Chris Ziegler

Here’s a holiday present for you: a Friday night with three stand-out bands from Lolipop Records, one of L.A.’s most potent underground psych/garage labels. (Literally underground, by the way: Their HQ is about 30 feet below Sunset Boulevard.) Headliners Mystic Braves do 1966 as resurrected by 2014, matching dissolute, Seeds-y......

On their newest album, Weirdon, Philadelphia’s Purling Hiss — the solo project–gone-band of guitarist Mike Polizze, also a member of the mighty Birds of Maya — go bouncing between the sounds of the weirder guitarists who’ve made their mark across American indie rock, from J Mascis to Joey Santiago back......

As overheard at a recent record swap, when the subject of Flying Lotus’ new album came up: “Fuck all those new guitar bands, this is psychedelic!” And you know what? That guy was right. Producer and L.A. beat music visionary Lotus’ latest, You’re Dead!, goes beyond the beyond both musically......

La Hell Gang come blasting out of a repurposed monastery near Santiago, Chile, where they record their albums, help run their own label, and put out some of the most potent psychedelic rock in the Americas. Now, finally and thankfully, they’re on their first full U.S. tour. Their 2009 debut......

It’s the first Halloween at L.A.’s recently opened downtown branch of the Ace Hotel, and naturally it’s gonna be killer. (Old-school horror host cackle goes here.) Hollywood Forever outdoor-screeners Cinespia will bring the haunted, old-school, fall-of-Babylon vibes, and FYF will bring the over-the-top dance party, which kicks off with sets......

This month, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist finished off the Renegades of Rhythm tour, during which they deejayed Afrika Bambaataa’s records, now archived at Cornell University. To be clear: Those were Bambaataa’s actual, personal records from the late ’70s and ’80s, the exact physical artifacts that helped birth hip­-hop. So......

His last album cover was a simple photo of his face, and his new album cover is a simple photo of his back. But don’t worry — that doesn’t mean John Barrett of Bass Drum of Death is looking to pull a 180 with his music. If anything, he has......

It's that haunted time of year, which means it's the perfect month for L.A. band PLaNETS to take over Mondays at the Satellite. At heart — surely a brooding, wounded heart — PLaNETS make glammy, theatrical rock, which comes off like The Cramps fed through the same machines that made......

The indie-rock space-time continuum collapsed for good between those early All Tomorrow's Parties — when select bands began playing their classic albums start to finish — and this year's Chicago Riot Fest, where seemingly every band played their classic album start to finish. But there's something to be said nonetheless......

Big Star's #1 Record inspired a thousand literate young bands, but Big Star's Third can't ever be copied by anyone — it's less an artifact than an avatar of Alex Chilton, the Big Star co-founder who documented disaster and what comes after on this darkest of dark-night-of-the-soul records. In 1974,......