Cerrone and Christine and the Queens collaborated on new EP, Catching Feelings (Photo: Thomas Spault)
“Supernature” is the signature Cerrone song. A synth-fueled, sci-fi epic with Lene Lovich-penned lyrics inspired by The Island of Dr. Moreau, it was both of-the-moment and ahead-of-the-curve in 1978, a disco hit that foretold the sound and the vibe of the new wave 1980s. In the decades that followed, it’s become one of those songs that DJs love, right up there with “You Make Me Feel” and “I Feel Love” when it comes to seminal dance club tracks. Now, Cerrone is bringing the banger back, this time with help from Christine and the Queens and Purple Disco Machine, as “Supernature MMXXV.”
Klub Nocturno is back at Catch One this Friday, July 11, and, yes, I’ll be your DJ in the new wave vs. darkwave room, where it will be She Past Away night. There are five rooms for you and your friends to explore at Nocturno, whether your tastes lean towards rock en Español and cumbia, Deftones, reggaeton or banda. Tickets for the 18+ event are available now via Dice, so get yours asap and join us on Friday night. Party starts at 9:30 p.m.
As for the rest of the weekend and early next week, keep reading for my recommendations.
Last year, Molly Nilsson released Un-American Activities, which you could say is her L.A. album. The Berlin-based synthpop artist made it as part of a residency at Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades and it’s inspired by a few specific moments where global events and local history come together. Moreover, the album, which is one of my favorites from 2024, really fits the mood in Los Angeles right now. It’s dark and, lyrically, she makes connections between European fascism of the 1930s, the Red Scare in the mid-20th century U.S. and contemporary politics. So, when I was pulling records to play at Bigfoot Lodge on Saturday, I immediately grabbed my copy of Un-American Activities and thought of the song “Jackboots Return.”
For anyone who hasn’t been there before, Bigfoot Lodge is this bar on Los Feliz Blvd. that’s designed to look like a cabin in the woods. There are animatronic critters near the entrance and taxidermy hiding out in the corners. It’s a trippy bar that’s been around for some 25 years. Every once in a while, I pop in to guest DJ on Malvada’s nights there, which is why I packed a bag of vinyl and headed to Bigfoot Lodge last night. I brought some recent releases (Pulp, Optometry, Sextile) and some oldies that I picked up on recent digs (Freda Payne, Heaven 17). There were songs I haven’t played out in public before, but felt needed to be heard (Molly Nilsson “Jackboots Return) and songs that I’ve played many, many times, but should be heard again (The Clash “Police On My Back”), but there wasn’t a real theme or anything. There were three of us DJ last night, so we swapped off throughout the night. My set lists are below.
Spoiler alert: Romance by Fontaines D.C. is the album of the year.
Here’s a quick set list from Underground last night. I played open-to-close and forgot to take pics, so I’m posting the cover of Romance at the top of this post because Fontaines D.C. are the best rock band around right now and it saddens me that people don’t come up to the booth and bug me to play them all night at Underground. So, that’s your reminder. When I’m back at Underground on July 18, come up to me and say, “Liz, please play some Fontaines D.C. for us.”
Pater Noster and the Mission of Light (2024) directed by Christopher Bickel
Earlier this year, while scrolling through Night Flight (the only streamer worth a paid subscription), I stumbled across a movie called Pater Noster and the Mission of Light. A horror movie about the hunt for a possibly cursed record made by a cult in the ‘70s, it was full of vinyl nerd in-jokes, references to the Source Family, the Merry Pranksters and Whipped Cream and Other Delights. I was smitten with it.
Directed by Christopher Bickel, Pater Noster is a wild ride through dusty record bins and into the strange, terrifying world of a fictional psychedelic cult. The film, made with a budget of just $21,000, is also an exercise in resourcefulness. “We do these movies on such a low budget, so when I go to write it, I have to write to things that I have access to,” says Bickel on a recent video call, “things that I think would elevate the production value, to make it look like we spent money on this thing or that thing.”
This Saturday, July 5, I’ll be at Bigfoot Lodge in Los Feliz, playing records alongside DJs Malvada and Lee from 10 p.m. until close. It’s 21+ and there’s no cover. This isn’t a genre-specific night, but you’ll probably hear a few tracks from Douglas McCarthy, the frontman of Nitzer Ebb, who died in June.
Earlier that evening, just up Los Feliz Blvd. from Bigfoot Lodge, there will be Jean Cocteau birthday celebration at Philosophical Research Society. The event is a fundraiser for PRS organized by Sacred Monster, Surrealist Study Group and 7th House Screenings and will include a screening of Testament of Orpheus the final film in Cocteau’s Orphic Trilogy, which stars the director and features Pablo Picasso, Charles Aznavour and other luminaries. If you’re going, stop by Bigfoot Lodge after the event and tell me all about it.
There is no shortage of killer new music out this month and handful of those have already appeared here on Beatique, but I’m just one person and there aren’t enough hours in the day to listen to everything that’s out now, let alone write about it. I didn’t want to shout out a few more new releases, like Soft New Magic Dream from Black Moth Super Rainbow, plus an impressive goth/industrial club-friendly new album and two lovely full-lengths out now via long-running indie label Slumberland.
Before we get to the reviews, though, I just want to say thank you reading. I started updating Beatique with reviews and original reporting in January because it looked like the situation for music, arts and culture journalism, my day job for well over a decade, in the U.S. would grow even more dismal and it has. But, at the same time, Beatique has had its highest amount of traffic this month and a lot of it is repeat visitors (from outside the U.S. too!) who are checking out multiple stories. Maybe I’m correct in thinking that people actually want to read things written by actual human beings who actually go out into the world and do the reporting themselves. Maybe I’m deluding myself. Either way, thanks for joining me on the ride. There’s more to come, so if you’re interested, check out the ways you can stay up-to-date on Beatique (and my DJ gigs) at the bottom of this post.
View from the DJ booth in the new wave vs. darkwave room at Klub Nocturno on June 28, 2025 (Pic: Liz O.)
At maybe a quarter after 2 a.m., when I was waiting for my ride home from Nocturno, I heard “Afuera” coming from somewhere outside of Catch One and looked up to see someone sitting on the bus stop across the street from the venue, playing a conga drum along with the Caifanes classic while a couple danced. It was a good vibe for the end of the night.
And the vibes inside were good too. I was in the DJ booth in the new wave vs. darkwave room all night. It was Boy Harsher night, although there were quite a few requests for Ultra Sunn. Shout out to whoever asked for “Wrong Floor,” which came out about a week ago and is fire. The response on the dance floor was great, so that will probably be sticking around in my sets.
I did get to play “Nonstop Romance” from Mareux’s new album of the same name and the response was good, so I think you will hear more of that too. I also played “Blackmail,” a cool instrumental from Nonstop Romance around the time we opened. “Reason to Stay” by Pixel Grip seemed to do better than it did when I first played it in May and Sextile’s “Women Respond to Bass,” which you also heard in May’s Nocturno set, is probably in the running for this summer’s banger.
At DJ gigs, I always say that I don’t know what I’ll play until I play it and that’s absolutely true. I may have my heart set on playing one specific song, but, if it doesn’t sound like it’s going to vibe with the crowd, then I can’t play it. So, while I really don’t know which songs from Nonstop Romance, the latest album from Mareux, will end up in my sets, I am keeping my fingers crossed that it’s the title track.
“Nonstop Romance” has quickly become my favorite song on the album and I hope that its yours too. If you went to a club where the DJ played “Join in the Chant” and “Crazy Over You,” then came home and put that vibe into a song and gave it a 2020s spin, it might sound like this. (And, if this sounds like a plausible scenario to you, I’m going to guess you also live in L.A.) The juxtaposition of an EBM stomp and a very cheery synth melody is my idea of dance floor gold and I’ve listened to “Nonstop Romance” at least three times in a row while writing this.
