@paultao of Hate Something Beautiful fame and I are racing to 1,000 followers on Twitter so we can be one-quarter as cool as this guy. So, uh, follow me? Hugz.

DRA fans know that ol’ Foggy is an accomplished artist as well as musician/author/husband (he did the cover of his maturity opus, 29), but NYCers had the chance to buy some of his works at an artist-in-residence gallery showing and auction last night. Stereogum has a full report. In unrelated news, I spoke with his publicist this week about rumors that his unreleased albums might hit the Internet (officially) under his revived Pax Am imprint — “too early to say.” Sigh. At least we’ve got those digital singles.

On the heels of this month’s great, Bacharach-loving Heartbeat Radio, Sondre Lerche returns to his favorite L.A. stomping grounds, the Troubadour, for a solo gig. He promised me on Twitter he would “bring the goods,” so let’s hold to it, huh? (Also this week: that schmuck Bon Iver’s playing the Fonda on Friday, if you’re having trouble sleeping.)

More: LA Tour Dates

Some Days are Better than Others (trailer) from matt mccormick on Vimeo.

There are some obvious LOLs here — the Shins’ James Mercer playing Zach Braff in Garden State, basically — but other than that, upcoming indie flick Some Days Are Better Than Others looks enjoyably dour and sensuously lensed. But really, I just want to mention that it’s from the producers of Wendy and Lucy, a really gritty, heartbreaking movie about homelessness and desperation in America with a subtle, masterful performance from Michelle Williams. (I wrote a bit about it in last year’s Oscar piece.) Go see that first — it may or may not change your life, but it’ll open your eyes.

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All photos by David Greenwald

Autumn arrives, West Hollywood, California.

Rose Melberg – “My Heaven, My Sky”: mp3

More Photos: Camera Obscurist

If you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably heard of chillwave/glo-fi/hypnagogic pop — over the closing weeks of summer, sites such as Pitchfork, Stereogum and Gorilla Vs. Bear have had a(n Animal) collective circle-jerk (and I mean that in the best way) over the emerging genre like few others of the post-Garden State era. Probably ’cause it’s awesome. Near as I can tell, chillwave is the lo-fi answer to the ’90s’ downtempo/chill out movement — spacey, dance grooves filtered through varying degrees of fuzz, New Age and ’80s nostalgia. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by David Greenwald

Well, shit. Buy me a one-way ticket to Bummerville, dudes — just days after finding out Harlem Shakes have called it quits, I hear L.A. power-pop favorites the Broken West are done, too. Full disclosure, I have a vested interest in these dudes — in addition to being great, my name’s in their debut album’s liner notes. But, like the Shakes, they’re not entirely done — frontman Ross Flournoy is apparently kicking off his solo career tonight with a show at Largo. Guess we’ll see what’s next.

Previously: Live: The Broken West at the Troubadour, 2.24.09

Reasons Not To Like Paramore:

1) They are prominently featured on the Twilight soundtrack.
2) They held listening parties for Brand New Eyes at Hot Topics across America.
3) They just co-headlined a tour with Jimmy Eat World.
4) They are played on modern rock radio.

Actual Reasons Not To Like Paramore:
1)

Read the rest of this entry »