Category: FEATURES

Temples Mad Alchemy Backdrop in London by Tyler Loring

Mad Alchemy Drip Liquid Light Shows Live: Interview w/ Lance Gordon

Janky Smooth Central Command August 29, 2016

The art of liquid lights is continuing to drip onto stages across the globe and is being revitalized by one of its original visionaries. The iconic displays originated during the heyday of San Francisco 60’s counterculture, and utilize various dyes and oils that are swirled between glass plates. Using an overhead projector, the liquids are then beamed onto screens behind live musicians, creating a hypnotizing multi-sensory wonderland. Unlike material relics of retro-mania, this art form offers an immersive and interactive experience that coexists with modern melted sounds and invites the audience to become a part of the canvas. One notable artist currently operating is Lance Gordon, aka Mad Alchemy. After becoming active during the original emergence of light shows, he has found new inspiration performing with acts such as King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Real Estate, Toy, Radio Moscow and Temples. The living art is inspired by stained glass windows as much as Jackson Pollock paintings, and has become a point of attraction for festivals and interesting venues. The Mad Alchemist discovered the art in the early 70’s through a former member of prominent Bay Area projecting crew The Brotherhood of Light, and went on to cut his teeth

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Releasing 12 Solo Albums in 6 Months. For real.

Brent Smith August 23, 2016

With a stoic stare through horn-rimmed wayfarers, framed with a short mane of dark, wild hair, sporting a button-down against a beaten brick wall on some street, Omar Rodríquez-López invokes Bob Dylan’s iconic 1966 visage—the most elusive and most possessed of Dylan personalities. López’s output is just as inexhaustible too; no doubt inspired. Never mind his work with Mars Volta or At the Drive-In, his solo work in the last decade is enough to make the likes of Ty Segall shake in his boots (mind the age gap), and apparently he’s nowhere near finished. His latest solo effort upholds the current indie dictum: be prolific or die. In an unprecedented move to release twelve (that’s 12) albums from now until the end of the year—one every two weeks—López, in collusion with Ipecac Recordings, looks to bombard us with his pure, unadulterated schizophrenia. Three of the twelve LP’s are already out (and streaming on Spotify, you broke motherfuckers), with the release of the fourth just days away. They very much speak to his forays in acid jazz, space rock, poetic-spitting vocals, and sentimental pop soundscapes. Sworn Virgins is experimental without being hardcore. It has a postpunk sheen, darkly textured with effects,

Sloppy Jane Video Premiere- Aunt Rosies Garden

Video Premiere: Sloppy Jane- Aunt Rosie’s Garden

Paige Vreede August 15, 2016

If you’ve ever seen L.A. based, “vomit-inducing,” Sloppy Jane live, you’d know they’re not afraid of pushing boundaries. Their performances come replete with nudity, green spit/vom, and unapologetic dance moves. If you have yet to see them on stage, you can catch them in all their fucked up glory with the premiere for music video of “Aunt Rosie’s Garden” off their 2015 Sure-Tuff album, exclusively here on Janky Smooth. What better way to start the weekend than watching someone uncomfortably touch themselves while feeling completely and utterly disturbed by it? The Blair Witch styled video is tainted with creepy subliminal messages and puts you in a state of discomfort you haven’t felt since *salad fingers. Hayley Dahl and Sara Cath awkwardly dance and push one another adorned in a red fur coat and a shirt that reads “Hayley Dahl is a mean mean whore” I’m not entirely sure about Dahl’s family history, but this Aunt Rosie character seems like a total dickhead to the tune of, “taking a stroll through Aunt Rosie’s garden you are hungry or starving she’ll feed you her thorns” While it may look like someone could have seriously been murdered in the making of this video, thankfully Dahl walked

Death Valley Girls at The Echo Record Release Party

Death Valley Girls Glow In The Dark At The Echo Record Release Party

Danny Baraz July 6, 2016

There is something different emerging from the Los Angeles music scene. It’s not nice. Or sweet. Or candy-bar-bubble gum. Or a drunken teenage blackout filled with mild regret. And I like it. Death Valley Girls aren’t like your typical Burger Records band. You can’t simply attach the punk, psychedelic or garage rock label to them and be done with it. They aren’t your standard, soft balled psych rockers seeking some type of enlightenment through their experiments with hallucinogens. They are what happens when the acid turns and the faces around you become deranged and unfriendly; surrounded by deeply troubled individuals slipping further and further away from society with each hit of blotter. Death Valley Girls’ second album, “Glow in the Dark” summons the seventies more than it summons the summer of love. When America was in the midst of an identity crisis, amidst events such as the Nixon resignation, Patty Hearst and Jonestown. And even though the Manson murders occurred in 1969, the events surrounding the high profile slayings in the Hollywood Hills reverberated across the forthcoming decade and dispelled the image of hippies as harmless, peace loving druggies. Trust no one. But singer/songwriter Bonnie Bloomgarden insists that, “you can

Memoirs of a Bernie Bro

Danny Baraz June 23, 2016

After every prolonged and pointless online battle, I knew I wasn’t handling this correctly or even, well and I promised to just let it go the next time someone posted the photo of Bernie Sanders in a Lamborghini or when the average voter proclaimed Hillary Clinton to be a progressive; not for any other reason but hanging onto my own sanity. But there I was, wasting all day the next day having the same arguments with different people (and sometimes the same people), unable to let even one opportunity pass to deliver my most money comment, (“incremental change is the new trickle down economics”). All those “likes” I experienced on my Sanders posts in December of 2015 turned into proverbial “crickets” in May of 2016. Those who condescendingly used to say they “liked Bernie but…” were starting to turn, calling him an ego maniac and claiming he was actually hurting his supporters by staying in this race. I started to soothe myself by reminding me that they just hadn’t been unplugged from the Matrix, yet and they were just suckling at the cable news teat. I wasn’t a #neverhillary but the DNC and the #voteblue demo pushed me, a life long Democrat close

The Blank Tapes in London shot by Sheva Kafai

Yankee Smooth: A Day in the U.K. With The Blank Tapes

Paige Vreede May 26, 2016

It’s been quite a journey being in London. There are 8,539,000 people living here, yet it is one of the loneliest cities I have ever been to. Upon discovering that The Blank Tapes were coming to town, I was exuberant with joy knowing I would finally get the chance to see some familiar faces. It was a Tuesday evening and they were playing at a venue, The Shacklewell Arms, which is conveniently just down the street from where I currently reside. I couldn’t count the minutes fast enough for when I’d be able to see them. Their show started at 9:45pm and at approximately 9:00pm, I heard American accents emerging from my kitchen. A tall, shaggy blonde haired dude walked up to me and got half way through an introduction before he realized, he in fact, definitely knew me. Oh Mr. Matt Adams was just living up to his stoner persona. Ironically, my housemate was invited to fill in on the drums mid-way through the blank tapes tour, and they had made already made arrangements for the band to stay at ours. It was a pleasant surprise seeing Adams walk through the door of my place and it only furthered my excitement in seeing them perform. Once entering the venue, I was

New Sound Alliance Bernie Sanders Fundraiser at Regent Theater

NSA Fundraiser and Launch w/ The Garden & Punk Rock Karaoke

Danny Baraz May 25, 2016

On Wednesday, May 18th, the New Sound Alliance held it’s very first event at The Regent Theater in Downtown Los Angeles; A Fundraiser for Senator Bernie Sanders. And while raising funds for Sanders to insure a significant showing in the California Primary to make legitimate claims to storm the floor at the DNC Convention in Philly this July was the primary purpose of our party, introducing the New Sound Alliance to the Los Angeles music community was just as important. There is always a fear in art, business and activism when attempting to launch a new project. While there is always a risk of bearing your heart to attract like minded people to join you in a quest for understanding and action, there is little more exhilarating in life when your passion is validated by sparking the passion in others. Young and old fans and key figures in the L.A. music scene turned out in droves to support Senator Sanders and check out some of the best, young talent in L.A., as well as to sing live Karaoke with legends of punk rock like Greg Hetson, Stan Lee, Steve Soto and Darryn Pheiffer aka Punk Rock Karaoke. We only had

Inter-Review With Charles Moothart on Eve of CFM Release

Brent Smith April 8, 2016

CFM – Still Life of Citrus and Slime: An Interview with Charles Moothart “He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.” -Samuel L. Johnson That famed opening axiom is no less true with CFM’s Still Life of Citrus and Slime, in which Charles Moothart goes full wolfman to transmit a bubbly, thick, and no doubt, arresting solo debut. For Moothart—the proper Lennon to Ty Segall’s McCartney—his new LP (In The Red Records) is an analog sigil for some gnarly soul searching. For the rest of us lucky bastards, it’s an incendiary trip of sour neon rock ‘n’ roll that, without it, immediately leaves your record collection wanting. It was more of a vision quest than an attempt to make a rock album. “There was no timetable to worry about,” he told me over the phone. “It was nice to go into a room and shut the door and forget about time and just let it happen as it needed to happen.” Moothart took a piecemeal approach, channeling sounds strung together spontaneously as he jumped from one instrument to the next; any scheming be damned. Though the album was composed as more extemporaneous

David “Minivan” Evanko & His Long Journey For Inspiration

Brent Smith March 30, 2016

Photographers are crucial to any underground music scene. “Only a rare eye can make such intense people doing intense things on sticky floors so unforgettable, even decades later,” said Jello Biafra, speaking of those like Ed Colver and Glen E. Friedman, those who braved the violence of the pit to capture the California punk explosion, and whose images still remain embedded in the hearts and minds of diehards and true believers. People someday may be saying the same about David Evanko, aka Minivan Photography, who has snapped every band across the fuzzy spectrum (you’ve definitely caught some of his work here on Janky Smooth) with a cool intimacy that not only puts you there, but makes you feel what there was like. His work has done nothing short of elating the local scene, so much so that you sense his spry, exploratory lens extends far beyond the walls of sweaty basements and hyped music fests. Before embarking on a recent South American odyssey, he was shooting up to four shows a week, driving up to L.A. as often as he could from his east San Diego barrio—a city that’s been a big, fat music void for far too long. Eventually,

My First SXSW: Confessions of Fanboy Posing As Music Critic

Danny Baraz March 26, 2016

Last week was my first time attending SXSW in Austin. This allows me to offer an opinion on this massive institution that is completely untainted by past experience. Like most institutions that sprouted from an independent spirit into a behemoth of industry, SXSW has detractors that begrudge the success it has achieved. Given that this was my first time attending, I could see it for what it really is without the skewed vision of what it was. Austin, Texas is one of my favorite cities in the world. Not because it has epic landscapes or white sand beaches but for it’s artisan spirit and wonderful people. I have visited it’s streets and venues a number of times in my life but for whatever reason, I had yet to attend this event. Walking down 6th or any of the adjacent streets reveals a band, DJ or singer/songwriter embedded in every doorway, venue, café and every square foot in every direction you look. Like an infestation of joy and expression, SXSW is a complete takeover of a city that is already overflowing with music. We here at Janky Smooth are fans first and that is what motivates every show we cover, every

L.A. Hustle at SXSW 2016: Bands, Labels, Promoters & Publications

Danny Baraz March 23, 2016

Artists, agents, publicists and partiers come from far and wide to take part in one of the largest music and networking events in the world. Fans attending SXSW in Austin ,Texas view it as a diverse display of music in which they can recreationally party and enjoy bands they love and bands they discover throughout the week long musical portion of the conference. The aforementioned groups of art producers and opportunists view the conference much differently than the fans or even the way they themselves typically view playing a regular show or festival. With a somewhat intimate knowledge of the bands in Southern California and their proxies, it was fascinating to watch it all unfold in front of me. From Burger Records to Lolipop Records, iHeartcomix to Desert Daze, the Los Angeles and greater Southern California area musicians and business’ were very well represented at SXSW 2016. Janky Smooth was proud to see the members of our scene thriving in such a competitive environment and of course, to make our own stamp on the events surrounding the conference in our very first SXSW experience as a publication. On the band side, there were L.A. bands like one of our low

Millennials- Is The World Right About You?

Danny Baraz March 4, 2016

Entitled, lazy, over sensitive, under ambitious- These are just a few of the adjectives used to brand the generation labeled Millennials. Anytime you see a segment on TV or read something online or in print about Millennials, these are the themes used to attribute to this emerging generation that is coming of age at such a crucial time for this planet. What do you think? Are they right about you? I, for one have had your back from the beginning. Your generation is facing unprecedented challenges in the opportunities available to you and your friends. Unless mommy and daddy are well off, you can no longer get a higher education without graduating in a mountain of debt. Once you graduate, the opportunities available to you are mediocre, at best. Forget college- you can no longer work a labor job and make it to the middle class. Believe it or not, that used to be possible. You could work a job or two for $1o an hour and buy a house within a few years. They won’t even raise the minimum wage as they have everytime inflation dictated that they do so. We are in a completely fucked situation right now