The Playlist

New Saint Etienne and Everything Else You Heard at Underground on 11/14/25

Saint Etienne International album cover
Cover of International, the final album from Saint Etienne

Had been meaning to get “Save It for a Rainy Day,” from the latest Saint Etienne album, into my club sets for a good minute. It was sort of appropriate that the first time I played it out was at Underground last night, on account of the rain and all. The whole album, International, is fantastic. It’s also Saint Etienne’s final album, so do pick it up when you have a chance. 

I forgot to take pics. It’s okay, we can use our imagination. Shout out to the handful of people who were on the dance floor for nearly the entire night and to the Kneecap fans who know all the words to “H.O.O.D.” I was impressed. Set list is below. The new-ish stuff is in bold and links to other mentions of the artists on this site. 

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Interview

Kim Theory Releases Debut EP, Bitch Scene

Kim Theory press photo
Kim Theory (photo courtesy of the band)

Three Kims inspired the name of L.A. up-and-comers Kim Theory: Deal, Gordon and Shattuck. On the band’s debut EP, Bitch Scene, you can hear the influence of all three indie icons. The punk spirit of The Muffs lives on “Child Star Teenybopper,” where the legacy classic Pixies albums, as well as the Breeders, echo on “GrowingUp” and a noise rock dirge reminiscent of Bad Moon Rising Sonic Youth opens “Wish You Were.” 

Kim Theory’s own story begins when Audrey Cymone, Lula Seifert and Zoey Su were in middle school, which wasn’t all that long ago. Cymone and Seifert performed one cover from each of the famed Kims for Seifert’s Women’s History Month school assembly. Su, who was in the crowd that day, recalls one kid proclaim, “Oh my god, they’re playing Sonic Youth!” when the girls busted out a cover of “Kool Thing.” 

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Adventures in L.A., Live Music, Music

Purity Ring Builds a Better World On Stage at The Novo

Purity Ring live at The Novo on November 12, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
Purity Ring at The Novo 11/12/25 (Pic: Liz O.)

A few songs into their set on Wednesday night, Megan James of Purity Ring thanked the crowd for masking up. She talked about a world where we are “caretakers of the land we live on,” where there are no prisons or genocide. “It starts at home with material care for others,” she told the crowd, “like wearing a mask. No one is going to save us. We care for each other. We keep each other safe. Free Palestine.” 

The night began with security passing out masks near the entrance to The Novo It ended with guards near the photo pit handing out water bottles to people in the crowd, something I have never seen happen at a show before this one. All of this connects to Purity Ring’s new, self-titled concept album, which was released in September. Inspired by RPGs like Nier Automata and Final Fantasy X, the album is itself a soundtrack for an imagined game, wherein the characters’ quest is to built a better world. 

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Happening in L.A.

Melt-Banana Live and More Happening in L.A. 11/13-11/19/25

Ora the Molecule live at El Cid in Silver Lake on May 15, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
Ora the Molecule opens for Cut Copy Friday night at the Bellwether (Pic: Liz O.)

We have another concert-heavy week coming up in Los Angeles, with Melt-Banana, Cut Copy and Ora the Molecule, Maná, Sigur Rós and more playing in town, as well as the sold out Camp Flog Gnaw happening over the weekend. There are also a handful of worthwhile movie screenings to check out around tow, in addition to new release and releases in theaters. I’m not DJing this week, but have compiled info on some budget-friendly dance club and bar events that you might want to check out, so keep reading.

Continue reading Melt-Banana Live and More Happening in L.A. 11/13-11/19/25 →
Books, Interview

Simon Raymonde Talks Cocteau Twins and New Book, In One Ear

Simon Raymonde author Photo
Simon Raymonde will be at Book Soup in Los Angeles on November 14

“Honestly, I never really considered writing a book until, literally, five minutes before I started doing it,” says Simon Raymonde on a video call. For decades, Raymonde has been making and releasing music. He spent much of the 1980s and 1990s as a member of Cocteau Twins, contributing to now-classic albums like Treasure and Heaven or Las Vegas. For close to 30 years, he has run Bella Union, the record label that helped introduce the world to Fleet Foxes, Beach House and Father John Misty. Raymonde’s memoir, In One Ear: Cocteau Twins, Ivor and Me, is set for release in the U.S. on November 18 and he’ll appear at Book Soup in Los Angeles on Friday, November 14. 

In One Ear traces Raymonde’s life in music, from his early bands in post-punk London to his tenure with Cocteau Twins to his work as a producer and label-head. Raymonde also delves into the work of his father, Ivor Raymonde, himself a musician, songwriter and producer who worked with the likes of Dusty Springfield, The Walker Brothers, Los Bravos and David Bowie. Throughout the memoir, Raymonde keeps the focus on the music. 

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Adventures in L.A., Live Music

Mariachi El Bronx Introduces New Songs to Fans at L.A. Bar La Cita

Mariachi El Bronx on stage at La Cita, November 8, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
Mariachi El Bronx on stage at La Cita, 11/08/25 (Pic: Liz O.)

Matt Caughthran didn’t need to remind the crowd inside La Cita to show their enthusiasm. even if Mariachi El Bronx were filming for a new music video inside the sold out, Saturday night show. This crowd, packed close to the narrow stage inside the downtown Los Angeles bar, was already hyped. And “Bandoleros,” from the forthcoming album, Mariachi El Bronx IV, is a jam with a cumbia rhythm that automatically gets people dancing.

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Interview

After Years of Collaboration, Solo Artists Laura Jinn and Tatum Gale Formed New Duo Mercy Land

Tatum Gale and Laura Jinn of Mercy Land in cover photo for "Kid A" Photos: Mia Teresa @howboutmia Creative Direction: Virginia Walcott @virg________
Mercy Land “Kid A” cover photo. Photos: Mia Teresa @howboutmia Creative Direction: Virginia Walcott @virg________

Laura Jinn and Tatum Gale were set on making music as solo artists. The catch, though, was that the music they made together was really good. “It was obvious to our close friends much earlier and we were really rejecting it,” says Gale on a recent video call. 

For a handful of years, though, the two New Orleans-based musicians would play as solo artists who collaborated with each other. “It was a little bit confusing for the audience,” acknowledges Jinn. The performances, though, helped shape would become their new project, Mercy Land, whose debut EP, Termites, dropped on Halloween. “I think the process of playing together also built a lot of trust between us, in the sense that, together, we were something different and better than we were individually and the music that we had made together was our best music and all that stuff,” says Jinn. “So, it emerged from that process.”

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Happening in L.A.

Substance Festival, Bar Italia, The Darkness and More Happening in L.A. 11/06 – 11/12/25

Taleen Kali and Josephine Shetty (Pride Month Barbie) performing at The Love Song bar in downtown Los Angeles on February 8, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
Taleen Kali, seen here at The Love Song, plays Substance on Friday, November 7 (Pic: Liz O.)

On Tuesday night, I went to see One Battle After Another, the new Paul Thomas Anderson film. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a middle-aged former revolutionary living incognito with his teenage daughter in a sanctuary city, where Benicio del Toro is a martial arts instructor running an Underground Railroad for migrants. It’s a movie that hits hard given this year’s ICE raids and, y’know, fascism, but there’s enough humor in it to keep the movie from feeling too heavy. The pacing is also fantastic, which is more or less to be expected from the director of Boogie Nights. I hadn’t realized that nearly three hours passed when the lights in the theater rose and I pulled out my phone to see messages that Prop 50 passed and Zohran Mamdani is New York’s new mayor. One Battle After Another  is playing  at a bunch of theaters in Los Angeles right now and that’s my one movie recommendation of this week because there are loads of concerts happening in the next few days. 

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Interview

David J Sings of History Repeating in New Protest Single, “ICE Too Cold to Thaw”

David J and Shepard Fairey "Ice Too Cold to Thaw" press photo by Angel Enciso.
David J and Shepard Fairey seen here with copies of the “Ice Too Cold to Thaw” vinyl and print. (Photo: Angel Enciso)

David J was in Asheville, North Carolina for a gig when a protest erupted right under his hotel window. “I was woken up early in the morning with the sound of it,” the L.A.-based musician says on a recent video call. “I just went down to the street and joined in.”

The event provided a spark of inspiration for J, who was already troubled by what he had been seeing in the United States. “Just being amongst that community there, just really good decent people speaking out against this authoritarian horror that’s being visited upon us, that was the galvanizing moment,” he says. Lyrics for what would become “ICE to Cold to Thaw,” the recently released single from David J and the Resistance, began to take shape. 

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Interview

Kommunity FK Returns to L.A. for Independent Project Records Anniversary Shows

Patrik Mata of Kommunity FK press photo by Kevin Estrada
Patrik Mata of Kommunity FK (Photo: Kevin Estrada)

It’s been six years since Kommunity FK has played Los Angeles. To be specific, they haven’t played live at all since 2019. This week, though, you’ll have two chances to see the seminal goth band, who came up in post-punk L.A., this week. Kommunity FK is set to perform live on both nights of Independent Project Records 45th anniversary— Wednesday, November 5 and Thursday, November 6— at Gold-Diggers in East Hollywood. The concerts foreshadow an exciting 2026 for the 47-year-old outfit, helmed by singer Patrik Mata,. Kommunity FK’s 1983 debut album, The Vision and Voice, is planned for a reissue next year via IPR.

“We get so many requests for it,” says Mata on a recent video call from Albuquerque, where he has lived since 2005. 

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Indie music and alt culture blog from Los Angeles. By Liz O.