For a long time, I was cynical about the music that was coming out of Southern California. Having grown up in San Diego, where all music seems to sound the same and is followed blindly by a sea of high school scenesters, I like to think my attitude was justified. Read more...

A band’s first headlining tour is a turning point in its career. To begin as an opening act is good experience, but to be playing for a crowd that came specifically for you is something entirely different. Read more...

Most students consider their classes obligations, and only afterwards do they get to do the things they like to do ““ but not Max Hembd. “This is something I get to do rather than have to do,” said Hembd, a fourth-year music student in trumpet performance, referring to Kenny Burrell’s Contemporary Jazz Large Ensemble. Read more...

In Hollywood, film festivals are often paparazzi-swarmed, red-carpeted and star-studded. In Venice, it’s another story. With lots of locals, mingling, cocktails, art shows and live bands, the word “festival” in the Other Venice Film Festival, which opens Thursday and runs through Sunday, will ring true. Read more...

There’s been a lot of hoopla lately about the 10th anniversary of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer.” Many have noted how the show changed modern TV: scripts littered with pop culture references, combining of genres, and perhaps most importantly, killing off major characters without warning. Read more...

It’s still early, but Andrew Bird’s “Armchair Apocrypha” is likely to end up on nearly every indie fan’s best-of-the-year list. Bird’s idiosyncratic blend of genres shines through invariably on “Armchair Apocrypha,” as does a controlled and conscientious use of the electric guitar, improved from its use on his highly lauded 2005 release, “The Mysterious Production of Eggs.” Giving the songs legs are spry and syncopated drums and an incredibly diverse and adroit use of the violin, his native instrument. Read more...

From making running on the treadmill bearable with the Nike-commissioned “45:33,” to the infectious hits “Daft Punk is Playing at My House” and “Yeah,” James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem attempts to offer more than a ridiculously catchy hook. Read more...