Stereo Systems

Computer Jay Taught Himself How to Build a Rapping, Talking SuperComputer

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] We usually imagine scientists as mad or mild-mannered. But the North Hollywood-raised, synthesizer freak named Computer Jay splits the difference. He has ... More >>

House Shoes Offers 
His Rules For DJs

[Editor's note: Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. Be sure to also check out the archives.] See also: House Shoes: Seminal Producer Talks New Album, J Dilla Beef Hang the DJ. Or don't. When Morrissey wrote the hook to "Panic," the definition of a DJ w ... More >>

Little Boots - Bardot - 11-21-11

Little Boots Bardot 11-21-11 Better than...studying on a school night. Over two years have passed since Victoria Hesketh, AKA Little Boots, released her debut album Hands. The electro pop work was popular in England, earning her a top 5 position in the UK album charts and winning the BBC's Best S ... More >>

Roy Ayers, J. Rocc, Thundercat - Exchange LA - 11/17/11

Max MeuleveldRoy Ayers​See Also:*Thundercat Emerges With His Debut, Co-produced by Flying Lotus Homage: Roy Ayers, J. Rocc, Thundercat Exchange LA 11/17/11 Better than...Organizing my vinyl collection. In the break between Roy Ayers' two sets at Exchange LA last night, KCRW DJ Garth Trinida ... More >>

Echo Park Bar Report: El Prado

josewolff/flickr​ The Place: El Prado, 1805 W. Sunset Boulevard, Echo Park; 213-483-8609. The Hours: Mon.-Fri. 6 p.m.-2 a.m.; Sat.-Sun. 2:30 p.m.-2 a.m. The Digs: Classy yet understated, the interior of El Prado, at least what you can see of it through the shadows, is dominated by the lo ... More >>

DJ Turntables Become Art in Pop-Up Gallery Outside MOCA's 'Art in the Streets'

Lea LionBMX guru Bob Haro's customized CD player​ Thanks to the rise of hip hop, the turntable transcended its status as an electronic device, emerged as the instrument of our time -- and gained a whole lotta respect in the process. Recently an exhibit titled "Art Mix" paid homage to the turnt ... More >>

Hip-Hop: A Cultural Odyssey

Dance Club Pick: Designer Drugs Within Reach

Dance Club Pick: Bashing the Grammies

Henry Rollins: The Column!

Plastic fantastic: why vinyl still matters

Henry Rollins: The Column! Is Here: Preview of the First Henry Rollins Column, Exclusive for the Print Edition of the LA Weekly

Timothy Norris​[The one and only Henry Rollins contributes a weekly column and far-reaching reportage to the music section of the LA Weekly. Look for your weekly Henry Rollins fix right here on West Coast Sound every Wednesday and make sure to tune in to Henry's KCRW radio show every Saturday ... More >>

8 Last-Minute Gift Ideas for L.A. Music Lovers (and Obsessives)

​There's always that someone in your family or group of friends or entourage (this is LA we're talking about after all) who is a little intimidating come Holidays gift season. They're way into music, but they're into music in an obsessive way that seems to say "you'll never be able to find a m ... More >>

Turnovers & Turntables: Taking A Spin at The Redbury Hotel

Lina Lecaro At Redbury, turntables come with directions, iPod docks don't. ​Chocolates on the bed, fruit baskets, iPod docks, free porn... yada, yada. Special little touches like these are nice when staying in a hotel, but after our tour of grand new Redbury in Hollywood last week, we think it ... More >>

Cut Chemist: Too Many DJs

Call yourself a DJ 'cause you bought two turntables and a mixer? World-class L.A. DJ is putting you on notice

Cut Chemist Performs An Intimate Set For Aspiring DJs

​Vancouver can have the Winter Games. Here in sunny Southern California, land of the endless summer, our Olympic feats our perennial, and so much cooler than ice dancing. Take DJing for instance -- turntablism, or the art of scratch. Influential as New York was in getting the wheels (of steel) ... More >>

Sean Duffy: Signs of Intelligent Life

Set the tricorder to temporal disruption mode, Mr. Spock

Listening To The Sound...of Woodworms

​ What do worms sound like? Zimoun knows. He is a 32-year-old sound installation artist from Switzerland. He makes things that make noise. These tend to be mechanical things that make sounds that are strangely organic, like rain or waterfalls. (Go here for examples.) You get the feeling that Z ... More >>

DJ Hero: From AM to Z-Trip

L.A. DJ takes on music ed Randall Roberts in Vegas

Z-Trip Demos DJ Hero in Las Vegas, Honors DJ AM at Friday Night Residency Debut

Thursday, October 15, 6:50 p.m. Landed in Vegas, am on way to Palms Hotel from airport. In a half hour, the DJ Hero battle will begin: West Coast Sound vs. Z-Trip. Focus. I've had ten years to learn Technics technique. Countless hours in front of the decks, matching beats, absorbing breaks, tweakin ... More >>

Monday Social Makes a Move: A Conversation with Mick Cole

Monday Social is Los Angeles' longest-running, electronic dance music night. It started in 1996 as an off-night ode to a cast-off scene, a place where true fans of digitally flavored "progressive" house music could get their fix away from the celebrity crowds. It turned into an affair of its own, ho ... More >>

Palate Food Wine: Bring-Your-Own-Vinyl

Photo credit: WinkChris Ramos at the turntable​With its own wine shop and an eighteen-dollar corkage fee, Glendale's Palate Food Wine provides little incentive to BYOB, but has still found a way to create a house party atmosphere. The Sunday afternoon event BYOV (Bring Your Own Vinyl) invite ... More >>

WHAT? NO TAP DANCING?

Weird Ripper: Baseck Redefines Dance Music ...

... with two turntables and two Game Boys

Dance Club Pick: DJ Babu at Boombox

Old school's in session

Best Sources for Building a Vintage Sound System

A Vinyl Revival

Breaking the Trance

The unexpected Burning Man soundtrack

The Burning Man Returns

By Randall Roberts The Burning Man, which was prematurely torched by burner-assassin Paul Addis on Tuesday morning, has returned. This morning at about 11:30, a crane lifted what is now known as the Spawn of Burning Man into its rightful place at the center of Black Rock City. The soundtrack to ... More >>

Waxing Frenetic

Rob Swift at Boombox

Manu Chao Sits Down with Falling James

Here's a link to an extended version of Falling James' interview with Manu Chao appears on L.A. Weekly's website this week.  They cover his first L.A. show playing with No Doubt in 1989, to his love of punk rock bands like the Ramones and MC5to the worries of turning into a rock star asshole. ... More >>

The Chocolate Bar

Solid Ether

Rock the Mic Like Cal Worthington!

Ugly Duckling put the old-school house-party vibe on wax

Julio G. Is for Real

After a three-year hiatus from radio, KDAY’s hardcore son comes home

Aurelito & Shakespeare, Aural Tradition

Revolutions Per Minute

Mixism

Sampling Christian Marclay

Utter Non Sense

Decoding Boyd Rice

Fertilizer

Wheels of Steal

Turntablin’

Scratch takes its beats beyond the bling-bling

Music of the Heart and Other Organs

You can’t dance to everything

Torturing Coyotes

The best of Sitegeist

Higher Science

Better deejaying through turntablature

Torturing Coyotes

Frankie’s House

Get Brown and Get Down!

Psst . . . Wanna Pay for a Music Download??