Results tagged “dj”

It's a 140-character, bullet point list, soundbite world we live in, and while many of us turn to 89.9 KCRW for long sets of good music or informative programming, they're now offering up a way to get "a bite-sized glimpse into some of their favorite things." Personalities and behind-the-sceners at the Santa Monica College-based NPR station are sharing a list a week of 5 Things. Already in the archive are DJ Dan Wilcox's 5 Best Places to Expose Your Kids to Music, DJ Tom Schnabel's 5 Bands that Defined surf culture in LA, and DJ Jason Bentley's Top 5 Condiments (Sriracha, FTW!). And now that the station's Summer Pledge Drive is done, look for more forthcoming 5-ers from your favorites.

                           

100,000 electronica fans dance for two days at the L.A. Coliseum.

James Zabiela’s first visit to Los Angeles in 2002 was intense. Trotting the globe with one of its most in-demand DJs, his job was to make 2,000 Sasha fans loose their minds. Thanks to the 21 year-old Zabiela, that’s exactly what happened at the sold-out Mayan Theater.

LA has a diverse cast of characters. Whether it's the characters with stirring stories or interesting occupations or the people who are just simply characters, this town has them all. In an effort to get to know some of those characters a little better, we've created "Seven Questions with..."

              

When globetrotting electronic dance music DJs come to town the energy is rock-show thick. The tough, loud music. The sparkling visuals along side layers of multicolored flashing lights. The rabid crowd. These elements unite, and fans are delivered something special. Drew “Rukes” Ressler’s job is to capture that nocturnal magic.

Jason Bentley began his journey at KCRW 89.9 FM in 1988 as a volunteer. Today he takes the helm with the one of the most important jobs at the radio station: Music Director. He succeeds Nic Hartcourt who announced that he was stepping down earlier this month. That means Bentley leaves his weeknight show, Metropolis, for the popular Morning Becomes Eclectic, which airs this morning at 9 a.m. We shot over a handful questions, thanks to LAist staff and readers, to ask him about the changes, local bands and more.

On the heels of the announcement of Nic Harcourt's retirement from the post of Music Director, and longtime KCRW host Jason Bentley's move to replace him, comes word that DJ Garth Trinidad will be back weeknights on the station in the 8-10 p.m. time-slot.

         

Buddyhead has been an LA institution of sorts since it launched in 1998 by Travis Keller and Aaron North. After two years they got into the record label business and have put out releases by The Icarus Line, Your Enemies Friends, Shat, Radio Vago, modwheelmood, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Gayrilla Biscuits, 400 Blows and many more.

Sitting aside DJ Jeremy Sole spin records at last Thursday's weekly Afro Funke at Zanzibar in Santa Monica, I asked how he chooses what he plays next or if he has a set playlist. "Nah, it's all about reading the people dancing -- their body movements. See, I'm going to put this salsa on next and I bet the people hanging at the bar will all come out and dance. What I'm playing now is just the kindling. The salsa will be the fire." He did just that and the bartender slaving away had a break to catch her breath.

Vinyl collectors, spinners pro or amateur, or the just plain curious should head down to the DJ Academy today for R.E.H.A.B. LA's Recordpalooza.

Photo by joddo via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

If you aren't familiar, Clinton Sparks has rapidly risen from the basement of his mother's house in Boston to an elite DJ, producer and on-air personality. Recently, the host of the nationally syndicated Smashtime Radio and producer of numerous classic mixtapes like the first two volumes of the "We Got it 4 Cheap" series by The Clipse and The Re-Up Gang, has crossed over into cable television as the music correspondent for E!'s The Daily 10. A man on the go, criss-crossing the country from coast-to-coast to throw down some of the biggest parties in the country's top clubs, to producing beats for A-list artists to appearing on your television screen, Clinton took a little time to talk with LAist prior to boarding his flight from Las Vegas, where he hosts Daily 10 Smashtime Saturdays at Body English, to LA.

Use Last.Fm? Thanks to LAist reader, thecoloured, you can join our new LAist Last.Fm group! If you're staying Westside tonight, check out the hybrid jazz-alt-folk band, 1921a, at McCabe's Guitar Shop. They'll be there with Matt Taylor and his Laurels.

DJ Craze, Klever, Treasure Fingers, Villains @ Henry Fonda

In an e-mail early, early, early this morning, McCabe's announced something unexpected: The Swell Season will be playing tomorrow night in the guitar shop's intimate performance space. You may not recognize the band's name, but you know them as Irish singer Glen Hansard and Czech pianist Marketa Irglova from the movie Once. The gig got booked serendipitously yesterday when Glen brought his guitar into the shop for repair. Of course, the bad news here is that tickets sold out quickly, probably before the light of day hit. Tonight, McCabe's presents Jackshit, who we interviewed here on LAist last August.

RocknRollDating.com is the creation of Eagle Rock resident and music industry veteran, Daniel House. He has created the free online dating site with music as the coming-together concept. Put in your favorite bands and concerts, your preferred genres and the normal dating profile stats such as heights, sex, etc. and go find your mate based on the tunes you share in common. Or maybe you'll find someone who will let you experience new music.

Sometimes Monday nights lead to tough choices. For Jax at Rock Insider, it's between The Pity Party (who we interviewed this morning) and The Henry Clay People. Luckily, both bands are playing all month. Still, there are many choices. If you like your music Folk, your drinks cheap and have never been to Joe's Great American Bar & Grill in Burbank, it's a pretty sweet place to catch music seven days a week -- tonight is Dafni.

Last night, LAist had a spot on the red carpet of the Key Club in West Hollywood, host of The Roots Jam Session sponsored by Rock the Vote, Okayplayer and Keldof.

It's a quality night in Echo Park with Super Furry Animals and Holy Fuck are at the Echoplex and if you can swing it, right there at The Echo you'll find The Kooks and The Morning Benders. In Hollywood, Grammy award winning Dirty Vegas front man Steve Smith is slated to play acoustic tonight at the Hotel Cafe (but is not on the calendar anymore, so who knows).

Month-long residencies are one of the best ways to catch up-and-coming bands in Los Angeles. You have at least four times to catch a band, and each time, if they are gaining popularity over each show, it will be harder to see them. Last Thursday at their final residency concert, The Airborne Toxic Event played a sold out show with another 300 fans not getting in at the door. That's how crazy residencies can be. Catch 'em while you can. Here's your February line-up:

Despite it being Superbowl Sunday, February residencies got off to a great start last night with Alex & Sam at Tangier. Tonight is the first night of February residencies at Spaceland, Silverlake Lounge, Crash Mansion and The Echo/Echoplex. By last Thursday, The Airborne Toxic Event had gained so much popularity from their January residency, they had to reject 300 people from the door. Case in point, catch these bands in residency early on in the month.

The Super Bowl isn't just the center of the universe for the sports business, but also for anybody working at E! or People. Even TMZ had a giant mobile billboard just outside the stadium in Glendale -- probably reminding party-goers to send them any interesting photos.

Unless you've been in a coma for the past few weeks, the Super Bowl is on Fox tomorrow afternoon around 3ish. But we heard an annoying tidbit the other day and just needed to ask, "Why?" As in "Why is Ryan Seacrest drawn to red carpets like my dog is to the patch of grass at the end of my street?"

UK punk band, The Gallows, play at the Troubadour tonight | Photo by Michael/www.attheshow.org

A group of enterprising young researchers in UCLA's graduate Computer Science department have discovered a fun new way of using your iPod playlist: Wi-Fi enabled software sends your music preferences to whatever computer is nearby. Then music tailored to your preferences pumps out of the speakers -- can you imagine walking into a coffee shop, and the Carrie Underwood track playing shuts off, and a Matthew Good album slides into the rotation instead? How awesome! What a great way to go about your day!

For Westsiders, two bands of note at The Good Hurt tonight: Atomatique (powerpop) and Kinetic Stereokids (DJ/Rock/Ecclectic). Downtown, check out The Smell for experimental trip-hop etherealsim with All Neon Like. Popular Seattle singer/songwriter/rocker Jeremy Enigk will be at the Troubadour and there's a great mix of psychobilly, Spanish ska and surf at The House of Blues. Get fresh with some down South banjo fiddlin', mandolin fingerin' and jew harpin' at The Hotel Cafe as Ray Don & The Backwash Band remind us of Splash Mountain at Disneyland (lyrics not Disney safe, think sexual banjo). Also on the bill is Zachariah & the Lobos Riders -- classic sounding Western rock, sometimes mixed with hip-hop. Of course, Spaceland and The Echo are always safe bets.

You know you want to...so you may as well do it. Star Trek: The Tour has docked on the Queen Mary. Beam yourself up and get yourself to Long Beach to see exhibits from all five TV shows and each of the 10 movies, including Captain Kirk's chair. Bring your Vulcun ears and your Klingon-English dictionary and get into whatever character, or warp speed, you want.

If you're looking for something free and chill, then catch old school acoustic jazz at Crane's Hollywood Tavern or ride the tram uphill for reggae at The Getty. For jazz of a crazier brand (yet still classic), try the Art Ensemble of Chicago at REDCAT. Speaking of Chitown, three hip-hop artist from there will be at Echoplex. Hip-hop of a different brand can be found at the weirdest space in LA, pehrspace. And for some rock that's just good, check Spaceland and Safari Sam's.