Tag: zulu
Risks Make Better Memories Than Nostalgia: Sound and Fury 2022
Rob Shepyer
August 8, 2022
Followers of Jankysmooth know that Sound and Fury has always been my favorite festival in Los Angeles. The feeling of being onstage and seeing a barrage of young people charging a band was incomparable among all of our precious and diverse music scene. The openness of artists to share the stage and microphone with their beloved fans made me an instant admirer of hardcore. Growing up a metalhead, I came to the realization that live, nothing touched hardcore. The constant flow of love between audience, artist and promoter made me feel part of something larger than myself, no matter how outgoing or shy I was. And it wasn’t just the scene that I found a home in, it was Sound and Fury specifically. It’s not common that artists constantly show an outpour of love to a promoter but at Sound and Fury, artists had a special connection to the festival that made them constantly thank Riley, Martin, and Madison by name during their sets. After all, these guys weren’t just the people that got them a gig, they were friends that gave them a platform for their art when few else would. Sound and Fury gave Anaiah Lei a platform
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Super Saiyan Sasami at the Teragram Ballroom
Rob Shepyer
April 19, 2022
Those who attended Desert Daze’s legendary 2019 installment will never forget Sasami‘s set. It was sweet, tender and psychedelic. Sprinkled with her signature screeches, the band separated themselves into a different league than the rest of the lineup. It was clear to me that Sasami Ashworth was willing to take risks the rest of the LA indie scenesters weren’t dabbling with. That was in a different world though, now, after so much global turmoil, Sasami has evolved into a different artist altogether. Her latest album, Squeeze, has heavy metal, industrial and hardcore moments that are so potent, that instead of being the outlier of the LA indie scene, the scene changes to the music. The Nagas serpent woman that adorns the cover represents Sasami’s anime-esque character arc where a hero or villain needs to show their true form to stand a chance in battle. Slithering, coiling, and constricting with four arms on each side of her serpentine tail, Sasami reminds me of the light version of Naruto’s Orochimaru mixed with a bit of Takashi Miike cinema. related content: Silver Lake Perris: Desert Daze 2019 The concert in question at the Teragram Ballroom was the last stop on Sasami’s tour. This
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