The Hold Steady

Converting from Christian Rock to Indie Rock

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you ... More >>

Jimmy Cliff, Liars, Jesse Sykes

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

Cloud Nothings, Bleached - SXSW - 3/15/12

See also: *The Best of SXSW: Wednesday 3/14/2012 *Five Attractive Strange People Working for Tips at SXSW Yesterday it was sticky, but Consequence of Sound threw a day party with a killer lineup that let us cool our heels and laugh at the East coast kids who were marveling at how awesome the weath ... More >>

L.A. Woman Was the Doors' Bluesy Masterpiece, and Jim Morrison's Kiss-Off to L.A.

Music Picks: Overdoz, The Cure, Lucinda Williams

Also, K. Flay, The Civil Wars, Bob Mould tribute

Music Picks: Shelby Lynne, Marsha Ambrosius, John Scofield Quartet, Wiz Khalifa

Also, Leon Russell, Chris Brown, Azar Lawrence Quintet and others

This weekend: Sunset Strip Music Festival, Boris, Cyndi Lauper, the Antlers, Morris Day, Cap'N Jazz, Something Corporate, Chemical Brothers

Christina M. FeliceVanaprasta​By now, we're sure you have your strategy mapped out for Saturday's street festival portion of the Sunset Strip Music Festival. You're hitting the Sunset Strip early for Semi Precious Weapons; you're darting between outdoor stages for the likes of Travie McCoy, ... More >>

Tonight: Filter, the Hold Steady, Juliette Commagere, Radars to the Sky, Black Mountain, the Beth Hart Band

Corey NickolsFilter​It's been 15 years since Filter scored its big hit with "Hey Man, Nice Shot," and a year and half since Richard Patrick passed that signpost of career middle age by releasing a greatest-hits compilation. He must've thought there was still some rockin' to do -- or he heard ... More >>

Music Picks: Sunset Junction Street Fair, Lucinda Williams, Y & T, Tanya Morgan

Also, GZA, Jimmy Webb, Fol Chen and others

Live in L.A. Tonight: Pacha Massive, the Hold Steady, Jane's Addiction, Dosh, Two Door Cinema Club

​No matter whether you regard Cinco de Mayo as a meaningful holiday or a beer company-sponsored excuse to get loaded, it's a good day to get your bilingual on. Spaceland's lineup tonight plays right into that: NYC's hybridizers of dub, electro and Latin rhythms Pacha Massive headline, supporte ... More >>

Music Picks: Neil Innes, Korean Music Festival 8, Avi Buffalo, Lupe Fiasco, Coheed and Cambria

Also, No Age, Sheila E & the Escovedo Family, Greg Laswell and others

Rock Picks: Riot Girl Carnival, Miniature Tigers, Death Cab for Cutie, Deer Tick

Also, Vieux Farka Touré, John Fogerty, Stacey Q, Watts Ensemble and others

Rock Picks: Winifred E. Eye, Stagecoach, Marianne Dissard, Thao

Also, Franz Nicolay, Sweet, Tinted Windows and others

Mike Watt Interviewed by Ian Svenious for Soft Focus

Not many people have acknowledged that this June will be the 25th anniversary of the release of the Minutemen's seminal Double Nickels on the Dime. As part of an ongoing celebration of that monumental, transformative album, we'll be tossing up classic Minutemen moments in the coming few months. Th ... More >>

Coachella Day 1: I Carpathians and the Amazonian Assault of Warrior Queen

Randall RobertsAll hail the Queen Bret Easton Ellis once pointed out that the inhabitants of Los Angeles never stop babbling about the freeways. Then again, he penned, Less than Zero during the comparatively halcyon Tom Bradley days, prior to the total arteriosclerosis of the 405 and 101. Nowadays, ... More >>

Rock Picks: Mark Eitzel, Wanda Jackson, Dan Deacon, Heartless Bastards

Plus, Hecuba, James Pants, Angus & Julia Stone and others

Coachella Friday Set Times Leaked? Are These Real?

Greg Gillis, aka Girl Talk. The Coachella message board lit up this morning when someone posted a pretty convincing list of Friday set times, one of the last big secrets the festival reveals. For those of us going, the set times are obviously important because they dictate what we'll be missing, w ... More >>

SXSW: Who Would Leave Metallica for Black Cobra? Our Man in Austin

Randall Roberts Finds Himself in the Studio With the Silversun Pickups

Silversun Pickups Record Daytrotter Session at SXSW: A Glimpse from Inside the Studio

Randall RobertsBrian Aubert, in black, seated, and band/crew await their date with Daytrotter. For bands at South by Southwest, there's a lot of waiting involved. Yes, there's hustling, and unloading and reloading the van, and dealing with sound dudes on short notice when everybody's feeling a litt ... More >>

Coachella 2009 Announced: Amy Winehouse, Paul McCartney, My Bloody Valentine ... Throbbing Gristle! Leonard Cohen!

Yeah, so all the silly speculation probably isn't done yet, as Goldenvoice always adds a few heavy-hitters after the initial announcement, but the initial line-up is up. Click through to see it in all it's glory. We'll start analyzing it soon, but for now: Throbbing Gristle! No Pavement? Let the ... More >>

Coachella Rumor Mill Works Overtime, but the Confirmations Continue to Trickle In

(Michel Gondry's video for the Chemical Brothers' "Let Forever Be.") Here's a list of "confirmed" (so far) acts to appear at Coachella 2009, according to the very reliable Monklish blog. His guarantee: "I've been told that these have been making arrangements to attend the festival as contractuall ... More >>

Coachella 2009 Speculation Begins: Confirmations Start Trickling, Rumors Swirl. The Smiths? Pavement? Dexy's Midnight Runners?

No, dummy, we made the Dexy's rumor up. But a few names are starting to trickle out re: Coachella 2009, which runs from April 17 to April 19. The Consequence of Sound blog has a pretty extensive rundown of confirmations it has gathered from culling MySpace pages and band tour dates, and a decent ... More >>

The 50 Best Albums of the Year (#30-21) (Sponsored By Medieval Times)

You better believe they serve Pepsi at Medieval Times. 30. Los Campesinos-Hold On Now, Youngster (Wichita/Arts and Crafts) Gareth Campesinos and Co. clearly grew up not just liking music but being obsessed by bands, and they've done the only honourable thing you can in that position: they've ... More >>

Weiss' 25 Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2008

25. Prafit-"Nice Weather" The nice weather is long gone--the ostensibly immutable Los Angeles sun blotted by kidney colored clouds and cold rain. So Prafit's ode to the sizzle of July feels like an antique postcard documenting endless light, chicken breasts smothered in BBQ sauce, and basement ... More >>

Rock Picks: Aretha Franklin, Lucinda Williams, Deerhunter

Also, Rodriguez, the Monolators, Nas and more

Beards, Blazers & Glasses: The Hold Steady

Live in L.A.: Radiohead at the Hollywood Bowl, August 24

All photos by Timothy Norris Perhaps it’s most illustrative to consider last night’s Radiohead performance at the Hollywood Bowl not as a "concert" but as a massive geometric light sculpture constructed in a natural basin, with grand musical accompaniment. Kind of like Cirque de Soleil, but de ... More >>

The 10 Best Non Hip-Hop Albums of the Half Year

Image Via Natalie Dee In case, you were wondering, I do have a pair of boombox pants and yes, they're quite comfortable. 10. King Khan & The Shrines-The Supreme Genius Of.... (tie) If my review of Khan's Pitchfork Fest set didn't convince you, this interview that ran today should seal the ... More >>

Live in L.A.: The Hold Steady, Avalon Hollywood, July 30

The Hold Steady, Avalon Hollywood, July 30, 2008 Photos and text by Jeff Miller Though they're less than a decade into their career, the Brooklyn-via-Minnessota five-piece The Hold Steady is already a nostalgia act; in fact, it's arguable that they were a nostalgia act from their very beginning. ... More >>

Rock Picks: Rupa & the April Fishes, Gnarls Barkley, Emmylou Harris

Also, Black Kids, Chromeo, Alejandro Escovedo

Pitchfork Music Festival, Day 2: No Age, the Hold Steady, Fleet Foxes and Blunts the Size of Burritos

Pitchfork Music Festival, Day 2 By Jeff Weiss Tad Kubler of the Hold Steady (Photos by Nick Lucchesi) Sometimes, on your own, you arrive at the realization that "hey, it isn't so bad. I'm attending a music festival for free in a very beautiful city and even though I'm trying hard not to gawk at ... More >>

Weiss' Muxtapes #5 and #6: The Best "Indie" Songs To Get An Asymmetrical Haircut To (2008 Edition)

I won't deny it. Things started spiraling rapidly downhill the moment I started compiling mixtapes of my favorite non-hip hop songs released this year. Vampire Weekend? Santogold? Hercules & The Love Affair? I kind of wanted to kick my own ass or at the very least give myself a wedgie. Of cour ... More >>

LA Weekly Interviews Mark Eitzel of American Music Club

American Music Club, circa 2008 American Music Club’s new album, The Golden Age (Merge), begins with what seems to me two perfect Southern California couplets that capture a particular feeling and a particular breeze: "I wish that we were always high/I wish that we could swim in the sky/If we be ... More >>

Another guide to more LA Bands at SXSW

In our ongoing attempt to prop some worthy musicians headed to Austin this week, yet another list of LA bands/songwriters to chase down at SXSW in Austin this week. This is a tipsheet for those of you with $$$ in your eyes. Looking for a band to break, license, co-opt, manipulate, convince to sell o ... More >>

Rock Picks

For the week of May 31 - June 7

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For the week of May 24-31

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From October 13-19

The Pen and the Axe

The New Yorker’s Sasha Frere-Jones attempts to rock

Eat My Banana

LES SAVY FAV, THE HOLD STEADY, THUNDERBIRDS ARE NOW, SWEARING AT MOTORISTS at Avalon, February 21

Chapter and Verse

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

Rock & Pop Listings

For Feb 17 - 23

Music Picks

For Feb. 17 - 23

Blogs & iPods & Jay-Z & (non-ironic) Metal

The Hipster’s musical year-end predictions and post-game analysis

Eyes Opened Eyes Closed

Two CalArts-sponsored mash-ups celebrated MOCA's "Visual Music" exhibit