Music
Updated over 1 year ago
L.A. Times - Music News
Headlines from latimes.com
Music labels, hoping to lessen their dependence on Apple's iTunes, have all but rolled out the red carpet for Google in talks to offer music through its Android mobile service as well as through Web browsers.
Google Inc., which is developing a digital music service, is winning over record companies that are hoping the technology company can loosen Apple Inc.'s grip on the digital music market.
Google Inc., which is developing a digital music service, is winning over record companies that are hoping the technology company can loosen Apple Inc.'s grip on the digital music market.
Singer-songwriters David Gray and Ray LaMontagne, beloved for their hauntingly beautiful vocals and evocative compositions, co-headline during their much anticipated summer tour. LaMontagne's rusty, road-weary croon and Gray's rich, warm, organic sound will woo alt-country and alt-folk fans alike. Special guest Tift Merritt. Santa Barbara Bowl, 1122 N. Milpas St., Santa Barbara. 6 p.m. Sun. $43.50-$79.50. (805) 962-7411. http://www.sbbowl.org.
Four decades into a celebrated career, the R&B group Earth, Wind & Fire is still going strong. For the first time, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers will perform with a full orchestra, which Thomas Wilkins will conduct. These performances are among the Bowl's final summer fireworks shows. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., L.A. 8:30 p.m. Fri. and Sat. $14.75-$166. (323) 850-2000. http://www.hollywoodbowl.com.
The preeminent all-ages event in L.A. music, the FYF Fest, returns with arguably its best lineup yet. The Rapture still throws down disco jams to move girls and guys in their girlfriends' jeans alike; Wavves, Abe Vigoda and Best Coast codify the moment in woozy, lusty punk; Delorean and Panda Bear hold down for electronica-enabled experimentation. Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1245 N. Spring St., Los Angeles. Noon Sat. $30. http://www.fyffest.com .
Billie Joe Armstrong and company reinforce their scrappy punk status at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, inviting fans to come on stage and sing along.
Heads up, Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman: You may be in for some unexpected company come November.
Heads up, Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman: You may be in for some unexpected company come November.
Jac Holzman, who founded Elektra Records in 1950, is in the thick of the technological tsunami that has engulfed the business. The 79-year-old offers advice on how it can survive the turbulence.
Jac Holzman, who founded Elektra Records 60 years ago with $600 — half from his bar mitzvah money — should by all rights be sipping mai tais on a tropical island at this point in his career. Instead, the 79-year-old is exactly where he likes to be: in the thick of a technological tidal wave that's crashed over the very industry he helped to build.
Jac Holzman, who founded Elektra Records 60 years ago with $600 — half from his bar mitzvah money — should by all rights be sipping mai tais on a tropical island at this point in his career. Instead, the 79-year-old is exactly where he likes to be: in the thick of a technological tidal wave that's crashed over the very industry he helped to build.
We interviewed a 17-year veteran of the station and asked him how artists can boost the chances of their CDs ending up on those hallowed shelves.
The collapse of the old music industry — the happy business of spotting talent, pressing millions of LPs or CDs and wondering how to spend the profits — is so well documented that it is almost a surprise to find a new book on the subject.
The busy bassist, best known for his work with the Minutemen, says the time spent under Iggy Pop has been invaluable.
Mike Watt banged up a knee while onstage thumping his bass with legendary proto- punk band the Stooges a few weeks back, so, at least for a while, there won't be any kayaking or morning bicycle rides around his beloved San Pedro for the local art-punk champ. But that doesn't mean he's going to stop playing.
Mike Watt banged up a knee while onstage thumping his bass with legendary proto- punk band the Stooges a few weeks back, so, at least for a while, there won't be any kayaking or morning bicycle rides around his beloved San Pedro for the local art-punk champ. But that doesn't mean he's going to stop playing.
The veteran composer is an Oscar, Tony and Emmy winner. He takes over the struggling orchestra next summer.
Marvin Hamlisch, the celebrated Oscar-, Tony- and Emmy-winning composer, has written some of the most memorable show tunes and movie scores of the last 40 years. Starting next summer, he'll bring his considerable talent to local audiences when he takes on the top artistic position at the Pasadena Pops.
Marvin Hamlisch, the celebrated Oscar-, Tony- and Emmy-winning composer, has written some of the most memorable show tunes and movie scores of the last 40 years. Starting next summer, he'll bring his considerable talent to local audiences when he takes on the top artistic position at the Pasadena Pops.
'The Unfinished Concert … 40 Years Later'
One of the leading lights operating from the bleeding edge of electronica and avant-garde immersion, the Chemical Brothers claim the Bowl for a long night of danceable, multimedia brain melting. They're bringing the electro-funk fromage titans Chromeo and the arty floor-fillers Yacht along for the ride. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood. 7 p.m. Sun. $17.25-$141. (323) 850-2000.
The Silver Lake institution of the Sunset Junction Street Fair has been in the throes of an identity crisis. Is it a vast (and expensive) event competing with other weekend-long national music fests or a locals-only celebration of Eastside culture? With this installment, the Junction seems to be leaning toward the local. The mix of old-guard punk (Bad Brains) and vintage soul (The Ohio Players) remains, but an L.A.-centric stage featuring Everest, Chief and Fitz & the Tantrums is a synopsis of the moment in L.A. rock. Sunset Junction, 3600-4400 Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake. 11 a.m. Sat.-Sun. $15-$20. (323) 661-7771.
Mathis' renditions of spirituals appear on a new collection, 'Black Sabbath: The Secret Musical History of Black-Jewish Relations,' which features legendary black singers covering Jewish songs.
At a time when the relationship between African Americans and American Jews seems largely irrelevant to the national conversation, the Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation is directing its gaze back at a different era. Not the early 1990s, when tensions between the two communities exploded into riots in Brooklyn's Crown Heights, but to the days more than 30 years prior, when blacks and Jews reached across the divide to embrace commonalities.
At a time when the relationship between African Americans and American Jews seems largely irrelevant to the national conversation, the Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation is directing its gaze back at a different era. Not the early 1990s, when tensions between the two communities exploded into riots in Brooklyn's Crown Heights, but to the days more than 30 years prior, when blacks and Jews reached across the divide to embrace commonalities.
The young violinist, who made his Hollywood Bowl debut in 2008 as a last-minute substitute, will play the Mendelssohn concerto Thursday.
Classical musicians never really know what's coming around the next bend in the road. You might be sitting around in your home or apartment, practicing, reading, loafing, whatever, and then the phone rings. It's your manager, and he puts it to you indirectly at first. "How's your Prokofiev Second doing?"
Classical musicians never really know what's coming around the next bend in the road. You might be sitting around in your home or apartment, practicing, reading, loafing, whatever, and then the phone rings. It's your manager, and he puts it to you indirectly at first. "How's your Prokofiev Second doing?"
Having someone on the podium in front of 100 musicians does matter. Just ask Leonard Slatkin, Colin Davis, Lionel Bringuier and Vladimir Ashkenazy.
"Any asino can conduct," the autocratic Italian maestro Arturo Toscanini once said, comparing routine conductors to dunces. "But to make music, eh? Is difficile !" Now, try conducting a major orchestra without a rehearsal, as 23-year-old Lionel Bringuier, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's associate conductor, did in May. Or consider Leonard Slatkin's predicament last season when a reputed lack of familiarity with Verdi's "La Traviata" resulted in an ill-fated performance at the Metropolitan Opera. Now that's difficult.
"Any asino can conduct," the autocratic Italian maestro Arturo Toscanini once said, comparing routine conductors to dunces. "But to make music, eh? Is difficile !" Now, try conducting a major orchestra without a rehearsal, as 23-year-old Lionel Bringuier, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's associate conductor, did in May. Or consider Leonard Slatkin's predicament last season when a reputed lack of familiarity with Verdi's "La Traviata" resulted in an ill-fated performance at the Metropolitan Opera. Now that's difficult.
The man who left the franchise after 'The Empire Strikes Back' talks about why he split with George Lucas.
"Star Wars" was born a long time ago, but not all that far, far away. In 1972, filmmakers George Lucas and Gary Kurtz were toiling on "American Graffiti" in their San Rafael office when they began daydreaming about a throwback sci-fi adventure that channeled the old "Flash Gordon" serials as opposed to the bleak "message" movies that had taken over the genre.
"Star Wars" was born a long time ago, but not all that far, far away. In 1972, filmmakers George Lucas and Gary Kurtz were toiling on "American Graffiti" in their San Rafael office when they began daydreaming about a throwback sci-fi adventure that channeled the old "Flash Gordon" serials as opposed to the bleak "message" movies that had taken over the genre.
The Bowl shows with his big band and the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Friday and Saturday could include a different mix of music each night, and Connick prefers it that way.
— It's coming up soon, but Harry Connick Jr. isn't exactly sure yet what program he, his big band and the Los Angeles Philharmonic are going to be performing at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday and Saturday.
— It's coming up soon, but Harry Connick Jr. isn't exactly sure yet what program he, his big band and the Los Angeles Philharmonic are going to be performing at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday and Saturday.
Did Bowersox get robbed? Does the iron-fisted, despotic rule of trigger-happy tween girls overly skew "Idol's" results? Put aside these questions for a moment and instead bask in the meta-media explosion that is "American Idols Live! Tour 2010," where all your favorites from last season band together to jockey for the ever-rare brass ring of a post-show career. Ticket sales have been rough around the country, so savor the fact that this L.A. show is still on. Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., L.A. 7:30 p.m. Fri. $40.50-$76. http://www.staplescenter.com.
My Morning Jacket, with Avi Buffalo
The Long Beach group has started to play on-the-grid clubs, despite several of the musicians not being old enough to drink.
Last spring, just before Avi Buffalo played the birthday party for its new record label, Sub Pop, the band got carded. Having schlepped all the way from its hometown of Long Beach, the young indie rock group (two of whom are still teenagers) members arrived to show the club owner their IDs to enter the venue. She promptly freaked out.
Last spring, just before Avi Buffalo played the birthday party for its new record label, Sub Pop, the band got carded. Having schlepped all the way from its hometown of Long Beach, the young indie rock group (two of whom are still teenagers) members arrived to show the club owner their IDs to enter the venue. She promptly freaked out.
Pop singer Lady Gaga arrives in Los Angeles on Wednesday for the first of two shows at Staples Center. To get a sense of the concert, and Gaga's achievements, here's a statistical (and not so statistical) analysis of her world.
Chile's Ana Tijoux and Colombia's 'Goyo' Martinez and Liliana Saumet enrich what's shaping up as a transformative year.
Ana Tijoux is not your average rapper.
Ana Tijoux is not your average rapper.
Critic's Notebook: The Canadian ensemble's onstage presence and surging songs are enhanced by director Terry Gilliam in a webcast from Madison Square Garden.
"Say, 'Hi, Internet!' " Win Butler of the Arcade Fire urged the crowd at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. "Let's show 'em what they're missing!" His rallying cry was oddly peevish, considering that this second night of the Canadian ensemble's headlining debut at New York's famed sports arena was being webcast worldwide, with top filmmaker Terry Gilliam serving as director. Yet it struck the core of what makes the Arcade Fire crucial to so many young (and young-hearted) rock fans: the power of voices and bodies moving molecules together, which can't be replicated in cyberspace.
"Say, 'Hi, Internet!' " Win Butler of the Arcade Fire urged the crowd at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. "Let's show 'em what they're missing!" His rallying cry was oddly peevish, considering that this second night of the Canadian ensemble's headlining debut at New York's famed sports arena was being webcast worldwide, with top filmmaker Terry Gilliam serving as director. Yet it struck the core of what makes the Arcade Fire crucial to so many young (and young-hearted) rock fans: the power of voices and bodies moving molecules together, which can't be replicated in cyberspace.
Gary Richards hopes to forget the last few months, including a canceled L.A. show and fallout from a mega-rave that he was not involved in. Coming Saturday is his Hard festival at an L.A. park.
As recently as June, summer 2010 was looking good for event promoter Gary Richards. In just three years, Richards had built his Hard music festivals from what he calls a "career Hail Mary" into a lucrative national brand featuring eclectic lineups of emerging acts, most of which make electronic dance music.
As recently as June, summer 2010 was looking good for event promoter Gary Richards. In just three years, Richards had built his Hard music festivals from what he calls a "career Hail Mary" into a lucrative national brand featuring eclectic lineups of emerging acts, most of which make electronic dance music.
An eclectic tribute.
POP MUSIC
POP MUSIC