In a song that speaks to Los Angeles, birthday boy David Byrne reflects on the blight of nature as it overtakes the majesty of Earth's Pizza Huts, Dairy Queens, and honky-tonks in this 1988 faux-anti-green anthem (Nothing But) Flowers from the Talking Heads' final album Naked. Today's video lunch is a solo performance from 1992 that includes an important history lesson about Jurassic technology, "From the age of the dinosaurs, cars have run on gasoline. Where, where have they gone? Now, it's nothing but flowers." more ›

Although predominantly synonymous with the Bay Area and its Slow Food movement, Chef, author, restaurateur and Edible Schoolyard maven Alice Waters is sharing with SoCal's KCRW her 5 picks as part of the Santa Monica station's Guest DJ program. more ›

UCLA Live presents Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis tonight at 8 pm at Royce Hall. Under Music Director Wynton Marsalis, the 15-piece resident orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC will perform rare historic compositions to modern jazz, including compositions and arrangements by members of the band. Tickets: $38-$85. ($15 UCLA students). more ›

If you are already familiar with the music of Os Mutantes, the Brazilian Tropicalia band, you will be very pleased to know that Sérgio Dias Baptista has again unleashed his eclectic sensibilities in sound, instrumentation, music and themes to produce an album, Mutantes' first new music in 35 years, that fits like a velvet glove around the throat of today's cultural, political and economic necrophilia. And if you aren't, imagine an alternate universe in which Devendra Banhart, Frank Zappa and Tom Waits join Sérgio Mendes for a drink, then invite Sinead O'Connor and Lani Hall over to join them, and they decide to write music that will make everyone want to dance while they paint murals representing peace, love and justice on the government buildings. Something like that, anyway. more ›

December is list-making season. And for us music journalists, it is a time to look back on scores of albums, reflect upon the music and recapitulate our favorites. But this year, just like the last, we took this opportunity to flip that tradition upside down, asking the artists that influenced us what influenced them. The prompt was not limited to albums that came out in 2008. more ›

There are far too many shows to tend to tonight. First and foremost, experimental musician/producer extraordinaire David Byrne and Brian Eno will be performing together at the Greek Theatre in support of their first collaboration in nearly 30 years, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. LA locals No Age are slated to tear your ear drums apart at the dingy confines of the Smell. But why see them tonight when you can see them in exciting makeshift venues like the LA River or the Downtown Public Library? Devon Williams, yet another great LA-based musician, will be stopping by Echo Park's egalitarian start-up Echo Curio. The rather palatial Wiltern will be hosting the return of Portland legends the Dandy Warhols. Oddly enough, Brooklyn-based noise rockers A Place To Bury Strangers are set to kick things in motion. Our only recommendation is to make sure you bring ear plugs! And lastly, speaking of noise, we've got Deerhoof at the Avalon with local favorites the Happy Hollows. But we heavily endorse plopping down at Spaceland to enjoy your Friday night. The Henry Clay People will be ringing in their latest effort, For Cheap Or For Free, with an impressive bill of bands, including two of our favorite LA acts: the Parson Red Heads and Le Switch. It'll surely be all things to all people. more ›

Summer may be officially over, but the shows at The Greek Theatre will still go on. Next week on Friday, October 3rd, David Byrne will hit the Greek to play a show with the music from the latest album by him and Brian Eno, which is their first in 30 years. Tickets run $40-75 but we're giving a few pairs away. more ›

Post Xmas doldrums have hit the tube big time, here's what's worth watching tonight: more ›

Release Date: 10/23/07 more ›

"Yeah, I do think this one sounds grittier, but the songwriting on both are kind of dark. On the first album, some of the songs are immediately catchy, where some of the people don’t realize it’s dark and on the second one, the music can be a bit darker, immediately." more ›

Last night Spoon played alongside Kool Keith at the Henry Fonda Theatre. Need I say more? Oh and it was for a great cause! Both artists rocked out to raise money for the non-profit organization Creative Commons. This was the third time they've held a CC Benefit. Prior CC Benefits featured David Byrne, Gilberto Gil, Girl Talk, Diplo, and Peeping Tom. I had no idea who was opening this special event until I arrived... more ›

David Byrne w/ Richard Thompson Richard Thompson @ Amoeba Suzanne Vega @ The Hotel Cafe Morrissey @ Ventura Theatre Burt Bacharach @ Disney Hall Black Summer Crush, Jets Overhead, Jinnrail @ Viper Room The Randies, Teaneck, Girl in a Coma, Conquistador @ Key Club The Cliks, Brothers & Sisters, Phoenix Foundation @ The Echo Cosmonaut, Her Alibye, The Oohlas, The Coco B's, Narwhal @ The Troubadour... more ›

Looking to go to a music festival? Coachella is sold out, so instead, you should mosey out to Austin, Texas (Mar. 14-18) for this music spectacular, which features 1,300 acts from around the world. Walking from venue to venue is like putting your radio tuner on seek -- every style of music is represented. Besides performances, musicians like Pete Townshend, Iggy Pop, David Byrne, Emmylou Harris, Gilberto Gil, and Booker T. Jones are giving... more ›

With a tough, glossy finish, and a hearty dose of quirk, DFA dignitary, James Murphy, delivers fat danceability and wry cynicism to the latest LCD Soundsystem project, “Sound of Silver.” Detached, electronic soundscapes come peppered with vocal flourishes, throwback rhythms and mod-futuristic notions. Catchy, robotic hooks are held in place by glittery beats, atop atonal clanging. Also, as it turns out, the sound of silver is a cowbell. I had no idea. The record... more ›

special engagement, showing thru Thursday more ›

This weekend we attended three distinctly different music events in the LA area, which is by no means a hard thing to do, but we had a good time and took some photos along the way. We started with a drum'n'bass nightclub in downtown LA on Friday night. Next on Saturday we journeyed all the way out to the IE to a massive rave at the Orange Show. Then finally on Sunday we made our way to the venerable Hollywood Bowl to catch David Byrne, Arcade Fire and Extra Action Marching Band more ›

LAist reader Craig showed up at the Arclight for the Talking Heads documentary Stop Making Sense on the wrong night (Tuesday) only to find it wasn't playing and was furious at us. Don't worry, Craig, even if you had shown up on Wednesday, you wouldn't have gotten in (update: Craig did better than we did and made it in). Tickets for the Jonathan Demme directed concert film have been mostly sold out for the last two weeks. LAist couldn't get in either so we decided to do the next best thing: watch it at home with friends. more ›