John Rabe is the host of 89.3-KPCC’s Off-Ramp, an eclectic mix of radio pieces designed to make you get your butt off the couch and explore Southern California. Here’s John’s personal list of music he discovered or rediscovered in 2011. MUDDY WATERS-HARD AGAIN I had this on cassette in the 1980s, and it’s hard to [...]

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If you don’t know Jamie Strong, you probably know his label, Innovative Leisure, which is home to Hanni el Khatib, the Allah Las, Nick Waterhouse, and more! He took time out of his schedule to tell us about his top five albums of 2011. HANNI EL KHATIB- WILL THE GUNS COME OUT One of the [...]

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This Youtube Mixtape celebrates what Thanksgiving is truly all about: Food. Consume as an appetizer. —Daiana Feuer (Click the video above to launch the playlist or check out the individual tracks below!) TRACKLIST: “Turkey Lurkey Time” from the musical Promises Promises The Coon Creek Girls “How Many Biscuits Can You Eat?” Mika Miko “Turkey Sandwich” [...]

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L.A. Record + The New L.A. Folk Fest + Grand Ole Echo are co-hosting The Return Of Murder Ballads tonight at the Echoplex. Here is the lineup of musicians performing songs about killing times! For more info, go to the folk fest website. Get a little appetizer by listening to the bands or watching some [...]

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Mavis Staples Check out day 1 of Austin City Limits through the eyes of photographer Lindsey Best. Bands: Big Boi Brandi Carlile Bright Eyes Cold War Kids Delta Spirit James Blake Kanye West Kurt Vile Mavis Staples

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Yellow Red Sparks on the Terrace Stage There’s nothing better than than enjoying folk music on a surreal ranch in the hills of the San Gabriel Mountains with 500 guests and 28 bands. On August 7th, The 2nd New Los Angeles Folk Festival was held at Zorthian Ranch in Altadena, CA. With four different stages [...]

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Debi Del Grande traveled across this great land to Tennessee, braving the heat and hippies to capture Bonnaroo for L.A. Record. Her sum up of Day One includes Kopecky Family Band, Best Coast, River City Extension, Dam Funk, Drums, Childish Gambino, The Knux, Reverend Payton, Twin Shadow, Wavves, and Karen Elson.

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Every single person brought their own brand of magic. Some magic was flamboyant fun and uplifting, and some magic—like the people having sex in the Temple of Consciousness with kids dancing around three feet away, or the dudes who told me they took two hours to sneak in over the hill so that they could find “E” and did I have any—creeped me out. The festival itself was a canvas sculpture dreamworld of people going for it, being unique, finding their childlike expression and spreading what is possible once we rid ourselves of standards or social norms, put faith in the religions of Expression Experience and Eccentricity, worship through rave, and leave the critical eye at the ranch’s dusty entrance.

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Other things I saw: Erykah Badu in a set that ended with the plug being pulled, appropriately trippy kaleidoscope visuals accompanying Animal Collective, and a spontaneous, irony-free high five after One Day as a Lion’s Zack de la Rocha stage dove to punctuated their performance. 

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