Tag: post punk
Morning Stars Over Lodge Room: King Woman’s “Celestial Blues” Release Party
Janky Smooth Central Command
August 4, 2021
You’ve never heard an album more Chthonian than King Woman’s Celestial Blues What do I mean by that? I don’t mean this is the most raw, underground punk sounding album ever. What I’m saying is that with “Celestial Blues” King Woman has lent a voice and story to all the mysteries working beneath the surface layers of reality around us, be they the internal workings of the body, the mysterious processes of the Earth, the unfathomable cycles of birth and destruction in the cosmos, or the interplay of good and evil magic with everyday life. When King Woman closed out their Sunday night Celestial Blues album release party with a cover of the Stone Roses’ “I Wanna Be Adored”, I thought some kind of mind reading must’ve been at play because after seeing a full set of Kris Esfandiari’s doomy siren songs, my main takeaway was being genuinely impressed with how much she is utterly adored by her fans. They seemed to have her back unconditionally and after every song when the band let it all hang loose, the audience was there to catch them in rounds of applause, whistles and cheers. All that was missing from the evening was a
Read More
Who’s The Better Brother? Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel at Echoplex
Rob Shepyer
September 28, 2018
I love Gene Loves Jezebel. I love Jay Aston and I love Michael Aston. So, I will do my best to contribute to this band’s legacy by casting judgement on which twin brother’s band is the better Gene Loves Jezebel. Along with seeing a rare L.A. show by Jay Aston performing their favorite songs, many in attendance came to compare the two Gene Loves. Most likely looking to Michael Aston’s Part Time Punks show from years previous which I attended and enjoyed. Check out my review of that show below: related content: Gene Loves Jezebel Play Immigrant In Entirety At Part Time Punks Gig If you don’t know the band’s history, Michael and Jay Aston are twin brothers that each have their own version of Gene Loves Jezebel. Michael’s is based in the U.S., Jay’s is based in the U.K. Michael was the lead singer and Jay was the guitarist, back-up vocalist, and songwriter. After a tumultuous breakup resulting in a legal battle to see who gets to tour under the name Gene Loves Jezebel, they both play the same banner. It’s an interesting question to ponder. How do you cement ownership of a song? Is it the writer or
Read More
Color Me Punk: Rubella Ballet Plays First L.A. Show Since 1985 at Echoplex
Rob Shepyer
September 20, 2018
Rubella Ballet comes from a time when there weren’t as many boxes for you to cram bands into. There was punk, metal, and a few subgenres in between. They were associated with the anarcho movement, namely Crass, in England in the late 70’s and 80’s but musically, their albums show more diversity than any label could commit them to. Their songs and look represented the essence of anarchy. Rebellion, even against itself. When everyone wore black, they wore Day-Glo. When everyone played fast, short songs, they experimented with slower rhythms and more nuanced arrangements. Singer Zilla Minx and guitarist Sid Ation still know how to get weird. For all these young kids born after Rubella Ballet’s heyday, this was a show unlike anything they had ever seen. Rubella Ballet’s latest album, Danger of Death, brought them back to Los Angeles to play Part Time Punks at the Echoplex for the first time since 1985. Along with a few death rock, anarcho, and post punk bands, their combined effort made for a very special night of music. related content: Gene Loves Jezebel Play Immigrant In Its Entirety At Part Time Punks Gig Spain’s Fatamorgana was the first to take the stage. Made
Read More
Magick Man: Killing Joke at the Regent
Rob Shepyer
September 7, 2018
Killing Joke is a band that cannot be pigeon-holed. The moment you call them a post-punk band, they put out an industrial album. But within either camp, they were always the misfits of the bunch. Their post-punk was more rhythmic and off-kilter than their peers and their industrial was more lyrical and poetic than the average black leather electro act. Then you have a lead singer like Jaz Coleman, a true enigma. Most singers paint pictures from their own personal experiences but often times with Killing Joke, their songs take on the perspective of eternity. And what I mean by that is, Jaz would step out of his shoes and trousers and into the shoes of time itself, watching human history and making connections we can’t see through his lyrics. related content: The Growlers Reclaim Castle Beach Goth And All Is Right With The World Again One of the rarest acts you could ever see play in America, these English gentleman of the dark arts came out with an album called Pylon in 2015, which they planned to tour in the US, playing the Regent. As fate would have it though, Illness befell the band and they cancelled all their American
Read More
Take This: Win 2 Tickets to The The at the Hollywood Palladium
Janky Smooth Central Command
August 29, 2018
The UK’s legendary post punk band The The has reunited for a tour across the states and they’ll be hitting Los Angeles on September 25th for what is sure to be a memorable performance at the Hollywood Palladium. Janky Smooth is giving away a pair of tickets to this monumental return performance. Matt Johnson brings his unique and splendorous talents as a songwriter to L.A. to channel his inner-most fears, hopes, and anguishes through the classic songs of The The. Expect to hear songs like “This is the Day” and “Uncertain Smile”, cuts off definitive albums like Soul Mining and Infected, expect to laugh and cry and dance. For nearly two decades, Johnson and The The stayed out of the spotlight but now, after the death of his older brother Andrew in 2016, Matt has been inspired to keep The spirit of The The alive and thrill audience’s worldwide once again. You don’t want to miss this opportunity to see this legendary band play songs that are sure to touch your heart. YOU CAN BUY TICKETS HERE OR. ENTER TO WIN 2 TICKETS TO THE THE SEPTEMBER 25TH AT THE HOLLYWOOD PALLADIUM Step 1- Join Our Newsletter (look for pop up everytime
Read More
A Softly Harsh Friday The 13th W/The Soft Moon and Boy Harsher At Teragram
Rob Shepyer
April 16, 2018
Friday the 13th should be celebrated with blood… with killing… with a haunting of your soul. That might not require a weapon unless of course, you mean music and in this case, The Soft Moon‘s post punk is the sharpest knife. Selling out show after show on his tour, Luis Vasquez’s trio from Oakland, CA, has created a new sound in an old form. Lethal Amounts brought together three musical acts, each dwelling in the same realm of dark music but from completely different approaches. Drenched in blue lights and dense shadows, Liebestod is a one man show that uses noise to disjoint and sever your connection to anything familiar in music. He’s a noise performer with an industrial edge that uses electronics to make every show a completely new and original thing. Improvising with every fidget of his wires, I’m not even sure if he knows what sonic monster, he’ll end up spawning even so, it was pleasurable to the eyes, the ears, and with the foundation shaking bass, to the skin and bones too. Based in L.A. but hailing from St. Louis, the rust belt, one can imagine what sort of industrial upbringing fueled his current line of
Read More
Prettiest Eyes & Egrets On Ergot: The L.A. Sound Explodes Out Of Harvard & Stone
Aria Silva-Espinosa
August 17, 2017
Everything you need to know about rock based music coming out of Los Angeles can be summed up by the sounds that were coming out of Harvard and Stone one week ago, today. It’s not that L.A. has a very specific sound since the scenes surrounding the city range from hardcore to psychedelic rock but both Prettiest Eyes and Egrets on Ergo are bands that most high volume consumers of music seeing bands at places like the The Echo and The Hi Hat are inspired by on a regular basis.. Thursday night’s antics at Harvard & Stone began late in the evening with Los Angeles-based post-punk foursome Egrets on Ergot. As the band begins their set, vocalist Adam Brooks delivers a poetic monologue from atop the bass drum with his back to the audience. The recitation is followed immediately by Adam absolutely shredding on the saxophone. The use of saxophone sets Egrets on Ergot apart from other experimental post-punk groups by incorporating an experimental element often associated with jazz music in an entirely new way into the otherwise erratic and desperately disordered sound produced by the band. Generally, I wouldn’t enjoy the sound of a saxophone but somehow, Adam has
Read More
Janky Premiere: Dancing Tongues EP- Positions
Danny Baraz
October 27, 2016
Janky Smooth is proud to premiere Positions– the first EP from Los Angeles based, post-punk outfit, Dancing Tongues. The sound is a seduction of hypnotic droning and rhythmic incantation. The battery of the band is pronounced and deliberate. The rich baritone of Alex Lavayen is romantic, like the words spoken to a lover after defending their honor through physical altercation. The composition of the musical arrangements hints that London (is) Calling while Lavayen urges not to let “Love Tear Us Apart.” The Positions EP creates a dance floor environment that is masculine but not misogynistic- catchy but not campy, with just enough edge. Songs like “Saturday” summon it’s punk forefathers while tracks like “Cause” cast a wider net of dynamics and emotion. The Positions EP contains a chemical substance similar to pheromones released into the environment by animals, affecting the behavior or physiology of others in it’s species. It invokes the laws of attraction to cause a consensual submissiveness to it’s rhythms. There are more bands being formed and putting out music at this very moment than ever before- although you would never know it if you get your music through the traditional, decaying channels used by the rotting corpse of the major labels. I have
Read More
Year In Review: Top 10 Concerts of 2015 Rated by Contributors
Danny Baraz
December 18, 2015
Since the beginning of time, mankind grabbed whatever it could find to tap out and amplify the rhythm in our souls. From the most tribal roots of humanity, those rhythms brought us to our feet and inspired us into spastic soliloquies and baby making motions. Before the advent of the recording studio, there was only one way to hear music- LIVE. For true music snobs and purists, if you can’t do it live, you can’t do it. That is my segway into Janky Smooth’s Top 10 Concerts of 2015. Janky Smooth contributors attended 100’s of shows this year. Selecting the top 10 concerts of 2015 was quite a challenge. Most of the concerts we attended were in Los Angeles so while new labels, venues and promoters are taking advantage of the music explosion taking place all over the globe, Los Angeles continues to be it’s music capital. I often complain about the low energy of concert attendees in the city of my birth and while a handful of bands have been skipping Los Angeles on their tour schedules for this reason and opt for Pomona or Orange County, there’s no denying that if you hype up a Los Angeles crowd, you
Read More
Year in Review: Top 10 Albums of 2015 Rated by Contributors
Danny Baraz
December 14, 2015
10 years from now, we might look back at the Top 10 Albums of 2015 as the year the “new music industry” became a viable business model. As the battle rages to fine tune some of the sticky points around streaming services, vinyl sales soar at the same time bands and artists offer free downloads, surrendering the traditional model and entrusting their legacy to future generations. With so many different ways to deliver musical products to consumers, our Top 10 Albums of 2015 list will include LP’s, EP’s and Mixtapes. We are not a hive mind at Janky Smooth so you will find albums we didn’t publish favorable reviews on in our contributors top 10 list. We here at Janky Smooth feel blessed to stand on the precipice with you and gaze upon the vast landscape of music that is exploding from all corners of the world. Top 10 Albums/EP’s/Mixtapes of 2015 Johnny Ramos- Photographer: Top 10 Albums of 2015 Tame Impala – Currents Beach House – Depression Cherry Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color Death Grips – The Powers That B Toro Y Moi – What For? Turnover – Peripheral Vision Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Multi-Love Hot Chip –
Read More
Savages Ravage the Roxy Theater
Brent Smith
August 29, 2015
On a muggy L.A. summer night, Savages fans crammed into an even muggier sold-out Roxy Theatre to bear witness to yet another phenomenal west coast performance by the all-female postpunk band from across the pond. Just last weekend, Savages took over Exposition Park at FYF, and gave Angelenos something to remember them by. Last night’s performance at The Roxy sealed the deal, and at the same time, got us excited about the promises of their new album. It’s true, kids. Despite Beverly Hills’ attempt at annexing West Hollywood, awesome shows are still going off in WeHo. I entered and the floor, VIP area, and bar were already packed. Crowded and hot—the smell of B.O. and spilt beer growing exponentially by the minute—an army of black shirts and neon drink bracelets waited in hushed elation under the smoky blue lights of the famed venue on the even more famed Sunset Blvd. (Which only seems real after being so uncannily rendered in GTA V). Needless to say, the smell of ganja in the bathroom (and whoever shared it with me) was a godsend. As we heard the instruments being tested in the pitch dark of the stage, the guest DJ spun some
Read More
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Detonate at The Echoplex
Taylor Wong
May 8, 2015
It was a rainy Thursday night out here in Echo Park. I could imagine no other acceptable way to spend this rainy evening than at the John Spencer Blues Explosion show at The Echoplex. Now I’m a noob when it come to Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, but what I have heard is that they put on an explosive show. Pun intended. So a little fact about me- I’m compulsively early to almost everything I do. This came in handy this specific evening. There were only 2 bands scheduled to play this last night. Opening for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was a band by the name We Are Hex. About 15 minutes before they went on I realized, being human and all, I had forgotten something necessary to cover the show. I was able to rush home and back by the time they were 2 songs into their set. I was extremely glad I made it back in time, not only because I still had a job to do but because We Are Hex were simply incredible. Front woman Jilly Weiss reminds me of a grungier Exene Cervenka of X mixed with a little Brody Dalle of the Distillers. She awkwardly/adorably danced around
Read More