Jason Bentley

The Five Best EDM Performers at Coachella

The first weekend of Coachella was packed with EDM revelers; in fact, dance music lovers are growing in numbers so much that every other car in line at the campgrounds checking in was blasting some sort of EDM anthem. The festival even dedicated a new, underground-leaning stage this year, called the ... More >>

Fanatics! Henry Rollins' KCRW Show Tomorrow Night: An Ian MacKaye Wrap-Up and Loads of Great, New Music

KCRW BROADCAST #211 04-13-13   See also: Henry Rollins: Joe Cole and American Gun Violence Fanatics! I hope you had a chance to listen to last week's show by now. Ian MacKaye was our guest and like last year, it was a great night that went by all too quickly. I didn't want to spoil the fun by putt ... More >>

How Grammy Winners Are Chosen: Highly Confidential Documents Revealed

In the days of yore, you needed but a shoeshine and a smile to get a Grammy. You'd walk down to your local Grammy-grocer's and fork over a few wooden nickels, and the proprietor would even wrap your new award in butcher paper so it wouldn't get scratched on the way home. *Al Walser: Our Interview ... More >>

In Advance of his 12-Hour 12/12/12 Extravaganza, Peanut Butter Wolf Picks His Top 12 12" Inch Singles He Bought at Age 12

Since unleashing his metal-themed 666 mix and DJ set on June 6, 2006, Stones Throw chief Peanut Butter Wolf has spent the last half-dozen years watching the signs of the beat. July 7, 2007 brought forth his 777 spiritual podcast mix, following by performances on seven consecutive nights in seven c ... More >>

KCRW Masquerade Ball Featuring Z-Trip and Others - 10/27/12

KCRW Masquerade Ball The Legendary Park Plaza 10/27/12 Better Than: Left, Right & Center For a party thrown by a public radio station, things got impressively rowdy at KCRW's fourth annual Masquerade Ball on Saturday night. Thrown at art-deco castle The Legendary Park Plaza, the Ball was a multi ... More >>

Hot Chip, Passion Pit - Hollywood Bowl - September 9, 2012

Hot Chip, Passion Pit, Omar Souleyman Hollywood Bowl 9-9-12 Better Than: passionless pits, cold chips, obvious puns. When it comes to intricately grand disco-infused future rock for dance-loving adults, despite our continued sadness and confusion over LCD Soundsystem's breakup, we can take comfort ... More >>

Jenny Lewis, Ab-Soul, Céu

Also, Vinny Golia Sextet, Mary Anne Hobbs, Delta Rae and others

Allah-Las and Chicano Batman Headline KCRW's Summer Music Series

See also: *The Allah-Las Put Their Retro Where Their Mouths Are *Chicano Batman: Los Superheroes *KCRW DJ Anthony Valadez on His New Album: "I Am Moved by Single Moms, Moved by Junkies" This summer KCRW is putting on free concerts every Thursday night at the Hammer Museum, starting June 28 and goi ... More >>

Nic Harcourt Starts Fresh, Talks a Bit of Trash About KCRW

Nic Harcourt hosted KCRW's flagship music program Morning Becomes Eclectic for over a decade beginning in 1998 and also acted as musical director of that station. He now hosts a new weekly radio show, Connections Made by Guitar Center, which runs from 4-5 pm Saturdays on 88.5 FM (KCSN). "[It's] new ... More >>

Photek: Veteran EDM Producer Is Not Glossy, Not Flossing

Last November, Rupert Parkes was having coffee when KCRW's Jason Bentley called to congratulate him. "For what?" asked the Hollywood electronic music producer and DJ, known as Photek. Turns out his remix of a Daft Punk Tron: Legacy track called "End of Line" was nominated for a Grammy. Skrillex eve ... More >>

Dave Grohl: His Grammys Speech About Electronic Music Was Bullshit

See also: Dave Grohl "Clarifies" Grammy Speech After We Call Him Out For Sounding Like an Anti-EDM Geezer We like Foo Fighters. They're the Samuel Adams beer of pop -- solid, familiar, a good call in a one-jukebox town. But innovators they're not. Quite the opposite: If one could feed off a dying ... More >>

Fanatics! Henry Rollins' KCRW Show Tomorrow Night: Three for the Price of One -- Engineer X, the Young Will Bentley, and Henry

KCRW Broadcast #147 for Saturday, January 7, 2012 Fanatics! Just so you know, this set was specifically engineered and put together with great care in order to bring you the maximum enjoyment as we gather together live for the first time this year. 2012 promises to be interesting to say the least ... More >>

Robyn - Hollywood Bowl - October 22, 2011

Lina Lecaro ​Robyn, Royksopp At the Hollywood Bowl Sat., Oct. 23 Better than... Dancing/drinking/cruising the pain away on a West Hollywood dance floor. Robyn's fanbase is about 80% gay men. It's not hard to figure out why. She's the definition of "fierce" on stage, donning wild, androgyno ... More >>

The National, Neko Case & Sharon Van Etten - Hollywood Bowl - September 11, 2011

Timothy Norris​The National, Neko Case and Sharon Van Etten Hollywood Bowl September 11, 2011 See also: The National's Matt Berninger On Shutting Down Honolulu's Airport and Finally Ending Their Tour Better Than: Listening to these bands perform on "Morning Becomes Eclectic." It was only t ... More >>

Live Review: My Morning Jacket at The Village Last Night

Jeremiah GarciaThe Jacket wailing away​ Music studios create magic -- that much we know. However, when a band is able to convert its supersized amphitheater show into 250-person capacity venue (which is smaller than The Troubadour FYI), that's what makes this night more special than the avera ... More >>

Nic Harcourt Wants His MTV: Tastemaker Leaves KCRW for New Gig

​Influential music tastemaker Nic Harcourt will be leaving L.A.'s KCRW after more than a decade for a new gig at MTV, the Santa Monica-based station announced Thursday. Harcourt served as Music Director and host of "Morning Becomes Eclectic" for ten years before ceding the position to Jason ... More >>

Eric Garcetti Becomes Eclectic: What Councilman's Guest DJ Set Says About the Race For L.A. Mayor

Eric Garcetti, spinning​Eric Garcetti knows how to spin. The still-undeclared candidate for mayor threw down some tracks yesterday during a guest DJ set at KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. It was all in good fun, but Garcetti's playlist -- and his commentary on it -- says a lot about how he would ... More >>

Coachella and the Myth of $10 Water

​"You're heading to Coachella? Watch out for $10 water bottles." It's a joke likely as old as Coachella itself, and at this point it's entered Hackville, right up there with bitching about airline food or waiting in line at the DMV. Just the other morning we heard a woman (we didn't catch her ... More >>

Public Radio Music Under Attack

Right-wingers’ “Defund NPR” campaign threatens the local music scene (among other things)

Meet the LA Weekly's New PRINT Columnist: Henry Rollins!

​We're the first ones to admit it: we can be pretty jaded people here at West Coast Sound. We don't excite easily. But we're SUPER, ULTRA STOKED about an announcement we've been planning for a while now. Here it goes: Starting next week, Henry Rollins' exclusive column for the LA Weekly, whic ... More >>

Music Picks: Nicole Eva Emery, Hard NYE, Peter and the Wolf,

Also, Jesus Makes the Shotgun Sound, Octavius, Cosmologic and others

Death, Money and Megaraves

Why Los Angeles politicians embrace a growing Ecstasy phenom that kills

Top 10 Things to Do in LA on New Year's Eve

austin youngThe Lady Tigra - New Year's Eve at the Echoplex​ Did you wait till the last minute on your New Year's Eve plans? Is that because you are anti-social or because you think New Year's Eve is overrated, overcrowded, and overpriced but always end up getting dragged out to an event anyw ... More >>

Henry Rollins Column: The Weirdness of Auditioning as a Voice-Over Artist, the Joy of DJing, and a New Documentary Recommendation

Maura LanahanOur eminent columnist, Mr. Henry Rollins!​[The one and only Henry Rollins will be contributing a weekly column and far-reaching reportage to the music section of the LA Weekly. Look for your weekly Henry Rollins fix right here on West Coast Sound every Friday and make sure to tune ... More >>

Interpol: Live Performance and Interview on Morning Becomes Eclectic

Interpol Live Performance and Interview on Morning Becomes Eclectic

New Daft Punk Songs For 'Tron: Legacy' Hit the Interwebs

New Daft Punk Songs For Tron Legacy Hit the Interwebs

Jennifer Ferro: The Manager

Chicago Artist Nick Cave's Soundsuits Make Noise After Dark

Chicago Artist Nick Cave's Soundsuits Make Noise After Dark

Live Review: Corinne Bailey Rae @ KCRW Benefit

Jonathan Kalan for KCRW​[Ed's Note: Today KCRW is airing last Tuesday's very exclusive concert benefit at Vibiana by Corinne Bailey Rae. Here's our eyewitness review of the show.] There wasn't a lot of between-song banter last night as Corinne Bailey Rae kicked off her North American tour at ... More >>

Rock Picks: Willie Nelson, Maude Maggart, Two Tears

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

King Sunny Ade Announces Early Summer Gig at the Echoplex

There are a few different reasons why you should be excited about the just announced King Sunny Ade concert at the Echoplex on Friday, May 7, which Jason Bentley scooped and announced on Morning Becomes Eclectic this morning. First, if you're a clumsy dancer and want to steal a few effervescent move ... More >>

Spiritual Voice Of KCRW To Retire

KCRW (89.9 FM) general manager Ruth Seymour announced Wednesday that she's retiring after 32 years running the public station out of Santa Monica College. She said she'll leave in February. Meanwhile, the college has already begun a search for a replacement.KCRWRuth Seymour​

HORSE & MOUTH DISEASE

Seven John Smiths, a Bob and a Bamford

What to do in L.A., May 29-June 4

Dangerbird's Wings: Silversun Pickups' Label Bangs Out a Template for a Post–Major Label Landscape

Pickups’ new LP, Swoon, hits the streets soon

Peter, Bjorn and John at SXSW: An interview with Bjorn from Tequila Mockingbird Recording Studio

Sabrina Talerico (courtesy of KCRW)Bjorn This morning hanging around Tequila Mockingbird recording studio waiting to chat with Jason Bentley on Morning Becomes Eclectic, a bunch of Swedes were loading equipment in and hanging around in a uniquely Swedish way. Still in a morning fog and on the other ... More >>

Henry Rollins Jumps from Indie 103.1 (Online) to KCRW for Radio Show

photo by Kevin Scanlon This is exciting: Henry Rollins will relocate his great show Harmony in My Head to KCRW, where, starting Saturday, March 7, he will spin weekly from 6-8 pm. Most LA listeners know that, until last month, Rollins was a DJ on Indie 103.1 FM.

Over the Weekend: HARD Haunted Mansion, Dia De Los Muertos, Children of the Candy Corn, West Hollywood Carnaval, LACMA Costume Ball

Lucky for us, Halloween fell on Friday this year so we could fully indulge without having to worry about crawling into work the next day dressed in the tattered remains of a sexy bee costume. There were too many events and parties this weekend to count and keeping up required more stamina than Red B ... More >>

Rock Picks: Orphics, Roky Erickson, Madonna

Also, Linda Ronstadt, Rise Against and more

Dance Club Listings

For February 24 - March 2

DEPTH BEHIND THE DECKS: THE ART OF URBAN GURU GARTH TRINIDAD

Dance Club Listings

Dance Club Listings for Feb. 17-23

Rock & Pop Listings

For February 10 - 16

Rock & Dance Club Listings

For February 3 - 9, 2006

Live in LA

Bhangra Chow Mein

Baba G's Masala for America

Drones and Dreams

Killing time with microtonal music

The Nine Lives of Rave

African Sunrise

Melting into Chocolate City

Dancing for the DNC

Things to do in L.A. when you’re delegating (or not)