Last year we did a lot of Best Of lists, and this year we are on a roll to eclipse the quantity and quality of last year. One thing I have noticed is there seems to be two ways to do a Best Of list. You can do a politically correct one for the hipsters and cynics - which is boring and a lie. Or you can keep it real and talk about how......

Last month LAist was lucky enough to be invited to the Nissan Live studio on the Fox lot to see PJ Harvey perform one of her very few live appearances in support of her new cd, White Chalk. From what we heard, Polly Jean played once in NYC, once in LA, once on the Tonight Show, and once for Yahoo's Live Sets. It was an intimate, eerie, and fragile hour in West LA. PJ......

PJ Harvey made a pitstop last night at the Orpheum, playing one of only a handful of shows to promote her haunting new album, White Chalk (review here). I knew this was going to be a special night when a scalper actually paid me face value for my extra ticket. On entering, the sparse stage seems to echo the stripped-down nature of the new record. A keyboard, a cymbal, an autoharp on a chair, two......

PJ Harvey - "White Chalk" PJ Harvey @ Orpheum Rilo Kiley @ Santa Monica Civic Sarah Silverman @ Largo Black Francis, Eastern Conference Champions @ Safari Sam's Castledoor, Hearts of Palm UK, Princeton @ The Echo Limbeck, Travis Shettel, Andrew Deerin, Chris Koza @ The Hotel Cafe Metal Skool, Born as Ghosts, Immune, Glacier Hiking @ Key Club Suburban Legends, Taxi Doll, Skrotum Kiss @ The Knitting Factory Abe Lincoln Story, Doug Stewart &......

Artist: PJ Harvey Album: White Chalk Label: Island Release Date: October 2, 2007 A recent ad for White Chalk, the new PJ Harvey record, boasted – without quotes – that some people are calling it one of PJ’s greatest albums. The vagueness of the claim made me wary. For the last 15 years, PJ Harvey has always managed to sound relevant, while producing some of the most consistently challenging material. Despite her constant reinvention, each......