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Fast-rising London post-punk band Savages had a difficult spot to fill at FYF Fest on Saturday night. They were competing with both Chet Faker and Bloc Party for attention, all of which helped setup the night for the evening’s headliner Kanye West. Despite all of these facts, the amazing Jehnny Beth and her band played […]

Brooklyn indie poppers The Drums packed The Lawn Stage at FYF Fest on Saturday as the sun started coming down. The performance was chock full of great #WhitePeopleDancing material and you could tell a lot of people were really starting to feel themselves — whether it be due to the awesome tunes or surroundings or some […]

FYF Fest veteran, Cold Cave (aka Wesley Eisold) got the short end of the stick at FYF Fest. Despite having the same set time of 10:45pm as Kanye West, Cold Cave performed as though he were the main event. As you can imagine, the turnout at The Trees stage was minimal since most attendees migrated […]

Denver synth-poppers Tennis rocked FYF Fest’s Lawn Stage under the bright sun early during Saturday’s action at Exposition Park. Wife-and-hubby duo Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley and their band were on point during their set that was so affected by the bright sun that Moore apologized for needing her sunglasses. “I don’t wan’t these. It’s like […]

Just a bit before the sun began to set, BADBADNOTGOOD’s hip-hop fused electronica was a great escape from the sun into the air-conditioned confines of the Arena stage at FYF Fest. At times, the Toronto trio served up a sensory overload of sounds and flashing lights, fired off like sirens from an ambulance. The more […]

Let’s be real. By the time Kanye West wrapped up his performance on the main stage at FYF Fest on Saturday, a lot of people in attendance were coming down from whatever high they were on. While for some it was the natural high of seeing a day’s worth of epic performances, there were definitely […]

Photo courtesy of FYF Fest There were a lot of people disappointed when Frank Ocean unexpectedly pulled out just a day before the first day of this year’s FYF Fest — myself included. Even when it was quickly followed up with the announcement that Kanye West would be the late substitute headliner, it wasn’t enough on […]

Though not the full original lineup, Bloc Party proved Saturday at FYF Fest that they’ve got the same amount of spunk geared towards their live performances as they did when the epic Silent Alarm album first burst onto the scene in 2005. The scene in the crowd during “Helicopter” was the best kind of shitshow. Bodies were […]

Photo courtesy of FYF Fest Nova Scotian lo-fi indie rockers Alvvays were unable to perform at Outside Lands in San Francisco a few weeks ago due to visa problems. Thankfully, those problems were cleared up before their FYF Fest performance Saturday on the main stage as they played to a massive crowd early on the […]

Photo courtesy of FYF Fest One thing that you’ve got to appreciate about !!! (Chk Chk Chk)’s lead man Nic Offer — the dude has no qualms about getting down, however absurd it might look in his hot pants. Saturday night at FYF Fest, the late addition to the lineup gave the crowd plenty to […]

“Is everyone hot? That’s good. Sometimes it’s good to be hot,” Kevin Morby said as he began his early FYF Fest set on Saturday. Morby and his band brought the folk rock jams to a crowd that was quite receptive. Morby’s got that sound that suggests he’d fit right in on a soundtrack to a […]

Mikal Cronin has a part in numerous bands, including LA favorite Ty Segall’s live band. Now for the second time, Cronin got to showcase his own songwriting skills at FYF Fest. Two years since Cronin first played with his own band at FYF, he had a solid-sized crowd at the Lawn Stage. His band played […]

Per usual, FYF Fest had a lot of returning acts to the fold in 2015, and to some people it was a turnoff to see so many of the same names as in previous years. But if rising hip-hop juggernauts Run the Jewels proved something, it’s that maybe Goldenvoice got something right: why not bring people […]

I had been hoping to see noise rockers Dinosaur Jr. for quite some time. Saturday’s performance at FYF Fest had me kicking myself for not crossing it off the list sooner, as the wizard-looking J Mascis led the charge in a high-energy set. Mascis’ vocals are hard to pinpoint. They’re somewhere in between a grittier Jeff […]

If there’s one thing that Glen Hansard has proven to be in his songwriting, it’s that he is one hell of a storyteller. Wednesday night, Hansard only further illustrated that point in an intimate performance at Santa Monica’s Apogee Studio for KCRW. What I expected to be an hour-long performance — including interview — turned […]

Warming up for their FYF performance this coming weekend, legendary and influential alternative band, The Jesus and Mary Chain, played the first of two sold out shows at The Fonda last night. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album, Psychocandy, The Jesus and Mary Chain performed the album in it’s entirety. Honestly, that […]

Photo via Instagram user @The_Baumer15 Last night at the Glass House in Pomona, Los Angeles indie rockers The Active Set had the coveted spot of opening up for indie rock royalty, Bloc Party. After quite the hiatus, naturally it was sold-out show. Fans packed the Glass House from wall-to-wall in excitement for seeing Bloc Party […]

Monday night, LA shoegazers The Bulls returned to their weekly residency at The Satellite, playing to a packed house. The band — comprised by Anna Bulbrook of the Airborne Toxic Event (sometimes also Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros) and The Duke Spirit’s Marc Sails — played through songs from their debut EP Small Problems, due out on […]

The Birth Defects, photo by Wes Marsala This past Sunday at Echo Park Rising, the Grimy Goods stage was in full effect! We all know that the third day of a music festival—especially a music festival in 100-degree zone—can be a bit lackluster with crowds. The was not the case at the Grimy Goods stage […]

Sometimes, I get this feeling that Los Angeles is spoiled when it comes to live music, and therefore they don’t appreciate how good they have it. Such was the case Saturday night, when Long Beach’s own radio-rockers Cold War Kids headlined the final night of KCRW’s Sound in Focus free shows at Studio City’s Annenberg […]

An unstoppable force, LA’s own Vintage Trouble rolled into the Fonda Theater on Wednesday night to showcase and release their sophomore album, 1 Hopeful Road. Since the release of their freshman offering, The Bomb Shelter Sessions in 2012, the band has continued to reach milestone after milestone. My first encounter with them came in 2012 […]

With two successful days of solid performances behind them, Sunday brought the closing day at Outside Lands with headliner Elton John. As was the case throughout the weekend, there were plenty of musical styles to sink your teeth into. Things got rolling at the main stage with Austin based Shakey Graves who gave a fun […]

On Friday, Grace Potter‘s solo album Midnight dropped to lots of fanfare. Later that night, she would headline her second of two nights at Hollywood’s Fonda Theatre to raucous support, less than five miles from where Potter now owns a home in Laurel Canyon. Potter turned up the heat at her second show, walking onto stage in […]

This past Thursday I went to the Hollywood Palladium to check out the first of two sold out shows from hardcore band, Rise Against. Rise Against was one of those bands that I seemed to miss out on when they first came out. My punk rock days were behind me at the point and I […]

In 2012, as “Little Talks” was overtaking U.S. airwaves. Of Monsters and Men went from winning their native country Iceland’s battle-of-the-bands to being dubbed the next Arcade Fire. Their debut, My Head is an Animal, was a cult singularity in the indie-folk scene; a scene that saw a dubious flare-up of artists who sought to immortalize […]