With so many bands playing, the breadth of Coachella’s line-up can be a curse as well as a blessing. It forces the fans to make a choice between potentially up to 5 acts they may all love. Unfortunately, I have been faced with decisions such as Them Crooked Vultures or Grizzly Bear, Dead Weather/MGMT or Muse, and on Sunday Phoenix/Thom Yorke or Pavement/Gorillaz. Most of these decisions have essentially been an old favorite vs. a curious desire to see a different band. So far, the old favorites are up 2-0. more ›

Tonight the City of Brotherly Love's own dream pop sextet A Sunny Day in Glasgow will be headlining the Mint with none other than local act Pollyn in tow. Prolific San Franciscan psych-infused rock outfit the Fresh & Onlys are poised to take over Spaceland. Extra Life, a Brooklyn-bred experimental rock act who bear loose associations with the Dirty Projectors, will be performing down the street at Echo Curio. But we strongly suggest heading over to the Echo early this afternoon to catch Chicago-bred garage rock outfit Smith Westerns (LAist Review). LAist favorites, local "retro-leaning" pop rock quintet the Young Veins, which of course features not one, but two former members of Panic! At The Disco, are slated to kick things off. 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 ›