Lisa Sklov-Wooding

Chatsworth Chiefs Track Team circa 1997

​When I was about five, my parents decided it was time for me to become a runner. My sister, two years my senior, had already left a legacy for me to live up to as the latest Chatsworth Chief track team legend. As a somewhat-chubby sandbox dweller, I was ill-prepared for such expectations and was perhaps the only one who took solace in the fact that everyone always cheers for the kid who finishes last.

These days, there is no one to make me go running (unless you count my boyfriend's constant verbal affirmations of Jessica Biel's beach body). So, in an effort to re-live the days of my youth and force strangers to clap for me, I have signed up for my very first half-marathon.

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​See also:
*Nick Waterhouse: The Young Man Who Makes Old R&B
*Top 10 Los Angeles Albums of 2011

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue came out this week, and for some reason it went all indie on everybody's asses. A-Trak, the world's most hipster DJ, graces the pages, and the models' videos are soundtracked by all sorts of bands you thought only you and your Thirsty Crow drinking buddy were into.

They include Toro Y Moi, Black Lips, and SoCal dudes made good including Delta Spirit, Hanni El Khatib and Nick Waterhouse, both off the Innovative Leisure label. All of this seemed to come out of absolutely nowhere, so we caught up with Waterhouse to find out how it went down. Turns out he got to meet his model! (Their video is below.)

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We love our moms and probably don't do enough to tell them how awesome they are. This is doubly true when your mom writes hit songs, plays a million instruments and despite juggling career and family still looks smoking hot doing it.

All moms rock of course, and in tribute, here's 10 of the hottest moms who rock out professionally.

10) Lætitia Sadier

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Lætitia Sadier is a founding member of Stereolab, the greatest Anglo-French collabo since the birth of Charlotte Gainsbourg. She's also the proud mother of 13 year old Alex, another project created with Stereolab co-founder Tim Gane. We're sad that the band is on indefinite hiatus, but Lætitia deserves the vacation. On Mother's day we'll listen to Ping-pong on a loop and revisit the crush we've had on her since 1993.

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Most keep their shirts on, sorry guys!

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[UPDATE, 1/27/2011: We listened to our beloved commenters, so here's "People's Choice: Commenters Pick 4 More Female Drummers in L.A. for Our List!"]

Do you like women? Do you like drums? Do you like women on drums? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then the launch of Tom Tom Magazine comes as good news. Founded in New York by Mindy Abovitz, the new magazine dedicated to female drummers heeded the advice to "Go West, young woman" for its fifth issue, and turned to Swahili Blonde mastermind Nicole Turley's expertise on L.A.'s leading ladies of percussion.

So, what defines a great female drummer for Turley? "Women have this innate quality where it's in their nature to lay back and listen to what's going on around them," she says, "paying attention openly, finding a proper space for everything to blend together. You find this in the best female drummers and musicians in general. Everyone's different, of course, but men get tunnel vision with things that they do. That's one thing I notice with women in music. More women are becoming multi-instrumentalists, songwriters, exploring all avenues of music. It makes sense. It's within a woman's nature to take in everything about her environment."

Here's then Nicole Turley's Top 9 Female Drummers in L.A.:

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Daisy O'Dell

The Divine Miss O: Daisy O'Dell being awesome

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One of the amazing things about the aughts (aka, the '00s) is that there are too many female DJs for me to fit on yesterday's Top Five Hottest L.A. Lady DJs in 2010 list. Yes. This was not the case ten years ago, and I am happy to report that I was taken to task by our colleagues at the always useful Scenestar indie music blog for failing to include the following talented spinstresses in my list yesterday. So, behold! five more ladies who know their sh*t and look good doin' it, which is crucial, since as we all know, looking good is the most important thing that a woman can aspire to. Also, appearing forever young, and getting married.

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​[UPDATE: Now there's a sequel with more spinnin' hotties!. Here are some more Hottest L.A. Lady DJs in 2010]
I wish I could title this post "Hottest Female Vinyl DJs in LA", if only to imply that there is a post on beat DJs to come. While it's not uncommon these days to see ladies (wo)man the 1s and 2s using a mix of vinyl and Serrato, watching a dame go crazy on Ableton is fewer and farther between than I think anyone would like.

But! There is still good news: there are too many hot lady DJs to put on this list! Yes! When yours truly started DJing back in 2003, there were exactly three of us in all of Orange County, and maybe five or six in L.A. I am happy to report that times, they have changed!

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[For the Top 5 Hottest Guys from the Hottest Indie Bands in L.A. in 2010, click here.]

You may not have noticed, but there is a new and interesting trend wherein women actually play music! In bands! With instruments and everything! Pretty crazy right? I know. I have no clue where they got the idea that they should do that instead of just watching guys make music. Particularly since some of the guys that make music are super hot and fun to watch.

Anyway, some women these days make amazing music, and some of them manage to do it so well that people focus on the music instead of how hot they are. Like these women! Who are they? Where can you find this mysterious breed of human that is a) female bodied, b) rockin' and c) hot? Right here! In Los Angeles--some of them are pictured here, just hanging out, being hot! And why write about music if not to evaluate the extent to which musicians--particularly female musicians-- live up to our increasingly unrealistic standards of beauty? Why not, indeed!

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El Guincho stars in the tits-filled surrealist masterwork, "Bombay." (Adria Canemeras)

​Barcelona psych-pop musician El Guincho, who performs at La Cita on Wednesday, October 6, is the star of a tits-filled surrealist masterwork called Bombay.

Those already familiar with the man's incredible new album, Pop Negro, know that's the title of one of the songs therein -- "Bombay" is a particularly stunning work of Tropicalismo that references Animal Collective as lithely as Tom Zé.

So what is this then, a music video? Sort of. The length of the official film Bombay is as yet unknown, but the nearly six-minute trailer works just fine as a music video. It's got legs of its own. And breasts. And breasts. And more breasts.

Watch:

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