Tag: teragram ballroom
Lolipop Your Heart Out Festival Was Like Sex and Pizza
Paige Vreede
February 10, 2016
Ever have sex with someone and after about ten minutes in you realize both parties are only continuing the sexual activity purely based on the hope that the other person might find slight enjoyment out of it? Realistically, you both want to just high five and call it a good attempt but you go through the motions in hopes that one of you MIGHT climax? Yeah, that’s sort of how Lolipop Your Heart Out went at The Teragram Ballroom. I’m still unsure as to whether the energy and outcome was so low due to the 5pm start time- primetime to still be recovering from Friday nights hangover. Or perhaps it was because the entrance price was $26, which can be a lot for a starving artist who’s living in a city that is gentrifying and going up in rental price at an absurdly rapid rate. Maybe it could’ve even been because the One Oh freakin’ One was closed on a Saturday afternoon (I call shenanigans!). Whatever the reason for the small crowd, it was mildly disappointing to see such a small turn out for what should’ve been an epic evening brought to you by Lolipop Records. Janky Smooth did a series
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Ty Segall Redefines Himself Again With The Muggers at Teragram Ballroom
Brent Smith
January 20, 2016
Ty “Baby Face” Segall & The Muggers Get Emotional at the Teragram Ballroom Before entering the Teragram Ballroom (“No Ins and Outs!”) I dragged my boots along 7th street past the Mexican skater boys popping ollies and into Monty Bar for a cheap drink. Janky tensions were high as we were scrambling for a last minute photographer and I buried myself along the crowded bar of black leather and wild makeup. Behind me on the wall, a mounted deer head was engulfed in a stark spotlight, and for a minute I was in The Roadhouse from Twin Peaks, waiting for Julee Cruise to appear onstage and serenade me straight into the Red Room; which all seemed appropriate considering there was a David Bowie/Lemmy tribute show slated for the night. I could feel the static in the air on my tongue. I got the photog confirmation, downed my Old Fashioned and bounced. In the Teragram, chattering skulls flooded the two parallel bars in the foyer—the early effects of a sold out show. Blue, silver, and black guitar picks embedded in the walls made up a Mediterranean mosaic of sacred geometric patterns as Charles Moothart took a seat next to me at
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Moon Block Uses Third Eye To Bring Rock and Roll Circus To Teragram
Taylor Wong
January 18, 2016
Saturday night rolled up and LA was popping with amazing shows all around town. I made my way down to one of my new favorite venues, The Teragram Ballroom. Our friends at Moon Block were hosting their “Rock n’ Roll Circus”. Yeah I didn’t know what that meant either. The Rock N’ Roll Circus was a line up that consisted of Fever the Ghost, JJUUJJUU, Hott MT, Morgan Delt, and Vinyl Williams. The circus aspect came into play with the fact that it was one long continuous set where members of all acts would switch out over the course of the set. It was broken up into two parts with a “snack time” intermission in-between. The stage was decorated with Chinese lanterns that were made too look like neon eyeballs. The lighting ranged between super intense to non-existent. This factored into the shooting of photos but I just brushed it off and bounced around the room, messing around with different settings. I could barely keep track of who was on stage but it seemed that Phil Pirrone of JJUUJJUU and Moon Block general contributed to a majority of the set. Also, we were graced with Jeffertiti’s presence through various points throughout the set.
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Take This: Ty Segall and The Muggers Ticket Giveaway in LA
Danny Baraz
January 7, 2016
What the fuck, Ty Segall? When do you sleep? Ty Segall unveiled his new band on Tuesday night at The Silverlake Lounge during a secret, warm up show. There has been much anticipation and excitement around the new “The Muggers” moniker attached to his name on the upcoming tour schedule. It was revealed Tuesday that along with regular bassist, Mikal Cronin, there will be a few other familiar faces on stage with Ty Segall on his upcoming tour. Emmet Kelly of The Cairo Gang on lead guitar, Wand singer Cory Hanson on Keyboard, Evan Burrows of Wand on Drums, and Kyle Thomas of King Tuff on second guitar. This will be the band touring with Ty Segall during the upcoming tour supporting the new “Emotional Mugger” album that is dropping January 22nd. Janky Smooth is giving away two tickets to each night of sold out shows at The Teragram Ballroom on January 15th and 16th. Contest Rules: Follow Janky Smooth on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Share or Retweet our Ty Segall and The Muggers Ticket Giveaway Posts. Leave a comment on this post telling us what your favorite Ty Segall album is and why. Winners will be selected on Thursday Jan 14th
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Fuzz & Thee Oh Sees Bring Holiday Help To Homeless in L.A.
Danny Baraz
December 22, 2015
Moments before John Dwyer and Thee Oh Sees took the stage at The Teragram Ballroom for the Holiday Homeless Charity Event, L.A. Kitchen chief, Robert Egger exclaimed, “If you have something bad to say about L.A. then Fuck You!” This sentence was the punctuation to the announcement of how much money was raised by the two day benefit show that was organized by west coast tour booking behemoth, Panache Booking, in conjunction with Thee Oh Sees. It’s almost as if Egger was making a public reply to a private conversation with someone involved with the show. Seeing as both Segall and Dwyer are Bay Area transplants, it wouldn’t surprise me. No one is harder on Los Angeles than NorCal hipsters. After all, outsiders and Johnny Come Lately’s aren’t allowed to criticize our complex city and all it’s nuance and eccentricities. Only those who are born and raised in the city of dream chasing and head fucking can legitimately disseminate it’s many strengths and weaknesses. Most attendees didn’t give a shit about the plotlines anyway. They were just happy to see Ty Segall’s band, Fuzz and up and comers Wand on the bill alongside Dwyer and his king of indie bands,
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Albert Hammond Jr Strokes The Teragram Ballroom
Johann A. Ramos
October 16, 2015
Albert Hammond Jr. headlined The Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles Wednesday night in support of his third solo album “Momentary Masters”. Who could have predicted that one of the most anticipated shows of 2015 would have landed on a hump day? The record, according to Albert himself, was inspired by astronomer Carl Sagan’s book “Pale Blue Dot”, a book about space and the future of mankind. I can’t claim that I have been able to make the connection, but I can tell you that Strokes rhythm guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. definitely composed and produced this album with an out of this world mentality. Momentary Masters is great, sonically, and the instrumentation is nothing short of spectacular, but it doesn’t do their face melting live sound justice. Directly supporting Albert were Day Wave and they played a tight set. I could tell that a lot of the audience members weren’t too familiar with the band (The chick next to me kept referring to them as Date Wave to her other friend. The band even repeated their name towards the end of their set and she still kept calling them Date Wave), the crowd seemed pleased with their set as they swayed their
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Ariel Pink and Black Lips Bend Minds at The Teragram Ballroom
Danny Baraz
October 7, 2015
When Ariel Pink and the Black Lips announced their co-headlining tour a few months back, I thought to myself, is there a better fit for two groups with heavy rock and roll eccentricities to be sharing a bill? Are there another two acts out there that can match each other in the perceived excesses of the rock and roll lifestyle? I couldn’t think of another Los Angeles venue I would rather see them than The Teragram Ballroom. The last few times I have seen either of these acts has been at big festivals so the warmth and perfection of sound and acoustics of the Teragram was a nice change. The sound of the two bands couldn’t be more different. The Black Lips with their sleazy garage rock vibes are the screeching, string bending beatniks who are both the paupers and princes of the punk/garage rock resurgence. Ariel Pink, our modern day Syd Barret. He rolls his third eye at your very existence as he puts romance and taboo into a contemporary context, accompanied by swirling organs and fuzzed out psychedelic guitars that have to pass through the very well populated pedal board that act as tonal gate keepers. The Black
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Destruction Unit Record Release at The Teragram Ballroom
Brent Smith
September 17, 2015
Arriving at the Teragram Ballroom on 7th Street, dodging traffic, skate rats, and the regular stream of Monty Bar freaks, I dipped under the sleek, neon blue marquee, through the main doors, and into the archway of the foyer where Destruction Unit release party event collaborators Critical Resistance had a table amongst all the merch. I was just in time to see the opening acts spew death metal and summon the Devil in guttural tongues. It was the record release party for Destruction Unit’s long-awaited album of concussive rhythm and psychedelic overdrive Negative Feedback Resistor (Sacred Bones Records). In a word? Shit was lit. There were lots of freaks and aliens, but not as many as I expected. Or maybe it was just a perception thing, since the Teragram is deceptively big for only having a capacity of 600. There always seems to be tons of room whenever I’m there, while being intimate at the same time. The Teragram is little sister to New York key players The Mercury Lounge and Bowery Ballroom, and got its name from owner Michael Swier’s late wife “Margaret” spelled backward. It’s hardly a planted flag for New York, rather it’s among the few venues
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Mystic Braves Bring Good Vibes To The Teragram Ballroom
Johann A. Ramos
September 8, 2015
Ryan of No Parents illuminated at The Teragram Mystic Braves, Creation Factory, The Abigails and No Parents shared the stage on the first Friday of September at the Teragram Ballroom in Downtown Los Angeles. But one of these things is not like the others and it had me scratchin my head. Creation Factory, The Abigails, and Mystic Braves have a complimentary sound (and even common band members) with a 60’s psychedelic rock influence. This left No Parents a little out of place with their straightforward punk style. It’s not the first time No Parents’ name on a bill looked like a red headed step child in an African village. We’ve been noticing that a lot with this band but I think it’s just because every band in L.A. wants to play shows with them. It made for an interesting night. Johnny 2 Bags and The Abigails at The Echo: Two Generations of Heartbreak Music I’ve never been to the Teragram Ballroom before, and I was quite surprised with the venue’s sound and lighting. I’ve seen Mystic Braves many times in their rise through the L.A. DIY indie music scene so I’m intimately familiar with their sound. So many shows in dingy clubs
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Television is Flawless at The Teragram Ballroom
Danny Baraz
July 6, 2015
Tom Verlaine and Co. casually walked onto the stage as if they were walking into their practice space. They picked up their weapons, turned on their amplifiers and took a good 3 minutes, casually confirming that their instruments were indeed in tune, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there was a sold out crowd standing right in front of them at The Teragram Ballroom. We were there to see their band Television play, most of us for the first and most likely, the last time. This was a momentous occasion even though 99.999999 percent of the world doesn’t know about them or their band. Almost every self respecting music lover is aware of a place called CBGB and the art that erupted out of that tiny, urine soaked corner of the world. It’s one of the places that the word Punk was defined and it’s also the place that it first became misunderstood because by today’s standard, the band Television doesn’t fit the narrow definition. Blondie, Talking Heads, The Ramones, Patti Smith, The Dead Boys and The Cramps (just to name a few), all CBGB bands that had a different sound but a similar spirit of independence. They were given
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Jaga Jazzist at Teragram Ballroom: An All Out Assault on the Senses
Danny Baraz
June 18, 2015
Jaga Jazzist are not a normal band. Teragram Ballroom is not a normal venue. Last night at the newly opened and renovated venue on the outskirts of Downtown Los Angeles, I heard sounds I’ve never heard before. I’m still not quite sure if it was the band or the venue that produced some of the most pleasing tones I’ve ever heard but I suspect it was a bit of both. With 8 supremely talented musicians ejaculating all over their instruments simultaneously, just the fact that you could hear every note and cadence is a testament not only to the audio and acoustics of the Teragram Ballroom but also to the men themselves who resisted the urge, unlike most virtuosos, to stomp on that tiny silver boost button that most musicians include in their rack effects. Jaga Jazzist, if you don’t know, are a band of contemporary jazz musicians from Norway who make their home on the Ninja Tune record label. I had a casual love of their music prior to last night and now that I’ve seen them live, I’m obsessed. Their latest album, “Starfire” dropped on June 2nd and last nights show at the Teragram was the first date
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