Hollywood's long-running Cinespace is calling it curtains on its tenure as a Boulevard bastion of music, lounge-ing, and screenings next month. The official announcement came via Facebook, reports Downtown Lobby, who note that the "Hollywood venue was a destination for bands and artists like Uffie, The Editors, Kid Cudi, Digitalism, The Presets, Boys Noize and Friendly Fires to get their start, especially through Dim Mak Tuesdays." more ›

With the event a few days away, Sonja took the time to speak to LAist about the importance of conscious consumerism and community building, promoting downtown LA and it's thriving art and fashion scene, volunteering and the amazingness that is LA's taco trucks and fruit stands. more ›

Los Angeles is no stranger to globetrotting DJs. We saw some of that last month. February featured more top international jocks, as well a local favorite crowd-surfing his way to club stardom. more ›

The annual Lunar New Year Festival continues today in Chinatown. Catch pan- Asian entertainers including Chinese acrobats, as well as Thai dancers and Taiko drummers. Food, games, children’s activities, and more will also be on tap during the free festival. more ›

The LA Times reports that local indie stalwarts Dim Mak Records has made a deal with Downtown Music (Gnarls Barkley, Cold War Kids, Art Brut, Justice) in which Dim Mak will continue to discover and develop new artists, and Downtown will give them that boost in distribution and promotion that Dim Mak has never been fortunate enough to be able to offer. Sounds like a deal that could make everyone happy. more ›

Release Date: September 2007 more ›

I've been eagerly awaiting DJ Dan Le Sac and poet-rapper Scroobius Pip to make their way across the pond and they're finally doing it. I first heard of them in '06 but they didn't have anything more than a MySpace page, now that they're on Lex Records they have actual releases coming out. more ›

I've always been intrigued by other "best of" lists, but this year I decided to take it to a whole new level. I e-mailed a handful of bands that I've seen this past year in order to unearth what exactly captivated them in '07. As music listeners, it is our duty to take a keen interest in our favorite musician's influences. After all, they rocked our little world, might as well see what rocked their... more ›

Artist: Foreign Born Album: On The Wing Now Label: Dim Mak Release Date: 8/21/07 Listen to the track "Letter of Inclusion" While all of Foreign Born's members may not be native sons of LA, they are emissaries of a Silver Lake music scene with their own, almost classic, West Coast flavor. "Almost classic" because the era of the Beach Boys, and the Mamas and the Poppas (and to a lesser extent the Eagles) is now... more ›

You shoulda seen the kids run down the street during the LA Weekly Detour Festival a few weeks back. You shoulda heard them scream when they appeared behind their wheels of steel. You shoulda seen em dance once the dirty streets of downtown. Add the filthy, nasty, hilarious Peaches, who rocked out with Tone-Loc last night at the Avalon, PLUS the godfathers of controversial rap, the 2 Live Crew - and now you got... more ›

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge) Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta! (Side One Dummuy) Mark Ronson - Version (RCA) Oh No! Oh My! - Between The Devil And The Sea (Dim Mak) Gravy Train!!!! - All the Sweet Stuff (Cochon Records) Danzig - The Lost Tracks of Danzig (Evilive) The Monkees - Headquarters [DELUXE EDITION] (Rhino) Chris & Rich Robinson - Brothers of a Feather: Live at the Roxy (Eagle) They Might... more ›

Wait, the Cobra Snake and Corey were bf/gf? more ›

Björk - Volta (Atlantic) Bone Thugs -N- Harmony - Strength & Loyalty (Interscope) Barbara Streisand - Streisand: Live In Concert [2 CD] [LIVE] (Sony) Keren Ann - Keren Ann (Blue Note) Brakes - Beatific Visions (Rough Trade) Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls (Too Pure / Beggars) Elliott Smith - New Moon [2 CD] (Kill Rock Stars) The Clientele - God Save the Clientele (Merge) Page France - Page France and the Family Telephone... more ›

On April Fool's day, why not see the biggest fool of them all? However, after watching Mr. Superstar get away with being fat, bald, and outrageous (by getting tipped, free drinks, and french kissed by the ladies of the crowd), you might ask yourself who in the place is the fool and who is the genius. more ›

Out Today (The Baby List) Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha (Fat Possum (Ryko)) LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (Capitol) Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Living with the Living (Touch & Go) Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (Sony) I'm from Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends [US Bonus Tracks] (Mute U.S.) Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Junk Culture (Caroline) El-P - I'll Sleep When You're... more ›

Because we have the greatest boss ever who just let's us do whatever we think is the right thing to do, we gladly accepted his invitation to post on Austinist this week while we're at SXSW. So yesterday we told the nice people here of Texas what we thought the best LA bands were who were playing. One commenter was negative to our suggestion that Har Mar Superstar was worthy of inclusing. Well last night he put all haters, doubters, and cynics to rest with a sweaty, cocky, beautiful set at the Flamingo Cantina as part of the Dim Mak showcase on 6th Street. more ›

Drew Barrymore's favorite new band, the Swedish trio Peter Björn and John, filled the Red Eye Fly this afternoon as the headliners for the Little Radio barbecue. Hipsters were lined up down the street in the drizzle getting their lo-tops muddy in the puddles, and to be honest, the boys might be super sweet but their music isn't meant for a live crowd. It's mellow, introspective, and not at all partying. The whistle song,... more ›

Personally we don't get the hate for Mark "The Cobra Snake". Sure he gets to hang out with hot young chicks and take their pictures and go to hipster clubs and take pictures, and go to fun concerts and take pictures and get paid mo money mo money, but hi, that's his job. He's a photographer, and judging from most of the pics that we see on the Interwebs, he be getting paid. more ›

They're dreamy they're psychedelic and they're heavy. They're Darker My Love and they've been holding court at Spaceland these Monday nights, for free, for your collective asses. Here's what we wish. You know how they have all these festivals and everything has a theme? You don't even need a festival for this, but we'd love to see one with Cypress Hill, Snoop Dogg, Black Crowes, Wolfmother and Darker My Love, because this band just makes you want to light one up and drift off into the jamz. more ›

Mon 6/12 - Boy Kill Boy / Monsters are Waiting @ Spaceland (Free) – Spaceland's always a safe bet on Monday night. London’s Boy Kill Boy play that catchy dance-rock that you might like if you’re into Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand. They’ve been on tour with Charlatans and Echo & the Bunnymen, so take advantage of seeing them for free. They’re also playing Lollapalooza and the Reading and Leeds festivals. Their first single, “Suzie” has gotten some local radio airplay. Local band, Monsters are Waiting is doing the free Monday night residency throughout June. Into older school British rock? catch Echo & the Bunnymen at the Fonda. more ›

Fri 5/19 - Kelley Stoltz / Irving / The Little Ones @ the Echo ($10) – This is a very strong lineup for the indie pop fans. San Francisco’s Kelley Stoltz put out an overlooked album earlier this year on Sub Pop. He sounded great at the Echo in February, but his set was cut short by a DJ night. Hopefully he won’t be rushed tonight. He writes songs that are informed by all the classic music you love from the late 1960s / early 1970s, but still manages to make them his own. Download “The Sun Comes Through” You've already heard us talk about Irving several times before. Their latest album is super catchy and they always put on an energetic live show. Their songs cover the spectrum from early 1980s, Cure-influenced songs to Elephant 6 pop. Download “Situation” The Little Ones are one of our favorite new local bands. They seemed to spring out of nowhere (the lead singer was actually in a popular emo-ish band called Sunday's Best) and immediately caught the attention of the blogosphere. They play sing-along indie pop in the mold of the Shins and Fruit Bats. Download “High on a Hill” more ›

After 18 months of planning and Sisyphean struggles with the city, Safari Sam’s finally opened on Thursday. Located at 5214 W. Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood (with free parking in the 99 Cent Only Store parking lot) it’s half way between the east side venues and the Cahuenga corridor. It’s a cool spot with a Knitting Factory type layout with a wide-open downstairs and an upper mezzanine (still under construction). There’s a large bar in the back and they’re currently serving food (with the Machete restaurant opening on 4/24). The downstairs is about the same size as Spaceland or the Echo but once the upstairs opens the club will hold 465. The stage is higher than most venues (good news for the vertically challenged). The sound system is very crisp and unlike the Knitting Factory, doesn’t get muddy under the overhang. And good news for patrons of bars like Little Joy - the bathrooms are clean and actually have doors on the stalls. Kiss or Kill club is there on Fridays (with the exception of the first Friday of every month). DJ Frankie Chan, who recently broke off from the Dim Mak crew, will start promoting events on Tuesdays in May. The Bellrays are playing their record release party on 5/12. more ›