Armen Poghosyan

​In 2011, the Capital Cities' debut EP was released and got a ton of airplay ... in Peru. Catching wind of the band through the blogosphere, a station in Lima took notice of the band's upbeat, electro-pop single, "Safe and Sound," and immediately put it in heavy rotation. Shortly thereafter, Capital Cities had built such a strong cult following that they decided to make the trip to South America even though the most success they'd had in their home country was making music for television commercials.

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Olin & the Moon

​See also:
*If You Don't Like Country Music You're A Blue State Elitist
*Sonia Leigh On Country Music In L.A. (Yes, It Exists)

Olin & the Moon front man David LaBrel was sitting in an airport terminal a couple of years back, waiting for his luggage, when he saw a little boy struggling at the baggage carousel. He helped the kid with his bags and then asked his name. "Olin," the boy said, and then proceeded to scamper off.

Thus was born the moniker of the band, who have a Tuesday night residency at the Echo all this month, and perform there tonight. Dave's older brother Travis LaBrel tells this story at Mohawk Bend, a new bar in Echo Park, over sips of Racer 5 IPA. Or gulps, rather. "The Moon part just came about organically," he says. "That kid was the spark." LaBrel looks something like Santa Claus, if instead of milk and cookies Santa existed off of Marlboro Reds and beer. As Olin's lead guitarist and backup vocalist, it's quite hilarious to see him singing falsetto next to his brother who is, literally, half his size.

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Dustin Muenchow

The Light Rays outside Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, in March of 2010

​Cameron Rath is a Charles Manson look-alike with a degree in urban sustainability. He's the mastermind behind FMLY, a gang of eco-conscious punk kids who put on bike rides and concerts in unlikely spaces.

A typical FMLY ride, held once a month, features 300 folks on bikes tearing ass along a nebulous path usually bookended by Culver City and West Adams. They hit the road in search of four or five under-the-radar bands that Rath has equipped with generators in the empty corners of the city -- such as a derelict shopping mall in Inglewood or a corporate cul-de-sac vacant after business hours. Like a treasure hunt on wheels, the riders take in half-hour sets from noiseniks like Professor Calculus or krautrockers like Religious Girls. After they've been whipped into a frenzy they hit the streets again, on their way to the next stageless miniconcert. "I have a loose definition of 'public space,' " Rath says.

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Jennie Warren

The Allah-Las

​Remember new love, that burbling feeling of excitement you feel upon playing a new group and realizing you can't live without them? "Who is this?" your friends exclaim. "Make me a copy!"

Here are our five favorite upstart local bands who released EPs in 2011 that made us feel all warm and jittery inside. (We might ask them to prom.)

5. The Allah-Las
Surf's up, my long haired hippie friends. The first few bars of "Catamaran" is unmistakable. We're going to the beach. The Allah-Las have managed to capture with only two songs a long hot lazy summer day slinking along the PCH with no particular place to go. It's an EP to ramble to, to amble to, but never to go anywhere with purpose to. It's apt that this band was founded in the back of Amoeba Records, because their sound feels like a long lost 1960s B-side gem that you find under racks and racks full of dusty records. For more see: The Allah-Las Put Their Retro Where Their Mouths Are

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Tiffany Rose

We can't promise James Franco doing karaoke in drag, but you never know

​Did you catch our Best Of issue and snag our free Best Of app? Even if you did, we're betting you didn't make it through all of our write-ups; there are about a billion. So in the coming weeks we'll walk you through some of our favorites. We'll start with a subject very close to our hearts -- karaoke bars!

There's karaoke in L.A. for everyone. As Dennis Romero says, there's VIP room karaoke and even porn star karaoke at Sardo's in Burbank every Tuesday. And there's, well, American Idol. But though the choices may seem endless, never fear. We sifted through all of the wannabes for you, and picked out the three best karaoke bars in L.A.

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Fifteen years in the making, FIX: The Ministry Movie screens at the Echoplex tonight. The long-delayed documentary focuses mostly on volatile frontman Al Jourgensen, and also features interviews with folks like Trent Reznor and Lemmy, who offer their takes on Jourgensen.

A founder of industrial metal, Ministry's influence can't be overstated. Over the course of three decades they have remained relevant, evolving from synth pop to metal, and paving the way to mainstream success for other bands. The lineup is a revolving door, with Jourgensen as the only constant. FIX's footage was mostly culled in 1996 while they were on the "Sphinctour" in support of Filth Pig. At the time, the band was signed to Warner Bros., who hired the camera crew for marketing purposes; what they got was a whole lot of footage of illicit activities.

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Alex Gerulaitis

Actual sunset from Culver City Park this time last year

​While watching the sun sink at dusk, how many times have you imagined yourself in a movie, an operatic soundtrack swelling as the final moments of light faded? Seattle composer Nat Evans wants to help you realize that fantasy. This Sunday, he's organized an event that literally sets the sunset to music.

Here's how it works: Download "Assemblage," a mix of new and older compositions Evans arranged to compliment the sunset, from his website onto your iPod right now. By 6:20 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, go to the vantage point at the top of Culver City Park. Precisely 10 minutes before sunset (which is at 6:37 p.m.), you'll get the cue to press play.

Worried he's miscalculated the timing? Doubt it. "I've had good luck with the weather, even here in Seattle. I picked statistically the second least rainy day of the year for us, and it worked out beautifully," Evans wrote me.

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Jen Angkahan

Norm Harris

​Story by David Konow

Norm Harris has been in business selling rare and vintage guitars since 1967, before there was there was the term "vintage guitar," and he says he's never had a bad year. Even with the recent economic downturn, Norm's Rare Guitars, which has always been located in the San Fernando Valley, has been doing very well these days, and rare guitars have proven a good investment when times are good or bad.

Harris, who originally started out as a musician, turned his passion for guitars into a business when he was buying and selling instruments to feed his fetish. When he moved to Los Angeles from Miami, he found it a mecca for great instruments right as the vintage market was launching in the mid-'70s. Harris scoured the L.A. Times classifieds, and would trek to the downtown Greyhound station to get the first copy off the truck at 5 a.m. If Norm found something cool in the paper, he would call at 6 in the morning, apologize profusely for calling so early, and would often have the guitar by 7 a.m.

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Steve Appleford

Warpaint's Emily Kokal, Theresa Wayman, Stella Mozgawa and Jenny Lee Lindberg.

​The road can take some getting used to for a young garage band. For the ladies of Warpaint, the last seven weeks riding tour buses and airplanes across Australia, Japan, Europe and the U.K. took a serious toll. The indie rock quartet were finishing up promoting their acclaimed debut album from last year, the elegantly frayed and understated The Fool. They had never been away quite so long.

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Andrea Domanick

Now you can burn shit, too

​[See also: Exclusive: Pusha T and Tyler the Creator's "Trouble On My Mind" Video Shoot]

Update: Odd Future's management has said that the video shoot is not open to the public. Don't go!

Tyler, the Creator's music god Pharrell said, "You can't be me, I'm a rock star." but Odd Future will encourage you to try tonight.

The L.A. collective is shooting a video and needs extras. 

Earlier today, our favorite Inland Empire collective, Art Goons -- who opened for Kreayshawn at The Roxy a couple weeks ago -- started spreading the word over Facebook and Twitter.

Want to attend? The info you need is below.

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