Tag: fyf

FYF Fest 2017 Steals Coachella’s Throne As So-Cal’s Premiere Festival

Dave Unbuckled August 1, 2017

My bones are still rattling and recovering from Capn’ Jazz’s sold out set at The Echo Thursay night. So much so that I limp across the edges of Exposition Park, and marvel at the crowd as I walk into my first FYF fest. The festival has grown dramatically since it’s early days as a showcase for DIY and up and coming local punk acts in 2004. It’s so comfortably warm walking through the LA coliseum on the outskirts circling the festival that I skip my normal routine of stealing water bottles and go straight to the pit. Related Content: FYF Presents: The Glorious Return of Cap’n Jazz At The Echo In an impromptu pow wow we map out our weekend and get ready to go watch Badbadnotgood- a band I’ve been following since their second album BBNG2 began getting the well-deserved buzz it received nearly five years ago. The band has carved a niche identity as mainstays in these large festivals. The crowd sways through their set, flexing their youthful energy that will be gone by day’s end but for now the band invites special guest Denzel Curry onto the stage and finishes the set with people pogoing to Trap Jazz

FYF Presents: The Marked Men & Royal Headache Tearing Regent To Shreds

Rob Shepyer July 31, 2017

The Marked Men are a band of Texan punks from the early 2000’s that FYF managed to lasso into a show at the Regent Theater. To some, the news of this show was of the same magnitude as Jawbreaker‘s upcoming reunion for Riot Fest. The Marked Men’s sound is traditional power punk with an unrelenting 3-chord assault reminiscent of bands like The Spits. It’s the perfect soundtrack to youthful debauchery and even though the ages of the crowd were mixed from teenagers to geezers, the energy of everyone in the audience was young and crazy when the Marked Men took the stage. It trips me out to think that the 00’s were so long ago that bands from that era are considered icons and veterans now. Perhaps I’m getting too old for this shit. related content: The Spits at Union- Trash and Glamor United in Los Angeles Flat Worms were the first band to open up this can of worms. They were a speedy and fun power punk trio but as their set progressed their performance started feeling droll- not because of the small early turnout, but because the vocals lacked dynamism and they didn’t move with as much spirit

Thou Demonstrate The Blackest Doom At The Echo For FYF Club Show

Rob Shepyer July 18, 2017

Doom metal only keeps evolving and engrossing the current metal scene, drowning all the lesser genres in the tar pit of its sound and forcing the future icon bands to rise up to the surface. Thou are the inheritors of Louisiana’s rich sludge-metal heritage and they take that sound to a place no doom band has ever taken it before. With ten minute songs that feel like hell itself, Thou blends doom and black metal into a sound that brings together doom and stoner fans, black metal fans, noise fans, and grindcore fans. When a promoter like FYF Presents gives you the blessing of playing a show under their banner, you know you’re part of a brewing musical storm, if not the whole storm. But for a band as brutal and against the grain as Thou to be awarded that blessing at The Echo just 5 days before their annual festival, it’s indicative of how mainstream tastes are being pushed into a very extreme corner and FYF, at the center of it all has helped to move the status quo- even while being criticized for softening and being “less punk” themselves in the way that they book the festival. Poppycock.

Janky Smooth Presents: FYF Janky Mixtape III & Download for 2017

Justin Cornwall July 7, 2017

It’s hard to believe FYF is just around the corner- again. It feels like yesterday I was stumbling out of the downtown Metrolink station, asking a stranger with a festival wristband on for a ride home (gas money included, of course) because my phone was completely dead. After getting enough power in my phone from home, proceeding to the Lyft waiting outside my door to the filthy Overpass where I watched Father John Misty saucily put moves on any girl who would look at him… oh, and of course, THREE YEARS SINCE MY FIRST FYF MIXTAPE FOR JANKY SMOOTH? Jesus fuckin Christ, where does the time go? Stream The Janky Smooth FYF Mixtape III Now related content: Janky Smooth Presents- FYF 2016 Preview & Mixtape FYF has always been one of my favorite parties of the year and I’ve been attending for almost 10 years in a row. I’ve worked the festival, snuck in, bought tickets an hour before deciding to go – it’s a world class event in our own backyard. The recurring acts on the lineup are like distant relatives I get to reconnect with every year. The headliners jump out of my old iTunes library and onto

FYF 2016: Everything You Never Wanted to Know And More

Danny Baraz August 31, 2016

If art imitates life then isn’t a local music or art scene the most accurate reflection of life in that city? The sound of the music and the meaning of the lyrics, the images created by the brush and the musings, whether etched in pencil or poked in on a keyboard, all are inspired by an artists’ surroundings- and the crowd that supports it represents that the artist has connected with the collective experience; something true and authentic. And if you can accept that premise then you can also accept that Sean Carlson’s once fledgling music festival, Fuck Yeah Fest, continues to represent and imitate life in Los Angeles. FYF 2016 has gone from the twinkle in the eye of a dreamer to the crown jewel of Goldenvoice in Los Angeles. Wait, what’s that you say? You hate festivals? Oh, you hate on Los Angeles too? How original. I understand you spent those 6 months living in Chatsworth and Ubering to auditions and that spending all your time around low level industry wannabes has skewed your perception of the landscape and the denizens of my city. People often project all their shortcomings, failures and low self esteem onto the city

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:

I’m In An Abusive Relationship With Death Grips

Danny Baraz August 28, 2015

By Danny Baraz Death Grips are like that beautiful woman that won’t fuck you. The more she says no, the more you want her. At some point, (if you have any self respect at all), you must decide you can’t love a girl who won’t love you back. You stop texting her. You stop calling her. You stop liking all her posts on IG. When that happens, she has to decide how she really feels about you and lay all games aside. This is a defining moment in the relationship between two people. I personally prefer crazy women but not too crazy- intellectual, complicated and unpredictable women who aren’t like anyone else. Those also happen to be my criteria for musicians and artists. Death Grips were the perfect girl. I had never met anyone like her. Her relationship with the world was almost satirical. Over the years, I have watched her stand other guys up with bemusement and curiosity. I have seen her defy her bosses at work. I have seen her “give away the milk for free”. I have seen her thumb her nose at fame. Sure, she seemed crazier than most but I’m not the trophy wife type.

Savages at FYF 2015 by Taylor Wong-Top 10 Concerts of 2015

FYF 2015: Surviving Their Own Legacy

Danny Baraz August 26, 2015

When people refer to FYF Fest as the “Urban Coachella”, it’s not a compliment. After last years move to Exposition Park from LA Historic Park, I was inclined to agree with them. There were some SERIOUS growing pains in the move to Expo Park. The main problem was that FYF 2013 was one of the best festivals I had ever been to. There was a stretch that year where Thee Oh Sees, Black Flag and Death Grips played consecutively, on the same stage, with a metro train passing every 15 minutes that was so surreal and incredible, that no amount of drugs, liquor or sexual release could ever compare to it. Flash forward to 2014- It took some people 2 hours to get into the festival on the first day. It was almost impossible to get into the Sports Arena. There was quite a sizeable new amount of land to get from the “Lawn Stage” to the “Main Stage”. It was quite the comedown from the year before. Would FYF Fest 2015 be able to recover from greatness of it’s own legacy and the logistical nightmares that plagued FYF 2014 with it’s move to Exposition Park? Even with all

Head Wound City at Echoplex shot by David Evanko

FYF Presents Head Wound City at The Echoplex: Pretty Boy Hardcore

Danny Baraz June 29, 2015

When I think of metal bands I have loved throughout history, I think of mullets, Dungeons and Dragons, short busses, bad hygiene and full rooms, void of any feminine presence. My how times have changed. On Friday night, FYF Presents continued to display why they are one of the most diverse talent bookers in town when “super group”, Head Wound City played The Echoplex along with Loma Prieta and Crime Desire. Today’s Metal, no less intense in it’s impact, yet the crowd was filled with beautiful people and so was the stage when Head Wound City played their set. Grindcore, mathcore, thrashcore, noise rock, and noisegrind. Call it what you will but it all stems from Thrash/Speed Metal. There were no soccer moms wearing Slayer t-shirts in the 80’s and 90’s but now, H & M actually have a line of clothing that features bands like Slayer and Metallica on them. I wonder if those particular consumers know that Slayer stands for Satan Laughs As You Eternally Rot. Metal has evolved into many things, most of which I’m not a fan of but Justin Pearson along with his label, Three One G are one of the most creative group of musicians