Aria Silva-Espinosa, Author at Jankysmooth

Aria Silva-Espinosa

Overcoming Fear With Fever Ray At The Palladium

Aria Silva-Espinosa June 1, 2018

It’s an understatement to say that I’ve struggled to find words to describe the all-encompassing spectacle that is Fever Ray, live and very much in the flesh. Adorned in a cartoon-like bodysuit with padded superhero musculature adhered in bright colors to her otherwise indistinguishable frame, she brought a more rousing performance to the Hollywood Palladium than I could’ve anticipated. related content: A Softly Harsh Friday The 13th With The Soft Moon And Boy Harsher At Teragram Fever Ray is the solo project of Swedish singer/songwriter Karin Draijer, who is already well-known for her work as one half of the the electronic pop duo The Knife. Unlike The Knife’s IKEA soundtrack-worthy melodic charm, Fever Ray is quite the other side of the coin in terms of style, lyricism and the nightmares that accompany the visuals Karin has chosen for this project. From watching her videos, I fully anticipated a Marilyn Manson meets Guillermo Del Toro house of horrors. Even the costuming of those in attendance were more suggestive of some kind of wild underground party as the crowds gathered on Hollywood Boulevard. As the lights dimmed, the crowd erupted immediately. Karin and her backup vocalists and musicians were costumed uniquely and

Snow Blood On The Leaves: Alice Glass, Zola Jesus, And Pictureplane At Teragram

Aria Silva-Espinosa May 7, 2018

Before catching the first night of the Snowblood Tour, I had these artists placed at two very different ends of the darkwave spectrum. At one end is Alice Glass; a brash, angsty counterculture icon with an unmistakable approach to music and at the other end is Zola Jesus; a classically-trained opera singer with a lush, passionate depth to her music. The Zola Jesus remix of Alice Glass’ ‘STILLBIRTH’ was released at the time of the tours announcement and offered a preliminary glimpse into the middle-ground between these two seemingly polarized artists who still thrive in very similar realms of darkwave. But these two artists have a significant amount of common ground between them, which is evident in the way their performances compliment each other so cohesively. related content: The Growlers Lose The Beach Goth Battle But Won The War This Weekend Both women began performing in their late adolescent years and have enjoyed a decade of recording and touring internationally. After years of writing and recording music at home, Zola Jesus released her first solo album The Spoils in 2009 before her career took off and she toured as a supporting act with Fever Ray and The xx in

Heaven or Coachella?: Django Django And Tank And The Bangas At The Fonda

Aria Silva-Espinosa April 30, 2018

Much like the eye of a tropical storm, Los Angeles enjoyed a few days of eerie tranquility in the weekdays between the first and second weekend of Coachella. If you don’t have the patience to deal with drunk teenagers and a few thousand dollars worth of disposable income to make your way out to Indio for one of the two festival weekends, it’s easy to succumb to the gnawing fear of missing out. Knowing all your favorite artists and even more new artists you didn’t know you would love are playing so tantalizingly close to you but you’re poor, impatient or maybe just disinterested. As a Coachella virgin but an avid adversary of frivolous spending, the outdoors and idiots, I take comfort in the knowledge that every act worth seeing will roll through Los Angeles in this quiet span of five days between the conclusion of the first week and the incitation of the second. related content: Between Coachella, Brazilian Boogarins At The Echo With the promise of a rousing performance from Django Django, a staple in the indie pop scene since time immemorial. Formed in 2009, Django Django has been making the festival circuit and touring internationally and have

In the City of Sad Angels: Loma and Jess Williamson At The Bootleg Theater

Aria Silva-Espinosa April 17, 2018

Jess Williamson brought a brand new album and a newly-assembled band to The Bootleg on Sunday evening. Originally from Texas, singer/songwriter Jess Williamson recently made the move to Los Angeles. Her forlorn and sorrowful music has a bit of a country feel, an obvious product of her Texas roots. Her breathy delivery and use of organ sounds on the keyboard had the room rapt and attentive, swaying along with Jess’ voice. As she has formerly cited, sadness and heartbreak has a definitive influence and a prominent theme in the lyricism. Her set concluded to appreciative applause from the audience. related content: A Softly Harsh Friday The 13th W/ The Soft Moon and Boy Harsher At Teragram The sound of chirping birds brought the attention of the milling crowd as Loma began their set. The stage now prominently featured an easel with a drawing pad at the foreground. Emily Cross has a uniquely fragile vocal style and when manipulated, conjures the image of a chorus of sad angels. She didn’t look quite comfortable in the performance space as she paced with clasped hands and turned her back to the audience. It enhanced the effect of Loma’s sound, which is tender and

Hooliganism Trumps Hate: Pussy Riot At The Echo

Aria Silva-Espinosa April 10, 2018

In terms of global affairs, Pussy Riot came to us when we needed them most. Building political tensions between the United States and basically everyone else seem to be constantly in the foreground of conversations and news briefings.Gaining notoriety for activism in their home country of Russia, Pussy Riot made a name for themselves by speaking out against Vladimir Putin and his anti-LGBT, anti-Feminist agenda. Similarly, we seem to be struggling with our own self-important leader with a relatively corrupt agenda ourselves. Three founding members of the band were arrested, tried and convicted in 2012 for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred”, including Nadya Tolokonnikova who actually served a sentence of over a year. The inciting incident for the arrest of the members of Pussy Riot came in the form of a demonstration held inside a Moscow church, the congregants of which did not take kindly to the women donning neon ski masks and dresses who stormed the altar to recite a “punk prayer” before being detained by relatively unenthusiastic authority figures. This was all caught on video and was widely distributed by media sources when news of the arrest spread and caught the attention of Amnesty International, who named the

Spring Break Can’t Last Forever: Riff Raff At Los Globos

Aria Silva-Espinosa April 4, 2018

It’s something about the impulsive “Spring Break Forever” mentality that carries this fitting sponsorship between the Four Loko brand and Riff Raff’s highly stylized personal brand. For those who haven’t had the misfortune of a lengthy relationship with the canned malt liquor beverage, to try to offer an explanation of the Four Loko Experience might prove difficult in an objective light. When I was a senior in high school, Four Loko was available for $2.50 a can and to this day, I have never been as drunk in my life as I could get off ¾ of a Blue Raspberry-ish flavored drink. Lovingly referred to as “blackout in a can” on the ever-trustworthy Urban Dictionary, the beverage’s original recipe was banned in a number of states due to the severe health risks it posed to those who consumed it. The company has since reformulated the drink to remove some of the stimulatory ingredients, since being accused of marketing to underage drinkers with bright colors, fruit flavors and boasting energy drink-like properties. Still, it has always been my experience that underaged drinkers will literally drink anything, regardless of flavor or the promised effects. related content: Beach Goth 4: The Party Of

Air + Style Day 2: Snowblind in So-Cal

Aria Silva-Espinosa March 9, 2018

Construction cranes tower over Exposition Park, obscuring the view from the festival grounds. Although Sunday means progress is stalled, the skeletal half-constructed stadium leaves the stages set up for the festival looking dwarfed in comparison. The lineup boasts a lineup similar to what I would put on a ‘Sunday Morning’-type of playlist, Gucci Mane included. Like any Sunday of a festival, it took awhile for festival-goers to start filing in. A good percentage of the earlier crowds consisted of families with school-aged children and even stroller-bound infants. This serves as a reminder that this is just as much of a family-friendly sporting event as it is a music festival. related content: Air + Style Day 1: The Church Of Dram When attending a festival, it isn’t uncommon to be forced to make the heartbreaking, relationship-ruining decisions about which sets you’re going to catch and which will have to be sacrificed due to conflicted scheduling. Not so with Air & Style; the sets are split between two stages and staggered so nobody has to miss anybody they want to see. related content: Air + Style Saved By Hard Rain Washing Away Crowds We caught part of the Cloud Nothings‘ set and being

Freak Style Booking and KXLU Throw Mexico Earthquake Relief Show At Top Space 2.0

Aria Silva-Espinosa December 8, 2017

Consistently delivering stacked lineups and solid venues, Freak Style Booking in cooperating with KXLU, organized a benefit show with all proceeds going to earthquake relief efforts in Mexico. At a minimum donation of $7 at the door, the show generated over $1000 for Topo Brigada de Rescate. According to the organization’s website, they are a volunteer organization founded with the purpose of responding to disasters created in response to the 1985 earthquake that registered an 8.1 on the Richter scale. The immense damage pictured next to the ‘Historia’ article bears striking resemblance to recently circulating photos of the damage in Mexico after a 7.1 magnitude hit just northeast of San Juan Roboso in the state of Puebla, Mexico in September of this year. The quake claimed over 200 lives and caused immense destruction and chaos yet went largely unreported by mainstream U.S. media which caused concerned citizens to put pressure on Trump to offer aid. He eventually did but the aid can’t come soon enough for the people of Mexico who have been affected by this natural disaster. Doing our part, we went to check out the show at Top Space 2.0, located in the bowels of South Central. A

Echo Park Rising 2017: Long Lines Couldn’t Slow Fresh Faces In All Places

Aria Silva-Espinosa August 27, 2017

The 2017 Echo Park Rising lineup generated quite a bit of buzz this year, as it was absolutely stacked with old favorites, over a dozen unmissable acts and a number of up-and-coming artists. EPR veterans Gold Star, The Paranoyds, and Meatbodies graced this year’s lineup along with a significant number of newcomers. Coming Soon: Echo Park Rising Five Pointed Stars Twin Temple … related content: Echo Park Rising 2015: Rising and Rising and Rising… Enjoying immense popularity in the last few years, it’s nice to see events like this take off and be embraced by the community. However, lineups like these are a source of frustration for me since I have yet to conquer my overwhelming fear of missing out. Despite my best efforts to be in multiple locations at once, I feel like I’ve slighted a number of talented and deserving artists on the bill solely based on my inability to run quickly, my fear of jaywalking on Sunset Boulevard and my fractured internal clock. That being said, I purposely blocked the entire third weekend in August off on my calendar in order to enjoy the festival to the fullest possible extent. I hoped to see some old friends

Prettiest Eyes & Egrets On Ergot: The L.A. Sound Explodes Out Of Harvard & Stone

Aria Silva-Espinosa August 17, 2017

Everything you need to know about rock based music coming out of Los Angeles can be summed up by the sounds that were coming out of Harvard and Stone one week ago, today. It’s not that L.A. has a very specific sound since the scenes surrounding the city range from hardcore to psychedelic rock but both Prettiest Eyes and Egrets on Ergo are bands that most high volume consumers of music seeing bands at places like the The Echo and The Hi Hat are inspired by on a regular basis.. Thursday night’s antics at Harvard & Stone began late in the evening with Los Angeles-based post-punk foursome Egrets on Ergot. As the band begins their set, vocalist Adam Brooks delivers a poetic monologue from atop the bass drum with his back to the audience. The recitation is followed immediately by Adam absolutely shredding on the saxophone. The use of saxophone sets Egrets on Ergot apart from other experimental post-punk groups by incorporating an experimental element often associated with jazz music in an entirely new way into the otherwise erratic and desperately disordered sound produced by the band. Generally, I wouldn’t enjoy the sound of a saxophone but somehow, Adam has

Com Truise & Clark At Forefront of Breaking Stigma of Electronic Music

Aria Silva-Espinosa May 22, 2017

Electronic music often carries a heavy stigma for being repetitive or unoriginal. Unfortunately, many artists get lumped into the broad category of ‘EDM’ thus rendering their art unpalatable or unapproachable for a significant portion of music enthusiasts. What people fail to recognize is that, just as electric guitar is central to many genres of music, so is the overarching use of ‘electronic’ sound manipulation equipment in music. The Regent in the heart of Downtown L.A. hosted Clark and Com Truise on a Thursday night and the turnout was an impressive mix of people, a relatively diverse sample of audience members. As was expected, there was a significant number of visibly and obviously people under the influence of party drugs. Wide-eyed, they passed through the space respectfully and amicably. English electronic musician Chris Clark performs under the abridged moniker Clark. Although he was an opener for Com Truise’s headlining show, Clark absolutely blew it out of the water. He’s been in the scene since 2001, when his first album Clarence Park debuted on Warp Records. His set was about as dynamic as electronic music can be, ranging from deep house to an almost noise-rock sound. The experience is heightened by the

Le Butcherettes Leave A Pint of Blood On Stage at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach

Aria Silva-Espinosa May 18, 2017

Mex-American punk trio Le Butcherettes are sheer intensity personified onstage. On a Wednesday night at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach, the crowd sizzled anxiously under the ominous glow of the shadow-casting red lights.The entire venue has been arranged to allow for maximum capacity, standing room only. Photographers clamored on top of the scattered bar furniture, desperate for a clear shot at the stage which is only elevated slightly from the floor at the very front of the venue space. The enlivened crowd is thick, anxiously buzzing and seemingly impenetrable. Everyone wants to get in on the action and Le Butcherettes come with a satisfaction guarantee for punk music lovers. Alex’s Bar is tactfully decorated with skeletons, Lucha Libre masks and religious iconography. It is a perfect setting for the evening’s headliners to tear it up- Mexican garage punk-style. Draped in red, Teri Gender Bender took her position onstage and delivered a rallying cry of a performance. Teri is accompanied onstage by her bandmates Riko Rodríguez-López and Alejandra Robles Luna. Le Butcherettes opened their set with a song called ‘La Uva’, which was recorded with help from Iggy Pop and is featured on the newest album A RAW YOUTH. Teri displays