
Tag: featured

Take This: The Ultimate Hardcore Ticket Giveaway
In hardcore more than any other genre, concert attendance is part of what keeps the scene going. Concerts aren’t so much about entertainment and release as they are about community in hardcore, shows are what keeps hardcore kids close to their friends. With no festivals lined up till 2022, the least we at Janky Smooth could is giveaway enough tickets that one lucky person could feel like they’re going to a festival only the sets are really, really spread out. That’s why, I took a look at all the concerts slated for the year and assembled a ticket bundle of the best four (minus Turnstile) to giveaway in one megalodon giveaway. First there’s Terror with Drain, One Step Closer and Dare. Later in September, Sound and Fury returns with a show featuring Fiddlehead headlining with support from Militarie Gun and Object of Affection. Moving onto October, we return to the Lodge Room for Knocked Loose, Gatecreeper, Magnitude and Kharma. And finally, we top off the giveaway bundle with the sold out Citizen show at Lodge Room with Drug Church, Glitterer and Floating Room. YOU CAN BUY TICKETS TO TERROR HERE, FIDDLEHEAD HERE, KNOCKED LOOSE IS SOLD OUT, AND CITIZEN IS SOLD

First Show After The Great Reset: Patriarchy at The Lash’s Reopening Party
I’m assuming our audience watches alternative media and not corporate news so the words “Great Reset” call to mind this pseudo-conspiracy theory based on smatterings of elite water cooler talk at world economic forums and other such patriarchal happenings that the global economy will reset into a new system as a result of technological advent, reaction to catastrophe and pursuit of sinister agendas. related content: Janky Smooth Top 25 Artists To Watch In 2020 Where does Actually Huizenga fit in all this? Well, I consider the Great Reset more than a conspiracy but a cultural phenomenon that changed Los Angeles’ underground music scene forever. Without any bands to play for over a year, our once thriving and impressive live concert circuit was completely reset. The kings and queens of 2019 had their scepters and crowns stripped and their thrones vacated. With a clean slate to play with, Actually Huizenga intends to take that throne by making a name for herself as Patriarchy. related content: Photo Recap: Patriarchy At The Echoplex This was the first concert I attended since seeing Madball in March 2020 and coming down with Covid soon after. Even after all this time though, I never lost my

A Smooth Guide to Lodge Room Shows in 2021
When the pandemic began, Janky Smooth was in the middle of Lodge Room month, a month dedicated to one of the best booked, most intimate, perfectly located, perfectly lit and unique venues in Los Angeles. Now that someone hit the play button and took the world off pause, we’re gonna keep featuring the Lodge Room and its shows because we curate only the best content. I wanted to lay out the Lodge Room’s slate of shows in a calendar of sorts for the rest of the year, many of these shows are musts for our list and should be for yours. John Carroll Kirby – June 25th John Carroll Kirby‘s jazz is progressive, rhythmic and transports you to many musical landscapes, all of which are chill and revelatory. You can zone out and tap in at the same time with the help of these tunes. John has collaborated with some of my favorite artists such as Frank Ocean, Bat for Lashes, Harry Styles and more. You can buy tickets here Vegan Bowie Cocktail Party – July 9th From the same people that brought you Vegan Ceremony nights at the Lodge Room, events that combine dining and music are perhaps the

Take This: Win Two Tickets to John Carrol Kirby at the Lodge Room on 6/25
Los Angeles is open again. The Lodge Room lineup is already stacked. You need to be going to shows. You need to be going to shows at The Lodge Room. We are going to help you with that by giving away some tickets. John Carrol Kirby‘s jazz and piano music will tantalize you with rhythms that are both progressive and cathartic. The man plays for Frank Ocean for God’s sake, if you’re into that music, your debts go to John. There’s no way I’m going to miss this show, I need my soul taken to those levels only John’s music can take it to. You gotta check out his latest singles “Sensing Not Seeing” and “Rainmaker”. YOU CAN BUY TICKETS HERE OR: ENTER TO WIN 2 TICKETS TO JOHN CARROL KIRBY JUNE 25TH AT THE LODGE ROOM Step 1- Join Our Newsletter (look for pop up every time you arrive at jankysmooth.com) Step 2 – Tag a Friend in the comment section of our INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK JOHN CARROL KIRBY Ticket Giveaway Post WINNER WILL BE SELECTED ON JUNE 24ST AT 11AM PST VIA EMAIL CONFIRMATION

TAKE THIS: Win Two Tickets to DEATH PROOF INC’s Cell in a Hell at 1720
It’s our first giveaway since the pandemic began and we are going to get things right back into full swing like nothing ever happened. The Death Proof Inc family plan to celebrate the city’s reopening at 1720 with an insane concert filled with raging trap music and bodies bouncing off the walls. YOU CAN BUY TICKETS HERE OR: ENTER TO WIN 2 TICKETS TO CELL IN A HELL JUNE 24TH AT 1720 Step 1- Join Our Newsletter (look for pop up every time you arrive at jankysmooth.com) Step 2 – Tag a Friend in the comment section of our INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK CELL IN A HELL Ticket Giveaway Post WINNER WILL BE SELECTED ON JUNE 21ST AT 11AM PST VIA EMAIL CONFIRMATION

The Road to Psycho Las Vegas
Later this month, I’ll attend my first indoor concert since March 2020. People will not be wearing masks or social distancing. I’ll have dipped my toes into the cultural soup I’ve swam in the majority of my adult life, relearning all the in’s-and-out’s of concert going. Stage-dives and mosh pits have been relegated to my long term memory banks awaiting to be unearthed. Although most metalheads will be breaking their concert fasts soon (if they haven’t already), Psycho Las Vegas is the spiritual grand re-opening of the metal scene in the wild American west. As the first large festival to take place since the beginning of the pandemic, Psycho is a test much like the ones Hunter S. Thompson indulged in with Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters. Our senses may have been perverted, inverted, dulled and destroyed by lengthy quarantines but our imaginations are in better shape than ever and if I can imagine Psycho Las Vegas being the most insane heavy metal summit of my life, then I can will it into being. related content: A High And Beautiful Wave: Psycho Las Vegas 2019 Before the world shut down, Psycho’s 2020 lineup was one of the most anticipated slates of

Music Video Premiere and Interview: Human Fluid Rot’s “The Bimbo With An M-134”
“The brainchild of Robbie Brantley (one of Miami Florida’s most prominent noise scene-freaks), HUMAN FLUID ROT is utter violence through sound. His harsh noise live sets are micro catastrophes of explosive disgust and kinetic chaos. Oftentimes lasting only a few short minutes, what you won’t get in length/duration at a HUMAN FLUID ROT show, you definitely receive in ultra condensed overstimulation of the senses. Sonically just about every frequency is represented and all at once. Stabbing and poking the inside of your brain with brutal beauty and disregard. Visually/physically, you’ll witness or participate as part of the violent mob that is invited to choke, kick and beat the man as he conducts his tangled mess of a noise board. Cathartic to say the least… Check out the exclusive music video premiere for The Bimbo With An M-134 (directed by vidiumhq) below and read on to learn more. Robbie has been terrorizing noise fests and the general public for the better part of the last two decades. He’s released countless cassette tapes and cd-r releases but “A SUDDEN INFLUX” marks his first proper vinyl release to date. The album is a disgusting journey into the fucked up puddle of viscera that is HUMAN FLUID ROT. The trance you’ll fall during your listening assault is imminent. A chaotic head cheese of shredded electronic innards and unfriendly bile. A Sudden Influx [In Serendipity] is available for

Janky Smooth Top 10 ALBUMS of 2020 Rated By Contributors
2020: the year that drove a stake in the heart of the music industry. One has to ask themselves how something so essential can be taken away from us so easily. For as long as I’ve lived, I’ve thought life without music was not worth living. Evidently, this was not true and came from a place of privilege. We’ve all had a little bit of privilege taken from us this year. Some more than others, but everyone got checked. If 2020 can teach us anything, it’s that life is worth something even in the most monstrous circumstances: being without music, without your job, your money, even your health. What is essential about music is that it helps us define ourselves as individuals. In a crisis, often times we forget who we are just trying to survive. For me, band shirts are my way of signaling my identity to the world, and if Covid or economic collapse takes everything from me, chances are I’ll still have the shirt on my back to let everyone know I listen to Slayer. Whether you’re a musician, promoter, journalist or just a fan, do not let cultural subversion or personal degradation steal your identity. We

Learning Blocks: Karim Shuquem on ‘Die Kunstkammer’
Karim Shuquem is always reaching for something: sometimes a trumpet or a microphone, other times a paintbrush or a black block. Far more often, however, he’s reaching for things less tangible. The tag Shuquem painted in alleyways as a teenager still aptly describes his chronic condition: “A-N-X.” Angst. “There’s this thing that’s been bugging me about myself,” the multimedia artist and musician admits. “When examining my motives, I wonder: ‘Why do I feel the constant need to do something?’” Doing something has taken innumerable forms over his decades-long career as an artist: graffiti; zines; music; performance art; graphic art; education; and most recently, ever-evolving sculpture. In October, Shuquem completed his most recent public art installation, Die Kunstkammer. The candle-lit tower of 100 black blocks, dark images and decontextualized objects currently provokes and spellbinds curious onlookers at Glendale’s Adams Square Mini Park. “It’s a construction of matter or whatever reality is, but at the same time, it’s physically interchangeable as they change position every showing, creating sort of a relational parallel to whatever thought processes there are behind the work,” Shuquem explains. Our readers may better know Karim Shuquem by his ghoulish, Dionysian, trumpet-playing alter ego, Loto Ball, who fronts The

Dark Art Brings Levity: Body / Negative’s Andy Schiaffino Discusses “Fragments”
In a time that seems to fray the very fabric of our social lives, Andy Schiaffino finds comfort in the hiss of a disintegrating cassette tape. Body / Negative is the transgressive solo project of the 23-year-old non-binary artist and producer, who utilizes minimal equipment, multimedia experimentation and creative camaraderie to actualize their haunting, abstract soundscapes. Drawing on their own journeys through the dark and dire, Andy delivers a primal, sensitive and serene seven-track album, Fragments, to shelter us from the storm. Audrey: Andy, thank you so much for joining me this afternoon to discuss the impending release of your solo drone project, Body / Negative’s first full-length album, Fragments, which comes out October 23rd on Track Number Records! The LP, limited to only 500 copies, looks stunning on that marble gray vinyl. Could you tell me a bit about your journey creating your most extensive work yet? Andy: Of course, thank you! It took a really long time to finish Fragments. I started it last spring, and since then, production has been very stop-and-go–losing and rediscovering motivation. I don’t like to force myself to work on music if I’m not feeling it, because I feel like that creates mush

Music Video Premiere: Cancer Christ’s “The Blood of Jesus”
The list of horrors 2020 has brought upon the world may seem almost Biblical at times, it’s no wonder a power violence band as exhilarating and exorcizing as these true believers would arise. CANCER CHRIST is a brand new REPTILIAN-CHRIST-CORE band off of Los Angeles’ Sweatband Records and they’re here to premiere their debut song/music video, “The Blood of Jesus”. Brought to you by Anthony Mehlhaff (prolific photographer of the LA music scene), and his anonymous “Snake Boys”, CANCER CHRIST is here to fuck shit up and make America pay for it’s sins… Are they Christian? Are they ANTI-Christian? What’s their deal? The song will premiere on “SWEATBAND RECORDS presents… NEON CORPSE PARADE Volume One” compilation 12″ vinyl album (coming out this year). Hit the link to preorder it!

Music Video Premiere: Duke Stamina’s “Gay Pac”
Here at Janky HQ we’re always looking to shine a light on something a little different. With the tumultuous times we’re in today we think it’s a great chance to direct your attention to a marginalized voice making some wild-as-fuck, in-your-face, aggressively gay and kawaii as hell raps – all via the backwards wasteland we all call Florida. (I can only assume living there makes one want to clap back just as hard as the talking heads they pass on the street so it makes perfect sense.) Don’t just take my word for any of this though, feast your eyes on the single and video premiere we have for “Gay Pac” below. DUKE STAMINA’S debut album Super Horse Dads 2: TURBO: Tournament Edition [OST] will be out on Sweatband Records on September 6th, 2020. Preorders for the limited 12″ Lemonade Yellow LP can be found here. A little about Duke from Sweatband Records: Florida’s dirty little camp secret, DUKE STAMINA, is your new favorite rapper… And he’s probably already sexing up your father. Duke Stamina didn’t come out until he was 21, citing that a lot had to do with the inability to identify with the Will & Grace mold that gay men his age squeezed themselves into.

