Cover for Ride’s new album, Interplay, which I was listening to for the first time while finishing this post.
It sounds like we’re on the verge of another Pet Shop Boys moment. Or, at least, that’s how I hope 2024 will sound and, judging from the response on the dance floor, the L.A. crowds seem to agree. But, then again, L.A.’s affinity for the British duo has endured since the 1980s.
In January, I fell for the cover of “Being Boring” by TR/ST, with guest vocals from Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters. Shortly after that dropped, Pet Shop Boys themselves released “Loneliness,” the first single from their forthcoming album, Nonetheless. It’s a gorgeous dance song that reflects the strange isolation of 2020s life. (The Guardian has a good interview with the band, if you’re interested in reading more about Pet Shop Boys’ new music.) Around the same time, I stumbled across a cover of “Rent” that Sally Shapiro released last fall. I wondered how I missed this release last year, then snapped it up on Bandcamp.
I forgot to take pics, so here’s an old one of a mermaid skeleton at The Mermaid that I saw right before the night started. (Pic: Liz O.)
I popped into The Mermaid at the last minute on Tuesday to play about 90 minutes of music for Dolce Vita. I knew that there was a screening of Dave Attell’s Netflix special happening beforehand. What I didn’t know, however, was that Dave Attell was actually going to make an appearance. We didn’t meet, but it was wild to be in the same room as him because I lovedInsomniac.
Pic taken at Sonido del Valle where I found Bobby Velvet “The Martian” and Ernest Kohl “Sooner or Later” (which I’ll post about later) last November. (Pic: Liz O.)
Sometimes, I buy a record because it contains a mystery that may or may not ever be solved. Like, who is Bobby Velvet and how did he end up doing “The Martian” in a North Hollywood recording studio for a 12” single released on a label based out of a Pasadena building that’s now a law office?
Toto Coelo 12″ single with the extended dance mix of “Milk from the Coconut.” (Pic: Liz O.)
On a Sunday afternoon, I flipped through a bin of new wave records at Sonido del Valle in Boyle Heights. At this point in the dig, I had already found a 12” of Bananarama’s cover of “He Was Really Saying Something” for 99 cents that was dusty, but definitely playable. I was starting to feel lucky. Not lottery ticket lucky, but lucky enough to take a chance on a Toto Coelo 12” single called “Milk from the Coconut.”
Something that happens when I play all-vinyl sets is that I decide on a personal theme that should, theoretically, make it easier for me to narrow down what I pull from my stacks. Take, for example, Saturday night’s Razorcake party at Footsies. My theme for the night was dubby ‘80s, a mishmash of the dub mixes found on 12” singles during that decade and post-punk tunes that are clearly influenced by dub.
But, now matter how often I say to myself, “Liz, stick to theme,” I just can’t do it. In this case, I started out pulling essentials like The Flying Lizards, Tom Tom Club, The League Unlimited Orchestra, Bauhaus and The Clash. Then I came across a copy of Outkast’s album Speakerboxx/The Love Below and was like, ‘when was the last time I listened to this?’ And then I find my copy of “Sally That Girl” and start thinking about how there will totally be people in the bar who haven’t heard that song since a middle school dance in 1990. But, if I’m going to play that, then I really need to bring Cybotron because that might be the only way I can mix out of Gucci Crew, and then I should probably bring Patrick Cowley too, just because I forgot to bring it to Disco Matinee last week.
Long story short, that’s how you end up with set lists like the ones listed below. If this is your jam, you should probably pick up tickets for Disco Matinee: Punk ’n’ Funk Edition on April 7 because it will also be all-vinyl and I know a few of these tracks will end up in my crate for that party as well.
When everyone is vibing to Animal Collective and they realize I’ve turned my camera on the crowd.
It was so good to be back at Underground last night. Both floors of the Grand Star were open on Friday night, with Larry playing Depeche Mode and New Order jams upstairs and Scarlett Casanova and I playing everything else downstairs. The crowd was a lot of fun. I was happy to see “Loneliness,” the latest Pet Shop Boys single, do well on the dancer floor. What did even better though was TR/ST’s cover of the PSB classic “Being Boring,” which is one of my current favorites. The most successful of the new tunes, though, was “Sangre de Oro,” from Twin Tribes’ latest album, Pendulum. The song also did extremely well at Nocturno’s party in Phoenix last month. Anyhow, thank you for dancing. Here’s the set list.
Set 1:
ABC “Be Near Me”
Kylie Minogue “Cupid Boy”
Saint Etienne “We’re in the City”
Royksopp “Ice Machine (Ewan Pearson Remix)”
Sally Shapiro “Rent”
Human League “Seconds”
Echo and the Bunnymen “In Bluer Skies”
Chromatics “Ceremony”
Chameleons “Reptile”
The Cure “Primary”
Set 2:
Ladytron “Playgirl”
Gorillaz “Dare (DFA Remix)”
Pet Shop Boys “West End Girls”
TR/ST, Jake Shears “Being Boring”
Boy Harsher, Ms. Boan “Machina”
Yaz “Situation”
Talking Heads “Girlfriend Is Better” (request)
Sophie Ellis Bextor “Murder on the Dancefloor” (request)
The Bucketheads “The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind) (Armand Van Helden Re-edit)”
The Rapture “House of Jealous Lovers”
Confidence Man “Angry Girl”
Le Tigre “Deceptacon”
Wet Leg “Chaise Longue”
Set 3:
Donna Summer “Our Love”
New Order “Blue Monday”
Trans X “Living on Video”
Vitalic “La Rock 01”
Crystal Castles, Robert Smith “Not in Love”
Soft Cell “Tainted Love”
Bloc Party “Banquet”
Molchat Doma “sudno (Boris Ryzhy)”
Twin Tribes “Sangre de Oro”
Los Prisioneros “Tren al Sur (Basic Remix)”
Nine Inch Nails “Closer”
Tom Tom Club “Genius of Love”
Daft Punk “Da Funk”
Chumbawamba “Tubthumping”
Set 4:
Pet Shop Boys “Loneliness”
Hercules & Love Affair “Blind”
Animal Collective “My Girls”
Tame Impala “Is It True”
Mr. Flagio “Take a Chance”
My Mine “Hypnotic Tango”
Righeira “Vamos a la Playa”
Desireless “Voyage Voyage”
Q Lazarus “Goodbye Horses”
Depeche Mode “Nodisco”
New Order “Sub-Culture”
If you’re around Cypress Park today, catch me playing records at Footsie’s for Razorcake’s party, which is from 5-10 p.m. and keep checking back here or follow me on Instagram because I have a bunch of stuff to announce in the next day or so.
Thank you to everyone who came out to Bar Franca for Night Shift last night. It was so much fun to play post-punk, synthpop, darkwave and shoegaze for you all night. Plus, as always, it was great to catch up with some pals and meeting some lovely new people. Anyhow, I’ve posted the set list below. See you tonight at Underground’s Depeche Mode x New Order party.
Jalapeño and pineapple wontons at The Mermaid. (Pic: Liz O.)
It was a little unexpected, but I did turn up at The Mermaid on Tuesday night to provide the music for the first half of Dolce Vita. I also didn’t have a chance to eat dinner beforehand, which led to another unexpected delight. The jalapeño and pineapple wontons at The Mermaid are amazing. I hadn’t had them before last night and loved them. Even with the chili sauce, they won’t set your mouth on fire. It’s more of a subtle sweet-and-spicy hybrid. Plus, they are shaped like starfish, which I find endearing.
Anyhow, here’s what you may have heard if you were at The Mermaid between 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday night.
Intro “Lost Without Your Love” isn’t on Spotify, but it is in my record collection, so you’ll hear it in my vinyl sets.
Thank you to everyone who came out to Disco Matinee at Grand Star Jazz Club on Sunday, March 3 for our freestyle and hi-NRG party. Jus’ B and Gustavisimo played some jams for the crowd. I think I did too. At least, I got to play the Intro 12” for “Lost Without Your Love,” which I posted about on Instagram the other day.
The next Disco Matinee is Sunday, April 7. Check back here or follow me on Instagram for details, including our guest DJ and theme, because we’ll be announcing all that later this week. In the meantime, here’s my set list.
Hearts and skulls on display at The Mermaid, February 2024
I popped into The Mermaid on Tuesday night to play the opening set for Dolce Vita. The party starts at 8 p.m. now and there was already a good crowd at the bar by then, so I dropped more familiar tunes than I normally would for the early portion of the night. Also got to work in some themed portions of the set. I won’t disclose the themes right now, but if you look through the playlist below, you might be able to figure out what they are.
Next up is Disco Matinee on Sunday, March 3, at Grand Star Jazz Club. The theme is freestyle and hi-NRG and I’ll be playing it all on vinyl. Anyhow, keep reading to see what I played at Dolce Vita on February 27, between (roughly) 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
