Another hot, dusty and wonderful three days in the desert. Your intrepid reporter compiled some notes along the way, which I have assembled in the cooler climes closer to the Ocean.  But first, some random observations:

Maybe it is global warming, maybe the Big Guy Upstairs flipped the switch, but the recent escalation of the mercury confirms that summer is fast approaching.  And that means it is time to survey the LA music scene for the next several months. Here are the hot tips across a range of styles and venues, listed roughly chronologically.

For those of you that pay attention to these sorts of things, the UK band James broke up in 2002 after delivering, in the opinions of many fans, their best album, 2001’s “Pleased To Meet You.” Now, in the spirit of every other band in the world, James has gotten back together and delivered one hell of a good comeback album, rife with topical songs about war and lies and death and rebirth, as well as personal anthems that apply to daily life, including this reviewer’s.

I really had a problem forcing myself to listen to this band. First of all- “Billy Talent”? Come on. But I was forced to listen to it by a co-writer, and I ended up really, really liking it. It’s not faux angst-ridden emo, cantankerous throwback rock, or wussy acoustic-laden love lost rambling. This album is as straight-forward as you can get with good old fashioned rock and roll

The great thing about Myspace is the instant gratification of being able to sample music, find out about shows, or meet people that know where all the good music is. Unfortunately, my page isn’t ever cool enough to get a response so I end up finding my music the old fashioned way – wandering around downtown until something catches my ear.  So I wandered tonight.  I made my way past Jam Bands, Jazz Ensembles, and Hessian Demi-Gods, and found myself in front of Dante’s.

French Kicks are back with a new album, thank god, called “Swimming,” out sometime soon on some record label and most likely available at iTunes and illegal download sites everywhere. I’m interested in seeing how the water is, so let’s have a dip.

Everyone wants to sound like the Arcade Fire these days. Or Wolf Parade, at the very least. Maybe that’s not entirely fair, but last night’s show at Spaceland by British Sea Power, with opening acts White Denim and Colourmusic, was marked predominately by the yelpy vocals that are most commonly associated with those Canadian bands. A really crummy mix sealed the deal- these are probably enjoyable bands to some people, but this reporter remains unconvinced.

Lovers of torch, twang and gentle angst will delight in these new releases from two of the scene’s most talented chanteuses.  Shelby Lynne (who won a Best New Artist Grammy in 2000 after releasing six prior albums) has worked her way through a series of labels, finally landing at Lost Highway.  This is certainly becoming one of the most consistently satisfying labels, the seeming respite for road-tested, artistically-driven acts like Elvis Costello

The Grammys hit a major milestone, the 50th anniversary of the music world’s biggest event. So the annual awards presentation pulled out all the stops to salute the greatest in all areas of the recording industry. There was a lot of excitement backstage at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, prior to the CBS broadcast (Sunday, Feb. 10). A lot of major music stars showed up early for rehearsals so they could catch Janet Jackson performing. The fabulous Fergie performing with John Legend was also a must-see for everyone in the arena.

Morcheeba is back with a new album called Dive Deep, out February 19th on Ultra. With this new album, Morcheeba have tried to move on. They may have lost half their fan base when Skye left, and most of the rest of those fans when ‘The Antidote’ came out with its awkward Jefferson Airplane vibe and terrible replacement female singer Daisy something-or-other, but they haven’t given up. Isn’t that admirable?