Category: SHOWS

Loud, Sad and Weird: Telefon Tel Aviv at the Lodge Room

Alfredo Luna August 12, 2022

Words by: Alfredo Luna Photos by: Chris Molina After various rescheduled dates from the last two years, Telefon Tel Aviv was finally able to bring the “Dreams” era to a haunting close in Highland Park. An IDM icon in his own right, Joshua Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv has made a name for himself as a touring member of legends Nine Inch Nails and Puscifer, but really put his stamp on the genre with TTA. Promising a loud, sad and weird experience, Eustis made the show worth the 2 year wait to see. related content: Rabbit Holes And Glaciers: Anika at Lodge Room Playing a gloomy and ambient inspired set from the latest release Dreams Are Not Enough, the atmosphere became an immersive world crafted by the sights and sounds thrown at you. From the second the sound projections began to illuminate the room the crowd was immersed within the realm that Eustis has crafted. More an audio-sensory experience, with the bass running up your spine, the visuals hypnotizing you with each flash transporting in and out of consciousness. Playing highlights such as “a younger version of myself” which feels like an endless loop of thoughts rushing through your head,

Photo Recap: Teyana Taylor in Southern California

Janky Smooth Central Command August 9, 2022

Teyana Taylor‘s art has always been elevated compared to the rest of the pop world. She represents a charisma, sensuality, sexuality, and rawness that is unparalleled in mainstream music. She inspires the underground far and wide, even bringing punks out to her two Southern California shows for the Last Rose tour stops at The Hollywood Palladium and House of Blues Anaheim. Her shows were painted deep red, with scandalous intent, making every little choreographed step more confident and confrontational. She brought out a slew of guests like Brandy and her husband, basketball pro, Iman Shumpert. Seeing Teyana’s incredible stage performance and setup let everyone dream as if they could do something as outrageous and ballsy, just seeing how hard she was going and how much of herself she put out there. We got some epic photos from her two Southern California shows and we hope you gaze upon their beauty like you would a rose. Photos by: Erika Reinsel Teyana Taylor at The Hollywood Palladium Teyana Taylor at The House of Blues Anaheim

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

Photo Recap: Joey Bada$$ at House of Blues San Diego

Janky Smooth Central Command August 1, 2022

To celebrate the anniversary of his iconic album, 2012’s 1999, Joey Bada$$ brought his unmistakably real flow and bars to the House of Blues San Diego for an unforgettable show and clinic in all things true hip hop. We sent a photographer out to capture the night’s highlights and in these pictures you can almost hear Joey’s gold standard for spitting rhymes. Along with 1999, Joey performed songs off his most recent album, 2000. Time seems to slow down at Joey Bada$$ shows. He likes to take audiences on trips to the past when hip hop was a little different and lyrics were king above all. Photos by: Rebecca DiGiglio Joey Bada$$

Photo Recap: The Zombies at the Fonda

Rob Shepyer August 1, 2022

Los Angeles, and the greater American West Coast, is perhaps the most important hub for all modern psychedelic music, but before the music world was California Dreaming, The Zombies had already begun synthesizing the psychedelic experience into sonic waves and flourishes. The music they created didn’t just reproduce the feeling of psychedelics, it was far beyond any kind of substance use. This Zombies expanded consciousness itself so the psychedelic experience could be accessed without having to take a single drop of anything. They found the notes, combination of instruments, artists and visuals to reshape rock music’s vibration into something that harkened back to the past and also saw a distant future far beyond this dimension. Seeing them perform at the Fonda was both a celebration of rock and roll’s rich history as well as a return to a more human sensibility lost in the digital age where the lyrics of “Time of the Season” made much more sense and were felt on a deeper level. The Zombies didn’t just stop at playing the hits, they included B-sides as well as new music written during the pandemic. Everyone in attendance hailed The Zombies as the Gods of psychedelic rock that they

Possession by Bass: Thundercat at the Broad

Jonathan Reyes July 27, 2022

Possession, it takes hold like a wave pulling you under the bass notes and syncopated rhythm section of Thundercat, the spiritually eponymous name of the composer I currently am referring to. He who makes the sky crack the way Mr. Murakami’s steps on The Tail Of A Rainbow making it scream and cry out its swirling rainbow blood across his canvases. The notes from the bass radiate through the openings in the side of the Broad Museum in Downtown Los Angeles. While I stand before a massive flower sculpture I closed my eyes for a moment, the augmented reality of my own imagination saw the vines dancing, one of the rainbow flowers face turned into Thundercat and the flowers on the walls cheered. visionary community members, Thundercat and Takashi Murakami, sharing their deepest feeling and thoughts after processing the ways of the world and then giving it back something that brings smiles to peoples faces everywhere it goes. I like seeing a performance from the side of a stage. I would love to one day experience a top-down view but what I like about being on the side is you get to see the mechanics of the artistry. The drummer’s

Porno For Pyros at Belasco- A Time Capsule of Sound and Cultural Concepts

Danny Baraz July 20, 2022

When I saw Porno for Pyros pop up on a concert calendar for the Belasco on July 7th, my heart skipped a beat. Not quite as prolific or ingrained in the American pop culture psyche as Janes Addiction, this pure, West Side of L.A. band and their iconic first album came out when I was 17 years old and offered something different but just as sacred to me as Nothing’s Shocking- and I had yet to see them live. Perry Farrel, Peter Distefano, Stephen Perkins and Martyn LeNoble created a unique, percussive, groove oriented and angsty soundtrack from a band in a decade that didn’t exactly fly under the radar but certainly not given their proper due in a decade filled with legends. related: Heaven on Earth: Perry Farrel’s Kind Heaven Orchestra at Teragram Ballroom So how has the world changed since 1993 and subsequently, the narrative in the concepts of their songs. Porno For Pyros offered commentary on gender roles, depression, humanity, the female orgasm, war, politics and cultural divide- all topics that are timeless but many that have been defined and redefined since the beginning of time. In the vast legacy that is still being built by Perry

Photo Recap: Swamp Dogg at Teragram Ballroom

Janky Smooth Central Command July 19, 2022

For longer than most have been alive, Swamp Dogg has been an underground music hero. He’s outlived musical fads and seen the landscape of culture change, experimenting with music all the while but still remaining the same old Swamp Dogg. He’s played everything from blues, to funk, to R & B, even hints of disco, because the story of Swamp Dogg is the story of American music. To celebrate this legend’s 80th birthday, he performed a career spanning set that touched decades of releases at the Teragram Ballroom in an epic and unforgettable performance for all those in attendance. We sent a photographer out to the show to capture the magic and memories so that they may never be forgotten. Photos by: Todd Anderson Swamp Dogg

Photo Recap: Inner Wave at the Lodge Room

Janky Smooth Central Command July 17, 2022

Inner Wave returned to what seems to be their favorite venue to perform in LA at, The Lodge Room, for an epic evening of crowd favorites and new tunes. With a big spot on the Desert Daze lineup and shows that sell out left and right in Los Angeles, Inner Wave is quickly becoming one of, if not the most popular and thrilling indie rock band in all the scene. Joining them was Junior Mesa, a young artist with just as much pop punch as psych groove, giving his take on rock and roll an undeniable magnetism. Inner Wave Junior Mesa

Photo Recap: Skullcrusher at Moroccan Lounge

Rob Shepyer July 17, 2022

Skullcrusher is the most soul stirring modern troubadour of all the current folk artists of today. Using minimal electronics to create a tranquilizing and transportive atmosphere, she fills her canvas of sound with vulnerable notes and lyrics that command such power while sounding so soft and quiet and fragile. She’s an artist that has achieved impossible balances, strength through weakness, openness and mystery, all wrapped into one beautiful, folk package. Aided by Mal on electronic guitar, Skullcrusher’s rare and intimate Moroccan Lounge show was a must-see for any fan of the artist, or general music-head in the know like myself. Having played the Lodge Room last time she was in Los Angeles, performing at the Moroccan Lounge next meant this was going to be a more closely knit show than the usual. And that’s how the audience was, all very close together with our eyes all paying attention to one figure, trying not to make any small sounds that could disrupt the holy moment in which Skullcrusher was performing. We were like moths to the flame and her fire glowed so brightly but refused to rage, instead it was a dancing, light, somber and sweet to the eyes and ears.

Whole Crew in the House: The Game at the Novo

Danny Ryan July 16, 2022

Words by: Danny Ryan Photos by: Manuel Arredondo The standards for what makes a hip-hop artist a GOAT amongst fans have shifted dramatically in recent years, as newer rappers bring more eccentric personalities and more diverse influences of sound into the genre than what was seen in its earlier history. As hip-hop evolves through this experimentation, the common debate of which rappers are considered the greatest has widened profoundly from the days of “2Pac vs Biggie” arguments. This is a natural progression, as many younger hip-hop heads grew up listening to more artists from the early 00’s than the artists worshiped throughout the Golden Age of Hip-Hop. Even as these standards change, most younger hip-hop fans have a deep appreciation for the roots of the genre and understand the importance of earlier scenes within it. Nobody has more respect for these ranges in hip-hop’s history than The Game, and his dedication to the genre could not have been more apparent than in his heartfelt tributes to the legends of every era of hip-hop that the audience experienced during his recent “Drillmatic” record release at the Novo Theater. related content: Lyrical Assassin: Pusha T’s “It’s Almost Dry Tour” Hits the Novo

A Sacred Sound Bath With William Basinski at Ambient Church

Audrey Kemp July 16, 2022

How affecting sounds and environments can be on our souls. The events that transpired at Ambient Church last Saturday concocted neo-chamber music that could provoke a transcendent experience in even the most spiritually bereft. Ambient Church, a self-proclaimed “nomadic experiential event series,” has worked with artists to create audio-visual experiences in unique locations since 2016. June 9’s sold-out show was held at the First Congregational Church in Koreatown, a Gothic cathedral that was erected in 1932. The opening act was 25-year-old vocalist-songwriter Zsela, who in 2020 released her debut EP Ache of Victory. The leading act was one of the most renowned experimental artists of the latter 20th century: William Basinski. related content: Full Moon on a Friday the 13th: Cold Waves L.A. Showcase at The Regent The first performer to enter the cathedral was not Zsela but her musical companion Daniel Aged – a session musician who has previously worked with Beck, Elton John and Frank Ocean. Immediately, Aged removed his combat boots so he could play the baby grand piano, guitar and pedal board before him with the utmost concentration. He began creating jangly loops with his guitar that had echoes of ‘80s greats, The Durutti Column. Within