Too broke or too busy to make it out to Austin this year? Then head over to The Satellite with the rest of us poor bastards who will be left behind. Moheak.com has put together a 4-night line-up of indie rock bands sticking around town this week in a festival it's calling LAxLA (we're not sure if that's pronounced "L.A. by L.A.") more ›

Sometimes surprise/secret shows are truly just that. What was billed as a headlining showcase for the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group turned into an impromptu Mars Volta performance when Volta vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala joined co-founder Lopez for the show. Even before the addition of Bixler-Zavala to the group, the line was one of the longest seen at the festival with fans without badges lining up for the 12:50am show at around 2pm for the small chance that they would have the opportunity to get in. Once the show started and it was clear what the show really was crowds gathered in the alleys and fences lining the makeshift Emo's Annex venue to hear a taste of the new Mars Volta sound. more ›

Okay, you know what it means to wail on the air guitar, but how about getting it on with some hot and heavy air sex? This year marks the third season the hunt for an Air Sex World Champion is on, and the competition tour makes a stop later this month at the Satellite in Silver Lake. more ›

It was almost as if a giant, grumpy deity wielding a garden hose came down from the sky on Saturday morning and announced, "You kids are having too much fun! Cool it." Rain poured from the sky in the early morning, and the gorgeous seventy degree weather evaporated over night. Austin was suddenly engulfed in forty degree temperatures and high wind, turning the summery celebration into a chilled autumnal fest. Not that it stopped anyone from attending shows outside. The masses were out (granted in slightly decreased numbers) wrapped in scarves and hats, ready to rock out. more ›

It was almost as if the arrival of GWAR sent out a silent signal to all those who brought their own costumes to SXSW to don them and let their freak flags fly. The esteemed rocker monsters (aliens? beasts?) were walking around 6th street with their spiked appendages flapping in the breeze amongst the masses, delighting most of us, and scaring a few children. After that moment there seemed to be at least one guy in costume at every show. I saw lion headdresses, horse head masks, and even one full on bear suit (which in the heat must have been sweltering). It was almost as if the festival had seen GWAR and thought, "Oh game on!" more ›

Day two began right with pizza for breakfast at Homeslice Pizza and rock 'n' roll from North Carolina. Outside on the gravel patio they had set up a small stage where families were able to groove to The Love Language's set while enjoying their gooey cheese and sauce. Despite the rickety sound system, The Love Language sounded sharp. They've had a very good year. After self-releasing their critically acclaimed self titled album, The Love Language signed to Merge Records and have begun work recording their new album. We were curious to see if the new material they have been working on was worthy of their first album and are happy to report that...yes, yes it is. more ›

Yesterday was the official kick off of the music section of the SXSW Festival in Austin, TX. Every bar, house, and parking lot in town had a band in it, near it, or sleeping on it. The streets were teeming with literally thousands of musicians, who were looking for their big break, desperately trying to stick out of the pack, as well as all of the support system clamoring for your attention. Every radio station, blog, publication, record company, pr company, and book agent has decided to put on a party here, each competing for the crowd's favor, wooing them with free beer and bbq and trying to put on the best show possible. We waded into the fray with one mission on our minds: finding you those bands who were actually worth seeing and reporting back with details on when they would be playing in Los Angeles. more ›

Roky Erickson’s new album begins and ends with a field recording, made by his mother during a visit to the Rusk State Maximum Security Prison For The Criminally Insane. He’d been sent there after being arrested for possession of one joint in 1969, and served for three years. What happenned to him during those years profoundly altered the rest of his life, as he battled a raging depression and paranoia that left him only partly functional even at the height of his career. As of a decade ago, it was reported that his condition had deteriorated almost beyond hope of recovery, ravaged by dementia and a life-threatening dental abscess. He seemed, from the outside, to have been left for dead. more ›

The deaths of James Brown or the Wicked Wilson Pickett left a huge gaping hole in the soul universe, but all is not lost Black Joe Lewis is picking up where they left off. Bursting out of Austin with a eight piece set up, Black Joe Lewis and his Honeybears have been drawing fans like flies to a honey jar with their saucy dirty, blues. The songs of their debut album,Tell 'Em What Your Name Is! get to the meat of what life is all about when you're young: being broke ("I'm Broke"), one night stands ("Sugarfoot"), amour ("Bitch, I Love You") and getting down ("Boogie"). Black Joe Lewis was kind enough to talk with us before his show at the Troubadour. Here is some of what was said. more ›

By the time dozens of LA-based bands descend on Austin for South by Southwest next week, LA's greatest freaks and geeks will have already mad an impact at SXSWi. The interactive component of SXSW, which begins tomorrow (along with the opening of SXSW Film) is a long weekend packed with panels and conversations regarding the future of new media, technology, and entertainment. Now in its 16th year, SXSWi has grown more notable in recent years for the sheer number of happy hours and parties (at least 85 at last count) that span the 5-day conference with product launches flowing as freely as the beer. more ›

For the third consecutive year, KCRW's Nic Harcourt and crew set up shop in Austin's Tequila Mockingbird studios to produce Morning Becomes Eclectic during South by Southwest. We caught up with them for the first of three live in-studio sessions last week and witnessed the raw power of Glasgow's Sons and Daughters. more ›

We ran into two of our favorite LA-based music bloggers, Justin Gage of Aquarium Drunkard and Ashley Jex (Jax) of Rock Insider at SXSW last week. We ducked behind The Mohawk, where Aquarium Drunkard cosponsored the Hot Freaks! day party featuring performances by Jens Lekman, Film School, British Sea Power and more. more ›

We made it through another South by Southwest Interactive, Film, and Music Conference and Festival in Austin, TX. After writing out that sentence, we need a nap but stay tuned for more interviews and live footage documenting LA's presence at the 21st annual event. more ›

Capping off four days of panels at SXSW's 2008 Film Festival, (which also included Mark Cuban interviewing Michael Eisner, and a conversation with Billy Bob Thornton), Doreen Ringer Ross of BMI interviewed Moby. The meat of the interview is posted above and concerns Moby's take on licensing music for film (and the concept of mobygratis) as well as a look at his unlikely rise from a punker on Manhattan's lower-east side to a corporate party-playing DJ to a world-renown commercial artist. more ›

Human Giant unleashed itself upon an unsuspecting public last year via MTV and the bell just rang for Round 2 - are you ready? There's sketch comedy, there's underground sketch comedy, there's in your face on-the-streets sketch comedy, and then there's Human Giant, a team that presents, in each episode, collections of bits that are more like experimental movies than the sketch comedy we've been seeing for the last 15 years. There's plenty of parody to be sure although none of it is familiar-feeling, "safe", or boring - which is perfect for Human Giant's 11:00pm slot (what, the kids can't handle this at 10:00pm?). more ›

As reports and tweets comes out of of SXSW in Austin, TX where BusinessWeek's Sarah Lacy reportedly held a disastrous interview with 23-year-old Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, news of the popular social networking site with more of a national and local business twist hit the wires: Paramount will offer movie clips via a Facebook application, a first for the movie industry. more ›

Speaking of local rock duos (and also tonight), The Pity Party (MySpace), who were interviewed here at LAist earlier this month, conclude their February residency at Spaceland (MySpace) in Silver Lake. more ›

Three weeks ago, The Airborne Toxic Event (MySpace) concluded their January residency at Spaceland (MySpace) in Silver Lake with a show that included The Deadly Syndrome (MySpace) and Castledoor (MySpace). It was a chance to see all three of Kevin Bronson's bands to watch on the same stage in a single night. more ›

The election trail continues to heat up for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, as four looming primaries in the next couple of weeks could go a long way toward deciding the nominee. On Tuesday, voters in Wisconsin and Hawaii will go to the polls and on March 4, Texans and Ohio-ans will do the same. How are things shaping up? more ›

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Every March in Austin is like Mecca for music and techies. South by Southwest (SXSW) is one of the most popular interactive and music conferences, always hosted in the Texan city that has been honored as one of the creative cities in America. Out of the 1200 or so bands playing from around the world, 109 are from Los Angeles and LA County(give or take a few depending on errors in the list from SXSW, ex: Meiko lives in LA, not Georgia anymore). Add in some other nearby areas and make that 122 bands. more ›

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Release Date: 01/29/2008 more ›