Aria Silva-Espinosa, Author at Jankysmooth

Aria Silva-Espinosa

Tyler’s Camp Flog Gnaw Year 10 Intersects w/ Chromakopia Number 1

Aria Silva-Espinosa December 17, 2024

A long hike up the hills of Elysian Park is a small price to pay for the view from the top. Three massive stages situated in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium and boasting a wildly impressive hip-hop centric lineup, Camp Flog Gnaw celebrated its 10 year anniversary this past weekend and sold out well in advance, and the lineup wasn’t even announced until a month before the festival. related content: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: Camp Flog Gnaw 2019 From legendary acts to tributes, DJ sets and soulful serenades, Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival is a uniquely curated exhibition of mainstream and underground artists, youth culture and untethered creative expression. The fan engagement and level of commitment to the art is evident in the way the incoming fans have chosen to dress. It’s early November and we’re up on a hilltop so everyone is a bit bundled up knowing that once the sun goes down it’ll be about as cold as Los Angeles is willing to tolerate. Workwear, faux fur and puffer jackets are out which would make a New Yorker giggle to see how dramatic we are about the shift into cooler weather. Among the masses it’s

Long Live the New Flesh: Ho99o9 and N8 NOFACE at Echoplex

Aria Silva-Espinosa May 3, 2022

The span of Ho99o9’s 5-year siege of the hip hop punk crossover scene isn’t nearly enough time to digest the expansive and complex body of work. In March, the group released their second studio album SKIN following a few EP’s and mixtapes since their debut album United States of Ho99o9 that absolutely broke necks back in 2017. That seems long ago and far away now, almost like a fever dream in the wake of live music’s seemingly untimely demise. A few years back when it felt like shit had really hit the fan, I found myself revisiting tracks like War is Hell and Knuckle Up, finding confirmation in the vengeful, acerbic lyricism and concordant rhythm. It’s the kind of music made by and for those of us who have simply had enough of the bullshit, certainly. Ho99o9’s hot-blooded and unbridled grit invigorates the disdain felt for false authority, inequity and the general state of affairs – as relatable today as it was in 2015 if not increasingly moreso. related content: House of Ho99o9 Halloween at The Roxy The full-length studio album is something of a dream/nightmare blunt rotation of collaborators. SKIN was produced by current Kardashian Kaptive and former pop

The Perfect Summer Show: The Drums at the Palladium

Aria Silva-Espinosa August 2, 2019

The lines for the Palladium blocked foot traffic on Sunset Boulevard Saturday night. It’s been so hot and sticky in Los Angeles the past week or so that everyone seems anxious to leave the air conditioned apartments and ceiling fans they’ve been heavily relying on for survival and seek some social interaction. Conversations carry loudly through the venue halls and common areas. One of the best parts of the Palladium is that there’s an old-fashioned popcorn machine in the back, it really makes it feel more like you’re there for the theatre or the cinema rather than a rock show. related content: Overcoming Fear With Fever Ray At The Palladium It’s a good sign when the line at the merch booth is just as enthusiastic as the line outside the box office and the die-hard enthusiasm for New York indie pop outfit The Drums is omnipresent throughout the venue. I pass a kid in the lobby donning dark red makeup with a custom bejeweled full-body jumpsuit bearing the band’s moniker on the back in rhinestones. The Drums certainly have a sound reminiscent of late 80’s new wave music but in a polished sort of way. The music is happy, the

Our Funny Valentine: Oliver Tree at the Roxy

Aria Silva-Espinosa February 24, 2019

Written by: Aria Silva-Espinosa and Harley Moeler Photos by: Marissa Torres We’ve been waiting for Valentine’s Day for months solely because Oliver Tree would be playing at The Roxy. After announcing the Ugly Is Beautiful U.S. tour in early December 2018, I had already named him as one of my artists to watch in 2019, knowing god damn well the kid would deliver. We saw him turn all the way up at Music Tastes Good in Long Beach last year, despite flying back from Ukraine the same day. Oliver Tree was filming the video from his latest single ‘Hurt’, featuring a series of oversized outfits and morbid scenarios. related content: Food For The Soul: music Tastes Good 2018 We can’t help but notice that Oliver Tree dies tragically in every video he’s shown us so far. Despite capturing attention as the subject of a number of bowl cut-related memes, Oliver Tree’s music is a serious venture. If you take away the scooter, neon ski jacket and wide legged 90’s rave pants, the sound stands alone as really good music. Some of his music is sort of indie rock-ish, like ‘All I’ve Got’ but Oliver Tree can definitely rhyme too, as

Trip-hopping into 2019: Tigercide at the Echo

Aria Silva-Espinosa January 10, 2019

It takes a day or two to get your bearings in a new year. It was hard to find the motivation to leave the comfort of my heated apartment but we headed out to The Echo on the second day of 2019, drawn by the allure of some dark, brooding electronic music to match the early sundown city vibe I’ve been feeling lately. Something about the residual Christmas lights still adorning a few random houses and the dying pine trees collecting on the sidewalks reminds me that the festivities are over and it’s time to come back to the usual grind. I needed a good show to start the year off right so the ethereal, trip-hop duo Tigercide seemed like an obvious choice for my first show of the new year. related content: Los Angeles On Mushrooms: Infected Mushroom At Exchange LA Before the show, vocalist Shexist and accompanist Saint Brended chatted amicably with us on the green room couches. Optimistic about the upcoming year but still feeling the pre-show jitters, Shexist inquired about the audience size. It’s hard to draw people out of hiding after the holiday season and even the biggest bands have trouble filling a venue when

The Culture’s Collective: BROCKHAMPTON at the OC Observatory

Aria Silva-Espinosa December 6, 2018

It’s comforting to see that the evolution of the iconic American boy band has landed so gracefully at this spot in the natural trajectory. Brockhampton owes a portion of their success to the VICELAND show titles American Boyband, thus drawing the comparison between the modern-day hip hop collective and the saccharine sweet talkers of the 90’s like ‘NSYNC or Boyz II Men. Truthfully, it isn’t a fair comparison and Brockhampton has defined themselves as a unique tribe of diverse delivery styles. Their first album was good, the SATURATION album trilogy got better and better and then in 2018 Brockhampton brought us iridescence, a new classic to glitter your playlists and binge listen the same way I did with SATURATION III. I was definitely excited to see what kind of crowd they would draw from the depths of Orange County, a place riddled with teenaged discontent and disillusionment embedded safely in the comfort of the suburbs. related content: Corn Dogs, Fashion, Puke, And Rap: Camp Flog Gnaw 2018 Approaching The Observatory, the screen above the box office read ‘SOLD OUT’ in giant red letters. Inside the venue, the crowd was packed into the riser-style standing area with determination, the pit was

Food for the Soul: Music Tastes Good 2018

Aria Silva-Espinosa October 8, 2018

Long Beach has yet to disappoint. Whether it’s a tiny DIY show space with a local artist lineup like Midnight Mass or an R&B soul fest on the water’s edge like Smokin’ Grooves, shows in the LBC draw loads of live music fans at every possible opportunity. Blessed with a diverse demographic, Long Beach festival organizers get to take huge liberties when it comes to booking bands and artists that represent every quadrant of the musical matrix. Music Tastes Good was no exception. They brought new emerging artists, quintessential bands and even artists we didn’t know we were missing into one big block party-style show. related content: Black Is Beautiful: Smokin’ Grooves Festival At The Queen Mary We started out day one with Quintron & Miss Pussycat, husband-and-wife duo from New Orleans. Their performance is half something from a children’s television program and half sing-song drinking ballads. To the untrained eye, their performances are something of a spectacle but there certainly is something uniquely charming about their authenticity. Quintron & Miss Pussycat concluded their set with their cover of Polka Stars “In Heaven There Is No Beer” as the revolving stage gave way to the next act. On the complete

CHVRCHES Give the Greek a Religious Experience

Aria Silva-Espinosa September 27, 2018

Sunday night’s show at The Greek Theater brought a massive slew of concert-goer traffic to the thin winding roads at the base of Griffith Park, overlooked by the throngs of tourists lining the observation deck of the Observatory. Back in the day, you were permitted to abandon your automobile on the precipice of the canyon overlooking the city of Los Angeles, now you have to pay gratuitously for parking in less perilous locations designated by L.A. Parks & Rec. The Greek is an imposing white amphitheatre-style building, an open-air venue that backs up to the darkened cliffside. This makes for a long walk through sports arena-style seating to find your seat with the assistance of an usher or if you’re like me and too proud to ask for direction, your cell phone flashlight. related content: Hot Chip Make Machines Come To Life At The Greek Fittingly, there was an almost full moon hanging in the sky on Sunday night. Lo Moon, the opening act from Los Angeles, delivered a fittingly lovelorn performance early in the evening. Lo Moon is a relatively new formed indie rock trio. Lead vocalist and guitarist Matt Lowell played the song “Loveless“, which he had been

Alison Wonderland Uplifts L.A. at the Shrine

Aria Silva-Espinosa August 20, 2018

Every EDM festival lineup, every mainstream festival EDM selection, year after year is an exhausting shirtless sausage fest. It’s totally true, look it up. Prior to 2014-ish, very few female acts graced the lineups of dance music-focused shows and festivals. Alison Wonderland was the woman who worked her way to the main stage of some of the largest festivals in the world and for the past three years she has toured the world bringing her unique blend of original vocals and electrifying dance music to her massive international fan base. Born Alexandra Sholler in New South Wales, she’s certainly come a long way from playing classical cello in the Sydney Youth Opera for those who want to argue that electronic artists aren’t real musicians. She played bass for a while too before being inspired to go in a different direction by Swedish avant garde electro-pop duo The Knife. The rest is kind of history. She began working as a mixer and began touring in her native Australia as Alison Wonderland in 2012 and released her debut single ‘Get Ready’ in 2013. related content: Overcoming Fear With Fever Ray At The Palladium Dance music festivals are big business for a lot

Double Review Comin’ at You: Suicideyear at Zebulon and Pope at Bootleg

Aria Silva-Espinosa August 9, 2018

Summer is always the best time for live music, no matter where you live. Of course, Los Angeles is a premium stop for touring artists and even in the sweltering July heat, your favorite out-of-state artists will somehow find a way into your own backyard. Two shows in particular sparked my interest earlier this summer when I began filling out my calendar: Baton Rouge-based artist/producer Suicideyear at Zebulon followed by New Orleans indie sadboy outfit Pope at The Bootleg. Both artists embody two dramatically different genres of music but undoubtedly, this is a compare-and-contrast exercise in that both artists have become known as emotional music despite the vast divide between garage rock and electronic music. related content: Overcoming Fear With Fever Ray At The Palladium Suicideyear, the moniker of composer/producer/songwriter and occasional DJ James Prudhomme, has always been kind of a wildcard in live settings. When I was living in Louisiana, I once saw him play an entire festival set of early 2000’s pop and people were into it. I’ve also seen him play haunting industrial sets in dark rooms for a motionless audience. His independent projects are vastly under appreciated in comparison to the work he does in collaboration

Smokin’ Grooves Spotlight Artist: Lion Babe

Aria Silva-Espinosa June 29, 2018

One of the first and most anticipated acts we caught was Lion Babe, comprised of vocalist Jillian Hervey and producer Lucas Goodman. Since the success of their 2012 hit ‘Treat Me Like Fire’, the NYC-based duo has developed a unique formula for creating music together. We caught up with Jillian and Lucas right on the waterfront for a quick interview later in the afternoon following their performance. related content: Black Is Beautiful: Smokin’ Grooves Festival At The Queen Mary “Post-Coachella, we’ve just been getting into the festival season so we have a couple shows coming up but they’re all kind of spread out,” says Jillian of their next two scheduled stops on the East Coast. Lion Babe will be playing the Merriweather Post Pavillion along with Nas, Anderson .Paak and Method Man in the beginning of August before circling back up to New York for a show in Brooklyn at the end of August. After their collaboration with international chart-topping U.K. artists Disclosure, Lion Babe found themselves on the U.K. top 100 charts with their song ‘Hour Glass’. Since they’ve been so well received overseas, I was interested to see if Lion Babe would be aiming to play more shows

Black is Beautiful: Smokin’ Grooves Festival at The Queen Mary

Aria Silva-Espinosa June 22, 2018

Gates to the Smokin’ Grooves festival opened bright and early on Saturday morning with artists playing as early as 11:00am. There’s always a special group of people who hit the festival grounds as soon as gates open, intent on getting the full 12-hour experience but the early crowd gathering on the water’s edge consisted largely of people with young children. Relaxed vibes, diverse music and a behaviorally mature crowd sets Smokin’ Grooves apart from other festivals because it appeals to a broad spectrum of music fans. Headlined by timeless legends like Erykah Badu and The Roots, Smokin’ Grooves brings a sampling of the best of new and old R&B, funk and soul music to Long Beach. Because LBC is more or less equidistant from Downtown LA and Orange County, this festival drew an impressive crowd for a festival in its first year. And truly, as each person moved past me I couldn’t help thinking “Wow, that was the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen! No, they have to be the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen!” Smokin’ Grooves is a cultural celebration, a PRIDE festival and a big family picnic all rolled into one big, three-stage festival in the looming