Category: SHOWS

Nothing’s Sexier Than Success: The-Dream at the Fonda

Robert Cohen February 23, 2019

What is success? I’m sure Google can supply its own blasé explanation, but in an age where boundaries of race, class, and culture are becoming increasing indefinable, the goalposts of success have also drifted into a twilight zone whose borders shift as often as our expectations of what is possible these days. Thanks in equal part to an increasingly competitive media landscape and the rising ubiquity of social media, visibility and success have practically become synonymous. However, as anyone working the in the higher echelons of any industry knows, it’s often the people with the lowest profile who hold the real keys to the kingdom. related content: Corn Dogs, Fashion, Puke, And Rap: Camp Flog Gnaw 2018 Such is the case with seminal R&B act The-Dream. While by no means an unknown, after thumbing through even a short list of his production and writing credits, he has undeniably become more famous as a power-behind-the-throne figure than as a musician in his own right. Although comparisons to the music moguls of yore hold water on first diving into his output, unlike them, The-Dream shares more as an artist and culture driver with the éminence grise of politics, who conduct themselves concurrently as

Gang of Four at The Roxy by Lindsay Arth

Photo Recap: Gang of Four at the Roxy

Janky Smooth Central Command February 14, 2019

70’s English post punk legends Gang of Four have returned to play a slew of shows, climaxing with their Los Angeles performance at The Roxy. Although guitarist Gill Sterry is the only original member the band still plays their classic songs with youthful power and swagger. In April of 2018 the band released an EP entitled Complicit featuring this lineup. Photos by: Lindsay Arth

Southern Fried Outlaw Psych: Blackberry Smoke and Nikki Lane at the Fonda

Rob Shepyer February 13, 2019

In my journey to observe as many genres as I can, holding a microscope over bands on every side of the musical spectrum, Blackberry Smoke always intrigued me. As the one southern rock band on Earache Records, they had a maverick quality about themselves in my eyes. I didn’t know the music as well as I knew the sort of people that enjoyed it. The kinds of people that were into classic rock revival were into Blackberry Smoke. And after seeing them live, I can see why. It’s been decades since bands jammed out this hard. The whole evening had a nostalgic, vintage, and cinematic feel about it. Nikki Lane felt like something out of a T Bone Burnett soundtrack while Blackberry Smoke could’ve been the living incarnation of Stillwater from Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous. On paper, Nikki Lane‘s support under Blackberry Smoke made this a heavyweight tour. As I strolled into the Fonda, I saw the Queen Bee of Outlaw Country on stage turning Los Angeles into a regular hootenanny the likes of which you might see on the Midnight Special or Heehaw. Dressed in a black jumpsuit with gold serpents slithering up and down the cloth, Nikki’s dark

Red Bull Music Festival Begins with San Cha’s Epic Tragedy at Vibiana

Rob Shepyer February 11, 2019

Telenovellas are a medium of storytelling very telling of Latino cultural values. Staying true to classical themes in literature like revenge, love, and rebirth, this genre of television is a staple to Latino culture because its classical narrative themes reflect the classical values of Latino people. What made San Cha’s Telenovella inspired performance at Vibiana for the opening of Redbull Music Festival so brilliant was how she wielded traditional values to empower ideas that don’t conform to tradition but rather represent progress. Passionate romantic love is a value often attached to Latin culture and it was that love that led to San Cha’s symbolic downfall. Expert and unique curation is the mark of Red Bull Music Festival and this festival-opening show was tailored just for the Latin community with a former Catholic church as a venue and a vibrantly colored, flowery telenovella bedroom set for people to take pictures in the Church’s courtyard. After enjoying a few palomas at the open bar and eating various Latin Hors d’oeuvres like Spanish octopus and tiny fluatas, I made my way into Vibiana and immediately felt a rush of divinity flow through me. The glory of God shooting out from every crevice of

Don’t Fear the Weird: Fidlar’s Record Release at Teragram

Dillon Vaughn February 4, 2019

Despite 2019 being the 10th anniversary of Fidlar‘s existence, I first heard the band around two years ago while on tour (late to the game, I know.) We were driving somewhere through the Carolinas in a rattling van formerly used to shuttle the homeless out of LA and all six of us were hungover as hell. With four of the bandmates passed out in the back, I was riding shotgun and taking in the sights while my friend that was driving cued up Fidlar’s 2015 record Too and began singing along in that kind of raspy voice you have after a long night out. Something about the tone of that album – the wistfulness, pacing, and honesty about facing adulthood resonated perfectly with the moment. Almost Free, the album being celebrated and released recently at the Teragram marked a new direction for the band that captured their interest in exploring new song structures and instrumentation and allowed this show to highlight other LA bands approaching music with a similar attitude. related content: Family, Friends, FIDLAR: A Punk Rock Love Fest At The Observatory “Don’t Fear the Weird,” the motto scrawled in red across Brandon Schwartzel’s bass guitar summed up both the new direction for

Songs of Freedom: Jesse Malin’s Gates of the West at the Roxy

Rob Shepyer February 2, 2019

The damage done by the last string of California wildfires is still being felt and so relief is still needed to rebuild all the lives that were changed forever. Music, which always seems to be the source of spiritual refuge for those in need, came to the rescue in the form of Gates of the West, an all-star celebration of the life of Joe Strummer hosted by D-Generation’s Jesse Malin. related content: Jesse Malin And All Star Rockers Raise Money For A Friend At The Roxy The night began with a musical collaborator of Joe Strummer’s, Zander Schloss who took the stage solo with an acoustic guitar to play three songs including “Redemption Song” and “Go Straight to Hell”. Following him, Jesse Malin and his house band took the stage to play a set of originals that harkened back to rock and roll’s heyday of coolness, swagger and nonchalance. Jesse was on the guitar, in the crowd, jumping and jiving, and singing his guts out with more New York attitude than Los Angeles is used to. One special moment was when the band covered a Pogues song because Shane McGowan called the Cat and Fiddle bar in Los Angeles to

Punx Not Dead in Petaluma – Home Sick 2 at the Pheonix Theater

Nicole Verto January 30, 2019

“Is punk dead?” I’ve typically found this refrain loathsome and lazy. Despite my ongoing aversion to the utterance, it was front and center in my own (traitor) brain during the week leading up to Home Sick 2. You see, after almost forty years, the punk institution known as Maximum Rocknroll announced that the zine would cease printing in 2019. The notion hit me hard. I recalled being fourteen and seeing MRR for the first time as a young teenager and traced from there to the first time I saw the rows and rows of green-taped records myself. It felt like a death. I went to three other shows in the days between the announcement and attending Home Sick 2 but HS2 was the one that really shook me out of my cynicism. Of course punk is not dead. Of course the community is still growing and reaching folks of all ages. Even better: those of us already in too deep seem to be better than ever at welcoming other sounds into our spaces. The curators behind Home Sick (none other than headliners Ceremony) managed to again create a space both familiar and refreshingly representative of this constant evolution happening within

Heart to Mouth with LP at the Observatory

Janky Smooth Central Command January 29, 2019

Words and Photos by: Maggie St. Thomas While promoting her 5th studio release Heart To Mouth, singer Laura Pergolizzi better known across the globe as LP kicked off the first night of her much anticipated and heavily sold out North American Heart To Mouth 2019 Tour at the Observatory in Santa Ana. Playing in support for this critically acclaimed recording artist and songwriter on a vast stretch of the tour is LP’s fiancé’ Lauren Ruth Ward, another high energy performer with an exceptional vocal range, and with instruments that compliment her free spirit including a star shaped tambourine, and red and white polka dotted mushroom maracas. related content: The Queens Converge At Outside Lands 2018 The sold out venue goes dark and the crowd screams in anticipation. It was a sight to behold and everyone in attendance was immediately transfixed the second LP’s boots hit the stage. LP’s voice is powerful and euphoric, creating an expansive dreamlike state that becomes a high all in itself. Her stage presence is magnetic from any angle, unique and unforgettable. Accenting her strikingly sharp androgynous look with her signature wild brown curls, tonight she sported a teal colored long sleeve pirate shirt, a dark vest, pencil think black

Photo Recap: Parquet Courts and Snail Mail at the Constellation Room

Janky Smooth Central Command January 27, 2019

Parquet Courts and Snail Mail took their tour to the Constellation Room and brought down the house with their funk inspired art punk. People felt the rhythm and the groove, dancing around to all the hits that made Parquet Courts one of the breakout bands of 2018. Photos by: Albert Licano Parquet Courts Snail Mail

Photo Recap: Judas Priestess at Catch One

Janky Smooth Central Command January 27, 2019

Psycho Entertainment brought a night of female-led cover bands to Catch One with Judas Priestess and Cowgirls From Hell. Both bands delivered a new, heavy, and fun take on classic metal songs. Photos by: Anthony Mehlhaff Judas Priestess Cowgirls From Hell

Rebels of Wrestling: PCW Ultra 3 Year Anniversary

Jonathan Reyes January 25, 2019

For how popular independent wrestling has become, it’s still at the edge of the map, on the outskirts of the mainstream, that’s where PCW Ultra grows. In the dark, like a mushroom, unsuspecting and complex. Outcasts and rebels with a super chill attitude. Cultivated in the San Pedro bay, to describe the organization as such is to describe the city. While I mean it romantically, if you ask Johnny Ultra who grew up on the other side of the hill in Palo Verdes he’d call it “the place where he throws his trash” and “people with cars who can’t make it up the hill”. Right from the start this felt different. To start PCW ULTRA’s third year anniversary show Shane “Swerve” Strickland the first person to carry the PCW Ultra LHW champion and PCW Ultra Heavyweight championship came out to address the crowd. To let them know to ignore what the internet might say. To let them know that there is nothing, not contracts, not rumors, not weight class stopping him from achieving his goals. He is the newly designated PCW ULTRA champion as he relinquishes the PCW ULTRA light championship with a challenge to the ULTRA light division, try

A Return Full of Firsts: Deerhunter at The Lodge Room Highland Park

Janky Smooth Central Command January 23, 2019

Words by: Krista Anderson Photos by: Dillon Vaughn On a cold Thursday night when January’s torrential flood had finally let up over Los Angeles, the band, Deerhunter brought in the eve of their newest album, Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared? Deerhunter’s atmospheric presence mesmerized the excitable, full house at The Lodge Room in Highland Park. related content: The Universe Smiles Upon Khruangbin At The Lodge Room Opened by Confusing Mix of Nations, a New York and Los Angeles based duo with spacey vocal melodies and harsh, analog dance beats, the night was an exploration into sounds both vast and aggressive. Listeners anticipating the album’s midnight release swayed and bobbed while bathed in swirling guitar melodies and whimsical rhythms. Deerhunter’s unpredictable and provocative performance spoke to the experimental nature of the Atlanta based group. Among the haziness of several esteemed favorites such as Halcyon Digest’s “Helicopter” and “Desire Lines” (2010), the band launched two new songs for the very first time before the keen, Los Angeles audience. related content: Creep Or Charmer: Alex Cameron At The Lodge Room The penultimate track of the new album, “Plains,” was revealed mid-set. Synthesizing the cutting rage of Monomania (2013)

Category: SHOWS

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