The Natural History Musuem and Spaceland Productions have once again teamed up to produce a season of First Fridays for the first half of 2010. Although the full line-up of bands has not announced, January and February has been booked: Atlas Sound and the Tune-Yards on January 8th and Yeasayer and Warpaint on February 5th. DJ Them Jeans (aka Jason Stewart) will spin throughout the season. more ›

You can thank Terence McFarland, the executive director of the Los Angeles Stage Alliance, for that fantastic quote about Sweaty Sundays (and Wet Wednesdays), a popular updated Richard Simmons dance exercise class " to a soundtrack of indie rock, techno, and 1980s new wave hits new wave" in Silver Lake. The New York Times takes an interest--"Silver Lake, a hipster neighborhood in Los Angeles"--while Gawker ponders if Williamsburg hipsters in Brooklyn can step up to the challenge. more ›

Every so often, two movies play in theaters that appear so similar, it rips a hole in the cultural zeitgeist. Antz & A Bug's Life. Armageddon & Deep Impact. Capote & Infamous. Back to the Future & Back to the Future. Take your pick; the entire trilogy plays this weekend at both the New Beverly and the Aero. Same Doc-day, same Doc-ticket price. It's probably easier to sneak beverages into the New Bev, but Great Scott - do NOT, under any circumstances, play the Back to the Future drinking game! Trust me on this... more ›

Today Santa Monica-based public radio station KCRW divulged the details of the latest addition to their DJ roster. Black Flag front man Henry Rollins, who completed his first radio work nearly twenty years ago at the aforementioned station, will commandeer local airwaves every Saturday from 6 to 8 PM. The big move, of course, comes on the heels of Indie 103's untimely demise in mid-January. It is uncertain what the exact driving force of the decision to sign on with KCRW was. However, it can be surmised that since Indie shuttered—subsequently regressing to an online-only broadcast—its demographic has been severely constrained. KCRW is poised to anoint Rollins during tomorrow's edition of Morning Becomes Eclectic with Jason Bentley. more ›

LetIndieLive.com, an unadorned and particularly self-aware website, acts as the conduit for transmitting the input of the public. The slate gray site, emblazoned with the Tennysonian maxim "It is better to do something, rather than nothing," is an extraordinary mixture of harsh reality and lofty ideals. more ›

We all know Amoeba and mourn the passing of terrific indie record shops like Aron’s and Sea Level, but what about the great stores we still have that continue bringing us back to discover old and new music alike? LAist has compiled a list of record stores from our vast area for the holidays (and a handy Google map) in support of these local businesses that help us remember what it’s like spending an afternoon going through bins, talking shit with store clerks and going home with a song you can’t wait to play. more ›

Day 2 of the out-of-state Monolith Music Festival at Red Rocks this past weekend consisted of American Bang, Tokyo Police Club, The Avett Brothers, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Band of Horses, TVOTR, and Airborne Toxic Event who got their album torn apart on Pitchfork but rebutted. (Thanks a million to BetweenLoveandLike aka Erica for the ATE pics!)
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Since they burst on the scene a few years ago, there is one thing that has remained constant in the many live performances from UK imports Bloc Party and that is their ability to constantly deliver a stand-out performance. While their catalog consists of only two LPs and a few singles here and there, their sound still feels fresh and live their tracks are almost all crowd pleasers. more ›

You know its officially summer when the Hollywood Bowl schedule is in full swing and your local Whole Foods boast empty shelves of wine and cheese. Yes, the sun is out later and perfect temperatures always serve as a pleasant compliment to any night of music, but that isn’t to say that there’s nothing going on in your favorite sweaty rock venue. July happens to be a jam-packed month, and we’d like to give you a little breakdown. more ›

Walter Meego is not a dude, it's actually Justin Sconza (vocals, keyboards, guitar) and Colin Yarck (keyboards, computer), a Chicago-bred but LA-living electronic-alt-pop duo. Throw Andrew Bernhardt in the mix (or on the mix, hmmm?) and you've got one hell of a kick-ass live band. They hit the El Rey earlier this week as the openers on The Presets' tour, playing to a sold out crowd. more ›

I don't know if it was all those Ikea fish eggs I consumed this weekend, but I was definitely ready to be in a Swedish frame of mind Monday night at the El Rey, where Anna Ternheim and Lykke Li opened for El Perro Del Mar. All three artists are representing a new wave of Scandinavian indie pop, with danceable rhythms, melancholic lyrics, and a moody, sensual sound that feels like a cold, fresh breeze on the pop landscape. Abba they ain't, but Robyn sure likes to hang with them. more ›

There is a song called "The March" in Astra Heights' infectious debut album, Good Problems, that is so insanely catchy that you can't help but wonder why radio stations don't play songs like it any more, and you would also think that a record company would have no problem hawking the song. But I suppose it speaks volumes of the current woeful state of the record business that Astra Heights was dropped by its label a day after Good Problems was released on iTunes. more ›

100 years and nine months ago, an American ship called Chesapeake was cannonballed by a British vessel, and not in the Ron Burgundy way. Apparently, the Americans refused to be boarded, the Brits fired and an international incident was born. more ›

Family, the great little bookstore on Fairfax is celebrating its one-year anniversary with a huge art show that opens tonight at 8pm and you're invited. more ›

Last Sunday, local electronic pop duo Electrocute (MySpace), perhaps best known for their song "Bikini Bottom" on the soundtrack, concluded their February residency at Spaceland (MySpace) in Silver Lake. The lineup included Totally Radd!! (MySpace) and Har Mar Superstar (MySpace). more ›

Love Pretzels? Love Indie Rock? Often find yourself torn between these two passions like the protagonist in some kind of terrible 80s R&B song about adultery and not wanting to be right? more ›

LAist contributer Osmany Rodriguez found a few fresh new Banksy paintings near the New Beverly Cinema. As you may already know, Banksy is the elusive guerrilla street artist responsible for some of the most interesting art in the city (not to mention the entire world). He's a trickster figure who never shows his face, but joined Steve Jones in the Indie 103.1 studios earlier this week (that's how we know he's been in L.A. recently). more ›

If you're like me and you hate pro football, or if you're looking for something to do after Football Team A defeats Football Team B in the field of Superbowly Combat, go to The Scene in Glendale tonight, and see NYC based Indie Pop Band Murder Mystery, along with LA's The Tartans and Oxnard's Maria. more ›

It's the fifth Thursday of the month and this is your last chance to see The Airborne Toxic Event in their January Spaceland residency. KROQ and Indie 103.1 both added their song "Sometime Around Midnight" to their rotations last week and Airborne hears this is the first time in about 15 years KROQ has done this with an unsigned band (Weezer being that 15 year marker). "We also feel incredibly lucky and thankful that so many people seem to like our song. We are just a local band from Los Feliz and we would have never imagined we'd be writing an e-mail like this tonight," they wrote earlier this week. more ›

Portland based musician and known as "the Stephen King of Indie Pop," Chris Robley and his band -- Fear of Heights -- play at Mr. T's Bowl tonight in Highland Park. Plenty of MP3s to check out of this indie-pop folk band below. more ›

On Monday night, local artist and Downtown resident Elizabeth McGrath (formerly of Tongue) and her gothic country band Miss Derringer (MySpace) performed as the headliners of Indie 103.1 (MySpace)'s Check One Two Mondays at The Viper Room in West Hollywood. more ›

It's uncommon that a rapper takes the name he used for over 6 years and transforms it into an indie-rock band, but founder Yoni Wolf is known for breaking the rules and getting great results. Operating within the Anticon collective Why?'s sound is self described as "smart, shimmering, sweetly soured" and front man Yoni's delivery as a "candytime-dissonant, singsong-suicide style". more ›

What will Hike The Geek do?!?! more ›

You know it's a light week when I lead off with the DVD of a TV series. isn't. more ›

1. The Obvious- My parents and sister are the most important people in the world to me. They support me in every boneheaded endeavor I partake in, and believe me, there are tons. It's astonishing how many, actually. 2. My friends. Once again, totally obvious. Once again, they're totally awesome. Much love to Porter House, SLC, Shalhevet, AU, and everyone who fits into all, some, or none of those categories. World rockers, each and every... more ›

Two of the four big summer three-quels hit DVD shelves today. Neither is worth your money. Better to spend it on La Vie en Rose, featuring one of the best performances in years by the amazing Marion Cotillard. Better yet, make it a French double-feature and pick up Paris Je T'Aime, too. If you haven't yet, invest a weekend watching Berlin Alexanderplatz. And, yes, it will take the whole weekend. Christmas and South Park... more ›

There are many different ways you could have heard of Tinariwen by now - even if you don't keep up with world music, you could have heard Henry Rollins play them on Indie 103.1, or read that they opened for The Rolling Stones, or heard that Thom Yorke was inspired by one of their guitar riffs while writing 'The Clock' on Eraser. Not your usual buzz band, Tinariwen are part of a nomadic desert... more ›

When Low vs. Diamond's lead singer Lucas Field sauntered on the stage and meekly opened the show with "Life After Love," I knew immediately that despite the head bobbing and dancing from a few, LvD’s live act would neither expand upon its sound nor translate to the crowd what exactly they were trying to do. more ›

Destiny's Child vs The Cardigans - "My Favorite Name" About a year and a half ago we introduced you to Indie's mashup DJ Paul V. as he was celebrating the one-year anniversary of Bootie LA, the monthly dance party fueled by the current day's mashups. Since then Bootie LA has moved from the Echo to Safari Sam's but the party hasn't missed a step. Matter of fact, tonight Bootie LA is welcoming French mashup... more ›

Two really good bands (that taste great together) have announced today that they are heading East. more ›