The Decemberists

Music Picks: Lauryn Hill, Bad Brains, Shuggie Otis

Music Picks: Robert Glasper, Nick Waterhouse, Omar Rodriguez Lopez

The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, August 31 Mark de Clive-Lowe BLUE WHALE As one might expect from a hapa Japanese-New Zealander who arrived in L.A. via Boston, New York and London, this keyboardist/DJ/music producer is a complex synthesis of musical styles and cultures. Mark de Clive-Lowe honed his craft in the United King ... More >>

Music Picks: FYF Festival, Jillinda Palmer, Gaslamp Killer

The 20 Worst Hipster Bands: The Complete List

The 20 Worst Hipster Bands: 10-1 Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All Time Who are these hipsters we see each day in the streets, on our Tumblr feeds, and on the local news? And why are so many in bands? It's not the mere existen ... More >>

The 20 Worst Hipster Bands: 20-11

Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All Time Who are these hipsters we see each day in the streets, on our Tumblr feeds, and on the local news? And why are so many in bands? It's not the mere existence of hipster groups that distress ... 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 >>

Maybe the '80s Really Did Rock

TV On The Radio, Arctic Monkeys, Panda Bear, Warpaint and Smith Westerns - The Hollywood Bowl - September 25, 2011

Andrea DomanickArctic Monkeys stole the show​TV On The Radio, Arctic Monkeys, Panda Bear, Warpaint and Smith Westerns The Hollywood Bowl September 25, 2011 See also Warpaint: Back From The Road, Ready For The Bowl Better than... any of these acts sound on record. Not quite a festival, Sun ... More >>

Carson Daly On His Haters: "I guess I just don't give a fuck anymore."

Timothy NorrisCarson Daly​"How do you respond to the claim that most people under 30 have a negative, preconceived notion about you?" Carson Daly, who is 38, visibly winces when I ask this question, as if I've blown cigarette smoke in his eye. It's 11:30 a.m., and we're sitting on a leather ... More >>

The Decemberists and Wye Oak - The Greek - 08/12/2011

Timothy Norris​What: The Decemberists With Wye Oak Where: The Greek When: 08/12/2011 If there's one god awful concert tradition that needs to die of a combination of ebola AND bird flu, it's the ridiculous ritual in which the band prematurely ends an excellent set, dishonestly says 'goodnigh ... More >>

Music Picks: Linda Perhacs, Joni's Jazz, L.A. Phil, the Go-Go's

Also, J*DaVey, the Decemberists, Dragon Head, Wye Oak and others

MUSIC PICKS: Ruben Guevara, Buika, Bill Frisell's Beautiful Dreamers

Also, Combichrist, Papercranes, Simone White and others

Open Mike Eagle Unapologetically Talks About "Art Rap"

[Make sure to read Jeff Weiss' piece on Open Mike Eagle, from the LA Weekly print edition.] Open Mike Eagle - I Rock from Mush Records on Vimeo. In the first ten minutes of his acidic and excellent debut, "Unapologetic Art Rap," Open Mike Eagle samples Pavement and sings a portion of TV on the Ra ... More >>

How Not to Have Your Tour Van Robbed, or How Psych Rocker Imaad Wasif Lost It All

How Not to Have Your Tour Van Robbed, or How Psych Rocker Imaad Wasif Lost It All

Kill Rock Stars gives away 21 free MP3's!

Kill Rock Stars gives away 21 free MP3's ALFSTRAVAGANZA!

Music Picks: Laura Veirs, Experience Hendrix, Boyz II Men, Earthworm Ensemble

Also, David Scott Stone, Slow Club, Little Boots and others

Rock Picks: GZA, the Ettes, A.A. Bondy, Mose Allison

Also, the Kris Special, Jesse Sykes, Mamak Khadem and others

Petra Haden Sells Out

A singer lets her love flow in a quirky series of Toyota Prius commercials

Gold from the Treasure Island Festival

​ Despite the auspicious image above, the only green spotted at the Treasure Island Festival this weekend, was that being smoked by the heavy hippie and hipster quotient that swarmed San Francisco's finest former Naval base cum music festival grounds. Indeed, for any wayward Angelenos incubat ... More >>

Sisters With Voices: The L.A. Ladies Choir

“I walked in and all these wonderful women were singing, and I just went, ‘Whew, I’m at home.’”

Last Night: The All Ladies Choir and AsDSSka at Family Bookstore

Sunday night at Family Bookstore on Fairfax found an assorted bunch of artsy types milling around waiting for the The All Ladies Choir and David Scott Stone and Aska to perform. The event was for a screening of Aska's new music video, which was shot by Spike Jonze and Crystal Moselle (which West Coa ... More >>

Easy Come Easy Go: Marianne Faithfull and Hal Willner's Songs of Tragedy and Heartbreak

Icon's sandpaper vocals sing it like no one else

Weiss' 25 Best Non Hip-Hop Songs of 2008 (A-L)

Graffiti originally spotted on Bedford Ave., Williamsburg in 2002--soon followed by copycat crimes on Silverlake Blvd. and San Francisco's Mission District. Now playing at a Hot Topic near you. For spread-the-wealth reasons, this list was restricted to songs from albums that did not make the Top ... More >>

Last Night: The Decemberists Bring it Like a Flood at Wiltern for Sold Out Gig

By Timothy NorrisClick image for entire Decemberists slideshow.Seeing the Decemberists live is like one of those rare equations in which the sum of all its parts is actually greater than what it would look like on paper.  It's magic that is unquantifiable and steers the show to great heights.&n ... More >>

Everybody Skate!

What to do this week

Whip the Vote: Devo Plays for Obama Back Home in Swingin' Ohio

Mark Mothersbaugh: "Some counties in this state were won by as little as nine votes"

First Thoughts on Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak

"You can't judge me on this because it's a reflection of my heart and soul. It's like judging a grandmother's love. Can you judge a grandmother's love by giving it 2.5 mics, or saying that it only sold a million?"--Kanye West, directly after the first unveiling of Heartbreak & 808s So Kanye's ... More >>

Visions of Radiohead

Celebrating the 21st century's most interactive band

Life is like a Reese's peanut butter cup: "You got rock'n'roll in my politics."

RIYL, Bruce Springsteen, Scarlett Johansson, Obama, Portland based indie rock bands, catch phrases from feature films and television commercials.

Rock Picks: Slick Rick, Tapes 'n Tapes, Kate Nash

And other May 8-15 shows

Weiss' Top 50 Albums of 2007 (#10-6)

10. Spoon-Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga [Merge] Sasha Frere-Jones is a joke and Spoon can prove it. I mean, if all I had to judge indie rock on was the Arcade Fire and the Decemberists and Sufjan Stevens (all acts I like), maybe I might come up with something as hackish as his risible blow-up, but the best R& ... More >>

The 10 Best Local Albums Of 2007

10. Sea Wolf-Leaves in the River At times, Leaves In the River reads a little predictably quirky, but Alex Church's pop heart salvages this from being the effort of another accordian-toting, maritime metaphor-using copycat. The sound might not be the most original (I can't wait for Colin Meloy' ... More >>

Rock Picks: John Fogerty, Band of Horses, Eek-a-Mouse, Gram Rabbit

For the week of November 23 - 29

Conor Vs. Phil

Is laying a ton of L.A. Philharmonic strings and horns on top of Bright Eyes’ insistent beat going to turn it into a big soft pile of adult-oriented mush?

The (Ugly, Nasty, Pissed) Men Among Children

With Deerhunter, The Horrors and Pissed Jeans

Rock Picks: The Slits, Squiddo, Electrocute

For the week of August 2 - 9

Rock Picks

For the week of July 5 - 11

The Broken West

“Another goddamn Big Star comparison!”

In the Pink

Shins take a trip to the dark side of the moon

Erased

The New Romantics

The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy likes Under Milk Wood and a nice Zinfandel, thanks much

Benefits of Being Dumped

Vodka, Vampires & Vikings

What's to do in Los Angeles this week

Festivus Maximus

Do you enjoy crowds, music and exhaustion?

Chapter and Verse

Rick Moody, Jonathan Lethem and John Darnielle on the crossbreeding of literature and pop

Bubblegum Hip-hop and a Band With three Test Icicles

Pet Sounds

Petra Haden + The Who = ♥

Daylight Drive

Date With the Night