Erica E. Phillips

See Also: More from our interview over at West Coast Sound, "Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Is One Meandering Interview." Omar Rodriguez-Lopez wears the same thing every day: teal-colored jeans and a fitted canvas jacket. His eyes are intent behind his glasses; his focus is acute. For the bulk of his 35 years......

It's a Wednesday night and Eastside Luv Wine Bar is starting to sizzle. Flamenco dancer La Tigresa, wearing jeans, climbs up on the wide wooden bar and stomps dramatically, then cracks a subversive smile. It's not your typical flamenco set. The rest of the bar ― part hip-hop scene, part......

Emanuela Bellezza isn't from L.A., but she decided a long time ago this was where she wanted to be. Born and raised in Italy, she'd dreamed of making music here since her teenage years in Rome, when she first started writing original songs. Now, four years into her L.A. life......

Local eight-man ska band Viernes 13 started out playing backyard shows in Whittier and South Gate in the mid-90s. It makes sense, since those were the days when Reel Big Fish and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones ruled the airwaves. But as ska faded from top 40 radio, its popularity only......

Trio Lady Danville formed in 2007 by two former UCLA a cappella boys and a musical theater major. Capturing the yearning harmonies and earnestness of college scene bands like Guster and Fleet Foxes, they've ridden that wave around the country, opening for Ben Folds, pop-punk band Jack's Mannequin and the......

Editor's note: This week Erica E. Phillips tells the remarkable story of Los Angeles group Las Cafeteras, a seven-piece who play a traditional type of Veracruz music called Son Jarocho. But they're controversial because they put their own spin on it -- merging a punk ethos, improvised verses, and even......

For more, read "Las Cafeteras on the Strict Rules of Son Jarocho Music." Outside the Eastside Café on Huntington Drive in El Sereno, the late-evening traffic mutes the staccato sounds of nylon-stringed guitar and the stomping of hard-soled shoes. Inside, under the glare of bare white walls and fluorescent lights,......

"Sometimes we look at each other and we're like, 'Fuuuck,'" La Santa Cecilia's frontwoman Marisol Hernandez says, shaking her head. "At La Cita, sweating our asses off and maybe a little bit tipsy. You can feel something in those moments, you know?" Now that the group is nominated for a......