It really does seem people just like to foam at the mouth over the most irrelevant things. I understand people being horrified by what happened in Penn State and various LAUSD schools. Being horrified by the Holocaust is also acceptable. There needs to be some gravitas is the things we rise up against. That’s why the furor over MIA and Giselle is perplexing. more ›

For the most part this Super Bowl was a bit of a letdown for me. I was at a friend’s house. She is moments away from popping out an offspring from her loins, much like MIA was when she performed at the Grammys several years ago. Well MIA certainly did make a splash during halftime with her bird, but that’s beside the point. more ›

Since Amy Winehouse was found dead at her London home last Saturday, a fever has rippled around the music world. With Winehouse's legacy already solidified by 2008's "Back in Black," which earned her five Grammys, her talent and voice is showing its resilience this week, even as fans, friends and family mourn her passing. more ›

Tonight Grammy-nominated British singer-songwriter, rapper and record producer M.I.A. will be gracing the Mayan Theater with none other than Rye Rye in tow. San Franciscan indie pop outfit the Morning Benders (LAist Review, #2, #3) are poised to... more ›

[Update: Since this interview went live, HARD has been canceled. Read the latest update here and read the interview below to see how organizers were approaching this festival from a safety point of view.] more ›

The impending birth of her first baby didn't keep British-Sri Lankan rapper diva M.I.A. from hitting the stage at this year's Grammy's, and just a couple of days later she delivered her son. Although plans to roll the new mom onstage at this year's Academy Awards show didn't pan out (thank goodness?), she has just been added to the line up for next month's Coachella, ostensibly replacing fellow Brit Amy Winehouse, whose legal troubles are making crossing the pond a bit difficult. more ›

She hit the stage at the Grammys a couple of weeks ago 9 months pregnant, gave birth to her son with boyfriend Benjamin Bronfman a couple of days later, and now is working with organizers of Sunday's Oscars telecast to arrange how she might perform live on the awards show. The Guardian UK explains:

According to reports today the rapper is keen to fulfil her commitment to perform her Oscar-nominated song from Slumdog Millionaire, "O Saya," at the awards ceremony. She is said to be trying to find a way to overcome the physical issues of performing so soon after giving birth, including, it's alleged, an appearance by hologram or, failing that, one delivered from a bed live on stage.

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 ›

If there is a more beautiful place to see a concert than the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington please direct me to it. Each year, this is the home for the annual memorial weekend blowout known as the Sasquatch! Music Festival. A short two-hour drive east from Seattle takes you to the Gorge, built on the side of a cliff, overlooking the Columbia River. The scenery is as gorgeous as anywhere, when you add in some of the greatest music acts around you have the combination for one of the most enjoyable festivals in America. more ›

In the previous installations of Coachella there have been some huge headliners. Rage Against the Machine, Radiohead, Bjork, The Beastie Boys but none quite on the level of day two's headliner, the Purple One, Prince. From the moment he hit the stage with Morris Day and Shelia E. it was apparent that the audience was in for a lesson in musicianship and showmanship. As he played through a set mixed of standards and the cover everyone was talking about (more on that in a second) he demonstrated his true mastery of musical performance. Whether it was his virtuoso guitar solos or his dance moves there was never a dull moment in the performance. But the real treat came when Prince played a cover of Radiohead's breakout hit "Creep." There have been many covers of the song but none as dramatic and unique as this cover. The song was given the Prince treatment, a few word changes and an incredible guitar solo. Before leaving the stage he declared "Coachella will always be Prince's house" and after the performance he gave Saturday, it will take alot to prove that statement wrong. more ›

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, music festivals are the dim sum of the concert-going experience; try a little of everything and go back for more of what you like (or ditch out on what you don’t). This year’s Coachella was no exception, with acts like country crooner Dwight Yoakam vying for time against dance-rock lovelies Hot Chip, or Prince breaking down the funk for the masses after a particularly breathtaking Portishead set. With the desert heat not as heart-stopping as previous years and the lineup eclectic as it was educational, Coachella brought out all ages and backgrounds of super fans and the uninitiated alike. People-watching was good but people-listening was at an all time high, so I took advantage of all the close quarters on Saturday to do a little eavesdropping. more ›

The moment has finally materialized: The official lineup for the three-day mega music fest in the middle of nowhere (aka Empire Polo Field in Indio) has been announced. more ›

M.I.A. struts her stuff at the Echoplex, July 31 more ›

It's the end of another year and LA has lost yet another handful of important buildings. LA Weekly has the goods on the "big ones" that were lost this year including the Ambassador Hotel and Cocoanut Grove, Trader Vic's, Johnie's Broiler, Mann National Theatre and our personal vote for deepest loss of the year, Tail o' the Pup. 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 little world. Therefore, this is an act of paying it forward to those hardworking, underpaid musicians who truly made a difference within the music scene this year. more ›

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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 ›

Listen to the interview here: Deborah Harry is on her way to LA to play the Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theater tomorrow, Friday the 7th. She's got her first new solo album in fourteen years out, Necessary Evil, and you can hear some samples of it at her MySpace. Unfortunately our conversation sounds like I'm contacting her by sat-phone somewhere in Tibet but these are the days of multiline patch-ins so it couldn't... 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 ›

If you totally dug the soundtrack to American Beauty (not the orchestral score by Thomas Newman, which is amazing too), then you must know that KCRW DJ Chris Douridas was behind it. His choices in music for that movie led to a Grammy nomination, but that is only one of many movies and accomplishments under his belt. As a DJ, Douridas hosts New Ground on Saturdays at noon for three hours. In September, we... more ›

Here's the mix: Download or listen to the mix above which contains the songs and their related articles below: - Spoon "Infinite Pet" for show review by Staci Goodner - No Age "Everybody's Down" for a story/show review by Joshua Pressman - Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings "Tell Me" for a CD review by tomdog - MIA "Galang" for a show review by Joey Maloney - Cake "War Pigs" cuz they play on 11/30 at... more ›

Yesterday we started our Best of 2007 list with choices from KCRW's Nic Harcourt and Tom Schnabel. But then we realized we weren't being gentlemen. The ladies of KCRW should have gone first! D'oh! So fasten your seatbelts for The Drop's host Liza Richardson's picks for 2007. Something tells us our comments will be buzzing. Will it be for the inclusion of M.I.A.? Let's hope. 1) Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon... more ›

There has been no one to hit the music scene in the past few years as original and refreshing as M.I.A. Her infectious blend or hip hop, dancehall, drum and bass and even a bit of electronic, has been getting crowds across the world shaking and moving to her grooves. Friday night she returned to Los Angeles, and after making the crowd wait a bit longer than expected she came through like a whirlwind... more ›

Joanna Newsom - "Monkey and Bear" Joanna Newsom @ Disney Hall ZZ Top @ The Greek Of Montreal, Grand Buffet, MGMT @ Avalon Loudon Wainwright III, Joe Henry @ El Rey M.I.A., The Cool Kids @ The Wiltern Ben Harper, Piers Faccini @ Orpheum Rhino Bucket @ Knitting Factory Dave Mason @ House of Blues, Anaheim Eek-A-Mouse @ Galaxy Theatre Jesu, These Arms Are Snakes @ Echoplex She Wants Revenge, Kenna, theSTART @ Henry... more ›

In it's 3rd year of existence, this past weekend's Vegoose Music Festival featured quite the impressive lineup. Boasting the final North American Show of the ever incredible Daft Punk and the final stop of Rage Against the Machine's reunion (tour), the fest also included great performances from Gogol Bordello, Muse, M.I.A. and many, many more. Follow the jump for tonnnns (literally) of pics of Muse, Queens of the Stone Age, M.I.A., Gogol Bordello, Queens... more ›

These dudes didn't make the list. The year is already over for L.A. Times pop critic Ann Powers; in a piece dated tomorrow, she lays out an unremarkable top 10 albums of 2007. Maybe Powers gave up on 07 when she couldn't get on OiNK anymore. Or perhaps, like Christmas decorations and presidential primaries, top 10 lists are just going up earlier than ever this year. Either way, I guess she's not waiting on... more ›

As one blogger so delicately phrased it, "CMJ goes out with a whimper". There wasn't a whole lot I wanted to see on Day Five of CMJ. So I rested my weary bones, wandered around Williamsburg, and caught a couple of shows. One highlight was Ha Ha Tonka's performance at Union Pool in Williamsburg at a homey, jam-packed venue. I believe there was a BBQ going on as well. Williamsburg was lovely, flourishing with... more ›

New York you're bringing us down. One look at this weekend's Detour Fest lineup and it appears that Los Angeles, once again, is the center of all things rock. While dozens of acts will descend on downtown LA this Saturday, from as far as Australia, Sweden, France, Mexico, and Missouri, the NYC rock scene is MIA. Hell, even the two-headed Raveonettes are staking their claim to Hollywood, listed as hailing from "New York, Los... more ›

Summer has passed and acts such as Suzanne Vega, Tegan and Sara, M.I.A., Spoon, and Rilo Kiley have reclaimed the spotlight after significant hiatuses, but the year is far from over. It’s now time to look forward to albums on the horizon that look like winners already: more ›

There was some really good music released over the summer and it's always nice to return to school with some "indie cred" so here are the Top 5 Albums to bring back to school with you: more ›