Category: SHOWS

Bass Drum of Death kill in Long Beach

Taylor Wong February 6, 2015

I’m sure Long Beach has plenty of great bars and venues but lately it seems that Alex’s Bar is really the only one worth going to. Affordable drinks and some of the best line ups I’ve ever seen at a bar. Last night Alex’s Bar brought us a performance from Bass Drum of Death with a great cast of opening acts: The Vespertines, Zig Zags, and Rudy De Anda. The first band of the night was a local, Long Beach band. The Vespertines had the unfortunate, first time slot. Although the room was almost desolate at this point, Vanessa Acosta was still a ball of energy on stage. I could really appreciate what the Verpertines were trying to do because they don’t have the standard, 4/4 beat of a garage band. Vanessa reminded me of Pedro Torres of Them Howling Bones mixed with Cassandra from Wayne’s World. Not only did Vanessa have a talented voice but she can also play a mean trumpet. Following the Vespertines came the Zig Zags and they were on point last night. It seemed like they were a little annoyed that they had been bumped down a position in the line up. I can understand why

The LA Art/Book Fair with Thurston Moore and Ho99o9

Danny Baraz February 4, 2015

Los Angeles- our Art, Literature, Music, Culture and Tacos Can No Longer Be Easily Dismissed L.A. is in the midst of a renaissance. While most might call it gentrification, those people are not in the trenches that are being filled with artists, students, activists, authors and poets. While Manhattan and even Brooklyn are becoming more inaccessible to artists without extensive investment portfolios, the geography of Los Angeles allows those with small bank accounts and big ideas to fan out east and still be within the city and county limits of L.A. While the former glory, grit, angst, junkies, music scenes and yes, stank of Hollywood and The Sunset Strip have been replaced with chain night clubs, over priced eateries, spruced up sceneries and former botox beauty queens, Echo and Highland Park, East L.A., Boyle Heights and even the former toilet bowl known as Downtown Los Angeles are overflowing with housing, lockout rehearsal studios and concrete, commercial structures that house painters and nihilistic youth. Idealism abounds and there is even more real estate further east that can support small budgets and big dreams, at least until the day that LA is swallowed by the Pacific Ocean. Los Angeles has always gotten a bad

PPL MVR at Bardot: The Mystery Deepens

JustinThomas February 3, 2015

Spoiler alert; PPL MVR are insane. Upon sinking into the jam-packed crowd at the opulent Bardot Lounge in Hollywood, it became apparent that something was in the air aside from the looming second hand, cancer inducing cigarette smoke that slowly wafted out of the pseudo open air venue. From the right angle the venue plays host to a view of the historic Capital Records building. There was a palpable buzz around the picturesque venue about who the fuck PPL MVR actually are outside their masks, the platform boots, the fur, the lack of vowels, the names (SNWBLL, HNGRY Q, K-PO); who the fuck is this band? My attempts of digging through Reddit threads and YouTube comments speculating that PPL MVR might be Brand New’s latest side project left me doubtful at best. Also dead-ended were my attempts to eavesdrop the “in the know” pre-set chatter from self acclaimed Hollywood music producers and their assorted entourages. I decided to say fuck it and let the experience of PPL MVR wash over me from a virgin perspective. I was ready to have their lustrous, riff driven, melodically auto tune induced cuts break though my venerable hymen. Standing front row and dead center, armed

Ho99o9 recruit your children to their Death Kult at The Church of Fun

Danny Baraz February 1, 2015

Ho99o9 are the worst nightmare of white, middle America. The genre twisting duo piss on your patriotism, your politics, your god and your daughter as she explores her desires for fetish and black cock. Not only do they influence punk kids but they also have the hip hop heads. Every demographic of YOUR children are in grave danger. All the rules and protocols for basic human interaction are thrown out the window at a Ho99o9 show. Everything you think you know about punk rock, hip hop and humanity are challenged by this emerging talent that was spawned in hell by way of New Jersey. Last night, Saturday January 31st Ho99o9 played a show at an amazing DIY, artist venue called The Church of Fun and in the process, changed the game… even though most people don’t know it yet. In a packed little room filled with the type of people who make conservatives question the future of this country, the sounds of the hardcore/punk/ hip hop deviants pumped through the suspect sound system and I have rarely heard anything more magikal or evil. The writhing and swirling of violence bruised bones and stimulated the genitals of a room full of

Alex’s Bar: 15 years of punk gratitude w/Rocket from the Crypt

Danny Baraz January 31, 2015

Last night, Alex’s Bar in Long Beach celebrated the first of two nights dedicated to the amazing punk rock bar’s 15 year anniversary. It’s not just the extreme care and thoughtfulness that is taken when booking bands or the red light, burlesque vibe and the fact that they don’t murder your wallet at the bar that make Alex’s Bar special. It’s the people that run it and the regulars that insist that it’s their second home. Owner Alex Hernandez and his wife Paige treat everyone who works for them like family and everyone who walks in the bar like long lost friends and really are just amongst the nicest people I’ve met in Rock and Roll. In the end, it’s about the music. The owners of music venues who have long been established and enjoyed some success typically hire someone to do the booking after a period of time. But Alex loves music as much as his patrons and still hand picks the bands that play the venue. When I asked him why he picked Rocket from the Crypt to play the two consecutive nights marking the bar’s milestone, he simply said, “Rocket from the Crypt got me through the

Band of Horses at The Observatory: This is personal

Danny Baraz January 29, 2015

When Band of Horses released “Everything All the Time” in 2006, I was in the midst of a transformation. I was going to use the word “mourning” to describe my state of mind at the time but that might lead to the use of a cheap pun related to a certain single off that album and something like that could minimize the statement I’m trying to make about the impact of that album on my life. I had just had my first child prior to it’s release, at a relatively young age by today’s standards and before that life changing event, my existence was in a sorry state of drug abuse and an overall aimlessness and lack of purpose. As bad as I make that sound, there was also a certain freedom in being a fuck up that isn’t so easy to let go of. That album got me through it and generated enough therapeutic tears to get me through the illogical longing to be back in that nebula. By the time Cease to Begin came out in 2007, I had my second child and along with Ben Bridwell’s lyrics, a complete shift in my outlook on life. All of

Twin Shadow at The Troubadour: New songs and awkward banter

Amir Kashani January 26, 2015

Most people who know me know I have a bit of a soft spot for Twin Shadow, so it was no surprise when I asked Janky Smooth if I could cover their first live LA show this year. For those of you living under a large solid mass formation, Twin Shadow is George Lewis Jr. Thanks to the internet, I discovered him doing a ridiculous cover of Lou Reeds, “Perfect Day”, days after Lou’s death. The rest is history. I walked up to the Troubadour, grabbed my ticket and walked in to catch Zoe Kravitz aka Lolawolf wrapping up a set. Their material is raw and she and her voice are exhaustively attractive. They have a familiar yet experimental vibe to them. The material is appropriate to groove or isolate to. The dance vibes are unmistakeable and the production on the beats is impressive. However, my focus Thursday night was not the beautiful spawn of Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz and her art projects. The Troubadour is a great venue. I walked around to find my typical sweet spot and as soon as I land into my nook, George and his band take stage. The crowd was tightly formed and

An insane lineup for another Moon Block event at the Echo

Taylor Wong January 25, 2015

The Echo is on a fuckin roll these days. Friday January 23, Moon Block put on one of the most amazing shows I have seen in a long time. Even though they were competing with the FIDLAR show at the Regent Theater, It seems Mitchell Frank is only competing against himself now because The Echo was a packed house also. The line up was made up of some amazing LA artists. The bill was L.A. Witch, Death Hymn Number 9, Plague Vendor, Kim And The Created, and last minute add on, Sad Girl. With a diverse line up came a diverse crowd, young and old, people of different ethnic origins, and people of different Cliques. Moon Block knows how to put a show together. L.A. Witch opened up the show with an already packed house. I had seen these ladies once before a year or two ago and I remember being blown away. This night at The Echo was no different from the last time. In fact they got even better with the new material that they have been coming out with. The band was very quiet between songs, and as much as I love banter, nothing beats a dark

FIDLAR return and play one of their best shows ever at The Regent

Danny Baraz January 25, 2015

We all know FIDLAR as the beer swilling, vagina drilling, fun poking, nose coking blacked out voice of this generation. Proof that art imitates life and not the other way around. They are history repeating itself without being boring or predictable but rather, a reinforcement that the youth of today are still angry, sad and depressed enough to change this world if they are able to survive the chaos of coming of age. Zac Carper took a deep breath as he scanned the audience and began to formulate his thoughts. “This is fuckin me up. The Smell, this place, everything.” It reminded me of a statement from a man who has been on his best behavior for an extended amount of time, trying not to succumb to requests like, “C’mon, one hit won’t kill you”. And then they started playing Cheap Beer and the place exploded. The Regent Theater was combustible all night and why not? I’m pretty sure the last show FIDLAR played was headlining Burgerama 3 last year and they were not in their best form at that gig. Zac could hardly form a sentence and the band was not tight. Flash forward 10 months later and FIDLAR

Dead Kennedys- There’s no room for Jello at the Roxy

Taylor Wong January 20, 2015

West Hollywood was invaded by a variety of West Side punks, from young skin heads to old Venice Suicidals. From the sounds of it you would think this show head lined by the Dead Kennedys was an all out blood bath, but every one other than the Suicidals were on good behavior. (See editors notes) The setting for the evening was the infamous Roxy on Sunset. I was stoked on tonights line up primarily for Tartar Control, DFL, and Dead Kennedys. I didn’t know what to expect or how to feel about Luicidal but I will get into that in a little bit. I rushed to the Roxy and unfortunately, I ran into an accident on the way. I was under the impression that I had still made it in time for Tartar Control, unfortunately i walked in at the end of their set. I have only heard amazing things about Tartar Control and the little bit I saw blew me away. Two men dressed as mormons preaching to the crowd and joining the pit. They said their good byes in a comedic manor and left the stage. View our previous coverage of Tartar Control here: Clepto and Tartar Control

Dilated Peoples at The Fremont Country Club in Vegas

Janky Smooth Central Command January 18, 2015

I’m in Vegas. I’m hungover. Dilated Peoples rocked the fucking house. They are the real deal in hip hop. True B-boys forever. Evidence, Rakaa and Babu know how to do live hip hop and work the crowd. Check out our pictures and make sure you check out these amazing venues in Downtown Vegas like the Fremont Country Club and Backstage Bar and Billiards. They ALWAYS have great music here. Photos: Taylor Wong

Run The Jewels Take Over and Spit Fire at the Regent Theater in LA

Danny Baraz January 16, 2015

Run the Jewels have had quite the ride since Run the Jewels 2 dropped on Mass Appeal Records in October of last year. In those two and a half months, Run the Jewels have not only become the most hyped act in hip hop but in all of music. RTJ2 was on everyone’s list of best albums of 2014, including ours, at the #1 position. It’s not JUST because they have the next level beats produced by El-P and the hardest hitting and most technical flows. On the contrary, the masses typically don’t appreciate that type of excellence and originality in hip hop. My guess is it’s that both El-P and Killer Mike have connected to the plight of the common man in this country. The content of their lyrics span an array of topics such as racism, poverty, police brutality and politics in a way that is not boring and not condescending to anyone except the target of their frustration- The System. While they might seem like an overnight success story to someone who is just tuning in, the truth is that both men have been languishing in an immense popularity amongst only those with taste; which is a

Category: SHOWS

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