Billy Bragg has been mixing pop and politics and hoping to save the youth of America since he started out as ‘one-man Clash’ in 1977. After projects with Wilco and Woody Guthrie, he will present the U.S. premiere of his vocal version of Beethoven’s ‘Ode To Joy’ in Santa Monica. This interview by Dan Collins.

[Read more →]

Os Mutantes decided everything was possible and tried to prove it. Low End Theory resident and Blank Blue guitarist Nobody (Elvin Estela) speaks with Mutantes co-founder Sérgio Baptista about helicopters, honesty and the brand-new Mutantes album Haih.

[Read more →]

We met up with Busdriver at a coffee shop in Silverlake to discuss the future, the present, and the bits of past that stick around like gum on the bottom of your shoes. His newest Jhelli Beam is out now on Anti-. This interview by Daiana Feuer.

[Read more →]

luke mcgarry
Os Mutantes are one of our very favorite bands here at L.A. RECORD, as evidenced by the 150,000-word interview with Sergio Dias we did when they played the El Rey two years ago, which got Sergio reminiscing about how much he loved L.A.:

I remember on Wilshire Boulevard, there was this couple—probably in their forties, [...]

[Read more →]

Download: Busdriver “Me-Time (With The Pulmonary Palimpsets)”

(from Jhelli Beam out now on Anti-)

[Read more →]

Fans of Grandaddy probably sensed they would one day hear again from Jason Lytle, the band’s former singer/songrwriter/reluctant leader, for despite its well-documented struggles, Grandaddy proved to be resilient. Now Jason Lytle is back. Though he’s relocated from Modesto, Calif. to Bozeman, the fifth-largest city in Montana, his distinctive sound is unchanged. This interview by Nina Gregory.

[Read more →]

Everything on Jhelli Beam makes sense. Every word is a picture. Every sentence pushes over the one before it the way dominos fall when they’re lined up in a row. The music badmintons with his cadence, provided by some of Busdriver’s far-out friends Daedelus and Nobody, as well as Nosaj Thing, Free the Robots, Omid, and Greg Saunier and John Dietrich from Deerhoof. Opening track “Split Seconds (Between Nannies and Swamis)” may be my favorite. An invitation to dip into Busdriver’s “saffron soy dip.” Are you dressed for the occasion? Then take off your clothes and relish in call and response chorus: “(call) Be yourself—(response) But I’m too embarrassed!” Hello, Existential Crisis Thesis. Welcome to your life.

[Read more →]

Bob Mould was the guitarist and singer of Hüsker Dü and Sugar before striking out on his own solo career and Dean Spunt and Randy Randall are the L.A. duo No Age. We asked them to interview each other after they played NoisePop together and before they both played Coachella. This is the complete version of this interview.

[Read more →]

dan monick
L.A. RECORD cover alum Busdriver—interviewed here, and also playing our SXSW showcase Thursday at the Independent!—has just announced the release of his newest album Jhelli Beam on June 9 on Anti, which will feature Nocando, Mykah 9 and members of Deerhoof and Islands. Expect something pretty spectactular to coincide with Low End Theory [...]

[Read more →]