Los Angeles is for music lovers.

We could have chosen enough characters just from L.A.'s music scene to fill the entire PEOPLE Issue, but there are too many fascinating folks in L.A. for us to hog all the space.

Here's who made our list his year:

law logo2x bJ*DaVeY (Brook D'Leau and Miss Jack Davey): The New Wave Funksters

By Rebecca Haithcoat

When producer Brook D'Leau was a kid, he had a red Tyco Hot Keyz keytar. So as the lights in West Hollywood's Key Club rise on his striking frontwoman, Miss Jack Davey, plucking out a cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on a red electric guitar, it feels like a fulfilled prophecy. … More

law logo2x bLuis Arriaga: The Fiery Limerent

By Chris Ziegler

This is some kind of Sunday for Luis Arriaga. Wake up and go shoot .357s in Burbank, even though he's been scared of guns since losing his best friend to a drive-by. Then to a strip club as soon as it opens, watching hung-over dancers stomp across the parking lot. … More

law logo2x bTimur Bekbosunov: The Reform Tenor

By Erica Zora Wrightson

Ask Kazakhstan-born tenor (and occasional vaudevillian) Timur Bekbosunov about Achim Freyer's controversial staging of Wagner's Ring Cycle last year, and he will tell you it was completely misconstrued by Los Angeles. … More

law logo2x bChicano Batman: Los Superheroes

By Kristina Benson

Chicano Batman is not just another band from L.A. The tropicalismo-influenced ensemble is composed of three guys, an ironing board (which may be the perfect keyboard stand) and a fictional cartoon character … More

law logo2x bExile: How West Coast Can You Get?

By Rebecca Haithcoat

Aleksander “Exile” Manfredi used to press his ear against the crosswalk signal poles to feel the rhythm. He figured out how to make beats when he was 15, and he and singer Aloe Blacc (whose “I Need a Dollar” you may recognize from HBO's How to Make It in America) formed a rap group. But Exile … More

law logo2x bIgloo Tornado: Fan Friction

By Siran Babayan

Tom Neely, Gin Stevens, Scot Nobles and Levon Jihanian have balls as big as the muscles on the two singers they've become infamous for satirizing. Last spring, the foursome, an artist collective known as Igloo Tornado, created a stir … More

law logo2x bMari Iijima: Anime Idol

By Liz Ohanesian

Mari Iijima, an L.A. resident for more than 20 years, has released 21 pop albums, in both Japanese and English. She's worked with famed musicians Ryûichi Sakamoto and Van Dyke Parks. Yet in her native Japan, … More

law logo2x bJulie Ingram: Rockin' the Cradle

By Ali Trachta

In Julie Ingram's music class, freaky little miracles happen. Watch closely. You might spot a diapered kid drumming sticks on the floor in perfect rhythm with Ingram's guitar strumming, or hear a little girl who can't form sentences singing in tune. … More

law logo2x bVictor Lissabet and David Jurs: Everybody Sing Now!

By Heidi Dvorak

When you think of a choir composed of students with disabilities, do you have an “Aw, shucks” Hallmark movie moment of weepy, can-do inspiration? Well, music therapists Victor Lissabet and David Jurs will have none of those pity parties … More

law logo2x bMark Thompson and Pete Majors: Vinyl Curators

By Travis Keller

The first time I met Mark Thompson, he allowed me to sleep on his floor but warned me not to touch anything. His home was littered with exactly 666 handcrafted, silk-screened Sunn O))) CDs (the infamous “GrimmRobe demos”), made from what appeared to be cut-up garbage bags. … More

law logo2x bTokimonsta: The Queen Beat

By Rebecca Haithcoat

For a few months, a Hollywood-style hype has surrounded Low End Theory, the weekly hump-day gathering of the local beat elite (the thing you bob your head to, not Kerouac's generation) at L.A.'s Airliner Club. Out-of-towners are in awe of some of the recent lineups … More

law logo2x bSarah Toon: The Dark Minimalist

By Liz Ohanesian

When Sarah Toon moved to L.A. in 1994, she knew only one person and “had no concept of what the city was about. My only draw to the city was that I was obsessed with the movie Repo Man when I was a kid. I thought it would be like that,” she says. … More

law logo2x bYoshiki: The Kei Master

By Liz Ohanesian

Not too many people in L.A., no matter how famous they are, can say there is a Hello Kitty doll patterned after their likeness.

Yoshiki can.

Yoshikitty, as the plush character is called, was a bit of an accident. … More

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.