Not until 11:10 PM did Warpaint bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg take the stage at The Echo under her solo project Jennylee. I wiped at my tired eyes to see if it was a mirage – but no, Lindberg was on stage with a microphone, the bass-playing duties being handed off to someone in her backing […]

Cage the Elephant began their banner 2015 by celebrating a Grammy nomination. On Sunday night at the El Rey Theatre, they showed fans that the future looks bright for the alt-rock five-piece as they performed some songs from their upcoming album Tell Me I’m Pretty — due out December 18 and produced by The Black […]

Is there anyone in music who’s had a bigger 2015 than The Weeknd? Wednesday night’s show at The Forum – the second of two sold-out shows on The Madness Tour at the 17,500 capacity venue – was further evidence that the answer to that question is no. With a nearly two-hour set, The Weeknd – […]

Sometimes, pop music doesn’t make sense to me. Tuesday night, emerging alt-pop artist Zella Day headlined at the Fonda Theatre, supporting her debut album Kicker. It’s an impressive debut record with catchy tracks featured all throughout. I’d put it up against some of the better-performing stuff in the genre. Despite these opinions, the show wasn’t […]

Gary Clark Jr. might be the best American guitarist going these days. That was my main takeaway after witnessing the virtuoso both Friday and Saturday nights at the Fonda Theatre – the second and third of a three-night sold-out stint at the famed Hollywood venue. Saturday, I was covering the show for Grimy Goods and […]

Thursday night at the Echoplex, I saw something in live music that is almost as rare as seeing a unicorn. Amidst a sea of hipsters, I saw a bro in a trucker hat atop another bro’s shoulders. This I haven’t seen since Chet Faker at Coachella weekend two [proof]. I guess that’s just the sort of […]

When I was a kid, I bought a CD called Billboard Top Hits: 1961. It was a compilation album that featured songs like Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me,” Dion’s “Runaround Sue,” and “Blue Moon” by The Marcels. I wore through my copy of that album by playing it so many times. Though doo-wop and […]

Ryn Weaver The more shows I go to, the less over time I’ve managed to get to a venue in time for the night’s first opener. On Saturday at the Belasco Theater in downtown LA, I made sure to get there early enough. Ryn Weaver had moved on from selling out the El Rey just […]

Last October, I got to see British singer-songwriter Ben Howard play a sold-out gig at the El Rey Theatre just as his record I Forget Where We Were was released. It’s the kind of intimate venue that these types of musicians are best enjoyed and Howard did not disappoint – I considered it one of […]

Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals began winding down their tour Friday night at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, packing a ton of material into two-and-a-half hours. With a catalog that spans 20 years worth of material, Ben and Co. touched on a little bit of everything over the course of their 21-song set. Harper’s many dimensions […]