Tag: featured
Andrew WK Preaches The Party Philosophy At The Regent Theater
Rob Shepyer
October 10, 2017
How can anyone not like Andrew WK? No matter what kind of music you’re into, if you go to his show, you will be moved to move, dance, shout, jump, and of course, party. That’s what AWK is a master of, getting everyone in a room on his side no matter who they are, why they’re there, or where they come from. If you’re not a fan, just give Andrew 5 minutes of your time and I’m sure you’ll see the light. related content: Front 242 And Severed Heads Bring Classic Industrial To The Regent Theater Like most people my age, I discovered Andrew WK from his collaboration with the Jackass crew, where the single “We Want Fun” was debuted with the original Jackass movie all the way back in 2002. Fifteen years later, the lasting power and stamina of Andrew WK’s chops and career are truly uncanny. His nose has been bleeding for twenty years and still, he shows no signs of aging or slowing down. How can he do this you might ask? Mind over matter and music of mind, that is the answer. He practices the “party philosophy” in order to reach “party consciousness”. Andrew WK takes
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Video Premiere: Thee MVPs “US Airways” Exclusively at Janky Smooth
Janky Smooth Central Command
October 9, 2017
Thee MVPs have toured coast to coast, stopping off at SXSW to play with Janky garage favorites like Meatbodies, Dead Meadow, and Night Beats. Director Max Horn, whose worked previously with Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes, was able to capture the kinetic intensity of Thee MVPs being their most vivid and wild selves in this video premiere of the track “US Airways” from the short film Receiver. Check it out… Recorded across the pond in a big room at Brighton Electric studios, Thee MVPs tear the house down with this jammer that they usually bust out to close sets with, sometimes taking the song to a frenzied 12 minute session live. For fans of King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard and Thee Oh Sees, Thee MVPs play garage and psych rock from an English lens that may resemble the same transformation of the blues through bands like the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin. So give this groovy video a peep and make sure to keep your eyes open for Receiver which will be released October 13th on Greenway and as a tape through Burger Records. Cheers!
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Chelsea Wolfe: She-God of Luciferian Witches And Other Soul Harvesters At The Regent
Rob Shepyer
October 1, 2017
Chelsea Wolfe dresses in black. The color simply knows how to fall correctly upon her body. She feels comfortable in black and black feels comfortable on her. With her pale skin and thousand mile cold-detached stare, I don’t ever think I’ve seen a closer resemblance to a mythical siren grace a stage. And I certainly never figured sirens could play a mean doom guitar. Chelsea’s latest album, Hiss Spun is a beautifully grueling venture into the darkness of down tuned metal guitar and noisy wall of sound electronics to make what is best described as doom blues, as opposed to doom metal. I’ve never heard doom sound as rhythmical or groovy as I did beholding Chelsea and her band at the Regent. Her drums and guitars can thrash at intense speeds and make you dance while never departing out of the doom realm. It requires some kind of forbidden alchemy and golden arithmetic to achieve that balance. I see a lot of artists trying to create a similar image to hers, trying to introduce a certain level of “evil” into a mainstream bluesy sound. I don’t think anyone pulls it off quite as well though, the others seem like caricatures,
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Front 242 And Severed Heads Bring Classic Industrial To The Regent Theater
Rob Shepyer
September 29, 2017
Cold Waves and Das Bunker joined forces to create one hell of a concert bill for a Wednesday night. Belgian innovators of EBM, Front 242 and Australian industrial icons, Severed Heads shared a stage for this incredible evening of dark, electronic music. Both groups are legends in the world of industrial but their performing styles couldn’t be any more different. related content: Psychic TV Experiment With Auditory Alchemy At The Echoplex The Regent was filled with goth kids, Skinny Puppy shirts abound. I eavesdropped on a few conversations and they were all talking about careers in game development. Das Bunker DJs were spinning some tracks as we waited for the opening act which I parked right in front of the stage for. The first thing I noticed about the stage set-up was the red roses strewn all over the electronic decks. I imagined with a name like Romy, they’d be an act with some kind of romance or romeo reference but came to learn she was no male heartthrob or heartbreaker. She was in fact an extraordinarily talented artist and might just be a female Trent Reznor in utero. Utilizing synths and drum machines, Romy makes incredibly catchy, hard-hitting and dark,
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The New Grass Sniffers: GrassFed and The Art Of Edibles Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band with Ganja
Janky Smooth Central Command
September 27, 2017
At a pop-up gathering in Downtown Los Angeles, GrassFed and the Art of Edibles cosponsored an event celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The two boutique collectives displayed their cannabis finery from vape options and CBD oil elixirs to confectionery. The downtown space had the feeling of a large personal art studio and was filled like a convention with many offerings and samples. The upstairs stage on one side was approached by a narrow spiral staircase, while a second upstairs space served as more of a meeting area. The dimly lit atmosphere was vibrant with Beatles inspired art, including a huge chrome submarine that the loft owner built specifically for the production of “Love” by Cirque Du Soleil. A 3D rendition of the yellow submarine was projected across the vaulted ceilings met with The Beatles’ Catalog playing its theme. The attendees looked like a combination of Silicon Valley’s alternative geniuses (the John McAfees of the world) rubbing shoulders with venture capitalists, and sophisticated commercial artists and musicians. The purpose of this gathering was to have a unique cultural experience that combined the classical sounds of the Beatles with the finest cannabis products. related content: Weedeater
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Psychic TV Experiment With Auditory Alchemy At The Echoplex
Rob Shepyer
September 27, 2017
After Rebellion is Over‘s atrocious Regent performance for the Dais Records 10 year anniversary show, I felt that Genesis P-Orridge needed to redeem herself in my eyes. Up until that show, I had regarded her as a soothsayer, a psychic siren of sorts, a mystic… but that show, was fatally pretentious. So many classic artists still touring in their golden years seem like a shadow of their former selves. They don’t move as much on stage. The singer can’t hit the same notes. And fans never remember the band at their best, they remember the band how they left the building, either riding into the sunset or falling flat on their face. That said, I’d wait to see Psychic TV before making my verdict. related content: Dais’ Records 10 Year Anniversary Party: The Dark Fruits Of Persistence I became a fan of Psychic TV after I saw them headline night 1 of Berserktown 2016 by playing their debut album “Force The Hand Of Chance” in its entirety. They were marvelous. It’s hard not to stun an audience when you get to perform songs as beautiful as those. Songs like “Just Drifting” and “Stolen Kisses“. Psychic TV is not just a
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Janky Exclusive: Rudy De Anda Premieres New 7″ “Abrasive” w/ Interview
Janky Smooth Central Command
September 22, 2017
Janky Smooth is proud to premiere two new tracks from the forthcoming 7″ ABRASIVE by the incomparable, Rudy De Anda and FREE DOWNLOAD OF THE TITLE TRACK- “Abrasive” (limited time only) “Think of Rudy De Anda as a lost diary. I learn secrets and private thoughts of this person but somehow they’re still a stranger- there’s more to learn but only if he wants you to. I don’t feel like it was coincidence that we arrived in a bookstore to sit down and chat with the man with the stories.” – Jonathan Reyes Check out Jonathan’s Interview w/ Rudy De Anda embedded in this post The new 7″ “Abrasive” by Rudy De Anda will be released digitally on Jazzcat Records on Friday, October 6th 2017, with a limited edition, lathe cut 7″ to follow soon after. The title track/ a-side is called “Abrasive” and is sure to lift your spirits, chill you out, and have you feeling the groove. The b-side is called “Helado” and uses the kind of unique, latin inspired instrumentation that makes Rudy De Anda and his band worth following. Janky Smooth has been following Rudy’s career for quite some time now and featured De Anda as one of Janky
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Jawbreaker At Riot Fest: The Moment I Stopped Hating Pop Punk
Danny Baraz
September 21, 2017
Sometimes, a live music moment catches you off guard and hits you so hard that you are overcome with the feels- a band or a song that summons a moment in time, a relationship, a victory or a defeat- you are instantly transported to that time and place with a chord, or a riff or a melody. As a reliable concert crier, I typically have a pretty good idea when that moment is coming. Before the show starts, before I get to the venue and even before tickets go on sale, as soon as a show is announced, I know. But The Misfits as the marquee headliners of Riot Fest 2016 and up to this past Sunday when Jawbreaker were the belles of the ball known as Riot Fest 2017, it redefined the criteria for the eligibility of what makes those moments and what don’t and redefined how I reconciled my musical identity- yeah, Jawbreaker were that good. related content: The Misfits At Riot Fest Chicago 2016: Bats In The Press Tent I was 14 In 1990 when Jawbreaker’s first album, Unfun was released. It was the same year the *greatest speed metal album of all time was unleashed and
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Perturbator, Author & Punisher: Using Devices To Debase Regent Theater
Rob Shepyer
September 19, 2017
Electronic music allows a single artist to take on all the working parts of a band because those parts become synthesized in their machines. The electronic revolution has opened up new opportunities and avenues for artists who might not have ever been interested in picking up a guitar- and that’s no slight against EDM artists (up until this night I was under the impression that EDM was the Pop style of electronic music, at large). The point of music isn’t just to wow you and me with virtuosic and technical playing- it’s to express ones soul and if electronics help an artist do that more purely and directly then it’s a good thing. In this sense, Jim Morrison was right when he predicted the future of music would consist largely of one person and an arsenal of components. So if in Morrison’s mind’s eye he had an image of what that future would actually LOOK like, I doubt it would’ve differed too much from what I saw at The Regent Theater when Perturbator, Author & Punisher and Whiteqube were booked to showcase a different kind of electronic music than what you might imagine when you see the letters E D
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Chameleons Vox At The Echoplex: Sorrow Never Sounded So Sweet
Rob Shepyer
September 14, 2017
I’ve been fiending HARD for death rock ever since I read this bandcamp article exposing me to the bigger bands in the small dark punk revival scene. One of those bands I discovered was The Wraith and they were playing in support of Theatre of Hate at Part Time Punks. It was one of those rare occasions where I was just as stoked for the opening band as the headliner. Fast forward to a few weeks later, and Theatre of Hate gets stricken with visa issues, stranding the band in Europe so Chameleons Vox gets added to the bill after their show the night before sells out. Now with two British goth bands from the 80’s playing, this booking became an accidental powerhouse bill. Part Time Punks did it yet again, Michael Stock might just be the best promoter in this town for this whole, “rare vinyl come to life” thing Part Time Punks has going on. I waited for The Wraith as the fog machine’s outpour of haze consumed me and the stage. The Wraith is led by East Los Punk turned death rocker Davey Bales, who started the set by polishing off a plastic bottle of TAAKA vodka,
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It’s Not Dead Fest 2: New Hope For Punks w/ Rancid, Dropkick Murphys, OFF!
Janky Smooth Central Command
September 13, 2017
It had been two years since the first It’s Not Dead festival (which boasted punk rock legends such as The Descendents, Pennywise and Bad Religion) and the bar was set pretty high for its return. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get off work until 2 pm on that day but even by that morning nobody knew what the set times were going to be as the festival’s curators refused to release them until the minute doors were open at noon. A decision that I found somewhat annoying but I understood it encouraged people to arrive early to see as many bands as possible. As soon as I was able to see the schedule I was disappointed to discover that there was no way I was going to make it to the Glen Helen Amphitheater in San Bernardino in time to catch The Flatliners’ 3 pm start time. Cutting my losses, I hit the road after swinging by my house to grab my gear and change into more festival friendly clothes in hopes of arriving before The Buzzcocks took the stage later in the afternoon. related content: Punk Rock Bowling 2017: You Can’t Be What You Were
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Hurricanes in Florida, Earthquakes in Mexico & Quicksand in L.A. At Teragram
Rob Shepyer
September 12, 2017
The Teragram Ballroom was sold out for NYC post hardcore band Quicksand’s return to Los Angeles. Filled with old hardcore heads, I was confident the slam-dance-worthy music wouldn’t be able to draw violence out of these gen-x’ers but boy was I wrong. All it takes is one pit psycho to reintroduce danger into rock and roll and force you to put up your dukes or feel like a bitch. related content: Thee Oh Sees And The Practical Applications Of Quantum Physics It began with an album announcement, their first in 22 years. The first single off Interiors, “Illuminant“, sounds just as heavy and groovy and hardcore as anything Quicksand has ever put out and after seeing them live, you really get the sense that bands just can’t make music this good anymore. Montreal’s No Joy opened the night as the only supporting act. They’re a shoegaze three-piece with minimalist vocals, if any during songs. Their rapid drumming and twin six string attack fosters a lunatic lucidity which is different than the rest of the shoegaze flock. No Joy sounds best when they play fast unlike most gaze acts that keep it slow. That said, I wish No Joy dabbled more in the
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