Entire island ecosystems arise, corrupt, decay and disappear within the generous lifespan of Yo La Tengo, the New Jersey three-piece who reinvent endlessly what an independent American rock band is supposed to do—play Flamin’ Groovies songs in heaven, for instance. Guitarist/singer Ira Kaplan speaks very early in the morning. This interview by Chris Ziegler.

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Stream: Kim Fowley “Underground Lady” [Audio clip: view full post to listen] (from One Man’s Garbage available this October on Norton) We here at L.A. RECORD are diligent students of L.A.’s Animal God of the Streets and so we are happy to learn that Kim Fowley’s classic ’60s output (as producer, musician and fearsome inspiration) [...]

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[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdCRcrgX080] The Screamers live at Target Video L.A. RECORD is proud to partner with Cinefamily to present this unprecedented opening of the vaults of San Francisco’s Target Video, who filmed a giant chunk of the West Coast’s original punk bands (including the still-infamous Cramps at Napa State Hospital and Crime at San Quentin!) and whose [...]

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With a name inspired in equal parts by La Peste and Le Shok, Le Face know what they are aiming for when creating a classic punk record. They draw from the catchy post-punk attack of songs like “Better Off Dead” and “Color Scheme,” yet speed them up and dirty them down to make one of the best punk records to come out of the state since the turn of the century.

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I’d faithfully missed most of the other hallucino-treats on hand the previous week, from the Acid Mothers Temple/Kinksi overandunder at the Echo on Friday to a Westside underground trance bash with FatFinger, Mark Zambala that failed to go off due to venue problems. Yes, in my decadent search for cheap out-of-head thrills post-rock revisionism that lead me to concert-hall mutations of the Bach family and writhing before cracked speakers in dust-storms, I’ve come to be overawed by traditional Balinese court music.

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