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......

Common - "The People" "The People" was one of our most-played summer jamz. It was on Kanye's "Can't Tell Me Nothin" sampler because Kanye produced it and listen to how sweet it is. It's the sort of non-thug, uplifting, positive hip-hop that people once talked about, but now people are buying. This is the direction BEP could have gone if they hadn't chosen the path of the lowest common denominator aka the Gwen Stefani......

You may have noticed a new button on our left-hand column with the title We See The Best Concerts. It dawned on us the other day that we really do go to the best concerts and we usually write about them the next day or a few days later. So here's a wrap up of all 37 shows we reviewed this month, with links to the posts just in case you missed it. Chris......

OUT TODAY: Tegan and Sara - The Con (Sire) Juliette and the Licks - Four on the Floor (Hassle) UNKLE - War Stories (Surrender All) Mexican Institute Of Sound - Pinata (Nacional Records) Robbers on High Street - Grand Animals (New Line) Manu Chao - Rainin In Paradize [EP] (Nacional Records) Prince - Planet Earth (NPG) VHS or Beta - Bring On The Comets [Single] (Astralwerks) Hanson - The Walk (Cooking Vinyl) Manic Street......

Spoon @ Little Radio - "Everything Hits At Once" Spooooooooooooon! The battle cry of The Tick. Spooooooooooooon! The only utensil you really need. Spooooooooooooon! The band with the least secret show in the history of secret shows. All the indie annas and uber fans came out in their Monday best for last night’s Dewars-sponsored “secret show” at Little Radio. Singer/Songwriter, John “The Slice” Vanderslice, soothed the eager crowd with his styled and reflective indie......

Last night Little Radio hosted Spoon and John Vanderslice in their dusty sweaty warehouse located Downtown LA. Little Radio also webcast the show, and Dewer's Whiskey as a co-sponsor kept the free drinks flowing. John Vanderslice opened and wasn't really a great pairing with Spoon, becuase Vanderslice plays a much more mellow style of music, with just his voice and his acoustic guitar. It was like too sleepy and folky, and all the indie......

It's been a busy week in the world of Spoon. The biggest news, of course, is that they released their new album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga on Tuesday. Then next Monday, the band will perform an intimate show for the first 150 or so people who purchased their new CD at Amoeba Hollywood. According to a Little Radio myspace bulletin sent last week, it appears their venue will be hosting the exclusive event:......

John Vanderslice, St. Vincent @ Largo The Rave-Ups, Haymaker, Mulch, Jesse Aycock @ Blue Cafe Funky Nashville, Surfact, Vincent Van Go Go, Outlandish @ Viper Room Peachfuzz, The Make Out Party, Rolling Blackouts @ The Echo The Starlite Desperation, Up the Empire, Pistols Will Air, Icebird @ Spaceland The New Motherfuckers, Softboiled Eggies, Zodiac Death Valley, Hard Place @ The Smell The Ghost Lullaby, Zombies Ate My Nation, Black Current @ Safari Sam's The......

John Vanderslice is playing tomorrow night at the Largo. St. Vincent, who we interviewed this morning, is opening for him. It's sold out and even the scalpers are all, sucks to be you. They were both really funny and very smart. Of the two, Mr. Vanderslice seemed to enjoy answering the questions while Ms. Vincent seemed to enjoy eluding them in witty ways. Vanderslice was originally in the band mk Ultra, had an infamous......

Besides being adorable and ridiculously talented, Annie Clark aka St. Vincent is a total smart ass. If we hadn't read her interview with John Vanderslice (who she is opening for tomorrow night at the Largo), we might have mistaken her flippant humor for dry insults. But no, she's being funny and we love her for that. So we asked the former Polyphonic Spree multi-instrumentalist some questions that would throw her, but it appears that......

Mon 5/8 – The Submarines / Goldspot @ Viper Room ($10) – The Submarines debut album doesn’t come out until 6/20 but you can sample some tracks on their website or on Myspace. The album has call and response boy/girl lyrics about the two singers’ relationship (both the breakup and reunion). The electronic blips call to mind the Stars and some Folk Implosion. Her voice is in the neighborhood of the woman from Mates......

Shanghaiist probably knows a little more about China than the Chicago Sun-Times. Giving them the benefit of the doubt on that one. The city does to have a music scene. Don't even front like they don't. They also have Dorito bananas and white guys shopping for wives. What they don't have is any more tolerance for jaywalkers. Bostonist sees Boston and Somerville each whip out their art and face off. A plagiarized novel is the......

FRIDAY • John Vanderslice, Charles Bissel (of The Wrens) and Thee More Shallows take the stage at the Knitting Factory at 8 PM. Tickets are $10 advance, $12 day of. • KCRW presents Nikka Costa and Driveblind at The Roxy tonight at 9 PM. Tickets are $23. • In conjunction with Vroman's Bookstore, Joan Didion will appear at All Saints Church, 132 N. Euclid in Pasadena, at 7 PM to discussion her new memoir,......

TUESDAY • John Vanderslice performs a free in-store tonight at Amoeba Music at 7 PM. • The Knitting Factory features Smog, Heavenly States and Great Northern at 8 PM. Tickets are $12. • At the Hollywood Bowl, Sarah Chang will perform Shostakovich's "Violin Concerto No. 1"; the LA Phil will perform Brahms' "Symphony No. 1" and Glinka's "Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila" at 8 PM. Tickets range from $6-42. • Tonight at 8 PM......

At 7:00 PM, the Hammer Museum hosts artist and teacher Klaus Rinke, contemporary of artist Joseph Beuys, as he gives a lecture titled “The Dream—an Ideal Art School: A world school, center for being, art, and creativity,” reflecting on his experience teaching at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf. At the Troubadour, KXLU presents John Vanderslice with Robbers on High Street and Two Gallants at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $12.00 at the door. At Amoeba......