We talk with Evan Ziporyn of Bang on a Can All Stars about his 25 years with BoaC, Steve Reich's 75th birthday, and his experience with West Coast musicians. They're playing Disney Hall tonight. more ›

Local music legends The Beach Boys are proving you can evolve oldies with some social media tricks. The band is crowdsourcing content for two videos for two of their songs, "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes and Villains" ahead of the November 1 release of "The Smile Sessions." more ›

It's the voice of John Lennon you'll hear opening and closing this goofy 1974 promo for Goodnight Vienna, Ringo Starr's fourth solo album, which was recorded here in Los Angeles. more ›

Make no mistake: the eight songs at the core of this reissue are required listening for anyone more than casually acquainted with rock and roll, a declaration of total freedom that has hardly been equalled in the thirty-five years of punk rock that followed it. (And if that sounds like feverish praise, the album that came before it, Funhouse, is... more ›

For those who like to think ahead, take note. If our predictions hold true, Danger Mouse is going to blow up with their new Broken Bells album at SXSW, meaning their March 14th concert at The Troubadour is going to be a big deal. By this Friday afternoon, when tickets go on sale for that concert (2 tickets maximum), expect to hit Craigslist if you didn't make a purchase. Broken Bells -- if you haven't heard yet -- is a collaboration between James Mercer (of The Shins) and Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse). LAist caught their first-ever live performance over the weekend at The Bootleg. For the review, photos and a music video, go here. more ›

Homeless musician Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, the subject of the book and film The Soloist, has recorded his first album, and today LA Times columnist and longtime advocate of Ayers Steve Lopez tells the story of the tenuous process. more ›

LA-based band The Soft Pack are hitting the road on Saturday--the roads of Los Angeles, that is. The San Diego-transplants (formerly known as The Muslims) will play 10 consecutive shows marathon-style all across town in an event that has them partnered with the FYF Fest and riding in a veggie-oil fueled 1992 Blue Bird school bus. The band is inviting fans to follow along all day or hit up spots wherever they can; while some of the locations have been announced some are still top secret, so you can follow the band via Twitter the day-of to see where their next stop is. more ›

It’s probably fitting that the place you’re most likely to find Chaz Kangas is online. After all, he got a pretty big boost by appearing on the freestyle-inspired Childish Gambino track My Hoodie off the Sick Boi drop a while back. After all, Childish himself is the online-only rap personification of Donald Glover, who himself got his start online with the sketch comedy group Derrick. But with an innumerable amount of battle rap videos spanning years, Kangas is so serious about tearing other MCs apart, there’d be nothing funny about it if it wasn’t so damn hilarious. more ›

In 2001, Dan Nigro joined up with some friends from high school and did what surely plenty of young people do in Long Island, New York: They formed a band. It would be glib to say "And the rest is history!" since As Tall as Lions is one hell of a hard-working quartet; they've just kicked off a tour in support of their August full-length release, You Can't Take it With You (Triple Crown Records), serving as support for Mutemath, and you can see them at Club Nokia this Saturday. This tour follows their summer tour with Dredg and Rx Bandits, and by late November through the end of the year they'll be touring in the US with Minus the Bear and in the UK with Frightened Rabbit and Athlete. more ›

Whether or not you really ever believed Hip Hop was Dead, there’s no denying the changes it’s undergone in the past decade. Bass-y beats and mean muggin’ thug rhyme runners are so cliche they’ve become a caricature of themselves; how else can you explain 50 Cent having his own video game? So where does a real hip hop head turn? Like an ostrich: underground. more ›

Wednesday was day one of Third Man Records and Novelties, a downtown three-day-long pop-up store from Jack White in promotion of Horehound, the latest album from his band The Dead Weather. More than 500 people packed the Regent Theatre for the free afternoon six-song show, reported blogdowntown. more ›

Mr. Brainwash, aka MBW, is no stranger to Madonna (remember his Optical illusion mural of Britney and Madonna kissing?). Now one of his ubiquitous street poster works of the pop singer has been chosen as the album cover art for her "Celebration" album, due out on September 29th. more ›

The EP, named after the district in central London that is almost the epicenter of Imperial British Culture (home of, for example, the British Museum, University of London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts), is 4 songs inspired by prominent persons of letters whose intellectual contributions helped define the last decades of the Pax Brittania. While the songs themselves are largely free of political overtones, one can't help but wonder if their focus on the end of the British Empire (including a song about the greatest economist of the 20th century), might indicate commentary on our own ailing nation at this particularly scary time in our history. more ›

For the next three Thursdays in a row, local psychadelic indie powerpop outfit West Indian Girl is headlining at Spaceland in Silver Lake. The first show (tonight) will draw exclusively from their critically-acclaimed eponymous 2004 debut, featuring hits like What Are You Afraid Of, Hollywood, Miles From Monterey, and Still Lost. Their Nov. 13 set will pull from their 2007 sophomore effort, 4th & Wall, with popular songs To Die In LA, Blue Wave, Sofia and the enthusiastic Get Up. Their Spaceland residency will end on Nov. 20 with a set full of brand-new tunes they're considering for their forthcoming (still-untitled) third album, which is expected to hit stores sometime in 2009. more ›

Fans of Guns n' Roses may have gotten a sneak peak of the band's anticipated Chinese Democracy album this summer when it was posted online by a blogger, but today the band itself has released the title track before the album's November 23rd release. more ›

The 2008 Mercury Prize for best UK album of the year went to Elbow for their album The Seldom Seen Kid, besting 11 other finalists, including Radiohead's In Rainbows and offerings from British Sea Power and oddsmakers' choice Burial. more ›

The heat was somehow trapped inside the darkened depths of the Hotel Cafe this Thursday night. Those fortunate enough to nab some of the few seats fell into two camps: The cautiously unmoving and the intent on revelry. Those left to stand shifted back and forth with an undeniable restlessness. The heat is what prompted AM to bring a stack of napkins to the stage that he attested came from Greco's, the pizza joint up the street. He wiped his brow and eased into his short solo set, a study in energy and focus as contrast to the obvious lethargy and distractions in the room. more ›

Rating: 5 Stars (out of 5) more ›

When the opportunity to check out New York-based singer-songwriter Miwa Gemini live at the Hotel Cafe came up recently I jumped at the chance based on one line in the PR materials: "Think Nina Simone meets Sparklehorse meets Cat Power, and you're getting close." Intrigued, I showed up Sunday evening to the Hotel Cafe, nabbed a seat in the room's soothing darkness, and was utterly blown away. more ›

Release Date: 03/04/08 more ›

, due out March 4th, was recently negatively reviewed in everyone's favorite trucker guy bible, Maxim. This was odd, however, since apparently, no advance copies of the album were given out. As it turns out, the reviewer never heard the album at all. According to The Black Crowes' website, when the band's management complained, the review was explained by Maxim's editors thusly: "Of course, we always prefer to (sic) hearing music, but sometimes there are big albums that we don’t want to ignore that aren’t available to hear, which is what happened with the Crowes. It’s either an educated guess preview or no coverage at all, so in this case we chose the former.” Wow, an educated guess that includes specific statements like "it hasn’t left Chris Robinson and the gang much room for growth"? more ›

What Made Milwaukee Famous finish up their Los Angeles tour playing along with Tulsa and the British Sea Power/Colourmusic bill moves over to Spaceland. On the Westside, there's only one choice to make and that is hip-hop violinist Paul Dateh at the Temple Bar (check out our interview with him including video). Over in Little Tokyo, Vosotros is having a record release party at LAND for their new album featuring 12 bands. You can get the music free on iTunes via their podcast (search "vosotros the lazy susan" and click on the image) more ›

Who knew an early Monday morning post about graffiti on a mural posthumously made famous by singer/songwriter Elliott Smith would lead to such wonderful results. Nearly six months ago, then-editor of LAist, Tony Pierce, posted a photo of the graffitied wall stating that "this is why we can't have nice things." Then, on Monday, reader Robert T. wrote an e-mail attaching a photo of a new tag on the wall. What we noticed was that the tag from six months ago was still there, under the new one. more ›

We seemed to have missed Santa Monica based Krandon as a Wednesday night resident at Molly Malone's. The lightly meditative and chill alternative indie band's name comes from an abandoned James Joyce play written in collaboration with physicist Neils Bohr according to the band's MySpace page. If that's a little too esoteric for you, our Wednesday night pick this month is a little more down home folk style, but with a loud presence -- Brian Wright & The Waco Tragedies. But Wright and his country buddies pose a difficult choice to make with Jay Leno's very own Kevin Eubanks, who plays at The Baked Potato tonight in Studio City. more ›

Release Date: January 29th, 2008 more ›

">Irish foreign movie Once has been nominated for two categories: "Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media" and "Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media" for the song "Falling Slowly" (heard above). The song's validity as an Oscar nomination was challenged, but the committee found everything to be fine, so Once stays. It was not nominated for a Golden Globe.
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Release Date: 10/02/2007 more ›

Release Date: 02/05/2008 more ›

Release Date: 01/29/08 more ›