Category: SHOWS

Devo

The De-Evolution of Burger Boogaloo

Just like in my last Boogaloo review, Janky Smooth apologizes for the opinions herein and advise that anyone below the age of 18 or with an aversion to graphic language, obscenity, or humor, should not continue reading. related content: Burger Boogaloo 2017: The Ballad of John and Iggy Burger Boogaloo 2017 was so good that when we left Mosswood Park last July, we didn’t think 2018’s festival could possibly be better. After all, what band could out-punk Iggy Pop? What sort of headliner could possibly drive the festival further in its evolution? Were they going to bring David Buoy back from the dead? Total Trash productions was clever though, they knew they had to think outside the box if they wanted to make Burger Boogaloo California’s undisputed champion of festivals. So what did they do? They realized that progress doesn’t necessarily have to move forward like we’d expect. No, the answer was De-Evolution. And in the spirit of this movement backward, to the primordial swamp we once infested and called home, what was once the Gone Shrimpin’ stage in 2017, an ode to foot fetishes, was now Toxic Paradise. A mutant stage with tentacles and eyeballs sticking out of the

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Shelter

Attaining the Supreme: Shelter at the Constellation Room

What is the function of music? Is it to make you dance? To emotional move you? Or is it to inform you? In Shelter‘s case, they provide a special form of information for the audience. Not of the political or personal variety, but rather of the spiritual. Spiritual information that will make your soul feel full. Attain enough of this spiritual information, through study, meditation, and yoga, and you might be rewarded with the “Supreme”. What exactly is the Supreme? It is something beyond beauty and the sublime, it is a state of being that language fails to describe, but perhaps music stands a chance in translating the Supreme into sound and performance. The first band I arrived to see was Berthold City, a band started by the guitarist of my favorite hardcore bands, Strife’s Andrew Kline. Even in their fourties, this band was jumping around wildly, with bodies that hadn’t suffered the usual damage dealt by the typical rock and roll lifestyle. The songs had a sweeping, hardcore feel and though the turnout was small this early in the evening and the audience was a bit stiff, we all felt connected to the music and each other. With songs

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Neil Young and Promise of the Real

Arroyo Seco: The Nostalgic, the Timeless, and the Real

Read this in the voice of Paul Mooney: Arroyo Seco is so white that it makes Stagecoach look like Smokin’ Grooves Festival. related content: Black Is Beautiful: Smokin’ Grooves Festival At The Queen Mary All kidding aside, this festival gave me more food for thought and introspection than any concert I had been to all year. The music add me think about getting old and how to stay eternally young. Neil Young made me think that humanity, as a whole, has lost some vital realness. Day 1 Arriving too early on Saturday, I moseyed onto the festival grounds under a burning white sun that would turn all of Los Angeles a brittle pink. Dipping my feet into the music, I wandered about the stages catching glimpses of Maxim Ludwig, who sounded as close to adult/dad rock as I’m ever willing to listen to or Typhoon, a band from Portland that sounds and looks exactly what I imagine most bands from Portland sound and look like: Fiddles, beards, tattoos, and beanies. I enjoyed the bands, just not enough to stay at a stage until I found a nice shady spot under a tree to watch some good, ol’ fashioned rock and roll

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A Place To Bury Strangers

The Horrific Beauty of A Place To Bury Strangers: APTBS at the Regent

A Place To Bury Strangers grant you access into their dome of ear deafening delights. Oliver Ackermann, Dion Lunadon and Lia Simone are the gatekeepers seething with energetic enthusiasm like a rabid dog foaming at the mouth. Upon arriving to The Regent, the first thing one ought to check for at this gig is the merch table. Why you say? It’s not often you find custom made pedals from one of the band members. First comment I hear from some guy, “They’re cheaper to buy here than online.” He turns to the lady merch keeper and asks, “You guys take card?”. related content: The First Real Day Of Summer: Hinds At The Teragram On top of the usual merch from touring bands, you can buy ‘Death By Audio’ (DBA) effects pedals crafted by lead singer/guitarist wizard Oliver Ackermann. There is great inspiration that has been spurred from his DIY pedal company. The documentary ‘Goodnight Brooklyn’ directed by Matthew Conboy gives great insight into the glorious history that raised out of the beginnings of DBA. It builds up the expectation for each wild APTBS performance. I settle into the crowd 10 minutes before their set time. Random enough, I look around the arches of the

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Yo La Tengo

Persistence of Consistence: Yo La Tengo at the Teragram Ballroom

Yo La Tengo are the type of band that screams road trip music to me. You feel their sound more than you hear it. Angelic emotion runs through their balancing of rhythmic melancholy and sprinkles of sonic hope. It’s the type of music you put on in the background before merging onto the freeway and zoning out so completely, you feel like a machine. House parties are another great venue for Yo La Tengo music, I would imagine, as the vibe seamlessly blends in with the casual ambiance and physical bodies chatting and standing around. Some people might sit on the couch, or lay on the floor passed out with a warm Michelob Ultra as “Dream Dream Away” hums on in the ether. related content: The Dead Milkmen Deliver Cartons Of Fun For 2 Nights At Teragram All appropriate scenarios for Yo La Tengo experiences. But seeing them live at a venue? I’m not sure. Maybe I’m horribly out of shape, getting old or just plain lame, but half way through the show I was desperate for a couch and/or recess. The lullabies were lulling me to sleep. But it was so goddamn beautiful. I absorbed the pain, and bit

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Krimewatch

The New Voice of New York Hardcore: Krimewatch at Resident

The scene was Sound and Fury 2017, a stage that hosted the young, renegade hardcore sisterhood known as Krimewatch. Upon that stage I saw real punk rock potential, Emma Hendry, Shayne, Sean Joyce synched together perfectly, making fast and brutal music that acted as a vehicle for Rhylli Ogiura’s charisma, strength, and message. A year later, they returned to the West Coast to play a few dates that I knew I couldn’t miss, not because I needed to hear them again necessarily but rather because I can tell when shows will go down in the history of a scene’s landscape and development. LA hardcore will always remember the times Krimewatch flew out to inspire us. related content: The Most Complete Sound And Fury 2017 Review On Earth Krimewatch wasn’t the only act that drew me to the show, Anthony aka Anthony Anzaldo of Ceremony was gracing the Resident stage first in his signature lingerie get-up. Having seen Ceremony numerous times and Anzaldo’s other hardcore band, Ex-Youth open for Judge in San Francisco, this solo-project performance showed me yet another side of this versatile talent’s abilities. Drawing inspiration from heroes like Prince, Bowie, Robert Smith, and George Michael; Anthony’s guitar-work feels like

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Erykah Badu

Black is Beautiful: Smokin’ Grooves Festival at The Queen Mary

Gates to the Smokin’ Grooves festival opened bright and early on Saturday morning with artists playing as early as 11:00am. There’s always a special group of people who hit the festival grounds as soon as gates open, intent on getting the full 12-hour experience but the early crowd gathering on the water’s edge consisted largely of people with young children. Relaxed vibes, diverse music and a behaviorally mature crowd sets Smokin’ Grooves apart from other festivals because it appeals to a broad spectrum of music fans. Headlined by timeless legends like Erykah Badu and The Roots, Smokin’ Grooves brings a sampling of the best of new and old R&B, funk and soul music to Long Beach. Because LBC is more or less equidistant from Downtown LA and Orange County, this festival drew an impressive crowd for a festival in its first year. And truly, as each person moved past me I couldn’t help thinking “Wow, that was the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen! No, they have to be the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen!” Smokin’ Grooves is a cultural celebration, a PRIDE festival and a big family picnic all rolled into one big, three-stage festival in the looming

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The Dwarves

Janky Meets Marty: The Dwarves at Marty’s on Newport

If you frequently attend concerts in the Southern California area, you have likely received a barrage of promotional emails from a place called Marty’s and you may even recognize the name. The Observatory’s talent buyer Jeff Shuman & X’s manager Mike Rouse have bought out Marty’s, a dive bar gem smack dab in the heart of butt-fucked Tustin, California—in its past life, the bar was known as Marty’s Bar and Grill and hosted mostly karaoke nights and occasionally cover bands. Today, the pair have changed the name to Marty’s On Newport and are developing a business model for Marty’s similar to smaller independent music venues such as The Casbah in San Diego and The Redwood In DTLA. The location may not be as prime as the previously mentioned venues but a huge mailing list of dedicated music junkies, long standing relationships with legendary musicians, and the allure of seeing well known bands in an intimate setting (a max capacity of only around 150 guests) could be the key components that lead to the success of this endeavor. related content: A Bloody Reunion: Bleeding Through At The Observatory Last Monday, a free, secret, show at Marty’s, featuring The Dwarves and The Hurricanes was announced online. It was

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Bleeding Through

A Bloody Reunion: Bleeding Through At The Observatory

Back in the early 2000’s when I was a strapping young teenager, MTV2’s resurrected Headbanger’s Ball was a relevant place to get your metal fix and hear new bands. In those days, the young kings of the hill were Killswitch Engage, Mastodon, Lamb of God, Shadow’s Fall, and Bleeding Through. Unlike the other bands I just mentioned, Bleeding Through wasn’t just metal but metalcore, a genre that I always relegated to nothing more than Emo’s angry bastard child.  Bleeding Through is not only the exception to this (stupid) rule of mine but they’re one of my favorite bands. related content: The Most Complete Sound And Fury 2017 Review On Earth After going on a five year hiatus, Bleeding Through is back with one of the best metal albums I’ve heard all decade. Love Will Kill All is in my opinion, the band’s best album. Every song kicks ass and is perfectly set in the track list to sculpt a greater concept of what the band was, is, and will always be. The heavy parts hit more authentically than other metalcore bands in 2018 and the melodic parts capture you with undeniable hooks. The album’s first single “Set Me Free” is

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Primitive Man

Sonic Punishment: Primitive Man and Celeste at Union

The variety of soundscapes in metal are an interesting thing; even the untrained ear can notice a vast difference between acts like Cough (who also performed at Union in May) and Primitive Man – two bands that share the label of “doom” but approach their craft with entirely different methods and goals. With a stacked lineup including Primitive Man, Celeste, Infernal Coil, and Pendulous, this evening was an interesting exercise of the flexibility in sound and tone within those parameters for significantly different sub-genres and a fine example of just how well some of those combinations can work. related content: Crushed At Communion: Cough And Grime At Union Pendulous play a fine brand of funeral doom packed with the two most essential qualities any group in this sub-genre needs: depression and introspection. Each song (while relentlessly crushing) seemingly drifts through space as an agonized ghost: endless suffering, longing, and helplessness riddling a soul cursed to an eternity attempting to grasp a line of comfort always just out of reach. Easily the most captivating performer of the evening, vocalist Eric Rezsõ Mendoza delivers each line as if he’s crawling through miles of broken glass and gives the band the emotional strength

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Wooden Shjips

Psych Rock Talk Radio: Wooden Shjips at the Bootleg Theater

         Recently I was talking with a friend of mine who could not wrap his head around how anyone could listen to NPR for more than a few minutes. After a fair amount of prodding from others in the group, he was able to admit that it occasionally showcased relevant or otherwise interesting stories; however, its languorous, bordering on comatose, delivery of the material in his mind catapulted any idea of an extended listening session in the realm of the unthinkable. While there are many qualities separating Thursday’s Wooden Shjips show at The Bootleg from listening to talk radio, the further one goes down the rabbit hole with them, the more apparent the similarities become. related content: Between Coachellas, Brazilian Boogarins At The Echo          For this reason, it’s almost poetic that the lead in to the main event of the night was named Terry Gross, in this instance being the San Francisco based rock outfit, not the eponymous radio host of NPR’s Fresh Air (although, I would’ve happily paid extra to see her shred for a couple bars). Though I’d never heard of them before and pondered over whether or not the bass player was a long lost cousin

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The Dead Milkmen

The Dead Milkmen Deliver Cartons of Fun for 2 Nights at Teragram

The Dead Milkmen are one of the most multi-dimensional and versatile punk bands in the history of the sport. In fact, after seeing them live at the Teragram ballroom, i feel almost as if they’re two bands in one, having one cadence when Rodney Linderman (Rodney Anonymous) sings and another when Joe Genaro sings. Both sides of the coin make for a band that captures the essence of punk and the people that love the music. The set that awaited me on this Friday evening, surrounded by scene veterans that were infantilized to their teenage years in anticipation, was one that truly inspired me as an artist. I heard in The Dead Milkmen’s music a delicate and precise balance between sardonic humor, aggression, and fun that showed me what could be possible in music. related content: Who Needs Pins When you’ve Got Spikes? GBH At The Observatory The first opener of the evening was local band, Small Wigs, a rock and roll quintet with garage sensibilities and shining musicianship. The duel guitar work was impressive and thrilling but they kept it low key, making songs that felt true to an authentic rock and roll. Small Wigs photos from night 1 by

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