​Our friend, colleague and LA Weekly feature scribe Jeff Weiss has posted an ace winter mixtape on his music blog, Passion of the Weiss, and it's a nice way to spend these oh-so-grueling winter days in Los Angeles. [It was downright chilly at the beach in Santa Monica the other day!]

Mixed by DJ Sach, the collection moves from Boards of Canada to Beach House to the Doves to Wu-Tang Clan and beyond, and can be yours for the low low price of FREE.

You can listen to it here:

PoW-Winter-Mix by Passion of the Weiss

You can download it here:

Passion of the Weiss's Winter Mix Tape

Fool's Gold, in its element.

​​In "The Nonsound Of IAMSOUND," LA Weekly scribe Laura Ferreiro documents the rise of an excellent homegrown record label. Over the last three years, the Fairfax District-based IAMSOUND has been responsible for a stream of impressive releases from artists hailing from the U.K. (Little Boots), the East Coast (Telepathe) and, most recently, Los Angeles -- with the debut full-length of rising Eritrean/Hebrew pop outfit Fool's Gold.

Well, a week from today, IAMSOUND, takes a huge step to strengthening its relationship with its city, releasing the first installment of "The L.A. Collection," a split 7-inch vinyl project that will borrow talent from nearly every stylistic corner currently popping off in Los Angeles. The first release, due February 16, is actually not a split: "Clay Stones" from Manimal Vinyl act We Are The World.

In the current LA Weekly article, label manager Paul Tao tells Ferreiro: "As an L.A. label, we wanted to be able to bring together all kinds of music so people would see what L.A. has to offer... The bands [we reached out to] were excited about what we were trying to do, so they started referring their friends and it just grew."

The final list is an incredible cross-section of Angeleno talent: Alpha Pup beat artist Nosaj Thing, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Frenchkiss band Local Natives, Tee Pee psych-bluesist Imaad Wasif, Ryan Gosling's Dead Man's Bones, Not Not Fun outfit Pocahaunted, and several others: Rainbow Arabia, IO Echo, Signals, Actually, Moonrats and, of course, Fool's Gold.

IMASOUND plans to release a piece of wax per month unto August. Needless to say, our vinl column, INCHES, will be covering each as it arrives.

"Clay Stones" art, and label statement, after the jump.

Is it okay to already call the Strange Boys' forthcoming full-length, Be Brave, one of the best rock & roll albums of 2010? Since we got an advance of it last month, it's been our driving-around-LA soundtrack, a loose, raw, classically designed garage rock album with the swagger of the Rolling Stones circa 1966. It comes out on the mighty mighty In the Red Records on February 22, and they've just released the first video, for the song "Be Brave."

Note the appearance of the band's new saxophone player, Jenna Thornhill, who you might recognize as a former member of Mika Miko.

After the jump, an MP3 from the new album.

Floria Sigismondi

Floria getting ready for prom

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Why didn't anyone tell me this? All this time I've been making Runaway jokes, and chuckling to my friends about the implausibility of Dakota Fanning rocking out with her socks out and the endless media coverage of Kristen Stewart's hair. And no one had the huevos (rancheros) to say, "um, Mr. Tewksbury, Floria Sigismondi, the director responsible for Marilyn Manson's early videos, and super-goth photographer is spearheading this preteen punk epic." Anyone?

Well, it's not your fault. Don't blame yourself. I should have updated my Google reader for alerts regarding sales increases at Hot Topic and Torrid, because with the teen goth aesthetic of Sigismondi added to the meowing, riotgrrlpower Runaways surely will bolster the esteems of youth group rebels, drama kids and angsty clarinetists everywhere. But Sigismondi is actually pretty influential as a director, and her visual choices are typically bold. That whole creepy, sped up shaky cam thing that was in every rapmetal video of the 90's was pretty much pioneered by her (and Chris Cunningham). She took the whole Joel Peter Witkin (stolen by Mark Romanek) and Jan Saudek (bought by, cough, Soul Asylum), and ran with it. And she enters the painfully under-represented pantheon of female writer/directors. Doesn't mean the movie will be good, but it is coming from an immensely talented woman with a bottomless well of creativity.

Check out her track record after the jump:

In line last month at the Monday Social we wondered aloud why the night was so packed lately. A woman responded that people were there to see Australian DJ Dirty South. He was unannounced, however -- a "surprise" guest -- and we expressed our doubts. Half the people there didn't have a clue who Dirty South is.

Indeed, as Hollywood hot spots have traded in hip-hop for house music (much like Kanye West, the Black Eyed Peas and P. Diddy), Monday Social has benefited from the trend, becoming a crossroads of core, e-music spotters and Patron-swigging characters straight out of The Hills.

Mick Cole.

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Sinatra with a gun

​Yesterday, the New York Times published a report from the Philippines about how apparently there is this "trend" over there where people get shot for singing Sinatra's "My Way" at karaoke joints.

First we're gonna give you some choice quotes from this bullshit piece, then we're gonna point out all the things that are wrong and messed up with it.

From the NYT (not the National Enquirer or the Weekly World News, mind you, the New York Fucking Times) piece cleverly headlined "Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord" [emphasis added]:

[This is the lede:] After a day of barbering, Rodolfo Gregorio went to his neighborhood karaoke bar still smelling of talcum powder. Putting aside his glass of Red Horse Extra Strong beer, he grasped a microphone with a habitué's self-assuredness and briefly stilled the room with the Platters' "My Prayer." Next, he belted out crowd-pleasers by Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. But Mr. Gregorio, 63, a witness to countless fistfights and occasional stabbings erupting from disputes over karaoke singing, did not dare choose one beloved classic: Frank Sinatra's version of "My Way." "I used to like 'My Way,' but after all the trouble, I stopped singing it," he said. "You can get killed.

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This Valentine's Day, don't get your main squeeze an oversized bouquet of balloons or a chocolate replica of your genitals (again). Instead, do what savvy troubadours and creative (read: broke) lovers have done for centuries: write a song. Our good friends at LA Record are releasing a Valentine's Mixtape, compiled by local musicians. Deadline is Feb. 11th, so get cracking!

Email your track to fortherecord@larecord.com

[D] Squared is a local duo comprised of DJs/promoters Derek Michael (Friendly Integration) and Baseck (Darkmatter). Their performances are jam sessions between a variety of classic and high-tech DJ gear. Michael uses Ableton, a Behringer BCF2000 MIDI controller, APC40 Ableton Performance Controller and a Machinedrum. Baseck works with one turntable and a stack of vinyl for scratching along with his trusty Game Boy.

Liz Ohanesian

[D] Squared live at Technique

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Timothy Norris

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See more photos in Timothy Norris' photo gallery.

A show is never just a show in Los Angeles. It's a plague, or a slow-burning forest fire creeping across the city days before a performance takes place. It starts as hype metastasizing across online social networks and water cooler conversations, then becomes a scramble for tickets, followed by a wait in line, wallowing with others mired with doubt: "Are we going to get in?" The emails, tweets, and texts started days before: "You going to Yeasayer?" The main event will own the stage for a fraction of the time spent thinking about, planning, and traveling to the concert, so this better be worth it. But for every hoop you jump through to see a performance at the Natural History Museum, like Friday's Yeasayer and Warpaint, fortune favors the brave.

There are many reasons why New Orleans is awesome. Here are five, in no particular order of sexual preference. But because this is New Orleans we're talking about, you can rest assured that they are NSFW, to say the least.

A: The Sissy Rap meme never took off, unfortunately, because it's one of the only known instances of the historically homophobic hip hop genre embracing an "alternative"/non-hetero lifestyle:

a few more gems after the jump: