Tonight Scottish alternative rock outfit Snow Patrol will be headlining the Wiltern with Chicago-based pop rock act Plain White T's. Brooklyn-based indie rockers Grizzly Bear are poised to take on the Hollywood Palladium with none other than Baltimore's lugubrious duo Beach House in tow. And, lastly, Cincinnati-bred experimental hip-hop/indie rock trio Why? will be taking on the Echoplex. But we strongly suggest heading over to the Roxy to catch English folk rockers Noah and the Whale. LA-based singer-songwriter Robert Francis (LAist Interview, Review) is 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 ›

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 ›

Admittedly, this kind of douchebaggery is nothing new in our me-me-me four-wheeled town. LAist Featured Photos Pool frequent contributor mil8 shares with us this snap of a recent parking lot head-scratcher between a very badly parked Honda and his own vehicle. The pic comes with the following title: "hello honda, nice parking job. I was here first (hi) over here... next to you... parked nicely next to the wall in a COMPACT spot. Were you *really* in that much of a hurry to park like this? KTHXBYE." more ›

Thanks to those who responded yesterday to help make this LAist column more useful. You can still chime in, it's never too late. Today, here's a short form list of our picks with select MP3s embedded after the jump. more ›

It's uncommon that a rapper takes the name he used for over 6 years and transforms it into an indie-rock band, but founder Yoni Wolf is known for breaking the rules and getting great results. Operating within the Anticon collective Why?'s sound is self described as "smart, shimmering, sweetly soured" and front man Yoni's delivery as a "candytime-dissonant, singsong-suicide style". more ›