The AP has the updated story:

A singer and two members of his staff were found tortured and killed just south of the California border, apparently the latest victims in a string of slayings of Mexican musicians, state prosecutors said Wednesday. Jesus Rey David Alfaro Pulido, 26, known as “El Gallito,” was found strangled and shot in the head last week in Tijuana, said a spokeswoman for the Baja California attorney general’s office who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter. His body was apparently frozen, the spokeswoman said.

Reports had first emerged of the deaths of Alfaro, manager Israel Flores, and his assistant, Jose Guadalupe Topete on Friday. Prosecutors confirmed the deaths on Wednesday. The killings may have been linked to three others in Tijuana last week, including that of a municipal police officer, the attorney general’s office said in a statement.

Many of the bodies bore signs of torture and were left with written notes common in execution-style killings. No arrests have been made in the killings. Alfaro was the latest Mexican musician killed in a string of murders that include the December death of Sergio Gomez, lead performer for the top-selling group K-Paz de la Sierra, and the November 2006 slaying of Valentin Elizalde.

Damn good music hijacks my emotional control and sends me spinning. It takes me from zero to melancholy, electric, exuberant, and horny in five seconds or less. So, I know the band Actress is damn good because their shows send me to the edge of bursting with good feeling. It’s clear that this band has a passion for the music, but it occurs to me more than once during the show—maybe Actress enjoys being up there because they’re just really f’ing good at what they do. My girls and I leave the show with damp panties.

You could compare their sound to the Killers, and their vibe to ‘60s rock, but that’s just for point of reference. Actress is like Havarti—it’s got flavor that is distinct, well-developed, and all its own.
Aaron Ficchi is a naturally gifted singer. He hits his vocal sweet spots across the octaves so effortlessly that his vocals seem less like singing than melodic release. It’s the soaring vibrato; it’s the airy crooning of bright, catchy melodies punctuated with “GO”s belted at perfect pitch. Aaron Ficchi doesn’t have to try. He just works. His icon-worthy good looks and signature get-ups—tight slacks, flashy white boots, retro shades, and startling baby blues—-paint a pretty good picture of this band’s playful-but-sophisticated, trendy-but-grounded personality.

Drummer Josh Ficchi plays the drums like he must lay his lovers. He throws out a self-assured, fiery rhythm. The percussive accompaniment is fast-paced and energetic, propelling tunes forward. In spite of that velocity, the music feels deliberate and composed.

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Los Angeles TACO would like to congratulate our good friend and roots hero Ras Leon on his feature in the new issue of High Times. Those who skanked and mashed it up back in the day might remember Leon’s astonishing shows in Southern Cali leading the Santa Barbara-based group Underground Roots Syndicate.

If you love reggae music, if you love dancehall, if you love roots music with a positive, uplifting message, Leon’s Jahhiya Records is the reggae label to watch in 2008 and beyond. Check out the compilations Blazing Hits 1 & 2, featuring legends like Anthony B, Yami Bolo, Tony Rebel, Everton Blender, and be introduced to some of reggae’s best emerging talents like Mr. Beenie and Emanuel Stain. The music is fresh, energizing, and especially rare for most reggae compilations, flawless!

Lots of love to Jahhiya Records and Ras Leon, check the tunes out at www.jahhiyarecords.com, get the 2 albums at Jahhiya’s MP3 Store and keep in touch with L.A. TACO and Jahhiya’s Myspace page for more.

We wrote about the transcendent performance of My Pet Dragon when we saw them perform at The Artwallah Festival a while back. We just caught this video of their song “Pagan Blues.” It’s pretty badass and reminds us of why we were feeling them so much to begin with. Although an appearance by the talented and lovely Reena is missed, the video has a lot of power. Give it a minute.

The Messies are not for everyone. They have a polished, almost prefabricated sound that some “serious” music fans might consider too radio-friendly. Think “Avril Lavigne” meets “Fall Out Boy”, with a 2:1 ratio.

The one thing you can’t do, though, is deny their talent. These guys are REALLY good at what they do. At their most recent show, my friend and I were debating on just how often they have to rehearse to be as tight and prepared as they are. We decided no fewer than 4 times a week, if not more.

The Messies are currently working with producer Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette, No Doubt, the Goo Goo Dolls, etc…) in the studio and will have an album finished soon. They’ll likely get signed, so if you’re the type of person who likes to brag about how you “discovered” a band before they made it big, you should see them perform at least once.

You can catch the Messies this coming Tuesday (10/30) at the Key Club in West Hollywood. It’s an all-ages show, and free. The show starts at 8pm.

- Report and Photos by Spinosaurus

Wow! Madlib’s “Beat Konducta” record release party 8-24-07 was chock full of heads from all parts of L.A.

Everyone was served free Indian food and 3 types of 20oz Indian beer!

Gaslamp Killer was on the mix doing his thing and passing out Nag Champa to everyone!

I had my mind set of thinking this was going to be a little off the wall, because of the Indian themed record event, but I was feeling a good vibe at this party and was impressed with the great food and mellow beats. Heads like, ABSENT, ZUELA, Baby Ghost and various members of the H+R crew were there to all show their support.

This album is going to change how you feel about Indian/hip-hop music, if you had an opinion before this. Madlib keeps this album fresh and steady with beats that flow like the Sunset in India.

Thanks again to everyone that made LATACO welcome! We look forward to your next record release party! Oh yeah, the food was the BOMB!!! peace & love…. 455ERccc

The first time I saw Foreign Born I thought they were some A&R asshole’s wettest dream: four handsome twenty-something white dudes playing ’80s-influenced modern rock. That was back in June of ‘05, when their “In The Remote Woods” EP had just come out on StarTime Intl and they - along with a couple of other LA acts like the Adored and the Blood Arm - seemed ready to break out. I wound up going back to Spaceland every Monday that month during their residency, and each week the club was packed to capacity, with kids pumping their fists and suits nervously eyeing their competitors at the bar. Backed by a handmade lighting system that was triggered by pedals their bassist orchestrated, their music was widescreen, revealing, and passionate, and while their appearance suggested preppy Los Feliz kids, they were highly unique. Then, a funny thing happened: Foreign Born didn’t blow up.

I always assumed that this was the kind of music Nic Harcourt would get a boner for, and that after the Brits jumped onto the bandwagon, Foreign Born would be up and away, opening for the White Stripes and playing festivals in Portugal. Instead, bands like Cold War Kids blew past them, and FB seemed resigned to doing half-assed gigs (like their show at the Hammer when they performed as a three-piece) and playing set lists that played up to the nickname their detractors called them: Four and Boring.

In the last few weeks, however, it seems like a fire has finally been lit under their asses. When the Rapture headlined at the Mayan last month, FB was there as support, displaying the driving foot tappers that got them noticed way back when, and this week they’re featured on MySpace’s music section, just got a slot on the first episode of the new show from the dude who did “The OC,” and even Pitchfork gave them a nice review, accurately proclaiming them to be “full of vast, powerful tunes.” Today their debut album, “On the Wing Now,” finally gets released on Dim Mak, and tonight the band celebrates with a free show at the Echo with Eastern European women’s choir Nevenka and lush droners In Waves.

Download: Union Hall by Foreign Born mp3

The Good Foot is one of those clubs, like Make-Up and Root Down (back when it was at Gabah) before it and Dub Club now, that is such a clusterfuck of LA ideas and ideals that it goes beyond any concept of nightclubbing and ventures into the realm of a family reunion - if you had really cool, really diverse relatives. DJ Dennis is a master of wax, and the last time I saw him spin he went from !!! to James Brown to Outkast and no one flinched. Too often with funk and soul nights the concept of both the deejays and dancers is disgustingly myopic, and the focus is on the clothes or the scooters or whatever genre the DJ should be spinning; I was at a bar in San Francisco a couple of summers ago when a mod stormed out of the club because they were playing too wide an array of sounds, but before he split he shouted in frustration “I thought this was a Northern Soul club!” At the Good Foot, the crowd is mixed with Bong Leach locals and people crusing down the 710, packed with punks and greasers, cholos and drunks, mods and rockers.

Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of the albums put out by the Numero Group, who are suddenly vying with Soul Jazz as the preeminent reissue label, but it’s “Cult Cargo: Belize City Boil Up” that’s been getting the most play. The mix of calypso, funk, rock, reggae and disco is beautiful to hear, sometimes in the same song, and while I haven’t heard of these tracks being spun at the Good Foot, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. Check out Lord Rhaburn’s “Disco Connection,” watch a clip of James Brown, and then meet me at Que Sera tonight, and try to find a way not to feel the funk.

Download: Disco Connection mp3

Imagine if Mandy Moore/Hilary Duff/Jessica Simpson made her LA debut not at some slick club in Hollywood but at a mall in Thousand Oaks (actually, probably one of them did), and she wasn’t some polished blond teenager, but a homely brunette in her thirties. And imagine if one of the members of Hot Chip, or Ratatat, or Junior Boys, became more well known for his pop project than his real band. Combine these two fruity ideas, throw some Spanish into the blender, and the smoothie you’ll get is María Daniela Y Su Sonido Lasser, and what’s happening tonight in Montebello.

Mexico has always had its fair share of shit pop and bubblegum rock, but like Sweden, it’s also been a fountain of deliriously catchy, amazingly goofy music. Now, current acts like Faca and Jessy Bulbo (her “Maldito” was the “Cannonball” of this genre) mix disposable lyrics with bouncy backing and wind up with a legion of fans much younger than the artists themselves. The highlight of this scene though is María Daniela, a project started by Emilio Acevedo of Titán, the legendary Mexican electronic group whose albums got released Stateside by the late, great LA labels Grand Royal and Emperor Norton. Acevedo, during Titán’s turn-of-the-century hiatus, created a project called Sonido Lasser Drakar, and after asking his friend María Daniela Azipiazu to sing on a track, María Daniela Y Su Sonido Lasser was born.

Their cheeky covers of songs by Daniela Romo and Aerolíneas Federales have won the group fame, but it’s original songs like “Miedo” and “Chicle de Menta” that have resulted in their 25K+ friends on MiEspacio and gigs at Six Flags México. But what I like most about Maria Daniela (and for that matter Faca and Jessy Bulbo), is that the music and the personalities all seem very approachable. When I added Jessy Bulbo on MySpace, she responded with a comment in Spanish along the lines of “Now that you’re my friend, my friends are your friends, and we can all be friends.” Sure, it might be an asinine example of the transitive property, but it’s nice to have musicians seem like they could be your friends, rather than people like Britney Spears, who has always seemed like a fake (did anyone believe her when she said she was a virgin?).

So I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that María Daniela Y Su Sonido Lasser would be making their LA debut at an all-ages spot in Montebello, and that the presale would be at a pizza joint in Monterey Park. Those tickets are already sold-out, but there will be some available at the door, starting at 7PM. LA hasn’t seen a third-world frenzy like this since M.I.A.’s engagement at the Echoplex, but for some reason I have the feeling that the Times and Weekly won’t be there to document it.

Download: Miedo by María Daniela Y Su Sonido Lasser