Category: SHOWS

2016 Is The Year That Coachella Jumped The Shark

Danny Baraz April 22, 2016

On a yearly basis, I sacrifice my already sus street cred to attend Coachella; a festival so widely loathed by the discerning hipster that it insures a sell out within moments of tickets going on sale. As 10’s of thousands of people descend on the Coachella Valley for week 2 of the festival, I offer those that have stayed behind a look back on a Week 1that has far surpassed the past years of vacuousness and fuckboyery. I have been defending Coachella ever since it became uncool. It became uncool the moment Goldenvoice decided to stop selling single day tickets. The moment that happened, the festival became out of reach for most music fans and understandably, those music fans rail against the festival and it’s attendees at every opportunity. Afterall, the fact that Uber is now offering helicopter rides into the venue for the low price of $700 should be all you need to know about the setting for weekend 1 inside the Empire Polo Fields. Last year, I wrote an article called “Coachella: No History In Your Hate”. I’ve been to 11 out of the 16 installments of Coachella and it has created some of the fondest concert memories

LCD Soundsystem at Fox Theater in Pomona

LCD Soundsystem Skirt City of Los Angeles In Return to West Coast

Danny Baraz April 13, 2016

Even before LCD Soundsystem took the stage at the Fox Theater in Pomona, walking into the venue and seeing the stage set up caused goose bumps up and down my arm. A dozen music stations with various traditional and futuristic musical instruments littered the stage in clumps of components and wires. I didn’t get press access to this highly sought after event. Instead, my friend Jeremy scored a ticket by camping out at Permanent Records through Saturday morning and graciously offered it to me. I accepted. As with most events in a theater venue like this, to get on the floor in the “pit” area for the show you have to show up early and get a floor “wristband”. We arrived in Pomona at about 5:45 pm. LCD Soundsystem wouldn’t start their set until 10:04 pm. We were herded through various lines and holding areas near the venue until the doors opened at 8pm. At one point we were closed in to gates in a snaking line that filled up the area like some sort of hipster Auschwitz. But when the gates opened and we began filing into the Fox, it became very real that I was about to see

The Lumineers Folk Off At Red Bull Sound Space

Justin Cornwall April 5, 2016

You probably know The Lumineers from their folk-rock singles “Hey Ho” or “Stubborn Love”, but what you probably don’t know is that in a live setting they put on an full on absolute barn burner of a performance. They put Mumford & Sons in the shadows, the trio accompanied by supporting backline members ensnare you with genuine storytelling and joyously rolling melodies. Folk rock has never been so prominent in mainstream culture and The Lumineers propel themselves into Top 40 lists effortlessly. We caught The Lumineers at the Red Bull Sound Space at The World Famous KROQ for a Monday afternoon encounter. They’re currently pushing their new album “Cleopatra” (due April 9th, 2016), which is a proper follow up to their self titled 2012 record. Almost exactly 4 years later, the Denver based group are ready to shine again. The brand new songs we heard from this upcoming record, “Ophelia” and “Cleopatra“, dove much deeper than their initial singles – more intricate stories told through honest lyrics and building upon instrumentation they know works. Wesley Schultz, Jeremiah Fraites and Neyla Pekarek – the base trio – explained their infinite gratitude to their initial tracks which broke them, and how happy they are to

Lust For Youth & Drab Majesty Bring Dark Vibes To Teragram Ballroom

Brent Smith March 28, 2016

It was a night of dark wave synth-pop acts—musicians whose sounds and performances not only blurred the line between singer-songwriter and producer, but gave us Angelenos an electro beacon for something profound beyond the hypnotic singularity of our cellphone glow. Spearheaded by Lust For Youth, it was a also a night that properly introduced me to the noise/punk/electronica sound coming out of Copenhagen and other pockets of Scandinavia. Just as Ty Segall and cohorts here on the West Coast are constantly collaborating and intermingling themselves into one huge rock ‘n’ roll collective, so is Lust For Youth along with bands like Iceage, Lower, Vår, Puce Mary, and Hand of Dust. While Segall’s sonic quest seems to trace elements of blues, rock, proto-punk and psych, Lust For Youth’s seems one of exploration (and maybe reconciliation?) between post-punk, experimental noise, ambient, and house. The results are both sinister and sublime. The full moon was keeping me going, its light beaming like the sun in the clear, black sky as I rumbled into downtown on fumes. The doorman at the entrance gave me blue and pink bracelets and I went into the cold theater space, mostly empty with a few kids moping around

Weezer at Red Bull Soundspace at KROQ studios

Weezer Plays Intimate Show in Red Bull Soundspace at KROQ Studios

Justin Cornwall March 25, 2016

This Tuesday afternoon was made infinitely better thanks to our friends at Red Bull and KROQ! The two household-name brands teamed up a while ago to put together the Red Bull Sound Space – a full-fledged performance venue nestled in the back of the KROQ studio, where performances are broadcasted worldwide via the internet. Bands large (usually large) and small stop through on the invitation of the station to treat industry and fans to an intimate performance. You either win your way in via KROQ, or get invited, so everyone there is in an amazing mood. This Tuesday, in line with promoting The White Album and an upcoming co-headline tour with Panic! At The Disco, Weezer blew the hinges off the tiny room with a festival worthy set. The age of the crowd ranged from 8 to greyed executive, everyone was completely thrilled to be there. Rivers, Brian, Scott and Patrick took the stage like they were casually settling in for a jam session – no banter with the crowd, comfortably timid nods to screaming fanatics in the packed crowd – and within the first heavy riffs of ‘Hash Pipe’, they slammed us all into action. Following up with full

Zig Zags, The Birth Defects and Mind Meld Murder The Smell

Brent Smith March 15, 2016

The Smell, a non-profit, volunteer-driven, all-ages back alley venue is a diamond in downtown’s gentrified rough. In the wake of some electric rainfall, it played host to a bill of heavy rock psychsters whose blown out amplifiers literally have my ears still ringing. The rare rainfall we get has the ability to dispel the sun’s enchantment, it reveals the hololand that L.A. actually is—reeling in that weird interzone between paradise and dystopia. Or, more simply, the rare rainfall we get makes us feel like Roy Batty at the end of Blade Runner—The moments in our lives are just teeears in the raaain, man! (And yes, only in L.A. can Deckard’s dingy, smoke-filled apartment actually be a Frank Lloyd Wright work of Mayan-inspired art that you can never own, or even rent). No better way to quell (or magnify?) such fleeting existential funks than by seeing Zig Zags and The Birth Defects shake the walls of this defunct coffee shop, or fitness chain, or whatever stupid shit our crypto-fascist social engineers fancy as bankable retail prospects (the legal world calls ‘em “developers”). The opening acts were on fucking point. I love when that happens. If you’ve never heard of Rearranged Face

Rock N Roll Prom At The Smell w/ Them Howling Bones and Isaac Rother

Taylor Wong March 11, 2016

Growing up, I never got to go to prom. It’s not like I didn’t have the opportunity. I just didn’t go. To me prom was for the jocks and cheerleaders. I was too busy getting stoned with my friends to give a shit about a stupid prom. Lucky for me Them Howling Bones threw the prom I always imagined I missed. This prom was set inside The Smell, a good venue for such an event seeing as how no booze is allowed. This added to that age old act of “flasking it” to the prom. I showed up pretty buzzed already, wearing my finest, cheapest suit. I was glad to see that the majority of people in attendance were also dressed to the theme. I took a few people’s prom photo right in front of the dumpster just to the right of the venue’s entrance. When you made your way in through the balloon tunnel, you were greeted by Sad Girl on the 1’s and 2’s playing all your favorite old school prom songs. The Smell was decked out in prom gear. From streamers to balloons, they even had a 50’s car photo booth. They served snacks and refreshments (I

Animal Collective Drip Sound and Color On The Fonda Theater

Danny Baraz March 11, 2016

Night 1 of the Animal Collective 2 night stand at The Fonda Theater in Hollywood revealed one thing; Animal Collective are the most talented sound designers to ever write, arrange and perform an electronic song live. There is no one out there right now that can emit such auditory bliss from the push of a key and the twist of a knob. If you strip the dripping colors and backdrops away from the spectacle of their live performance, what you have left is a group of cutting edge song writers that use cold hardware and technology to express the warmth in their souls. I arrived at The Fonda just as Ratking was taking the stage. Ratking’s MC, Wiki was already wildly swinging his arms in an attempt to conjure some enthusiasm from the opening band audience. In a less jaded city, Ratking would’ve had the crowd moving with their next level beats and downplayed but impressive stage presence. While I understand the huge difference between a hardcore Animal Collective fan and a hardcore Ratking fan, there is a musical energy that transcends genre and style and it still amazes me that people can stand still during a performance that is

The Gaslamp Killer Opening for Questlove

The Gaslamp Killer Leaves Blood on Questlove’s Stage at The Globe

Danny Baraz February 25, 2016

On Saturday night, music and cultural icon Questlove was slated to headline the Globe Theatre in Downtown L.A. Ticket sales were surely based on his name and legacy but when everything was said and done, opening DJ, Low End Theory resident and beat ambassador The Gaslamp Killer left a pool of his own blood on stage. Attendees were splattered with digital plasma and the image of the Killer’s wild mane flopping around his face in wild, rhythmic spasms and gesticulations was something to behold. Sound issues plagued the end of The Gaslamp Killer’s time and delayed and shortened Questlove’s set to the point of being anti climatic. Questlove was able to recover with most of the audience in tact. During GLK I just thought to myself maybe this wasn’t a dancing crowd but the dancing during Questlove’s set showed me it just wasn’t an experimental crowd. I have always been resistant to the idea of putting a DJ on a big stage with a big spotlight shining on him/her. In a perfect world, DJ’s would be in a dark corner and we would be looking at each other or closing our eyes during their set. As I looked up into

Black Sabbath And A Weeping Manboy at The Forum in L.A.

Danny Baraz February 23, 2016

At a time when hippie kids were forming bands to sing about peace, love and flower power, Black Sabbath explored the occult, addiction and delivered the antithesis of popular culture. In the process, they gave so many marginalized outcasts of society a voice that spoke to their own disenfranchised existence. Freaks and misfits united under a common flag and scared the shit out of those who had always fit in. Can you imagine the bravery and despair required to write about the devil in a firmly Judeo-Christian world? Well before Kardashians wore Slayer t-shirts, skulls and black magic were a taboo topic amongst the proletariat. In the moments before Black Sabbath took the stage at The Forum in Los Angeles, I found myself fantasizing about being in my early 20’s in Birmingham in the late 60’s, resigned to a life in a factory for the next 40 years, going to a bar to drink my weight one pint at a time and seeing those neighborhood blokes Tony, Ozzy, Bill and Geezer playing a kind of music I had never heard before. Music NO ONE had heard before. Of course, once the music broke it REALLY broke and their seemingly nefarious

Wyatt Blair: Owner of Lolipop and drummer for Corners shot by Robert Anderson

Lolipop Your Heart Out Festival Was Like Sex and Pizza

Paige Vreede February 10, 2016

Ever have sex with someone and after about ten minutes in you realize both parties are only continuing the sexual activity purely based on the hope that the other person might find slight enjoyment out of it? Realistically, you both want to just high five and call it a good attempt but you go through the motions in hopes that one of you MIGHT climax? Yeah, that’s sort of how Lolipop Your Heart Out went at The Teragram Ballroom. I’m still unsure as to whether the energy and outcome was so low due to the 5pm start time- primetime to still be recovering from Friday nights hangover. Or perhaps it was because the entrance price was $26, which can be a lot for a starving artist who’s living in a city that is gentrifying and going up in rental price at an absurdly rapid rate. Maybe it could’ve even been because the One Oh freakin’ One was closed on a Saturday afternoon (I call shenanigans!). Whatever the reason for the small crowd, it was mildly disappointing to see such a small turn out for what should’ve been an epic evening brought to you by Lolipop Records. Janky Smooth did a series

First Fridays Dinosaur Hall at Natural History Museum

The First Friday of First Fridays 2016 at Natural History Museum

Danny Baraz February 9, 2016

It’s baaaaack. First Friday’s at The Natural History Museum returned this week for it’s first installment of the season. I’ve been wanting to go the past few years but had yet to make it to Exposition Park to check out one of the events that test the conventional wisdom that Los Angeles is devoid of culture in the mainstream. And yes, even though independent entities such as KCRW, LA Weekly and Spaceland Presents are at the helm, you could hardly call those established institutions alternative, anymore. Those institutions are still tastemakers but more geared towards well rounded, functioning adults than they are towards angsty teens lost in a drug psychosis. There is always an educational aspect to First Friday musical lineups. Not sure if the education compliments the entertainment or vice versa. This week, the Natural History Museum hosted a spotlight on science in movies with a tour led by Lisa Gonzales, Assistant Collections Manager of Entomology. The musical itinerary was highlighted by headliners, The Hood Internet, along with funk band, Boulevards and electro producer, Spazzkid. The side room DJ’s Aaron Byrd and Anthony Valadez harnessed an impressive energy amongst the Friday night crowd and definitely got the crowd moving.