask: What’s wrong with rockin’ like high school?

Live in LA

Small Revolt

The Futureheads take over, one listener at a time

Putting Faith in Dog

Weddings & Funerals

The Arcade Fire tap into all the bliss running wild underneath

Girls Incited, City Burned

A Small New Future

ALEC HANLEY BEMIS on the casualties and survivors in the war between the Cynics and the True Believers

The Fuzz and the Fury