Tag: geneva jacuzzi
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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Dangerously Artsy: Geneva Jacuzzi at the Lodge Room
Rob Shepyer
September 13, 2024
Geneva Jacuzzi‘s “Art is Dangerous” isn’t just the banger single from her most recent Dais Records full length album, Triple Fire, “Art is Dangerous” is both an affirmation of the intention to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable (a sentiment lost among more and more corporatized and bubble-wrapped, cookie cutter artists) and it’s also a reference to a timeless debate that transcends culture. Is art dangerous? Were Tipper Gore and the PMRC right all along? Can you ingest as much devil worship, pornographic, sinful material as possible without having your soul tarnished one iota? Can you play endless hours of GTA, shooting up civilians without feeding a subliminal bloodlust, can you listen to Radiohead without feeling lonely or binge-stream Slayer without losing faith? Far too many people in the current state of the world are beginning to veer toward answering “yes”. That art, is in fact, dangerous. Even though Geneva Jacuzzi is affirming that danger, I have to wonder if she sees it dangerous in the same way as a certain sector of extreme believers who’s rhetoric makes you think they desire a modern bonfire of the vanities. I say this because Geneva Jacuzzi’s performance for her album release
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Creatures of the Night: Substance LA 2021
Rob Shepyer
December 15, 2021
Substance has always been Los Angeles’ premiere post-punk festival. Celebrating all things goth and clad in black, the scene wouldn’t be quite the same without it. No festival embodies the true spirit of “LA” more than Substance. There’s something urban and dreamy about the whole episode. You get such a range of feels, some bands appeal to your heart then others purely to the body. Spanning all night, the fest goes late into the evening to make you feel like the real nightcrawler that LA is supposed to make you feel like. I came to see Nitzer Ebb but my greatest takeaways were the smaller bands who’s performances left a mark. Here are my five favorites from each day. Day 1 Pixel Grip Chicago-based industrial dance music is a beast of its own breed. Pixel Grip began the festival for my gang and might’ve left the biggest impression of any band for the entire three nights. They commanded their audience with so much attitude, mystique and power, they could’ve headlined the day purely based on the merits of their charismatic performing. Listening to them on records, many of the songs expanded my idea of what an industrial band ought to
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