Vans Warped Tour is by far my most attended concert festival. I believe I made it out to seven over the course of nine years, and while I haven’t attended a Warped in some time now, I’ll never forget the energy and excitement of being around so many people who shared a similar vision for what great music could be: a little edgy (more PG-13 than R), a little sexy (all those skinny boys in those tight jeans), and really, really fun. This Thursday, March 28th, the Vans Warped Tour will be holding a kick-off party at Club Nokia for the 2013 incarnation of the festival, and LA Music Blog is giving away two pairs of tickets to the show!
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Upon its release back in August, I was seriously impressed by Lianne La Havas’ album Is Your Love Big Enough?, and that admiration has not waned in the months since. The young Brit’s debut melds soul, jazz, and pop into a breezy,, yet in no way vapid listen, and at the time of its release, we fans on the West Coast were being left out in the cold with regards to a live show. She’s since visited our fair city as support for John Legend, but next Wednesday La Havas will be the main attraction when she headlines El Rey Theatre, and we’re giving away TWO pairs of tickets to the show!
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Laidback Luke, a gifted producer who was born in the Philippians and raised in the Netherlands, has been making tracks since 1996. He’s collaborated with the likes of Swedish House Mafia, Steve Aoki, and The Black Eyed Peas, and continues to produce monstrous tunes all while running his own label, Mixmash. He’ll be rocking the dance floor at the Fox Theater in Pomona on March 7th along with 
Brazzabelle and the talented FYOR, and we have TWO pairs of tickets to give away to the show!
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If you’re as big a fan of punk rock and tattoos as I am, you’re likely counting down the days until the 2013 MusInk Tattoo and Music Fest taking place the weekend of March 8-10 at the OC Fair & Events Center in Costa Mesa. The festival will feature performances by Bad Religion, Reverend Horton Heat, TSOL, Lagwagon, The Vandals, Lucero, and Pennywise (recently reformed with all four original members), as well as over 300 tattoo artists, and we’re giving one lucky reader a free pair of 3-day general admission passes to the event!
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Mykki Blanco is a prime example of an artist living their art. The cross-dressing New York-based rapper describes his/her new mixtape, Cosmic Angel: The Illuminati Prince/ss, as “a reflection of the lifestyle that my peers and I are living right now, this moment where it feels as if global club culture is connected again, New York, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Tokyo, Rio, the international underground has come together for an all night party that never ends and Cosmic Angel is the soundtrack.” On March 7th, Mykki will bring that international swagger to LA for a show at Los Globos with Brooke Candy, Ratchet Set, and DJ Automaton, and we’re giving one lucky reader a pair of free tickets!
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At only 29 minutes, Willy Moon’s debut, Here’s Willy Moon, may be short on length, but its influences span decades and continents. A sampler for the album was just released this week, and depending on the track, the 23-year-old New Zealand-born artist’s music reminds me of everything from The Ramones to Tom Waits to Alex Clare. Moon is currently touring the US in support of the album, which will be released on April 2nd via Cherrytree/Island Records, and we’re giving away a pair of tickets to his show at The Bootleg Theatre on February 27th!
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As an admitted nerd for words, I love the trend of artists releasing lyric videos for their songs prior to sharing the “official” videos with fans, but after watching Josh Ritter’s lyric video for “New Lover” off his upcoming release, The Beast in Its Tracks, out March 5th, I can’t imagine a more perfect visual representation of the track. The dusty typewriter featured in the video epitomizes Ritter’s classic Americana style, and the anti-love letter nature of the song itself is perfectly suited for the video’s theme.
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