With a title like Night Life, one might assume that The Horrors would drop listeners into the sweatiest, dingiest, bassiest warehouse after-hours on their latest album. That’s a semi-reasonable assumption if you heard the band’s 2021 EPs, Lout and Against the Blade, but it’s also an incorrect one. On the U.K. band’s six album— their first full-length in seven years— night life is hushed and melancholy. It’s gothic, not goth, i.e. more Brontë sisters than Sisters of Mercy.
It’s the second track off Dead Channel Sky, the latest album from hip-hop trio clipping., that hooked me into the album. “Dominator” begins with a snippet of Human Resource’s early ‘90s banger of the same name, the line “I’m the one and only” pitched up and stuttering towards a collision with rapper Daveed Diggs, who drops a quote from “Bring the Noise,” the Public Enemy classic, “Once again back it’s the incredible.” The sound is bombastic, in the way that the old rave anthems were, and clipping. keeps up the big, boisterous vibe as “Dominator” slides into “Change the Channel,” which twists towards late ‘90s electronic tastes, think “Firestarter”-era Prodigy-meets-Chemical Brothers.
Michael Rother of Neu! and Harmonia plays Intuition Festival at The Broad on Saturday March 22 (Photo courtesy of the artist)
No gigs for me this week, but there’s a lot happening in L.A. from The Smiths tribute nights to David Lynch screenings. Deaf Club kicks off the weekend on Thursday at Alex’s Bar, Intuition Festival is happening at The Broad, Night Tempo is back in L.A. on Saturday night, French group Caravan Palace kicks off next week with a Monday night show at The Novo and Snow Patrol is in town on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In addition, as you might have heard, Dark Delicacies is closing its brick-and-mortar early next month. The Burbank book shop has been a mainstay for horror literature and film fans and I spoke with co-owner Del Howison for the Daily News about the decision to semi-retire. (Click here for a gift link to the story.) Del’s signing his new book at the shop on Saturday, so stop by then, or during business hours before the last day.
Meanwhile, Deadly Wax, a killer record store, just relocated to Granada Hills and the soft opening of the new space is this week. The shop is now located at 17820A Chatsworth Street 91344 and hours are posted on Deadly Wax’s Instagram page, so if you’re in the north San Fernando Valley, stop by and check it out.
In other news, Ash, the new sci-fi horror film directed by Flying Lotus, is out on March 21 and it will be showing at various theaters around L.A. I have not seen the film yet, but the soundtrack is cool, so I’m curious to check it out soon.
Cover of the soundtrack for Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus out on Sacred Bones
If you’ve ever requested “Goodbye Horses” at your local ‘80s or goth club, you need to seek out the new Q Lazzarus documentary. TBH, you need to see this movie even if you’re tired of hearing the song from Silence of the Lambs at every spooky night in town. You need to see it even if you think you don’t know what I’m talking about because- trust me- you will once year hear the first few seconds of the melody. Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus, directed by Eva Aridjis Fuentes, is a must-see music documentary, in part because it’s much more than one song that became an unexpected club hit. This film is no nostalgia ride. In it, Diane Luckey, aka Q, shares her struggles and what ultimately led her to vanish from music in the mid-1990s.
Last month, I reviewed the Goodbye Horses soundtrack for Bandcamp. The 21-song collection is the first ever full-length Q Lazzarus release and, while listening to it, I was stunned by how she built up a large and eclectic body of work over a 10 year period, yet struggled to find anyone to release it. So, I went to a screening of Goodbye Horses at Philosophical Research Society in Los Feliz on Friday night to find out what happened. While I had read about bits-and-pieces of Luckey’s life and knew that she died while the documentary was in the works, I wasn’t expecting the revelations that come in the film.
The view from the DJ booth at Midnight Cities. (Pic: Liz O.)
This is just a super quick update with last night’s set list from Midnight Cities at Catch One. It was a super fun night and, for everyone who was there, I hope you had a good time on the dance floor.
“You could pop on the internet right this second and find people road-raging,” says Mark Lane. “It’s so ubiquitous, such a part of the culture.”
That unabashed anger so often on display online and in the streets is what Lane is referencing in “Yelling at Cars,” the title track from his latest EP, released last November. “I saw you standing in the street/Yelling at cars,” he sings over a beat that’s a little electro, a little EBM, a clubby sound that still conveys the shock and dismay of his observations.
“It’s really hostile now,” he says. “The record touches on this psychosis of imagined road ownership. These people really believe, the road is mine. You see it over and over.”
Start the weekend on Thursday night with Midnight Cities: Indie vs. ‘80s at Catch One. I’ll be in the DJ booth playing ‘80s, indie, post-punk and synthpop for this 18+ party. Discount tickets are available now on Dice, so click this link to get yours now. Party starts at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 13. Catch One is located at 4067 W. Pico 90019. See you on the dance floor at Midnight Cities.
As for the rest of the weekend, keep scrolling to find out what’s happening in Los Angeles.
e eye love by Corita Kent at Corita Art Center in Los Angeles (Photo: Liz O.)
Corita Kent was L.A.’s own pop art star. Back in the 1960s, when she was still a nun and known as Sister Mary Corita, she was named one of L.A. Times’ women of the year and landed on the cover of Newsweek. While she was creating serigraphs with social justice messages, she also taught at Immaculate Heart College and became head of the school’s renowned art department. Kent continued making art long after she left her religious order and moved to Boston. In fact, her best known work was the massively popular U.S. postal stamp that read “Love,” which was released in 1985, one year before her death.
Last week, on International Women’s Day, a new home for Kent’s legacy opened in the Arts District. A few days prior to that, I headed to the new Corita Art Center for a press preview. During my visit, and in the days that followed, I kept thinking about one specific piece. It’s called e eye love, which is part of a series called circus alphabet. In it, an eye is superimposed on a capital letter E. Underneath it is a snippet of a quote from the philosopher and writer Albert Camus, “should like to be able to love my country and still love justice.” Kent made this piece in 1968, a tumultuous year in U.S. history. More than 55 years later, I’m looking at it in a gallery-like setting thinking, “Same.”
Inside Salt Box Records at Hello Stranger in Little Tokyo.
There’s some good news for L.A. crate diggers. Salt Box Records is back IRL. The record shop operated by modern funk musician and DJ XL Middleton recently reopened inside Little Tokyo venue Hello Stranger after focusing on Instagram drops and pop-up events for the past few years. The soft open was last week. I stopped by on Friday afternoon and left with some heat.
The New Wave. vs Darkwave Room at Nocturno during “Blue Monday” (Pic: Liz O.)
Saturday was another amazing night Klub Nocturno at Catch One. I played in the new wave vs. darkwave room, which definitely leaned more darkwave. The one super-new release that made it into the set was “Make Me Feel” by Night Ritualz, whose self-titled album came out on Friday, and there’s a good amount of Molchat Doma in the set because they played on Friday night. Going to keep this update short because there is not enough coffee to wake up my brain on this daylight savings Sunday and I keep writing Molchat Doma as Molchat Dolma, so maybe I need to eat or something. So, thanks to Nocturno for having me play and thanks to everyone who came out and danced. Set list is below.
