Taleen Kali’s latest album, Flower of Life, on vinyl. (pic: Liz O.)
While eating a 1 a.m. Del Taco dinner, I thought about how amazing an opportunity it is to be able to DJ in the L.A. music scenes in which I’ve played for so long. Getting to connect with fantastic bands, DJs and other people through this world is a constant source of inspiration. So, I’m incredibly grateful that Taleen Kali asked me to DJ on Wednesday night for the shoegaze installment of the band’s September residency at Harvard and Stone.
Taleen Kali, Izzy Outerspace and Lux Lawless all played fantastic live sets. Given the theme of the night, I put together sets that included some classic and contemporary shoegaze, psychedelic and indie rock. Check out the set list here.
I forgot to take pics while I was DJing, so here’s a mermaid skeleton at The Mermaid that I saw right before the night started. (Pic: Liz O.)
For years, I used to post most of my set lists. Then I stopped because I figured if people were that curious about what I’m playing, they would actually go to the party and Shazam (or, like, come up and ask me about) whatever song they don’t know. Now I’m rethinking that because Shazam doesn’t catch everything. Plus, I like having an archive and want people to actually know what songs are played. So, this is the set from Dolce Vita at The Mermaid on September 12, 2023.
I’m constantly filing and cataloging my record collection. Every time, I think that I will devise the perfect system and reveal a latent talent for organization, like in Party Girl. But, once I get about halfway through the task, I realize that the system doesn’t work as well as it should and start all over again. The only upside to this Sysiphean task— which, I suppose, is also very Party Girl— is that I inevitably reconnect with a handful of old records.
My latest Beatique mix is now live. To listen to the hour-long episode, either tune in on Mixcloud or via the embed here. Here’s the full track list for you.
Falco: Verdammt, wir leben noch! is a 2008 Austrian biopic of the late pop singer Falco, released in the U.S. under the title, Falco: The Rise and Fall of an ‘80s Pop Icon. Now, you might be scratching your head and thinking, “There’s a Falco biopic? Why?” In fact, that’s exactly what went through my dumb American brain when I recently learned of the existence of this film.
It’s probably pointless to write about Cracker Island, the latest album from Gorillaz, almost a month after it was released. It’s already been heavily reviewed. It’s a Billboard chart hit. If you’re into the long-running collaboration between Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett and a revolving cast of star musicians and producers, you probably already have Cracker Island.
Still, I’m going to write a couple paragraphs about Cracker Island here just in case you missed it. After all, it is very easy for the albums you want to hear to get lost in the algorithms.
Star Creature Universal Vibrations is a Chicago-based record label dedicated to “contemporary boogie” that’s been around since 2015. They first hit my radar a couple years after that, back when Salt Box Records had a brick-and-mortar in Chinatown and I picked up a new release from a Russian outfit called Venus Express II based almost solely on the cover art. As it turns out, the record was just as cool as the album sleeve, so now I consider Star Creature to be a mark of quality for funky, synth-heavy tunes.
Perhaps like a lot of other DJs, I’ve been playing Nuovo Testamento a lot in my sets since nightlife returned. The disco mix of “Vanity” was one of the most-played tracks in my sets last year, in fact, I think I only played “Machina” from Boy Harsher more often.
The summer before the pandemic, my husband and I went to go see The Space Lady at Zebulon. It was a strange night. An earthquake hit while we were eating dinner and watching Skyfall in Spanish at an Armenian restaurant not far from the venue. That might have also been the night at Zebulon that ended with a parking ticket as well, but my memory of pre-pandemic times fails me. Regardless, what I do remember is that we got to Zebulon early enough to catch opener Maraschino, who I had never heard before that night. Her sound, a synth pop-disco hybrid, caught my attention immediately and I’ve been following her work since then.
The moral of the story is always try to catch the opening act, even on those very strange nights.
