Category: SHOWS

Etherializer: Alessandro Cortini at the Lodge Room

Rob Shepyer November 27, 2019

Noise shows might just become my favorite kind of shows. You have to go sparingly to keep the experience special but when you do attend, these sonic experiments have the ability to melt your consciousness into a putty then sculpt it however the artist sees fit, using only sound as their utensils. This is what I anticipated from Alessandro Cortini‘s Lodge Room show. A set that felt somewhat ambient, somewhat harsh, with sounds that would make the room vibrate with heaviness but also make the soul hum with lushness. I received every range of feeling on this night, from both what I brought to the music and what the music delivered to me. The one quality this music exhibited that I found most compelling was its etherial nature. Goth music’s gravitation toward the angelic and heavenly is a curiosity of sorts. You’d think people dressing in black all the time would want something less affirming of the divine, but as it so happens, sorrow might grant you a closer relationship to grace. related content: Bot Pop: Jonathan Bree At The Lodge Room The night began with Olive Kimoto stirring the souls in the holy Lodge Room with animated electronics and vocals like

Tis the Season for Boston Alt-Rock: Letters to Cleo at the Hi Hat

Dave Unbuckled November 27, 2019

Letters to Cleo returned to the Hi Hat last Saturday to a well-received crowd for what’s shaping to become their annual LA appearance. In addition to a career spanning twenty song showcase, the set contained new tracks from the group’s freshly released Christmas EP, OK Christmas including “Father Christmas” by the Kinks. related content: Bot Pop: Jonathan Bree at the Lodge Room Kat Hanley and crew’s set stayed hi-energy for its entirety, sprinkled with familiar alt-rock songs from their nearly thirty-year trek. Though at one time considered one of the East Coast’s most popular female fronted bands, Letters to Cleo have since slowed down their former heavy touring schedule, and now perform in Southern California once a year, so seeing the band keep the crowd of 300 singing and dancing for the entirety of the performance was impressive to say the least. There’s also something to be said about the band performing a smaller intimate show, solely to their fan base, opposed to joining the retro festival circus that comes around this time of year. Demon Rock kicked off the evening, which also featured two songs from the group’s breakout LP, “Big Star” and “Here and Now”, in addition to

Psych & Fury: Levitation 2019

Janky Smooth Central Command November 22, 2019

Is Austin, Texas’ Levitation the best psychedelic music fest in America? The World? With four days and nights of stacked lineups that get rockers moving from venue to venue, filling the streets with all sorts of strange for indoor and outdoor shows, it’s hard to argue the contrary. We sent psych rock aficionado, Suzette Subliminal out there to capture slices of the sublime and as you can see below, every act seemingly performed sets that were as transcendant as they were transformative. The likes of Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile, John Cale, Tobacco, and A Place to Bury Strangers made this year’s festival one for the ages. Check out the pics below! Photos by: Grace Dunn related content: Silver Lake Perris: Desert Daze 2019 A Place To Bury Strangers Tobacco Christian Bland and the Revelators Cryogeyser Deantoni Parks Dinosaur Jr. Guerilla Toss JJUUJJUU John Cale Kurt Vile Numb.er Ringo Deathstarr The KVB

Bot Pop: Jonathan Bree at the Lodge Room

Rob Shepyer November 21, 2019

Just because your phone isn’t attached to you at the hip doesn’t make it not a part of you. Humans aren’t full-on androids quite yet but the widespread fusion of man and machine has definitely begun to take shape. So, what does art look like in the Android Age? Perhaps a bit like Jonathan Bree‘s stage show. I could talk about how Jonathan Bree and his whole band wear masks, it’s the first thing anyone notices once you catch them live but after seeing them be the first act to dazzle Desert Daze this year, I began looking for less obvious characteristics in Bree and Co.’s performance. When Bree takes a step back to let one of the women in his band sing, his microphone dangles limply by the cord from his hand as he stands, almost as if in sleep mode. Then when the song requests him to return to vocals, he reboots in what makes for a methodically choreographed and unique show. related content: Silver Lake Perris: Desert Daze 2019 Bree’s night at the Lodge Room began with two openers that shared a similar thread. A certain coolness and No Wave vibe was felt in each performance beginning

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: Camp Flog Gnaw 2019

Rob Shepyer November 15, 2019

IMAGES COURTSEY OF GOLDENVOICE The Good: Camp Flog Gnaw 2019 was curated with artists that challenged everyone’s concept of what a live performance could be. Boundary expansion is what this festival and crowd have always been about and this year was not only no different from the past but an outlier after such stellar performances like that of FKA Twigs, Tyler, the Creator, and Thundercat. Also, with the festival at Dodger Stadium, the view of the downtown skyline is a constant reminder of how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful city as Los Angeles. The Bad: Many of the artists who were billed high atop the lineup were actually unimpressive live. Listening to their sets felt like slogging through the minutes in anticipation of the few acts people truly cared about. So, this year the lineup was under-billed and a few of the names it did have were nothing special. The Ugly: Generation’s Z and their reaction to Drake being revealed as the surprise guest are ugly. It was a moment that validated many bad conclusions drawn about young people in 2019. Entitlement and bad manners mainly. I wanted to see Frank Ocean too but I’ll be damned

Hip Hop Oasis: Day N Vegas 2019

Janky Smooth Central Command November 12, 2019

Words by: Mario Chavez Photos by: Rodney Campos “In the desert you can remember your name cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain…” “A Horse with No Name” by AMERICA was the soundtrack on repeat in the back of my mind as we made the trek towards the Las Vegas desert oasis, on our way to the rookie music festival, Day n Vegas. This was a first of its kind gathering on the northern part of the strip, where Hip Hop and R&B can live & breathe as one in one of the entertainment capitals of the world. related content: Rolling Loud SoCal 2017 Doses The Youth With The Latest Opiate Of The Masses Day 1 On its inaugural day, we entered knowing only that it was a Dreamville takeover line up, but all that was yet to be seen. Later, a long-awaited set by Lil Uzi Vert was about to commence. He began his set with his hit “XO Tour Life” and it was off to the races. In true Lil Uzi Vert fashion, he became a tangible part of the show, jumping in to the crowd while performing songs amongst his fans. The Philly

Gore Obsessed: Exhumed at the Hi Hat

Rob Shepyer November 10, 2019

This Halloween concert season was remarkable. There were incredible shows to go to form metal to punk to goth within the two week late October/early November span that saw people partying all over Los Angeles. Upon this chosen Sunday, I had numerous options as to where I should bleed my ears but if I wanted to capture the true spirit of halloween, it was going to be with gore and the goriest there is is a little death metal band called Exhumed. They quite literally rip, both on the guitar and on the chainsaw. I arrived at the Hi Hat to see BrucexCampbell, a brutal and crusty grindcore band that absolutely crushed with every belching lyric. This hulking sort of core could’ve only been produced by Angelinos that came from a tough upbringing with a true connection to the underground. Posers beware, this band will bite your fucking head off. Next up was a band I feel will one day be as spoken of in the same ranks as legendary bands like Sepultura and that’s Necrot, a blackened death metal band from Oakland, California. The songs absolutely ripped the Hi Hat to shreds and indispersed with the musical brutality, the singer would tell

The Preacher Man Cometh: Wovenhand at the Echo

Rob Shepyer November 9, 2019

David Eugene Edwards has always struck me as a maverick in the current musical landscape. Not just in his current band, Wovenhand, but in every project he’s been a part of. I first discovered him from watching a 16 Horsepower video where I saw him play the accordion with more soul stirring spirit than I’ve ever seen anyone. With that band and with Wovenhand, he’s found a way to make music that incorporates so many different sounds and ideas from across the world and across time periods while maintaining a quality that is positively American. His music and presence is ripe with beautiful contradiction, the good kind, symbols that are often considered in conflict find harmony within Wovenhand. Americana and Native American imagery and culture, East vs West, Christianity and glam, David Eugene Edwards paints his face and nails like a Native American warrior but with silvery colors as if he’s also the reincarnation of David Bowie. related content: A High And Beautiful Wave: Psycho Las Vegas 2019 Perhaps the strangest thing about Wovenhand is David’s stage presence. If he wasn’t onstage, perhaps you’d think he was schizophrenic with his wild gestures to invisible characters and his speaking in tongues. What

Spontaneous Combustion of the Soul: Dinosaur Jr. at the Fonda

Jonathan Reyes November 8, 2019

There’s a call to the rocks. The siren isn’t calling you your doom. It’s calling you to feel the pain of everyone and then feel nothing. The silvery wizard inside the Fonda, inside his tower built with Marshall Amplifiers, his spellbook is prolific, his voice…his voice tells you it’s suffered, it’s telling you it knows you have too, despite the suffering and loss you too can wear a Mishka tee and baseball cap while shaking the rust off the bones of what seems to be everyone who didn’t die in the 90’s alt-rock scene that has gathered inside the theater made by Morgan, Walls & Clements. related content: Silver Lake Perris: Desert Daze 2019 The fall brought the Mount Rushmore of sad bastard music to Los Angeles. Rob Smith claimed Pasadena, Nick Cave DTLA, J Mascis Hollywood, Billy Corgan Highland Park, Moz was here too but we pretend he wasn’t. It’s something in the air. Santa Ana’s, with the help of PG&E, lit forests like candles in a vigil. The days when the only crises you had to worry about were existential are gone. All that remains is the music and the people who don’t seem to mind. Myself included.

The Three Night Cotillion: William Patrick Corgan at the Lodge Room

Rob Shepyer November 8, 2019

Traditionally Southern, a cotillion is a right of passage for young people to display their manners, discipline, and maturity. Now a veteran, legend, and elder statesman of rock and roll, William Patrick Corgan‘s 3 night stint at the Lodge Room in Highland Park showed just how much he’s matured as an artist in his three decades of making music. His upcoming solo album, Cotillions includes songs inspired by his children, songs about social hardship, and good ol’ fashioned artsy songs done acoustic. Any of the three nights was an exclusive and special event. The first of which I missed to see Bauhaus at the Palladium, meaning I missed out on hearing “Tonight, Tonight” and “Disarm”, but still, I was blessed to have made it the second night to see James Iha join William on stage to perform “Blew Away” (which Iha sang), “1979”, and “Blue Skies Bring Tears”. The third night had William pulling from a different bag of treats with a totally different setlist. I think that’s the sign of a true master at their craft, William has such a large catalogue to choose from but it almost feels like he could pick any song and perform it on

Dark Entries: Bauhaus at the Hollywood Palladium

Rob Shepyer November 8, 2019

Entire schools of music, fashion, art, and world views owe themselves to a single English band known as Bauhaus. The music of which is noisy, wild, sexual, raw, bleak, and upsetting to any status quo the world over. So, it should be remarkable that a band like this, and the music they created, is so beloved that upon the band’s reunion, they sold out two shows at the Hollywood Palladium with fans flying across oceans to see it. Those who have been playing close attention might’ve had the feeling that Bauhaus would come together once again. Peter Murphy’s last tour was an ode to his old band and featured former bassist David J. Haskins. So, perhaps bad blood wasn’t the reason this took so long. Fellow art world nightcrawlers would see Kevin Haskins and Daniel Ash out and about in Los Angeles from time to time, whether it was onstage as Poptone or just enjoying the Los Angeles night. Who knows exactly what was the catalyst for these two shows taking place, perhaps Peter Murphy’s heart attack forced him to look into the abyss and rather than just see himself staring back at him, he saw his band. related content: Becoming

Tearing Down the Orange Curtain: Social Distortion at Five Point Amphitheatre

Dave Unbuckled November 7, 2019

It has been forty years since Social Distortion burst onto Orange County’s rising punk scene, originating out of Fullerton house parties and small, legendary clubs such as The Cuckoos Nest and Safari Sams, but tonight they headlined the Five Point Amphitheatre in Irvine, CA. There’s something to be said about a ‘punk show’ in Irvine, one of the nation’s wealthiest zip codes, with no indication of a punk scene anywhere in sight. For one, a ‘punk show’ in Orange County is usually limited to a 200 person capacity club or bar, with a small stage. If you’re a veteran band, maybe you’ll be fortunate enough to share the stage at the Observatory. However, when you’re Social Distortion, one of the genres most successful and longest lasting groups, and you’re back in Orange County, you play the largest venue available — and bring a lot of your legendary friends to open up. The lineup for the show was respectable, but a little excessive, considering bands like Bully and Mannequin Pussy who opened the show, barely had anyone in attendance. It could also be that the capacity for the venue was up to 12,000 and there was roughly only 8,000 people day

Category: SHOWS

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