Ian Cohen

Drake - USC Galen Center - 3/5/12

See also: *Our slideshow of Drake, Kendrick Lamar and A$AP Rocky at the USC Galen Center *Fuck Guilty Pleasures: Drake Is an Incredible Lyricist No current rapper is more divisive than Drake. Despite only recently relocating to L.A., he's been both championed and criticized on West Coast Sound. S ... More >>

Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: The Complete List

​What makes a terrible band? Is it being prepared to do the wrong thing, whatever the price? That and a pair of testicles. Only, some of the below groups possess testicles only in the symbolic sense. Because, even if you're composed of ladies, it takes balls to make music that is simultaneousl ... More >>

Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: #5-1

See also: *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: #20-16 *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time, #15-11 *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time, #10-6 5. Animal Collective I really wanted to like Merriweather Post Pavilion, even going far out of my way to appreciate the record as it was surely intended: super-stoned, mi ... More >>

Future Islands - Echoplex - 11/17/11

Ian Cohen​See also: Future Islands: Too Noisy For New Wave, Too Pussy For Punk Future Islands Echoplex 11-17-11 Better than: Nursing your woes while crying in your beer. Having someone spill theirs on you while dancing in place takes way less effort I'd been told that Baltimore synth-pop be ... More >>

Best Posts Of The Week

​We've got nothing but love for Heavy D, who died this week at his Beverly Hills home. Dan Hyman wrote a touching memorial for a man who was a pioneer of the hip-hop/R&B hybrid. This week will be remembered for sunnier news as well, however: We finally enacted Nigel Tufnel day. And it's toda ... More >>

M83 - The Music Box - 11/9/11

Ian Cohen​See also: M83's Anthony Gonzalez Makes Soundtracks, Without The Movie M83 The Music Box 11-9-11 Better than: Having to actually be 16 again. At the risk of completely disavowing any claims of critical distance, this was the concert event of 2011 for yours truly and I don't care wh ... More >>

Zola Jesus, LA Vampires, Xanopticon - Echoplex - October 31, 2011

ian Cohen​See also: *Zola Jesus Brings Her Unsettled and Prickly Vision to L.A. *Amanda Brown of LA Vampires: Raw Foodist, Colossal In Kiev Zola Jesus, LA Vampires, Xanopticon Echoplex October 31, 2011 Better than... Seeing MC 900 Ft. Jesus on Columbus Day. Gotta admit, perhaps the greates ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: The Complete List

​Editor's note: In conjunction with our music issue we rolled out the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time this week, as picked by Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff. But the list was broken up into four posts, which can get a bit unwieldy, so we've compiled the full list ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: 5-1

​See also Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums of All Time: 20-16 Editor's note: For our music issue, out on Thursday, Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff run down the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time. We're unveiling the list all this week on West Coast Sound. 5. The Phar ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: 10-6

​See also Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums of All Time: 20-16 Editor's note: For our music issue, out on Thursday, Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff run down the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time. We're unveiling the list all this week on West Coast Sound. 10. Freesty ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: 15-11

​ See also Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums of All Time: 20-16 Editor's note: For our music issue, out on Thursday, Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff run down the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time. We're unveiling the list all this week on West Coast Sound. The party ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: 20-16

​Editor's note: For our music issue, out on Thursday, Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff run down the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time. We're unveiling the list all this week on West Coast Sound. The party waits for no man. So while we watched the tubes for Detox, Los ... More >>

Chad VanGaalen & Gang Gang Dance - Culture Collide Festival - October 9, 2011

See also: *Culture Collide Festival Preview: Let's Get International *Culture Collide Festival review: Liam Finn, Rainbow Arabia, Guineafowl, The Awkwards perform on October 6, 2011 *Culture Collide Festival review: The Death Letters and Cameras perform on October 8, 2011 Chad VanGaalen and Gang Ga ... More >>

Touching Amy

Thundercat - The Echo - 9/5/11

Ian CohenI assume he brings a change of clothes when he's on tour with Suicidal Tendencies​Thundercat The Echo September 5, 2011 See also Ian Cohen's feature profile: Thundercat Emerges With His Debut, Co-produced by Flying Lotus Better than: The Gobots' acid jazz project Remember back in ... More >>

1st Generation at Club Nokia, 7/23/11

Ian Cohen​1st Generation Club Nokia July 23, 2011 Better than: Compton High School's annual talent show, but possibly not. It's been said that you can instantly judge the economic health of a neighborhood based on the prevalence of barriers: fences, security systems, especially speed bumps. ... More >>

Crystal Antlers: Best L.A. Rock Album So Far This Year? Find Out Where They Play TWO Free Shows Tonight

Rebecca Smeyne ​Crystal Antlers' live show rocked my socks off during my first evening in town last Monday; and a good thing, too, because I was wearing sandals. (Not my best look.) It was the second date of their month-long Monday night residency at the Echo, which, you know, is free. Drumme ... More >>

Live Review: Steve Vai and Joe Satriani at House of Blues

Ian Cohen​ Review by Ian Cohen WHO: Steve Vai and Joe Satriani WHERE: House of Blues WHEN: 7/10/11 "They don't make 'em like they used to." "Lion of the industry." Those are the sort of old salts that probably would be sprinkled about upon the mention of ailing music biz vet Cliff Cultrer ... More >>

The 50 Best Albums of the Year (#20-11) (Sponsored By Teen Wolf Too)

Some might say this was the finest work Jason Bateman would ever do. 20. Al Green-Lay It Down (Blue Note) What more did you want from Al Green? Did you want him to wear Levar Burton sunglasses and use auto-tune? Did you want him to do a ladies only tour? Did you want him to employ interplanet ... More >>

The 25 Best Non Hip-Hop Songs of 2008 (M-Z)

Mezzanine Owls-"Snow Globe" Because it never snows in Los Angeles, we're forced to romanticize it. The first draft of "White Christmas," originally chided a spoiled Angeleno,"longing to be up North on December 24," surrounded by sunshine, green grass and swaying palms. The closest you get to w ... More >>

Point/Counterpoint with Ian Cohen and the Airborne Toxic Event

On this side of the table, Ian Cohen, occasional LA Weekly scribe whose philosophy on truth in criticism is spot on and at a welcome remove from the tongue-wagging that often counts as a record review (and we consider ourselves to be among the guilty, overly-wagging, hyperbolic variety). Cohen, wh ... More >>

F Yeah: Frickin' Yes in the Summertime

This weekend's fest offers a glimpse into the future of rock & roll

The 10 Best Hip-Hop Albums of the Half Year

Yes, I'm aware that this is a month late. I never said punctuality was my strong suit. (That would be rambling, stoned gibberish. ) Look for the best 10 non-rap albums sometime next week. 10 (tie). Nico the Beast-No Beast So Fierce Genre purists and anyone weaned on that mid-90s school of sav ... More >>

Girl Talk: One Trick Pony, or 21st Century Steinski?

Girl Talk: One Trick Pony, or 21st Century Steinski? By Ian Cohen If you’re the kind of poor soul who watches the workday tick away at places like ilxor.com, June has been Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Tet and the Feast of Maximum Occupancy all rolled into one. Not only have we experienced the ... More >>

Record Reviews: Coldplay, Modey Lemon

Record Reviews: Whitesnake, Pyramids, Greeley Estates

Also, Santogold, Sumatran Folk Cinema

Record Reviews: Man Man, Tokyo Police Club, Roommate

Also, Langhorne Slim, Sub Rosa's Noise Anthology and MP3s

Crystal Castles: Not Total Hipster Bullshit

You'll have to forgive me this one. I know I'm late. Ian Cohen tossed a 7.8 to Crystal Castles' in his Pitchfork review of their eponymous debut back in March and the blogosphere had been incessantly buzzing about the Toronto duo of Ethan Kath and Alice Glass for well over a year prior. But dance ... More >>

Record Reviews: Toumani Diabate, Wye Oak, Boris

Also, Wighnomy Brothers, HEALTH, Elbow

Record Reviews: Usher, Lurker of Chalice

Also, The Dodos, Mezzanine Owls and more

Record Reviews: Soulja Boy, Beach House, Cadence Weapon

"Yahhh!" confirms this 17-year-old has his finger on peers' music pulse

A Guide To the LA Bands At SXSW

So I'll be covering SXSW next week for the LA Weekly. I have never been nor do I have any idea of what to expect. I'm pretty excited to go though. I've been asking around and have generally been met with the boiler-plate response that "SXSW is awesome." However, one friend did tell me to expe ... More >>

Record Reviews: Atlas Sound, Chris Walla, The Clipse

Beards, Blazers & Glasses, Or Yeasayer, The Indie Spin Doctors

Yeasayer are a jam band, they just aren't aware of it yet. At one point during the Brooklyn four-piece's set Saturday night at the Echoplex, lead singer Chris Keating even paused to extemporaneously inform the crowd that "people call us hippies, but that's just not true. We're from Baltimore." Thi ... More >>

Record Reviews: Cat Power, Drive-By Truckers

Also: Richard Swift, Black Mountain

Weiss' Top 50 Albums of 2007 (#5-1)

5. Dungen-Tio Bitar [Kemado] Dungen did not tour this record in America. This is because the band's mastermind, Gustav Estjes was rumored to be alone in the snowy Swedish hinterlands, ingesting enough hallucinogens to give Hunter S. Thompson pause, and trying to untangle the beautiful mess of sou ... More >>

Weiss' Top 50 Albums of 2007 (#10-6)

10. Spoon-Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga [Merge] Sasha Frere-Jones is a joke and Spoon can prove it. I mean, if all I had to judge indie rock on was the Arcade Fire and the Decemberists and Sufjan Stevens (all acts I like), maybe I might come up with something as hackish as his risible blow-up, but the best R& ... More >>

Weiss' Top 50 Albums of 2007 (#45-41))

45. Joe Buhdha Presents Klashnekoff: Lionheart: Tussle With the Beast [Low Life Records/Riddim Killa] Exactly three British rappers have managed to "break" the American market in this decade, and by "break" I mean getting the American music press to hype them as the best thing since Earl Grey a ... More >>