Gustavo Arellano

Say what you will about despots, but at least they inspire flippin’ great music — think the blues, pre–Pol Pot Cambodian garage rock, and especially Tropicália, the late-1960s Brazilian stew of psychedelia and native beats. Even four decades later, Tropicália buzzes in your brain like Red Bull: bubbly, organ-drenched f-yous......

This week, the O.C. Weekly’s “¡Ask a Mexican!” visits the L.A. Weekly to explain the nuances of Mexican musical genres. (By the way, the Mexican is, in fact, award-winning journo Gustavo Arellano. But keep it under your sombrero.) Dear Mexican, I called the Gibson Amphitheater for Almost Acoustic Christmas tickets,......

It was sometime Friday when the mutiny occurred. The people occupying promotional booths at the Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC) had listened to the symposium’s mediocre double-disc compilation for too long and came to the conclusion that sabotage was necessary. Nearly every stand in the Beverly Hilton’s moldy conference room......

The raperos-rockeros of Molotov are chilango to the core, but forgive them if they didn't shed nostalgic tears for Mexico City while recording Dance and Dense Denso in our own Mexican metropolis. "Statistically speaking, Los Angeles is the second largest Mexican city, so we felt right at home," says drummer......