[Editor's note: Soon-to-be-award-winning gonzo music journalist Danielle Bacher prowls the late late night scene for West Coast Sound. For this installment, she hit the town with guitarist Dave Navarro, of Jane's Addiction and Camp Freddy.] 7:47 p.m.: I'm standing in the lobby of guitarist Dave Nav ... More >>
Ladies travel site Misstravel.com recently named named Coachella the number one music festival at which to go on a first date. For so many reasons, this is a terrible idea. Issue number one is that unless you have some day pass scenario worked out, a first date at Coachella means that you're autom ... More >>
Monday, February 25 The Residents EL REY THEATRE Somewhere between rock & roll's spiritual mystique and a distinctly unhinged surrealist pathology, you'll find the lair of bizarro-art-imitates-music tribe The Residents. Unprecedented, with no discernible frame of reference save for a magnificently ... More >>
Monday, February 25 The Residents EL REY THEATRE Somewhere between rock & roll's spiritual mystique and a distinctly unhinged surrealist pathology, you'll find the lair of bizarro-art-imitates-music tribe The Residents. Unprecedented, with no discernible frame of reference save for a magnificently ... More >>
The Coachella lineup is here. It's actually here! There have been ten tons of fakes, some quite convincing, and many of which had the Rolling Stones headlining. (West Coast Sound, however, broke the story that they would not appear.) But never mind all that! The lineup is here, and the headliners a ... More >>
For our music feature this week, we spoke with acclaimed L.A. indie rockers Local Natives about their much-anticipated new album Hummingbird, out next week. Ascending from relative obscurity in Orange County to opening for Arcade Fire on tour in 2011, Local Natives helped breathe new life into the S ... More >>
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 >>
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 >>
New Order The Greek Theatre 10/7/12 A lot has changed for New Order since they last played Los Angeles in 2001. Longtime bassist Peter Hook criticized and subsequently left the band, and in 2009 after their second break-up singer/guitarist Bernard Sumner vowed to never make music again with them. I ... More >>
New Order The Greek Theatre 10/7/12 A lot has changed for New Order since they last played Los Angeles in 2001. Longtime bassist Peter Hook criticized and subsequently left the band, and in 2009 after their second break-up singer/guitarist Bernard Sumner vowed to never make music again with them. I ... More >>
My Morning Jacket The Wiltern 9/12/12 The number of bands building a name and reputation off their live performances has begun dwindling at a startling rate. With Bruce Springsteen and U2 inching closer to performing in wheelchairs, My Morning Jacket seems to be one of the last remaining holdouts w ... More >>
L.A. weirdos really don't get any weirder than this. Luka Rocco Magnotta, formerly a Los Angeles-based gay porn star (or, according to his Facebook profile, a "male model" who's had plastic surgery to look like James Dean), is now on Interpol's international watch list, reportedly on suspicion of c ... More >>
Aloe Blacc, Maya Jupiter, La Sera, Incan Abraham Silver Lake Jubilee 5/27/2012 See also: *Our review of Jubilee on Saturday: Kinky, La Santa Cecilia, Las Cafeteras *La Sera's Katy Goodman: Ya Gotta Have Heartbreak Better than... your uncle's Memorial Day barbecue. On another quintessentially b ... More >>
Aloe Blacc, Maya Jupiter, La Sera, Incan Abraham Silver Lake Jubilee 5/27/2012 See also: *Our review of Jubilee on Saturday: Kinky, La Santa Cecilia, Las Cafeteras *La Sera's Katy Goodman: Ya Gotta Have Heartbreak Better than... your uncle's Memorial Day barbecue. On another quintessentially b ... More >>
Update: 2/15/12 3:00 p.m. We should have known this was as bogus as the prospect of a goat on a leash getting down (in the video) to a band bolstered by the drumming talents of a man known to cheerily carve and cook domesticated beasts. NME was wrong and so were we. The treasures used to reside ... More >>
See also: Amanda Brown: Raw Foodist, Colossal In Kiev M Dinner House was a Japanese jazz club nestled into a strip of bodegas and windowless brick facades atop the Hollywood Freeway. Once a week, the club hosted Grown, a lurid soiree soundtracked by the best chill-out, house and bass music in Los A ... More >>
See also: Amanda Brown: Raw Foodist, Colossal In Kiev M Dinner House was a Japanese jazz club nestled into a strip of bodegas and windowless brick facades atop the Hollywood Freeway. Once a week, the club hosted Grown, a lurid soiree soundtracked by the best chill-out, house and bass music in Los A ... More >>
Daniel KohnPeter Hook and The Light The Music Box 9/14/11 See also: Peter Hook on Joy Division and New Order: "Ian Curtis Was Too Unique a Person to Copy" Better Than... attending the X-Factor premier. When a musician reaches back into his catalog and hits the road playing a classic album, ... More >>
Mark McNultyPeter HookPeter Hook, the potent bassist of Joy Division and New Order, who had just returned from sunny Spain, sat in the comforts of rain and gloom in his native England home while we talked over a crackly phone connection last Thursday morning. Hook and his backing band The Li ... More >>
The family Knowles in happier timesIn light of the surprising news over the reasons Beyonce fired her longtime manager (and longtime father for that matter) Mathew Knowles, we remembered a time when scummy managers were not only the norm, but expected. Here are the Top 10 Managers in Music Hi ... More >>
Also, Thao & Mirah, Sun Araw, Cass McCombs, Trinket and others
Andrew Breitbart welcomes the gay crowd. Sort of.L.A.-based conservative pit bull Andrew Breitbart is about as right as it gets here on the left coast. But that doesn't mean he isn't down with the rainbow massive. To prove it Breitbart pulled out every musical stereotype in the book (declari ... More >>
Andrew Breitbart welcomes the gay crowd. Sort of.L.A.-based conservative pit bull Andrew Breitbart is about as right as it gets here on the left coast. But that doesn't mean he isn't down with the rainbow massive. To prove it Breitbart pulled out every musical stereotype in the book (declari ... More >>
An album tour of Unknown Pleasures resonates with fans
After a Joy Division U.S. tour was thwarted 30 years ago, the opportunity for most Americans to hear the band's 1979 debut album live was, much like its title, an unknown pleasure. For the past several months, Peter Hook -- without fellow Joy Division/New Order members Bernard Sumner and Step ... More >>
After a Joy Division U.S. tour was thwarted 30 years ago, the opportunity for most Americans to hear the band's 1979 debut album live was, much like its title, an unknown pleasure. For the past several months, Peter Hook -- without fellow Joy Division/New Order members Bernard Sumner and Step ... More >>
Timothy NorrisSonic Youth's Kim Gordon at the Hollywood Bowl [For more exclusive photographs of this show, see Timothy Norris' slideshow "Pavement, Sonic Youth, No Age @ Hollywood Bowl"] Do the gods of programming have a sense of humor? Because Thursday night, three massive shows split the a ... More >>
Evil AlexWarning thrash metal fans about Hell A tall skinny man in all black shouted, "FUCK YOU JESUS FREAK! SATAN SATAN!" as he stood in line to be frisked at the Long Beach Arena Monday evening, for the American Carnage Tour, a thrash metal epiphany type event, featuring Testament, Megade ... More >>
Timothy NorrisWine, cheese and blockrockin' beats: The Chemical Brothers at the Hollywood Bowl LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, Klaxons and all other dance-rockers currently carving a profitable niche owe a debt of gratitude to electronica's "Born Slippy"-era--namely the holy trinity of stadium DJs ... More >>
Also, GZA, Jimmy Webb, Fol Chen and others
Also, Svarte Greiner, Miike Snow, School of Seven Bells and others
Also, California E.A.R. Unit, Bonobo, Mr. Gnome, Grouper and others
Also, El Perro Del Mar, Phranc, Moonrats and others
Up-and-coming darkwave sensation Cold Cave are in town. Tonight they will be appearing at the Echoplex, for a sure-to-be-packed show in their natural habitat. Last night, however, the band ventured out for a preview to Pomona, where they played the far less hipsterastic Glass House venue. If you ha ... More >>
Cover songs are a massive gray area for music fans. If a band sticks too close to the original, they might be perceived as a cheap knock-off, but if the band makes a drastic diversion, the results might only be amusing for a moment. When a cover works, though, the payoff can be massive. Fans can be ... More >>
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 (artists and labels, indie or other), believing that good m ... More >>
Jack Coleman Though twin brothers Joe and Luke McGarry have been playing together as Pop Noir for roughly five years, it wasn't until yesterday that their group, rounded out by drummer Nico Saavedra, released its first single. Those who have had the chance to catch Pop Noir at their fairly re ... More >>
Event's new mission: Save Our State Parks (and deliver a mind-bending roster of punk, electronics and noise)
Also, the Mars Volta, Nine Inch Nails, Gun Outfit, the Pretenders and others
Saturday night's Rave L.A. event will bring together the old school and new when Swedish Egil, one of the major forces behind popularizing techno and house in the city, joins Bul!m!atron and DJ S!n for a downtown all-nighter. "Swedish" Egil Aalvik began his DJ career in Europe in the 1970s and relo ... More >>
Also, The Choke, Nouvelle Vague, Wilco, Sunset Rubdown and others
Timothy NorrisM.I.A.'s dancers: Working it harder than Maya As I wriggled out of the teeming crowd that clotted for M.I.A, I eavesdropped on the Spalding basketball-bronzed sorority sisters speaking behind me: "If I was like a dude, I would totally want to do M.I.A." Personally, M.I.A. doesn't real ... More >>
Nite Jewel MySpace profile views: 88,324 Nite Jewel is part of a fascinating little scene of lo-fi cheesy dance music coming out of one corner of LA's art community, one that has connections to the Italians Do It Better world of New York City -- but way more oblique and interesting. The pseudonym ... More >>
Timothy NorrisFans at Cut Copy: Overjoyed, to say the least. Like The Editors and the Shitty Beatles, Cut Copy practically begged for derision the moment they named themselves. Let's be honest, these guys aren't exactly re-inventing the synthesizer, openly cribbing from New Order, Duran Duran, and ... More >>
By Chris Gray It's time to rank the best of what went around and came around again. BILLY JOEL The Stranger (Columbia/Legacy) As punk and disco exploded, the Piano Man's deeply unhip 1978 breakthrough proved that top-shelf Broadway/Brill Building songwriting could still sell - and, occasionall ... More >>
A Certain Ratio's "Shack Up" This just in from the great Part-Time Punks posse: Los Angeles will be the location of the world’s first-ever Post-Punk Festival (or at least the first since 1982 or whenever the last Futurama was held in the UK!). The day-long event will be held in conjoined venues ... More >>
On record cover design: "But you don't get much work to do when you're young, because you haven't learned how to do it yet... You're given simple, disposable things to design for other young people."
The Daily Swarm collects an argument currently consuming the web regarding the relative merits of L.A.'s reigning superstar DJ, Steve Aoki. A few days back Pitchfork (predictably) slammed Aoki's new mix, Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles. Reviewer David Raposa gave it a 2.5, writing: "After 5 ... More >>
Tony Wilson on the city of Manchester, the Sex Pistols, Joy Division, Factory Records, New Order, the Hacienda Club, Happy Mondays . . . had enough yet?
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