This Friday, I’ll be joining my friend Malvada at La Cuevita in Highland Park for Ex-Cetera. Anything goes when we DJ from 10 p.m. until last call, so stop by and join us. La Cuevita is at 5922 N. Figueroa Ave. and there’s no cover, but it is a 21+ night.
Continue reading Circuit de Yeux Live , Marcell Jankovics Film Screening & More L.A. Events for April 24 – April 30
One of the first things I learned as a baby DJ was that genres aren’t all that useful. On a very basic level, they can refer to stylistic conventions (dub) or specific movements (punk) or both (hip-hop), but then the terms get overused (post-punk) and are totally watered down (psychedelic) until they become a meme (goth) and, ultimately, meaningless (indie).
Genres define music for marketing or search engine purposes, but they don’t mean much for human ears. Whether or not songs fit together has less to do with metadata and more to do with qualities that are objective, subjective and pretty hard to describe. That’s all just a long way of saying that I really like when there’s no genre tagged to a gig, which is the case for Splash at The Mermaid, where I played last night. Here’s the set list, which includes new music from Wet Leg, Marie Davidson, Model/Actriz and clipping., classics from Max Romeo (RIP), The Smiths and The Delfonics, a holiday tune from I-F and more.
Continue reading New Wet Leg and Everything Else You Heard at The Mermaid for Splash on April 20, 2025
Depeche Mode x New Order Night at Club Underground was a blast. I played the opening and closing sets last night. Rose Knows and Larry G. played in the middle. The dance floor got going early, like before 10 p.m., and it just seemed to keep going, even after the house lights rose at the end of the night.
I’ve posted my own set lists below. Underground is every Friday night at the Grand Star in Chinatown with DJ Larry G.. I’ll be playing there again in May, so stay tune for details. My next gig is Sunday, April 20, at The Mermaid in Little Tokyo for Splash. It’s an open format night and I’ll be playing from 8 p.m. until 1 a.m.
Continue reading Depeche Mode, New Order and More of What You Heard at Club Underground on April 18, 2025
Lost Records: Bloom and Rage is a new video game from French developer Don’t Nod. Since I’m not much of a gamer, I can’t tell you anything about that, aside from that it’s narrative-driven and about grown women in 2022 reconnecting with a secret from their 1990s teenage past. What I can tell you about, though, is the soundtrack, which, like the game was released in two parts, the second of which dropped this week. And, really, the reason I’m telling you about the soundtrack is because 3/4 of Chromatics— Ruth Radelet, Nat Walker and Adam Miller— reunited to contribute five songs to the Lost Records soundtrack album.
Continue reading Three Former Members of Chromatics Reunite on New Video Game Soundtrack
It’s just before 9:30 p.m. on a Sunday night and red lights beat fast against the upstairs stage at Slipper Clutch. Acidtrain, aka Ryein Evan, has just launched into “Delulu,” a song, he says to the crowd, that’s about the billionaire class.
It’s the day after 36,000 people turned up for Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s Fighting Oligarchy event at Grand Park, just a few blocks away from this downtown club. Plus, “fuck billionaires, fuck Trump” has been the general theme of club conversations for months, so “Delulu” is a good fit for the moment. The frenetic beat and a squelchy synth sound that comes and goes throughout the song captures the vibe of downtown Los Angeles. Evan dances and bounces across the stage, growling lyrics like, “what’s this obsession with cultivating wealth?”
Continue reading Acidtrain Asks “What’s This Obsession with Cultivating Wealth?” in New Song
This Friday is Depeche Mode x New Order night at Club Underground and I’ll be back on the decks with Larry G. and special guest Rose Knows. Both floors of the Grand Star Jazz Club will be open and, in addition to a motherload of Depeche Mode and New Order hits and deep cuts, we’ll be playing indie, Britpop, new wave, darkwave, electro and more. Click on this link to get discount, advance tickets now. Party starts at 9:30 p.m. on Friday, April 18 and it’s 21+. The Grand Star is located at 943 N. Broadway, inside Chinatown’s Central Plaza, right next to the Bruce Lee statue. See you on the dance floor!
Continue reading Depeche Mode x New Order Night at Underground and More Happening This Weekend in L.A.
“Welcome to Berniechella,” Maggie Rogers says to the crowd. It’s Saturday afternoon and tens of thousands of people— 36,000 we’re later told— packed into Gloria Molina Grand Park to fight oligarchy alongside Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Rogers, the Grammy-winning recording artist, is there to perform, as are Dirty Projectors, Joan Baez and Neil Young. To be honest, the downtown Los Angeles stop on Sanders’ Fighting Oligarchy tour isn’t all that different from a music festival, although it did not cost half-a-month’s rent to attend.
Outside the event gates, people hustle for causes and cash. Sign this petition! Buy this shirt! On Hill Street, near the Grand Park Metro stop, vendors hawk merch to the beat of the old school funk jams pulsing across the sidewalk. Badges with some variation of “Fuck Trump” are common. The AOC shirts in Lakers colors provide a nice, local touch.
Continue reading When the Sound of L.A. Is Fighting Oligarchy
Last night was Klub Nocturno at Catch One, where I was the DJ in the new wave vs. darkwave room from open to close. The theme was Boy Harsher Night and a lot of their songs made it into the set alongside bands like Lebanon Hanover, Twin Tribes, French Police, Glass Spells, plus the new wave bangers and lots, lots more. Thanks to Nocturno for having me play and to everyone who made it out to the club last night. Set list is below.
Continue reading Boy Harsher and Everything Else You Heard in the New Wave vs. Darkwave Room at Klub Nocturno on April 11, 2025
In 1991, Holly Woodlawn released her autobiography, A Low Life in High Heels, written with Jeff Copeland. I haven’t read the book, but it’s high at the top of my list now that I have read Copeland’s recently-released Love You Madly, Holly Woodlawn. The writer’s own memoir is a funny, sweet and engaging story about an unexpected, and sometimes tumultuous, L.A. friendship at the turn of the 1990s. What I loved about this memoir is how Copeland deftly intertwines a story about HOLLYWOOD, as in the movie world, with Hollywood, as in the place.
Woodlawn, who died a decade ago, was best known as the Holly in Lou Reed’s hit, “Walk on the Wild Side.” She was an Andy Warhol superstar who appeared in films like Trash and Women in Revolt. By the late ‘80s, she was living on the West Coast and not exactly in the best place in her life. Copeland was a young writer from Missouri who had moved to L.A. with hopes of breaking into the film industry. Their friendship resulted in A Low Life in High Heels and would be strained, in part, as a result of attempts to turn Woodlawn’s autobiography into a film, which never happened. That’s the HOLLYWOOD part of the story.
Continue reading Love You Madly, Holly Woodlawn Is a Touching Memoir Set in Early ’90s Hollywood
In early February, in a small L.A. venue called Love Song, Taleen Kali debuted her EP, Covered, a few days before its Valentine’s Day release. Every detail reflected the holiday theme. The EP, which includes versions of songs like “Ava Adore” and “#1 Crush,” was available on heart-shaped flashdrives at a merch booth decorated with cupids. The listening party was followed by a live set where Taleen Kali, the person, morphed into Taleen Kali, the band, as more and more musicians joined the singer/guitarist on stage for a set that included live rarities and music from Covered.
It was a killer night, and I’m not just saying that because I happened to be the DJ for the show or because Taleen and I have been pals for a few years. I mean, it was a very well-planned and well-executed show.
Continue reading Taleen Kali: “Sometimes, I think it’s easy to lose touch with the point of DIY”