Top Orange County Music Stories

Music Features

• 
  Who Stole the Punk Rock Picnic?
  By NATE JACKSON

  On paper, it seemed like a local punk's wet dream. OC's biggest backyard show for Mohawk-wearing beer swillers had just been taken up about 50 notches. According to the flier, the 2013 Punk Rock... More >>

• 
  Willie D of the Geto Boys Is Rapping to Stay Relevant
  By PATRICK MONTES

  It's been more than 20 years since Houston's southern hip-hop vanguards the Geto Boys' first recording with their classic lineup, but judging by the tenacity of the group's vocal firebrand,... More >>

• 
  The EDM Divide
  By KATIE BAIN

  Broadly speaking, if you're an electronic-music fan older than 40, you probably dig Danny Tenaglia more than Skrillex. And chances are, if you're a Skrillex fan younger than 30, you're like, "Who... More >>

• 
  Focus Celebrates 10 Years of Bringing House Music to Orange County
  By ALEJANDRA LOERA

  The creators of Focus have spent the past 10 years carving a deep niche in OC's underground dance scene. But perhaps even more impressive than the dues they've paid are the ones they didn't have... More >>

• 
  The Brilliant Branding of Insane Clown Posse
  By REYAN ALI

  If you want to see what Shaggy 2 Dope calls "the central nervous system" of Psychopathic Records (and, by proxy, its star attraction, Insane Clown Posse, or ICP), you have to head to Farmington... More >>

• 
  Jimmy Eat World: Hungry, Hungry Heroes of Alt-Rock
  By DANIEL KOHN

  After a band have been together with the same lineup for nearly 20 years, it's understandable (even expected) they'd lose some of the vigor that defined their salad days. But that's not the case... More >>

• 
  Cloud Cult's Higher Calling
  By ADAM LOVINUS

  "All our love and all our pain/is gonna make us precious/if it don't make us insane/You have a calling." For Cloud Cult bandleader Craig Minowa, these lines are his favorite to sing live. They're... More >>

• 
  Manic Hispanic: ¡Pinche Punks!
  By GUSTAVO ARELLANO

  The guitar strap ate into Steve Soto's shoulder as he stood with his hands up, seconds away from a hail of bullets ripping him apart. It was Cinco de Mayo, 1999, at the Foothill Club in Signal... More >>

• 
  Psycho de Mayo's Strange Trip
  By NATE JACKSON

  On a recent night in downtown LA, Evan Hagen holds up one of his clear, handmade, oil-projector slides to the lamp in his bedroom. The long hours spent prepping for the final days of the first... More >>

• 
  Will DJ Shadow Ever Do Anything as Good as 'Entroducing . . .' Again?
  By MARCUS ALAN GOLDBERG

  For the longest time, I imagined a scenario going down at Casa Shadow: The man himself, Josh Davis, walks into the living room, where a commemorative, gold-plated Endtroducing . . . is framed... More >>

• 
  Fly Guy Eric Prydz
  By ALEJANDRA LOERA

  A man with more aliases than a German spy, Eric Prydz is not only a chart-topping, Grammy-nominated, festival-headlining, multiple-record-label-owning producer/DJ, but he is also one of the few... More >>

• 
  Ravenous Rapper
  By ADAM LOVINUS

  It's lunch time, and Action Bronson is walking around Brooklyn, stopping at a taco truck and ordering, in Spanish, a torta de bistec, mushroom quesadilla and tamales. He's come in from his home... More >>

• 
  Suedehead's Secret to Success
  By ARRISSIA OWEN

  When the members of Suedehead considered covers to add to their repertoire of original, modern soul send-ups, they searched for a meticulous representation of their band through borrowed song.... More >>

• 
  Coachella's Best Parties
  By NATE JACKSON

  It's funny to think people used to tell their friends they were "going to Coachella," as though they were headed to a single, mystical, solitary destination in the middle of nowhere. In the early... More >>

• 
  Daedelus' Weird Science
  By REYAN ALI

  Go ahead and keep your policemen, doctors, astronauts and firemen. When Alfred Darlington was a young'un, the only thing he wanted to be was an inventor. "I always took things apart and would... More >>