If you’re going to learn how to be in a rock band, then you couldn’t have a better teacher than Ian Svenonius, frontman of Nation of Ulysses, the Make-Up, Weird War, Chain & the Gang, etc. Svenonius’ new book, Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock ‘n’ Roll Group, is a handy instructional manual delivered with a little help from the beyond. The Make-Up plays tonight at the Glass House. This interview by Eyad Karkoutly.

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While much of modern country music is pandering and vulgar in its homage to these country and western motifs, Danny Darst’s new soundtrack to a self-penned play, Exit 10, elevates the genre with a simple, unassuming arrangement: just a voice, a hollow body guitar, an acoustic bass and a pickup kit.

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One of my favorite Charles Dickens quotes states “Vices are sometimes only virtues carried to excess!” If there’s one vice that was virtuously attended to last Saturday it was that of the obsessive record collector. Wombleton Records had the grand opening of their immaculate vinyl shoppe in Highland Park, and it was a site for [...]

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Part Time Punk’s Michael Stock appropriately paired his DJ set list for the evening with treasured obscurities from indie pop groups such as Trixie’s Big Red Motorbike and The Field Mice. It is so cool to see people dance to good music on the dance floor, which is reason enough to come to Part Time Punks each and every week.

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UPDATE: As reported by L.A. TIMES, HARD L.A. is canceled! More details here… Summer will be high in the sky as the luminaries of the hip hop, electro and indie rock worlds join forces under the HARD LA banner this July 17th. Here are some highlights from the upcoming festival: Sleigh Bells has even the [...]

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Music Go Music manages somehow to recapture the true idea of pop: music made for singles, music made for dancing, music made for fun. No grandiose double LP concept albums here! A single is like an arrow shot into the air—quick, sleek and to the point—and Expressions is a quiverful of hits.

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The most exciting thing about the show is how loud it was, almost an act of civil disobedience in an affluent department store. I watched the same salesperson from whom I made a purchase earlier now covering her ears so as not to upset her blissful unawareness.

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The Light Rays’ lo-fi, up-tempo, reverb-saturated pop has echoes of the Cleaners From Venus or the Clean—but those are merely reference points to navigate by, not albatrosses around their necks. The Light Rays pull off the parlor trick of being fairly straightforward yet compellingly original. If only every group from Orange County could be as cool.

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This show had so many things going for it. First and foremost, a show that starts at 9pm on a school night is a thing of beauty. What took it over the top was the perfect joy emanating from the stage as Dunes, Pearl Harbor and Magic Kids played music they believe in: no poses, no pretense, just a solid night of music.

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The appeal of songs such as “C’mon” and “Answer To Yourself” is that they are not sung by cloying children, not emo and sad and sensitive. Fuck that baby shit.

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