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  • Choose Your Own Adventure at LACMA’s David Geffen Galleries

    Flower Day by Diego Rivera and a sculpture of Chicomecoatl at LACMA David Geffen Galleries (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Flower Day by Diego Rivera and a sculpture of Chicomecoatl at LACMA David Geffen Galleries. (Photo: Liz O.)

    There’s no right way to travel through the new David Geffen Galleries at LACMA. I just happened to see Flower Day, a Diego Rivera painting where calla lilies are piled high on the shoulders of a vendor, as soon as I walked into the museum. Nearby was a small statue of the Aztec goddess Chicomecoatl. This seemed like a good place to start, so I began to walk an open pathway beyond the ancient Colima sculpture of a dog that stands guard, through a collection of works that’s some 2000 years old and into a passage of Latin American paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries.

    Quickly, though, the art around me looked more familiar, more like the L.A. I know. I was in a nook with rafa esparza’s adobe wall sculpture, …we are the mountains in front of me. To might right was one George Rodriguez’s photos from the Chicano movement. I turned my head slightly to the left and spotted a Smiths t-shirt out of the corner of my eye. That has to be one of Shizu Saldamando’s drawings, I thought. It was. 

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  • Darkwave Nite at Club Underground + More Happening This Weekend

    Darkwave Nite Club Underground Friday, April 17, 2026

    This Friday, April 17, is Darkwave Nite at Club Underground. Both rooms of Grand Star Jazz Club will be open with Larry G. playing indie Britpop and more in one room, while I’ll be spinning darkwave, synth, electro, post-punk, etc. in the other room. Will you dance to new Ladytron? Maybe some ADULT.? Sextile and Pixel Grip? Come down and find out. Advance tickets are available now.

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  • New Kneecap, Ladytron + More of What You Heard Upstairs at Underground

    Kneecap "Fenian" single cover
    Cover of “Fenian” by Kneecap, which came out on April 1, 2026

    It was great to see people dancing to “Fenian,” the single from Kneecap that came out last week, upstairs at Club Underground last night. It’s such a killer song. Plus, it fit into the ‘90s Nite vibe. TBH, a lot of today’s dance music does. 

    I wasn’t in the theme room last night, so it was kind of anything-goes upstairs, but I did dig up some of my ‘90s to drop in the set. “Born Slippy,” “Halcyon and on and on” and “Papua New Guinea” are all songs that are pretty formative to my taste, as in I heard them when they were new and was like, “WTF is this?!” Also got in some early 2000s jams that I haven’t played in a minute, like “La La Land” from Green Velvet, which I used to play so often that I have multiple copies on vinyl with multiple remixes. 

    As for new tunes, “A Death in London” from Ladytron was also in the set. I really like the sax on that song and it sounds so good early in the night. It might end up becoming my go-to from the band’s latest album. 

    Anyhow, thanks for dancing at Underground last night. See you next week! Set list is below. Songs from the past year or so link back to other mentions on this blog. Also, three songs from last night are on this month’s Beatique mix, so give that a listen on Mixcloud when you have a chance. 

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  • Teen Songwriting Camp Launches in LA This Summer

    Amplify Arts Project x Push-Up Bra LA Writers Camp Press Photo by Emily Marcovecchio
    Photo: Emily Marcovecchio

    This summer, a small handful of teens will have the opportunity to write and produce music in a collaborative, professional studio environment when the inaugural Amplify Arts Project x Push-Up Bra LA Writers Camp takes place in Los Angeles. The five-day intensive, open to 14 to 19-year-old girls and gender-expansive youth, includes songwriting sessions with professional mentors and workshops on subjects like music publishing and marketing. 

    “We want to give them a positive first impression of what it’s like to be in a recording studio,” says Devin Davis of Amplify Arts Project (and also of the band Ramonda Hammer), the organization that runs music and arts summer camps for girls. To do this, Amplify partnered with Push-Up Bra LA, a local non-profit working to empower women in music through writing camps, live performances and networking events. The goal of this summer’s teen Writers Camp is to function much in the same way a professional one would. 

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  • ’90s Nite at Club Underground + More Happening in L.A. 4/09-4/15/26

    90s Nite Club Underground Flyer

    This Friday, April 10, is ‘90s Nite at Club Underground— think Britpop, Björk and Trainspotting— and both floors of Grand Star Jazz Club will be open. Larry G. and I will be your DJ for the night and it should be a good one. Advance tickets are available now, so get yours as soon as you can I’ll see you on the dance floor this Friday night. Party starts at 9:30 p.m. and it’s 21+. 

    As for the rest of the weekend and early next week, here are my recommendations. 

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  • Listen to the April 2026 Edition of Beatique

    Beatique Mix April 2026

    The April 2026 edition of Beatique is now live on Mixcloud. This month’s installment features new music from Slayyyter and Kneecap, throwbacks from Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Armand Van Helden, plus lots more. If you want the whole tracklisting, you have to listen, but there are links to posts related to the songs and/or artists at the bottom of this post.

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  • Klub Nocturno on Friday, April 3 + More Happening This Weekend

    Nocturno Catch One Los Angeles flyer April 3, 2026

    Klub Nocturno is happening at Catch One this Friday, April 3, at Catch One. Five rooms for $5 and I’ll be DJing in the rock en Español vs. cumbia room this time around. Tickets are available now on Dice, so get yours asap. 

    Aside from my own DJ gig, I do have a few recommendations for this weekend and next week, so keep reading for the details. 

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  • My First Trip to New, Chinatown Concert Venue Pacific Electric

    Voxtrox live at Pacific Electric in Los Angeles, March 26, 2026 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Voxtrox live at Pacific Electric, March 2026 (Pic: Liz O.)

    “You should see the green room, it’s like a boutique hotel,” says Voxtrot singer Ramesh Srivastava on stage at Pacific Electric. It’s Thursday night and the Chinatown concert venue has been open about week, with Voxtrot’s headlining concert being just the second, open-to-the-public event here. The newness of Pacific Electric is very much a part of the buzz in the atmosphere. You can see it in the way the crowd moves about the unfamiliar space, peeking around corners to see where the bathroom is, glancing up from the ground level to catch a view of the balcony. You can see it, too, in the staff, so fresh-faced and friendly. They’ve yet to be grizzled by entitled party people and messy drunks. 

    I was at Pacific Electric to see Voxtrot, who I had recently interviewed, but, given that the venue is brand new, this post is focused on the space itself. (Here’s the link for the story on Voxtrot.) You may have read about Pacific Electric previously, as it was featured in the L.A. Times and Time Out prior to the opening, but, maybe you want to read about the experience from someone who went to a show there. 

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  • Dancing to the No Kings Beat in Downtown Los Angeles

    Los Jornaleros del Norte performing at the No Kings protest in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, March 28, 2026 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Los Jornaleros del Norte performing at the No Kings protest in downtown Los Angeles on 3/28/26. (Pic: Liz O.)

    “Cumbia de la Cobra” leads me deeper into the protest. It’s a banger of the genre with a hypnotic, Middle Eastern-ish melody. I follow the cumbia rhythm through a throng of folks holding signs against ICE and war and Trump towards the sound of horns that are definitely being played live. I hit gridlock at the top of a set of stairs leading down to Broadway. Parked on the street that cuts between two levels of Gloria Molina Grand Park is the mobile People’s Stage, where Los Jornaleros del Norte are performing. The crowd, dancing on stairs and sidewalk, is large, but it’s only small fraction of the turnout for the downtown Los Angeles No Kings rally on this sunny Saturday afternoon in late March. 

    In the background I hear someone on a megaphone saying something about a big baby. I look up and see that the team of people maneuvering the President Poopypants— IDK if that’s really it’s name, but it should be— balloon is headed towards this makeshift dance floor. We scooch around as Trump’s diaper-clad behind floats above us, but the party continues. 

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  • New Gelli Haha, Slayyyter and More of What You Heard Upstairs at Underground 3/27/26

    Gelli Haha "Klouds Will Carry Me to Sleep" single cover by Daniela Buvat
    Gelli Haha “Klouds Will Carry Me to Sleep” single cover by Daniela Buvat

    I have to admit that it took me a minute to get into Gelli Haha. “Bounce House” kept coming up on my Instagram feed and I thought the song was fine, but not as interesting as the video. So, it wasn’t until a month or so ago that I sat down and listened to Switcheroo. What a fun album! There’s a song called “Piss Artist” that I love because it’s irreverent, like the early ‘00s club hits that only the people who were there still remember. And “Tiramisu,” which I can only describe as sounding like someone playing a tribute to ‘90s house live a DIY art-punk show, has been getting stuck in my head. But, I didn’t play either of those songs last night at Underground because Gelli Haha has a new single out, “Klouds Will Carry Me to Sleep,” and it’s super cute in a way that reminds of a cross between The Avalanches and The Go! Team. I played it early last night, mostly to see how it sounds in the room, but I think I’ll keep it on hand. 

    The other new release that I want to mention is Wor$t Girl in America by Slayyyter. I wasn’t expecting to like it, but, every now and then there’s a pop album with a bunch of hype surrounding it that doesn’t bore the crap out of me and this is one of those moments. It has the sleazy club sound that I love, where it sounds like your dancing on a beer-sticky floor under a ceiling that’s dripping sweat. I didn’t really know what to play off the album. “Yes Goddd” has a killer Gesaffelstein-ish beat, but it didn’t work with the rest of the set this week. Maybe next time. I ended up going with “Unknown Loverz,” which has a much lighter sound, at the last minute.

    Anyhow, the set list is below. Songs from the past year or so link back to previous mentions on the blog. 

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