Click the image for more shots from last night's show. All photos by Christopher Victorio.

Review by Reza Allah-Bakhshi

Better Than: Not going to see a rad band.

Download: "Keep Your Eyes Ahead" off the Helio Sequence Myspace page.

I arrived at Detroit halfway into Modern Memory's set. The L.A. rockers did their best to work some energy into the room, but sometimes standing still just doesn’t work. Some ginseng would do wonders for this band.

Musically, Modern Memory had their shit together, however, and I guess that’s what really counts. And they get brownie points for a way sick setup: an illuminated drum set and blue lights reflecting off their amps. All I could think about was how good some acid would be. Light trails galore! I tried to replicate the effect with my camera.

The Weekly has received reports and the Chicago Tribune has confirmed that Avalon Bar owner Mike Conley was found dead early Thursday in a hotel parking lot in Leyden Township, Illinois.

From the Tribune:

Michael Conley, of Costa Mesa, Calif., was found unresponsive at 5:40 a.m. by a person staying in the hotel in the 2300 block of North Mannheim Road, sheriff's police spokeswoman Penny Mateck said. He appeared to have suffered head injuries.

Conley was taken to Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park, where he was pronounced dead at 6:25 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Conley was staying in the hotel while working on a construction project, Mateck said.

The vocalist for '80s punk band M.I.A., Conley was an important figure in Orange County's music scene, as Costa Mesa's Avalon Bar became one of the county's premier venues for high-quality DJ nights, including Double Fisted, Dirty Money and 41Dub.

UPDATE: Nostalgia on Wheels says: "According to Goose, one of Mike's closest friends, the Chicago police have arrested two males in connection with Mike's untimely death."

UPDATE 2: From a MySpace bulletin making the rounds:

There will be an event on Sunday night at the Avalon Bar in Costa Mesa at
5:30 pm to help raise money for his family. We would really appreciate it if you all could attend to pay your condolences. [Mike's family members] are really having a tough time and need all the help, love and support they can get. There will be food and lots of friends.

Please come and tell everyone that knew him.

UPDATE 3: Fox News Chicago has a report on Conley's death, including interviews with his close friend Ross Morgan and the hotel clerk who was working on the night Conley died.

UPDATE 4: Detroit Bar is hosting a memorial to Mike Conley Sun. March 9 at 6 p.m. To make donations to support Conley's family, go here.

Photo Credit: John Gilhooley

It was inevitable—the “Yes We Can” video by will.i.am has prompted a humorous (one supposes) response vid from the Latino-Jewish group Hip Hop Hoodíos called “Shalom Obama!” (Perhaps Gustavo can translate the Spanish lyrics.) The song's a funked-up “Hava Nagila” that is—oy vey! ¡ay, caramba!— maddeningly catchy.

Local musician/DJ/rekkid collecta übermensch John Basil (a.k.a. Heru Avenger) has a "pop"-oriented podcast up over in this dusty corner of the 1nterw3b.

Odds are you haven't heard most of these odd ditties from the man's deeper-than-hell crates. I'm listening to it now and it's hitting my sweet spot from all sorts of crazy angles.

Adriano Celentano—who was unknown to me until a week ago—is something akin to the Italian Serge Gainsbourg. This bonkers song is on some Busby Berkeley-esque, proto-glam-disco-rap shit—with a harmonica solo! WTF?! After one listen/viewing, it catapulted into my pantheon of favorite songs ever. Sadly, nothing else I've checked by Celentano comes close to matching the riveting charm of “Prisencolinensinainciusol.” (Carrà is the striking blonde dynamo, of whom I know nothing, except she's a star in this vid.)

This video is madly kinetic and camp as hell and I am hopelessly enthralled with it. The day I discovered it, I must have watched it a dozen times. Other people who have viewed it liken the video to a drug and an aphrodisiac. Warning: Click PLAY on this thing and you will get very little work done today.

[If you're having trouble getting the video to play, go here.]

Christopher Victorio shares snaps from Manson's weekend L.A. jaunt:

More behind the cut.

Brian at catsandbeer.com has bestowed what he thinks is the definitive list of rap tracks that are closest to the hearts of honkies [he posted this in Oct. 2007, but it's just come to my attention through a friend's tip].

Bri's right on right on most of the time, but I have some bones to pick. For example, this statement: "[Vanilla Ice's 'Ice Ice Baby' is] one song on the list that White People pretend to only like ironically. Don't be fooled: deep down White People still think Ice is 110% gangsta." Load of shite, mate. Plenty of Caucasians dismiss this track (ever see the video to 3rd Bass' "Pop Goes the Weasel"?) and even whiteys who like it wouldn't consider Robert Van Winkle 10% "gangsta."

Here's another dubious claim: "If you've ever seen Black People comedy, you'll be familiar with the notion that White People have no rhythm and can't dance. This is true." This is false—unless you never go to clubs (some of the best breakdancers I've seen have lacked melanin and just last night this ofay who looked like a plump plumber bust some incredible double-jointed, funky-robot moves at Avalon Bar's dubstep biweekly)—and if you conveniently forget about the hundreds (thousands?) of history' s great white drummers, many of whom were sampled by black hip-hop artists. Ah, but don't let reality get in the way of cheap racial humor, right?

As for the list, where's the Geto Boys' "Mind Playing Tricks on Me"? Where's Public Enemy's "Bring the Noise"? Where's anything off De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising? Something off Definitive Jux, say, El-P or Atmosphere or Aesop Rock, perhaps? Nada. Dude, Brian, your stereotyping skills are tight, but they could be sharper.

De La Soul's "Eye Know" (with that FAT Steely Dan sample)

I wasn't quite sure what to expect as my shoes scuffed over the wet asphalt toward Kat Von D's first annual MusInk tattoo and music festival on Saturday. But at the very least I figured as long as I didn't walk out of there with a black eye or a tramp stamp it was gonna be a good day.

The trail of cigarette smoke and fishnet stockings led me to to the front entrance. Despite the biting wind and the sprinkles over head, the tunes blaring from the KROQ DJ booth and hoards of anxious ticket holders helped lighten the mood while the yellow-shirted safety police checked my bag.

I walked into the festival to find quite a setup; the place was packed by the entrance of the main tattoo hall as a diverse mix of tatted punks, cholos, hip hoppers and decked out pin-up girls crossed paths with eight dollar beers in hand. If nothing else, this was the kind of scene that could make anyone appreciate of the over-lapping appeal of tattoo culture. However, I imagine most of the guys there were busy appreciating the sea of under-dressed femme fatales proudly displaying their. . .tats for all to see. Overall, it was a pretty mellow scene outside. I would have planted myself out there longer if the wind wasn't such a frosty bitch that afternoon.

Review, video and photos by Patrick Chavis.

Ludacris, Pacific Division
Walter Pyramid, Cal State University Long Beach
February 23, 2008

A night of protests, hos and intellectual conversation in the LBC: isn’t that what hip-hop’s all about?

The opening act—Pacific Division from Palmdale, California—have created a large MySpace buzz. The hip-hop trio were humble and when they weren’t talking about music, they talked about their old jobs working to make it big in a town they wanted to escape. When asked what their music sounds like, Mibbs replied, “It sounds like microwave burritos and dirty carpets.” You can hear their music at www.myspace.com/pacificdivision.

Before Ludacris even appeared, the DJ played an old Snoop Dog record to represent Long Beach, and asked the crowd if the song offended any of the protesters standing outside.

The Henry Clay People

The Prospector

February 23, 2008


Better Than: Staying home with your cat and hitting the peace pipe.

My apologies to The Year Zero, whose set I missed due The Paper Planes getting a late start at The Puka Bar. I heard your performance was drenched in sonic goodness and that The Henry Clays are jealous of your harmonizing capabilities.

I arrived just as Long Beach's Forcefield ON were taking the stage. With a loyal local following and band members with resumes that span a wide variety of musical spectrums, the tiny Prospector bar was quite stuffed for this six-piece's blend of spacey collegiate jam rock and Louisiana marching band horns. And because I rather not shit where I eat, I'm will refrain from going in detail what didn't work for me and rather just say that in my opinion the last rock n' roll band to successfully incorporate a horn section was Rocket From The Crypt. I just couldn't dig it. But that's just me; there was a whole room full of people that totally could.

Through the magic of YouTube, you, yes, you can come along as the OC Weekly travels to exotic Long Beach to film hipsters in their natural habitat. You will ooh and ahh as local band Thinking Aloud serenades you into a stupor.

Just one of Teo Macero's indispensable contributions to musical awesomeness.

Teo Macero, the cunning producer/composer/saxophonist who helped to shape Miles Davis' recordings of the '50s through the '70s into some of the most important and sonically advanced albums ever, passed away Feb. 19 at age 82. For his production and editing work on Kind of Blue, Bitches Brew and On the Corner alone, Macero is assured immortality among people who value innovative jazz and fusion music. He also worked with Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus, Dave Brubeck, Thelonious Monk, Lounge Lizards and DJ Logic, among many others.

Macero was a master at finding the most compelling passages of music derived from hours and hours of studio sessions and splicing them into coherent pieces—a painstaking process of cutting tape with razor blades in the pre-digital era. Ambient-music pioneer Brian Eno, producer of Talking Heads and U2, cited Macero as a key influence on his working methods in the studio.

Macero's NY Times obit is here and an interview with the online zine Perfect Sound Forever is here. My take on what I think is both Miles and Macero's crowning achievement is here.

Below is a clip of Macero talking about his creative process with Miles Davis.

Review by Reza Allah-Bakhshi

Album Leaf
Detroit Bar
February 21, 2008

Better Than: Wishing you could inherit Jimmy Lavalle's talent simply by touching him.

Download: “On Your Way” vid by Album Leaf

I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a rainy Thursday night than to kick back with a brew and take in the visceral temptation that is Album Leaf live. And now that I have experienced it, the rest of my nights are pretty much ruined.

Opening band What Laura Says Thinks and Feels sounds like some new-age book detailing the life of a sexually confused teenage chameleon, but it’s not. What it is, though, is some of the freshest roots music to come out of Tempe, Arizona – well … probably ever. These guys got some mad mouth talent, and, along with their playful melodies, are reminiscent of a live Devendra Banhart show. I dig it.

The Lions
Jungle Struttin'
(Ubiquity)
Release date: February 19, 2008

Curb Your Cynicism is a recurring feature in which the music editor pithily enthuses about new releases and reissues he thinks will enhance your life and erode your cynicism about the state of music, circa now.

The Lions include seven LA musicians who have seemingly immersed themselves in the ganja-smoke-saturated aura of Jamaica's finest sonic export and devised a sound based on it. Which is to say, undivided attention must be paid to their just-released album, Jungle Struttin'.

Composed of members from such crucial units as Breakestra, Orgone, Madlib's Sound Directions, Connie Price & the Keystones and Rhythm Roots All-Stars, the Lions use reggae and dub as their default mode, evoking resinated, mid-'70s Kingston more than late-'00s Los Angeles, a very neat trick. From that base/bass, the Lions roam into subtle extrapolations of Afrobeat, funk and the wonderful aural intoxicant you hear on those Ethiopiques compilations.

Caucasian dudes exploring a myriad global musics typically comes off sounding diluted and uninspired, but the Lions possess an intangible, sympathetic affinity that enables them to assimilate these styles without degrading nor merely Xeroxing them. And the cover of the James Brown-penned “Think (About It)” by Lyn Collins is cleverly reimagined as a sensuously churning skank with spirited vocals by Noelle Scaggs. Jah-breakingly good stuff.

Review by Marco Villalobos

Return of the Boom Bap featuring Del the Funky Homosapien, Aceyalone, Bukue One, and Thirsty Fish at The Vault 350, Long Beach
Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Better Than: The Rappin’ Duke

Download: Hieroglyphics crew videos, an Aceyalone video, and Del's new songs on myspace

The DJs scratched records, they scratched compact discs, they scratched virtual records from a laptop, they scratched their heads, they scratched lottery tickets and counted all the scratch in their pockets.

The beats rained upon the sagging shoulders of fans toking one-hitters beneath tables, beats rained as people toked at the front of the stage, they toked in the middle of the crowd, the smoke lilted and spun as they puffed and passed. Girls with big hair went home smelling of herb on their scalps. Women with implants went home with their bras smelling of skunk. On stage, Aceyalone called for someone to give him something to smoke, and then grabbing a pipe, he screwed his face and returned it and let it be known that one of Hip Hop’s greatest, most under appreciated MC’s only smokes green bowls.

Really rich rapper Jay-Z and R&B diva Mary J. Blige are slated to play the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine April 18 as part of their Heart of the City Tour. If you purchase tickets via the exclusive fan pre-sale that begins Feb. 25, you can make song suggestions to the duo and thereby have a say in what you'll see onstage. It's sort of like democracy, but with more self-aggrandizing lyrics.

The pre-sale is open to the public; but the catch is you have to join the free Jay-Z Fan Community—which will likely result in your inbox being flooded with Hova propaganda for the rest of your godforsaken life. Hit www.rocafella.com for more information.

Here's a video of “Can't Knock the Hustle” featuring the co-headliners. Guess what? I'm gonna knock the hustle, and ain't a damn thing they can do about it.

Sorry for the last-minute notice of this, but Anglo-Russian crate-digger supreme and underground beat master DJ Vadim is headlining the Continental Room in Fullerton tonight. Vadim's an awesome selector and his own productions have been rocking headier parties since the mid-'90s. Don't sleep.

Go here for more information.

Not panic-inducing at all but rather jovial (and free!), The Continental Room in Fullerton has dubbed Monday nights the place to be for incredibly eclectic DJ showmanship.

How eclectic you might ask? A veritable shmorgasborg of music genres that spanned the decades. Like this:

- Primus
- Data Rock
- The Star Wars Theme
- Pixies
- Kanye West
- Cookie Monster (yes, the Sesame Street muppet)
- 20 Fingers
- Justice
- Andrew WK
- Murder City Devils
- Nancy Sinatra

And a whole hell of a lot more. Check out club photographer Fever Dragon's photos from last night.

Del, in his more bizarre days.

[We didn’t have space in the paper to run this feature by Ben Westhoff, but we think it’s worth posting on Heard Mentality in advance of West Coast underground-rap luminary Del’s appearance Wed. Feb. 20 at the Vault 350.]

Richmond, California emcee Del The Funky Homosapien was a weird rapper long before Lil Wayne, Andre 3000 and Kool Keith made it, well, kool. He’s not quite so bizarre these days, and that’s a shame. The release of his fifth solo album, 11th Hour—out March 11 on Definitive Jux—comes eight years after his critically lauded, futuristic collaboration with Dan the Automator and Kid Koala, called Deltron 3030. He also had a solo record that year, Both Sides of the Brain, but has released practically nothing since.

So, what the hell has he been doing all this time? Teaching himself music theory, for one, and having his life practically ruined by an ex-girlfriend, for another.

“It was pretty bad,” he imparts in a phone interview. “Probably the worst thing she did was hang herself twice in my garage—thank God not successfully. I went into my garage and she was dangling from the ceiling. The second time she damn near achieved it before I cut her down.”

Another time, she smashed out all the windows in his house, the day before he was scheduled to leave for tour. As a result of this chaos, he was forced to move, as much for her sake as for his. “She’d be in trouble if I saw her now. I probably wouldn’t be friendly at all. I’d probably try to knock her out.”
It’s enough to make a man want to quit drugs, and Del has—the psychedelics, at least. “There’s no need to be high, really—stuff like that is enough excitement.”

In any case, this personal drama has undoubtedly had a negative effect on Del’s career. A cousin of Ice Cube who was also a member of Da Lench Mob, he abandoned his mentors’ gangster tropes but maintained the Parliament-influenced West Coast musical flavor on his 1991 debut I Wish My Brother George Was Here, and reached a creative peak with 2000’s Deltron 3030. After joining forces with Gorillaz on the 2001 hit “Clint Eastwood,” he has barely been heard from since, other than a greatest-hits collection, a Handsome Boy Modeling School joint, and collaborations with his Hieroglyphics crew.

Fans expecting a return to form on 11th Hour might be disappointed. The formerly weird-for-weird’s sake, sci-fi storytelling emcee is a lot more grounded these days. “It was my goal, basically, to be a little more direct, to let people know what was going on in my mind, to let them know exactly what I was talking about,” he says.

True to his word, the stories on 11th Hour are fairly linear, and, sadly, the braggadocio a bit too predictable. “I bet I reach even the hardest G’s, ’cause my artistry ain’t too hard to see,” he raps on “Bubble Pop. On “Situations,” he imparts: “[Y]ou can’t let emotions control you. Foes are going to try to throw you, because they know it’s a way to control you.” On “Hold Your Hand” he threatens: “I’ma analyze wisely situations, see if what you’re saying is warranted.”

A cool, calm, and collected Del? It’s true, and like his lyricism, his beats on the album (he produced 11 of the 14 tracks) are mature as well, undoubtedly the result of all that music theory. The midtempo, scratch-heavy grooves are light on funk and grounded by simple bass and key rhythms that serve as easy repositories for his lyricism. The only track that feels really urgent is “Last Hurrah,” a minor-key slow burner produced by—and featuring—Bronx rapper KU.

Del claims he didn’t really know what he was doing on Both Sides of the Brain—of which he also produced the bulk—but, as is often the case, thorough knowledge is no substitute for great instincts. Nonetheless, it’s nice to see Del back in a good place in his life, free of relationship terror and, most importantly, making music. His relationship with friend El-P and Definitive Jux will undoubtedly ultimately prove fruitful. But one can’t help wishiing for a bit more of that psychedelic scatterbrain we all know and love. “Reality is undisputed,” he says near the disc’s end. The old Del might have taken issue with that statement.

Ladies and gents, believers and gentiles: Once again, it's time for the Jewlicious Fest in Long Beach, so mark Feb. 29 through March 2 on your calendars. If you haven't heard of Jewlicious, it's basically the Woodstock of Judaism, with three days of music, food and Kiddush Wine. A festival for the artist and the curious college student.

One highlight of the fest will be Brooklyn rapper Matisyahu, famous for his hit song "King without a crown," who will be speaking about spirituality. The event will spotlight other newer Jewish acts, including Moshav, an Israeli folk-rocker born in the hills between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and Y-Love, who converted to Orthodox Judaism in 2000. Also in attendance will be Love, a New York rapper breaking new ground in hip-hop by not just rapping in Yiddish and English but Aramaic, as well. Yes, Aramaic can be used in more than just Mel Gibson movies.

Festival news and updates here.

Welcome to Heard Mentality's newest regular feature, Video Savant.

It will appear every Tuesday, if all goes according to plan and YouTube keeps delivering the audio/visual goods.

Video Savant's concept is simple: I scour the vast cyber tundra (mostly the beneficent expanses of YouTube) for unusual and excellent music-oriented videos and then comment on them, for your edification and entertainment. The goal is to expand your musical horizons in weekly increments, so that in good time you can smugly pontificate about obscure bands/solo artists/DJs to your peers and thus raise your esteem among them. Or alienate yourself from everyone. Depends on how much charm and charisma you possess, really. So, as Marvin Gaye crooned, let's get it on.

We'll start with “Also Sprach Zarathustra.” This track by Brazilian keyboardist/composer/arranger Eumir Deodato was a hit in 1972 and won a Grammy in 1973 for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. This song would not be a hit in 2008. This song would not even be considered for commercial radio airplay in 2008.

If you want a succinct metaphor for declining aesthetics in America, this scenario will do nicely. A jazz-funked-up rendition of an 1896 Richard Strauss tone poem that was inspired by a philosophical tome by Friedrich Nietzsche charted in the early '70s and earned a major industry award; now it would be laughed out of the boardroom. [Record-company mogul: "Too pretentious! And where are the goddamned vocals?!?! Shit, maybe we can salvage a ringtone out of it…"]

On Thurs. Feb. 21, a slew of OC punk bands will be playing a benefit show at the Galaxy Theater to help raise money for D.I.'s Craig Jewitt (a.k.a. Chckn), who is fighting cancer and receiving care at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange. TSOL, Social Distortion, Agent Orange, Franki Doll & the Broken Toys, Shattered Faith, D.I., Noise Attack, Narcoleptic Youth, Drain Bramaged and the Uprising are pledging their support and playing for the cause. Doors at 5 p.m., show at 7 p.m., $25 cover.

For more information, contact event coordinator Franki Doll at (714) 852-1169 and check D.I.'s MySpace page.

Meanwhile, check out D.I. live on Doll's Flashrock Webcast.

Review by Marco Villalobos. Photos by Christopher Victorio.

Better Than: A six-pack of Red Stripe.

Download: Capleton and Beenie man videos.

Let us take a moment to bow our heads in respect to the wonders of the large capacity concert hall…

Praise be to plastic cups of 12-dollar Heineken. Praise be to latecomers buying box office tickets one minute and then being turned away from the gate a minute later accused of having bogus tickets. But most of all, let us praise the security guard who snapped at me for arriving late and trying to enter through the exit door which she swiftly closed in my face without so much as looking me in the eye.

I’d like to offer her bad perm and orthopedic walkabouts my utmost respect for lasting as long as she did, ensuring the safety of all Rasta revelers, for having been tethered to the Convention Center all of Saturday dealing with Bob Marley-loving frat boys, ganja enthusiasts, and the bubbling bass boom of ragamuffin champion sound.

More bad news for a local band: Matt Costa and his band, currently in the middle of the North American leg of his worldwide tour, had their gear stolen after playing a show in Winnipeg, MB.

For any struggling musician trying to bring their music to your cities, this is probably the worst thing that could happen. Check after the jump to see a message from the Costa camp asking for help tracking down their stolen equipment.

P.S. This happened in Winnipeg of all places? Really?

The L.A. Independent Media Center, a non-commercial coalition of media makers and outlets in the Los Angeles area, recently posted a flier on its website regarding a protest of an upcoming performance by rapper Ludacris. The show takes place Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m., at Cal State Long Beach in front of the Walter Pyramid.

I love a good protest as much as the next guy. But in the case of L.A. Indy media protesting this Ludacris concert just seems like, well. . .the kind of publicity every rapper dreams of—unless the LAIMC comes up with an interesting way of getting attention that strays from the cliché of uptight rabble rousers shaking their fists.

The internet flier for the protest cites the Southern rhyme-slinger's use of homophobic, misogynistic and violent lyrics against women. This is no new development among recent popular hip-hop artists, although it's a sad but true reality. This leads me to wonder whether it's the venue with which LAIMC disagrees. After all, we can't have our local colleges and students plagued with disgusting displays of X-rated lyrics, overt sexual behavior and shameful degradation in the streets. People have to go to the clubs for that and pay a two-drink minimum.

The Hard Sell Tour with DJ Shadow/Cut Chemist, Kid Koala
House of Blues (Anaheim)
February 14, 2008

Better Than: Damn near every DJ set you’ve ever witnessed.
Download: Excerpts from the Hard Sell set.

I missed opening DJ Kid Koala’s set by five minutes, but Free the Robots' Chris Alfaro said it was amazing, and I trust his word.

DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist’s 105-minute performance on eight decks began with an instructional video explaining what the hell these wax hounds would be doing and why they’d be spinning all original 45s and no reissues, suckas. Shadow prefaced the action by telling the audience that he and Chemist would be “trying to expand your musical vocabulary” and occasionally would be attempting to recreate hip-hop classics from their constituent samples. “We’re gonna be fucking up left and right, guaranteed,” Shadow threatened, but their flubs are still more entertaining than most jocks’ A game. They had the capacity crowd rapt from the start.

LA's HEALTH bring their beneficial noise to SXSW.

If you're down in Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest conference/festival, please check out this outstanding bill and mingle with the VVM music editors (you will never encounter so much charisma in one room).

The Black Keys
Health
The Cribs
Soundtrack of Our Lives

Friday, March 14
12:00pm - 5:00pm

La Zona Rosa
612 W. 4th Street
Austin, TX 78701

I don't care about Valentine's Day, no matter what my relationship status happens to be, but apparently a lot of people do. As I aim to please our ravenous readership, I offer to you three versions of Roxy Music's 1975 hit “Love Is the Drug,” which is as fine a VD-celebratin' song as any (plus, blogging about it allows me to link to my Sprawl of Sound column, in which I review the new Roxy DVD, The Thrill of It All: SYNERGY!).

Below you can view vids of Roxy Music's original, plus covers by Grace Jones and Kylie Minogue. You should be ready to get it on after this audio/visual binge. If not, see me.

xoxo

By Jeff Shaw at our sister paper, Citypages.

Love is a many-splendored thing and all, but it's also dependent upon a relationship's context -- and so is the associated music. You don't want Al Green's "Let's Get Married" to stream through the car speakers during your third date, you don't want your intended to think you stopped listening to new records after "I Love You Just The Way You Are" was released. . .aaaand you don't want "You Oughtta Know" to come on, well, ever.

Swapping out these embarrassing moments takes planning. Have you just hooked up or are you on the cusp of something more? Are you a hip hop head who just hasn't found the right tracks to put on that gift CD? Or are you just looking for some sweet songs to sip hot cocoa by as you stare into each others' eyes?

Whether you're making a mix for that special someone or just looking for a soundtrack for the day, here are 20 timely tunes to consider for your personal "Favorite Love Songs" list.

FIVE SONGS ABOUT VALENTINE'S DAY

Let's start with holiday-appropriate fare. Given that roughly 92.3 percent of all songs written are in some way about love, it should comes as no surprise that songwriters have produced a good deal of material about Feb. 14.

5. Various Artists, "My Funny Valentine"
Classics usually become so for a reason. This sultry standard originally performed in a 1937 musical has been exhorting Valentines to stay for more than 70 years in the voices of various jazz legends (and more modern artists). The video is a version by Chet Baker and Billie Holiday. For an updated take, try the piano-and-voice version by Ohio duo Over The Rhine.

4. The Get Up Kids, "Valentine"
This tune by the now-defunct emo band is as precious and bittersweet as you would expect. The fact that this YouTube video set to the song was evidently made by a sensitive high school student is also unsurprising and appropriate.

Review by Marco Villalobos

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars
Irvine Barclay Theatre / Cheng Hall
Febuary 13, 2008

Better Than: Heidi Klum giving a goodbye hug to some soon-forgotten designer on a fresh Wednesday night episode of Project Runway.

Download: Clips from the documentary or some tunes.

Africa is a beautiful planet full of melody and grace so articulate that with its sensibility, even the pain of war can be transformed into an expression of peace. Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars are in the business of doing just that.

By now you’ve likely heard of the award-winning film that documents the band’s start in the refugee camps that were their homes during the harshest year’s of Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war. To put it simply, the All Stars make a music of survival. So seeing them perform that music in an assigned-seating theatre provides a kind of irony akin to sinking into a Lazy Boy recliner to play fantasy football against a corpse while buried six feet beneath the 50 yard line of a stadium football field atop which the Super Bowl is taking place.

Austin, Texas' Ghostland Observatory are poised to blow up with their Feb. 26 album Robotique Majestique (on their own Trashy Moped label). Here's a track, “Dancin' on My Grave (Let There Be Vinyl Remix),” from that album to whet your appetite for it. Sounds pretty tough and noisy for an indie-dance single.

GO play Henry Fonda in LA April 18 and the Joshua Tree Music Festival May 16.

Jill Scott - whose song "Daydreamin'" (with Lupe Fiasco) just won her another Grammy in the R&B category - took her vocal chords to Anaheim last night.

'Twas lovely but so loud that our photographer hid in the venue's Tea Rose Room, where he found some older ladies kicking back with some wine and watching the live feed on the flat screens. (Er, CV, doesn't that defeat the purpose of being at a live show?)

More photos by Christopher Victorio behind the cut.

Recently crowned Grammy Award-winning rapper/producer Kanye West will be performing at LA's Nokia Theatre April 21. Joining him on the Glow in the Dark Tour are Lupe Fiasco, Rihanna and N.E.R.D. Tickets go on sale Feb. 15 at 10 a.m. And are available at Ticketmaster locations and www.ticketmaster.com; 213.480.3232; 714.740.2000.

Employees at Nokia reportedly have begun stocking up on Vaseline in order to ease entry of Kanye's ego into the venue.

YouTubeage for youse:

VBS.TV's Ian Svenonius interviews My Bloody Valentine mastermind Kevin Shields, the primary creative force behind Loveless and Isn't Anything, two of the greatest rock albums of all time. It's not the most scintillating interview ever, but if you're a My Bloody Valentine fanatic, you'll want to watch. (You're not a My Bloody Valentine fanatic? Click on the “Soon” video below and get back to me.)

Among other things, Shields discusses the forthcoming MBV album, which is “pretty much three-quarters done.” (Translation: It may be finished by Obama's second term in office.) This record will include reworked material from the mid-'90s along with some newer tracks and will involve the classic Loveless lineup (drummer Colm O'Ciosoig, guitarist/vocalist Bilinda Butcher and bassist Deb Googe). Holding of one's breath for this probable masterpiece is not advised.

Tip: Billgazer

Christopher Victorio shares some shots from last night's Mika show in Los Angeles. (More after the cut.)

Mika + BBW