When Matthew Good plays a February 14 date at the Hotel Café in support of his fifth solo album, Lights Of Endangered Species, you might say he will also be revealing his kinder, gentler musical side.

This newest recorded endeavor includes songs with more of a lush sound, highlighted by horns, strings, piano and other acoustic instrumentation. Good’s music may still be uncharted territory for many U.S. music fans, but back in his home country, Canada, he is a legitimate rock star. His band, the Matthew Good Band, won numerous Juno Awards – that nation’s equivalent to the Grammy Awards – and his prior solo album, Vancouver, earned him the Juno for Rock Album of the Year. Although Good’s longtime producer, Warne Livesey, stocked this latest album with beautifully layered arrangements, the singer/songwriter will arrive in town relatively naked — instrumentally speaking — with just his quivering voice and a trusty guitar. Nevertheless, it’s all Good.

Lana Del Rey is the best indie pop artist on the scene right now. She is the embodiment of the 50’s dream girl; one who likes to be bossed around and calls her lovers “daddy”, but still has a youthful innocence. This is refreshing, especially when compared to the in-your-face raunchiness of Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, and Nicki Minaj. Her heavily anticipated album, Born To Die, was released on January 30th.

To promote her album, Lana Del Rey is performing for free at Amoeba Records on February 7th at 6pm, with autographs being signed after the show. Hopefully, this won’t be a repeat of her terrible Saturday Night Live performance, but either way, you will definitely be entertained. The line will form on Ivar side of Amoeba starting at 4pm. Be sure to bring money to buy plenty of cool posters, records, and CD’s, as you will want to explore Amoeba’s unbeatable catalogue.

It’s that time of the year again!

The best in Independent Hip Hop join forces with Murs and Guerilla Union to bring you the 2012 Paid Dues Hip Hop Festival. Murs made the announcement via Ustream TV over a month ago and suggested that this year would be the year of the “Crew”. Not only is it a great concept but he delivered an amazing lineup! This year’s Paid Dues festival will feature a classic area of performances starring The Wu Tang Clan, Hip Hop’s newest crew – Odd Future featuring Frank Ocean and the always entertaining Tyler The Creator. Also headlining is Murs’ own crew, Living Legends as well as Harlem New York’s finest “Dip Set“ featuring Jim Jones, Camron and Juelz Santana. Recently added to the lineup are DJ Quick, Kendrick Lamar, Hieroglyphics, Psycho Realm and Dilated Peoples. This is truly a Hip Hop festival that you do not want to miss! The show takes place on Saturday, April 7th at The Nos Events Center in San Bernardino, CA. For more information, log on to paidduesfestival.com.

Goldfinger were a staple of my youth and I still love them today. They’re playing a show tomorrow at Chain Reaction in Anaheim to benefit PETA and Homeless Healthcare Los Angeles. It’s going to be an awesome time, make sure to come out and support. Lead singer, John Feldmann was cool enough to answer some questions…Check them out below.

1. Tell us about the upcoming benefit at Chain Reaction.

King Blues, who are supporting us, it’s their first US show ever. They’re a big UK band, and the singer of that band was homeless for about four years, between ages 13-17 of his life. It’s a really big deal for us to help out anyway we can. PETA has always been a huge thing for me, I’ve been involved with the animal rights movement for the last fifteen years of my life.

2. What has been going on with Goldfinger?

We toured South America a couple months ago, it was awesome…A couple thousand kids a night and just crazy, crazy shows, insane crowds.

3. I heard you have a new album on the way…What can we expect and when?

We’re probably going to be making a record around summer of this year.

4. What bands have you been listening to lately?

Lately I’ve been listening to what my daughter has been listening to, all she’ll let me listen to is Adele. That’s it, so I listen to Adele over and over…and my wife has been playing Christina Perri all the time. If I work twelve to sixteen hours a day, all I’m really listening to are the bands I work with, which lately have been, King Blues, Attack Attack!, Twenty One Pilots, The Used, so thats what I’ve been listening to; what I’ve been working on.

5. What bands should we check out?

Definitely King Blues. Definitely Twenty One Pilots.

6. Favorite places to eat in L.A.?

I love the Veggie Grill, Madeline Bistro, Native Foods, and E Baldi.

7. I’d like to make a few special requests for the Chain Reaction show: Carlita, Too Late, The End of the Day, Not Amused…..Any chance?

I don’t know if any of those requests will happen, I think we’ve played “Carlita” once, yeah “Carlita” we played once at the Whiskey, with Angelo Moore from Fishbone. “Too Late” we played once in Nagoya, Japan. “The End of the Day” we played once, and that was a long time ago…I think at a show with Face To Face. “Not Amused” we’ve never played.

8. Shout-outs, Words of Wisdom?

Follow your dreams and stay true to yourself. Shout-out’s to all of our fans, thanks for being with us for so long.

The Cinema Guild is set to release Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone on February 21st. If you can’t wait that long, though, you can get it as an iTunes digital download beginning February 1st.

Actor Laurence Fishburne narrates this extensive documentary, which tells the tale of a wonderfully unique Los Angeles band. Lev Anderson and Chris Metzler paired to produce and direct the documentary about this veteran band; one that has seamlessly combined punk and funk styles into its politically and socially active music for the last 25 years. The film includes the wisdom and reflections of original punk-funk-er, George Clinton, actor Tim Robbins and contemporaries, like Flea and Gwen Stefani. Primarily focusing on singer Angelo Moore and bassist Norwood fisher, this is the story of a band that has somehow survived against all odds. It’s simply impossible to tell the L.A. alternative rock story without Fishbone.

The Babylon Social Club are the kind of band that will leave you with chills. A power house made up of veterans of the rock and blues scene, Herman Matthews, Bennett Salvay, Leslie Smith, W.G. Snuffy Walden, and Terry Wilson, the Babylon Social Club’s most surprising element is vocalist, Sara Niemietz. Niemietz’s strong vocals and range from deep and sultry to rock scream. She has the confidence and chops of an older woman and a hurricane force brims over and out of her petit body. Any youthful innocence that comes out in between songs is forgotten when she convincingly sings both original and reworked blues and R&B.

Sara told L.A. Concert Calendar how the Babylon Social Club came into being.

“BSC has been together as a band for a little over a year now. We all wanted to go out and make some music that we love and Snuffy was the glue in bringing us all together,” she said.

The opportunity to see music this powerful in a chill, cover-free space like Café Cordiale can’t be missed. They are playing this Sunday, January 29th at 8:30, and Café Cordiale has a full dinner menu and bar. Perhaps the sweetest thing about Babylon Social Club is that they share Lil’ Herman’s Old Fashioned Peanut Brittle, artisan sweets made by their drummer, Herman.

See Babylon Social Club:

Café Cordiale 01/29 and 02/19 at 8:30 p.m.

For a preview:

Fishbone’s Norwood Fisher presents “All for the Angels Skankdown Music Festival” at Skatelab Skatepark in Simi Valley featuring Fishbone, Aggression, Knock Out, JFA, Pour Habit, The Untouchables, Graveyard Bandits, The Divine Crime, Ease Up, Kat, Hurly Burly, Braw and more on Saturday, January 28, 2012. The event will benefit AngelCare 4 Children’s efforts to restore life in Haiti. A full day and evening of punk, rock, ska, reggae and soul all for an important cause.

Doors open at 1:00 PM and show time is from 2pm-11pm. Tickets are $30 or $50 for 2 tickets, and can be purchased by visiting Event Brite or by calling (888) 264-5227. Skatelab is located at 4226 Valley Fair Street, Simi Valley, CA 93063.

Punk is not dead! It’s just on display. On Friday, January 27, legendary Los Angeles punk band, X, invades the Museum of Contemporary Art (in Little Tokyo) with fellow punks, The Avengers and the Dead Kennedys (sans estranged frontman, Jello Biafra). The show, which takes place at MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary, is part of the museum’s exhibit, Under The Big Black Sun, 1974-1981. It highlights the change in the political, cultural and economic climates in California as a statement against the post-Nixon and early Reagan-regime ideologies. With the current political climate of “Occupy Everything”, several parallels can be drawn between now and then, why not relive the emotions of the late 70’s/early 80’s with the bands that provided its soundtrack?

X has been playing in and around LA for the last few years (did they ever stop?) which speaks volumes about their tenacity to continually kick out the jams. With all original members, John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom and DJ Bonebreak, they have gone well beyond what critics expected of the punk scene. Their endurance has pushed them past the “legendary punk” moniker to Legendary LA band”. Old, schmold! This band still packs a punch with their high energy, sometimes Rockabilly, punk passion. So bring your moshing shoes, stay for some art and tell Exene I love her!

If fans of heavy music can’t get excited about the 2012 Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, somebody better check for a heartbeat.

This year’s tour, which kicks off at San Manuel Amphitheater in San Bernardino on June 30th, will be headlined by Slipknot. But, as they say on late night TV commercials, that’s not all. Thrash metal veterans Slayer will also be there on the main stage. There is also what the promoters are calling a “major special guest” third headliner, which won’t be announced until March 5th. A rotation of other acts is slated to appear on the main stage, which will vary from city to city, including The Devil Wears Prada, As I Lay Dying and Asking Alexandra. A second festival stage will be headlined by Anthrax. With its ‘best of the old and best of the new’ mixture, the 2012 Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival is sure to be the metal music event of the year.

White Denim is set to open three Wilco shows in Los Angeles, including 1/24 at the Hollywood Palladium, 1/25 at The Wiltern and 1/27 at the Los Angeles Theatre, and headlines The Satellite on 2/11. Any band handpicked by Wilco (arguably the U.S. critical equivalent to Radiohead) to warm up its Spring West Coast tour, must be something special — and, White Denim is a true musical treat.

Much like Wilco, White Denim is nearly impossible to peg stylistically. This Austin, TX four piece’s new album, D, which is certainly not it’s letter grade, might sound like a tight jam band one moment and a progressive country act the next. Vocalist/guitarist James Petralli, by the way, is the son of Major League Baseball catcher Geno Petralli. The band which formed in 2005, already has five full-length albums and five EPs out. Indeed, White Denim is the perfect addition to any self-respecting wardrobe.