Jeff Weiss

Racism Charged Against Hollywood Bar That Forbids Hip-Hop

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] One man's purity is another man's segregation. You don't expect to encounter those ideas in Hollywood in 2013, but they creep in through coding and innue ... More >>

Rapper and Boxer Rheteric Ramirez Flows Like He Fights

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Rheteric Ramirez raps like a welterweight prizefighter. His flow bobs and weaves. Double-timed uppercuts of words follow methodical chants. Rhyme schemes ... More >>

KDAY Is Closing? A Eulogy to the Best Station in L.A.

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," normally appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] "Remember KDAY?" Tupac asked that question on "To Live & Die in LA," but the answer was obvious. Makaveli never even lived in Southern Califor ... More >>

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 >>

Shlohmo Is Blowing Up Before Our Eyes

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Slightly sick and bone-weary, Shlohmo staggers past airport security and baggage claim to hop into his ride back to his apartment near Fairfax. After sle ... More >>

Ghost-Writing Allegation Rocks the Rap Battle World

In the decade since 8 Mile, the art of battling has become mainstream and big business. But recently it's faced controversy, with one rapper accusing another of paying for his rhymes. In the world of competitive battling, this is strictly verboten. A January bout for Canadian battle league King of ... More >>

Alexander Spit's Musical Euphoria

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] If you want to understand where Alexander Spit is coming from, consider the abridged ingredients list that fueled his commercial debut, A Breathtaking Tr ... More >>

Edrina Martinez Is a Space Cadet Called Astronautica

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] When Edrina Martinez was a little girl, she wanted to be an astronaut or a rock star. Two things got in the way of the 21-year-old electronic producer wh ... More >>

Amigo the Devil Sings About Serial Killers and Spousal Abuse, With a Sense of Humor

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] If you never met him, you might mistake Amigo the Devil for a monster. The 25-year-old murderfolk maudit's most popular song is called "Perfect Wife." Wi ... More >>

Rock Star Fashions, Without the Douchiness

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Almost everyone has once wanted to dress like a rock star, but most people realize how absurd they look in leather pants and sequins. Wisely, then, Holly ... More >>

My Favorite Albums of the Second Half of 2012, in Haiku Form

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Kendrick Lamar attributed L.A.'s primacy to the women, weed and weather. He was quoting Biggie, who consecrated the left coast via song, despite his long ... More >>

The Top 10 L.A. Albums of 2012

Los Angeles music was a big part of the national conversation this year, from Frank Ocean and Miguel's artisan R&B to Top Dawg Entertainment's hip-hop dominance to the electronic inspirations of Flying Lotus and Gaslamp Killer. Picking but ten albums from this crop as the West Coast Sound writers ha ... More >>

Aquarium Drunkard Is a Cool, Weird Music Bar on the Internet

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Justin Gage's business card for Aquarium Drunkard bears a simple mantra: "Just the good shit." This might seem self-evident for the proprietor of a music ... More >>

Dublab's Internet Radio. Be Very Afraid

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Internet radio station Dublab is less KCRW and more MOCA. Thirty rotating "Labrats" operate as a permanent exhibit, seamlessly switching between the mode ... More >>

DJ Mustard and the Story of Ratchet

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Hip hop is constantly inventing new slang for getting down and dirty. You could get buck, crunk, and freaky. Wild out or act a fool. This summer was the ... More >>

Henry Diltz, the Man Who Shot The Doors

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Entering rock photographer Henry Diltz's North Hollywood house feels like stepping into Merlin's cottage, if the wizard carried a Canon rather than a cau ... More >>

What the Dodgers' Musical Taste Says About Them

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Forget phrenology, both the overrated Roots album and the 19th-century pseudo-science. Ignore palmistry, psychotherapy and Rick Warren. The best way to b ... More >>

House Shoes Offers 
His Rules For DJs

[Editor's note: Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. Be sure to also check out the archives.] See also: House Shoes: Seminal Producer Talks New Album, J Dilla Beef Hang the DJ. Or don't. When Morrissey wrote the hook to "Panic," the definition of a DJ w ... More >>

Is The Dove Shack's "Summertime in the LBC" the Perfect Summer Song?

[Editor's note: Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. Be sure to also check out the archives.] See also: KDAY, the Gangsta Rap Oldies Station, Breaks New Ground by Playing Music From the Bad Old Days This is the city and the season for the summer jam. Yo ... More >>

Drip.FM Is HBO for Music Nerds

[Editor's note: Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. Be sure to also check out the archives.] It's hard to pinpoint the date when the music industry stopped speaking like a shell-shocked trench poet, but the sky quietly quit falling. Last year, album sal ... More >>

The Glitch Mob Inspires a Man's Rehabilitation

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Two years ago, Grant Korgan woke up in an intensive care unit in the Sierra Nevada with a broken back and no feeling below his stomach. A snowmobile jump ... More >>

Taking Physics Class 
with Professor GZA

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] See also: Our review of Wu-Tang Clan's January 21, 2012 show at Club Nokia The Wu-Tang Clan once said if we picked up their double album, Wu-Tang Foreve ... More >>

Want to Buy a Rap CD on Venice Beach? You Sure?

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] The plan was simple. Head to Venice Beach, sample the mixtapes hawked by the hucksters hovering near the paddle tennis courts, pick one rapper to profile ... More >>

Skee-Lo Wished He Was a Little Bit Taller. Then He Promptly Retired

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] The directions haven't changed. If you want to find Skee-Lo, take the 110 to the 105 and get off on Crenshaw. It's everything else that's been altered si ... More >>

Bizarre Ride: Jeff Weiss's Five Los Angeles Music Archetypes

[Editor's note: Longtime Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's new column, "Bizarre Ride," begins today. You can find it on West Coast Sound every Wednesday.] The L.A. cliché is a war of shadow and light: fallen stars gone to seed, saccharine pop and gangsta rap. But this is 2012 and Dr. Dre is a headphone g ... More >>

Stones Throw 15th Anniversary Party - Exchange LA - December 22, 2011

Timothy NorrisMayor Hawthorne and Peanut Butter Wolf​Stones Throw Records 15th Anniversary Party The Exchange LA 12-22-11 See also: Stones Throw Records Turns 15: Label remains a genre unto itself Stones Throw Records has long been an anomaly in the music industry, boasting a genre defying ... More >>

Game in Hot Water Over Twitter Prank Urging Folks to Call Compton Sheriff

​On Friday night, rapper Game tweeted an offer for fans to apply for internships, and gave the non-emergency number for the Compton Sheriff's station. Dennis Romero has the full story over at The Informer. Game has denied sending the tweet, claiming that someone hacked into his account. He al ... More >>

Open Mike Eagle Unapologetically Talks About "Art Rap"

[Make sure to read Jeff Weiss' piece on Open Mike Eagle, from the LA Weekly print edition.] Open Mike Eagle - I Rock from Mush Records on Vimeo. In the first ten minutes of his acidic and excellent debut, "Unapologetic Art Rap," Open Mike Eagle samples Pavement and sings a portion of TV on the Ra ... More >>

Exclusive: Slim Barton & James Moore's 'Poor Convict Blues,' Unearthed by Frank Fairfield

Frank Fairfield's 'Unheard Ofs & Forgotten Abouts'​Local Appalachian-styled superstar (this being a relative term) Frank Fairfield plays the Redwood Bar and Grill tonight, and you better be there. The gig is, in part, a record release show celebrating Fairfield's fantastic compilation of rare ... More >>

Destination Coachella

L.A. bands take to the desert for three days of music overload

Nocando Vs. Wrekonize Battle Tape: Stamina Vs. Homophobia [NSFW]

A few months ago we wrote about LA rapper Nocando, whose work during Project Blowed and, recently, the Low End Theory have garnered him much praise on the experimental beatz scene around town (and in London). We just found this battle clip in which the emcee takes on Miami rapper Wrekonize, and w ... More >>

Locked and Loaded: Nocando

The Low End Theory spawns a thrilling, progressive L.A. rap album

Phish Parking Lot: Apparently There Were Drugs and Hippies at Coachella

You may recall that Phish performed a three-day freakout extravaganza at Coachella over Halloween. You may have even road-tripped. In fact, you maybe were there and can't remember anything at all about it, at least based on the mind-fuck that is the video team Brilliant Comrades' new Phish Parking L ... More >>

Best of L.A.: Shopping

The 50 Best Albums of the Year (#10-1) (Sponsored By My Secret Identity )

And people acted surprised when Jerry O' Connell landed Rebecca Romjin. 10. Why? Alopecia (Anticon) It's tough to write about Why?'s breakout record without anxiously jotting down a few choice lyrics from songwriter Yoni Wolf's notebook. Not to downplay its musicianship, but Alopecia is forem ... More >>

Pacific Heights: L.A. Weekly's Top 10 L.A. Recordings of 2008

No Age, Chapin Sisters, Mia Doi Todd, the Knux, Flying Lotus, Madlib and more

Record Reviews: The Knux, Robin Thicke, Gang Gang Dance

Robert Plant Rules Out Led Zeppelin Reunion

Rock critics speak, art mavens debate, Mideast authors talk peace

Live in L.A.: Pop Levi and the Parson Red Heads at the Echo, August 15

Pop Levi and the Parson Red Heads at the Echo, August 15 Photos by Timothy Norris I'm kinda obsessed with this Pop Levi guy right now, and finally saw him Friday night at the Echo during week three of his residency. I tried to catch him on week one, and showed up at 10 o'clock thinking, 'cool, go ... More >>

Pitchfork Day 3-I Now Pronounce You Hip-Stock

Every time I inasmuch as mention the word "hipster" on the blog these days, some Mensa Mind has to scrawl some stupid, scurrilous statement about how "maaan, all you do is stereotype hipsters and make egregious generalizations and you, Jeff Weiss, are the worst writer in the history of time. Plus, ... More >>

The Weekend Report: Widespread Panic, The Orpheum, Friday, June 20

Widespread Panic, the Orpheum Theatre, June 20 By Jeff Weiss (photos by Timothy Norris) Sometimes, I think music critics hate jam bands for the jokes. After all, on that endless litany of items capable of inspiring comedic rancor, nothing is easier to mock than hippies, save for maybe George Bush ... More >>

The Kills, El Rey, 5/21

The Kills, The El Rey, May 21, 2008 By Jeff Weiss Photos by Timothy Norris There’s something primal about the Kills. Not some sort of cheap $2 voodoo either. They offer no gimmicks, or eye-popping flash or smoke machines to dazzle you. This is sound as dirt. Raw, blistering, fuck-you noise bu ... More >>

Good Times Never Seemed So Good: Snapshots From Coachella

From the express train to the Gobi Tent to the VIP and beyond

Record Reviews: Usher, Lurker of Chalice

Also, The Dodos, Mezzanine Owls and more

Coachella by the Numbers

Digging deep into the Valley

Record Reviews: Gnarls Barkley, Evangelista, No Age, Destroyer

Also, The Knux, Ghost on the Highway, The Little Ones

Record Reviews: Soulja Boy, Beach House, Cadence Weapon

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

Record Reviews: Atlas Sound, Chris Walla, The Clipse

Record Reviews: The Mars Volta, Radar Brothers

Also: Vampire Weekend, Crystal Antlers

Pop Sensation Dot-com

Dumped by your label? Start designing your Web site