Lee Rose Emery writes the award winning blog LA City Mom and since her tagline is “tips from the carpool lane” we found it only fitting to ask for a driving playlist — specifically for a family road trip. Check out what’s on her car stereo and some words of wisdom in this guest post:
In LA, of course, we drive all the time, especially if you are a mom with kids to shuttle around. But a drive that has an altogether different vibe is the family road trip. We cover …

A little over a year ago Mute recording artists (legendary and recent) all gathered at the Roundhouse in London for a weekendlong festival/celebration of the labels exceptional output. Audiences were treated to performances from classic heavyweights like Erasure, Nitzer Ebb, The Residents and future heavweights Liars…but one performance in particular was so unique and remarkable it resulted in a record.
A collaboration between Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti (of Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey respectively) and Nik Void (of Factory Floor,) turned out an EP titled Transverse. One would half …

Glen Hansard’s new song “Love Don’t Leave Me Waiting” is everything I love about his music – it’s romantic, longing, wistful, and has undeniable hints of Van Morrison.
It sounds familiar yet it’s a new addition to the canon of music I categorize as “heartbreaking yet hopeful”.
Glen Hansard by antirecords
Like most people, I discovered Glen through the film “Once”, which he starred in with his Swell Season bandmate (and former romantic partner) Marketa Igrlova.
We were early supporters of the film and its music here at KCRW so its thrilling …

Extra! Extra! We are one step closer to “The Singularity*”!
Yesterday afternoon, via their Facebook page Fleet Foxes linked to a Kickstarter page to raise funds to complete a film project being directed by frontman Robin Pecknold’s brother (and sometime Fleet Foxes video director) Sean Pecknold. Still with me?
Alright hold on.
The film project (which will feature a score by the Fleet Foxes frontman) is called, “The Internet – A Blog Cats WTF Universe,” and promises to be an absurd fiction that revolves around the existential crisis of one of the world’s “best LOLcat caption …

Like many of the artists on the veritable Hippos in Tanks label, Outer Limitz (1/3 of short-lived dance punk outift Test Icicles, which also included Blood Orange‘s Dev Hynes) traffics in super-catchy leftfield electropop.
Borrowing heavily from early 90s R&B, Outer Limitz’s first single “I Kontact” sounds like a bunch of your favorite cassingles melted and fused into a single brilliant pop confection.
A hot chuggy mess of horny computer nerd cruising for girls at the Orange Julius of the Glendale Galleria, the track is equal parts lemme take you home bravado …

For years La Blogotheque has been my favorite resource for live off the cuff performances by my favorite bands. It’s sated some music dork in me with its stripped down versions of songs that I’ve grown to love and it generally offers some quirky insight into the musicians themselves.
E.G. Here is Bon Iver with an capella version of “For Emma, Forever Ago”  in a hallway in Montmartre, Paris, France.

and another KCRW fav, The Local Natives with a beautiful rendition of “Who Knows Who Cares.”

 
UPDATE… GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED. You should have received …

When The Shins played a private show for KCRW, one thing really stood out to me: James Mercer seems happy.
And during his interview with KCRW Music Director Jason Bentley, he confirmed that he’s a late bloomer hitting his stride — now married with two young children and clearly inspired by his time working with producer Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse) as part of Broken Bells.
I’ve always loved The Shins but there is something special about the new album “Port of Morrow”, an album five years in the making if you …

Late last year, Toronto’s Jokers of the Scene came by the show in the middle of the night and did a live set. During their set, they debuted a track by a less dancey – more goth/industrial-tinged side project they’ve been working on (with collaborators Vitaminsforyou) for awhile called Blank Capsule.
The track was a cover of Joe Crow‘s “Compulsion,” which I’d first encountered as a cover by Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore on his solo Counterfeit EP. When they seamlessly incorporated it into their atmospheric house set, I was super excited to hear what …

The Hundred in the Hands have  a brand new full length “Red Night” coming in June, and are releasing a brand new 12″ on May 28.
In keeping with their history of selecting fine remixers, their first ”Red Night” single, “Keep it Low” is a chuggy dark disco monolith that features a pair of remixes by JD Twitch (of Optimo) and reworks by haunting minimalist Andy Stott, and Pattern.
The low slung bass gives it an impressive wobble that gets complemented by a 4/4 stomp,  atmospherics build and swirl into infinity as Eleanor Everdell’s impressive swoon catapults us …

Piper Ferguson is an LA-based photographer and I asked her to share her favorite photos from the first weekend of Coachella, as well as the stories behind how she grabbed them!
Pulp – I’ve never been more excited to see a band at Coachella as I was to see Pulp on Friday night.  We weren’t able to enter the photo pit until the 4th song (it’s usually first 3 songs always) so me and 4 other female photogs sang along together near the big screen, being shushed by the PR lady …