Roky Erickson and Okkervil River’s appearance at an after-school ice cream party for kids reached its peak of surrealism at the moment when the band stopped to ask the youngsters packing the Eagle Rock Arts Center if they had any questions. “Does the drummer get splinters from playing so fast?” “Naw, I don’t think he does,” answered Erickson, “but hopefully it don’t have a taboo on it, like in Louisiana they call it a gris-gris.” Another wanted to know, what did he think about the ukelele? “I like it, and I like that music… I should get me a statue of one.” As to “why is the vampire song so loud?”, Roky reasoned “When it’s cold, and people are wearing all their scarves and neckerchiefs and everything, you have to make it loud enough to sink in.” After that last exchange, the band picked their instruments back up and slammed into the 13th Floor Elevators classic “You’re Gonna Miss Me”, and the entire room began to bounce. Some of the kids plugged their ears, others jammed out on air guitar and danced in the aisles. It was the parents, though, that looked downright ecstatic. Finally, thanks to the kind folks of FYF Fest, a real rock show that you can experience with your children, without having to stay up late or pay for a sitter. Watching the whole thing unfold, taking in the looks of wide-eyed wonder on faces young and old, was one of the most pleasantly bizarre experiences of my gig-going life. more ›

Tonight Bristol-based electronic duo Massive Attack will be taking on a three-night stint at the Wiltern, ringing in their first release in over seven years—2010's Heligoland. Massachusetts-based metalcore act Converge—who recently released their seventh studio album, 2010's Axe To Fall—are poised to take on the... more ›

Roky Erickson, one of the most crucial contributors to the American canon of garage rock, pyschedelia and proto-punk, will be in Los Angeles this week for two rare appearances. Tuesday night he’ll be at the Music Box (moved from the Mayan), and Wednesday, in what promises to be a supremely unique experience, will be playing an afternoon set at the Eagle Rock Center For The Arts, a free show and ice cream party at which all adults must be accompanied by a child. This trip to California is in support of his excellent new album True Love Cast Out All Evil (read our full review here.) He’ll be backed by Austin band Okkervil River, whose leader Will Sheff produced the album and selected the material from Roky’s entire history of un-released or under-released material, dating back to the mid-1960s. While much of Erickson’s work following his departure from the 13th Floor Elevators in 1969 was deliberately fearsome and disturbing, True Love brings out a side of his music that has been under-represented till now: his ability to be hauntingly beautiful. more ›

Roky Erickson’s new album begins and ends with a field recording, made by his mother during a visit to the Rusk State Maximum Security Prison For The Criminally Insane. He’d been sent there after being arrested for possession of one joint in 1969, and served for three years. What happenned to him during those years profoundly altered the rest of his life, as he battled a raging depression and paranoia that left him only partly functional even at the height of his career. As of a decade ago, it was reported that his condition had deteriorated almost beyond hope of recovery, ravaged by dementia and a life-threatening dental abscess. He seemed, from the outside, to have been left for dead. more ›

Tonight Wilco (LAist Interview) will be concluding a three-date stint at the Wiltern with Okkervil River (LAist Review) in tow. San Franciscan alternative rockers Third Eye Blind are poised to perform at the Hollywood Palladium with locals Low vs Diamond. And, lastly, Detroit-bred electro-pop one-man band Deastro will be gracing Spaceland with Healamonster and Tarsier. But we strongly suggest heading over to the Echoplex to catch local electronic mastermind Daedelus, who will be performing in celebration of the Friends of Friends label launch. Not only will local experimental electronic act Jogger be kicking things off, but LA-based DJ, hip-hop producer and the founder of hip-hop label Stones Throw Records Peanut Butter Wolf will be putting together an A/V set. more ›

This week Wilco (LAist Interview) will be taking on a three-date stint at the Wiltern with Jonathan Wilson and Okkervil River (LAist Review) in tow. Amherst-based rockers Dinosaur Jr. will be taking on a two-night stint at the Troubadour. San Franciscan alternative rockers Third Eye Blind will be performing at the Hollywood Palladium with locals Low vs Diamond. And, lastly, Friday and Saturday will mark the 13th annual Electric Daisy Carnival—the biggest dance festival in North America—which will take place at Los Angeles' own Memorial Coliseum. Thievery Corporation, Paul Oakenfold, STS9, The Crystal Method, Groove Armada, Paul Van Dyk, Infected Mushroom, Shiny Toy Guns, Boys Noize, Fake Blood and Shinichi Osawa, among many, many others, are all slated to grace this year's bill. more ›

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 ›

Tonight two lucky dogs will be in attendance at the Raconteurs show thanks to LAist. And if those lucky dogs aren't you, then might we suggest some other options? Austin-based Okkervil River will be rolling through the Henry Fonda Music Box with local favorites Sea Wolf. Zykos, another exemplary Austin act that we are quite fond of, is slated to open as well. Bordello in Downtown will be hosting a superb bill of LA's finest, including Echo Park's EXITMUSIC. And tonight will be the final night of a three-night run featuring Brazilian pop sensation CSS at the Mayan. But, all things considered, the Barack Obama-rama Fundraiser at Spaceland takes the cake. The wondrous female-fronted lineup of predominantly electronic acts (Lady Tigra, the Bird and the Bee and Electrocute) will be belting out notes in support of the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee. As the relatively newfangled saying goes: Love your momma, vote Obama. 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 ›

My friend's boyfriend started a band awhile back with his friends, and they practiced for what seemed like a very long time, always saying, "No, no, we're not ready yet", if I asked when they were gonna play a show. They called themselves Monolidic, because they're all Korean and Chinese. (Being white, I'm not even sure I can laugh at that, so I'm just relaying it expressionlessly.) By all appearances, he and his friends were "K-town boys", going out every weekend and closing out the bars, but I knew my friend's boyfriend was a big indie kid, and a fan of Okkervil River, Pavement, The Veils, etc, and that the group of them also went and sang Radiohead songs at noraebang till God knows what hour, sometimes destroying tambourines, Who-like, while they were at it. So I was really curious to hear what they'd sound like. But then I missed their first 3 or 4 shows, due to conflicting plans. more ›

5pm-Infinity Roy Rogers Film Fest TCM - All you could ever want of the singing cowboy. 9:00pm Big Brother 8 CBS - Veto! Veto! Veto!! [What's it all about Tony?] 9:00pm Wide Angle PBS/KCET - Crop failures, sinking global cotton prices, and spiraling debts drive Indian cotton farmers to suicide in this typical example of uplifting fare from public television. 9:00pm i-Caught ABC - Parkour (as featured in LAist within the last week) athletes jump... 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 ›

OUT TODAY: Flight Of The Conchords - The Distant Future (Sub Pop) [MP3]: “Business Time” via Tunes Consumed Magnolia Electric Co - Sojourner (Secretly Canadian) [MP3]: “Leave The City” via Aquarium Drunkard The Budos Band - The Budos Band II (Daptone Records) [MP3]: “Chicago Falcon” via Inflight at Night Okkervil River - The Stage Names (Jagjaguwar) [MP3]: “Unless It’s Kicks” via Music For Kids Who Can’t Read Good Augie March - Moo, You Bloody... more ›

Friday night's "celebration" at Safari Sam's was testimony to the tremendous impact Sea Level Records has had upon the local Los Angeles music scene. As reported previously, the foremost indie record store decided to throw in the towel after their influential 5 1/2 year reign. So, party, celebration--any word used to connote remote contentment would simply be a misnomer. As friends of Sea Level sporadically graced the stage to eulogize, it became harder to... more ›