Timothy Norris

ScHoolboy Q

Better Than... Actually being a freshman in high school

Since 2008, hip-hop magazine XXL has named its "top freshmen" each year, and on Saturday night the bulk of them performed at Club Nokia. Black Hippy crewmates Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul were included in the group, and one expected they would perform together. But that was not the case, even though each performed tracks that had the other originally featured.

Electra Keller

Armin van Buuren

Armin van Buuren
Hollywood Palladium
May 3, 2013

Dutch trance DJ Armin van Buuren has been a fan favorite since the '90s, many times the #1 spinner by DJ Magazine's ranking. He co-owns label Armada music and hosts a popular radio series, A State of Trance.

On Friday, on tour to promote his fifth album, Intense, his first stop was the Hollywood Palladium. He brought it. The night went something like this:

Timothy Norris

Better than...most karaoke versions of "Just A Girl."

See also: *Our slideshow of the concert and fans
*We Ask a Designer Why No Doubt's New Record Cover Sucks So Hard

On Saturday night No Doubt returned to Los Angeles for the first time in three years to perform their first collection of new songs since 2001. Though the wait for Push and Shove was slowly creeping into Chinese Democracy territory, Gwen Stefani and company reminded 6,000-plus that they haven't lost their ability to appeal to the masses.

Lina Lecaro

Dude...

While the Sunset Strip Music fest has primarily been seen as a head-banger hullabaloo attracting faithful longhairs and babes in studded belts -- and not much else -- it's slowly evolved into a true representation of the ever-changing boulevard. Honoring the past is part of it, but this year's SSMF bill made it clear that new forms of music flourish here too.

Jason Roche

Better Than...flying across the country to see Deftones in sports arenas on the East Coast next month.

For a band whose lyrics are ridden with angst, Saturday night's Deftones show was filled with smiling faces, from the stage to the crowd.

The Troubadour is a far cry from the sports arenas the group will be playing next month with System Of A Down. But the cozy confines of this show led to one of the more communal atmospheres we've seen in a heavy music show.

Azealia Banks
Fonda Theatre
7/14/12

Hip-hop remains one of the last bastions of bald-faced homophobia. Rappers follow any remotely gay-sounding comment with "no homo," and historically, one of the devastating battle disses is questioning your rival's heterosexuality.

But there have been hints of change. Earlier this year, an Iggy Azalea concert attracted more openly gay men than we'd ever seen at a hip-hop show. A couple weeks ago, Odd Future member Frank Ocean poked his toe out of the closet with the announcement that his first love was a man. And last night, Harlem rapper Azealia Banks' first headlining show in L.A. was a "Mermaid Ball," a glitter-smeared, drag-encouraged event that seemed modeled after New York's gay-friendly early '90s club scene.

Aaron Frank

Black Moth Super Rainbow

Black Moth Super Rainbow
The Echoplex
5/12/12

Better than: watching Usher sing over watered-down techno on Saturday Night Live.

In a rare live appearance at the Echoplex on Saturday, enigmatic psych-pop band Black Moth Super Rainbow exceeded their fans' expectations with a mind-expanding performance. It was a transformative experience for the sold-out crowd who had come to see a band highly praised in corners of the Internet, yet mostly unknown to the general public.

Over the past ten years, the mysterious collective, led by visionary producer Tobacco, has built a following through intense live performances and colorful, genre-defying albums. They've also skirted major labels and essentially shunned mainstream success, intentionally and unintentionally.

SJ O'Connell

Better than...having to listen to me sing the national anthem.

The "Star Spangled Banner" is a notoriously difficult song to sing. Its one and a half octave range of chest-pounding passion has stumped many singers. Nonetheless last Saturday, for the first time ever, the Dodgers held open auditions for a chance to sing the national anthem at a Dodgers exhibition game. Over 500 people showed up.

Roselle Chen

Fans at Aziatix concert

Since producer Jae Chong formed Aziatix a year ago, they've been on the cover of Newsweek in South Korea, sold out a 10-city U.S. tour last year, hit No. 1 on Japan's R&B and Soul charts, reached No. 4 on the iTunes R&B and Soul chart and were in two showcases at SXSW. Therefore it was surprising to see the El Rey only about half-full. The fans who were there, however, were true fans, mostly teenage to college-aged girls screaming for the R&B and pop trio made up of Eddie Shin from Boston, Nicky Lee from Los Angeles and Jay "Flowsik" Pak from Queens, NY.

The fun, hour-long set was filled with slick production, poppy tunes, sweet songs about love and solid rap from Flowsik.

Kai Flanders

Starfucker

College music festivals aren't always compelling. They often book a bunch of acts popular with students that don't add up to a coherent bill. The fest put on by my alma matter had Drake follow Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. But USC's KXSC Fest, held Saturday night on the campus, managed to put together a lineup that worked well.

After a bevy of openers, (Gothic Tropic, Fiore, Trmrs), L.A. psych-rockers White Fence played to a thousand kids or so. Some of their recordings -- "Mr. Adams, "The Love Between" -- are fun to listen to in a spacey, pining sort of mood, but live they lost some of their essential weirdness; less flower-power bizarreness than by-the-book indie rock. They were competent; people sort of danced. But at least some of us wished it were White Denim instead.