Tag: uniform
Mr. & Ms. Machine: The Black Queen at the Regent
Rob Shepyer
March 31, 2019
If you let yourself be vulnerable, close your eyes and hone in on a sound then take your time to interpret how that sound resonates in your soul and makes you feel, I think you can actually gender the sound. Whether you think gender is a social construction or natural state, there are abstract and physical attributes to maleness and femaleness. There are masculine elements to The Black Queen‘s music, a sort of epic, peaking feel to their hooks that give you the sense of a heroic narrative at play. There are feminine elements as well, a sensuality, vulnerability, and warmth to the music and delivery. Certainly, The Black Queen’s sound is a more feminine departure from Greg Puciato’s last band, the Dillinger Escape Plan but this new electronic three piece still retain some of the qualities that made Dillinger transcend metal. related content: Cold Waves LA: Heaven For Industrial Kids Beginning this diversified bill at the Regent was SRSQ, aka Kennedy Ashlyn, who has already been ingrained as an icon in my mind for how soul-stirring her voice is. The last time I spoke to Kennedy, I told her how spiritual her music made me feel. That’s not exactly
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Cloak & Dagger Fest: The Heart Of Los Angeles Bled From Dusk Till Dawn
Rob Shepyer
October 27, 2017
Good “dark” music should come from a damaged yet open heart because it’s those damages that make all the styles of dark music involved in Cloak And Dagger Festival beautiful to those that wear black late at night- or during the day, for that matter. Whether it was dark wave, new wave, post punk, goth/death rock, industrial, EBM, or shoegaze, every shade of black was represented on those two cold October nights. Right from the first lineup announcement, it was understood that this would be like no other festival. With three stages at the Globe and Tower theaters, an all black dress code, and local brand recognition, I was sure the siamese evenings would play out like a movie, think Eyes Wide Shut meets Gimme Shelter. The lineup hosted plenty of bands that are Janky Smooth favorites like Ho99o9, Health, Moon Duo, and Uniform. Iconic artists like KMFDM, OhGr, and The Jesus and Mary Chain were set to share the two stages with future headliners like Cold Cave, The Soft Moon, and Lust For Youth. So any goth kid, let alone this one, would be awestruck and elated at the chance to partake in the affair. Night 1: Black is the absence of
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UNIFORM & Black Marble at Union: The Mongrelization of Music Continues…
Aria Silva-Espinosa
February 27, 2017
Tucked away amongst a row of small businesses and street vendors, the massive, multiple roomed venue called UNION is actually pretty easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. Even the marquee is unassuming amidst the flashing lights of the Pico-Union storefronts along the boulevard. Bright neon signs indicate that the Jewel Room awaits just past the side entrance and patio, still wet from the last few days of rain- a more perfectly planned setting for Black Marble and UNIFORM seemed impossible to imagine. Janky Smooth listed UNIFORM as a top 25 band to watch in 2017 so I believe it was the reason my request to cover this show was approved but I was most excited to cover Black Marble, a band that couldn’t sound ANY more different than UNIFORM. This should be interesting! Inside UNION, the stage is illuminated in light teal as the first act takes the stage. Anzano is a one-man act consisting of heavily distorted vocals, pre-recorded or triggered synth tracks and a giant flying-V shaped guitar that goes relatively ignored, save for a few sparse riffs. To compensate for the seeming limited musicality, Anzano is dressed in a sequin cape, chain mail cap
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