Los Angeles, a city with a metro area population of 16.4 million, is hard to holistically describe in any real capacity. The weather’s great, though sometimes there’s smog. The city sprawls over 500 square miles so people drive everywhere. They commute, they wait in traffic on their way to a secret taco truck or Korean BBQ spot, they shuttle to casting calls or to the beach, or to hike the canyons. Like New York, L.A.’s music scene is representative of the overall American music psyche. Its history stretches back further than we care to elucidate upon at the moment, but suffice it to say that it deserves a few chairs at the king’s table in the pantheon of music history.
As rents continue to soar in San Francisco and New York, once-skeptical artists are moving to L.A., thus contributing to a just-barely-underground creative scene that seems to be having somewhat of a renaissance as of late. It’s a city where the old school lives in harmony with the new school. DJs still spin Egyptian Lover, G-funk, 2Pac, Pharcyde, Snoop, and Dre. You can still bump into local musicians at Amoeba or Origami, or catch them at a show. But L.A. is also a city that doesn’t publicize what’s really happening—as the motto for the Sarcastic Disco party goes, “If you don’t know, ask somebody.”
In celebration of the Budweiser Made in America festival hitting L.A. this weekend, we figured that we’d showcase who’s doing a killer job repping the City of Angels in the music scene right now—some you may know, some you may not. Either way, if you want some insight into this sunny city that sprawls between the Pacific and the Sierras, keep reading.
Fade to Mind
