You won’t see much more than a few lights inside “Party/After Party,” but you’ll hear, and feel, a lot.
On April 16, “Party/After Party,” the sound installation from esteemed DJ/producer Carl Craig, opened at MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary in Little Tokyo. I interviewed Craig for Southern California News Group prior to the opening, which you can read online. (If you don’t have a subscription, but do have a Los Angeles Public Library card, log in through the LAPL portal to read it.) However, I didn’t get to walk through “Party/After Party” until this past week. It was both an incredibly familiar and unusual experience.
Disco Heat is back at Songbird on Thursday, April 20. This week, our guest DJ is Maurice de la Falaise. It’s been IDK how long since Maurice and I have played together and I can’t wait to hear what he has in store for his international disco set. The party starts at 9 p.m. and there’s no cover, but I recommend that you RSVP on Eventbrite, Facebook or Instagram.
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.
Taleen Kali has a new album out today called Flower of Life and you need to hear it.
Last August, I got to DJ for Taleen Kali’s tour kickoff show at Rubycon Records in Los Angeles. One of the joys of that night was getting to hear Taleen and the band play music from Flower of Life, an album that was, at that point, still months away from release. I remember them ripping through “Trash Talk” most vividly. There’s an immediacy to the song. I had never heard it before that night— it wasn’t released as a single until that November— but, by the song’s end, I felt like I knew it. To me, that’s the sign of a killer pop song.
Beatique #3 includes music from P.P. Arnold, Sam Redmore, Grey Factor, Taleen Kali and more.
I just posted this month’s Beatique mix, which you can listen to either on Mixcloud or on this page. It’s composed of two eclectic sets, with the second set being a club-style mix, that includes indie dance, disco, soul, psychedelic and weird electronic tunes. Give it a listen and check out the full track list below.
Diana Ross performing “Love Hangover” on The Midnight Special in 1976.
In 1972, the concept of a music television show designed to keep people glued to their television sets in the middle of the night was novel. In fact, it was so unusual that, according to various interviews with the Burt Sugarman, the veteran TV producer funded The Midnight Special himself to get the pilot on the air. That initial episode aired at 1 a.m. and featured performances from War, Linda Ronstadt, The Isley Brothers and more. The format was a hit and The Midnight Special ran until 1981. Today, there is plenty of footage to watch online and multiple DVD sets available, all of which serve as a 1970s time capsule. If you watch enough clips from The Midnight Special— and, trust me, I have— you’ll see the decade evolve from funky hippies to disco to new wave.
On The Midnight Special, viewers could check out artists from across genres. T. Rex, Kraftwerk, Minnie Riperton,The Doobie Brothers and Dolly Parton are just a few who appeared on the show. Here, though, I’m focusing on the disco clips you need to see. Check them out below.
Disco Heat is rising, friends. Beginning March 2, I’ll be dropping classic and modern disco alongside some of my favorite L.A. DJs every Thursday night at Songbird in Chinatown. The party will now start at 10 p.m. and go until last call. There’s still no cover. RSVPs are recommended, just head over to Eventbrite and click on the date that you want to attend.
Jus’ B, who has been playing with me at Songbird since Disco Heat launched in December, will be back monthly, and you can catch him next on March 2. For the rest of the month, we have an eclectic mix of top notch DJs. Each has a distinct style, so you’ll hear something different every week. I’m excited to play with Fluency, Marcus, Don French and Rose Knows.
Suede live at Hollywood Palladium back in November 2022
In case you haven’t already heard, there’s talk about raising visa fees for musicians, amongst others. It’s a significant increase too. Resident Advisor reported that the P visa, which is for touring artists, would skyrocket from $460 to $1615, while the O visa would go from $460 to $1655.
I sent in a comment expressing my concerns over this fee hike. If you’re opposed to this, you should do the same and have until March 6 to submit one.
This isn’t the comment that I submitted, but it’s why I’m opposed to the fee hike. Feel free to adapt the info as you wish when you submit yours.
Obtaining a visa to tour in the United States has long been a complicated and expensive process. Those of you who go to a lot of shows can probably recall at least a few instances where a band dropped off the bill at the last minute citing visa issues. On top of that, touring has grown increasingly expensive for everyone. Raising the visa fees is going to create a barrier of entry so great that only those artists with major financial backing will be able to do it.
U.S. artists benefit international artists touring here. It’s often U.S. artists who are the support acts on the road, plus local bands and DJs open at specific shows. These can be amazing opportunities to raise the profile of lesser-known or emerging artists here.
International touring artists are often big draws for local venues. Particularly in the case of indie clubs, these shows can both provide necessary revenue and raise the overall profile of the venue. This is all very important given that nightlife is still struggling to recover from the pandemic shutdown of 2020/21.
A rise in visa fees means a rise in the costs related to international artists playing any gig in the U.S., which could mean that corporate behemoths Ticketmaster/Live Nation and AEG will be the only ones who can afford to support international artists in the States. Do you really want to support anything that will help strengthen their stranglehold on live music?
Recently, I wrote about how and why you should support your local music scene. Part of that is supporting the touring artists who stop through our cities as well. If we want our hometown music scenes to survive, we need to make sure that bands from outside of the U.S. can play here too.
Catch Los Angeles-based DJ Liz O. at one of her upcoming gigs.
Indie music and alt culture blog from Los Angeles. By Liz O.
