Tag: featured
Wild Nothing At The Regent: Tight Jams And Tantrums Abound
Johann A. Ramos
June 1, 2016
Wild Nothing sold out The Regent Theater in Downtown Los Angeles Friday night along side dream-pop queen Charlie Hilton on their Life Of Pause world tour. Both are very special acts with consistent demographics that have been getting a lot buzz in the media lately, particularly Wild Nothing after their new record “The Life Of Pause” (No, not the life of pablo) dropped. Frontman Jack Tatum carries a bag-full of influence with every record he puts out – krautrock, shoe gaze, post rock – not unusual for indie rock acts now a days. What sets him apart from other dream pop acts in the market (see: diiv, blouse, beach fossils, etc) is his singing versatility and his blisteringly catchy, lush, modulated guitar progressions that’ll have the crowd spending $70 on Stub Hub resold GA pit tickets. Damn you ticket scalpers! “Nocturne”, released in 2012 paved the way for many indie rockers yet to come. Charlie Hilton opened up the gig at a much slower pace than I expected and I mean that in a good way. She set the vibe of the show and chilled me out with her whispy, quiet vocals – which I appreciated because I drank one
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The Brian Jonestown Massacre Play 3 1/2 Hour Set For Night 1 at Teragram
Natalie Somekh
May 30, 2016
Sunday nights in downtown LA can be magical but particularly so when seeing ‘60s psychedelic rock outfit The Brian Jonestown Massacre is playing a gig. The band is an eclectic mixture of ‘60s British Invasion, ’80s dream pop and shoegaze, as well jangly folk thanks to Anton Newcombe’s talent to tailor-make genre-specific sounds into his own. The first night of three sold-out shows at the Teragram Ballroom consisted of organs, tambourines, and loads of sass from The Brian Jonestown Massacre percussionist, Joel Gion. Opening up for the iconic band was Los Angeles’ very own Mystic Braves, who will be embarking on a national tour with Dream Ride this September in support of their newest album Days of Yesteryear. At one point during the Mystic Braves’ set, the band invited Rob Campanella, Brian Jonestown Massacre keyboardist, to accompany them on a few songs. Definitely a crowd pleaser.The Mystic Braves have been dominating the Los Angeles music scene with their psychedelic tunes and charisma since 2011. This showed last night when Julian Ducatenzeiler (guitar & vocals), Tony Malacara (bass & vocals), Shane Stotsenberg (guitar & vocals), Cameron Gartung (drums), and Ignacio Gonzalez (organ/tambourine) effortlessly captivated the Teragram Ballroom with their psychedelic aura
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Ministry Make Ears Bleed at Punk Rock Bowling Club Show
Danny Baraz
May 27, 2016
I was on the fence about attending Punk Rock Bowling this year. It’s been 4 years in a row and when you have a wife and kids, it’s an exercise of manipulation and selfishness to leave your family every Memorial Day weekend. “Honey, but it’s work!” So as I was leaning towards a “no”, Punk Rock Bowling 2016 unveiled it’s club shows and there it was; Thursday, May 26th Ministry/Excel at the Fremont Country Club. Fuck my kids. Fuck my wife. Fuck my business and everyday life. What twisted individual thought of this lineup for a punk rock festival? A couple weeks later I found out that our friends from Death Hymn Number 9 were ALSO on the bill. “See you in a few days, kids! Daddy loves you!” In 1990, Ministry released a live album called, “In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up”. I discovered it 2 years after it was released. I was 16. To this day I consider it my favorite Ministry album and THE BEST LIVE ALBUM OF ALL TIME. On my drive out to Vegas I listened to it 2 times, all the way through. I had visions of Ministry playing this album from
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Yankee Smooth: A Day in the U.K. With The Blank Tapes
Paige Vreede
May 26, 2016
It’s been quite a journey being in London. There are 8,539,000 people living here, yet it is one of the loneliest cities I have ever been to. Upon discovering that The Blank Tapes were coming to town, I was exuberant with joy knowing I would finally get the chance to see some familiar faces. It was a Tuesday evening and they were playing at a venue, The Shacklewell Arms, which is conveniently just down the street from where I currently reside. I couldn’t count the minutes fast enough for when I’d be able to see them. Their show started at 9:45pm and at approximately 9:00pm, I heard American accents emerging from my kitchen. A tall, shaggy blonde haired dude walked up to me and got half way through an introduction before he realized, he in fact, definitely knew me. Oh Mr. Matt Adams was just living up to his stoner persona. Ironically, my housemate was invited to fill in on the drums mid-way through the blank tapes tour, and they had made already made arrangements for the band to stay at ours. It was a pleasant surprise seeing Adams walk through the door of my place and it only furthered my excitement in seeing them perform. Once entering the venue, I was
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NSA Fundraiser and Launch w/ The Garden & Punk Rock Karaoke
Danny Baraz
May 25, 2016
On Wednesday, May 18th, the New Sound Alliance held it’s very first event at The Regent Theater in Downtown Los Angeles; A Fundraiser for Senator Bernie Sanders. And while raising funds for Sanders to insure a significant showing in the California Primary to make legitimate claims to storm the floor at the DNC Convention in Philly this July was the primary purpose of our party, introducing the New Sound Alliance to the Los Angeles music community was just as important. There is always a fear in art, business and activism when attempting to launch a new project. While there is always a risk of bearing your heart to attract like minded people to join you in a quest for understanding and action, there is little more exhilarating in life when your passion is validated by sparking the passion in others. Young and old fans and key figures in the L.A. music scene turned out in droves to support Senator Sanders and check out some of the best, young talent in L.A., as well as to sing live Karaoke with legends of punk rock like Greg Hetson, Stan Lee, Steve Soto and Darryn Pheiffer aka Punk Rock Karaoke. We only had
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Desert Daze 2016 Announces Lineup And New Location
Rob Shepyer
May 25, 2016
Desert Daze is back and bigger than ever in its fifth year. This groovy happening has moved to the Institute of Mentalphysics in Joshua Tree for three days and nights of music in the hallucinatory high desert and what better music to hear in that dry, barren landscape than exactly what this lineup offers. Proto punk, avant garde legends Suicide will perform for their first West Coast show in over a decade and one can only imagine how perfectly their electronic hum will marry the desert night’s vibration. Other acts include the Brian Jonestown Massacre, garage rock veterans The Sonics, Deerhunter, The Black Angels performing their album Passover, Thee Oh Sees, Deafheaven, and many more and this is just the first wave of announcements. Phase two of the lineup will be announced in June. Desert Daze will feature three outdoor stages for bands, an indoor stage for alternative programming, vendors, bars, food trucks and more. Tickets for Desert Daze go on sale this Friday 5/27, capacity is limited so scoop your tickets up while you can. Attendees will be able to stay in onsite cottages designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, standard camping and RV packages are also available. Check out
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Youth Brigade: Bedlam at Punk Rock Bowling Warm Up Gig at The Echo
Taylor Wong
May 23, 2016
It’s that time of the year again. That time where all the old punks dust off their denim vests, while the new punks make sure they have all their new patches sewn on by their mom’s before they take off for Punk Rock Bowling. As condescending as that just sounded, Punk Rock Bowling was my favorite festival all of last year. I’ve never seen such unity amongst one scene. As Punk Rock Bowling approaches, as with any other out of town festival, a ton of related shows pop up in LA before the festival. One of those shows, which I was lucky enough to attend, was Youth Brigade at the Echo. Youth Brigade is made up of BYO (Better Youth Organization) and Punk Rock Bowling Founders and brothers, Mark and Shawn Stern as well as Johnny and Joey. The band originates in LA, so the sold out show at The Echo was of no surprise. Generation Suicida opened up the show. Generation Suicida is an all Latino Punk band from South LA. One great thing about this band is that the majority of their songs were sung in Spanish. I don’t know if you have paid attention in recent years,
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Family, Friends, FIDLAR: A Punk Rock Love Fest at The Observatory
Joanna Bautista
May 18, 2016
I was finally going to see FIDLAR at The Observatory for a non-festival type show and I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Disclaimer: I’m totally one of those fans with FIDLAR tattooed above my knee. I entered the Observatory in the middle of No Parents’ set surprised to see frontman, Zoe Reign with every piece of clothing still on. I think his crop-top made up for it. In past shows it was a norm for Zoe to take off a variety of clothing which was encouraged by fans. I got to say, I would totally dance with this guy. He’s got moves. This band has a great amount of minute long songs and they’ve got catchy stuff. They shouldn’t be a punk band you can just listen to in your room, they must be seen live! San Diego-surf punk band, The Frights were up next and their fan base has grown immensely since the last time I’ve saw them live. My first time seeing them was when they opened for FIDLAR at the Regent in January. There was a small crowd that knew their lyrics but now, everyone in the venue can be heard singing along. A “Fuck Trump” chant
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Holding Our Breath: The Misfits Riot Fest Reunion
Rob Shepyer
May 13, 2016
It’s been 33 years since Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only shared a stage as The Misfits and now in a reunion that no one saw coming, the original horror punks will headline Riot Fest’s Denver and Chicago festivals this September. When I say no one saw this coming, I’m not trying to be cliché. “Will there ever be a Misfits reunion?” was standard line of questioning in any Danzig or Jerry Only interview and it was always answered with a very sure no. The Misfits have been the center of countless legal dramas between Danzig and Only, Jerry even accused Danzig of spreading satanic values, while Danzig announced he was retired from touring. Yet in the year that Lemmy, Bowie, and Prince have left us and Axl and Slash have been able to set aside their differences, it appears that anything is possible. Since their last show on October 29th 1983, Jerry Only has led the Misfits through various lineup changes that included Michael Graves, Marky Ramone, and Dez Cadena of Black Flag, until finally Only assumed the position of the band’s singer in their current incarnation. Meanwhile, Glenn kept innovating in both punk and metal with Samhain in the
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New Album Review: Death Grips- Bottomless Pit
Danny Baraz
May 13, 2016
It seems that Death Grips have finally made it through the other side of their artistic adolescence. They have spent their entire careers rejecting and rebelling against “basic bitch-dom” in their relationship with fans, labels and music critics and up to this point, they’ve been as erratic as a pubescent teenager. Not unlike an adolescent Jesus in the lost books of the bible, Death Grips are using their power and influence to blind the bullies, even as their artistic output is as regular as a sensible diet that is high in fiber. While Death Grips toyed with unorthodox styles of music and career choices, there was no drop off in output. Their latest release, “Bottomless Pit” is their 5th, full length studio album and 9th release altogether and between the release of JennyDeath and BP, Death Grips have been showing up for every show as well as maintaining a regular tour schedule. Are Death Grips assimilating into a more traditional career path? That remains to be seen but being a Death Grips fan continues to be an interactive scavenger hunt for sound and imagery, as fans are always an integral part of their artistic output. In the past, they have
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Rooney Rocks L.A. For The First Time in 5 Years At Teragram Ballroom
Brent Smith
May 10, 2016
The prodigal son returns. In this case, it’s Robert Schwartzman. Rooney’s comeback has gotten lots of people swooning, and the sold out album release party for Washed Away (their first album since 2010) at the Teragram Ballroom was the perfect homecoming. I arrived in the middle of Wild Wild Horses, the British foursome who made me do a double-take to make sure I wasn’t in the middle of an Axe Body Spray ad. I kid. But seriously, is boy band rock a thing? If not, these stallions are paving the way for a potentially treacherous path. Go for it, ladies, they’re there for the taking! The guitar and bassist had a pretty rad dynamic; riffs gave off electro effects, which I thought was interesting. They had me looking around the stage for any traces of digi-programmed tracks, but nothing. I don’t care who you are, making a guitar sound like anything but a guitar is never not awesome. Don’t let their squeaky clean stage persona fool you, either. They curse in cockney accents and can drink with the best of them. Deep Sea Diver from Seattle was up next, and they gave a hell of a set. Orchestrator and mastermind
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New Album Review: NOTHING- Tired of Tomorrow
Rob Shepyer
May 9, 2016
“And never have I felt so deeply at one and the same time so detached from myself and so present in the world.” – Albert Camus This is a review of Tired of Tomorrow by Philadelphia band, NOTHING being released on May 13th on Relapse Records. I like any band described as lush, an adjective commonly attached to Shoegaze, a style of rock that uses copious amounts of distortion to make melodic walls of ethereal sound. The name Shoegaze was attached to these artists because one reporter noticed they stared down at the stage rather than at the audience. Nothing, with their blending of ambient and punk, is a band that doesn’t make me want to gaze at my shoes but rather gaze up at the night sky as if it’s the fourth of July and I just broke up with my girlfriend and I’m watching fireworks with tear glazed eyes, smiling because I’m still alive. Nothing, made up of Domenic Palermo (guitar/vocals), Brandon Setta (guitar/vocals), Kyle Kimball (drums), Nick Bassett (bass), brings elements of punk, hardcore, and alternative to Shoegaze that line its wall of sound with razor wire. I listen to them and think of bands like Husker
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