Johann A. Ramos, Author at Jankysmooth

Johann A. Ramos

Thee Oh Sees & Wand Back For Annual Holiday Food Drive at Teragram

Johann A. Ramos January 13, 2017

Thee Oh Sees- AKA, the hardest working band in the global music underground in the past decade. I swear to punk rock gods that these guys are on a world tour 365 whilst simultaneously putting out consistently great records. How do they do it? The annual Panache Booking/LA Kitchen Holiday Homeless Food Drive took place in dirty Downtown Los Angeles at a very special venue that goes by the name Teragram Ballroom, we here at Janky Smooth have become familiar with over the last year or so. related content: Fuzz & Thee Oh Sees Bring Holiday Help To Homeless in L.A. Shannon Lay of the well established (and well ranked in Janky Smooth’s lists of Best of 2016’s) LA outfit, Feels opened the the show with a calm before the rage, as categorized by Lay herself. Lay coaxed the crowd with melodious chord progressions and beautiful melodies before the proverbial storm that was about to erupt, which juxtaposed the evening in the best way possible. I enjoyed the set, the atmosphere and the mildly depressing key of her music evoked some very strong emotions that challenged my fragile masculine intuition, and that’s a good thing. Wand did a fantastic fucking job at tying up the set

Death Grips Side Project “The I.L.Y.’s” Release New Album – Listen Here

Johann A. Ramos July 16, 2016

We here at Janky Smooth love the Sacramento born experimental hip-hop outfit Death Grips. We love that they announced their break up on a coffee diner napkin back in 2014. We also love that they announce an extensive world tour just a few months after that stunt. We just love that they don’t really give a fuck, and they don’t have to write a song to tell us all about how very little fucks they give, they show us. They do everything a band should not do and yet they have one of the most loyal fan-bases in arguably the most obscure genre right now. They play to this role very well, not just with their music but with their attitude towards the big machine us simple minded individuals know as the music industry. Their latest puzzle – The I.L.Y.’s –is a Death Grips side project consisting of Death Grips’ very own Zach Hill on vocals, Andy Morin on production, and Tera Melos’ Nick Reinhardt on guitar. ‘Scum With Boundaries’, The I.L.Y.’s second album, was released via a post on Death Grips’ Facebook page. They kindly warned us of the release 2 hours before they dropped us this heavy hitter on their Facebook time-line as well. Screenshots:

Beach Goth V Lineup Announced: Everything You Need to Know

Johann A. Ramos July 13, 2016

Beach Goth is the one time a year where I can get a taste of all of my favorite bands and acts across the entire genre spectrum. The Growlers hosted festival is infamous for it’s very consistently unpredictable line-ups. Booking past festival favorites like Die Antwoord, Ghost, Touche Amore, The Drums, Mac DeMarco, and more raises an eyebrow or two but it works out in its own way by attracting all sorts of demographics, making conflicting set times less of a worry for the crowd and offering evidence that today’s young music fan isn’t limited by dogmatic genre loyalty. Beach Goth V is no exception: The festival will no longer take place at The Observatory (thank god). The OC Canyon Park will be Beach Goth V’s new home for now, which is good news for everyone because it’s biggest turn off was its cramped festival grounds. Popular festival’s always take a huge risk with a move in location. There will always be those that can never be satisfied but there is danger in changing a dynamic that works and production that has been perfected over years of working out the kinks. As long as the open minded party vibe remains, Beach Goth

Crystal Castles Tease LP 4 With New Song “Concrete”

Johann A. Ramos July 5, 2016

Crystal Castles premiere their third track since Ethan Kath split ways with Alice Glass last year. The track features vocals by Edith yet again, release date of their fourth full length not yet confirmed. Dates and Ticket Links for their summer tour in support of their new music: FRI JULY 8 2016 ATHENS, Greece – Ejekt Festival Tickets JULY 15-16 2016 VIENNA, Austria – Out Of The Woods Tickets THU JULY 21 2016 PORTLAND, OR – Wonder Ballroom Tickets FRI JULY 22 2016 SEATTLE, WA – Capitol Hill Block Party Tickets SAT JULY 23 2016 VANCOUVER, BC – Commodore Ballroom http://www.commodoreballroom.com/tickets/ JULY 29-31 2016 PLOCK, Poland – Audioriver Festival TIckets FRI AUGUST 05 2016 CASTELLON, Spain – Arenal Sound Festival Tickets SAT AUGUST 06 2016 PALERMO, Italy – Ypsigrock Festival Tickets FRI AUGUST 12 2016 PIESTANY, Slovakia – Grape Festival Tickets TUE AUGUST 16 2016 BUDAPEST, Hungary – Sziget Festival Tickets FRI AUGUST 19 2016 HASSELT, Belgium – Pukkelpop Festival Tickets SUN AUGUST 21 2016 LVIV, Ukraine – Zaxidfest Tickets FRI AUGUST 26 2016 READING FESTIVAL, UK – Reading & Leeds Festival Tickets SAT AUGUST 27 2016 LEEDS FESTIVAL, UK – Reading & Leeds Festival Tickets WED SEP 21 2016 2016

Wild Nothing At The Regent: Tight Jams And Tantrums Abound

Johann A. Ramos June 1, 2016

Wild Nothing sold out The Regent Theater in Downtown Los Angeles Friday night along side dream-pop queen Charlie Hilton on their Life Of Pause world tour. Both are very special acts with consistent demographics that have been getting a lot buzz in the media lately, particularly Wild Nothing after their new record “The Life Of Pause” (No, not the life of pablo) dropped. Frontman Jack Tatum carries a bag-full of influence with every record he puts out – krautrock, shoe gaze, post rock – not unusual for indie rock acts now a days. What sets him apart from other dream pop acts in the market (see: diiv, blouse, beach fossils, etc) is his singing versatility and his blisteringly catchy, lush, modulated guitar progressions that’ll have the crowd spending $70 on Stub Hub resold GA pit tickets. Damn you ticket scalpers! “Nocturne”, released in 2012 paved the way for many indie rockers yet to come. Charlie Hilton opened up the gig at a much slower pace than I expected and I mean that in a good way. She set the vibe of the show and chilled me out with her whispy, quiet vocals – which I appreciated because I drank one

No Parents and Plague Vendor Drop In To The Echo for Joint Mini Tour

Johann A. Ramos November 30, 2015

No Parents, Plague Vendor, No Win and Melted. Its been a while since I’ve covered a show with a line up that actually made sense – not saying that I don’t appreciate a good diverse line up, it’s just been a while. The Echo was the second stop of a mini west coast tour shared by No Parents and Plague Vendor and it was the perfect fit. No Win is the brainchild of Danny Nogueiras, who you might recognize from his important percussion role in the earlier days of a little band you might’ve heard before- FIDLAR. That is as far as their association goes though because their sound is quite different, less aggressive, a little more sad? Comparing bands is counterproductive in my honest opinion so lets move on.. I found myself wanting to sing along to “After Your Legs” by No Win, even though I had never even heard it, prior to that night. They played a catchy and chill set and prepared for what was about to take place the following sets. The calm before the storm, if you will. As Melted set up, I noticed that there was a “new Sam” on the drums. I later found out that the

Albert Hammond Jr Strokes The Teragram Ballroom

Johann A. Ramos October 16, 2015

Albert Hammond Jr. headlined The Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles Wednesday night in support of his third solo album “Momentary Masters”. Who could have predicted that one of the most anticipated shows of 2015 would have landed on a hump day? The record, according to Albert himself, was inspired by astronomer Carl Sagan’s book “Pale Blue Dot”, a book about space and the future of mankind. I can’t claim that I have been able to make the connection, but I can tell you that Strokes rhythm guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. definitely composed and produced this album with an out of this world mentality. Momentary Masters is great, sonically, and the instrumentation is nothing short of spectacular, but it doesn’t do their face melting live sound justice. Directly supporting Albert were Day Wave and they played a tight set. I could tell that a lot of the audience members weren’t too familiar with the band (The chick next to me kept referring to them as Date Wave to her other friend. The band even repeated their name towards the end of their set and she still kept calling them Date Wave), the crowd seemed pleased with their set as they swayed their

Mystic Braves Headline the Teragram Ballroom shot by Johnny Ramos

Mystic Braves Bring Good Vibes To The Teragram Ballroom

Johann A. Ramos September 8, 2015

Ryan of No Parents illuminated at The Teragram Mystic Braves, Creation Factory, The Abigails and No Parents shared the stage on the first Friday of September at the Teragram Ballroom in Downtown Los Angeles. But one of these things is not like the others and it had me scratchin my head. Creation Factory, The Abigails, and Mystic Braves have a complimentary sound (and even common band members) with a 60’s psychedelic rock influence. This left No Parents a little out of place with their straightforward punk style. It’s not the first time No Parents’ name on a bill looked like a red headed step child in an African village. We’ve been noticing that a lot with this band but I think it’s just because every band in L.A. wants to play shows with them. It made for an interesting night. Johnny 2 Bags and The Abigails at The Echo: Two Generations of Heartbreak Music I’ve never been to the Teragram Ballroom before, and I was quite surprised with the venue’s sound and lighting. I’ve seen Mystic Braves many times in their rise through the L.A. DIY indie music scene so I’m intimately familiar with their sound. So many shows in dingy clubs

The Jesus and Mary Chain, Psychocandy and the Art of Noise at The Fonda

Johann A. Ramos August 21, 2015

The Jesus And Mary Chain and A Place To Bury Strangers (APTBS) shared the stage Wednesday night at The Fonda Theater in Hollyweird. The influencers of the first wave of the shoegaze movement made a wise choice picking APTBS as their support to mark the significance of this seminal album in rock history. When I arrived to the venue, I was delighted to be greeted by up and coming solo acoustic singer and songwriter Willow Robinson. Although I was a little late to his set, I enjoyed the songs I did manage to catch and recognize. While I do believe that the acoustic genre is saturated and that it is almost impossible to stand out, Willow Robinson is one of the few exceptions in the scene. Although the crowd was a little bare, the few spectators were having a good time. It was apparent in the way their eyes were glued to the stage. Willow Robinson closed his set by letting us know that he was very grateful to be sharing the stage with Jesus and The Mary Chain and A Place To Bury Strangers, a very humble move on his part. I was intrigued but not surprised by the

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