Van Hunt plays the Temple Bar tonight, Feb. 19 and March 6 | Photo via his MySpace page In an e-mail early, early, early this morning, McCabe's announced something unexpected: The Swell Season will be playing tomorrow night in the guitar shop's intimate performance space. You may not recognize the band's name, but you know them as Irish singer Glen Hansard and Czech pianist Marketa Irglova from the movie Once. The gig got booked......

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......

The year is coming to a close and, like all procrastinators, I am late on my "Best of" duties. Nevertheless, 2007 was a jam-packed year full of great music. With some very welcome returns, some flops, and some breakout contenders, 2007 was a testament to the ever-changing, ever-exciting musical atmosphere. Anyway, here it is... The Best of 2007: 1. Feist – The Reminder There is a reason that Feist has become as popular as......

With indie rock mainstays Devotchka, Oh No! Oh My!, Foreign Born, Snowden, Illinois, The Black Angels, St. Vincent, and Thee More Shallows, how can one really go wrong? Well, quite simply by not publicizing your festival enough. My experience swerving was a little disconcerting, mainly because of the poor turnout. It's my turn to take a stab at this whole Swerve Festival. Everything seemed perfect on paper (the music, the art, the film, and the......

Richard Thompson - "I Feel So Good" Richard Thompson Band @ Royce Hall Toots & The Maytals, Elijah Emanuel & the Revelations @ House of Blues The National, St. Vincent @ The Wiltern Beausoleil @ The Mint The Groovy Rednecks @ SW Hill Country Leon Russell @ Malibu Inn Michael McDonald, Patti Austin @ The Greek Josh Rouse, Jason Collett @ El Rey Girl Talk, Dan Deacon @ Echoplex Imperial Teen, The Finches, Sounds......

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: 5. The Stage Names - Okkervil River The next hot band on the indie stage. 4. Marry Me - St. Vincent After departing from the mega collective Polyphonic Spree, Annie Clark blazes her own glorious trail on her......

Last Saturday evening, the overwhelmingly beautiful, Audrey Hepburn-esque Annie Clark, a.k.a St. Vincent, performed a stellar set of songs from her latest Beggars Banquet release Marry Me. I've watched her play solo via the internet before, but her independent renditions just don't do her record justice. For the first time, Clark nearly duplicated the orchestral vibe strewn throughout her debut album, incorporating sampling and the backing of a three-piece band. I'm beginning to believe......

Suicidal Tendencies, Gwar, The Devil Wears Prada, Goatwhore, others @ Verizon Wireless Clay Aiken @ The Greek St. Vincent, Josh Haden, Death Vessel @ The Echo The Bronx, Qui (with the Jesus Lizard's David Yow) @ The Echo, benefit, early show (5:30pm) Billy Bob Thornton @ El Rey Theatre G. Love & Special Sauce, Ozomatli @ Pacific Amphitheatre Tift Merritt @ McCabe's Radars to the Sky, Bedroom Walls, Rademacher, Death to Anders @ Spaceland......

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......

This LAist poster is a BIG fan of turkey sandwiches. But many times, don't we all end up being disappointed, with the turkey being too dry, or the bread being either too chewy or too hard? Or maybe it’s the cheese or balance of condiments that’s not quite right. It’s a never-ending quest – kind of like finding the perfect pizza slice in this city. The last time we came close to the perfect......

It seems like something out of a movie or a bad tv show but it appears that someone at St. Vincent's medical center gamed the national organ network for profit. In 2003, a liver was transplanted into a patient who sat 52nd on the list while the hospital was paid 30% more than normal for the action. In a routine audit of their organ donor services, the incident and subsequent cover up were found.......

As August draws to a close, blogland seems to be on hiatus, leaving us with re-runs. But repeats can be rewarding. For instance, LA journalist Rodger Jacobs posts a 1999 article about his experiences writing a documentary about porn legend John Holmes. How could you not love an essay that begins with: "A soul-siphoning conveyer belt leading to nowhere" is how I described the adult film industry in a an essay written only a......