Tag: featured
Gorillaz Invade Los Angeles With An Arsenal of Media For New Album ‘The Mountain’
Rob Shepyer
February 28, 2026
Gorillaz don’t just release new albums, they release new worlds. From Demon Days to their upcoming latest, The Mountain, each album has its own story, its own physics, its own ensemble cast, and in the case of The Mountain, its own spirituality. Blending eastern traditions and sounds from Hinduism to Islam into their traditional funky alternative sound, Gorillaz’s intention with The Mountain is to put their fans on a spirit quest. They brought this quest to The Hollywood Palladium for 2 nights on February 22 and February 23, 2026; but also through their current interactive exhibit House Of Kong at the Rolling Greens nursery, which we will cover in the second part in this article. related: Gorillaz, The Most Human Band at Youtube Theater Around the world and across time, mountains have always been significant as metaphorical obstacles meant to test believers and help them rediscover their true essence. In a time of much confusion, where the human soul is routinely compromised by what we consume, we are each called to climb our personal mountains and meditate on their peaks to find new meanings for the new world in its new age. As the world changes, so do the animated
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Reunions You Never Expected-The Spirit Of Versailles at Teragram
Danny Ryan
February 16, 2026
After over 20 years and against all odds; both The Spirit of Versailles and In Loving Memory played The Teragram Ballroom on February 8, 2026- These once obscure midwestern emo bands played to an audience that, ironically enough, consisted mostly of attendees that weren’t even born yet when both bands were active. All in attendance were witness to the live show birth of a cult resurgence. With how popular Midwestern Emotional Hardcore (Emo) and Screamo/Skramz have become in online music circles in recent years, it’s almost unfathomable to imagine just how niche the genre was up until not too long ago. Especially in the late 1990’s and early 00’s, history about these smaller scenes within emotional hardcore were not very well documented, and many of these bands have been lost to time or may not even be aware of their newfound success amongst younger generations finding their music later on. The Spirit of Versailles and In Loving Memory are two late 90’s bands that could not fit this description more accurately, with very little footage even existing of either band performing in their short-term original runs. Southern California promoter Your Renaissance specializes in the more emotional sides of the hardcore
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Cavalera’s Elusive ‘Nailbomb’ Comes to 1720 For A Rare U.S. Performance
Danny Ryan
February 12, 2026
While Nailbomb may be a heavy metal associated band due to vocalist Max Cavalera also being the original frontman of legendary Brazilian extreme metal band Sepultura, their unique signature blend of industrial, groove metal, and hardcore punk makes them an absolute anomaly in the genre; being equally as popular within industrial and hardcore punk circles as they are with the metalheads. Considering how widespread Nailbomb’s influence is across these different scenes, they couldn’t have picked a more appropriate lineup for their 1720 Warehouse performance on January 20, 2026; consisting of the Inland Empire’s biggest hardcore band Big Ass Truck I.E., the gruesome sounding death metal of San Fernando Valley’s Greenwitch, Arizona darkwave act Meldamor, and OC industrial punk group Purest Form. The selection of openers not only felt like a curation of artists that Nailbomb themselves are fond of, but a celebration of all of the different scenes that played a part in creating the band’s distinct sound. related: Cold As Life Play First SoCal Show – Death Or Glory at 1720 This was an exclusive one-off Los Angeles performance and only Nailbomb’s third US performance, which only made the night that much more unforgettable for anybody who was lucky enough
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Janky Smooth Top 10 SHOWS of 2025 Rated by Contributors
Janky Smooth Central Command
December 30, 2025
Live shows, concerts, clubs and festivals have always been the life blood of Janky Smooth and that was no different in 2025. That’s why Top 10 shows are always on our year end lists… But 2025 was a relaunch in many ways for us after almost clicking our last click on this music blog through the pandemic. This year felt like we were back at full strength for the first time. A skeleton crew has grown skin that has been filled with the blood, sweat and tears of such a diverse group of contributors- all with their own taste. Taste, and the lack of it, at times is what we celebrate on our music blog. Here are the Top 10 Shows of 2025 from 7 of our contributors. Up next- The Top 25 Artists To Watch In 2026. *All highlighted picks are linked to reviews* related: Janky Smooth Top 10 Albums Of 2025 Rated By Contributors Publisher, Danny Baraz Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds at Cruel World, Rose Bowl Nine Inch Nails at The Forum Lip Critic at The Lodge Room Fleshwater and Chat Pile at The Fonda Theatre Marilyn Manson at House Of Blues Anaheim L7 and Lunachicks
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Janky Smooth Top 10 ALBUMS of 2025 Rated by Contributors
Janky Smooth Central Command
December 22, 2025
Year end lists don’t define many music publications anymore. But we’d like to change that. The Janky Smooth Year End Lists are personal to each of our contributors that participated and our contributors define the focus of our music blog. And while everyone can post their personal year end lists on social media with varying degrees of traction, it’s the collective that has always defined Janky Smooth and what we cover. It’s hard to tell if 2025 was a banner year for Independent Music or if Janky Smooth covered it in a way that we never have in the last 11 years. It would be strictly rhetorical to ask if the volatile times we live in were feeding artists inspiration that led to their most seminal works of art, but it would not be if we asked if we covered more new releases than we ever had in our history. In the latter half of 2025 we introduced Janky Fresh Friday to focus on artist in the studio as much as we spotlight the artists onstage. As a result, the contributors at Janky Smooth have felt like we have been able to offer a more holistic view of bands and
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Jonathan Richman: The Gift Of Being Present at Ojai Valley Women’s Club
Michelle Evans
December 17, 2025
I was not expecting to have my heart broken at the Jonathan Richman show at Ojai Valley Woman’s Club this past December 9th, 2025. Jonathan Richman is arguably the kindest soul in punk, except I’ve never actually heard anyone argue this. On the surface he comes off as simplistic, idealistic and perhaps even naive. Not everybody “gets” Jonathan Richman and by all accounts this seems perfectly fine with him. He’s never bent himself to appear any differently than exactly who he is. When he led the highly influential proto-punk band The Modern Lovers, their fast, energetic hit “Roadrunner” sort of blew up in its own way and turned them into a household name…if your household was hip enough at least. Following this success, The Modern Lovers responded by opening their very next show with silly, cute and quaint “I’m a Little Airplane,” complete with stretched out airplane arms by Richman and, yes, airplane noises from the entire band (nnnyyoww nnnyyoww!). Audience members constructed paper airplanes and floated them towards the stage, to the delight of The Modern Lovers. The scene made the concert look more like a children’s show and was not at all what the audience was expecting following
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Every Cap’n Jazz Song Is My Favorite- Live At The Wiltern
Michelle Evans
December 10, 2025
On November 20th 2025, I saw Cap’n Jazz at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, CA and then immediately drove to Las Vegas. The familiar five hour, starlit drive through the glowing blue Mojave Desert served as a catalyst for my mind to wander and wonder…is time travel real? What the hell just happened at the Cap’n Jazz show? related: Emo Is Hot Mulligan at The Hollywood Palladium As Southern California was being drenched by a rare storm, a weird-ass but perfectly curated variety show was going down on Wilshire Blvd. The curiously stacked lineup looked like any one of the mixed CDs I would have made in high school. Some thoughtfully burned acid jazz courtesy of Digable Planets, an angsty AFI track, “The Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats. A perfect compilation. I would take a sharpie and scribble “Trix Mix” or something equally dumb on the white surface, but man would that tracklist hit hard on the bus ride to school. Here at The Wiltern, Cap’n Jazz invited four wildly eclectic supporting bands to the bill, as well as four different DJs buffering the sets. related: Ceremony Gets Their Flowers at Hollywood Palladium Anthony Family, a new project led
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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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Melt Banana Rain Harsh Noise in Los Angeles at Teragram Ballroom
Janky Smooth Central Command
November 27, 2025
Revisiting the vibrant streets of Los Angeles, California on November 13 on behalf of their “2025 SlinGShot Tour,” Melt Banana crusades across the west coast of the United States in celebration of their latest album, 3 + 5. 11 years of pure creative flow led to the birth of their ninth LP (3 + 5) in 2024, which channeled in raw elements including hardcore punk, noise rock, and experimental electro themes. Joining the duo on tour are Deaf Club and Dream_Mega – both honorable features that beautifully complemented the energy Yako and Agata curated on stage at the Teragram Ballroom. The initial chaotic rush left by the presence of the opening acts left the crowd hungry for more action. A lingering sense of exhilaration fills the venue as crowds of rabid fans flood the scene in classic punk-rock regalia. Overhanging strobe lights and the smell of rebellion energized every individual who dared to attend. Words by Max Molina Photos by Auburn Sky click to expand truncated photos related: Three One G Radiation – Deaf Club at The Echo As Yako and Agata aka Melt Banana made their way on stage, fans erupted in a flurry of excitement, laced with mosh
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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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Substance Festival 2025: The Post Pandemic/Post Punk Era
Danny Baraz
November 14, 2025
Substance Festival in Los Angeles has become a right of passage in this city and this past November 7th and 8th we attended the 2025 installment in the festival’s return to the Belasco Theater. Approaching this Substance Fest review with any overt enthusiasm would be antithetical to the spirit of the way we revel in the morose nature of this art- the oddly mesmerizing decay of destruction/creation approached with a somewhat detached dreariness that is direct in it’s aloofness. But also… the fucking horrific beauty of it all… or whatever. related: Cloak And Dagger Fest- The Heart Of Los Angeles Bled From Dusk To Dawn Even with the orbits and cycles of pop culture and music circling back to black lipstick among the masses, the mainstream attention can cause a scene to go into lockdown and it’s members more discerning on where they spend their show dollars. So for Substance Festival, it was important to pull in the beating heart of the scene at the increased ticket price. related: Sextile At The Novo- The Most Important Band in Los Angeles? A touch for curation in the dark arts is what scene loyalists look for most and their return to the
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GBH at Ventura Music Hall- Street Punks In Paradise
Rob Shepyer
October 29, 2025
The scene was the Hi Hat. One of the most vibrant venues during its short life on York, a must attend space on Highland Park art-walk nights. I don’t remember who was playing, just that it was a punk show because Blaque Chris was DJ’ing between the bands that night. During his set, Blaque Chris spun a track that stood out to me as especially vibrant and danceable, but in that street punk way, like kicking up dirt in the discotheque. I didn’t know the song at the time and went on a long journey trying to find it. Before seeing GBH at Ventura Music Hall though, the planets aligned to tell me the song was Big Women by GBH off their “Leather, Bristles, Studs, and Acne” album. GBH is quintessential street punk- the exact sound and spirit of the punk genre and look. Songs like Big Women are exemplary of that vibe. Comical, crass, gritty, simple, rhythmic, and too much fun to stop your body from hopping up and down. It took me far too long to see them perform, but finally, I had my punk rock rite of passage on October 17, 2025 by seeing them with Slaughterhouse
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