Janelle Monae

Gibson Amphitheatre To Shut Down

Gibson Amphitheatre, the mainstay mid-size concert venue at Universal City, will close its doors in September, according to its operator Live Nation Entertainment. As announced in December 2011, the 6,200-capacity amphitheatre is expected to be demolished to make way for The Wizarding World of Har ... More >>

The Best Concerts to See in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, April 13 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival EMPIRE POLO CLUB Although it's unlikely that the Rolling Stones and their sprawling entourage will descend on this sun-baked music festival for a surprise set, as was rumored earlier this year, there are still many intriguing storylines scatte ... More >>

Music Picks: Coachella, Merle Haggard, Spiritualized

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 >>

The Five Most Annoyingly Overplayed Songs at Greystone Manor

Greystone Manor is the trendy WeHo nightclub usually filled to capacity with A-listers, desperate housewives, Arabian sheiks, ball players, dot-com CEOs and others who have something to do with reality television. Any given Sunday night you might witness Drake buying twenty bottles or Rihanna and Ch ... More >>

Kimbra: After Selling Out the Troubadour In 45 Seconds, She's Back to Play the Fonda

New Zealand-born singer Kimbra's voice might sound familiar -- she was featured on Australian singer-songwriter Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know," now the third-best selling Australian single of all time. But she's also making tracks of her own, with her American debut, Vows, debuting at #14 ... More >>

Myspace Was Better Than Facebook (For Music)

With Facebook's stock and growth rates skydiving, it's time to say something that should have been said a long time ago: Myspace was better. Maybe not when it came to its coding or those garish "personalized" pages, but definitely when it came to music. Back in the day -- say, about 2004 or so -- ... More >>

Stevie Wonder, Rickey Minor & Friends at Hollywood Bowl, 7/24/11

Jeff Cowan​Stevie Wonder, Sharon Jones, Janelle Monae, Charles Bradley, et al. The Hollywood Bowl Sunday, July 24, 2011 Better than: Episode 2 of "Breaking Bad." Celebrating the 40-year anniversary of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," Global Soul Night at the Hollywood Bowl wrangled Stevie W ... More >>

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

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

Last Night: Bruno Mars, Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne at the Gibson Ampitheatre

Sarah BennettBruno Mars​ Bruno Mars, Janelle Monáe, and Mayer Hawthorne June 12, 2011 Gibson AmpitheatreFresh off their smashing performance at this year's Grammys, Bruno Mars and Janelle Monáe linked up once again to tour. With the addition of Mayer Hawthorne, you've got three of the truest pu ... More >>

Music Picks: Matt & Kim, Partch, Booker T, Motley Crue,

Also, Spain, Civil Wars, Bruno Mars and others

Best Music of the Year Lists: Do Pitchfork, Billboard, NME, Vibe Have A Certain Gender Bias?

"Hey bro, we hear you like bros, so we put some bros in your End of the Year Best Music Lists so you can bro while you bro!"​Well, 'tis the time of year for lists and charts! Several mags and blogs attempted to answer the question you've been dying to ask: Who had the best album/"new music"? ... More >>

This weekend: HARD Haunted Mansion, Ninja Tune 20th Anniversary, KCRW Masquerade, Of Montreal, Stone Temple Pilots

Perou.co.ukUnderworld​Whether you're all about the costumes or just in it for the tunes, Halloween weekend offers some massive show-going choices ... starting with, well, something very close to a massive. HARD Haunted Mansion, with an eclectic electro lineup including Bloody Beetroots, Busy ... More >>

Music Picks: Ornette Coleman, Gary Numan, Natacha Atlas

Also, Marnie Stern, Kristian Hoffman, Elton John & Leon Russell

Across the Universe: New Flying Lotus Video, Weezer Best Coast, RHCP Lawsuit, R.I.P Eyedea

Across the Universe: New Flying Lotus Video, Weezer Best Coast, RHCP Lawsuit, R.I.P Eyedea

Vinyl of the Week: Two Slabs of Stone-Cold '80s Funk from Tony Cook, ft. Dâm-Funk [MP3]

In the strange wake of music's digital rebirth, vinyl has experienced a modest boom in popularity, seen by many as a replacement for the awkward middleman that is the compact disc. INCHES reviews the output of L.A.'s healthy vinyl community, believing that good music deserves much more than a handfu ... More >>

Watch: KCRW Presents Space Diva Janelle Monae on Morning Becomes Eclectic Today

KCRW Presents Janelle Monae on Morning Becomes Eclectic Today

Nightranger: Mo BET-ta Booze?

Mo' BET-ta Booze? Eminem and Dre, Prince and Monae at ASCAP's Rhythm & Soul Awards

Diddy was at Les Deux (and Playboy Mansion's Kandyland). Interscope held a velvet-roper at Playhouse. Will.i.am did his Dipdive at My Studio. And there was a mysterious Prince after-party and 3 a.m. jam session... somewhere. It seemed everyone hosted a shindig of some sort around the BET Awards. ... More >>

Live in L.A.: Make Music Pasadena (with Matt & Kim, Natalia Lafourcade, Warpaint), Opening Night at the Bowl, Freestyle Fellowship, Jamie Lidell, Erykah Badu, Billy Joe Shaver

Warpaint​Pasadena is used to its parades, but on Saturday its denizens will be traipsing around Old Town to get an earful of music rather than an eyeful of rose pedals. What's impressive about the annual Make Music Pasadena is how many constituencies the festival is serving over one day. With ... More >>

Music Picks: Baaba Maal, Snuffaluffagus & Rats, Carlene Carter and Friends, Country Throwdown

Also, Freestyle Fellowship, Bebe Buell, Billy Joe Shaver and others

Is Erykah Badu the Latest Puppet of the Illuminati?

Erykah Badu is playing The Greek on June 20, with special guest Janelle Monae, which should up the weirdness soul diva quotient by several magnitudes. The ad for the show (which you can see, among other places, right here on West Coast Sound) highlights the peculiar publicity photo for her album Ne ... More >>

Funking Awesome: Dam-Funk Covers Human League, Releases Video and MP3

Yellow funk.​Perhaps you've seen Leimert Park's übergrooven resident Dâm-Funk dancing around, keytar in hand, on the music websites you frequent. If the school bus-yellow background didn't tip you off, Funk's lent his image and abilities to a pretty sweet viral campaign by good old Dr. Mar ... More >>

Review: Janelle Monae at the Viper Room

Review by Andrea Whiting ​Walking up The Viper Room stairs last Tuesday I somehow took a wrong turn and fell up a rabbit hole, straight into the post-apocalyptic cyber punk world of Janelle Monae. In this world, James Brown is still alive and kickin', cold hipster sidekicks have been replac ... More >>

Music Picks: Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, Donovan, Ana Tijoux, John Wicks

Also, Janelle Monae, Devendra Banhart, the Low Anthem and others

Grace Jones' Triumphant Hollywood Bowl Debut

In case you need reminding after all these years, Grace Jones isn't like us. If, halfway through her astounding show last night at the Hollywood Bowl, a flying saucer had descended from above and carried her away, few in the crowd would have been too surprised. Timothy NorrisGrace Jones took the s ... More >>

Rock Picks: Electric Daisy Carnival, Explosion in the Sky, Rodriguez

Also, DAT Politics, Mika Miko, Etta James and others

Grammy Week: Magical Music Moments All Over Town

Rock Picks: Warped Tour, Pop Levi, Valient Thorr

Also, Previously on Lost, Raphael Saadiq, Liz Pappademas

Rock Picks: Stagecoach, Alicia Keys, Vetiver

And other shows happening May 1-8