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Prettiest Eyes & Egrets On Ergot: The L.A. Sound Explodes Out Of Harvard & Stone
Aria Silva-Espinosa
August 17, 2017
Everything you need to know about rock based music coming out of Los Angeles can be summed up by the sounds that were coming out of Harvard and Stone one week ago, today. It’s not that L.A. has a very specific sound since the scenes surrounding the city range from hardcore to psychedelic rock but both Prettiest Eyes and Egrets on Ergo are bands that most high volume consumers of music seeing bands at places like the The Echo and The Hi Hat are inspired by on a regular basis.. Thursday night’s antics at Harvard & Stone began late in the evening with Los Angeles-based post-punk foursome Egrets on Ergot. As the band begins their set, vocalist Adam Brooks delivers a poetic monologue from atop the bass drum with his back to the audience. The recitation is followed immediately by Adam absolutely shredding on the saxophone. The use of saxophone sets Egrets on Ergot apart from other experimental post-punk groups by incorporating an experimental element often associated with jazz music in an entirely new way into the otherwise erratic and desperately disordered sound produced by the band. Generally, I wouldn’t enjoy the sound of a saxophone but somehow, Adam has
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Summertime In The LBC: Love Letter To A City That Doesn’t Always Love Back
Jonathan Reyes
August 11, 2017
Finding out the Summertime in the LBC festival was not actually in the Queen Mary had me feeling like they literally missed the boat on this one. Why couldn’t they figure out a way to have it on the actual boat? That’s only the tip of the iceberg that almost sank this festival. Almost. But instead, the performances were worthy of the type that were on the deck of the Titanic, just before it went down. This review is gonna be all ocean references… I’m naugty by nature. Festivals are tricky. There’s got to be dumb shit to preoccupy your time with in between sets. Like a tooth jewelry vender or the Swisher Sweet booth meant to let you know how deeply this fest embraced the Long Beach vibe, or over priced food and drinks. Summertime In The LBC had all this but lacked a couple of things that could’ve made the festival smoother and whole- a consistent DJ between artist’s sets, for one thing. But in a way, it honored the spirit of our city, because the cleaner and more gentrified they make Long Beach, it’s still the place where I once saw a man get out of his
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Negative Approach Steamroll Echoplex w/ Nails, Bloodclot, Final Conflict
Rob Shepyer
August 8, 2017
The mighty, punishing, blue-collar punk heroes of Detroit, Negative Approach, are one of my favorite bands of all time and their seminal album, Tied Down, is on my top ten albums of all-time list. They’re a band I’d do just about anything for, any act of band worship and fandom. I brought my shine-box to the show, just in case they wanted their boots spiffy. Any chance I get to see Negative Approach live, I do. So certainly, a powerhouse Echoplex lineup featuring Negative Approach, Final Conflict, hardcore super group Bloodclot, and headliners, Nails, had me buzzing just thinking about what kind of violence I’d endure and witness. related content: Sound And Fury Hardcore Festival Comes Of Age All Across Los Angeles The moment I walked in, I zipped straight to the merch table and saw the holy grail of T-shirts, a lime-green Tied Down shirt, the same color scheme as the album. I gleefully threw my twenty dollars at Negative Approach’s drummer, Chris “Opie” Moore who was slinging the merch. This was one of those rare concert consumer moments that made me more elated to buy this shirt than to listen to some of the bands playing. Atwater Village
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Ministry Make Bid To Be Official ANTIFA House Band At San Diego Show
Danny Baraz
August 6, 2017
It was FYF weekend in Los Angeles- a weekend in the summer in which Los Angeles is the center of the summer music festival world. Not to mention the swarming packs of virgins in San Diego for Comicon. So why then am I at the San Diego House of Blues, of all places, on the Friday of the first night of the festival in which one of my favorite musicians on the small list of all time greats that I have yet to see is performing? Well, Bjork IS a genius but seeing the Ho99o9 boys open for Ministry in one of my most cherished cities was just too good and intimate to pass up. So I hit up Eaddy, aka YetiBones a couple of weeks beforehand to see what was up and found out that it would also be his birthday on Friday, July 21st. It was so on. related content: FYF 2017 Steals Coachella’s Throne As So-Cal’s Premiere Festival related content: Ministry Make Ears Bleed at Punk Rock Bowling Club Show There were multiple story lines at play this evening. Aside from one of my well documented, favorite new bands playing with one of my favorite all time
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FYF Fest 2017 Steals Coachella’s Throne As So-Cal’s Premiere Festival
Dave Unbuckled
August 1, 2017
My bones are still rattling and recovering from Capn’ Jazz’s sold out set at The Echo Thursay night. So much so that I limp across the edges of Exposition Park, and marvel at the crowd as I walk into my first FYF fest. The festival has grown dramatically since it’s early days as a showcase for DIY and up and coming local punk acts in 2004. It’s so comfortably warm walking through the LA coliseum on the outskirts circling the festival that I skip my normal routine of stealing water bottles and go straight to the pit. Related Content: FYF Presents: The Glorious Return of Cap’n Jazz At The Echo In an impromptu pow wow we map out our weekend and get ready to go watch Badbadnotgood- a band I’ve been following since their second album BBNG2 began getting the well-deserved buzz it received nearly five years ago. The band has carved a niche identity as mainstays in these large festivals. The crowd sways through their set, flexing their youthful energy that will be gone by day’s end but for now the band invites special guest Denzel Curry onto the stage and finishes the set with people pogoing to Trap Jazz
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FYF Presents: The Marked Men & Royal Headache Tearing Regent To Shreds
Rob Shepyer
July 31, 2017
The Marked Men are a band of Texan punks from the early 2000’s that FYF managed to lasso into a show at the Regent Theater. To some, the news of this show was of the same magnitude as Jawbreaker‘s upcoming reunion for Riot Fest. The Marked Men’s sound is traditional power punk with an unrelenting 3-chord assault reminiscent of bands like The Spits. It’s the perfect soundtrack to youthful debauchery and even though the ages of the crowd were mixed from teenagers to geezers, the energy of everyone in the audience was young and crazy when the Marked Men took the stage. It trips me out to think that the 00’s were so long ago that bands from that era are considered icons and veterans now. Perhaps I’m getting too old for this shit. related content: The Spits at Union- Trash and Glamor United in Los Angeles Flat Worms were the first band to open up this can of worms. They were a speedy and fun power punk trio but as their set progressed their performance started feeling droll- not because of the small early turnout, but because the vocals lacked dynamism and they didn’t move with as much spirit
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Van Nuys Police Poop On DIY Valley Punk Rock Pity Party
Janky Smooth Central Command
July 28, 2017
The show planned for Saturday, April 29th, was supposed to be a banger. All the teens and young adults of the valley were prepping their tightly laced shoes and punk blazers for the boiling mosh pits that were bound to take place considering acts from bands like Sad Park, Clit Kat, Beach Bums, and Pity Party. related content: Sloppy Jane at The Smell- When Being A Mean Whore Became A Compliment For whatever reason, there aren’t many good DIY shows happening in the valley. If you really want to be in with the LA underground punk music scene, you’ll be taking the red line to downtown LA every weekend. But this show was supposed to be the exception. Van Nuys? I’m there. Lucifurnace? Count me in. That’s what we were all saying on Friday during lunch. We even picked up a bunch of stuff from Goodwill to bump our self-esteem for the event that would rival any prom. But to our great disappointment, it was shut down. It wasn’t a traditional DIY show. The flyer on Instagram announced that it was to begin at 3pm and end at 10pm. Typically, shows start at 7:30 or 8 and go until midnight.
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FYF Presents: The Glorious Return Of CaP’n Jazz at the Echo
Dave Unbuckled
July 27, 2017
It was 6:45 when I checked the time on my phone, as the clock in my car is no longer functioning. The chances of finding a parking spot on Sunset Blvd at the seven O’clock hour is nearly an impossible feat, but I had given myself a healthy amount of fuck-around time. To my surprise, I managed to squeak into a spot, right then, as the hipster coffee shop flipped their signs to ‘Closed’. I walked up the street as the sun began setting, and stopped in front of Permanent Records. This was not a night to get distracted with digging for vinyl, but like most addicts, I gave in and checked it out. Forty-nine minutes later, I was carrying a large box of records back to my car, ignoring the glares of the residents of Echo Park, who likely assumed I had robbed the store. RELATED CONTENT: DID THE MELVINS PLAY A FREE SHOW AT PERMANENT RECORDS TO SUPPORT BUZZ’S VINYL HABIT? When I entered the Echo, I was told The Cairo Gang was set to open in thirty-seven minutes, and CaP’n Jazz wouldn’t be taking the stage for several hours. I limped to the smoking patio, having rolled
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Jonny Cat Cancer Benefit at Alex’s Bar: Punk Rock, Love & Compassion
Jonathan Reyes
July 26, 2017
It’s hard making fun of something when that thing revolves around someone dying of cancer but all my friends know me to pick the lowest hanging fruit so here we go. I’ll present this as half review and half roast. “Didn’t this show already happen 15 years ago?” A fair point from the man in the band playing surf rock in animal masks in 2017. Another good point he made was why a bar would have a curtain behind the band. There was definitely a feeling like this was a fire that had been diminished but relit for a honorable cause: Trying to Save Jonny Cat from cancer. I wasn’t familiar with Jonny Harbin aka Jonny Cat but the effort being displayed by his loved ones made the night feel like paying for a PBR was a noble act. Jonny is based out of Portland’s music scene. His most notable band being Cyclops before starting Jonny Cat Records, putting out records of local PDX bands. Plenty of people do the same but from talking to his friends and learning about him, I believe he stands out in the crowd. RELATED CONTENT: IN THE RED RECORDS’ 25TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY: WEEKEND AT
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The Next Wave of Sound: Girl Pusher & Model/Actriz at The Hi Hat
Danny Baraz
July 21, 2017
Great things happen when you’re motivated to support and be of service to your fellow wo/man. When Julian and Luis of Penniback Records asked that I come to The Hi Hat to check out their new band, Matter Room this past Sunday, I felt the need to move the obstacles which stood in the way of my attendance to their show. God damn was I rewarded for that. I was rewarded by seeing two bands I had yet to see live- Girl Pusher and Model/Actriz. I had no idea what to expect from any of these bands and I LOVE that. Kind of like seeing a movie and never having seen the trailer. My brain is on some kind of default because I seem to always assume that new bands are part of the never ending psych/garage rock revival that seems to be happening in every city in the world right now. It’s not that I’m sick of the psych- it’s that I’m less interested in things that are predictable and formulaic. So many people create or consume art based on what’s popular or common and I’m always looking for the uncommon. Example: Meatbodies first album = unpredictable
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Thou Demonstrate The Blackest Doom At The Echo For FYF Club Show
Rob Shepyer
July 18, 2017
Doom metal only keeps evolving and engrossing the current metal scene, drowning all the lesser genres in the tar pit of its sound and forcing the future icon bands to rise up to the surface. Thou are the inheritors of Louisiana’s rich sludge-metal heritage and they take that sound to a place no doom band has ever taken it before. With ten minute songs that feel like hell itself, Thou blends doom and black metal into a sound that brings together doom and stoner fans, black metal fans, noise fans, and grindcore fans. When a promoter like FYF Presents gives you the blessing of playing a show under their banner, you know you’re part of a brewing musical storm, if not the whole storm. But for a band as brutal and against the grain as Thou to be awarded that blessing at The Echo just 5 days before their annual festival, it’s indicative of how mainstream tastes are being pushed into a very extreme corner and FYF, at the center of it all has helped to move the status quo- even while being criticized for softening and being “less punk” themselves in the way that they book the festival. Poppycock.
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Burger Boogaloo 2017: The Ballad of John and Iggy
Rob Shepyer
July 10, 2017
This Burger Boogaloo 2017 review is X-rated, so if your kids are reading it, Janky Smooth apologizes if they develop a foot fetish. Like your baby sister’s pretty pink switchblade, the marriage of legendary filmmaker and filth peddler, John Waters and atomic boy, Iggy Pop, cut the Bay Area deep till it bled out all the outlaws, shrimp pimps, gamblers, hipsters, hippies, hyphys, crust punks, trust-fund punks, rockabillies, rockabetties, and freakazoids to gather at Burger Boogaloo 2017 at Mosswood Park. Two whole beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on an acid infused bun. The trip up the 5 freeway was long and arduous but upon entering the burger’s third eye vortex, the camaraderie of San Francis-folk mellowed me out as straight as a noodle. That’s just how us So-Cal kids see Bay Area babies: hella mellow. This year, the festival’s theme was Shrimpin’ which is fiend’s slang for toe sucking. Four giant legs kicking up from the stage to the sky were inflated behind the Gone Shrimpin’ stage, which became the alter of our collective foot worship. I’m talking about high heels and low-life, sweaty soles and pedicured puppies. related content: Burger Boogaloo 2016- Bringing Rare Vinyl Back To
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