Omar Rodriguez-Lopez

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

Don't forget to check our constantly-updated Los Angeles Concert Calendar Monday, June 24 Justin Bieber STAPLES CENTER Can millions of Justin Bieber fans be wrong? Yes! But the point is, those panting hordes exist; they're not going away (not just yet, anyway), and neither is The, uh, Man himself: ... More >>

Premiere: Quitapenas' "Mas Tropical"

Quitapenas is a nine-piece group from Riverside whose name means, we're told, "take away your worries." They've got afro-Cuban influences and are putting a new spin on cumbia. Which, if you ask us, is something that could use a new spin! Below, we've got the premiere of their single "Mas Tropical, ... More >>

Queztal and Los Cojolites - The Breed Street Shul - 2/9/13

Queztal and Los Cojolites The Breed Street Shul 2/9/13 Better than: A Hollywood Grammy red carpet party Saturday night's celebration of some of the year's Grammy nominees in the Latin category brought the sounds of Son Jarocho music to Boyle Heights. Before doors opened at 8 am, the line for the f ... More >>

The Ten Best Latin Alternative Albums of 2012

It has become difficult to define what Latin Alternative is these days. The genre seems to encompass everything from traditional roots band playing an accordion to a progressive hip-hop MCs to singer-songwriters crooning romantic ballads -- and can be sung in Spanish, English or Spanglish. It's a hy ... More >>

The Best Concerts To See in L.A. This Weekend: Nov 2-4

Friday, November 2 Grace Potter & the Nocturnals THE WILTERN If anyone should be a star, it's Grace Potter. Commercial enough to sing duets with Kenny Chesney, she's also freaky enough to trip out occasionally with folks like Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, who produced part ... More >>

Maná Gets Inducted Into the Hollywood Guitar Center's Rock Walk

Mexican rockers Maná made their mark in concrete as the foursome were inducted the Hollywood Guitar Center's Rock Walk yesterday. Like Bon Jovi, The Boss and Guns N' Roses all rolled into one (but from Guadalajara, Jalisco), Maná has garnered dozens of accolades -- including winning eleven Grammys ... More >>

Gaby Moreno - Largo - September 4, 2012

Gaby Moreno Largo September 4, 2012 See also: Our People issue profile of Gaby Moreno Better than.... Your current favorite Spanish artist. Celebrating the release of her first all-Spanish album Postales, Gaby Moreno performed her entire work live last night at Largo. Wearing a shiny 1920's-inspi ... More >>

The Story of a Jewish Guy Who Did Crack and Lived in a Bus, and Now Makes Mexican Music

Growing up Jewish in Southeast Los Angeles with Communist parents who worked alongside the Black Panthers, Wil Abers never seemed to fit in. "I struggled with my identity living around Mexicans and African-Americans, while being white and seeing my parents fight against people in power," says Aber ... More >>

Coachella: Seven Lesser-Known Acts You'd Be Silly to Miss

At the Drive-In: "We Found Love Together, We Lost Love Together"

See also: *At the Drive-In Speaks! Why They Finally Reunited (Hint: It Wasn't the Cash) *Coachella Preview 2012: Everything You Need to Know About the Performers Our At the Drive-In profile yesterday focuses on the reunion of the seminal post-punk legends, who dissolved in 2001. Before they hit th ... More >>

At the Drive-In Speaks! Why They Finally Reunited (Hint: It Wasn't the Cash)

See also: *Coachella Preview 2012: Everything You Need to Know About the Performers *Mars Volta and At the Drive-In's Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Is a Real Bastard *Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Is One Meandering Interview Legendary post-hardcore outfit At the Drive-In is reuniting to perform at Coachella this ye ... More >>

Mono/Poly Disses Obama, Praises Ron Paul

It was the '90s in Bakersfield, and West Coast gangster rap gripped much of the town. But Charles Dickerson felt bored. So he ignored what was popular, sticking with his beloved electronic music. He now performs under the name Mono/Poly, and released an EP under Brainfeeder last year. The 25-year-o ... More >>

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Is One Meandering Interview

See also: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Is a Real Bastard Our music feature this week focuses on Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, a giant of the progressive rock and post-hardcore scenes who seemingly wants nothing to do with them. The mastermind behind Mars Volta and At the Drive-In tries to tell us he's not a musi ... More >>

Mars Volta and At the Drive-In's Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Is a Real Bastard

Le Butcherettes

Teri Gender Bender is the most volatile woman in rock

Ximena Sariñana: An Indie-Pop Star In Mexico, Anonymous In L.A.

Emily Shur​Ximena Sariñana grew up a child star acting on popular telenovelas in her native Mexico. She then moved to film, followed by a stint at Berklee College of Music. At 25, she's an indie-pop star living fairly anonymously in a new country. The bilingual Sariñana moved from Mexico Ci ... More >>

Ximena Sariñana at The Echoplex 7/16/11

Erica E. PhilliipsXimena Sariñana​WHO: Ximena Sariñana WHERE: The Echoplex WHEN: 7/16/11 Better than... the movies. Cut from a similar dainty-floral-patterned cloth as Zooey Deschanel and Jenny Lewis, child actress turned cheerful indie darling Ximena Sariñana has led an ... More >>

Music Picks: Bob Dylan, Azalia Snail, Makabert Fynd, Seun Kuti

Also, No Age, Crystal Antlers, Imelda May and others

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

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

Music Picks: Iannis Xenakis Now and Tomorrow, Ozzy Osbourne, War Tapes, Liz Pappademas

Also, Savage Republic, Tanya Morgan, the Church, the Fling and others

Coachella Lineup Announced: We Told You Odd Future Was in There!

​This is the official press release: Coachella 2011. Music. Art. Culture. Community. With the Coachella line-up announcement serving as the official kick-off to the annual U.S. festival season, festival organizers Goldenvoice can now reveal details for the 2011 Coachella Valley Music & Art ... More >>

Listen: Big Sir's Lisa Papineau Collaborates with the Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez Lopez

Lisa Papineau makes power moves. Is a new LP on the way?​Big Sir vocalist, Air collaborator and solo artist Lisa Papineau lends her haunting voice to a pair of songs on a brand new album by the Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez Lopez. It seems like the axe-wielding afro'd wonder churns out a new al ... More >>

Ringtone Rap, Michael Franti and Herpes: Nocando and DJ Nobody are 'Bomb Zombies'

We CAN go for that: Low End Theory's Nocando and DJ Nobody are Bomb Zombies.​Check out a leak from a brand new, unannounced collaboration between Low End Theory residents DJ Nobody and Nocando. Their duo is dubbed Bomb Zombies and has an EP due out early next month on Alpha Pup Records. The s ... More >>

Le Butcherettes' Teri Gender Bender on her New Philosophical Movement, Butcherism: "I'll Take Feminism, Nabokov, Bulgakov and Theater and Mush It All In"

Ivan FernandezLe Butcherettes: Subverting everything! (even French grammar!)​ Mexico City's Le Butcherettes made their second appearance in Los Angeles this past Tuesday as the opening act for the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group at the Troubadour. The trio led by vocalist/guitarist Teri Gender Bend ... More >>

Now Streaming: The Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez Lopez Records an Electronic Album with Low End Theory's DJ Nobody (And it's Really Good!)

The Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez Lopez hooks up with Low End Theory's DJ Nobody for the album "Tychozorente"​Much has been made of legendary L.A. hip-hop producer Madlib's 2010 album-a-month series. But another of this city's storied musical madmen has been doing his part to flood the market wi ... More >>

Tonight: The Daylights, Tracy Bonham, Shonen Knife, the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group, Mike Posner

Steven TaylorThe Daylights​L.A.-based trio the Daylights -- Texans Ran and Ricky Jackson and Danish drummer Svend Lerche -- have a nice little buzz going, at least in the FM radio world. The trio's self-titled debut album, out today, bears the fingerprints of plenty of A-listers -- Youth prod ... More >>

Music Picks: The Chapin Sisters, Pink Martini, Freestyle Fellowship, Mark Kozelek

Also Shonen Knife, the Vibrators, Karnivool and others

Live Review: Le Butcherettes at Spaceland

Falling JamesLe Butcherettes: bloody 'ell!​Le Butcherettes were a portrait of domestic bliss when they walked onstage at Spaceland for their debut Los Angeles show. Sure, drummer Normandi Heuxdaflo and a mystery bassist guy looked a bit unsettling in their creepy masks, but singer Teri Gender ... More >>

Live in L.A.: Vato Negro, Matt Pond PA, Video Games Live, GBH, Fitz & the Tantrums

Vato Negro's Juan Alderete​Bring on the hard stuff: Vato Negro, the side project of the Mars Volta bassist and effects pedal fetishist Juan Alderete, makes instrumental rock that sounds like a soundtrack to a war zone. His collaborators in the latest incarnation of this long-running project (w ... More >>

West Coast Sound: A Stroke Chokes (And Nearly Goes Broke)

Mars Volta Ax-man Makes Directorial Debut

​We here at West Coast Sound, existing as we do at the geographic crossroads of the music biz and the film industry, like to make a point of keeping readers abreast of inspired audio/visual intersections. For instance, exactly one month ago, we alerted you to yet another outgrowth of Maynard ... More >>

INCHES reviews Baron Zen, Bohren & Der Club Of Gore, Soft Circle High Places, I Heart Lung [MP3]

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 >>

Today in O-Face News: I'll Have What The Mars Volta's Omar Rodríguez-López Is Having!

In the annals of "Guitar Face"--that pseudo-orgasmic grimace that some players pull-off, pretending they're playing something with the complexity of John Fahey when in fact they're running scales up and down really fast--there is a noble lineage going from the guy from Free to G.E. Smith (the SNL ba ... More >>

INCHES reviews Best Coast, Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group, Lustmord, Bipolar Bear (MP3s)

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 >>

INCHES reviews Nite Jewel, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Slang Chickens, My Estrogeneration comp (MP3s)

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 >>

Five Free MP3s: New Tunes from Imaad Wasif, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Jogger, Fool's Gold, and Strong Arm Steady w/ Madlib ( video, NSFW)

Because, why not? You like free music and so do we. Neither of us likes Mondays, so let's sweeten the pot, no? Here are five fresh MP3s from L.A. artists, with PR blurbs, a NSFW video (psychedelic boobs!), key release dates and other examples of sheer randomness. First, the boobs, courtesy of Immad ... More >>

INCHES005: New Wax from The Mars Volta, Glasser, Wet Hair, Kissing Cousins ( MP3s, video, chart)

In the unpredictable wake of music's digital rebirth, vinyl has experienced a modest boom in popularity, seen by many (with delicious irony) as a replacement for the awkward middleman that is the compact disc. INCHES seeks not only to review the output of L.A.'s healthy vinyl community (artists and ... More >>

Rock Picks: Os Mutantes, Hall and Oates, Bat for Lashes, Davila 666, Maia Sharp

Also, the Mars Volta, Nine Inch Nails, Gun Outfit, the Pretenders and others

Record Reviews: The Mars Volta, Radar Brothers

Also: Vampire Weekend, Crystal Antlers

Rock Picks: Circle Jerks, Money Mark, No Age

For the week of Jan. 3 - 10

Over the Hills and Far Away

The Mars Volta’s burden of dreams

Live in LA

Rock in Total Retrograde!

How do you solve a problem like the Mars Volta?

Dub

The once and future music of revolution

Secrets of the Sun

The Mars Volta in space and time