Battles (music group)

Setting Times stories to music: From Nirvana to Yo La Tengo

2013-05-18 10:00:00

By Kari Howard The stories I read spark musical connections every day. It’s a bit more rare when the walk to work does. But one of my favorite moments this week came when I was strolling down Broadway past Grand Park in downtown LA, a section...

Bieber vs. Beethoven; a new twist on battle rap

2013-05-13 07:00:00

Comedian Lloyd Ahlquist steps onto the stage, girded for battle. Wearing the uniform of a Soviet officer, with medals dripping from his chest, he channels dictator Joseph Stalin and prepares to deliver a rhyming smackdown on Russia's mad monk, Grigori...

'The Voice' recap: Blake Shelton, Usher knock out top talent

2013-05-01 08:54:00

For the second and final night of Knockouts on "The Voice" Tuesday, the members of Teams Blake and Usher took the stage in pairs to vie for the live rounds. As Teams Adam and Shakira had done the night before, they selected their own songs and, after...

'The Voice' recap: Knockouts halve Teams Adam and Shakira

2013-04-30 09:28:00

It's the Knockouts, that instant elimination round sandwiched between the Battles and the live shows, on "The Voice" this week. On Monday night, in the first of two back-to-back two-hour shows that will trim 32 contestants to only 16 (four from each team)...

Producers Guild inaugural Digital VIP awards find opulent setting

2013-04-12 14:31:00

The Producers Guild of America honored nine people for their contributions to the advancement of digital entertainment and storytelling in an event held in the Bel Air mansion of entrepreneur Elon Musk. The Digital VIP awards celebration attracted...

Brooklyn Festival samples the new classical music of the borough

2013-04-14 09:00:00

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Composer and French horn player Matt Marks, 33, has just completed writing a vocal and orchestral work for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the biggest commission of his life, but this Sunday afternoon in March he's playing the ukulele...

Chun-soo Shin hopes to translate success to Broadway

2013-03-13 06:30:00

His offices in Seoul are nearly 7,000 miles from New York — a 14-hour flight made several times a year — but that hasn't deterred Chun-soo Shin from his bid to become a major Broadway player. One of Korea's top theater producers, Shin has...

'Backbeat' creators go beyond the standard musical theater fare

2013-01-26 10:11:00

Searching for his way into the new musical "Backbeat," which examines the Beatles' early days (and nights) in Hamburg, Germany, David Leveaux asked himself what he called "the Jerome Robbins question." It's a tactic he picked up in 2004 while overseeing...

YouTube's top 10 viral videos of 2012 have 'Gangnam Style'

2012-12-17 21:05:00

South Korean pop sensation Psy's "Gangnam Style" has become the most-viewed YouTube video of all time, with the infectious music video approaching 1 billion views worldwide. The wildfire popularity of the four-minute song and dance video, uploaded...

Fiona Apple's letter about her dog will break your heart

2012-11-20 16:56:00

Fiona Apple has postponed plans to tour South America, telling fans in an impassioned note posted on Facebook that she has opted to stay home with her ailing dog. "I just can't leave her now," she wrote. "Please understand."� The four-page handwritten...

James Bond: Four writers carry forward Ian Fleming’s spy legacy

2012-11-10 09:33:20

Kimbra brings 'Vows' to the Fonda Theatre

2012-10-03 17:53:00

An experienced presence in her native New Zealand, Kimbra bent American ears -- and quite a few of them -- earlier this year as the female voice on Gotye's Hot 100-topping "Somebody That I Used to Know." But that acoustic quirk-pop hit only hints at a bit...

"A lot of times, when groups are making records, you kind of just go willy-nilly, you don't really know what you're gonna do. And if you're lucky, you stumble upon something that you say, 'Hey, this is a thread that ties these things together.

2013-02-15 00:00:00

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot - The Flaming Lips" width="75" height="42" title="Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot - The Flaming Lips" >

Like the rest of the album, "Battles," sneaks up on you. It's a psychedelic incantation that starts out slow, with an ominous drum beat and Katrina Ford stretching out verses to their breaking point, and gradually crescendoes up to a furious finale that comes breathlessly close to unraveling. --E.M.

2011-12-17 00:00:00