/ By Jackie Brennan / Syrian-born Azniv Korkejian was sad to leave Saudi Arabia for the United States at the age of 10, when her Armenian parents unexpectedly won a green-card lottery. The displacement left her with a sense of wandering that followed her through her teens and 20s, as…
/ By Jackie Brennan / Given that we do a regular profile on some of the most exciting artists from LA’s music scene, we knew this was coming. We thought we’d prime the pump with some names of LA musicmakers you maybe haven’t heard of, and for several weeks, we…
/ By Jackie Brennan / For many Fridays, we’ve brought you profiles on LA musicmakers who either inspire us for how they channel the essence of their home region, or have made a deliberate commitment to using their platform to elevate issues. On the surface, our pick for this week’s…
/ By Jackie Brennan / Think of Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner as the bass-playing counterpart to tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington, who we shared about back in March. Like Washington, Thundercat is an LA musicmaker. Also like Washington, Thundercat was part of the studio crew that Kendrick Lamar tapped to help him…
/ By Tamieka Briscoe / As planning for Upswell and building our community of changemakers continues, we’ve found inspiration in artists within and outside of the Los Angeles area who are using their talent to bring issues to light. Inspired and informed by global grassroots movements, Quetzal—a bilingual Chicano rock…
/ By Jackie Brennan / Kamasi Washington and his band came up in the LA music scene by playing sets on the DJ night and goth club circuit. Today, the fusion tenor saxophonist is widely considered one of the vanguards of Los Angeles’s resurging jazz community. His debut studio record—a…
/ By Jackie Brennan / If you reach for studio material from Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale looking for something new, you might be disappointed. The two-man act known as The Milk Carton Kids doesn’t feign to be anything new. After all, they play folk music. By Ryan’s own admission…
/ By Debra Rainey / Los Angeles is the setting for Upswell LA, scheduled November 14-16. LA is home to many things – sunny days, “star-filled” nights, movie-making, and many of the recording industry’s hottest and emerging artists. As planning for Upswell LA continues, we’d like to introduce our community…