Tonight, or rather early today, local country-infused folk, twin-sister duo the Watson Twins (LAist Review, #2, #3) will be making an appearance near the Bruin Bear statue at UCLA for the LA Times' Festival of Books. the Living Sisters—a triumvirate of venerable female troubadours, which includes Inara George, Becky Stark, and Eleni Mandell—are poised to grace the Bootleg Theater with none other than pseudo-super group Black Prairie, which of course includes three moonlighting members of the Decemberists. And, lastly, local singer-songwriter Kenneth Pattengale will be performing a very special, collaborative set at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Mon Mon with folk singer-songwriter Joey Ryan. Although we strongly suggest heading to the aforementioned show, we highly recommend heading over to Spaceland to catch Austin-bred indie rockers Shearwater, who will be performing in support of their latest—2010's The Golden Archipelago. LAist favorites, Baltimore-based folk rock duo Wye Oak (LAist Interview) and Lawrence's own Hospital Ships. more ›

Tonight Portland's own experimental rock sextet Blitzen Trapper (LAist Interview) will be headlining the El Rey Theatre with none other than Baltimore-bred folk rock duo Wye Oak (LAist Interview) in tow. English psych-pop singer-songwriter Pop Levi (LAist Review) is poised to take on the Roxy with local experimental rock duo El Ten Eleven. And, lastly, LA-based alt-country troubadour Leslie and the Badgers will be closing out their residency at the Echo with local lo-fi pop act Best Coast. But we strongly suggest heading over to Spaceland to catch the final night of local indie rock outfit Saint Motel's (LAist Interview) month-long residency. LAist favorites, Burbank-based experimental psych folk outfit Gangi (LAist Review) and Silver Lake-based indie rockers Links are slated to perform as well. more ›

"We were bums without jobs or anything to do, so we decided to form a band." Wye Oak's lead singer, Jenn Wasner giggles. "We really didn't want to do the typical acoustic stripped down duo type of band. It was really important to us that we had a range. Andy pretty much brainstormed his whole set up. I was pretty skeptical that he could pull it off. He wanted to create this whole bass drum thing. He disappeared into his basement for months and finally emerged with this instrument and was like, "Check it out! I can do it." And we had a band." Three years later, these unemployed bums have emerged as one of the most interesting bands out of Baltimore in a long time. Their hypnotizing vocals and hazy shoegaze melodies soon attracted the ears of Merge Records and the band took off. more ›