Local singer/songwriter Audra Mae played a highly impressive set Tuesday night at the Silver Lake Lounge. Simply put, the girl has heavenly pipes. The bio on the myspace describes her voice as a cross between Patsy Cline and Janis Joplin, which is no light praise, but it really is the best description. Having caught a good show a couple years ago, with just her and a guitar, it was fun to see the difference......

Tuesday nights in LA can be slow in the Spring; the energy of activation to get prettied up and brave the slick streets is much higher than that required to crack open a beer and settle on the couch. But when a heat wave hits with its concomitant restlessness, suddenly a weeknight outing is not only desired but sorely needed. It was in this fitful state I found myself making my way down a......

Thursday night's Watkins Family Hour performance at Largo was a humdinger. At one point, they must have broken some kind of a Largo record, because they fit NINE people on that tiny platform. Throughout the three-hour set, eight additional performers joined Sean and Sara Watkins on the stage. The lineup included Fiona Apple, Benmont Tench, Glen Phillips, Greg Leisz, Mike Elizondo, Willie Watson, Jay Bellerose and Dave Rawlings. They performed more than 20 songs......

Ciara - The Evolution (comes with limited-edition DVD; LaFace) Billy Cobham's Glassmenagerie - Stratus (MVD Audio) Danny Elfman - "Charlotte's Web" soundtrack (Sony Classical) Dreamgirls soundtrack (two-CD deluxe edition also available; Columbia/ Sony Music Soundtrax) "Fast Food Nation" soundtrack (Park the Van) James Horner - "Mel Gibson's Apocalypto" soundtrack (Hollywood) Lil Scrappy - Bred 2 Die, Born 2 Live (Reprise) Brian McKnight - 10 (Warner Bros.) Gwen Stefani - The Sweet Escape (Interscope) Eminem......

Silverlake rock club Spaceland continues celebrating its month-long 10-year anniversary with two shows this weekend. Tonight, get your alt-country on with chanteuse Eleni Mandell (pictured), who is equal parts Patsy Cline, Tom Waits, and PJ Harvey. Opening is San Francisco's The Court and Spark and Whiskey Biscuit headlines. On Sunday, it's alt-that-and-more with WACO's 13-instrument cacophonous melancholy, Extra Fancy's queercore, and Touchcandy reuniting with a sound explosion that'll knock you back to 1995. If......