Features
The crusade against bright headlights has picked up speed in recent years, in large part due to a couple of Reddit nerds. Could they know what’s best for the auto industry better than the auto industry itself?
12 years ago, Emily White became the source of a national debate about music ownership. Then she went into the belly of the beast.
At a dive bar in L.A., Fred Armisen is living a not-so-secret life as a punk musician. But here’s the punch line: It’s no joke.
The folk singer made her name with stripped-down recordings, but has now found a bigger approach on “Here in the Pitch.” It wasn’t an easy road to get there.
In 2006, Pitchfork panned Jet’s sophomore album not with words, but with a video of a chimp peeing in its own mouth. But who was the “author” behind the review? And what does finding that answer reveal about the early days of the publication?
The noir master died over sixty years ago, but contemporary writers are being invited to inhabit his world. It’s just one facet of a bigger picture
With the help of Polly Parsons, Gram’s daughter, Dave Prinz of Amoeba brought a crucial tour in the country-rock trailblazer’s career back to life
A brotherly feud has lingered in the Creedence Clearwater Revival story, but at 78, Fogerty knows just whom he wants to play with: his sons
Along for the ride with Sebastian Davis, who’s built an empire of weaponized righteousness on YouTube based on a simple idea: Putting your shopping cart back is a test of your character
Paul Dochney posted his way into the halls of internet lore. After 15 years of anonymity, can he emerge without compromising his act?
The nightmarish experience Taylor Swift fans went through earlier this year has sparked debate over monopolies and how tickets are sold. But it’s more than just Swift’s upcoming tour—the entire concert industry is facing unprecedented challenges.
Three dealers face charges for their tactics in selling Eagles lyric sheets, offering a glimpse into a dark side of the memorabilia industry
The ubiquitous ’90s daytime cable ad has been a shorthand for nostalgia and heat waves for decades. Why are we so helplessly drawn to its sweaty orbit?
Thanks to ‘Stranger Things,’ one of art pop’s most reclusive figures has almost inadvertently found herself with a top-10 charting hit. Is it a fluke or a sign of the times?
The Amazon Prime comedy ‘Fairfax’ takes a hyper-specific location and blows it up to represent an entire generation. But what do the people being portrayed think?
Before the White Stripes became one of the biggest bands on the planet, Jack White had embarked on a slightly different path in life: running an upholstery studio. The original shop closed decades ago, but he never really left it behind.
In the 1970s, Nocentelli recorded a folk album drastically different from his band’s funk music. Barely anyone heard it — until it ended up at a swap meet.
In the post–“Blurred Lines” legal landscape, artists like Lorde are treading extra carefully when their music ends up sounding similar to someone else’s. But our brains can’t be trusted to notice when we steal an idea—and the problem is likely getting worse.
The 31-year-old has whistled at tournaments, in the studio for Dr. Dre and at her Los Angeles lounge show, Café Molly. Now she’s releasing her debut EP.
An archival release marks the technical debut of a band that helped build a scene, 44 years later.
Headspace’s partnership with Netflix is just the latest move in a booming meditation industry — but are the programs even TV?
After a bestselling debut novel, ‘Cherry,’ and a major motion picture adaptation by the Russo brothers, one of the literary scene’s brightest new stars is trying to prove that his success wasn’t a fluke. But first he has to adapt to life outside of a cell.
After hiding just out of frame for decades, an exceptionally rare and remarkable Depression-era neon sign was discovered outside of Los Angeles. Then the past came rushing back.
The rise of a previously obscure B-side is a tale of streaming’s raw power — and its ongoing mystery
The indie-rock lifers are living out their L.A. quarantine as bandmates and as a couple, still navigating where the line is between the two.
Part history lesson and part trail guide, Casey Schreiner’s book is somehow the first of its kind for one of the country’s biggest city parks
Author Eric Nusbaum digs up the unsteady foundation of one of Los Angeles’s most unifying cultural centers.
The loud military satire behind a quiet television empire in the Southland
Fans know him as Hurt Valley; his sixth-grade science students just know him as Mr. Collins
Now the last surviving member of the era-defiant Portland DIY group Dead Moon, 70-year-old Toody Cole is suddenly carrying on the legacy of her and her late husband Fred’s world on her own. But if you ask, she’ll still be glad to show you some of it.
Led by L.D.-aficionado Adam Papagan, “Curb Tour Enthusiasm” is a geographical journey into the mind of L.A.’s definitive curmudgeon — and an accidental love letter to low-key Westside establishments.
Essays
The legendary producer and musician, who died this week at age 61, believed in a better music industry—and a better version of himself
The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young member was a fearless captain of folk rock who embraced mutiny. He also wasn’t afraid to go down with the ship.
On the nostalgia, puke, and Crosley turntables that made for a fiercely adored/reviled album, which defined an era by mining another.
In a band that seemed perpetually on the brink of collapse, the late keyboardist/vocalist was the perfect one to keep throwing water from the Fleetwood Mac boat.
On the agony and ecstasy of Rivers Cuomo, and the album that redefined one of rock’s most fiercely adored bands.
The cottagecore aesthetic of ‘Folklore’ fits it neatly into the lineage of musical exile narratives, both good and bad. It’s a story we love to indulge in—even if it rarely gets at the true meaning of being alone.
The breakout song from Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s ‘South Park’ movie took center stage at the 2000 Academy Awards. Twenty years later, it remains a declaration of the duo’s ethos—and a prism into their complicated legacy.
The funniest person to ever break a table was so much more than just that
On the album that almost made the mainstream run brown.
Well into his 90s, Melvin Kaminsky has his fingerprints all over this year’s Oscars via ‘Jojo Rabbit’—and all over the comedy world at large, depending on where you look. If Taika Waititi wins big on Sunday, though, expect the scoffing to sound much the same as it did in 1969.
Once the shape-shifting, breakdancing king of fusion, Los Angeles’s golden child doesn’t seem to stand apart in today’s musical landscape as much as he used to. But as he heads into the cosmos on ‘Hyperspace,’ where he comes from tells a tale larger than music.
Q&As
An interview with Steve Sharp, who has been protesting for peace at the same spot in Los Angeles every week for nearly two decades.
Artist Kent Twitchell discusses what led him to making large-scale public works of art, the specific challenges of being a muralist, and how he makes such realistic portraits.
The 21st-century rock veteran talks ear appointments, dogs, and why he’s considering moving to a monastery.
