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Category: REVIEWS

Ultimate Painting (LP) -Album review

I sat down for the first time in a while and reviewed an album – tonight’s selection was their self-titled debut LP – Ultimate Painting. 10 tracks of pure modern day acid trip, it took me on a hazy slow boat journey through my past and into my future. The opening track is the name of their LP – and the name of the LP is the name of the band: Ultimate Painting. The jangly guitar and vibe reminds me of a morning where you wake up with no aches, no hangover, completely rested and on your own terms. It’s a refreshing and distantly familiar sound. The band gives off an attitude of not taking themselves too seriously, but serious enough to record this and get it into your ears. I hope they keep that quality – bands like MGMT and Foster The People started to tank after they took themselves too seriously. Ultimate Painting – don’t take yourselves too seriously, ever. The majority of the lyrics seem to be pulled from daily relationships, personal follies and mutual memories from the band. At times the lyrics slur together due to the filters on them, but it’s a niche of it’s own.

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Them Howling Bones

Them Howling Bones Record Release at the L.A. Fort

Punk fuckin’ rock! That is how I would describe November 14th’s Them Howling Bones EP release Party at The LA Fort. The LA Fort is this cool little artist collective over in bum fuck LA- I’m serious bums are actually fucking on the street outside The Fort. I have to go into more detail about the venue for you to understand just how punk rock it is. There are absolutely no bathrooms or running water and the entire place smells like BO mixed with shit and bad breath. Last time i was there was there was for Pangea and FIDLAR which was way too legit, minus the part where I was flat tired by a shoe with dog shit on it. Even last night I was approached by a fat crack head prostitute when i was getting ready to drive off in my car. This place just bleeds punk rock. I got to the show a bit early which was perfect since I found parking right in front.  I didn’t want to have to pay homeless joe another 5 bucks to watch my car. Getting there early was also smart because they had an open Colt 45 bar for the

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Kathleen Hanna and The Julie Ruin

The Julie Ruin at The Troubadour: Vagina’s and Surprises.

Kathleen Hanna is an icon. She is the nut crushing, vagina wielding, punk singing, ear ringing legend of a once, DIY militant feminism. A militancy that was absolutely necessary in a 90’s era of violent, male dominated, testosterone injected dominance of the American punk scene. Her band, Bikini Kill, not only gave girls a voice in that void of misogynistic obliviousness but insisted on “Girls to the Front!”. On Thursday, November 6th, her band The Julie Ruin headlined night 6 of Red Bull’s 30 Days in L.A. at the Troubadour. The irony of looking at the big, corporate Red Bull logo behind Hanna all night was not lost on me but if Nirvana could start from the Kill Rockstars record label, to Sub Pop and eventually end up on Geffen, then The Julie Ruin could certainly play a gig with Red Bull Sound Select and retain their integrity. Bookings like this give Red Bull’s music division more and more street cred every day. I arrived at The Troubadour just before Red Bull band Bad Girlfriend took the stage. I was in a foul mood. I was fucking exhausted after covering 5 out of 6 of the 30 Red Bull dates

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Beach Party at Wax on Wax

A Vinyl Junky’s Dream Come True at the Wax Museum in Hollywood

Aside from straightforward concerts, Red Bull Sound Select is throwing themed parties along their 30 day trek trough L.A. Last night was their Wax On Wax event at Madame Tussauds world famous wax museum. The evening was vinyl themed and featured some local talent to curate DJ sets.  Dan Wilcox (KCRW), Dirty Dave, Mayer Hawthorne and the boys from Beach Party all dug through their crates to bring enlightened sets to the night. The night had no cover, just the requirement of RSVP, so it was a packed house in the middle of Hollywood Blvd. Origami Vinyl, Amoeba Records and The Record Parlour – all local record shops – graced the museum rooftop with pop-up shops for the crowd to root around in channel their inner DJ. The Janky Smooth team all walked away with selections and we didn’t spend more than $10 all together! The highlight of the evening, aside from the DJ’s, was most definitely the after hours access into the wax museum. Red Bull also hired on celebrity impersonators to mingle with everyone, which really pulled the night together.  Mick Jagger, Dustin Hoffman, Elton John and many of their famous friends were all out and about for

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