Didn’t take pics last night at Club Underground’s Halloween party, but there were some killer costumes. (My favorite was the Black Knight, with a flesh wound, from The Holy Grail.) But, I did manage to keep track of my sets. First one was opening upstairs. Second was downstairs from midnight to close. Tunes are listed below. New-ish stuff (past two years) links back to other mentions here. That’s it for now. Happy Halloween!
Oh, and if you want actual spooky tunes today, check out this year’s Halloween edition of DJ Hoseh’s Dublab show, Version Sounds, with guest DJ sets from yours truly.
This Friday, October 30, is Club Underground’s Halloween party at Grand Star Jazz Club in Chinatown. Both floors of the venue will be open, with Larry G., Filthy Rich and me, Liz O., on the decks from 9:30 p.m. until close. Tickets are going fast, so you might want to head over to Dice or Eventbrite and get yours in advance. See you on the dance floor this Friday night!
There’s a ton happening this weekend, and early next week too, but these are my best recommendations.
It’s not too often that the members of L.A.-based Bizou can convene on stage. “Honestly, getting everyone together to commit to a single date is kind of a miracle. The stars have to align,” says singer Marisa Prietto. “It’s frustrating, planning everyone’s schedule, but when it happens, it’s so euphoric.” For Angelenos, your next chance to check out the locals is November 3 at Gold-Diggers, where they’ll headline, with support from Landroid and Nightjacket.
The show comes just a little over a month after the release of Bizou’s new EP, Widow, which itself was a long time in the making. It makes sense when you realize how many other projects that members of Bizou have going. Prietto plays with Glaare and Some Ember. Josiah Mazzaschi, best known for band Light FM, is also part of the electro-punk outfit Child Seat and records other artists at his studio, The Cave. Meanwhile, Nicole Fiorentino has been on the road with Garbage.
It’s totally not gambling. Not at all. (Pic: Liz O.)
Sydney Sweeney and her football boobs flash across a digital billboard advertising something that’s totally not a gambling site across the street from the arena where the Lakers, Kings and Sparks all play. We had just seen Digger at the L.A. Live Regal, a weekday afternoon screening to a crowd of, maybe, 10 people. The movie skewers corporate America to the extent that you might leave thinking that its status as a box office bomb is a part of a conspiracy.
I’ve been trying to write about No Bad Memories, the new album from The Avalanches, for days now, but haven’t had a chance to finish that. In the meantime, you should know that it’s 100% one of those albums that you need to listen to from start to finish in one session, like Since I Left You. However, I did pull one song to fit into last night’s set at Club Underground. It is now Saturday morning and I still have that song stuck in my head. It haunted my dreams last night. Does that count as a recommendation?
Anyhow, the set list is below. Songs from the past year or two are in bold and link back to other mentions on this blog.
And don’t snooze on getting your tickets for Underground’s Halloween Party. It’s next Friday, October 30, at the Grand Star in Chinatown. Both floors of the club will be open. Tickets are on sale now.
Albert Reyes’ Macabre haunted house at Eastern Projects in Chinatown. (Pic: Liz O.)
Update (10/22): Turns out that I will be DJing at Club Underground this week. Catch me playing indie, post-punk, Britpop, electro, synthpop and more all night at Grand Star Jazz Club from 9:30 p.m. until last call. Advance tickets are available now.
If you’re in Chinatown this weekend, definitely stop by Eastern Projects to check out Albert Reyes’ current exhibition, Macabre. The centerpiece is the super creepy haunted house that he used to build in his backyard every year. Plus, you’ll see art from 80 artists in the show. It’s a lot. I walked through the gallery last week, but definitely plan to drop by again for another look. Eastern Projects is open from Tuesdays through Saturdays from 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. and it’s located on the bottom level of the Blossom apartment building on Broadway and College.
Also, if you haven’t seen The Devils on the big screen yet, you still have a few more days to catch it in theaters, as it looks like some spots, including the Regal LA Live and Laemmle’s NoHo 7, will continue screenings into next week. I had seen the movie before the re-release, but watching the director’s cut (finally!) In a movie theater is a completely different experience. I had the movie so stuck in my head afterwards that I had to write about it. And, if Digger is playing anywhere near you, go see that too. It looks like it will be at Landmark Sunset and Laemmle Glendale into next week. The reviews are wrong and the whole “this movie is a bomb,” angle is stupid, but I’ll write more about that later. Go see it for yourself.
As for DJ gigs, I’m off this week, but will be back at Club Underground on Friday, October 30, for this year’s Halloween Party. Tickets are on sale now.
Here are my recommendations for this weekend and early next week.
No Kings at Los Angeles City Hall 10/17/26 (Pic: Liz O.)
There are no fewer than three songs from the new Fontaines D.C. album running through my head right now. “Mimesis” is my favorite. It’s the one that is now a part of my DJ sets. Someone at Underground last night mentioned that it’s her favorite on the album too. At least, I think that’s what she said. It’s hard to hear when I’m DJing. Then there’s “Tongue,” the one some people on Reddit thing is too weird to be a single, which is a completely incorrect assessment, and “Intimate,” the apocalyptic closer. Maybe I shouldn’t have listened to Dopamine Chamber so many times in a span of 24 hours, but I couldn’t help myself. I gorged on an album and now I’m paying the price with a very messy, and relentless, triple-song earworm that has followed me to yoga class and then the library on this Saturday afternoon.
Dopamine Chamber, the fifth album from Fontaines D.C., is out this Friday, October 16, and we’re throwing a listening party at Club Underground at Chinatown’s Grand Star Jazz Club. Doors are at 9:30 p.m., album play begins at 9:45 p.m. After the album, both floors of the Grand Star will be open with Larry G. and I playing indie, post-punk, darkwave, new wave and more. If you’re going to see Boy Harsher on Friday, come by after the show and show your ticket for free entry into Underground. Otherwise, you can get tickets now on Eventbrite or Dice.
And, while we’re on the subject of Underground, you might want to get your tickets now for the Halloween party on October 30.
March for Palestine, downtown Los Angeles 10/10/26 (Pic: Liz O.)
This weather is weird. The heatwave finally broke by the start of the weekend, but it still didn’t feel like fall. There was a light drizzle Saturday morning, but, by mid-afternoon, it was warm, sticky even, less like L.A. and more like New York was that time I spent most of a weekend chasing canceled flights back home. I’m wearing a baggy denim jacket – Kneecap pinned to one pocket, “Fuck ICE” fixed to the other – less because of the weather and more to cover up the swollen, red bumps on my arms. I got attacked by mosquitoes the other day and no fewer than seven bites have kept me in a state of itchy misery for the past 72 hours. Still, I’m wandering down Hill Street, looking for a protest that may or may not be happening. I could have sworn the couple announcements that flashed by on my Instagram feed said it was at Pershing Square, but that sounds more like a concert happening behind a set of temporary fences.
Off in the distance, a few people wearing keffiyehs round the corner of 6th Street. I pick up my pace and follow their route, landing in the midst of a crowd marching onto Broadway, chanting slogans of the “Free Palestine” variety. Today is an international day of protests in support of Palestine marking one year since a “ceasefire” was announced and Israel continued attacks on Gaza. There is a good amount of people gathered in downtown Los Angeles with everyone from seniors to small children in the mix, although the bulk of the group looks and sounds like college students. Some people hold printed signs from groups like the anti-war A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition. Others carry homemade ones. Still more hoist Palestinian flags into the air. One flag reads “Saoirse don Phalaistín,” which is probably the only thing I’ve learned via Instagram in recent memory. It’s Irish for “Freedom for Palestine.”
She’s a fashionable, young woman who likes to stroll along a cold, ruin-strewn beach. He’s a poet in a mod suit who writes of love and death. They meet at a wedding reception and make a date for a bike ride that ends at a local cemetery. What could go wrong?
The Iron Rose (aka La Rose de Fer and The Crystal Rose) is a 1973 cemetery jaunt from Jean Rollin. A critical and commercial failure in its day, it has since come to be regarded as one of the French director’s best films. It is, by far, my favorite Jean Rollin movie, a masterpiece in atmospheric horror where nothing needs to happen because the whole vibe is just so damn creepy. It could be a high goth Before Sunrise, where a pensive couple-for-the-night talks about life while chilling with the dead. But, in fact, something does happen. Actually, a few things happen. I won’t spoil the end for you, but it’s a horror movie set in a cemetery, so you can probably figure it out.
