Gorillaz

WonderCon's Hip-Hop and Comics Event Might Be the Best Convention Panel We've Ever Seen

In Nineteen Eighty Five, the comic book series by James Reitano, a group of teens come of age as hip-hop hits Santa Cruz. Their lives are shaped by the a then-budding youth culture revolving around DJs, MCs, street artists and break dancers. Technically, the story is fiction, but it's inspired by Re ... More >>

Coachella 2012: Five Must-See, Under-the-Radar EDM Artists

You're at Coachella. You love EDM. But what do you do if you really don't feel like dancing to bottle service-party staples like Avicii, Kaskade and Swedish House Mafia? Chances are, if you check out the artists listed in small print, you'll find great DJs and (hopefully) smaller crowds in the tents ... More >>

12th Planet On How He Met Skrillex, and How Dubstep Took Off in L.A.

Our feature story this week profiles L.A. dubstep hero 12th Planet, aka the Johnny Appleseed of Dubstep. We spent time with him backstage at the Echoplex before a gig with Skrillex and Caspa, and then again at his downtown loft-studio. The DJ-producer has been instrumental in bringing dubstep to th ... More >>

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble: Eight Brothers and Their Dad

From the Dorseys to the Davies', brother acts translates well to the stage, but few have a bond like the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. The nine-piece, Chicago-based band boasts eight horn-playing sons of jazzman Kelan Phil Cohran. They, along with their father, will perform at the Exchange tomorrow, Febr ... More >>

Live Review: Hatsune Miku @ Nokia Theatre for Anime Expo 2011

Shannon Cottrell​For more photos, see Shannon Cottrell's gallery, "Anime Expo at Night: Hatsune Miku in Concert, Tune in Tokyo at Club Nokia." Read more about Anime Expo 2011 in Style Council. The big draw for this year for Anime Expo 2011 was Japan's virtual pop star. Hatsune Miku is a chara ... More >>

Eleven Weirdo Rock Star Alter Egos

​Something about achieving major fame in music seems to drive creative artists to assume new personae. Whether it be fodder for an epic concept album, a stab at a different genre or just plain boredom, many of our favorite stars have conjured up characters in order to explore and indulge their fan ... More >>

Music Picks: The Undertones, Prince, Eternal Summers, Check Yo Ponytail 2

Also, Earth, Wind & Fire, Tinie Tempah, Arctic Monkeys, Woodsman and others

Today in WTF: Lee Scratch Perry Becoms Animated Character for Adult Swim Show!

​Jamaican god-level genius Lee "Scratch" Perry has been kind of an amazing cartoon character for decades now, but soon you'll be able too the "kind of" from that statement. Cartoon Network has commissioned and is currently test-screening footage of a new show based on the Major Lazer project ... More >>

Top 20 Most Ridiculous Grammy 2010 Nominations: Still Ridiculous after All These Months

Grammys: they're nuts!​ [Originally published December 2010] It's that time of the year, the time when the imploding music industry gathers to display their astonishing cluelessness by nominating a bunch of hacks, flashes-in-the-pan, and old people that have done their best work 40 years ago ... More >>

From Sweden, With Buzz

Little Dragon keeps getting bigger, with a little help from KCRW (and the Swedish welfare state)

Little Dragon Wants to Collaborate with Dam Funk, Flying Lotus and Nite Jewel: Expanded Interview with the Swedish Trip-Pop Sensation

Flying Lotus Little Dragon? The Swedish Trip Pop Outfit Can Dream

Top 20 Most Ridiculous Grammy 2010 Nominations

Grammys: they're nuts!​It's that time of the year, the time when the imploding music industry gathers to display their astonishing cluelessness by nominating a bunch of hacks, flashes-in-the-pan, and old people that have done their best work 40 years ago as "the best music of the year." Yup-- ... More >>

Haiku News: Manson Goes Indie, Guns 'n' Roses Talk 'Chinese Democracy' Followup, New Sleigh Bells Video, & New Dirty Bastard?

Haiku News: Manson Goes Indie, Guns 'n' Roses Talk 'Chinese Democracy' Followup, New Sleigh Bells Video, & New Dirty Bastard?

Live Review: LA 101 with Massive Attack and Thievery Corporation

timothy norrismassive attack​ See more of Timothy Norris' photos in 'LA 101 with Thievery Corporation, Massive Attack and more.' By any metric, last night's LA 101 at the Gibson Amphitheatre was a success--save for maybe the fact that the headliners didn't hail from LA. Of course, Massive At ... More >>

Live Review: Gorillaz at Gibson Amphitheatre

Timothy NorrisGorillaz: an unprecedented revue​ Say you dreamed up a virtual band with a friend of yours who's a comic book artist. Say a bunch of instruments were lying around waiting for you to pick and pluck at them, and a bunch of friends kept dropping by to play. You'd act like a kid. No, ... More >>

Tonight: Gorillaz, Reigning Sound, White Sea, Bullet for My Valentine, VersaEmerge, Onra

Gorillaz​The festival-closing Coachella set by Gorillaz back in April was as memorable for what it wasn't as what it was. The Damian Albarn-fronted collective went it without its typical big-screen animations and played unmasked -- with the Clash's Mick Jones and Paul Simonon joining for a se ... More >>

Music Picks: Batusis, Interpol, Minus the Bear

Also, Taj Mahal, Shakira, Sufjan Stevens and others

Music Picks: Goldfrapp, Concrete Blonde, Sally Seltmann, Black Francis

Also, Electric Daisy Carnival, the Adicts, Lou Barlow and others

DJ Q&A: A Few Questions For Booka Shade's Arno Kammermeier

Berlin duo Booka Shade has broken out of the Berlin underground and into The New York Times with its accessibly melodic techno and mesmerizing stage presence. The pair that started out with groovy choons found mostly via online outlets such as Beatport has become a big-league electronic act known to ... More >>

Will Alan Moore-Mike Patton Collaboration Top "March of the Sinister Ducks"?

Pitchfork reports that comics legend Alan Moore, the revered writer responsible for From Hell, Watchmen and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (the comics, NOT the movies) has a couple of new musical collaborations ready, including one that features the one and only Mike Patton. From Pitchfork: Moo ... More >>

Nightranger: Supermassive Black Hell

Day 3: Coachella WINs and FAILs (featuring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Thom Yorke, Phoenix, etc.)!

Gustavo TurnerThe Great Thom Yorke in the Sky​ Sunday was the hottest day of the Coachella weekend and it felt like the most crowded, a change from previous years when (thanks to the one-day passes) the last day had shown a welcome self-weeding-out of the masses. In terms of festival logisti ... More >>

Day 3: Gorillaz at Coachella, Why the Multi-Media Group Matters

Gorillaz, the multi-media music project helmed by former Blur front man Damon Albarn and Tank Girl co-creator Jamie Hewlett, is the most intriguing, and perhaps one of the most important, music groups to emerge from the '00s. Nowhere was that more obvious than Sunday night at Coachella, when Gorilla ... More >>

DJ Tiesto Rocks Peak Time Set At Coachella

Dennis Romero​For those about to rock, we ... ask that you step aside and make room for 50,000 raging fans of the operatic dance sound known as trance. For all of Coachella's claims to being a desert temple of rock-god worship (Muse, Them Crooked Vultures, The Dillinger Escape Plan), the peak- ... More >>

Concert-Goers Endure Three-Hour Wait At Coachella

Dennis Romero​With reporting from Bill Jensen Concert-goers waited for as long as three hours in near 90-degree heat Friday afternoon to get into the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, a three-day affair in Indio, Calif. Organizers seemed ill-prepared to deal with an onslaught o ... More >>

BREAKING: Will Airport Delays Make British Bands Miss Coachella?

​The NME reports that volcanic ash has delayed many flights from Heathrow Airport near London, which could make UK bands miss their Coachella slots. [UPDATE 12:00pm: Now it seems Gary Numan joins the Cribs, Bad Lieutenant and the other bands who might have to cancel their Coachella appearanc ... More >>

Gorillaz to Perform 'Secret' Show on Friday, Absurdly Request No Phones

​Losanjealous reports that Gorillaz will have a "dress rehearsal" this Friday in LA for their Coachella-closing gig on Sunday. Jumping through a lot of hoops is of course required, summarized by Losanjealous (or by the band, unclear) suchly: What: Gorillaz "Dress Rehearsal" Pre-Coachella Sec ... More >>

The Specials: Back in Black and White

Lynval Golding on the return of ska's magnificent seven (minus one)

Coachella Confirmations Begin to Trickle In, Rumors Abound

The Coachella message board is doing a good job of tracking the upcoming Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio. Now's the time that bands begin leaking confirmations, revealing their hands on MySpace, Twitter and Facebook, and basically spilling the beans one way or another. For example, this f ... More >>

Rock Picks: Fuck Buttons, Exene Cervenka, Imogen Heap, John Fogerty

Also, HEALTH, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Múm, Leon Russell and others

Hypnotic Brass Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Ensemble Shake the Explex

Hypnotic Brass Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Ensemble Shake the Explex

The Great Music Save: Dark Night of the Soul Opens at Michael Kohn Gallery

Untitled (Little Girl #2) David Lynch, 2009Last Saturday's Dark Night of the Soul opening at LA's Michael Kohn Gallery, featuring the work of David Lynch, Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, wasn't just the hot event ticket of the weekend, it was one of the greatest save's in music history.

A Conversation with Posdnuos of De La Soul: On Nike Run Mixes, The Current State of Hip-Hop and Oodles of O's

De La Soul, back in the day Only a handful of rap groups can be bandied about as G.O.A.T: Wu-Tang, Outkast, EPMD, Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy, Run-DMC, UGK, The Geto Boys, and De La Soul. If you need an introduction to the De La -- Posdnuos, Dave/Trugoy the Dove, and Maseo -- you obviously hav ... 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 >>

Danger Dude Without Borders

Jeff Antebi

Hello Mommy Africa: A Hipster's Guide to Afro-Indie Rock

Here's eight records. Now go start a riot

Del tha Funkee Homosapien Returns From Outer Space

God knows what Del's been doing since the millennium. The guy practically retired around then, after dropping the rightfully canonized Deltron 3030 record and appearing on "Clint Eastwood." It was a weird move considering that with all that Gorillaz exposure, Del could've probably signed with a ma ... More >>

West London Calling

The Good, the Bad & the Queen’s superstar serenade

Rock Picks

For the week of December 14 – 21

The Little Dress that Could

Music Picks

For the week of June 1 - 7

Gnarls Barkley, the Beauty of Being Blunt, and the Poppy Lips Battle the Apocalypse

Rebelde Without a Pause

Going to the Grammys...

Considering I may be tone deaf, can't sing to save a life, it's pretty safe to say performing at the Grammy's is a dream out of reach. That is until I was chosen to be a stage performer for the Gorillaz's duet with MADONNA at this year's Grammy Awards!!  I was a little older than their projec ... More >>

Of Mice and Gorillaz

Panoramic producer Danger Mouse orchestrated some of 2005’s most memorable moments. He’s just warming up

The Year In Music

Cool Schmool

N*E*R*D want theirs

The Year in Music

The Raw and the Cooked

Edited by Kateri Butler