Category: SHOWS

Raw Emotion Sells: SOPHIE AT The Teragram Ballroom

Janky Smooth Central Command November 21, 2017

On October 30th, I had the pleasure of seeing SOPHIE make their Los Angeles debut. After rescheduling from playing a smaller venue, the concert was upgraded to the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles. Hosted by Red Bull Music Academy, the concert did not disappoint as it was filled with experimental songs interlaced with political and self-loving messages in the form of electronic dance music. related content: Cloak And Dagger Fest The Heart Of Los Angeles Bled From Dusk Till Dawn The opening act, Bully Fae, is a solo artist hailing from Los Angeles. Bully Fae’s set was full of energy, including what felt like choreographed dances to the minimalistic trap beats as they spat words angrily into the microphone. The audience was completely captivated by what was being said on stage as Bully Fae shared personal stories about struggling with illness, yet learning to love and take care of themselves through that difficult process, then the audience broke out of the respectful silence to a massive applause. Songs included “Self – Evidence Intervention”, “Fuckery Bitch”, and the empowering “Defy A Thing To Be”. Bully Fae was completely vulnerable on stage with their emotions ranging from soft whispers to loud screams

The Growlers Six: Abuse, Healing, Feeling Shards Of Shattering Glass Ceilings

Jonathan Reyes November 20, 2017

I felt it all again Sunday night, just like I did 8 years ago. When I was a younger I popped my cherry with Coachella. Like every other old fuck, the one I went to was the last good one “before it got too big” but in my case, it was. Way before the holograms and second week cash grab. In my years, I got to see Gossip, Crystal Castles, and Girl Talk. Not all three played the same year but I can’t recall which is which and googling is for fucking posers. Sunday, October 28th, I got to see them all again. related content: The Secret Journal Of A Pizza Spy At Coachella 2017 I was late to catch all of Beth Ditto’s set. I heard it in the distance and was trying to rush but let out an annoyed “fuck” because I knew I still needed to be searched by security. To my delight and horror, security didn’t check me at all. In fact, his exact quote was, “I don’t give a fuck about this.” Let that sink in. My short term, instant gratification has given way to waking up in a cold sweat every night since those words were uttered- but

Ozzfest Rocks On But Can It Still Rage In 2017?

Lina Lecaro November 15, 2017

Heshers and head bangers are a loyal bunch, but metal ain’t exactly enjoying a mainstream moment in 2017, and it hasn’t for quite some time. With a few exceptions of Queens Of The Stone Age, Metallica and of course, the entirety of Europe where Metal still reigns supreme, the genre just isn’t recognized right now on U.S. radio or on U.S. charts, and this has made the current musical landscape feel really bland and wimpy and disposable to a lot of people (No, Foo Fighters are NOT metal). Heavy music still exists of course, and a lot of it feels as urgent as ever, but for the most part it’s a niche thing right now. related content: Black Sabbath And A Weeping Manboy At The Forum In L.A. I remember when things were different. When there was such a bounty of bombastic and aggressive bands on the scene, swaying the zeitgeist and stirring shit up, it was hard to keep track of them all. Their videos dominated MTV (before it was the Teen Mom channel), their records went multi-platinum (streaming didn’t exist yet) and they even graced the covers of popular music magazines (remember those?). There was so much heavy

The Growlers Lose The Beach Goth Battle But Won The War This Weekend

Dave Unbuckled November 7, 2017

We had already survived a dead car battery in record breaking heat, when our ride dropped us off at Bolsa Chica State Beach for Punk in Drublic, in Huntington Beach. This was a fitting location to pre-game for Growlers Six, happening twenty miles up the coast, as it was the show I had intended to cover, but the promoters seemed less interested in our intention of reviewing the fest, than assisting with late promotion through our social media. For this reason alone, we felt it necessary to stop by and “sample” some of the 100 local craft beers being distributed amongst the festival goers, then ditch the divorced-dad-fest, as we cruelly nicknamed it, and go straight to Beach Goth. related content: Beach Goth 4: The Party Of The Year We attempted to count and review each beer, but by the time we arrived at the mid-twenties, I was already tripping over my shoelaces and bumping into patient patrons, hiding their disgust at our unruly entitlement, and surly demeanors. It also didn’t help that the more I drank, the more negatively critical I became with each beer, while my partner and photographer became more friendly and outspoken with the pourers and

Halloween At The Roxy w/ The Evil Ones: Roky Ericksen & Death Valley Girls

Rob Shepyer November 2, 2017

Halloween shows at the Roxy have become a Janky Smooth tradition after last year’s showcase with Ho99o9 and The Shrine, Halloween 2017 Death Valley Girls support, a Roky Eriksen and Death Valley Girls collaborative evening was a mandatory spooking, especially with DVG lead guitarist Larry Schemel now playing guitar in Roky’s band. The last time I saw Roky Eriksen was also at the Roxy with him playing with his Hounds Of Baskerville band. Their set was filled with 13th Floor Elevators material but as a guy understanding Roky from a metalhead background, I wanted to hear his halloween staples off his solo album The Evil One. related content: House Of Ho99o9 Halloween At The Roxy Lots of artists claim to be evil but few actually live parallel to their projections. Roky, on the other hand, has been dabbling in the paranormal, the horrific, and the down right psychotic for a very long time. It’s a miracle he’s on stage playing psych rock and not chained to a rock in some psych ward. Roky hit so many bong loads and dropped so many tabs that he was thrown into institutions numerous times throughout his music career. Yet that never slowed him down once,

The Lemon Twigs At Teragram: A Tale Of Two Brothers

Lawrence Rengert October 31, 2017

Looking for parking in Los Angeles is something you spend a lot of time doing. I was on my way to see The Lemon Twigs and glad I had left early. As I cruised the streets looking for a spot to put my car, I ended up in my teenage neighborhood. Fitting, as the band I was about to see just graduated from high school. Lucas and Maryland was a pretty rough area back in the day but now was starting to look more like Los Feliz twenty five years ago, with it’s own nightlife strip just three blocks South on Wilshire. The outstanding difference between my teenage years and the ones the Lemon Twigs have led is that my friends and I spent most of our time drinking and talking about what we wanted to do, the Lemon Twigs have simply done it. The Lemon Twigs are that band who should not be where they are at their age. The first time you hear their music you think, ‘Yeah but who’s really writing these songs? Who’s really playing them? There is no way this could be the work of a seventeen and nineteen year old,’ but it is. They

Cloak & Dagger Fest: The Heart Of Los Angeles Bled From Dusk Till Dawn

Rob Shepyer October 27, 2017

Good “dark” music should come from a damaged yet open heart because it’s those damages that make all the styles of dark music involved in Cloak And Dagger Festival beautiful to those that wear black late at night- or during the day, for that matter. Whether it was dark wave, new wave, post punk, goth/death rock, industrial, EBM, or shoegaze, every shade of black was represented on those two cold October nights. Right from the first lineup announcement, it was understood that this would be like no other festival. With three stages at the Globe and Tower theaters, an all black dress code, and local brand recognition, I was sure the siamese evenings would play out like a movie, think Eyes Wide Shut meets Gimme Shelter. The lineup hosted plenty of bands that are Janky Smooth favorites like Ho99o9, Health, Moon Duo, and Uniform. Iconic artists like KMFDM, OhGr, and The Jesus and Mary Chain were set to share the two stages with future headliners like Cold Cave, The Soft Moon, and Lust For Youth. So any goth kid, let alone this one, would be awestruck and elated at the chance to partake in the affair. Night 1: Black is the absence of

Desert Daze 2017 Headline Here: Some Variation of Rock’s NOT Dead

Jonathan Reyes October 25, 2017

When you get a ticket to Desert Daze, you know what you paid for, such as Iggy Pop’s last performance of the year and the holy sounds of Spiritualized. But there are things included in the price that you probably didn’t expect or ask for. Things like a Defense Against The Dark Arts class or learning there’s more than one form of sound healing. related content: Iggy Pop Performance Archives for 2017 related content: Punk Rock Bowling 2017: You Can’t Be What You Were… Desert Daze is a nondenominational psychedelic gathering for people who want to expand their minds but is welcoming to people who just want to get high and bang their heads to Sleep. It’s like burning man without the orgy tent. Or was it? I never went to the mystic bazaar which might have been code for orgy tent. I was too busy trying to stay drunk in the desert which is harder than it sounds but went down with a little help from the buds with the suds from Spaceland (shout out to Rooster)- It all worked out. related content: Desert Daze 2016: Quantifying The Physics Of A Good Time The anti-festival is here. DD has all the

Warning At Alex’s Bar: In the Front Row “Watching From a Distance”

Rob Shepyer October 23, 2017

The rise of doom metal’s popularity after the 2000’s had generated numerous doom and stoner bands that have saturated the scene with a lot of the same old sounds. Some bands take doom places that aren’t even metal I’d argue, like Australia’s Divide and Dissolve. One of the second wave doom bands that were able to leave a mark on the genre and get people to reconsider the possibilities of playing slow and heavy is the United Kingdom’s Warning. Their 2006 album Watching From A Distance was the most sensitive and gut-wrenching metal I had ever heard up to that point- it was doom-poetry. Oddly, it may be the case that Warning take more influence from folk than traditional doom bands like Candlemass or Saint Vitus or even Black Sabbath. Doom is simply the musical vehicle the band needs to perform the message. Warning planned to tour Watching From A Distance in its entirety earlier in the year, with Sound And Fury promoting their first Los Angeles show in years, unfortunately for Warning, the reign of president Donald Trump plagued them with visa issues and stopped them from entering the country. My hopes of checking the band off my bucket

The New American Storytellers: Nikki Lane & JD McPheerson At The Regent

Rob Shepyer October 18, 2017

JD McPheerson is a rising star, blazing with acclaim from artists, critics, and fans alike that see his music as the revival of classic rock and roll. And by rock, I’m talking about old timers like Chuck Berry (RIP), Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis. The moment I heard “North Side Gal” was the moment I heard the potential for a real phenomenon and moment in music to occur. I can best describe the moment that I’m looking for by comparing it to the kind of fan reaction that Bill Haley and The Comets had when they performed “Rock Around The Clock“. People just went totally ape-shit, it was a total spiritual breakthrough of youth releasing all the suppressed energy that comes with wasted American dreaming. And this comparison isn’t necessarily limited to straight forward rock and roll, in fact the only young band I’ve seen come close was Ceremony performing “Kersed” at Sound and Fury 2016, when the entire audience erupted when the opening notes of the song were strummed and there was one distinct sound that shot up into the air and that was the sound of everyone’s feet stamping on the Regent’s floor in a furious, collective

Music Tastes Good In Long Beach – It Really Did

Janky Smooth Central Command October 17, 2017

Music Tastes Good 2017 was a fun-filled weekend featuring eclectic music and gourmet foods on the breezy coast of the Long Beach Marina Green Park on September 30th and October 1st. As I first arrived at the festival on Day 2, all my senses were immediately going off as I was greeted by the fiery sounds of the Hot 8 Brass Band, smelled delicious foods, saw incredible 3-D works of art and my feet began to feel the beat of the band, leaving me dancing as I explored the festival grounds. I only briefly lamented missing all the great music of Day 1. related content: Summertime In The LBC: Love Letter To A City That Doesn’t Always Love Back The first full set I was pleased to dance to was that of Dengue Fever, a Cambodian-American band currently based in Los Angeles. Their jazz meets psychedelic rock infused music had the crowd swaying blissfully as lead singer Chhom Nimol belted out beautiful melodies and led the cheerful crowd. The stage was decorated to match their 60’s inspired grooviness with colorfully painted hearts, rainbows and stars. At the end of their set, they rang out their brassy solos and high energy

So Much Strange At Das Bunker 21st Anniversary At Union

Rob Shepyer October 15, 2017

I’ve always been iffy about going to Das Bunker. Industrial music has held a special place in my heart since high school when I used to smoke myself stupid and put on headphones to let Skinny Puppy pervert my vulnerable mind. Later, when it came to light that Skinny Puppy’s music was used to torture inmates in Guantanamo Bay, I had to reassess what damage I had done to my senses. I’ve always loved the music but the industrial scene itself, turned me off. Those industrial pants are fucking ridiculous and the dancing is down right goofy, especially when the only one on the floor is a 50-year-old gamer, sucking in his gut. So, I had my reservations, but with my need to never miss out, I still feel like shit that I couldn’t go to the Das Bunker 20th anniversary show, last year. Now I would kill to see The Legendary Pink Dots. related content: Front 242 And Severed Heads Bring Classic Industrial To The Regent Theater To make up for last year’s absence and check out some insanely hot goth chicks, I committed myself to make it to at least one of the two nights of the 21st anniversary. I

Category: SHOWS

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