Tag: the birth defects
Ty Segall Unplugged at the Smell
Danny Baraz
May 9, 2015
The sky was illuminated by a brilliant flash of light followed by a loud and ominous rumble. The rain was coming down on me as I walked down the alley behind Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles approaching The Smell. As I got closer to the entrance, I saw Jason Finnazo of The Birth Defects nervously smoking a cigarette in the rain. He had been the opening act of the evening in which the band Feels and Ty Segall were trading in their face melters for acoustic guitars. “Did you feel naked up there?” I asked him as he took a deep pull off of his smoke. “Yeah, everytime I do this, I always say that I’ll never do it again”. He proceeded to go through the inventory of issues he had and I kept thinking how musicians were like chef’s- always pointing out where the meal was too salty and never giving any credit to the deliciousness of their creation. I was bummed I missed his set because I love The Birth Defects and one thing that is hard to imagine is The Birth Defects unplugged. It’s exhilarating when artists go out on a limb. I did make it
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New Album Review: The Birth Defects- First 8 Mistakes
Danny Baraz
February 26, 2015
I’m having a hard time remembering the last time I’ve been this stoked about a debut album. The Birth Defects first release, “First 8 Mistakes” is an abrasive, in your face, drink till you puke, punk rock masterpiece. It’s the perfect soundtrack to a bar fight and the type of music that will make your parents worry about your well-being. Somehow, First 8 Mistakes manages to be raw and refined at the same time. If you are thinking those descriptions are mutually exclusive then just think about the term, Pop-punk. A classification most fast paced, power chord pioneers probably never envisioned to be possible but yet here we are, drowning in melodic, bubble gum bands. The Birth Defects are a breath of smoggy air in a genre that has been gentrified and made palatable to the masses. The raw represents the music and the refined represents the albums producer, Ty Segall. But The Birth Defects musical pedigree extends beyond it’s Indie King producer. Members of The Birth Defects are made up of Petey Dammit from Thee Oh Sees, Jonathan Safley, former drummer of the band Bleached and Jason Gerkin of Shiner. But the true personality, charm and parent cringing reflexes
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