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  • Stop Scrolling and Start Digging at Central Library

    world's largest pop up book in the rotunda at Los Angeles Richard J. Riordan Central Library (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Luceros y Penumbras: The World’s Largest Pop-Up Book in the Rotunda at Central Library (Pic: Liz O.)

    “I’m going to show you something cool,” I say to my husband while leading him to the back of a room on the bottom level of Central Library. “And, by cool, I mean super dorky.”

    I love browsing through old stuff. It’s not a nostalgia thing. I don’t long for the past. I just like to make connections between what was and what is. It’s how my DJ brain works. Like, a significant moment in my evolution as a music nerd came in my late teens, when I stopped thinking of ‘60s soul as my parents’ music and realized it was the basis for most of what I liked. Every song builds on what came before it. DJing is just figuring out how it all fits together. 

    Movies are similar. Like, the other night I just happened to catch I Want to Live! on TCM. Susan Hayward plays a woman found guilty of murder and sentenced to death in the 1950s. It’s a terrific movie – Hayward won an Oscar for her performance – and, in the midst of it, I thought, OMG, this is Female Trouble! Divine as Dawn Davenport was totally channeling Susan Hayward as Barbara Graham! 

    This is cultural literacy, something that’s lost when you’re served media via a corporation’s algorithm. You think you’re learning something because your feed is overloaded with variations of the same “How New Order Made ‘Blue Monday’” video, but you aren’t. You’re just parroting AI-generated summaries of Wikipedia entries. If you want to be really culturally literate, you need to get out into the world and figure things out for yourself. That’s why I love thrift stores and record shops, museums and libraries. Particularly, I love Central Library. 

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  • Just Like Heaven, Slayyyter, VinylCon and More Happening This Weekend

    Driptone Records booth at VinylCon in Los Angeles on August 23, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    VinylCon 2025 (Pic: Liz O.)

    It’s another jam-packed week of shows and stuff in Los Angeles. I’ve broken down my recommendations day by day for Thursday, August 20, through Wednesday, August 26. Before we get into the list, I just want to point out that there are a mix of events here with ticket prices ranging from free to a lot.  The venue names all link back to the ticket pages. Check those for prices, as well as age limits. Have fun and lmk if you make it out to any of these events. 

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  • How I Finally Came Around to the Strokes

    The Strokes Reality Awaits album cover

    I’ve never been big on The Strokes. Now, that might sound like a surprise given that I’ve been playing the band in my sets, literally, since the Is This It era, but part of being a DJ is playing music that works in the room even if it’s not your favorite. I never really hated the band either. (If I did, I wouldn’t play them at all.) It’s just one of those things, where I guess I like some songs, but the hype kind of annoyed me and there were other bands coming out at the time that I preferred. It’s not a big deal. You don’t have to love everything that’s been deemed important or popular. Pre-social media, people understood that. 

    Anyhow, there was this moment a few months ago when it hit me that The Strokes were cool af. Or, at least, Julian Casablancas is. It was when the band played Coachella and bits and pieces of the set turned up on my Instagram feed as a clip loop. That performance of “Oblivius,” with the images on the screen pointing to the U.S.’ history of messing around with other people’s countries, bringing us up to present-day Iran and followed by the destruction of Gaza’s last university, hit me hard. That was a bold move for a Coachella set, especially after what happened to Kneecap in the aftermath of last year’s festival.

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  • Los Mirlos Brings Cumbia Amazónica to L.A.’s Music Center

    Los Mirlos live at Jerry Moss Plaza at L.A. Music Center (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Los Mirlos live at Jerry Moss Plaza at Los Angeles’ Music Center on Saturday, 8/15/26 (Pic: Liz O.)

    On Saturday night, Los Mirlos wasted no time transporting the downtown Los Angeles crowd to the jungles of Peru. Dressed in green track pants and matching print shirts, the long-running band brought cumbia Amazonica to the Music Center’s Jerry Moss Plaza for a free show that kept the large, multi-ethnic and cross-generational crowd dancing for more than an hour-and-a-half to rhythms that evoke rolling rivers and rain patter.  

    Founded in 1973, Los Mirlos is one of the best known cumbia outfits to emerge from Peru onto the world stage. They’re the subject of the 2022 documentary, La Danza de los Mirlos. Last year, they became the first Peruvian band to play Coachella. Earlier this year, they released The World Meets Los Mirlos, a collection of collaborations with artists that include Colombian pop star Juanes, London-based psych cumbia band Los Bitchos, Puerto Rican rapper Guaynaa and American rock outfit 311. Saturday night’s concert came in the midst of a U.S. tour that runs through early September. 

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  • Review: Brendan Angelides Can You Feel the End Begin?

    Cover art Brendan Angelides Can You Feel the End Begin?

    Over the years, Brendan Angelides has scored TV shows like Billions and 13 Reasons Why, as well as the video game Assassin’s Creed Mirage. On his new solo album, Can You Feel the End Begin?, the composer and producer scores the American dystopia. The big tell that this is where the album is heading is Angelides’ choice of cover songs, “I’m Afraid of Americans,” David Bowie’s 1997 jam, co-written with Brian Eno and famously remixed by Trent Reznor for added industrial oomph. 

    Angelides’ version of “I’m Afraid of Americans,” released as a single in late July, plays off the Reznor remix, but with a much-needed dose of bottom-heavy funk. The vocal delivery from Angelides and Serj Tankian gets darker, more twisted and urgent, as the song veers towards its conclusion. It’s a song that has only grown more disturbing with time – at this point, we might all be afraid of Americans – and that’s something Angelides and at Tankian tease out of this cover. In fact, in the video’s YouTube description, Angelides writes, “I keep thinking about what happens to creative communities during authoritarian times. It’s half of what this upcoming album is about.” 

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  • Like Rashomon and Columbo? Check Out The Samurai and the Prisoner

    I didn’t know anything about The Samurai and the Prisoner outside of the title before seeing it at Alamo Drafthouse last night. The title, though, is straightforward and, in fact, the new movie from Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is about a samurai and a prisoner. The plot is a little more involved, comprised of smaller, seemingly isolated, mysteries that point to multiple, overarching threads of castle intrigue. 

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  • Klub Nocturno on August 14 + More Happening This Weekend

    Klub Nocturno Los Angeles August 14 flyer

    This Friday, August 14, Klub Nocturno is back at Catch One for a full venue take over. Six rooms, six themes and I’ll be DJing in the new wave vs. darkwave room. Tickets are 70% sold last I heard, so head over to Dice to get yours before they’re gone. 

    Late last year, I wrote about a fantastic documentary, WTO/99, that I saw at 2220 Arts + Archives. It’s a look back at the 1999 World Trade Organization protest in Seattle told entirely through archival footage. The juxtaposition of on-the-ground footage and mainstream news reports makes it a compelling story about an event that, in hindsight, had a major impact on the new century. WTO/99 is screening at the Glendale Laemmle from August 14 through August 20 and I highly recommend catching it in the theater, especially if you have an interest in protest movements. 

    As for the rest of the weekend, plus early next week, I have lots of recommendations and broke them down by day, just because it seemed to make more sense. Keep reading for the details. 

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  • Shonen Knife Brings Back The Classics with Let’s Knife Re-Cut

    Shonen Knife Press Photo by Kai Taylor
    (Photo: Kai Taylor)

    Let’s Knife wasn’t Shonen Knife’s first album. It wasn’t even the Japanese punk band’s first album in the U.S. Still, the 1992 release became a pivotal one for the trio, who had already been together for about a decade by that point. Songs from the album, like “Riding on the Rocket,” have remained fan favorites, and part of the band’s live sets, some 30+ years later. “It’s our core of Shonen Knife,” says singer/guitarist Naoko on a recent video call from Osaka. 

    There was a problem, though, in that Let’s Knife had fallen out of print and wasn’t available for streaming. Since Let’s Knife’s absence from streamers was beyond the band’s control, Shonen Knife’s U.S. producer Robby Takac (who is also bassist of Goo Goo Dolls and head of Good Charamel Records) suggested that they re-record it. “I thought it was a very good idea,” says Naoko. Not only would the songs be available again, but they would be recorded by the current lineup. Atsuko, Naoko’s sister, played drums for the band in the early 1990s. Now, she’s the bassist. Drummer Risa has been part of the fold for a little more than a decade.

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  • Fcukers nüyork Remixes + Last Night’s Set List

    Cover of nüyork EP by fcukers
    Cover of fcukers EP, nüyork

    Last week, Fcukers released an EP called nuyork, which features three remixes of songs from Ö by esteemed New York DJs Eli Escobar, Justin Strauss and Junior Sanchez. All three of the remixes are top tier, but the one I played last night at Underground, “Beatback (Justin Strauss en la Piscina Remix),” is my favorite. I initially gravitated to it because Strauss, a lowkey icon of New York’s club scene, did my favorite remix of Marc Almond’s song “Tears Run Rings,” which I only play in all-vinyl sets. His take on “Beatback” has a similar darkness to it, albeit with a slower, house-leaning tempo than the very hiNRG “Tears Run Rings.” Looked like those of you on the dance floor were into it as well. Do yourself a favor and get that EP in your collection.

    Two other new releases from last night’s set are the Nick Zinner remix of Automatic’s song “Black Box,” which was played early, and Madonna and Kylie Minogue’s collab “Love Sensation (Afterhours Mix).” As usual, the set list is below, songs from the past year or so link back to other mentions on this blog. A couple song you heard last night, like Arctic Monkeys “Opening Night” and Boy Harsher “Blue Jeans,” are on this month’s mix, so maybe give that a listen. Thanks for dancing!

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  • Little Tokyo: Where the Nerds and Jocks Converge

    Wizards Crew One Piece Dodgers mural in Little Tokyo (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    One Piece meets Dodgers baseball in Wizard’s Crew’s Little Tokyo mural. (Pic: Liz O.)

    There’s a Dodgers/One Piece mashup mural standing on a short, strip mall wall right outside the Little Tokyo Metro station and it’s probably the best visual representation of the neighborhood at this moment. Monkey D. Luffy, the manga/anime’s main protagonist, is pitching with a rubbery arm that curves into a D and O as he releases the ball, an IYKYK reference from artists Wizard’s Crew for those who have at least some familiarity with One Piece. The rest of the Dodgers name trails behind the character in ribbon-like cursive writing, bringing together the two pastimes that have been driving hordes of visitors to this historic, downtown Los Angeles neighborhood in recent years- anime and baseball. 

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