OutKast

Fuck Guilty Pleasures: In Defense of Common

[Editor's Note: Fuck Guilty Pleasures celebrates the over-produced, commercial, artless, lowbrow music that we believe is genuinely worthwhile. Like, among the best music ever.] Rap only exists in extremes. Don't let the polite reviews of Lil Wayne's Carter IV fool you, for instance. It got lots of ... More >>

The Mystery of Shuggie Otis

Gone for nearly four decades, the celebrated singer-songwriter is back. But where has he been?

Yung Jake, a Recent CalArts Grad, Could Be the Breakout Art Star of Sundance

Although half of Los Angeles will decamp this weekend to the snowy hillsides of Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, not everyone is going for the movies. Starry-eyed attendees relish access to the suits, the skiing and the swag, but what about the art? Shari Frilot has curated Sundance ... More >>

Cooking With Artisans: Coldwater Canyons' Leftover Jam Tips Their OutKast-Inspired Marmalade Salad Dressing Recipe

In today's era of trendy compotes and 10-ingredient jellies, Coldwater Canyon Provisions takes a refreshingly old-school approach to their preserves and pickles that hint at simpler jam and jelly times. Flavors include watermelon jelly, raspberry and strawberry-rhubarb jam, and pickled okra, beets a ... More >>

Animal's Chefs Have Badass Taste in Music

[Editor's note: Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. Be sure to also check out the archives.] You really haven't heard Kanye West and Jay-Z's "H.A.M." until it plays while you dig into a slab of Animal's balsamic pork ribs, delicata squash, arugula and p ... More >>

Music Picks: Kaskade, Dirty Projectors, Ondatrópica

The 20 Best Albums Not in the Canon: The Complete List

*Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre *Top 20 Sexiest Female Musicians of All Time *Top 20 Sexiest Male Musicians of All Time A few months back Rolling Stone put out their updated 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. (Here's a quickly-scannable version; Sgt. P ... More >>

The 20 Best Albums Not in the Canon: 10-1

See also: The 20 Best Albums Not in the Canon: 20-11 *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre *Top 20 Sexiest Female Musicians of All Time *Top 20 Sexiest Male Musicians of All Time 10. Built To Spill Perfect From Now On (1997) Not really grunge but not springy ... More >>

Jimmy Cliff, Liars, Jesse Sykes

Also, New Edition, Kátia Moraes & Sambaguru, Milo Greene and others

Lana Del Rey - The Troubadour - 12/7/11

Timothy Norris​Lana Del Rey The Troubadour December 7, 2011 See also: The Problem With Lana Del Rey (Is You) Better than...I ever even knew. Then again, what do I know? "I have my fingers crossed that LDR lives up to all this hype. Girl's got talent," said my friend after I told her I was s ... More >>

Scarface Is Out Of Jail, Performs At Key Club Tomorrow: Excerpts From His Last Interview

​Scarface plays the Key Club tomorrow night. This is big news, considering most folks didn't even know that the greatest of all southern rappers was out of the pen. In October 2010 he began a term at Montgomery County Jail in Alabama over numerous unresolved child support cases. (There is also ... More >>

Wavves of Pleasure: Indie Poster Boy Nathan Williams Makes Time For Recreation

Pooneh GhanaNathan Williams​See also: Wavves On How They Managed To Get Kicked Out Of Both The VMAs and Lil Wayne's Afterparty The decor of the Eagle Rock home Nathan Williams shares with his girlfriend, Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, looks kind of like how his music sounds: fun, a little gr ... More >>

Nappy Roots - El Cid - September 13, 2011

Rebecca HaithcoatNappy Roots​Nappy Roots El Cid September 13, 2011 Better than ... whatever you were doing at home. Hip-hop group the Nappy Roots have four albums, one of which is multi-platinum. Their producers include everyone from Raphael Saadiq to Kanye West to Lil Jon. And to this day, ... More >>

Thurz on Reinventing Himself, U-N-I's Break-Up, and Why West Coast Hip Hop Hasn't Gone Mainstream (Yet)

Thurz​In "Los Angeles," the first single from Inglewood rapper Thurz's debut solo project, L.A. Riot-- out yesterday --a girl chirps, "To me, L.A. means home, sunny skies, and happy people." But in Thurz's next verse, he flips the city over to examine its underbelly, "Cats would raise a gun b ... More >>

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 >>

Top Ten Bands Who Need To Reunite, NOW

Nope, this doesn't count​Last week, we discussed ten bands who ruined their legacy by reuniting. Don't get the wrong idea, though -- we're not complete haters. And so, here are the groups we'd like to see put together one last reunion tour. Note: We're only talking about bands with all of thei ... More >>

Last Night: Brainfeeder Presents Flying Lotus with Strangeloop, Teebs, Samiyam, Gaslamp Killer, Austin Peralta, and Thundercat at the Music Box

Gari AskewFlying Lotus​ WHO: Flying Lotus with Strangeloop, Teebs, Samiyam, Gaslamp Killer, Austin Peralta, and Thundercat WHERE: Music Box WHEN: 6/23/11 The Music Box convulsed with bass last night as the Brainfeeder crew descended upon Hollywood Blvd for a sold out show. Top Brainfeeder tal ... More >>

Music Picks: Breakestra, Slang Chickens, the Muffs, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson

Also Meth Leppard, Tennis With Lord Huron, Kid Infinity and others

Flying Lotus Rising

Could spiritual electronica be the next great California sound?

Review: Janelle Monae at the Viper Room

Review by Andrea Whiting ​Walking up The Viper Room stairs last Tuesday I somehow took a wrong turn and fell up a rabbit hole, straight into the post-apocalyptic cyber punk world of Janelle Monae. In this world, James Brown is still alive and kickin', cold hipster sidekicks have been replac ... More >>

Q & A With Corina Weibel of Canelé, Part 2: Wooden Spoons, Cooking to OutKast

Corina Weibel of Canelé in Atwater and Jane Choi, the restaurant's GM and Weibel's business partner, run a cozy place. The menu is written on chalk on the wall, there's a big communal table near the picture window, the bar is so close to the stoves that you can talk to the chef (and even tape an in ... More >>

Of Ukeleles, Tolkien, Garfunkel and Bond: A Chat With Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords

Brian TamborelloMcKenzie (front, with Clement) rides the folk train​ October is Folktober for fans of New Zealand's fourth most popular digi-folk parodists, the mighty Flight of the Conchords; following the second season of their acclaimed eponymous HBO show, which bagged several Emmy nominati ... More >>

Ten Great Cover Songs from Coachella 2009 (and a few extras)

Timothy NorrisEven the machinery was flashing the horns. Nothing says "I love you" like a cover song. Artists at Coachella like to acknowledge their influences, love to thrill the crowd with a surprise singalong. This year bands drew from music of many genres, from ragtime to post punk to hip hop. ... More >>

West Coast Sound: An L.A. Music Pro's Guide to South by Southwest

Ten to watch: The next Ford jingle?

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 >>

Has the L.A. Hip-Hop Plague Finally Passed?

Four on the floor

Outside Lands Day 3-We Have a Winner

Ted DiBiase knows a winner when he sees one. That's how he earned the nickname "The Million Dollar Man" when those Cash Money clowns were still learning to ice their first teeth. And rest assured, Teddy B. would've inevitably proclaimed Day 3 of Outside Lands, the winner of the match, even if he wo ... More >>

Rock Picks: Warped Tour, Pop Levi, Valient Thorr

Also, Previously on Lost, Raphael Saadiq, Liz Pappademas

Will Ferrell's Semi-Pro Is Only Half Bad:

His half

Record Reviews: Atlas Sound, Chris Walla, The Clipse

Decision 2007: Kanye West vs. 50 Cent

A voter’s guide to the most important rap election in a generation

All I Want for Christmas Is a New Music Industry

The Holograms

Pringles, Hot Apple Pie and Sir Paul

We’re Goin’ Down in Flames

Snakes on a Plane

Music Picks

For the week of June 15 - 22

Kanye 4 Prezzy

Letters

The Revolution Will Be Posterized

From Motown to Rimtown

The blinging of Los Angeles

The Beat That Kills

20 Ways To Shake It

The Year In Music

Drones and Dreams

Killing time with microtonal music

U Don’t Know

How It Could Be

Soul rebels Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek

Down for the Good Life

A Unified Revolution Called Jurassic 5

Darkness Audible

An interview with Me'Shell Ndegéocello

I'm 48

Growing old with Alice Cooper

Music 1998:

The good, the bad and the combusticated