Danny Ryan
Danny Brown And Friends at The Bellwether: HyperRap Revolution
Danny Ryan
December 4, 2025
Danny Brown has always been one of the most innovative and genre-bending rappers since the day he arrived on the scene, bringing hip-hop to avant-garde territories that had never been explored or even thought about. Even if he were to retire today, he would go down in history as one of the most imaginative and pioneering rappers of all time. Yet he keeps finding more and more new ways of surprising his fans (and detractors), with his recent performance at The Bellwether on November 26, 2025 being absolute concrete proof that he has no plans of slowing down this innovation anytime soon. Rather than having other rappers or hip-hop DJs open, Danny Brown made the genius and risky choice of recruiting recent hyperpop collaborators femtanyl and underscores. The Bellwether could not have been a more suitable venue for this experimental hodge podge of a lineup with its futuristic club-like atmosphere, especially considering how the entire night felt like experiencing a performance straight from outer space in the visual setting, but more importantly in the hyper-electronic music that filled the venue all night. click to expand truncated photos One of the first things that one would notice upon entering The Bellweather
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Oi My God: Cock Sparrer at The Palladium
Danny Ryan
November 28, 2025
On November 22nd and 23rd 2025, legendary Oi band, Cock Sparrer played two sold out shows at the Hollywood Palladium. Have you ever experienced something that you felt you “weren’t supposed to”? Whether it’s something paranormal, shocking, surreal, from another dimension, or like you accidentally found yourself having traveled back in time? While there is a rising scene of newer Oi bands like The New York Hounds and The Chisel, seeing an original band from the 1970’s movement is nearly unheard of nowadays with legends from founding groups like Angelic Upstarts and The Business unfortunately passing away in recent years. related: LA Still Believes In Anarchy – The Exploited at The Regent Of all the original boot-boy skinhead Oi bands from 1970’s England; few have even come close to reaching the cult status that Cock Sparrer has in modern times. Hell at this point, the term “Oi” is almost unanimous with Cock Sparrer nowadays and especially their 1983 no-skips masterpiece of an album Shock Troops. Returning to Los Angeles for the first time in 25 years to completely take over The Hollywood Palladium on November 22nd and 23rd like it was a coup run by unruly ‘77 Rude Boys, this
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Emo is Hot Mulligan at The Hollywood Palladium
Danny Ryan
November 25, 2025
Hot Mulligan headlined the Hollywood Palladium on Nov 19th 2025 and that’s important. I’ll tell you why. What qualifies as “Emo” has shifted dramatically in many waves throughout the years. There are some that consider 90’s Midwestern Emo like American Football to be the pinnacle of the genre, while others look all the way back to the 1980’s melodic hardcore projects like Embrace and Jawbreaker as the roots of the scene. Regardless, true up-and-coming Emo artists have been relegated to the underground again in the post-Hot Topic and MCR years of pop culture, with many of them choosing to take influence from all waves of Emo rather than wasting time with arguing about “what real Emo music truly is”. related: Emo Never Dies – My Chemical Romance at T Mobile Arena Hot Mulligan are one of the few Emo bands in more recent years to transcend out of the underground and into more mainstream status, as evidenced by their Hollywood Palladium headlining show on November 19, 2025. Just because they have reached the status of headlining a venue as massive as The Palladium doesn’t mean they have forgotten their underground punk roots however. Hot Mulligan wants to emphasize that they
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Janky Fresh Friday: New Releases From Oneohtrix Point Never and Home Front
Danny Ryan
November 21, 2025
Today’s new albums for Friday, November 7th, 2025, are two releases that may come from genres known for their simplicity, but both completely throw all preconceived notions about said genres out the window with how innovative and forward thinking each of these artists have consistently been throughout their careers. Oneohtrix Point Never almost needs no introduction in the conversation of avant-garde experimental music, being a trailblazer for Warp Records and arguably taking Aphex Twin’s place as King of IDM over the past few years. On the flipside, Home Front has been making waves in Oi punk since they first stepped on the scene with their ambitiously insane incorporations of new-wave, post-punk, and arena rock elements to the normally barebones genre. related: Janky Fresh Friday – New Releases from Orville Peck and FKA Twigs OPN’s album is a return to form in a lot of ways, shoving every element of his artistic identity in your face and sticking a flag in the sand of his place in experimental electronic music. Being a much newer artist, Home Front, is conversely finding their identity more and more with each release and creating their own brand of destroying genre-limiting boundaries. Both of these albums
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Powerviolence is Back: Nothing Less Mini Fest w/ Hong Kong F*ck You at 1720
Danny Ryan
November 19, 2025
Most JankySmooth readers are likely familiar with the recent “hardcore renaissance” that music outlets have been raving about post-Covid with the rise of bands like Turnstile, Drain, Scowl, and Knocked Loose; but less talked about are the current revivals of punk subgenres that have not quite yet received the same level of media attention. LA’s underground is deeply familiar with the excitement surrounding the rising popularity in Oi, street punk, and more recently: powerviolence. During the 2010’s powerviolence and the incorporations of genres like noise and power-electronics were much more common than you see in the hardcore scene nowadays, but there is a rising scene of artists hoping to bring the avant-garde abrasive elements of anarcho-punk back to the forefront. related: Sound And Fury 2025 – Everybody Spinkick! Hong Kong Fuck You (HFKY for short) are among the leaders in blazing this trail, and their dedication to the art of noise is so unique in the modern landscape that LA’s staple promoter for the rare vinyl side of hardcore punk, Nothingless Booking, decided to host a mini-festival at 1720 Warehouse on November 7, 2025 around this concept. It was an absolutely stacked bill including Azusa’s powerviolence legends ACxDC, the recent
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Janky Fresh Friday: New Releases by Orville Peck and FKA Twigs
Danny Ryan
November 14, 2025
Welcome to Janky Fresh Friday- the busiest day of the week for artists and labels to drop newly released music. Check in every Friday for a fresh squeeze. As part of Janky Smooth’s Janky Fresh Friday series, we’ve been comparing two albums that come out on the same day and seemingly have nothing in common- for the sole purpose of discovering the wealth of similarities between two disparate things. In some respects, it’s an exercise in empathy, learning how to appreciate differences, placing yourself in the shoes of a different subculture, and putting forth an effort to celebrate music as a whole. related: Janky Fresh Friday – New Releases by Drain and Danny Brown Today’s albums for Friday, November 7th, 2025, are releases from two of the most forward-thinking and strongest personalities in music pop culture at the moment, Orville Peck for country music and FKA Twigs for art-pop music. While Orville Peck’s release Appaloosa is just an EP and FKA Twigs’ newest album Eusexua Afterglow appears to be a sister album to her previous release, both of these releases are more groundbreaking staples in these artists’ discographies than you would expect. Orville Peck: Appaloosa (released November 14, 2025):
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Janky Fresh Friday: New Releases by Drain and Danny Brown
Danny Ryan
November 7, 2025
Welcome to Janky Fresh Friday- the busiest day of the week for artists and labels to drop newly released music. Check in every Friday for a fresh squeeze. As part of Janky Smooth’s Janky Fresh Friday series, we’ve been comparing two albums that come out on the same day and seemingly have nothing in common- for the sole purpose of discovering the wealth of similarities between two disparate things. In some respects, it’s an exercise in empathy, learning how to appreciate differences, placing yourself in the shoes of a different subculture, and putting forth an effort to celebrate music as a whole. related: Janky Fresh Friday – Chat Pile w/ Hayden Pedigo and Guided By Voices Today’s albums for Friday, November 7th, 2025, are two of the most ambitious releases of the year from scenes that used to be more closely connected than you see nowadays. The relationship between punk and hip-hop has a long history and this fusion was a staple of underground shows in Los Angeles for the longest time. There are very few rappers that cross over into punk, hardcore, or metal anymore but Danny Brown has consistently been dedicated to these collaborations since his tour
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Juggalo Halloween Party: Insane Clown Posse at House Of Blues Anaheim
Danny Ryan
October 28, 2025
Insane Clown Posse was not a band I ever expected to see in my lifetime, especially if you would have asked me in my younger years. Between their goofy carnival-sounding production, overly edgy lyrics and imagery, trailer trash fanbase, their beef with Eminem; the list of reasons not to like them upon first impression is endless. As time goes on and Juggalos get older however; the perception of Insane Clown Posse has changed drastically over the years with Vice’s documentary about their Gathering Of The Juggalos festival, their collaborations with Danny Brown and more recently Jelly Roll, and their song Miracles becoming a viral sensation upon its release. ICP are the black sheep of music as a whole, and the world has mostly decided that we were a bit too hard on them over the years. related: OC Did It All For The Nookie: Musink Tattoo Convention And Music Fest 2019 I decided I wasn’t doing my due diligence as a music journalist if I had never experienced them live, and being as they never visit Southern California; this was one of the few chances I had. House Of Blues Anaheim made the ridiculously insane decision to book them right
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Janky Fresh Friday: New Albums from Mobb Deep and Sanguisugabogg
Danny Ryan
October 10, 2025
Welcome to Janky Fresh Friday- the busiest day of the week for artists and labels to drop newly released music. Check in every Friday for a fresh squeeze. Sanguisugabogg: Hideous Aftermath (released October 10, 2025): Century Media Records Sanguisugabogg has been my favorite modern metal band for the past few years, with their absolutely masterful craft of combining the sounds of classic 90’s death metal with the attitude of the modern hardcore scene to create an environment of absolute chaotic violence at their live shows. Death metal/Slam metal have been crossing over into the hardcore scene much more within the past year, but unfortunately this album does seem like it’s a mark for the beginning of the end for this collision of worlds. The new album “Hideous Aftermath” is significantly slower than the previous ones, and it takes itself much more seriously. I was actually relieved upon hearing the first breakdown of the album, as I almost forgot I was listening to a Sanguisugabogg album with how long it took for the crowd-killing moments to arrive. related: Sound And Fury 2023 – The Stage Dive Will Never Die The casual metalhead who sees Sanguisugabogg at a large festival while
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Janky Fresh Friday: New Albums From AFI and Snõõper
Danny Ryan
October 3, 2025
Welcome to Janky Fresh Friday- the busiest day of the week for artists and labels to drop newly released music. Check in every Friday for a fresh squeeze. AFI: Silver Bleeds The Black Sun… (released October 3, 2025): Run For Cover Records AFI has recently been in music news more than they have been in decades. A major aspect of this is frontman Davey Havok drastically changing his physical appearance recently, looking like he’d be more likely to front an indie folk group than a goth or hardcore or alternative band. Are those AFI‘s genres? It’s hard to pin them down to a specific sound, as they are constantly evolving and reinventing themselves throughout their career. related: Cruel World 2024 – A Legacy Forms at The Rose Bowl Today’s release of “Silver Bleeds The Black Sun…” marks the beginning of a new era for them, shifting much more into synthesizer based goth music and darkwave rather than their roots as a rock band. This shouldn’t be a surprise considering Havok’s side-projects Blaqk Audio and Dreamcar were hinting that he’s wanted to head in this direction for a long time. Even AFI’s last couple of albums were heavily incorporating goth and
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Janky Fresh Friday: New Albums From John Maus and PeelingFlesh
Danny Ryan
September 26, 2025
Welcome to Janky Fresh Friday- the busiest day of the week for artists and labels to drop newly released music. Check in every Friday for a fresh squeeze. John Maus: Later Than You Think (released September 26, 2025): Young Records John Maus’ new album Later Than You Think is a huge deal. Like a really huge, massive deal. Personally, his last release in 2011 We Must Become the Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves was a formative album during my high school years and one of my first introductions to goth music or synth pop outside of the mainstream. Almost 15 years later and he’s back with a vengeance; a deeply changed man on a spiritual level, but still bringing the lo-fi dark and gloomy atmosphere to the dancefloor. Don’t miss John Maus live this October: Observatory OC – October 20, 2025 The Belasco – October 22, 2025 The lyrical themes have certainly changed quite a bit from 2011’s “Cop Killer” to today with “I Hate Antichrist” and this tone of religious awakening can be felt throughout his newest release. As early as the second track we get lyrics like “Satan, Satan, Satan lies. Turns everything into fucking spite”. You could
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Slowing The World Down with MJ Lenderman at The Shrine
Danny Ryan
September 26, 2025
MJ Lenderman is one of the most prominent key players in the alternative country movement, and his September 11, 2025 performance at The Shrine Auditorium showed just how big of a name he is amongst younger people and country-folk enthusiasts alike. I don’t believe there’s even a debate on whether country music is currently one of the most dominating cultural forces in America. It goes even beyond the music, with Southern aesthetics like mullets, flannels, showy belt-buckles, and cowboy boots taking over hipster-infested areas like Highland Park and Silverlake. While the love for the genre is actually on its way to becoming more equal between urban and rural America at this point in time, the artists respected between these two demographics could not vary more. While mainstream country artists like Morgan Wallen aren’t really talked about with reverence amongst music fans in LA, there is a new wave of alternative country artists with more emotional and poetic folk influence that are considered superstars amongst aspiring artists looking for a singer-songwriter scene to be part of. featured image: Michelle Evans related: Courtney Barnett at The Roxy – How To Make A Rockstar MJ Lenderman is one of the biggest names of
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