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......

For this evening, a selection of gentle acoustic guitars to assist in warming your bones by the fire. Acoustic instruments made of wood just fit the theme - the yule log, the Christmas tree, toy horses, and now, the wood stove where Sufjan Stevens' presents end up - oops! JOHN RENBOURN - I Saw Three Ships Renbourn, one half of the formidable guitar section for British psychedelic-folk pioneers Pentangle, gives his take on the......

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......

Boxer, out May 22 on Beggars Banquet, is the kind of record that makes you want to do nothing with your life. More specifically, The National’s fourth, full-length album is an offering of unfussy rock that is neither sentimental nor whiny, rather, a perfectly romanticized malaise that could convince even the most upwardly mobile type-A to consider a path of murky, scotch-fueled depression. Matt Berninger’s confident and dreamy bass-baritone opens the record by quietly guiding......

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......

"Danielson: A Family Movie" Laemmle Grande 4-Plex, 345 Figueroa Street, Downtown LA special engagement, showing thru Thursday You're doing ok when you've got Steve Albini inviting you to a rock festival that he's curating. You're doing ok when you're straightforwardly hurling your Christian agenda on a cynical young hipster crowd and they can only stand and watch and smile, in awe, and think of David Byrne and Frank Black, and how the Polyphonic Spree......

Every morning at 6am we will be posting a video of someone singing or playing the "Star Spangled Banner". Back in the day television stations would end their "broadcast day" with an instrumental of the National Anthem accompanied by video of horses running through a field, and olde fashioned Main Street, the Statue of Liberty, and eagles in slow motion. When the song was over, the screen would flicker and a test pattern would......

Danielson: A Family Movie (or Make a Joyful Noise Here) - A music documentary about oddball indie/pop/folk band the Danielson Famile. The film features appearances by Daniel Johnston and Steve Albini, as well as a young Sufjan Stevens, who was mentored by the band's "patriarch," Daniel Smith, and whose success would soon grow to outshine that of the Danielson Famile. The Dead Girl - Writer-director Karen Moncrieff (Blue Car) weaves together five seemingly unrelated......

Tom Waits, the adorably gruff-voiced hat-wearing homeless-looking storyteller of such classic albums as "Rain Dogs", "Frank's Wild Years" and "Bone Machine" has the most popular CD collection at Hollywood's Amoeba last week (November 28 thru December 5). The accomplishment is quite a feat since "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards" is a triple CD box set of B-sides and rarities, with an Amoeba price of $42.98. Waits was also #1 at the SF Amoeba location......

Compton gangsta rap is #1, sweet girl harp is #2. We can't wait for that mash-up. 1. Game - Doctor's Advocate 2. Joanna Newsom - Ys 3. Damien Rice - 9 4. Akon - Konvicted 5. Beck - Information 6. +44 - When Your Heart... 7. Sufjan Stevens - Songs for Christmas 8. Neil Young - Live at the Fillmore 9. Tenacious D - Pick of Destiny 10. Yusef - Other Cup 11. ...And......

Blackmore's Night - Winter Carols (Locomotive) Brand New - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me (Interscope) Daughtry - Daughtry (19 Recordings/ RCA) Handful of Hate - Gruesome Splendour (Cruz del Music) Il Divo - Siempre (Columbia) Jay-Z - Kingdom Come (Roc-A-Fella) Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies (Roadrunner) Patti Labelle - The Gospel According to Patti Labelle (Bungalo) Rock Star Supernova - Rock Star Supernova (Epic) Snoop Dogg - Tha Blue Carpet......

Sufjan Stevens @ Wiltern Rocket @ Spaceland Sarah Silverman @ Largo Burning Tree @ King King Brooks & Dunn @ Gibson Metal Skool @ Key Club Jim "Kimo" West @ Ghengis Cohen Dirty Little Secret, The Oohlahs, The Thieves @ Viper Room Lavender Diamond, Winter Flowers, Matt Fishbeck @ The Echo Hatebreed, Black Dahlia Murder, Napalm Death, Exodus @ House of Blues Antarcticans, Meeting Places, Light FM, Soon @ Silverlake Lounge......

1. Thom Yorke - Eraser 2. Muse - Black Holes & Revelations 3. Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers 4. Peaches - Impeach My Bush 5. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere 6. Wolfmother - Wolfmother 7. Sufjan Stevens - Avalanche - Outtakes 8. Johnny Cash - American V: Hundred Highways 9. Cut Chemist - Audience's Listening 10. Zero 7 - Garden 11. MSTRKRFT - Looks 12. Bronx - Bronx 13. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped......

Beirut Gulag Orkestar (Bada Bing) – Beirut is a 19 year-old kid from Albuquerque who has the full attention of the blogosphere and other tastemakers. He worked with Jeremy Barnes from Neutral Milk Hotel so the comparisons to that band are prevalent but ultimately unfair. There aren’t any guitars on the record but there are glockenspiels, ukuleles and clarinets. Download “from Italy” Danielson Ships (Secretly Canadian) – Daniel Smith shortened the name from Danielson......

Fri 4/21 - Dinosaur Jr @ Troubadour (SOLD OUT) – Here’s a show for the aging indie rocker. That first reunion show a year ago at Spaceland was a little disappointing (packed and a billion degrees inside). While Green Mind and Where You Been are still the best Dinosaur records, the first three with Lou Barlow have some great moments too. The show on Saturday night is sold out too. Sat 4/22 - Matthew......

Coachella, the 100-plus-degree Woodstock of the West has announced its 2006 lineup. As rumors had predicted, Depeche Mode will perform in the unofficial "I love the 80s" slot. We're surprised that rumors of Smashing Pumpkins and My Bloody Valentine reuniting haven't proved true. Maybe concert organizers are holding back a few "surprise guests" to goose ticket sales down the line. Combining the lists from Billboard and the LA Times, the confirmed bands include: Depeche......

It is Tuesday once again, which means new releases are out and available at your friendly local retailer. Take a gander below to see today's stock of music, film and television to tickle your senses. CD The Animals—Retrospective Dillinger Escape Plan—Miss Machine Faces—Five Guys Walk Into A Bar Fuck—Those Are Not My Bongos Herman's Hermits—Retrospective The Hives—Tyrannosaurus Hives Lali Puna—Micronomic Low—A Lifetime Of Temporary Relief Sufjan Stevens—Sun Came (extended) Velvet Teen—Elysium See the unabridged......