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......

Everybody's doing it, right? I don't pretend to be hip or edgy or rebellious. I mean, I grew up on Billy Joel and Madonna and Motown and then the Gen Xer's basic dichotomy of KROQ versus Top 40 in the 90s. I find it increasingly harder to fall in love with albums in the downloading age, and am one of those people who obsessively compiles mixed cds for friends and iPod playlists full of......

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......

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......

Because he's too shy (and way too busy) to announce it here himself, I am proud to do the honors: Zach Behrens has officially accepted the Editor position here at LAist and he'll be starting on December 17th. BloggingLA has the announcement, as well as a nice picture of the new editor's "Sexy Face." That's how you get your Canadian fanbase, Behrens!!! Rain. Please. Rain. Effects of the strike are starting to ripple out......

Yesterday we started our Best of 2007 list with choices from KCRW's Nic Harcourt and Tom Schnabel. But then we realized we weren't being gentlemen. The ladies of KCRW should have gone first! D'oh! So fasten your seatbelts for The Drop's host Liza Richardson's picks for 2007. Something tells us our comments will be buzzing. Will it be for the inclusion of M.I.A.? Let's hope. 1) Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon......

I am thankful for… Thanksgiving - even though I think it’s a stupid holiday, and I pretty much hate all the food associated with it - for giving me the opportunity to spend the day with family that I love and actually enjoy being around. I am thankful every day that I am able to make a living being creative and doing something I love. (Except for when I’m on strike) I am thankful......

LA Times staffer and Buzz Bands blogger Kevin Bronson's story "Taking the L.A. indie rock scene personally" hit stands last Thursday. By means of an intimate portrayal, Bronson set forth his pick of indie rock up-and-comers for L.A.'s indie rock scene in 2008. While I completely admire that he would put his neck out there for three rather small, entirely worthy bands (The Airborne Toxic Event, Castledoor, and The Deadly Syndrome) at the forefront of......

Eulogies Eulogies Dangerbird Records Release Date: 09/11/07 Peter Walker did the right thing when he decided to ditch the solo career for his band Eulogies. For some reason or another, his solo career didn't interest me, but Eulogies' self-titled 2007 release has proven otherwise. The new album is a striking and addictive indie rock endeavor, the antithesis of Walker's previous Wilco-compared work. Eulogies is built upon deceivingly poppy premise. The band name, lyrical content,......

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

One of the last songs WIlco played in its just over two hour, two encore long set, was the lovely "California Stars" and it was a fitting song for the mood and atmosphere of the evening. The moon was full, those "California Stars" were out, albeit hidden behind the light pollution of LA and the crowd was into it, it was an overall great night for music, especially the brand that Wilco delivers.......

Last night Jeff Tweedy and the boys of Wilco performed a stellar two hour long set at the Greek. Since I had a wall pass, I had the pleasure of people watching and I must say that Wilco fans are happy folk. Singing along and even dancing at times, the fans were enraptured by the incredible musicianship. The bashful yet charismastic Jeff Tweedy led the crowd through a set comprised of half Sky Blue......

loop: false, initialScale: 'fit', videoFile: 'http://www.archive.org/download/iamtryingtobreakyourheart/MVI_0518.flv', }"/> Wilco @ The Greek The Like, Chow Nasty @ Spaceland Meiko, Katie Herzig @ The Hotel Cafe Faraway Places @ The Echo Mae, As Tall As Lions, Dear & the Headlights @ Roxy Driveblind, Back Door Slam, The Black Summer Crush, Infantree @ The Troubadour Coyote Shivers, Augustana, Lady Dottie & the Diamonds, Skybombers @ Viper Room......

Gogol Bordello - "Ultimate" Stevie Wonder @ Santa Barbara Bowl Crowded House, Pete Yorn @ The Greek Gogol Bordello @ Henry Fonda No Age @ Amoeba Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds @ House of Blues The Watson Twins, King Straggler, Everest @ Spaceland Sally Kellerman, John Clinebell, Mimi @ Genghis Cohen The Mormons, Bad Dudes, The Frescas, The Janitors @ Mr. T's Bowl Lo Mass Republic, The Felice Brothers, Dan Mangan @ Viper Room I See......

Jeff Tweedy of Wilco would probably prefer it if you didn't talk on Wednesday Spinal Tap @ Avalon, tonight Joss Stone @ Greek, tonight Metal Skool, Shapes of Racecars @ Key Club, tonight Stevie Wonder @ Santa Barbara Bowl, Tues Gogol Bordello @ Henry Fonda, Tues Wilco @ Greek, Weds. The Like @ Spaceland, Weds Los Lobos @ Santa Monica Pier, Thurs Kronos Quartet @ California Plaza, Thurs Mat Kearney @ House of Blues,......

Earlimart Mentor Tormentor Majordomo Records released August 21st, 2007 Let me be the first to say that this year will be huge for LA bands. I've written about the not-so obvious, Acute, and the obvious, Sea Wolf. Despite their associations, Earlimart fits in with the former category, but not for long. Their forthcoming album Mentor Tormentor is a prodigious effort that links them to various well-known Los Angeles musicians. The connections begin with The......

The assignment was simple - of all the great music that gets sent to us, I had to pick the top ten new cds whose street dates were between January 1, 2007 - June 15, 2007. Despite the fact that so many good records have come out in that time the selections were surprisingly easy to come about. 10. Datarock Datarock Datarock Nettwerk Music Released in the US: June 12, 2007 Datarock - "Bulldozer"......

Let me preface the following review with: I've never seen Grand Ole Party, Everest, or Sea Wolf perform live before. Last night's show at The Echo was exceptional. However, I noticed a palpable disparity between Sea Wolf fans as I traveled from the back to the front of the brimming room. In the back, I experienced insouciant veterans, who felt as though the set list dragged a bit, but ended with a bang. In......

Tennessee is having a quaint little version of Coachella. Called Bonnaroo, the three-day outdoor festival is being headlined by the Police, above, and features the Flaming Lips, Gogol Bordello, Wilco, Wolfmother, and The White Stripes among others. Many of those bands have yet to play and thanks to the AT&T Blue Room you can see some of those heavy hitters live thru your computer. Just go to blueroom.att.com and click Live Now. Or you......

A Word or 76: CBS lineup tonight is wiped out by the CMAs and unless you are up for a Sir Laurence Olivier marathon on TCM then there's no movies on. I'm getting kind of sick of the parade of authors on late night TV, particularly Comedy Central - who the eff has time to read when there's so much bad TV? Speaking of bad TV, we're down to the final 3 on both......

New Releases May 15, 2007 Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch) Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars (Geffen) Pink Martini - Hey Eugene! (Heinz) Great Northern - Trading Twilight for Daylight (Eenie Meenie) The Horrors - Strange House [Bonus Tracks] (Stolen Transmission) The Fall - World Bewitched: Best of 1990 - 2000 (Artful) Blacktop Mourning - No Regret (Mega Force) Dungen - Tio Bitar (Kemado) Barry & the Remains - Remains [Epic/Legacy 2007] (Epic)......

Money Mark -- cohort on keys and unofficial 4th member of the Beastie Boys -- walks a sunny and winding road on his latest solo effort, Brand New By Tomorrow, out today on Brushfire Records. Mark’s brand of Atari-Americana incorporates the sort of warm, mellow, tra-la-la, quirk you’d find on Wilco’s Summerteeth or Josh Rouse’s 1972 but dots it with arcade flourishes -- sometimes funky, sometimes punky -- over lo-fi, Beatles-esque melodies. The result......

Valentines Day left you feeling dirty? Cleanse yourself with these heartwarming tracks from the cyberspa. I'd like to thank God, my parents, Rick Ruben and The Hype Machine for making this possible. Happy Mondays - The Boys Are Back In Town (Sound of the Suburb) Fuzzy sonics… Mountain Goats - The Boys Are Back In Town (Sound of the Suburb) Just as you’d imagine… Wilco - Cars Can’t Escape (The Music Slut) Clearly, Jeff......

We have an editor who sends a lot of emails. We think she should post them because they're usually so good. For example, today she sent us an email regarding a list from the web site of the God Hates a Fag guy, whose video is absurd, but really good. On one of the pages of his website he warns families about bands that infiltrate their agendas through their music. After the jump take......

Today - Friday Lakers @ Bobcats (KCAL, 5:30 p.m.) Kings @ Flames (Fox Sports, 6:00 p.m.) Kings @ Clippers (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) "Wonderland" (IFC, 6:35 p.m.) Val Kilmer as John Holmes (yeah, he _wishes_) becomes implicated in a quadruple homicide. Good performance from Lisa Kudrow in this film BTW "20/20" (ABC, 9:00 p.m.) The year in review. "Rock 'n' Roll High School" (TCM, 9:15 p.m.) The Ramones classic. P.J. Soles, can you hear me?......

The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello, former w/ Rage Against the Machine) @ Safari Sam's Jay Bennett (formerly w/ Wilco) @ Silverlake Lounge Josh Radin @ Troubadour The Delta Spirit @ Spaceland Dead Rock West @ Hotel Cafe Kill Hannah @ El Rey John Marx & the Blues Patrol @ Cozy's Bar & Grill Metal Skool, Pretty Sneaky Sis @ Key Club The Deserters, Grand Marquee, Neuromance, Minus @ Viper Room A Day to Remember, A......

The Sunset Junction Street Fair is just a few days away and one of the bands that LAist is totally stoked about is the southern rock band Drive By Truckers who are equal parts Skynyrd, the Dead, and Neil Young singing songs about watching Bon Scott at an impressionable age. They're soulful and rocking and one of the few bands that takes that Wilco-Americana-folky thing and turns up the V a smidge. DBT play......

The US Supreme Court today issued its much-awaited ruling on the file-sharing software case known as Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer Studios Inc. V. Grokster, Ltd.. Basically, the court ruled that producing technology that could, among many possible uses, allow the sharing of copyrighted works, is not illegal, but that that doesn't mean that companies can be hinting or promoting to the public that they can use these services to download free copies of songs by Christina Aguilera......

TUESDAY • Michelle Shocked performs a free in-store at Amoeba Music tonight to celebrate the release of Threesome at 7 PM. • Bright Eyes is on stage at the Grand Olympic Auditorium at 8 PM with The Faint and Airborn Audio. Tickets are $30. • The Raveonettes perform tonight with Gram Rabbit in the first of a three-night gig at Spaceland. Doors open at 9 PM. • Wilco play the Greek Theatre with The......