Tag: featured
Gogol Bordello at The Observatory: Elevated Energy, Bliss & Unity
Jessica Moncrief
November 22, 2016
Fuck the Red party and the Blue party, what the world needs a little more of, is a Purple party! Angels don’t always have wings, sometimes they drink vodka and play gypsy party songs. Gogol Bordello felt like saviors last Thursday, offering communion, an escape from reality, and a connection through an elevated energy that allowed us to feel complete bliss and unity at The Observatory in Orange County, if only for a moment. related content: Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello- An Interview and a Spiritual Experience I could go on and on about the circus-like extravaganza that is a Gogol Bordello show but it wouldn’t be anything that hasn’t already been said before. I will however, mention a bartender that I chatted with who told me about a time years ago that he saw them open for Primus and said that they blew them out of the water. Basically, if you have seen them, you know- and if you haven’t? Check out my 2 dimensional photos in this gallery and imagine that shit in High Def, with sound. Seriously, if you haven’t seen them yet, get your shit together and do so the very next chance you get!
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Los Crudos Play The Echoplex Right When L.A. Needed It Most
Rob Shepyer
November 20, 2016
All year long, as racial tensions have been building, I have seen a steady incline in the amount of Los Crudos patches on denim jackets. While Donald Trump kept digging a grave for himself in the heart of white nationalist sensibility, with every racist, anti-constitutional comment, Los Crudos songs started appearing more and more over the loud speakers in between sets at shows. Was it sheer animal magnetism, fate or the power of attraction that Los Crudos announced a matinee show at The Echoplex for November 13th? Or could Martin Sorrondeguy sense his voice was needed in Los Angeles, now more than ever? With only a week since Donald Trump was crowned president-elect against Hillary Clinton, Angelinos reorganized, prioritized, and took to the streets but when it came to hearing the right words, every protestor needed to bear witness to Sorrondeguy speaking. related content: The Two Americas: Obama, Hillary and President Donald Trump Los Crudos is a Chicago based punk band from the 90’s that popularized Spanish lyrics in hardcore punk. They’ve always been singing about the very politicized issues that came up in this election: xenophobia, racism, economic inequality, and immigration. This was the second punk show I’ve seen
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Snapshot of a New Music Industry: White Fang, No Parents & The Birth Defects
Danny Baraz
November 18, 2016
Catching a band you love play live as they emerge from the fear and loathing of a 2 month tour insures that you will witness them at the height of their powers. Ever since the Janky team helped White Fang, No Parents and The Birth Defects send themselves off on the road in a 3 vehicle caravan of knuckleheads and thrashers, I’ve had my eye on this date to check in with the guys about how the tour went- partly because I had visions of all these guys trying to outdo each other with bad personal decisions and partly because I knew they would be as tight as the Clinton’s and Trump’s at Thanksgiving dinner. I find the dynamic of the independent DIY music scene to be fascinating. The way a wave of buzz washes over the internet and indie record stores for a band like White Fang but then gets swept away in the mountain of music being produced and released on a weekly basis, is a snapshot of how young people consume new music. Funkle said it himself in our pre- tour interview, “I want to see if we even still have a national following.” In this new
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The Two Americas- Obama, Hillary and President Donald Trump
Danny Baraz
November 10, 2016
Obama spent the bitter part of 8 years trying to convince us that there weren’t two Americas. Even though he’s a scholar and a student of history, he was optimistic his election was the beginning of the end for what Nixon started- The Southern Strategy. But it’s becoming evident, no matter how much Obama campaigned on the slogan, no one knows better than Hillary and Barack that there indeed are two Americas. It’s not just that Trump won- It’s how and what he won on. “Their” obsession with the Gordon Gecko, greed is good archetype and the fact that the “other” America has only ever excused the WASP president for lies and looting and pillaging the earth and making windfall money and grabbing every woman by the pussy- because that office has been filled with a lot of pussy grabbers, until Obama was in it. So without those types of scandals, all there was left to do was discuss birth certificates, brown suited salutes and Michelle’s beautiful exposed arms –Purr MOST white people in America do not like talking about race- PARTICULARLY Blackness. We still live in a pretty segregated society even though it’s definitely improved since I was a kid- at least
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White Girl Makin’ It Rain At Beach Goth 5- Janky Smooth Sessions
Lauren McKnight
November 10, 2016
Beach Goth/bēCH gäTH/Noun It begins with a question. A question as old as 2002… “what do you mean cash only?”. It grows through a lie… “Oh no, it’s cool, I’m supposed to be back here”. It ends with a realization. That realization is that I have no memory of Beach Goth V whatsoever, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t try to give the most accurate account possible. related: Beach Goth 4- The Party of the Year After 4 or 5 bullshit story attempts to finagle an Artist wristband, I finally secured one out of pity from a friend. Within the hour and after an appropriate amount of substance abuse, I was lost in space next to a trash can in the Artist Lounge with no pants on, a pink kimono, and shoes far too tall to be practical. I locked eyes with Eric Andre (who was hosting Beach Goth), to my surprise, he came straight up to me and told me he saw me at the liquor store. I asked him if he needed anything from Ikea, and somehow that segued into how fart jokes were “never NOT funny”. This would set the tone for the rest of day
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Pussy Riot, Partisan Politics And The Police State In America
Danny Baraz
November 8, 2016
Pussy Riot’s, Maria Alekhina spent 2 years in a Russian Work Prison along with her sisters in the band over their explosive “brand” of punk rock, performance art and protest in a place where protestors disappear on a regular basis. Through the process, facing certain imprisonment and the potentially high likelihood of political assassination, by Russian president Vladimir Putin, the women of Pussy Riot gained world wide infamy and affection for their refusal to back down to the growing totalitarian regime. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that counting views on YouTube ultimately means nothing. Internet 1- political oppression 666 Once released from a slave labor type Russian prison in a political police state that often disappears dissenters, Pussy Riot didn’t flee the country to pursue the monetary opportunities of their fast building “brand” and move to a safer proximity of distance away from the Kremlin and Putin’s new, contemporary KGB (FSB). Even though they are monetizing their story, they might’ve maximized their potential by, I don’t know, moving farther away from the political sniper rifles that must always be pointed at them in the case they need to be used as the ultimate example of what happens to the
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House of Ho99o9 Halloween at The Roxy
Rob Shepyer
November 2, 2016
Angelinos spent the Sunday before Halloween under an overcast sky, bracing against the trashing rain. 9.9.9: The dead could feel the day’s coming haunt, seeping in through the soil. Oh the Ho99o9… Not your typical Sunday, the city’s thirst to party had not be quenched by Friday or Saturday’s pre-Halloween escapades and so creepers poured onto the Sunset Strip looking for a fix. The chic elite WeHo-llowieners past The Roxy and just kept on walking while the punks checked right in, dressed in costumes that depicted such characters as: low life’s, whores, pimps, derelicts, 22nd century anal nuns, cross-dressing goo gobblers, and a hesher or two. Like a horde of roaches skittering into a crack, we all gathered to see Ho99o9 and The Shrine, two buzz bands and the cream of today’s crop. It was Ho99o9’s first Los Angeles show since dropping two new songs: The Dope Dealerz and Double Barrel. One track is heavy rap, the other is heavy punk. Yin and Yang… or actually, Yin and Yin. I had seen half of Ho99o9’s set opening for Faith No More last year at the Wiltern and wasn’t able to get sucked into it. So I wasn’t sure if they’d
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Janky Premiere: Dancing Tongues EP- Positions
Danny Baraz
October 27, 2016
Janky Smooth is proud to premiere Positions– the first EP from Los Angeles based, post-punk outfit, Dancing Tongues. The sound is a seduction of hypnotic droning and rhythmic incantation. The battery of the band is pronounced and deliberate. The rich baritone of Alex Lavayen is romantic, like the words spoken to a lover after defending their honor through physical altercation. The composition of the musical arrangements hints that London (is) Calling while Lavayen urges not to let “Love Tear Us Apart.” The Positions EP creates a dance floor environment that is masculine but not misogynistic- catchy but not campy, with just enough edge. Songs like “Saturday” summon it’s punk forefathers while tracks like “Cause” cast a wider net of dynamics and emotion. The Positions EP contains a chemical substance similar to pheromones released into the environment by animals, affecting the behavior or physiology of others in it’s species. It invokes the laws of attraction to cause a consensual submissiveness to it’s rhythms. There are more bands being formed and putting out music at this very moment than ever before- although you would never know it if you get your music through the traditional, decaying channels used by the rotting corpse of the major labels. I have
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Between Enemy Lines- Hunter S. Thompson & The 2016 Election
Brent Smith
October 26, 2016
What’s this thing you call me It’s scratching just beneath the surface It’s that thing that makes up everyone Every snowflake is unique until it melts And there’s no stopping the sun Mudhoney, “What’s This Thing?” I don’t make a habit of writing politics (writing music leaves you hanging around with plenty of degenerates as is), but this election has made political junkies out of the most apathetic. Unfortunately, the coverage of this election is a Kardashian type of reality that ignores almost all of the real story lines as you help to hijack your own family jewels. Slimy Octopus Rich Kid vs. Dr. Jekyll & Mrs. Duchess of Wall Street. It’s quite the quandary, and the internet has never been so hot-blooded and claustrophobic—like the Vegas strip on New Year’s Eve, it’s no place for any functioning human being. After being mentally and spiritually drained by all the endless word vomit online (in articles like this one), I reached for an old Hunter S. Thompson hardback on my bookshelf, titled Hey Rube, a published collection of his ESPN column he held from 2000 up to his death-by-suicide in 2005. In it—like Nostradamus armed to the teeth and
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Janky Fest w/ The Dwarves & 15 Bands Celebrating 2 Years of Jankiness
Danny Baraz
October 25, 2016
It ain’t easy standing out in the sea of L.A. music blogs all looking for ad dollars, access and an invite to the after party. Janky Smooth doesn’t post ads on our website and we’re still not sure what the end game is here but what we do know is that it’s been a hell of a ride so far. As a thank you to Los Angeles for bringing us into it’s cold embrace, we bring you Janky Fest, November 19th in Outer Space from 3pm- Midnight. To attend Janky Fest with the Dwarves, The Birth Defects, Death Hymn Number 9, Sloppy Jane, Wild Wing and so many other bands, just RSVP by joining our newsletter at www.newsoundalliance.com and we’ll get back to you on instructions for making your $10 donation to fund Janky Fest. Special thanks to Pabst Blue Ribbon for donating all the $2 Tall Boys. RSVP now before we make an announcement on our super secret special guest band that we can’t publicize due to contractual obligations. For the past 2 years, Janky Smooth has attempted to give our readers an honest take on the independent music scene that is exploding, both in Los Angeles and all
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Patti Smith at The Teragram: The Influence of a Cultural Icon
Vanessa Burgundy
October 25, 2016
As I entered the Teragram Ballroom last Thursday night, I thought to myself, “how do I review the performance of a prophetic artist like Patti Smith?” There is little pressure in attempting to capture the essence of buzz-worthy bands releasing their first material but when using your words to capture the abstract and literal influence of an American cultural icon, it’s important to “get it right”. Wish me luck. I walked in as she was halfway through Arthur Rimabaud’s “Drunken Boat”, an author whose works she has directly ingested and spit out into her own countercultural treatise. I squeezed to the front, the crowd silent and mesmerized; Hot and inspired, turned on with poetic verses of despair. “…I have wept too much! Dawns are heartbreaking. Every moon is atrocious; every sun is bitter.” (Rimbaud) There is power in the words but life when she speaks them. She built the energy and the swarm of desperate faces exhaled in applause. The band started and opened with “Dancing Barefoot”. Patti was serving Joey Ramone realness in a striped t-shirt and black jacket, reminding us that poetry and punk are indeed euphonic duo. She somehow keeps the mood light amidst heavy material and
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Death Valley Girls in a Desert Daze Disneyland- Janky Smooth Sessions
Danny Baraz
October 25, 2016
Death Valley Girls front woman, Bonnie Bloomgarden aka Bonz Doomgarden is no stranger to the unexplained mysteries of what lay just beyond the logic of the material world. Death Valley Girls axe man, Larry Schemel stands guard at the gates of sanity to guide his friend and artistic collaborator through the challenges of channeling other dimensions and both friendly and diabolical deities that look to walk through the doorway of this domain. Does that sound hyperbolic? Have you met Bonnie? Larry and Bonnie joined Janky Smooth Sessions and Danny Baraz at Desert Daze 2016 to discuss the magick of the festival and the significance of ending their nationwide tour supporting their impressive sophmore LP, Glow in the Dark at what so many that attended the fest agree is one of the most significant festival experiences of their lives. Alien abductions, fan sing alongs, corporatism, Desert Daze founder, Phil Pirrone vs Disneyland founder Walt Disney and attempting to quantify the magick that surrounded Desert Daze under the blood red, hunters super moon that enveloped the Institute of Mentalphysics in Joshua Tree California. Read more about Death Valley Girls: Buzz Bait: Bonnie of Death Valley Girls on Music, Magic and Metaphysics Death
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