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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 >>

David Sabastian: A Rapper and Fashionista on the Verge

"Not to be vague, but I think everybody of this generation has Anti in them," emerging rapper David Sabastian argues, sweat trickling down his face. It's hot out here. Twenty minutes earlier, he was spray-painting an empty swimming pool, dressed in a black, mostly leather outfit and matching ski mas ... 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 >>

Fidlar Tour Diary Part II: Psychedelics, Germs and Pranks

[Editor's note: Highland Park four-piece Fidlar made a name for themselves last year for their explosive skate pop-punk. As we wrote in March, they were either on the brink of getting huge or flaming out; looks like it was the former. On the eve of their just-released self-titled debut album -- and ... More >>

Casey Veggies: Our Interview With the 19-Year-Old Phenom

The 19-year-old rapper Casey Veggies is a founding member of Odd Future, he built a considerable buzz with his 2010 release Sleeping In Class. He put off college in favor of a three-month nationwide tour with Mac Miller, and went on to ink a management deal with Jay Z's Roc Nation soon after. His n ... More >>

The Five Best Los Angeles Rap Albums of 2012

As Max Bell noted in his round-up of L.A. rap earlier this month, it was a very good year for hip-hop in our city, with all corners of the varied scene -- from Open Mike Eagle's smart 4NML HSPTL to Odd Future's rambunctious The OF Tape Vol. 2 to Ty$ and Joe Moses' raunchy Whoop! -- well represented ... More >>

The Identity of the Mysterious Captain Murphy Was Revealed Last Night

Captain Murphy, Pac Div The Airliner 11/28/12 Earlier this week, a local mystery rapper calling himself Captain Murphy announced that he'd be performing at Low End Theory last night. See also: More Low End Theory Oral History From Those Who Helped Build It People got excited about it, so much s ... More >>

Ask Fan Landers: Should I Stay in the Closet for the Sake of My Rap Career?

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you ... More >>

LA Weekly Web Awards 2012: The Winners!

So the center of the tech universe is still in Northern California. Big deal. Facebook's in freefall; the iPhone 5 is a snooze. Yes, innovation continues to matter, but these days, it's less about the platform and more about the content. On that front, L.A. is king. The top YouTube stars live here. ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, August 24 Friends of Friends THE ECHOPLEX L.A. lad Shlohmo brings sample-based, song-oriented R&B turntablism to his recent Bad Vibes full-length, sautéeing lo-fi, hip-hop, dubstep and beautifully odd sound design. As for Salva, he's been known to jack bassy, jungly warehouse and ethereal ... More >>

Here Are What People on Twitter Think Are the Best Songs Ever

I wish I were smarter. Were I a Stephen Hawking or a Marie Curie (or even Master Splinter) I'd be able to explain how Twitter is the unedited consciousness of young America, how it is simultaneously vitriolic and beautiful, how maybe no form of social media has before, or ever will, function as perf ... More >>

How's That "Millennium of Aftermath" Going?

See also: *Here Are Pictures of Dr. Dre's New $13 Million House *The Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2012 Thus Far It was November of 1999 and we were on the cusp of the millennium when Dr. Dre famously proclaimed that the next one thousand years would be "the millennium of Aftermath," on the song "Forgot A ... More >>

Inside Insane Clown Posse's Genius Media Operation

See also: *Insane Clown Posse Calls the FBI's Actions "A Public Lynching of Our Name" *Insane Clown Posse: Exclusive Interview When I started as LA Weekly music editor last summer, I was fairly committed to not covering Insane Clown Posse. After all, we'd put them on the cover earlier that year and ... More >>

La Coka Nostra Returns, With Scars

See also: Don't Call Him Country. Everlast is Hip-Hop, Dammit. In the back lounge of venerable Mid-Wilshire Irish pub Tom Bergin's, West Coast hip-hop supergroup La Coka Nostra members Daniel "Danny Boy" O'Connor, 43, and George "Slaine" Carroll, 34, take their seats at a table covered with creased ... More >>

The Ten Best Hip-Hop Dances of All Time, With Illustrations

"YOU ARE A FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKING MORON AND I AM GOING TO DO PHYSICAL HARM TO YOU WHEN I SEE YOU THIS WEEKEND." That's an email I received last week. The whole thing. That's all it said. Bolded and everything. It came from a guy I've met three times. I guess don't necessarily hate him, but I don't li ... More >>

N.W.A's MC Ren Now Lives 
in Palm Springs

The best fake fact on Wikipedia is that MC Ren studied classical literature at Brown. It's a strain of truthiness so absurd as to be almost believable. Except when I mention it to the former enforcer of N.W.A, he roars. "Fuck no, I didn't go to no Brown," says the man born Lorenzo Patterson. "I didn ... More >>

Here Are the Best Parts of R. Kelly's New Book Soulacoaster

Whether you believe he's the world's greatest living music artist or a twisted sexual deviant who eluded justice, there's much to be gleaned about R. Kelly in his new autobiography Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me. In the thick (377 pages!) tome, Kelly is incredibly candid about his tumultuous childhoo ... More >>

Slutwave, Tumblr Rap, Rape Gaze: Obscure Musical Genres Explained

Everything You Wanted to Know About Metal but Were Afraid to Ask Top Ten Metal Albums for People Who Don't Know Shit About Metal Top Ten Jazz Albums for People Who Don't Know Shit About Jazz Top Ten Rap Albums For People Who Don't Know Shit About Hip-Hop In our music feature this week, Jason Roche ... More >>

Adam Weiss Is Decidedly Caucasian. He Also Throws Some of the Grimiest Parties in L.A.

Somewhere right now, Adam Weiss probably is spazzing out and shouting the word "swag" over sleazy rap songs with hooks that have to do with eating pussy. The 31-year-old party promoter, who lives in Echo Park, is perhaps best known for his outfits: tie-dyed T-shirts, DayGlo windbreaker jackets, a r ... More >>

Flying Lotus - Coachella - 4-14-12

See also: *The Best Of Coachella: Saturday, April 14 *Coachella: The Black Lips' Cole Alexander Goes Full Monty, Plays Guitar With His Ding-Dong Flying Lotus Coachella, Gobi Tent 4-14-12 Better than: The scene at the Sahara Tent. Flying Lotus' appearance at Coachella felt like an occasion; it ... More >>

Seth Bogart Wears Lipstick in a Black & White World

Hunx and His Punx frontman speaks for lonely gay kids in the Heartland

Alert: SXSW Coverage Ahead

"What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area." -- Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive You don't have to spend much time at South By Southwest to know that all of the above building ... More >>

The Albums the Critics Were Wrong About

Two thousand eleven was the year in which musicians were praised for embracing their essences. M83 gets even more epic! Bradford Cox gets even more introverted! Drake gets Draker! The members of Wild Flag still rock! Artists were also derided for the obvious: Odd Future proves they don't give a fu ... More >>

Top 10 L.A. Club Nights of 2011

Lina Lecaro​It was another great year for nightlife in Los Angeles. Despite the economy, party vibes inside the clubs were as creative and crazy as ever. From hip-hop haps to gay grinders, electro-a-go-go's to arty parties, the energy was contagious. Sure, many of Hollywood's swankier spots st ... More >>

Thoughts From A Random Black Guy: A Poem About Herman Cain, aka H-Money

[Editor's note: Odd Future member Lionel Boyce writes a weekly column for West Coast Sound. His archives are available here.] "Stupid people are ruining America" is probably the smartest thing I've heard Herman Cain say. Unfortunately, I believe he belongs in that group. When I first saw this guy ... More >>

Music Picks: Overdoz, The Cure, Lucinda Williams

Also, K. Flay, The Civil Wars, Bob Mould tribute

Thoughts From A Random Black Guy: Why Everyone in Orlando Thought Tyler and I Were the Williams Sisters

Frank Miles​[Editor's note: Odd Future member Lionel Boyce writes a weekly column for West Coast Sound. His archives are available here.] If you read my first column, you know I'm part of a TV show called Loiter Squad, which will be on Adult Swim. Recently Tyler, the Creator and I accidentall ... More >>

Thoughts From A Random Black Guy: The Rise Of Young Gunshot

Frank Miles​[Editor's note: Odd Future member Lionel Boyce writes a weekly column for West Coast Sound. His archives are available here.] Over the past few weeks I've taken an interest in this new artist in the game. I'm not usually big on underground rappers, but a friend of mine was listeni ... More >>

The Rise and Stall of Pac Div

Kristofferson San Pablo​In the late aughts, the safe money was on L.A.-via-Palmdale trio Pac Div. They seemed poised to lead the burgeoning "New West" movement -- the pre-Odd Future crop of young rappers seeking to reclaim hip-hop for the Left Coast. They were the group everyone from industry ... More >>

More Low End Theory Oral History From Those Who Helped Build It

The Low End Theory CrewPaul Dimalanta​See Also: Low End Theory Anniversary: The Story of the Influential Party From Those Who Created it This week we published our oral history of the Low End Theory, the Lincoln Heights weekly club night that has spawned a constellation of internationally hai ... More >>

Fuck Guilty Pleasures: Chris Brown Can Do No Wrong

​[Editor's Note: Fuck Guilt Pleasures celebrates the over-produced, commercial, artless, lowbrow music that we believe is genuinely worthwhile. Like, among the best music ever.] It was fall 2005, and I was sitting in an Internet café in Berlin. Juelz Santana's "There It Go (The Whistle Song) ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: 15-11

​ See also Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums of All Time: 20-16 Editor's note: For our music issue, out on Thursday, Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff run down the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time. We're unveiling the list all this week on West Coast Sound. The party ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: 20-16

​Editor's note: For our music issue, out on Thursday, Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff run down the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time. We're unveiling the list all this week on West Coast Sound. The party waits for no man. So while we watched the tubes for Detox, Los ... More >>

Best Posts of the Week

We'll tell you exactly how they make us feel​Who needs Snakes On A Plane when you've got a Cobra Starship? This week in his kill-yourself-hilarious column Why This Song Sucks Shea Serrano explored the slick New York band's somehow-popular single "You Make Me Feel," proving why it blows using s ... More >>

Odd Future's Syd and Matt Martian Form "The Internet," Release First Song

Looks like a Brick StowellSyd​Odd Future has more up its sleeve than just Tyler, the Creator's "Young N*gga" prank. At midnight, they released "Love Song -1-2," the first song from The Internet, another of the collective's subgroups. This one is made up of one of our favorite producers, Matt M ... More >>

Occult L.A.: Season of the Witch at Cinefamily Reveals L.A.'s Underground Magick Scene

Courtesy of Jodi WilleEat you heart out Harry Potter -- this is what witches and wizards really look like​ The full moon was in Aquarius and Mercury in retrograde as members of L.A.'s cosmic mafia -- a fashionable collection of white witches, black wizards, Crowleyites, healers, shamans, alch ... More >>

How Many Adult Swim Musical Tie-Ins Can You Name?

MC Pee Pants​Adult Swim is integrating all sorts of hip music folks into its late-night shows: Odd Future shot a pilot for the cable channel, and word is that Major Lazer has something in the works. But the cutting-edge programmers have long been musically inclined. MC Chris came to prominen ... More >>

Top Three L.A. Bands at Outside Lands Besides Best Coast and Foster the People

Andrea Domanick Orgone​L.A. acts like Warpaint, Odd Future, Foster the People and Best Coast have really been making the festival circuit rounds this summer, and this past weekend at Outside Lands in San Francisco was no exception. Eight L.A. artists -- including Best Coast and Foster the Peop ... More >>

Page Two: How HARD Are You?

L.A.'s Premier Electronic Fest Is Here. Watch Out For Stereotypes!

Top Five Greatest Rap Hook Singers

Frank Ocean​Last week we were supposed to get the major label release of Odd Future cohort Frank Ocean's debut project, nostalgia, ULTRA, previously a mixtape. Unfortunately, the suits at Def Jam have apparently stricken it from the upcoming-release schedule, with Ocean reacting by releasing t ... More >>

Fun Fun Fun Fest Announces 2011 Line-Up: Slayer, Passion Pit, Danzig Legacy, Public Enemy

​The line-ups at Austin's Fun Fun Fun often contain acts that other large scale festival wouldn't, but FFF doesn't shy away from the hardcore along with the soft. This year's just-announced line-up includes not just Passion Pit, Girls, and Cold Cave, but also The Damned, Kid Dynamite, and Flyi ... More >>

"Trouble On My Mind" Video Premiere: Pusha T Featuring Tyler, The Creator

Andrea DomanickPusha T and Tyler the Creator before mass destruction​We knew when we visited the set that director Jason Goldwatch's video for Pusha T and Tyler, the Creator's "Trouble On My Mind" was gonna be one of the dopest visuals we'd seen in awhile. As Pusha T told us on set: I said ... More >>

Meet Death Grips: The Beast Lurking In The Shadows Is Set To Change the Hip-Hop Game

​"I close my eyes and seize it I clench my fists and beat it I light my torch and burn it I am the beast I worship... I am the beast I worship" As the media is shining its hip-hop spotlight on Los Angeles, there is a monster growing in the state's forgotten capital.  Drummer Zach Hill (He ... More >>

Go Skateboarding Day: Thousands of Skaters Overtake Downtown L.A., Venice Boardwalk

​Updated after the jump with live pics from the traffic nightmare. No, that's not a swarm of cicadas outside your office, celebrating the first day of summer like it's 1840! That, friend, is an adorable mob of 1,000s of skateboarders, practicing their right to rebel on the one day of the year ... More >>

Los Angeles Web Awards: The Winners!

​ What happens when you mix food bloggers, steampunk performers and fake Christian fundamentalists? We'll find out tonight at the party for the Los Angeles Web Awards. Before we announce the winners, we'd like to thank you (yeah, you, right there) for your help with the nomination process. Y ... More >>

Music to Pick Up/Download

Tokimonsta: The Queen Beat

Can Music Critics Who Revere Dirty Projectors, Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend Ever Begin to Understand the Genius of Tyler the Creator's Goblin?

​Just finished listening to the BRILLIANT Goblin by Odd Future's Tyler the Creator. It's a fantastic feat by a true artist who'll be around for a while. Solid, sober and soulful. A kind of stream-of-consciousness poetry up there with the best. Now, other reviews from the little fraternity of ... More >>

Music Picks: Coachella, Girls in Trouble, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Paul Simon

Also, Mary Anne Hobbs, Yoni Wolf, Emmylou Harris and others

Lina in L.A.: West by Westwest