Tag: featured
New Album Review: Black Mountain- IV
Danny Baraz
April 1, 2016
Black Mountain and their body of work could be the soundtrack to both an acid party and a mass suicide for some death cult. There is majick in their music. Track listings are components to epic incantations. Songs weave together to solve some kind of ancient mystery and their forthcoming release of “IV” is the latest transmission of some alien language that has been attempting to communicate with intelligence on our planet for a decade. Fat guitar tones and throwback analog synthesizers communicate to listeners in a familiar language about the future of their lives on this planet. All hyperbole aside, Black Mountain’s “IV” album released today (April 1st) on the JAGJAGUWAR label is a rock and roll masterpiece that summons a classic sound as it simultaneously scales new peaks. Wait, was that more hyperbole? It’s just difficult to downplay that this album contains, by far, the best riffs of the year, definitely of the decade and maybe the best riffs of this young century. The first single and song one off of IV, “Mothers of the Sun” eclipses 8 minutes of playtime and encapsulates the entire album perfectly. It flips from a sparsity of notes to masterful riffery with ease as it
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David “Minivan” Evanko & His Long Journey For Inspiration
Brent Smith
March 30, 2016
Photographers are crucial to any underground music scene. “Only a rare eye can make such intense people doing intense things on sticky floors so unforgettable, even decades later,” said Jello Biafra, speaking of those like Ed Colver and Glen E. Friedman, those who braved the violence of the pit to capture the California punk explosion, and whose images still remain embedded in the hearts and minds of diehards and true believers. People someday may be saying the same about David Evanko, aka Minivan Photography, who has snapped every band across the fuzzy spectrum (you’ve definitely caught some of his work here on Janky Smooth) with a cool intimacy that not only puts you there, but makes you feel what there was like. His work has done nothing short of elating the local scene, so much so that you sense his spry, exploratory lens extends far beyond the walls of sweaty basements and hyped music fests. Before embarking on a recent South American odyssey, he was shooting up to four shows a week, driving up to L.A. as often as he could from his east San Diego barrio—a city that’s been a big, fat music void for far too long. Eventually,
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Take This: Win 2 Tickets to Burger Boogaloo 2016 in Oakland
Danny Baraz
March 29, 2016
The Burger Boogaloo festival is the Burgerama of the North. With Burgerama V still up in the air, the cousin of Burgerama, Burger Boogaloo is signed, sealed and delivered to take place Saturday, June 25th and 26th at Mosswood Park in Oakland. Every year Burger Records take their show on the road to Oakland and every year that burger comes out well done. Film maker John Waters will once again be the Master of Ceremonies this year and Burger has added a meet and greet with American cultural icon, Ms Traci Lords. Vintage indie band, The Mummies have been booked to play the festival for the second year in a row with everyone expecting them to outdo their motorcycle entrance to last year’s performance with another surprise. Along with The Mummies, the lineup also includes Thee Oh Sees, Shannon and the Clams, The Spits, Death Valley Girls, King Khan and The Shrines, The Dwarves and Angry Samoans, to name just a few. Single day or weekend pass tickets are available now. Janky Smooth is giving away 2 tickets to one winner to this years’ Burger Boogaloo. You can enter our contest or: Purchase Tickets Here CONTEST RULES: Follow Janky Smooth on Facebook, Instagram
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Lust For Youth & Drab Majesty Bring Dark Vibes To Teragram Ballroom
Brent Smith
March 28, 2016
It was a night of dark wave synth-pop acts—musicians whose sounds and performances not only blurred the line between singer-songwriter and producer, but gave us Angelenos an electro beacon for something profound beyond the hypnotic singularity of our cellphone glow. Spearheaded by Lust For Youth, it was a also a night that properly introduced me to the noise/punk/electronica sound coming out of Copenhagen and other pockets of Scandinavia. Just as Ty Segall and cohorts here on the West Coast are constantly collaborating and intermingling themselves into one huge rock ‘n’ roll collective, so is Lust For Youth along with bands like Iceage, Lower, Vår, Puce Mary, and Hand of Dust. While Segall’s sonic quest seems to trace elements of blues, rock, proto-punk and psych, Lust For Youth’s seems one of exploration (and maybe reconciliation?) between post-punk, experimental noise, ambient, and house. The results are both sinister and sublime. The full moon was keeping me going, its light beaming like the sun in the clear, black sky as I rumbled into downtown on fumes. The doorman at the entrance gave me blue and pink bracelets and I went into the cold theater space, mostly empty with a few kids moping around
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My First SXSW: Confessions of Fanboy Posing As Music Critic
Danny Baraz
March 26, 2016
Last week was my first time attending SXSW in Austin. This allows me to offer an opinion on this massive institution that is completely untainted by past experience. Like most institutions that sprouted from an independent spirit into a behemoth of industry, SXSW has detractors that begrudge the success it has achieved. Given that this was my first time attending, I could see it for what it really is without the skewed vision of what it was. Austin, Texas is one of my favorite cities in the world. Not because it has epic landscapes or white sand beaches but for it’s artisan spirit and wonderful people. I have visited it’s streets and venues a number of times in my life but for whatever reason, I had yet to attend this event. Walking down 6th or any of the adjacent streets reveals a band, DJ or singer/songwriter embedded in every doorway, venue, café and every square foot in every direction you look. Like an infestation of joy and expression, SXSW is a complete takeover of a city that is already overflowing with music. We here at Janky Smooth are fans first and that is what motivates every show we cover, every
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Weezer Plays Intimate Show in Red Bull Soundspace at KROQ Studios
Justin Cornwall
March 25, 2016
This Tuesday afternoon was made infinitely better thanks to our friends at Red Bull and KROQ! The two household-name brands teamed up a while ago to put together the Red Bull Sound Space – a full-fledged performance venue nestled in the back of the KROQ studio, where performances are broadcasted worldwide via the internet. Bands large (usually large) and small stop through on the invitation of the station to treat industry and fans to an intimate performance. You either win your way in via KROQ, or get invited, so everyone there is in an amazing mood. This Tuesday, in line with promoting The White Album and an upcoming co-headline tour with Panic! At The Disco, Weezer blew the hinges off the tiny room with a festival worthy set. The age of the crowd ranged from 8 to greyed executive, everyone was completely thrilled to be there. Rivers, Brian, Scott and Patrick took the stage like they were casually settling in for a jam session – no banter with the crowd, comfortably timid nods to screaming fanatics in the packed crowd – and within the first heavy riffs of ‘Hash Pipe’, they slammed us all into action. Following up with full
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L.A. Hustle at SXSW 2016: Bands, Labels, Promoters & Publications
Danny Baraz
March 23, 2016
Artists, agents, publicists and partiers come from far and wide to take part in one of the largest music and networking events in the world. Fans attending SXSW in Austin ,Texas view it as a diverse display of music in which they can recreationally party and enjoy bands they love and bands they discover throughout the week long musical portion of the conference. The aforementioned groups of art producers and opportunists view the conference much differently than the fans or even the way they themselves typically view playing a regular show or festival. With a somewhat intimate knowledge of the bands in Southern California and their proxies, it was fascinating to watch it all unfold in front of me. From Burger Records to Lolipop Records, iHeartcomix to Desert Daze, the Los Angeles and greater Southern California area musicians and business’ were very well represented at SXSW 2016. Janky Smooth was proud to see the members of our scene thriving in such a competitive environment and of course, to make our own stamp on the events surrounding the conference in our very first SXSW experience as a publication. On the band side, there were L.A. bands like one of our low
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Zig Zags, The Birth Defects and Mind Meld Murder The Smell
Brent Smith
March 15, 2016
The Smell, a non-profit, volunteer-driven, all-ages back alley venue is a diamond in downtown’s gentrified rough. In the wake of some electric rainfall, it played host to a bill of heavy rock psychsters whose blown out amplifiers literally have my ears still ringing. The rare rainfall we get has the ability to dispel the sun’s enchantment, it reveals the hololand that L.A. actually is—reeling in that weird interzone between paradise and dystopia. Or, more simply, the rare rainfall we get makes us feel like Roy Batty at the end of Blade Runner—The moments in our lives are just teeears in the raaain, man! (And yes, only in L.A. can Deckard’s dingy, smoke-filled apartment actually be a Frank Lloyd Wright work of Mayan-inspired art that you can never own, or even rent). No better way to quell (or magnify?) such fleeting existential funks than by seeing Zig Zags and The Birth Defects shake the walls of this defunct coffee shop, or fitness chain, or whatever stupid shit our crypto-fascist social engineers fancy as bankable retail prospects (the legal world calls ‘em “developers”). The opening acts were on fucking point. I love when that happens. If you’ve never heard of Rearranged Face
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Rock N Roll Prom At The Smell w/ Them Howling Bones and Isaac Rother
Taylor Wong
March 11, 2016
Growing up, I never got to go to prom. It’s not like I didn’t have the opportunity. I just didn’t go. To me prom was for the jocks and cheerleaders. I was too busy getting stoned with my friends to give a shit about a stupid prom. Lucky for me Them Howling Bones threw the prom I always imagined I missed. This prom was set inside The Smell, a good venue for such an event seeing as how no booze is allowed. This added to that age old act of “flasking it” to the prom. I showed up pretty buzzed already, wearing my finest, cheapest suit. I was glad to see that the majority of people in attendance were also dressed to the theme. I took a few people’s prom photo right in front of the dumpster just to the right of the venue’s entrance. When you made your way in through the balloon tunnel, you were greeted by Sad Girl on the 1’s and 2’s playing all your favorite old school prom songs. The Smell was decked out in prom gear. From streamers to balloons, they even had a 50’s car photo booth. They served snacks and refreshments (I
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Animal Collective Drip Sound and Color On The Fonda Theater
Danny Baraz
March 11, 2016
Night 1 of the Animal Collective 2 night stand at The Fonda Theater in Hollywood revealed one thing; Animal Collective are the most talented sound designers to ever write, arrange and perform an electronic song live. There is no one out there right now that can emit such auditory bliss from the push of a key and the twist of a knob. If you strip the dripping colors and backdrops away from the spectacle of their live performance, what you have left is a group of cutting edge song writers that use cold hardware and technology to express the warmth in their souls. I arrived at The Fonda just as Ratking was taking the stage. Ratking’s MC, Wiki was already wildly swinging his arms in an attempt to conjure some enthusiasm from the opening band audience. In a less jaded city, Ratking would’ve had the crowd moving with their next level beats and downplayed but impressive stage presence. While I understand the huge difference between a hardcore Animal Collective fan and a hardcore Ratking fan, there is a musical energy that transcends genre and style and it still amazes me that people can stand still during a performance that is
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Punk Rock Bowling 2016 Club Shows Announced
Danny Baraz
March 8, 2016
Punk Rock Bowling is like no other festival on the planet. There are few major festivals that are able to instill in it’s attendees a real sense of community across the entire scope of it’s population. The level of quality and consistency that BYO Records is able to achieve year after year is impressive. No where is this more prevalent than the annual cluster of Punk Rock Bowling club shows. In a lot of ways, I’m far more interested in the lineup of Punk Rock Bowling 2016 club shows than I am in the actual festival itself. While the major story line of this year’s installment of PRB is the expansion of the festival to include an East Coast weekend of festival days and club shows in New Jersey, today’s announcement of the schedule and lineup of the Punk Rock Bowling 2016 club shows has me talking to myself. One night in particular stands out to me and might just be all the motivation I need to keep my attendance streak going. The Thursday night club show at Punk Rock Bowling 2016 is Ministry, Excel and 45 Grave are playing the motherfucking Fremont Country Club. I’m not sure what the
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Burger Records and the Observatory: 5 Years of Fun in Orange County
Danny Baraz
March 7, 2016
With Burger Records postponing their annual Burgerama festival, Sean and Lee have opted to honor their partnership with the Observatory in Orange County. For 5 years, Burger and The Observatory have conspired to bring the audiophiles of Orange County some of the best lineups in all of Southern California. To commemorate the milestone, Burger Records and their headquarters to showcase the bands on their label, The Observatory, have put together a show for every day this week that features some of the best talent in indie music today. This post will serve as a running update and review of shows that Janky Smooth attends. The headliners and supporting acts on the lineup aren’t just Burger bands but feature acts like Slowdive and Crystal Castles for one of their first live performances without iconic vocalist, Alice Glass. Angry Samoans headline the Wednesday, March 9th show and includes Orange County punk icon, Rikk Agnew along with Golden (shower) Boys of emerging pop punk, No Parents. The anniversary week kicks off tonight with a few bands that we’ve spent a lot of time covering over the past year; Shannon and the Clams, Death Valley Girls and The Gooch Palms and features Guantanamo Baywatch
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