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.
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.
Just a quick update with my set list from last night’s gig. I played at The Mermaid for Splash Sundays, with a set that went roughly from 8 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. Splash Sundays is a no genre night, but I think last night’s set definitely leaned more towards classic alt and modern indie and darkwave. I don’t plan sets. Really, I just go by what songs make people move and what band t-shirts people are wearing.
Confidence Man dropped a Christmas banger last week, called “Santa’s Comin Down the Chimney.” It has a late-‘90s electro-techno thing going, like Dopplereffekt or Miss Kittin and the Hacker, which is really weird for a Christmas song and something that I, a person who is extremely picky about holiday tunes, can appreciate. If you were at The Mermaid for Splash! Sundays last night, you might have heard it sandwiched in between Del the Funky Homosapien and Crystal Castles.
Splash is an open format night, so, really, anything goes as far as the music is concerned. Since this was the Sunday before Christmas, and The Mermaid has its “Siren Who Stole Xmas” pop-up going on right now, I brought a few of my favorite holiday jams, like Charo’s disco-fied “(Mamacita) ¿Donde Esta Santa Claus?” and a really specific remix of “El Burrito de Belen” that took one holiday season of heavy Googling to find.
Still, I could have kicked myself for forgetting to download Los Bitchos’ holiday EP before the gig, but all their songs are good for a party, so “Talkie Talkie, Charlie Charlie,” from the band’s latest album,Talkie Talkie, made it into the set. Male Tears’ new one, “Little Doll,” which landed in Friday night’s set at Catch One, made a reappearance. A handful of 2024 faves— Fontaines D.C., Pet Shop Boys and La Femme included— turned up in Sunday night’s set too. It’s a real mixed bag, but I swear, if you were there and heard the set, which lasted from 8 p.m. until about 10:30 or so, it totally made sense. Keep scrollin’ to see what else was heard at Splash! Sundays on December 22. Next gig is New Year’s Eve at Underground. See you there.
Cover art for “Little Doll” single from Male Tears
I wasn’t planning on playing anything super new at last night’s Nocturno-presented fundraiser for Refugee Children Center. The Cure was the theme for the night and, by 1 a.m., I was trying to squeeze in as many songs from the band as possible. But, also, the crowd was riding this darkwave-meets-Italo-meets-Crystal Castles vibe, so right after Mr. Flagio’s classic “Take a Chance” faded out and “Vanished,” the Crystal Castle song, took over, I thought that new Male Tears song might work. And it did. Actually, “Little Doll” worked really well. It kept the crowd going between and segued nicely to “Fotonovela,” the old Spanish synthpop tune from Ivan, which lead to Depeche Mode and then to more Cure to close out the night.
Male Tears dropped “Little Doll” earlier this month. I gave it a listen because I liked the cover art. IDK if ‘80s Eastern European Fantasy Film is the intended aesthetic, but that’s how I see it and I love it. It turns out that I loved the song too. It’s catchy synthpop with a just a hint of early ‘90s Eurodance creeping in the background. Definitely a keeper. (If you want to snag a copy for yourself, here’s the link to the song on Bandcamp, which I think is still the more artist-friendly option.)
Anyhow, thanks to everyone who came out last night to dance and support Refugee Children Center. Here’s the set list.
Last night was a blast! Thanks to Larry G. for having me play at Underground last night and for everyone who turned up to my Friday the 13th darkwave birthday gig. I’ll be back at Underground for New Year’s Eve. Tickets are available now, so click this link to get yours asap. Keep scrolling to see what I played last night.
Spoiler alert: Romance by Fontaines D.C. is the album of the year.
Year-end lists are tough. I don’t even know how many versions of my top 2024 albums I drafted before settling on this one. It was, originally, a 10 album list. That just wasn’t working, though, so I expanded it to 15 and still ended up cutting a bunch of albums that are fantastic. What I’m getting at is that I’m not going to argue with anyone about what isn’t or isn’t on here. I already spent a few weeks arguing with myself and will probably continue to second-guess every choice until it’s time to make the 2025 list. If you don’t like it, make your own list.
All of these are albums that I like to listen to in full. A few of the picks have songs that turn up in my club sets, but club-friendly music is not a requirement here. I’ll have another list for that and, likely, a mix as well, so keep checking back between now and New Year’s Eve. Until then, read on for my top 15 albums of 2024.
The crowd in Nocturno’s New Wave vs. Darkwave room on Saturday, November 30, dancing to Mareux “Lovers from the Past” (Pic: Liz O.)
It’s 9 a.m. and I just poured my second cup of coffee after waking up an hour ago, so last night is a still kind of a blur. I played in the New Wave vs. Darkwave room at Nocturno, which was lit almost from the start. Like, I remember seeing people dancing in the line for the bathroom by the third or fourth song of the set.
I finally had the chance to play “Digital Slaves,” from Gesaffelstein’s latest album, Gamma. I’ve been listening to the album for a few months now and keep going back to that song because the lyrics are very 2024, but the sound is very 2004, and that juxtaposition makes a lot of sense in my brain. But, I haven’t had a gig where I thought it would work until last night, right after I heard the screams for She Wants Revenge “Tear You Apart” and noticed that the room was packed. Tl;dr is that “Digital Slaves” did really well and it’s a total keeper in the sets now, which is nice because I haven’t really played his music out since The Lash closed.
Anyhow, overall, the vibe was more darkwave than new wave, which is always fun. Thanks to Nocturno for having me play and for everyone who hit the dance floor last night. Check out the set list below.
Underground at Grand Star Jazz Club 11/29/24 (Pic: Liz O.)
The first surprise of the night was playing Underground, which, as always, was a blast. The second was when my husband I realized that Ryo (@human_revo), who has been documenting his cycling journey across the U.S., was in Chinatown. In a joint effort, we invited him and his crew to Underground and they stopped by for a bit. The cross-country journey ends in Santa Monica today and I highly recommend watching along if/when they’re live. It’s so inspirational.
Anyhow, here’s the set list from last night. I’ll be back at Underground for my Friday the 13th darkewave birthday bash (click for tix) and will be playing there New Year’s Eve. (Click here for NYE tickets.) Tonight is Nocturno with Depresion Post Mortem playing live. The party is already sold out, but if you have tickets, I’ll see you in the new wave vs. darkwave room.
The holidays have arrived at The Mermaid (Photo: Liz O.)
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers is playing on one of the TV sets inside The Mermaid when I arrive. The movie is bonkers in the best way possible and, since it just started, I take that as a sign that tonight’s going to be a good night. And it is. I start playing a little before 8 p.m. and, not long into the set, someone starts dancing to Amy Winehouse, then continues through Freda Payne at Stevie Wonder. Someone else starts head-bopping to Talking Heads and the guy who was dancing to the soul jams sings along with Madonna.
Splash!, on Sundays at The Mermaid, is not a genre-specific night, so really, anything goes at the DJ table. For two-and-a-half hours, I jump across decades, from the 1960s until today. I work in “My Generation,” from the latest La Femme album, which I’ve been listening to on repeat since I bought it earlier last week, and two songs from Fontaines D.C.’s album-of-the-fucking-year, Romance.
The crowd ebbs and flows, as is usual at bars, but it’s always a vibe. A group sitting next to me ask about “Tears Run Rings.” It’s Marc Almond, I tell them, “y’know, from Soft Cell.” They don’t know. I realize that we’re at a point where young adult Angelenos don’t remember the good KROQ Flashback Weekends, when you could hear “Sex Dwarf,” and maybe even “It’s a Mugs Game,” several times before Sunday night came around. I think that my new calling might be preserving the legacy of Los Angeles as a city where Soft Cell is not a one-hit-wonder.
The Phantom of the Paradise is playing when I finish up my set at around 10:30 p.m. David and Stefano take over on DJ duties. (Go listen to their project Tibia, especially if you’re into synthwave.) They’re playing jams and I hang out for close to an hour after I play to chat with them and wait for the rideshare prices to drop. Camp Flog Gnaw, which was happening at Dodger Stadium, must have just let out because Lyft is a good $3 more than it normally is at this time and Uber is more than double it’s usual price. When Lyft finally comes down to a rate that I’ll settle for paying, I head home. I mention the show and the surge prices to my driver, who starts telling me about how much less the drivers are making now than pre-pandemic. He said the drivers are basically “fighting for crumbs” right now, which I understand, and which you probably get too, because that’s life in the 2020s if you aren’t the sort of person who can pay to make elections go your way. It’s a conversation that I’ve had with a lot of drivers lately, but this one ends on a hopeful note, and I think that this same conversation keeps happening is hope. It means that people are seeing that tech wields far too much power over our existence right now and things have to change.
But, anyhow, you probably just came here to see what I played last night, so here’s the set list. Maybe come out to a gig soon. Click on this link to see where I’m playing next.
