Neil Young

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

Friday, March 29 Fol Chen BOOTLEG THEATER Fol Chen is one of the most creative bands in the local electro-pop underground, conjuring unusual sounds that flutter, mutate, shimmer and trail sparks just as colorfully as the flying fish and luminous butterflies in Oz the Great and Powerful. While the m ... More >>

Classic Rock Is Actually Amazing, You Jerk

So, a certain editor of this blog think classic rock is totally bogus, huh? See also: Classic Rock Is a Cancer on Our Society The point of his argument is that folks from our generation need to have their own taste, not be stuck in the past. But one can't deny that the music which emerged from th ... More >>

The Ten Best EDM Singles of 2012

The term "electronic dance music" means so many things to so many people, and this year things only got more complicated. Dubstep continued its dance floor takeover, mainstream pop-oriented EDM ruled the radio, and the beat scene pushed on. Although divergent in style and ethos, here are the ten dan ... More >>

The Five Best Shows in Los Angeles This Week: Garbage, Nick Lowe, Culture Collide

Tuesday, October 2 Garbage WILTERN When they formed in 1994, future chart fixtures Garbage had the makings of a sterile vanity project. Created by veteran studio rats (including Butch Vig, producer of Nirvana's Nevermind), with a grafted-on unknown vocalist, their formula appeared better suited to ... More >>

Meet Poolside: L.A.'s Newest Monster Truck-Driving Disco Duo

See also: Allah-Las and Chicano Batman Headline KCRW's Summer Music Series at the Hammer Yes, Poolside has a swimming pool in front of their Los Feliz studio, which which doubles as an apartment. But it's not the one you might have expected to inspire their chill-as-hell "daytime disco." It's small ... 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 >>

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

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

Live Review: Eddie Vedder at The Wiltern

Daniel KohnVedder getting started​ WHO: Eddie Vedder WHERE: The Wiltern WHEN: 7/8/11 There are many points in Eddie Vedder's 20-year plus music career where he's had moments of clarity. However, there was a point when he lived in a crummy apartment in San Diego when he realized enough was eno ... More >>

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

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

The 10 Worst Songs About California That Aren't "California" By Datarock

Their latest single is terrible.​We used to like Datarock a lot. Our working theory is that in 2007, while we slept, we were taken over by a hipster succubus that abused cocaine and drank too much Pedialyte--plausible explanation for how our critical functions were deactivated. Fortunately, D ... More >>

Top 10 Gratuitous Acoustic Pop Covers

​Watching Katy Perry's cover of Lady Gaga's "Born this Way" reminded us: In college, roughly 68% of undergraduates (a figure we made up for purposes of sounding researched) take up the acoustic guitar. Think of it as a rite of passage marred by awful covers of Neil Young and the inevitable Bla ... More >>

Top 10 Solo Projects by Guest Blogger Big Search, a.k.a. Matt Popieluch of Foreign Born and Fool's Gold (Also: an Exclusive New Big Search Song)

Matt Popieluch (Big Search, Foreign Born, Fool's Gold) writes on his favorite solo projects.​Guest blogger Matt Popieluch is not only the lead singer in Foreign Born and riddim guitarist for Fool's Gold, but an "artist gone rogue" in his own right. He's celebrating the release of the debut alb ... More >>

Top 5 Strangest Covers of "Freebird," in Honor of Gym Teacher Leonard Skinner, RIP Today

Ok, if you've ever sat through one of those VH1 Behind the Music marathons (and you have), you know that Lynyrd Skynyrd was named after a killjoy Florida gym teacher who hated longhaired hippy rednecks almost as much as longhaired hippy rednecks hated Neil Young's "Southern Man." Well, '60s high sc ... More >>

Music Picks: Sunset Junction Street Fair, Lucinda Williams, Y & T, Tanya Morgan

Also, GZA, Jimmy Webb, Fol Chen and others

Tonight: Laura Marling, Squeeze, Sister Nancy at Dub Club, Obits, Neon Trees, Vanaprasta

Laura Marling​One week, two acclaimed U.K. folk singers: Somebody must have planned this thing. Last night it was Conor O'Brien, aka Villagers, giving a mesmerizing solo performance at the Hotel Cafe. (And, yes, this Conor O. very much recalls Conor Oberst.) Tonight, Laura Marling visits the ... More >>

Re: Versions

Music Picks: Liz Pappademas, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Mad Professor, Bill Frisell

Also, Taylor Swift, Los Tres, Saint Motel, David Allan Coe and others

OH RICKY, YOU’RE SO FINE

Best Alt-Country Folk Records 2009: Willie Nelson is Still A Badass

ALT-COUNTRY/FOLK Meet the Folk-ers Noah W. Bailey slices the Americana pie and determines that, yes, Willie Nelson is still a badass. We spent 2009 sorting through piles of folk and Americana releases, revising this list in our heads till the bitter end and failing repeatedly to understand the hyp ... More >>

J.ROCC, THE THRONES, BAND OF SKULLS, THE SLITS AND BRETT DENNEN

Also Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Espers, a Nicollete Larson Tribute, and others.

Notes on the Grammy Nominations: Excuse Us While We Puke

​What follows are a few random notes on LA-based nominees for the 2009 Grammys, which were announced yesterday in downtown LA. If you're looking for thoughts on the big-ass pop categories, go elsewhere; we're going to try and wade through the rock and lesser known categories without throwing u ... More >>

Rock Picks: THE JOE KROWN TRIO, THE FIERY FURNACES, THE LILYS, MR. GNOME

Also, Simian Mobile Disco, Wolfmother, El Perro del Mar and others

Slit-eyed Ladies, Edible Willies, and Evan Dando Up Your Nose: Deep Inside the World of Crap Lyrics

Rod the Mod (#7) once fell in love with "a slit-eyed lady" (not pictured)​For every "Blowin' In the Wind"and "The Times They Are A-Changin'" there's a "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "Muskrat Love." There's never a shortage of lists out there of good and bad pop lyrics. And who among us hasn't ... More >>

Build an Ark’s Covenant

An L.A. collective conjures “California creative soul music with a lot of improvisational elements”

Rock Picks: Doves, Ceci Bastida, Carina Round, New York Dolls

Also, The Detroit Cobras, the Aggrolites, Loney Dear and others

ROCK & ROLLS OF FILM

Out of the Fog: Will Oldham's Warm and Fuzzy Return to L.A.

Plot thickens with Bonnie Prince Billy’s new album, Beware

Top 10 Americana Albums of 2008

By Noah W. Bailey Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category.Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen ... More >>

Let the Listing Begin: Ten Great Folk Records of the Past Decade

You're going to be seeing a lot of lists in the next few weeks. Lists of bests and worsts of year, lists of disappointments, lists of dance mixes and YouTube clips. We figured we'd begin our weeks of lists with one that captures not the year in music, but one aspect of the decade in music: new wei ... More >>

Weiss' Best Reissues & Compilations of 2008

Steve Stein and partner Double Dee, were dropping lessons on kids when Shadow and Cut Chemist were still constructing crates out of lincoln logs. Finally collected on the aptly named, Illegal Art label, Steinski's seminal singles are that rarity--as fun as they are important. Neither The Avalanches ... More >>

The Breast of Times: Go Topless Protest Day

And other things to do in L.A., August 22-28

Rock Picks: Spindrift, Randy Newman, The Gutter Twins

Also, Zola Moon, David Banner, Naïm Amor, and more

Rock Picks: Sunset Strip Music Festival, Neil Innes, Cheap Trick

Also, Nikka Costa, Willie Nile, We Are Scientists, and more

Bob Dylan’s Most Mysterious Recording

Inside the elusive history of "I'm Not There"

Devendra Banhart Curls Up in Your Hand

A wide-ranging interview on Tarot cards, Topanga Canyon, the tackiness of the "freak folk" label and his wonderous new album, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon

Moon Men

Echo Park psych-rockers feel connected to it all

Rock Picks

For the week of July 12 – 19

Eddie Vedder, Mickey Avalon and Red Hot Chili Peppers at Hullabaloo

Uplifting mofo party

Born to Be Rad

John S. Rad, 1936–2007

Rock Picks

For the week of March 1 - 8

The Critics Speak

The First Annual L.A. Weekly Film Poll

Los Abandoned (Es Muy Nice)

L.A.’s bilingual poppers stake their claim to crossover fame with Mix Tape

¡Ay, Dios Mío!

South Bay smart-asses Dios (Malos) change their name and their game

You Won’t Forget Him

Supercool dead producer finally gets his own disc

Shockwave Rider

Jennifer Herrema and RTX, rollling free

The Weakerthans

Nonpunk From Nowhere

Fish Fry

The whoppers that didn’t get away

Be Bop a Blood Feast

Edited by Kateri Butler

This Is Our Music

The Napster museum of cultural heritage

True Quest

Looking for self in the Grand Canyon