Given that Los Angeles is a city best known for its heavy metal and indie rock, it's a credit to the Dustbowl Revival, a swing band out of Venice, Calif., that the band snagged "Best Live Band" honors in 2013 from the LA Weekly, a paper known for focusing on whatever hip sounds are coming out of places like Echo Park and Silverlake. The band plays a bit of everything — bluegrass, gospel, pre-war blues and New Orleans swing. A self-described "mini circus," the band features fiddle, mandolin, trombone, guitar and washboard. Expect to hear tunes from the band's new album, With a Lampshade On. (Niesel)
Africa & Byzantium considers the complex artistic relationships between northern and eastern African Christian kingdoms and the Byzantine Empire from the fourth…