Rick Rubin

The Cult - House of Blues - 9/8/13

The Cult House of Blues 9/8/13 For diehard fans, there may be nothing cooler than a "whole album track by track" gig. Everyone's been doing it, including Roger Waters with The Wall a few years ago and The Breeders with Last Splash more recently. The Cult have been doing it with their current tour, ... More >>

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

Don't forget to check our constantly-updated Los Angeles Concert Calendar Friday, September 6 Anticon 15th-Anniversary Party featuring Baths, Daedelus, Doseone, et al. ECHOPLEX Tip your hat to 15 years of Anticon greatness: The label/collective founded by Oakland's Adam "Doseone" Drucker has champ ... More >>

Ten Metal Albums to Hear Before You Die

By Alex Distefano When you're talking about something as all-encompassing as heavy metal, you might as well be talking about something as infinitely complicated as the universe. It's that vast, and the amount of territory to cover is seemingly limitless. From black metal and thrash, death metal to ... More >>

RIP Jeff Hanneman: Slayer Guitarist Is Dead

Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman has died. The cause was liver failure; he passed at an area hospital near his home this morning. He was 49. Hanneman has not been active in Slayer for the last few years, since suffering a flesh-eating bacteria from a spider bite. No word yet if that caused any c ... More >>

Top 20 L.A. Metal Albums: 10 - 1

See also: Top 20 L.A. Metal Albums: 20 - 11 Top 20 Greatest L.A. Punk Albums The Ten Most Unreadable Metal Band Logos 10. Slayer Seasons in the Abyss (1990) Seasons in the Abyss is nothing fancy, just pure, sore-neck, eardrum-stripping metal. Full of brutal drum barrages, massive caliber guitar as ... More >>

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 >>

Danzig Says He Would Have Played Wolverine Less 'Gay' Than Hugh Jackman

See also: *Glenn Danzig's Amazing Art Collection *The Craziest Danzig Stalker of Them All *Glenn Danzig's Head On Other People's Bodies: An Appreciation Glenn Danzig is a hard man to get face time with, so we were extremely psyched to meet up with him at his management company's Wilshire Blvd. off ... More >>

Ten Rap-Rock Songs That Are Actually Awesome

See also: Crazy Town's Shifty Shellshock Is Out of His Coma! Here's Everything You Need To Know About Him Rap-rock remains the coolest idea ever. You've just been scared off of it by the mountain of terrible rap-rock in existence. Here are ten songs that prove the Woodstock '99-tainted genre could ... More >>

Natali and Lady Gaga? How About The Five Most Truly Talented Sets of Siblings In American Music?

Over the weekend we became aware of the fact that Lady Gaga a) has a little sister named Natali Germanotta and b) that Natali is pretty stylish, just like her big sis. This got us thinking about all the other famous musicians out there with siblings that are just as talented as they are, even if ... More >>

EXCLUSIVE: Metallica's Lars Ulrich On Surviving the Big 4 and the Roots of Thrash

Warner Bros.Metallica's Lars Ulrich​Months of anticipation came to an explosive finish in the California desert on Saturday night, as Metallica closed their "Big 4" thrash-fest with a thundering "Seek & Destroy" for 50,000 weary headbangers spread across Empire Polo Field in Indio. By acknowle ... More >>

A Magical Skill

Chris Goss, the godfather of desert rock, on the return of Masters of Reality

Music Picks: Plastic Ono Band, Ooh La LA Fest, Belle & Sebastian

Also, Marianne Dissard, Bad Company, Matador 21 and others

Gogol Bordello Tackles Immigration Reform in New Music Video, Eugene Hutz Explains Why and Shares Photos from the Set

Timothy NorrisGogol Bordello at The Mayan, June 2010​On June 29 gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello announced its plans to officially boycott the state of Arizona over the highly controversial SB 1070, the toughest anti-illegal immigration bill passed in America in decades -- one that requires auth ... More >>

I Love You But I've Chosen Authenticity: Gogol Bordello Live at the Mayan

Scott Sterling​By Scott Sterling Gogol Bordello is beyond cool. A survey of their jam-packed show at the appropriately ornate Mayan in Downtown L.A. last night revealed an impossibly diverse crowd generally reserved for bands that have made that precarious jump from clubs and college radio ... More >>

Live in L.A.: Gogol Bordello, Athlete, Miley Cyrus, Abe Vigoda, We Barbarians, Red Cortez

via GogolBordello.comEugene Hütz of Gogol Bordello​As anybody who's witnessed their spectacles at Coachella or the Detour Festival (R.I.P.) can testify, it's all about Gogol Bordello's live shows. Nothing esteemed producer Rick Rubin could have done on the gypsy punks' recently released fif ... More >>

Sona Patel To Drop Fantastic New Album!

​Is there anything Sona Patel can't do? The legendary LA medical marijuana pinup physician is about to release a new album through the boutique Silver Lake label Drama of the Gifted Childd (rumored to be secretly owned by a couple of minor Strokes, the rhythm section of Ozomatli, and nightlif ... More >>

U2 Producer Steve Lillywhite Debases Himself To Be the Next Simon Cowell

Esteemed producer Steve Lillywhite makes an 'Idol' plea and embarrasses music nerds

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 >>

Slayer’s Bloody Template

More tales of serial murder and psychosis, state oppression, snuff films and endless war over oil

Beth Ditto: Big in Europe

She's the greatest female Arkansan punk singer ever to host a British talk show. And it doesn't stop there

LCD Soundsystem's LA Love: Haunted Mansions, Secret (& Not So Secret) Club Gigs

LCD Soundsystem have been in town the past several weeks recording their latest record, and they're not laying down tracks in any ol' Hollywood abode either. Mutual pals tell us that leader James Murphy has been living in and making new music at the Laurel Canyon estate owned by Rick Rubin called "T ... More >>

Rock Picks: Iron & Wine, Mika Miko, the Vaselines, Extra Golden

Leslie & the Badgers, Scout Niblett, Theresa Andersson, Meat Puppets and others

SXSW Day 4 (Pt. 2): On Rap/Rock, The Legacy of the Beasties, and Asher Roth Vs. The Knux

Almost 25 years have elapsed since the Rick Rubin-helmed, Licensed to Ill found the Beasties staking their claim as the first major rap group to incorporate guitar-hero rawk ("Rock Box" aside). Such juxtaposition seems prosaic today, but it's almost impossible to grasp how revolutionary sampling L ... More >>

In Her Madgesty's Court

Also, Paper's trail and Punk Rock Karaoke

Black Mountain, Troubadour, 2/5

By Timothy Norris It's a big night in Los Angeles for Psych Rock. Dead Meadow's also doing their thing over at the EchoPlex. I've never heard tonight's opening band, Howlin' Rain, but the effects lineup certainly looks like they'll be worth the listen. Ahh, the Troubadour's fries... Don't fo ... More >>

Almost Acoustic Christmas: Park 'n' Ride

KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas at Gibson Amphitheatre, December 8

Carlos Niño

The beginner

Coachella And the Cure for the Common Festivalitis

E.L.O. Is for Lovers!

Rock God Goes Jackless

Microsoft Wants to Kill Your iPod, Summer Goes Pop!

The Beat Goes On

Rick Rubin

Hipsters Must Die

10 signs of the (Yindie) apocalypse

Class Honors

HONOR ROLL

Two Great Tastes that Taste Kinda Awesome Together . . .

How can you have a Neil Diamond concert that’s neither cheesy nor sincere?

Snake Bites

Rock in Total Retrograde!

How do you solve a problem like the Mars Volta?

Letters

The Fuzz and the Fury

Revenge against the ’70s (and other hostile decades)

A Day With The Locust

On the road with the world’s most dangerous band. Also, an investigation of death metal, “hardcore,” millionaire punks and the mysterious Tijuana zebra

King of the Hill

Sons of the City

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have made an unlikely pop masterpiece by singing bittersweet songs of salvation that could have only been born in L.A.

Burning Love

System of a Down in a toxic new world

Om Nia Merican

From Lollapalooza to IPO

Festival founder Marc Geiger bets on online music

Boomin' Bros

Beastie Boys are ill and always will

Lucifer Unchained

The hooks and books of Glenn Danzig