In 2022, Legendary Pink Dots released The Museum of Human Happiness, their first album since the pandemic. It was one of my favorite albums of that year and, really, one of the finest releases from a band who celebrated their 40th anniversary just before lockdown. Now, two weeks into 2025, they’ve dropped the follow-up, So Lonely in Heaven, via Metropolis Records and I humbly recommend that you listen to the two albums back-to-back. I don’t know if it’s intentional, but from the listener’s perspective, The Museum of Human Happiness and So Lonely in Heaven sound as if they are part of the same extended body of work.
In the four or five times that I’ve listened to The Human Fear, the latest album from Franz Ferdinand, since it was released on January 10, I keep going back to one song. “Black Eyelashes” is the band’s take on rembetiko (also spelled rebetiko), a style of Greek music that was particularly popular in the first half of the 20th century, and I’m hooked on it.
It’s sounds like there have been a Greek influence on Franz Ferdinand’s music from the get-go. I can’t really pinpoint exactly what it is, but something in the guitar tones and the rhythms they use has struck me as very eastern Mediterranean since I first heard “Take Me Out” 20+ years ago. On, “Black Eyelashes,” though, the influence is so blatant that you might start imagining that final dance scene in Zorba the Greek. I did.
It’s David Bowie’s birthday, which means that Friday night, January 10, will be Club Underground’s annual Bowie night. Both floors of the Grand Star will be open so ready for some sound and vision with Larry G. and me in the DJ booths and Miho ready to make you up like Aladdin Sane. Underground’s Bowie Nights do sell out, so click on this link to get your tickets asap.
Finally, there’s a movie that truly understands the vinyl nerd, one that gets the crazy, stupid and possibly dangerous lengths we might travel to procure an ultra-rare, likely-cursed album released by a hippie cult a half-century ago. Of course, this movie, Pater Noster and the Mission of Light, is a horror flick served with a good dose of comedy. Where else did you think a hunt for Discogs gold would take you?
Directed by Christopher Bickel, the South Carolina-based, “anti-Hollywood” filmmaker whose previous efforts include Bad Girls and The Theta Girl, Pater Noster and the Mission of Light is no-budget cinema at its finest. It looks good, has a great soundtrack with original music and, most importantly, is a clever, well-written film. Released last year, Pater Noster has been streaming on Night Flight, which is where I caught it. There’s also a Blu-Ray release on the horizon.
Dancing to “Smalltown Boy” at Club Underground’s New Year’s Eve party.
By now, you’ve probably read, and argued with, more Best of 2024 lists than you can recall, but I’m here to tell you now, on the first day of 2025, that the real song of the year was a 40-year-old Bronski Beat club hit whose viral success probably wasn’t as organic as reported. (Seriously, people just happened to ask their parents how to dance to “Smalltown Boy” right at the time of the song’s 40th anniversary and not, like, when it appeared in Euphoria? And there just happened to be contemporary club remixes ready to be released in the aftermath of its success on TikTok?)
But, even if the song’s resurgence was a total marketing ploy, it worked. On the hottest nights of the summer, I would hear people scream for “Smalltown Boy” as they threw their hands in the air and danced with sweat dripping from their faces. After the summer faded, the song’s popularity dipped only slightly. On New Year’s Eve, it still hyped up the Underground crowd. But, to be fair, “Smalltown Boy” is one of those songs that never quite dropped off L.A. club playlists— like “Living on Video” or “Send Me an Angel”— the whole viral thing just gave it an extra kick.
Anyhow, thanks to everyone who made it out to Club Underground’s New Year’s Eve party last night. Scroll down to see what I played. Next gig for me is David Bowie night at Club Underground on Friday, January 10. David Bowie night is a biggie, and it has sold out before, so click on this link to get your tickets as soon as possible.
