Category: SHOWS

Photo Recap: The Smashing Pumpkins Oh So Shiny And Bright Tour at the Forum

Janky Smooth Central Command September 2, 2018

The Smashing Pumpkins have reformed with three of their original members (Billy Corgan, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlain) for their Oh So Shiny and Bright Tour which took The Forum by storm for two consecutive nights. Metric opened for the legendary band and along with the classics, The Pumpkins played a set filled with oddities and covers like “Space Oddity” and “Stairway to Heaven”. With The Forum’s usual brand of epic stage production, The Pumpkins pulled out all the stops visually, to do something people have never seen before and can never forget. Photos by: Jessica Moncrief The Forum Metric The Smashing Pumpkins

Photo Recap: New Age Records 30th Anniversary at Garden Amphitheater

Janky Smooth Central Command August 31, 2018

Legendary Southern California hardcore record label New Age Records held their 30th anniversary show at Garden Amphitheatre where landmark alumni and current bands of the label played insane sets. Bands like Trial, Mouthpiece, Strife, and A Chorus of Disapproval played to name a few. New Age Records is what hardcore is all about, keeping it real, tried and true, for thirty fucking years. Here are some photos from the anniversary: Photos by: Albert Licano Trial Mouthpiece Strife Mean Season A Chorus of Disapproval Safe and Sound Countervail Drug Control Decline Crow Killer Last of the Believers One Choice Walk Proud Hellfire Trigger RedBait Collateral Damage

Dead Moon Night: A Tribute to Fred Cole at the Echo

Audrey Kemp August 31, 2018

Metal-heads, goths, rock-n-rollers and cowboys young and old packed in like sardines before a stage festooned in funerary flowers and a dead man in the moon under a dim red haze. The chemistry that bonded them? A common love and appreciation for Dead Moon and the late Frederick Lee Cole. Toody Cole, co-founder and bassist of DIY rock-n-roll band Dead Moon, hand-picked her entourage of unique L.A. musicians, including former guitarist of Cat Power Gregg Foreman, Warren Thomas of The Abigails, Zumi Rosow and Cole Alexander of the Black Lips, Cheap Tissue, Sons of the Southwest, Sharif Dumani of the Alice Bag band and others, for a special night at the Echo in Los Angeles to honor Fred Cole and to commemorate the release of the new Dead Moon art book on his would-have-been 70th birthday. related content: Berserktown II: Music Fringe Binge At The Observatory The groups covered some highlights from Fred’s vast repertoire of work, including that from bands such as The Lollipop Shoppe and Dead Moon. The festivities began with a screening of Kate Fix and Jason Summer’s documentary, Unknown Passage: the Dead Moon Story (2004), a story Warren Thomas of the satanic Outlaw Country band the

Unplugged and Undying: Six Organs of Admittance, Wino, and Xasthur at Resident

Rob Shepyer August 30, 2018

When Bob Dylan first plugged in and went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963, he was harangued, mocked, and shit on by the same followers that professed their total devotion to him as a folk singer. Similarly, when metal goes acoustic, there are always detractors. Yet, with the talent exhibited by the artists Church of the 8th Day booked to play The Resident, Xasthur, Wino, and Six Organs of Admittance, the voices of those detractors seemed to shrink under the monumental weight of the emotions in these folk songs. Proving that Kansas can be just as dark as Darkthrone, Alhambra’s Xasthur was once a one-man black metal machine, pumping out the haziest, most brutal black metal in California. Having soaked in all of isolation’s inspiration, Scott Conner knew there were muses he had to follow beyond the boundaries of electric music. Startling the purist following he had garnered, Xasthur went acoustic and the fans that once battled his skeptics, became skeptics themselves. related content: Satyricon’s Final Los Angeles Show: A Night Too Blackened To Forget Taking the stage as a three-piece, all on acoustic guitars, Xashur wore a bandana to cover his face while Christopher sang his lyrics and

Ahead of his Timelessness: David Byrne at The Shrine Auditorium

Jessica Moncrief August 29, 2018

A lone brain sits on a fold out table complete with a wooden chair directly under a spotlight. This abstract scene of living art set the stage perfectly for a journey into the psyche and imagination of the legendary David Byrne. With bare feet, white disheveled hair, and a cool gray retro suit to boot, Byrne looked like a mad scientist or guru to a new age religious cult, the church of Byrne. He walked out onto the stage, sat in the chair and picked up the brain. While solemnly singing into his headpiece, a glittery beaded curtain raised from the floor. From there, the production went full psychedelic with a marching band of smiling, dancing, barefoot instrumentalists and back up singers, all uniformly dressed in the same retro grey suits. They gracefully emerged from the curtain in what would be the beginning of a fully choreographed spectacular production that was completely wireless. No amps on stage, no cords dangling from instruments to step over, the drums were attached to their player’s bodies instead of fixed on a kit. related content: Finally Admitting It’s Real: Portugal. The Man At The Shrine This had to be the most avant-garde concert tour

The Industrial Virus is Spreading: Das Bunker Presents Kanga at Resident

Rob Shepyer August 28, 2018

Das Bunker has returned, this time out of the post-apocalyptic brick humidifier that is Los Globos’ crumbling upstairs bomb shelter to the posh but mosh-approved Resident for a Kanga and Cyanotic duel-headlining show. The horror on the faces of those yuppies that were trying to peacefully go about their networking on the patio was a beautiful thing for us creeps to behold. We blackened the Resident like a flock of crows descending upon hipster carrion. related content: One Friday Night In Hell Part 2: Das Ich At Los Globos Coming from Toronto and exhibiting that same sappy Canadian authenticity that seems so easy to be cynical against, For All The Emptiness, began the show. His songs were desperate pleas for change out of a numb and uncaring world and though this translates well on his records, over his catchy industrial dance beats, live the combination of fast-paced music, overly-dramatic singing, forgettable stage antics, and lyric-videos plastered on the backdrop via projection, didn’t quite hit the mark. Digital music and lyric videos just scream karaoke no matter how good the performance. In his favor, I will say the his album art and music video for “Hearts Against Minds” have top notch aesthetics

Cinema of Sound: Timber Timbre at The Moroccan Lounge

Dillon Vaughn August 27, 2018

Timber Timbre‘s unbelievably cinematic sound conjures some of the most distinct imagery with ease; thankfully they were able to bring that experience to fans at the Moroccan Lounge in DTLA last week for two sold out nights. Embedded in their music is an intimacy fitting for the most tense moments of desolation; compositions that harken to a lovesick killer brooding in the most remote diner in the Nevada desert late at night. (Interestingly enough, the group so capable of capturing the classic sound of the American west hails from Ontario, Canada.) Deceptive softness and melancholy shroud what’s truly music for a bad man (in a Coen Brother’s sense) and the beauty translates perfectly to a live setting. The well-earned hype and buzz surrounding this group will only continue to grow. related content: How To Trip Off Volume: Elder At The Roxy related content: Too Heavy to Die: Boris’ 25th Anniversary With Melvins At Echoplex Opening both performances was Thor and Friends, the avant-garde project fronted by former Swans associate and percussionist Thor Harris. Unassuming at first, the ensemble quickly captivated those in attendance with hypnotic swells and some of the most lush instrumentation to grace the Moroccan. They’ve performed around town frequently

The Hardest So-Cal Has to Offer, Strife Plays “In This Defiance” at The Roxy

Rob Shepyer August 27, 2018

Southern California has always been a hotbed for hardcore punk from Black Flag to The Circle Jerks but carrying on the torch into the 90’s was a band from Thousand Oaks, California called Strife. Exhibiting that classic straight edge, beat down character, Strife was a band that from the get go, had the feel like they belonged on a stage with a pit belonging right in front of them. Their second album, In This Defiance, with its many guest appearances by Dino Cazares, Chino Mareno, and Igor Cavalera, became the band’s definitive album. They were a band that could get hardcore kids to dog-pile and sing together songs so undeniably powerful and demanding of an audience, that they became essential to the Southern California hardcore canon. related content: For The Children 2017 At The Echoplex: Hardcore Is The Gift That Keeps On Giving Strife’s impact resonated beyond their sound though. Each band that would perform on this evening at The Roxy had a connection to the band. Beginning first with Fixation from Philadelphia, who even though are in the early stages of their career, played a set that was cohesive and powerful enough to make you envision a long and

Too Heavy to Die: Boris’ 25th Anniversary with Melvins at Echoplex

Janky Smooth Central Command August 23, 2018

Boris celebrated their 25th anniversary of being a band at The Echoplex opening for the band that they take their name from, Melvins. Both classic sludge rock staples played incredibly loud, noisy, and heavy sets. Photos by: Dillon Vaughn

How to Trip Off Volume: Elder at The Roxy

Rob Shepyer August 23, 2018

How do you get high? Flower? Shrooms? Synthetics? Running? There are many ways. Some of them led me to this style of stoner/doom metal in the first place but once I had first began frequenting those concerts and stood among other trippers before a stage where a high was induced through music, I realized not every method can be found on erowid.com. Volume can get you high. Walls of sound can break you through sobriety’s ceiling and beyond that threshold is an especially consciousness-shaking altered state. Few bands build walls of sound so high and holy as the ones featured at The Roxy at this show with progressive doom virtuosos Elder. related content: Earthless Liquified My Face At Teragram With Third Circle Visuals behind the projector’s eye, shooting liquid light on stage as if spitting venom like a Dilophosaurus on LSD, the stage was set for Los Angeles’ best kept stoner secret Yidhra to take the stage. Combining heavy, vibrating doom riffs with hallowed, commanding growls, and a theremin’s whirling alien essence, Yidhra’s sound is original and soul-stirring. Like if Sleep slept with Kenneth Anger’s Technicolor skull, this is dark-side of your trip black light metal to the bone. This

Bastard Rap: Lil Ugly Mane and Bastard Noise at The Locker Room

Rob Shepyer August 22, 2018

Well what do ya know… it looks like Garden Grove has a lot more going for it than forever being relegated to Sublime references. The quaint Orange County town has a new outdoor/indoor venue in Garden Amphitheater and the smaller, Locker Room within it. The Amphitheater is hosting two amazing hardcore festivals in 2018 so having scoped out the space, I can say for a fact these shows will be completely insane. related content: 1Fest-Los Angeles at Los Globos: Noise As Music As Force Is Farce The Locker Room, which is decorated with yellow lockers along the back of the stage, would host Lil Ugly Mane’s Orange County show on a tour that he billed with diverse bands for every date. Mane assembled trap, death rock, and legendary vocalist of Man is the Bastard, Eric Wood, who with an array of machines, creates sonic insanity under the banner: Bastard Noise. The first band to play the evening was a crusty hip hop artist known as Death Rattle. They performed as a duo consisting of a mad-dog vocalist that duel wields microphones, one filtered, one not, and a live drummer. Opening his set with the command that all nazis get the fuck

The Queens Converge at Outside Lands 2018

Janky Smooth Central Command August 21, 2018

Admittedly, what brought me to Outside Lands Music Festival at the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco this year was LP, Florence + The Machine, and legendary pop star Janet Jackson. A first in the festival’s history: featuring a female fronted headliner, and this year we had two. Outside Lands featured a superb lineup of music and DJ’s to enjoy for all age groups. The art installations and props went above and beyond including a psychedelic wooded wonderland with glow-in-the-dark mushrooms, rugs, couches, and chairs creating the ultimate experience. With an accentuated vibe of relaxation, there were different flavors of tea served by the Mad Hatter himself. In addition to the ultimate in variety of excellent food choices, Outside Lands served up a large cannabis education section creatively called Grass Lands, beer, wine, and comedy, surrounded by luscious, towering forest greens all around. Outside Lands is massive, with over 200,000 concert goers during the 3-day weekend. The main stage displayed a massive Golden Gate Bridge made up of blue lights, while white lights pointed up, reaching to the high heavens when the sun went down, it was truly a sight to behold. related content: The Headliners Rule At Outside Lands 2016 Day 1 When I first arrived at the