Photo by Christine Taylor

Jesse Sykes

Each week in our print editions and every day on our blogs, the 13 Voice Media Group papers feature some of the best music writing in the country.

That's why we're excited to announce the winners of our first VMG music writing awards. The honor goes to the authors of one blog post and one print piece; eligible were any of our freelance scribes.

The envelope please...

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School's back in session, and we decided to give you a pop quiz that tests your knowledge of five Los Angeles-bred bands. Can you identify the following groups based on the clues and pixelated photos we've provided?

Oh, just to up the ante: for every incorrect answer you provide, you must remove an article of clothing. If you're playing along at work, and as a result get fired and charged with indecent exposure, don't rat us out. Answers are provided on page three. No cheating!

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Adnan Safadi didn't want to set expectations too high, but his goal was to have the music video shoot he was producing be the most fun project he and his friends had ever worked on. Turns out, it was.

This sheer enthusiasm is palpable on "The Dangle," a joyfully ridiculous music video that finds Safadi and friends dancing around various Los Angeles locations and Safadi rapping about having fun, wilding out "lookin' kinda dumb" and "gettin' hella juice." Released on August 19, "The Dangle" quickly racked up 74,000 views on YouTube, making it a surprise success for everyone involved in its creation.

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Greg Papazian

The rock and roll fairy tale has more to do with booze-fueled, groupie-filled nights than it does babies and happily-ever-after romances. But for Dan Reynolds and Aja Volkman-Reynolds, the latter is proving to be true.

At first glance the pair are a bit of an odd couple, Reynolds towering over Volkman-Reynolds' tiny frame. Yet moments into observing their quirky compatibility, the pair are completely charming. Both serve as lead singers of separate rock bands, he with indie outfit Imagine Dragons and she with L.A. favorites Nico Vega. The two met in 2010 after playing at Wasted Space in Las Vegas, where they performed on the same bill. While they felt an immediate spark, marriage wasn't exactly on either of their radars.

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Crazy Town's Shifty Shellshock

We were saddened by word that Crazy Town frontman Shifty Shellshock fell into a coma last week. According to TMZ, the 37-year-old Los Angeles native (real name Seth Binzer) is now conscious, though he remains in an intensive care unit at a local hospital. We love the guy, and figured this was as good a time as any to tell you everything about him.

Shellshock first came to national attention with Crazy Town's hit 2001 single "Butterfly." At rap-metal's absolute peak, the seductive ballad was hard enough for rock stations but still catchy enough for pop radio, topping Billboard's Hot 100 chart and reaching #1 in six other countries. The third single from the group's debut The Gift of Game, it gave their then-almost 18-month-old album a second life and catapulted the group to worldwide stardom.

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Bob B. Brown and Weekly Dig/CC 2.0

See also:
*Interview With a Raver Who Wears Electrical Tape on Her Boobs
*Ask a Teen Raver

Lines stretched for blocks in northeast L.A. last night as fans jostled to get a taste of the latest Skrillex project -- a literal taste, that is, of the diminutive dubstep pioneer's new mobile culinary lab, Grillex.

The Grammy-winning L.A. native Skrillex (born Sonny Moore) launched Grillex to minimal initial fanfare, keeping it mostly a secret until yesterday afternoon, when the truck rolled up to the corner of Echo Park Avenue at Sunset and tweets piled upon tweets, prompting a rush of mostly black-clad superfans to get their hands on his new creations.

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Neil Jacobs

Yes, that's Val Kilmer

See also:
*Our review of Ryan Adams, for whom Kilmer as Twain opened
*Renaissance Man Val Kilmer May Have Met his Match

A bomb threat has sealed off the streets surrounding us, but Val Kilmer is calm. His long blond hair tied back into a loose ponytail, the actor is wearing a blue blazer, blue and white checkered shirt, and Levis, and sitting on a couch in his publicist's Hollywood office. He pours himself tea from a thermos and water from a mason jar. As he points to a piece of carrot sticking out of the middle of his "healthy" hamburger patty, he jokes that the meal is nutritious.

This is the infamously difficult Val Kilmer?

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Ben Westhoff

See also: Ximena Sariñana: An Indie-Pop Star In Mexico, Anonymous In L.A.

Ximena Sariñana knocked the wind out of us at the SXSW PlayNetwork showcase last week. We weren't quite as delirious as a pair of Mexican twink uber-fanboys who'd traveled hundreds of miles, but we were certainly smitten. For starters, she's funny. "When I started performing in the U.S. I wasn't used to hauling my own gear," she told us after the show. "In Mexico there's a lot of cheap labor."

Then there's the latest single off her self-titled album, "Echo Park," a tender skewer of the L.A. neighborhood and its denizens. "Everyone's like, 'Hipsters suck,'" she says. "But at the same time, we're all hipsters." (The video is below.) Though she's about to move to Mar Vista, she's a former Echo Parker herself, and in the spirit of the song here are five things she loves about Echo Park boys.

5. They don't take baths

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Elano Pizzicarola

Laura Kelsey, 24, Marz Beeuwsaert, 17, Kristin Cooper, 21, and Beth Boyd, 20

The Flytraps will have you know that they have no feminist agenda. Oh, and their members can "out-drink any guy," says their bassist Kristin Cooper, on a warm Sunday afternoon in drummer Laura Kelsey's backyard.

The group members are prone to giggling and teasing each other in person. They've been together for about two years; two previous members left for school. "They weren't rock and roll types," Cooper says.

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Rebecca Haithcoat

Ted, Ben, Muffin, Lane

Mansions on the Moon are not at home.

It's an unusually warm Wednesday afternoon, and I'm camped out on the front porch of their Hollywood home thirty minutes after our scheduled meeting time. Suddenly, my phone rings and Ted Wendler, the band's lead singer and guitarist, breathlessly and profusely apologizes for forgetting the interview. "We're running down from Runyon Canyon right now!" he says.

That they're a little spacey is only fitting for a band whose name and sound are inspired by such. Also, the band, rounded out by drummer Lane Shaw and keyboardist Ben Hazlegrove, have just released a 5-song EP called Light Years, completely written and produced by them and executive produced by Pharrell Williams. They're about to set off on tour. Mac Miller is a big fan. In other words, they've got a lot going on.

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