When can L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa snag any time to hear music? "I listen primarily when I work out," Villaraigosa says. "Or I'll have music on when people are over."

 The mayor's iPod is stocked with an eclectic mix of classic and contemporary R&B, hip-hop, Latin pop, rock -- and even a touch of country.

Scrolling through his iPod and pulling off favorites, in no particular order, he name-checked 2Pac's "Keep Ya Head Up," Patsy Cline's "Crazy," Luther Vandross' "Dance With My Father," Celia Cruz's "La Llave" and Alicia Keys' "A Woman's Worth."

He also flagged Bill Withers' '70s soul classic "Lean on Me," Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" -- "Just a beautiful song," Villaraigosa said -- Cuban dance band Buena Vista Social Club's "Chan Chan," Mexican singer Alejandro Fernandez's "Qué Voy a Hacer con Mi Amor" and Mary J. Blige's "Never Too Much."

"I didn't even list classical," he said. "I listen to a lot of world music; I listen to all kinds of stuff. I had a little downtime last night to do this. Then after I picked these songs, I thought of all the artists who are probably going to be upset that I didn't include them. But it's really just a snapshot of my eclectic musical taste."

 -- Randy Lewis

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Getting the French electronica experts of Daft Punk to open up about what music they're listening to these days is no mean feat. The duo — Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo — like to keep their cards close to their vests, as evidenced by the signature robot helmets that obscure their real identities and without which Daft Punk is never publicly seen.

Although the group launched its own genre with its mash-up of acid house, heavy metal, disco and funk, the Daft dudes are quick to tell you that they are not listening to Parisian-heavy house music these days, spurning the music created by their multi-hyphenate former manager Busy P and all output by his influential Ed Banger record label. “Jazz men don't only listen to jazz,” Bangalter wryly noted in a rare interview with The Times' Pop & Hiss blog.

Added De Homem-Christo: “We consciously tend to listen to stuff that is further than what we do. We listen to Bach.”

The performer might be concentrating more on his acting career than singing right now, but he's still plugged into music — N.E.R.D and Kings of Leon are current favorites.

Just because Justin Timberlake is on indefinite hiatus from recording and performing music (in order to focus on stardom in such movies as “The Social Network” and the upcoming romantic comedy “Friends With Benefits” and the sci-fi thriller “Now”), don't assume he's unplugged his stereo for the duration too.

The former 'N Sync heartthrob and erstwhile Mr. SexyBack stays keenly aware of modern pop, even if he isn't making any. And these days, Timberlake feels particularly moved by the 2010 album “Nothing” from N.E.R.D. — the hip-hop/rock-funk side project of the hit-making duo Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, who produced much of the singer's 2002 album, “Justified.”

Timberlake warmed to the subject when Pop & Hiss asked him what's in heavy rotation on his iPod:
“‘Come Around Sundown' is really good — the latest Kings of Leon,” Timberlake said.

“I really feel inspired by what Pharrell and Chad did with the new N.E.R.D. album,” he continued. “Those producers care a lot about sonics. I hear the Doors and Queen a lot on that album. Pharrell has a way of being cryptic with his lyrics, though, so I'm still trying to decipher what he's talking about.”

-- Chris Lee

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Photo: Ricardo DeArata / Los Angeles Times

The actress, currently starring with Ryan Gosling in "All Good Things," talks music.

 
Actress Kirsten Dunst is constantly surrounded by music: Her boyfriend, Jason Boesel, is the drummer for the band Rilo Kiley. But she says she developed the majority of her musical preferences without his help.

“He’s definitely turned me on to people, but I’ve also turned him on to people,” said the actress, who stars opposite Ryan Gosling in the new crime drama “All Good Things.”

So, which musicians has she recommended to Boesel? The Alabama-bred country folk group the Secret Sisters, for one.

“I saw them play at this festival in San Francisco — a bluegrass festival — and they sang with T Bone Burnett and they were great,” she recalled. “I also really like Beach House. I’ve seen them live now twice. It, like, brings tears to my eyes.”

-- Amy Kaufman

Photo: Kirsten Dunst. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times.

We ran into Rob Corddry at a party in Hollywood last month. The former Daily Show correspondent — who earlier this year starred in “Hot Tub Time Machine” and is also the creator-star of the medical show parody “Children’s Hospital” on Adult Swim — lives in Silver Lake these days. “Can’t you tell? Look at this mullet!” he jokes — though he’s no longer sporting the Mötley Crüe look.

The event was a release party for the Ubisoft game Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, for which Corddry was a spokesman. Is he a gamer? “I’m terrible. At any game,” he says. “This one, I’m not so bad at.”

But music … that’s something the comedian knows a thing or two about. He goes out of his way to stay up on emerging bands, he says. In fact, Corddry was a ubiquitous presence at the big Matador Records 21st birthday party in Las Vegas in November, which featured performances by Cat Power, Yo La Tengo, Belle & Sebastian and Ted Leo and the Pharmicists, among others. Here’s what’s on Corddry’s iPod …

“I just made a mix — can you even call them mixes anymore? They’re, like, playlists. OK. I’ll tell you what’s on my “Walking Around Playlist.” Music I like to walk around to. Warpaint. They’re a new band from Silver Lake — all women. Incredible. And they’re gonna be huge. They’re just starting to break. One of my favorite bands is the Thermals. Nada Surf. Blind Pilot. Oh — Free Energy. That’s a big one. They’re great.”

--Deborah Vankin

Photo credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

The actress listens to a lot of soul, hip-hop and classical.

When one asks actress Natalie Portman what she's currently listening to, immediately the memory flashes back to the classic scene in “Garden State.” If you've seen the movie, you know the one: Her character, Sam, is in a doctor's office waiting room when she starts up a conversation with Andrew, played by Zach Braff. Her character is raving about the Shins, and soon we're inside her head enjoying the band too.

Portman, who's generating Oscar buzz for her work as a ballerina in Darren Aronofsky's “Black Swan,” says that she's been looking back in music more than she is keeping up with trends. Currently in heavy rotation, she says, is “nothing new, although of new stuff, I like Antony, and Sufjan Stevens and Deerhunter. I also listen to a lot of hip-hop — but more older stuff, like Tribe and Jurassic 5 and the Roots.

“And I have a lot of soul [music], like Otis, Aretha, Jeff Buckley and a lot of classical. I'm really all over the place.”

—Amy Kaufman

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The man in orange on Nickelodeon's kids show says he's been blown away by Brian Eno.

Lance Rock is best known for his work as the proverbial ringleader of the “Yo Gabba Gabba!” world. As the orange-suited human among the fanciful characters on the Nickelodeon kids show, it's his job to wrangle Muno, Foofa, Brobee and the rest and guide them through a vivid world that features among its regulars musical luminaries Biz Markie and Mark Mothersbaugh.

Wrangling is a job that's not necessarily new to Rock, born Lance Robertson. Before he became a celebrity for the preschool set, he was a regular DJ whose dance sets mixed old school and new school, a member of the band the Ray Makers, and a longtime Amoeba Music employee with a voracious appetite for new sounds. Robertson took time out of the highly successful Yo Gabba Gabba! tour, which arrives for a stint at Club Nokia on Friday and Saturday, to talk about his favorite music right now.

Pop & Hiss: What are you listening to on this tour?

I'm listening to a lot of new music right now, and the thing I'm listening to the most is the new Brian Eno record. I'm blown away. It's like elements of “Here Come the Warm Jets” — elements from all of his vocal records mixed into an ambient record.

That's the record that I use right now to block out all the noise at work. It's the perfect combination of ambient and active music.

That's what I like about it. But I'm an old indie kid and usually like a lot of distortion and the other elements. I was like, “Eh, it will be all right.” But I was shocked at how much I like it. I like it more than the Eno/Byrne album that came out a few years ago.

What else?

I used to be a huge Stereolab fan, and their new album, “Not Music,” is not great, but there are some really catchy things on there. It is what it is. I think a lot of people are in two camps about Stereolab. Their early stuff was definitely very much like Velvet Underground and Neu!, and then they dabbled in other elements. They've got a sliding scale as far as the bag of tricks they have — and I like all the tricks. Sometimes it gets a little old, but I like those things, so I can't really fault them too much for that.

And then there's the new Squarepusher record [“Shobaleader One: d'Demonstrator”]. It's pretty good. I still like electronic music, but when it got ushered into popularity and everyone was doing it, it became filled with all these subgenres and I was like, “What are you talking about?” I just got real bored with that, and it was very limiting. But Squarepusher is really melodic, and has weird time signatures. I'm not impressed, necessarily, with “math rock.” It's cool, but I still want to have some sort of visceral response, as well.

Personal Playlist is a new Pop & Hiss series in which personalities in and out of the pop world share their recent music picks.

Adam Anders is cursed with the toughest gig in television: harmoniously weaving pop cuts from the likes of Barbra Streisand, Journey, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé through Broadway gems from “Chicago,” “Les Miserables” and “A Chorus Line.” As “Glee's” music producer, Anders is immersed with the demands of the Fox juggernaut (he recently completed upward of 50 songs in 30 days). One has to wonder if he has any non-“Glee” tracks on his radar. 

“Here's where it gets tricky. If I tell you what I'm listening to then you'll know what's coming on the show,” he said, laughing. The song that's driving me crazy is [Katy Perry's] ‘Teenage Dream.' I think it's amazing. It's pop at its best. I go from that to Sinatra. We're all over the place on the show.”

Anders, who's also digging Florence + the Machine and Muse, said it was trying to impress another band while working with an upcoming guest star that had him the most stressed.

“[Gwyneth Paltrow] is doing a mash-up of ‘Singing in the Rain' and ‘Umbrella.' It's actually my favorite mash-up. I told Gwyneth I was obsessed with it knowing that Chris Martin was going to hear it,” he said. “I love him and Coldplay.”

Though his Personal Playlist is inundated with ‘Glee' workings, there is one nostalgic album that always rates for Anders.

“Oh geez ... it's Kenny Rogers' ‘The Gambler.' It was the first album I saved up to buy as a kid.”

— Gerrick D. Kennedy

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Photo: Adam Anders. Credit: Ari Michelson

Personal Playlist is a new Pop & Hiss series in which personalities in and out of the pop world share their recent music picks.

Zach Galifianakis is no stranger to pop music. He's appeared in videos for the likes of Kanye West and Fiona Apple and was so moved by the Anita Baker song “You Bring Me Joy” that he shot an unauthorized clip for it (which, of course, became a viral sensation). So when Pop & Hiss caught up with Galifianakis — who costars in the road comedy “Due Date,” which hit theaters last week— we had to ask: What's on your iPod these days?

“I'm late to the game, but I think they're the best: MGMT. I might as well be saying Huey Lewis and the News. It doesn't surprise me that people are hating on their second album [‘Congratulations']. Anytime people get famous there's going to be that backlash. That's the indie rock mentality. Whether it's deserved or not, it's like, ‘We liked you, now we don't like you.' That's exactly how it works; trust me, I've been guilty of it.

“Also, I went to an Adele concert a few nights ago. She's an English singer, 22. I took my whole family there, I got 10 people in town [for the premiere of ‘Due Date']. She just has a beautiful voice.” 

— Chris Lee

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