Brent Smith, Author at Jankysmooth

Brent Smith

Save Frank Zappa’s Vault Before It’s Too Late

Brent Smith April 6, 2016

Attn: Zappa freaks, art geeks, fanatical preservationists, and anyone else with their soul still intact. For the first time ever, Frank Zappa’s vault is open to the public. The gigantic, subterranean archive that sits underneath Zappa’s house in the Hollywood Hills is stacked with an endless supply of concert footage, original artwork, travel journals, home movies, lost interviews, private recordings, unreleased B-sides, and probably the documents linking the Panama Papers to major U.S. officials. Okay, that last one I made up, but seriously, this is kind of a big moment. After all, this is the man who bridged the gap between rock ‘n’ roll and politics, and was the kind of walking, talking, spitting art that could turn a bicycle into an instrument. What this means is that we have new Frank Zappa content that can be digitized and experienced by all of us on multiple platforms. The catch is that most of the media in the vault is already eroding away as the dust collects and time wears on. Not only does maintaining an archive require a lot of money and work, but revamping one even more so. In an effort to simultaneously restore Zappa’s archives and produce a

New Album Review: Wild Wing- The Glory Forever

Brent Smith April 4, 2016

Wild Wing has undergone a peculiar mutation in the last three years. Their first self-titled EP spilled into their second, Another Victory for the Forces of Darkness, both heavy on the combative wit and long instrumental rambling. Songs like “O, Cuntry!” and “Wild Wing Nightmare” are tapped into an unruly swamp sound not felt since the days of Creedence (less finger-pointing protest songs; more working class bar brawl songs). I’m straining to name another hillbilly punk act, but I honestly can’t think of one. Wild Wing pulls off a surfer redneck jive like no one else; cheeky like The Butthole Surfers but not as abstract. If L.A. were to ever have a backwoods sound, now is the time. The band’s first LP The Glory Forever (its cover depicting a native chief stabbing a white soldier in the heart atop bodies of his slain people) is the declaration of a new, weird California sound—the kind that opts out of both Coachella and Stagecoach for a thrash alleyway hoedown on a radioactive beach. If the Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia sold their souls via reality TV contracts and uprooted to Hollywood, Wild Wing is who would play their barn-burning welcoming

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,

Lust For Youth & Drab Majesty Bring Dark Vibes To Teragram Ballroom

Brent Smith March 28, 2016

It was a night of dark wave synth-pop acts—musicians whose sounds and performances not only blurred the line between singer-songwriter and producer, but gave us Angelenos an electro beacon for something profound beyond the hypnotic singularity of our cellphone glow. Spearheaded by Lust For Youth, it was a also a night that properly introduced me to the noise/punk/electronica sound coming out of Copenhagen and other pockets of Scandinavia. Just as Ty Segall and cohorts here on the West Coast are constantly collaborating and intermingling themselves into one huge rock ‘n’ roll collective, so is Lust For Youth along with bands like Iceage, Lower, Vår, Puce Mary, and Hand of Dust. While Segall’s sonic quest seems to trace elements of blues, rock, proto-punk and psych, Lust For Youth’s seems one of exploration (and maybe reconciliation?) between post-punk, experimental noise, ambient, and house. The results are both sinister and sublime. The full moon was keeping me going, its light beaming like the sun in the clear, black sky as I rumbled into downtown on fumes. The doorman at the entrance gave me blue and pink bracelets and I went into the cold theater space, mostly empty with a few kids moping around

Zig Zags, The Birth Defects and Mind Meld Murder The Smell

Brent Smith March 15, 2016

The Smell, a non-profit, volunteer-driven, all-ages back alley venue is a diamond in downtown’s gentrified rough. In the wake of some electric rainfall, it played host to a bill of heavy rock psychsters whose blown out amplifiers literally have my ears still ringing. The rare rainfall we get has the ability to dispel the sun’s enchantment, it reveals the hololand that L.A. actually is—reeling in that weird interzone between paradise and dystopia. Or, more simply, the rare rainfall we get makes us feel like Roy Batty at the end of Blade Runner—The moments in our lives are just teeears in the raaain, man! (And yes, only in L.A. can Deckard’s dingy, smoke-filled apartment actually be a Frank Lloyd Wright work of Mayan-inspired art that you can never own, or even rent). No better way to quell (or magnify?) such fleeting existential funks than by seeing Zig Zags and The Birth Defects shake the walls of this defunct coffee shop, or fitness chain, or whatever stupid shit our crypto-fascist social engineers fancy as bankable retail prospects (the legal world calls ‘em “developers”). The opening acts were on fucking point. I love when that happens. If you’ve never heard of Rearranged Face

New Song Premiere: Sunshine Mind- Synchronize

Brent Smith February 24, 2016

Are you like me in that you’re jonesing for some more jangly, shoegazey surf rock in your life? Along with the launch of the Janky Smooth Soundcloud, L.A.’s own cosmic thrashers Sunshine Mind premiere with us just that with their new single “Synchronize.” Coming off of last year’s self-titled EP (Lolipop Records), the band’s back at it with their soon-to-be-released follow up, mixed by none other than mutant pop mastermind Dante White of Dante vs. Zombies. Judging from the sounds of “Synchronize”, it’s sure to motivate your true dream of becoming a beach bum, and send you so far into your headphones you’re going to pop out on the other side pitted in a sun-glazed, overhead swell. “Don’t you worry/ You’re on your way…” Though on the surface it appears a harmless, catchy 2 min. 18 sec. pop song, you’ll soon find yourself in distorted spacetime on a psychedelic carpet ride, boogying down on the dark side of the moon. (Haven’t you heard? There’s music there now!) This ditty is jam-packed and no piece is absent. After the rad opening riff, the first things that hit me were the swift, heavy bass and crashing cymbals. Singer Henry Lopez’s drawn out, introspective crooning

Buzz Bait: Bonnie of Death Valley Girls On Music, Magic and Metaphysics

Brent Smith February 16, 2016

High noon. Under the stark, blue February sky I encounter Bonnie Bloomgarden standing at the entrance of the Red Lion Tavern in Echo Park. The singer/guitarist of the doom rock outfit Death Valley Girls greets me in green sparkly eye makeup with a big smile and gifts in the form of a limited edition 7” and a live singles cassette wrapped in caution tape. I rejoice and accept like it’s the Holy Communion. After slipping into the dark of the ancient Germanic pub, we head to the upstairs bar. Death Valley Girls have popped up on the indie map like a baffling string of UFO sightings, ever since their Street Venom debut. Some may remember Bloomgarden’s exploits in the NY band The Witnesses, or maybe her cameo in King Tuff’s third album Black Moon Spell. Though perhaps nothing was as enthralling as DVG’s performance last October at the Natural History Museum’s mummy exhibit, which served more as a necromantic rock séance to communicate in peace with the Egyptian dead. The new Death Valley Girls LP Glow in the Dark is due June 10th via Burger Records, just in time for Burger Boogaloo. It’s unlike anything we’ve heard from them before. Though the

Meeting Today: Protect The California Coast in Morro Bay!

Brent Smith February 10, 2016

The California Coastal Commission will hold a hearing on TODAY Wednesday, February 10th that will decide whether or not it will fire its current Executive Director Charles Lester. This matters because Lester has a pretty legit, nonpartisan track record of protecting public access and the environment from commercial development of our (extremely valuable and extremely coveted) coastal land. Since this proposal by the Commission to dismiss Lester from leadership, an outpouring of public support has been heard in his defense, including a letter from nine California congressional members. The L.A. Times article reads (emphasis is mine): Environmentalists and other supporters of the commission contend the attempted ouster has nothing to do with Lester, who they say is an effective, by-the-books administrator who makes decisions based on scientific and legal requirements rather than political considerations. They see something else: an attempt by pro-development forces to gain control over the agency and make it more accommodating to private interests. In case you’re not aware, every single real estate development firm in the world wants our coast for their godawful hotels and the more chains of same stores you see at every retail/entertainment complex from Mission Valley to Santa Rosa. We shouldn’t be

Ty Segall and the Muggers at Teragram Ballroom by Kayla Clancy

Ty Segall Redefines Himself Again With The Muggers at Teragram Ballroom

Brent Smith January 20, 2016

Ty “Baby Face” Segall & The Muggers Get Emotional at the Teragram Ballroom Before entering the Teragram Ballroom (“No Ins and Outs!”) I dragged my boots along 7th street past the Mexican skater boys popping ollies and into Monty Bar for a cheap drink. Janky tensions were high as we were scrambling for a last minute photographer and I buried myself along the crowded bar of black leather and wild makeup. Behind me on the wall, a mounted deer head was engulfed in a stark spotlight, and for a minute I was in The Roadhouse from Twin Peaks, waiting for Julee Cruise to appear onstage and serenade me straight into the Red Room; which all seemed appropriate considering there was a David Bowie/Lemmy tribute show slated for the night. I could feel the static in the air on my tongue. I got the photog confirmation, downed my Old Fashioned and bounced. In the Teragram, chattering skulls flooded the two parallel bars in the foyer—the early effects of a sold out show. Blue, silver, and black guitar picks embedded in the walls made up a Mediterranean mosaic of sacred geometric patterns as Charles Moothart took a seat next to me at

Dinoczar New Single “Burnt Out” Off Impending Debut Album

Brent Smith December 11, 2015

If you don’t remember Dinoczar, the darkly-weird Bostonians from our review of The House of the Rising Fuzz—an anthemic east coast garage psych compilation in which their single “Cream” blew off our doors with speedfreak riffs, muddled jive, and rambling, headbanging solos—then you have another chance to pay closer attention. We’re pleased to share the news that Dinoczar’s debut LP Sick Wind is due out early next year, and that they’ve dropped its first single “Burnt Out.” This time around, it’s less in-your-face punk and more proto-stoner metal that’s been dominating the underground lately. That’s not to say Dinoczar are backing off or falling in line, not in the least. Even though the band is a lowly three-piece, the only thing minimal about them is the vocals. The holy trinity of guitar-bass-drum assaults with formidable savagery. But it also pings the sweet side of the spectrum, and slows down for moments of instrumental rumination before crashing back into its biting, awesomely unintelligible chorus. About 20 seconds before it ends, the song eerily bleeds out into some Lynchian distortion that gives an out-of-body effect—like dying—before an unseen, omnipresent listener cuts the track with the press of an analog STOP button. (Rough

David Bowie- Blackstar Video Blows the Internet’s Mind

Brent Smith November 23, 2015

Just as the free world is seemingly at its most bleak, Ascended Master and dabbler musician David Bowie sends earthlings a new transmission named Blackstar. Much to the elation of the Internet and as he’s always done, David Bowie puts to bed the notion that pop music is just some lowbrow fetish. It didn’t take long for the newly released video of the title track “★” (“Blackstar”) to go viral, with well over 1 million views in two days, setting off a slew of comment thread brushfires across the digiscape. “★” is an eerie space opera that trips from forlorn ancient astronauts deep in the cosmos to terrestrial-bound she-pagans with crucified scarecrows in their fields. Bowie’s familiar, hypnotic voice dips under and over a well-produced hopscotch of glam pop and doom jazz, framed with vivid cinematography from director Johan Renck and packed with enough esoteric symbolism to make Alex Jones’ head explode. With iconic peers like Bob Dylan and Tom Waits still putting out new work and damning retirement, we shouldn’t be surprised to still be hearing from the man who brought us “Let’s Dance” (probably one of the most sampled pop songs out there). There’s just something way more

Album Review: Yacht- I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler

Brent Smith October 27, 2015

It really doesn’t matter where you find your music these days. Bargain bins, the end credits of some popular show, a comment thread on Youtube. With America’s recent (though probably not lasting) damnation of record stores and the lost art of collecting, you’re lucky just to find it. I’ll be the first to admit that the first time I heard Y▲CHT was off GTA V’s soundtrack. I was speeding down Vespucci Blvd. toward the beach in my purple Bravado Gauntlet when I flipped the dial to Radio Mirror Park and was hit with the hooky gem “Psychic City (Voodoo City)”. I was instantly reminded me of a Kim Wilde “Kids in America” declaration that had taken on some deeper, incorporeal aspect. You’ve definitely had your ear to the tracks if you’ve been following YACHT’s eleven year career, which spans six studio albums on four different labels. The new LP I Thought the Future Would Be Cooler (Released on October 16th through Downtown Records) is YACHT’s third as duo, comprised of founding member/laptop virtuoso Jona Bechtolt and vocalist/science journalist Claire L. Evans. It’s an album that echoes our collective, disappointed sentiments about the year 2015 (just in time for Back to