Who doesn’t love a Pizza! Party?  The band that captivated your hearts and souls this month is scheduled to perform at The Echo on May 18th.  It’s sure to be a good time. 

Local songstress Jamie Drake will be celebrating the release of her debut album When I Was Yours at Hotel Café on May 13th. The show will feature Drake with a full band that features members of The Parson Red Heads. Sally Jaye, Amanda Jo Williams and Brother Sal (one of the best piano players in the city) will play as well. Things will get started at 7pm.

I can confidently aver that Warpaint‘s "Billie Holiday" has been stuck deeply in my head for several days.  This would quickly be deemed as problematic by most, but I’m rather enjoying it.  However, I cannot say the same for those I associate with.  I myself am not an extraordinary singer, and listening to me spell out B-I-L-L-I-E in a sing songy fashion is not what most consider enjoyable.  Watch this video and torture your friends like I have been.  Also, catch them before they embark on their European tour on May 8th at the Bootleg Theater.

Long Beach’s own Deep Sleep Ops will be gracing the Prospector with their musical presence on Thursday, May 6th.  I’d suggest making the journey.

Thursday night @ 3 Clubs in Hollywood it’s the May version of The Rumble: Los Angeles with three more acts performing that should be on your radar. Mississippi Man headlines, backed by the Bay Area’s Ferocious Few, and L.A.’s Dirt Dress. Thursday’s party is going to be a whiskey-infused mess after these three acts drop their delta blues meets 2010 rock n roll on all of us.

Shlohmo, aka Henry Laufer brings a keen ear to the music he makes, using mostly found sound, fragile old gear and a laptop. With beat and soundscape arrangements that leave the listener hypnotized, the songs breath life from the organic and electronic worlds colliding. Fan favorites "Hot Boxing The Cockpit" and "Antigravity" place him right amongst neu-bass contemporaries like Flying Lotus, Nosaj Thing, Ras G and others in the Low End Theory-fueled Los Angeles beat scene while a track like "7am" oozes Dilla-esque swagger; all the while remaining effortlessly cinematic. Laufer will release Shlomoshun Deluxe on May 24, as a follow-up to his acclaimed Shlomoshun EP out late 2009.

LA-based troubadours Lemon Sun release their new album and music video for Touch the Lightning tonight at The Echo. Frontman Rob Kolar’s voice and lyrics enrapture listeners without effort– he’s a real storyteller. They’re joined by Leopold and His Fiction as well as Red Arrow Messenger.

Producer Charles Newman (Magnetic Fields, AM) returns to the stage at The Hotel Café tomorrow night, Thursday April 29, with Vermonter singer/songwriter Kris Gruen—their last stop on a tour up and down the California Coast promoting Gruen’s new album Part of It All. Stream part of the album here! Newman is the man behind the curtain, publisher of the quarterly print issue of the The Deli Magazine Los Angeles in his spare time. You can still pick up the Winter issue at various locations around Hollywood– most bookstores, cafes, or coffeshops that offer free independent magazines.

Corridor is multi-instrumentalist Michael Quinn’s chillingly beautiful head-dives into obscure psychic worlds via expertly orchestrated guitar, cello and sampler loops and digital effects. You’ll also want to catch our neighbors from the north, Sister Crayon out of Sacramento. At Spaceland tonight around party hour.

Helen Stellar draws comparisons to London‘s "shoegaze" movement of the early 90s with thunderous drums, thick-grooved bass melodies and distorted guitar bliss. But elements of their sound transcend the genre. A bit Radiohead and a bit Cure. Check out the last night of their Monday-night residency at Spaceland tonight at 11pm.

If you ever find yourself wondering what it would be like to see Big Whup live and in person, redirect your gaze to the video above.  This band of five does not discriminate against instruments.  These equal oppurtunists do not stop at the go-to guitar, drums and bass.  They utilize saws, violas, tap shoes, organs, triolas, banana shakers and their own bodies.  If that doesn’t sound like a good time, I’m not sure I know what one is. 

There are only two steps you must follow upon reading this sentence.  Firstly, watch the video up there ^.  Secondly, go see Open Hand in the flesh on the 24th at Origami Vinyl Record Shop in Echo Park.  Begin!