Category: NEWS

Janky Smooth Presents: FYF 2016 Preview And Janky Mixtape

Brent Smith August 10, 2016

It’s that time of year again in L.A. FYF is OUR festival and the evolution of a fledgling, independent, local event in Echo Park called Fuck Yeah Fest organized by some local scene kid named Sean Carlson, has transformed into a world class festival with world class talent in a world class setting in Exposition Park. To all our faithful fans and haters; please enjoy streaming or downloading our annual FYF 2016 mixtape by DJ Justin Cornwall and festival preview by our very own wordsmith, Brent Smith. Love, The Jankiest, Danny Baraz It’s 2016. Bowie and Prince are dead. Reality T.V. has assimilated the political sphere, summer fires are stoked and well-fed, and trigger fingers seem itchier than ever. This is Fuck Yeah Fest’s moment. On August 27 and 28, FYF looks to put on a hell of a clinic, going with moxie over showmanship. Headliners feature Kendrick Lamar, Tame Impala, LCD Soundsystem and Grace Jones—four acts that inhabit a paradoxical interzone between indie and mainstream. FYF has all the cred of Coachella or EDC without the obnoxious baggage or neon-gaudy self-importance. FYF’s reputation now is one of coveted, cunning formidability; like a million-person kill count it’s almost too big

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

Desert Daze 2016 Announces Lineup And New Location

Rob Shepyer May 25, 2016

Desert Daze is back and bigger than ever in its fifth year. This groovy happening has moved to the Institute of Mentalphysics in Joshua Tree for three days and nights of music in the hallucinatory high desert and what better music to hear in that dry, barren landscape than exactly what this lineup offers. Proto punk, avant garde legends Suicide will perform for their first West Coast show in over a decade and one can only imagine how perfectly their electronic hum will marry the desert night’s vibration. Other acts include the Brian Jonestown Massacre, garage rock veterans The Sonics, Deerhunter, The Black Angels performing their album Passover, Thee Oh Sees, Deafheaven, and many more and this is just the first wave of announcements. Phase two of the lineup will be announced in June. Desert Daze will feature three outdoor stages for bands, an indoor stage for alternative programming, vendors, bars, food trucks and more. Tickets for Desert Daze go on sale this Friday 5/27, capacity is limited so scoop your tickets up while you can. Attendees will be able to stay in onsite cottages designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, standard camping and RV packages are also available. Check out

Holding Our Breath: The Misfits Riot Fest Reunion

Rob Shepyer May 13, 2016

It’s been 33 years since Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only shared a stage as The Misfits and now in a reunion that no one saw coming, the original horror punks will headline Riot Fest’s Denver and Chicago festivals this September. When I say no one saw this coming, I’m not trying to be cliché. “Will there ever be a Misfits reunion?” was standard line of questioning in any Danzig or Jerry Only interview and it was always answered with a very sure no. The Misfits have been the center of countless legal dramas between Danzig and Only, Jerry even accused Danzig of spreading satanic values, while Danzig announced he was retired from touring. Yet in the year that Lemmy, Bowie, and Prince have left us and Axl and Slash have been able to set aside their differences, it appears that anything is possible. Since their last show on October 29th 1983, Jerry Only has led the Misfits through various lineup changes that included Michael Graves, Marky Ramone, and Dez Cadena of Black Flag, until finally Only assumed the position of the band’s singer in their current incarnation. Meanwhile, Glenn kept innovating in both punk and metal with Samhain in the

The NSA Announces May 18th Sanders Fundraiser at Regent Theater

Danny Baraz April 21, 2016

New Sound Alliance and Janky Smooth are proud to announce A Fundraiser for Bernie Sanders on May 18th at The Regent Theater. The show will take place just a couple weeks prior to the California primary on June 7th. This is the first event by the newly launched political action group, The New Sound Alliance. The NSA seeks to unite the music community in organizing bands, labels, promoters, managers and publicists to organize our voices in an effort to engage young voters and activists. The fundraiser for Senator Sanders will feature The Garden, Kim and the Created, Death Hymn Number 9, The Birth Defects and all star punk rock legends, Punk Rock Karaoke that features members of Circle Jerks/Bad Religion, The Dickies and Adolescents as YOUR backing band while you sing punk rock classics on the stage of The Regent Theater in Downtown L.A. There is also a super special secret guest that we can’t announce until the beginning of May! All profits will be donated to the Sanders campaign. Purchase Tickets Here It is sure to be a fun and meaningful night as we raise money for Bernie Sanders in his quest for a political revolution just weeks before the

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

Janky Smooth And The NSA Show on Dash Radio-Music, News, Revolution

Danny Baraz March 28, 2016

Are you tired of all the noise and propaganda in the Main Stream Media and on the News? Everyday, the 6 companies that own almost all of the media you consume attempt to make it more difficult to identify “the truth” about what is happening in both foreign and domestic events. Janky Smooth and The New Sound Alliance is a new radio show on the Los Anarchy Radio Station of Dash Radio that attempts to cut through all the bullshit to deliver to you honest reporting on both the news you see everyday and the news that is hidden from public consumption. Janky Smooth and The NSA delivers a weekly recap of world events as we try to unite musicians and artists to engage in a new level of activism. To rekindle the artistic spirit to re engage people in the social and political process. We also feature special, in studio guests, world premiere music and in studio performances. You can check out past shows as they go up on our Soundcloud the day after airing on Dash Radio. Join Danny B, Murder Bunny, Taylor Wong (party boy) and the entire Janky Smooth team as we report on the world

Punk Rock Bowling 2016 Club Shows Announced

Danny Baraz March 8, 2016

Punk Rock Bowling is like no other festival on the planet. There are few major festivals that are able to instill in it’s attendees a real sense of community across the entire scope of it’s population. The level of quality and consistency that BYO Records is able to achieve year after year is impressive. No where is this more prevalent than the annual cluster of Punk Rock Bowling club shows. In a lot of ways, I’m far more interested in the lineup of Punk Rock Bowling 2016 club shows than I am in the actual festival itself. While the major story line of this year’s installment of PRB is the expansion of the festival to include an East Coast weekend of festival days and club shows in New Jersey, today’s announcement of the schedule and lineup of the Punk Rock Bowling 2016 club shows has me talking to myself. One night in particular stands out to me and might just be all the motivation I need to keep my attendance streak going. The Thursday night club show at Punk Rock Bowling 2016 is Ministry, Excel and 45 Grave are playing the motherfucking Fremont Country Club. I’m not sure what the

Burger Records and the Observatory: 5 Years of Fun in Orange County

Danny Baraz March 7, 2016

With Burger Records postponing their annual Burgerama festival, Sean and Lee have opted to honor their partnership with the Observatory in Orange County. For 5 years, Burger and The Observatory have conspired to bring the audiophiles of Orange County some of the best lineups in all of Southern California. To commemorate the milestone, Burger Records and their headquarters to showcase the bands on their label, The Observatory, have put together a show for every day this week that features some of the best talent in indie music today. This post will serve as a running update and review of shows that Janky Smooth attends. The headliners and supporting acts on the lineup aren’t just Burger bands but feature acts like Slowdive and Crystal Castles for one of their first live performances without iconic vocalist, Alice Glass. Angry Samoans headline the Wednesday, March 9th show and includes Orange County punk icon, Rikk Agnew along with Golden (shower) Boys of emerging pop punk, No Parents. The anniversary week kicks off tonight with a few bands that we’ve spent a lot of time covering over the past year; Shannon and the Clams, Death Valley Girls and The Gooch Palms and features Guantanamo Baywatch

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

Category: NEWS

Subscribe to the Janky Newsletter

ticket giveaways, exclusive content, breaking news and of course- Music, Art & Activism