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.
Cover of International, the final album from Saint Etienne
At a certain point, getting stuck at JFK isn’t so bad. By midnight, the crowds are gone. After 2 a.m., most of the few travelers left are sleeping. I don’t know how they do it. The chairs at the gates are uncomfortable and I can’t bring myself to stretch out on carpet that people have been trampling over all day. So, I pop in my earbuds and finish an assignment that’s due on Monday while bobbing my head along to the Bob Vylan and Kneecap albums on my laptop. Then I remember that Saint Etienne’s latest, and last, album, International, came out on Friday, so I look it up, buy a digital copy, and tune in.
International is a perfect finale for the long-running, British indie pop trio and, really, the ideal music for this very strange night. Saint Etienne have spent the past 35 years making music, and creating an image, that blurs the past, present and future. Their breakthrough single, “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” was a cover of a Neil Young song reconfigured with a Burt Bacharach-meets-Stone Roses sensibility. From there, Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs and Sarah Cracknell made mod pop and house jams, flirted with Eurodance and experimental electronic music and played with psychedelic and ambient sounds, all the while showing a real reverence for both the most commercial and underground histories of 20th and 21st century music. As International is an intentional final album, it draws from all of the influences that have appeared in Saint Etienne’s music since the dawn of the 1990s.
“Compliment” by Rare DM has been sitting around on my laptop, waiting to be played, since the album, Attention, came out a couple weeks ago. Last night, it finally turned up in between Depeche Mode and Boy Harsher earlier in the night at Underground.
You might have seen Rare DM, the analog synth project of New York-based Erin Hoagg, before, as she played Substance LA a few years ago. Attention is her second full-length. It’s a poppier sort of darkwave, sounding somewhere in between Boy Harsher and “Bad Guy” Billie Eilish, but with a stronger techno influence. My actual favorite track on the album is “Significant Other,” a killer minimal synth/techno instrumental that reminds me of a cross between Soft Cell’s “A Man Could Get Lost” and early Matthew Dear. It’s a solid album, so check it out on Bandcamp when you have the chance.
Full set list from last night at Underground is below. New-ish songs (less than two years old) are linked back to previous mentions on this site. As always, thank you for dancing.
As always, Club Underground is happening at Grand Star Jazz Club on Friday night. I’ll be back on the decks on June 12 playing alongside Larry G. There’s no theme, so expect a mix of indie, Britpop, post-punk, darkwave, new wave and more from 9:30 p.m. until 2 a.m. Advance tickets are available online, but you can also get them at the door. Underground is 21+ and the Grand Star is located in Chinatown’s Central Plaza, next to the Bruce Lee Statue.
This is going to be a pretty busy weekend in Los Angeles, given that Pride is this weekend and the World Cup starts on Thursday. Keep reading for my recommendations for clubs, concerts and movie screenings happening in Los Angeles between Thursday, June 11 and Wednesday, June 17, 2026.
Come Closer, the debut album from Tomora, was released on Friday and I’m already way into it. Tomora is Tom Rowlands from the Chemical Brothers and Norwegian singer Aurora and, if you’re into either/both of those artists, you have to hear it. Come Closer pulls a lot of different elements from across the club music spectrum and, in the process, becomes something so strange and cool and completely different from what’s been dominating dance music for the past five or so years. I went with “Somewhere Else,” the second single from the album, last night at Underground and it did pretty well for a first spin. There were more people on the dance floor when the song neared its end than when it began, so it will probably stick around in my sets. That ‘do do do” Aurora sings is such an earworm of the classic rave “It’s a Fine Day” variety. I love it.
Last night was Darkwave night at Underground, but I’ve been meaning to play something off Fcukers’ album, Ö, for a minute and I figured that “if you want to party, come over to my house” was electroclash-y enough to work with the crowd. Basically, if they were into Green Velvet— and they were— then they would get Fcukers. The song went over really well, which is a bit unsurprising given how much the resale price are for tickets to the duo at The Fonda. The whole album is killer. I’m impressed at how Fcukers basically fit the arc of a raging party into an album that’s less than a half-hour.
The set list for last night is below. Songs from 2025 and 2026 link back to other references on the blog. Thanks for dancing!
Gelli Haha “Klouds Will Carry Me to Sleep” single cover by Daniela Buvat
I have to admit that it took me a minute to get into Gelli Haha. “Bounce House” kept coming up on my Instagram feed and I thought the song was fine, but not as interesting as the video. So, it wasn’t until a month or so ago that I sat down and listened to Switcheroo. What a fun album! There’s a song called “Piss Artist” that I love because it’s irreverent, like the early ‘00sclub hits that only the people who were there still remember. And “Tiramisu,” which I can only describe as sounding like someone playing a tribute to ‘90s house live a DIY art-punk show, has been getting stuck in my head. But, I didn’t play either of those songs last night at Underground because Gelli Haha has a new single out, “Klouds Will Carry Me to Sleep,” and it’s super cute in a way that reminds of a cross between The Avalanches and The Go! Team. I played it early last night, mostly to see how it sounds in the room, but I think I’ll keep it on hand.
The other new release that I want to mention is Wor$t Girl in America by Slayyyter. I wasn’t expecting to like it, but, every now and then there’s a pop album with a bunch of hype surrounding it that doesn’t bore the crap out of me and this is one of those moments. It has the sleazy club sound that I love, where it sounds like your dancing on a beer-sticky floor under a ceiling that’s dripping sweat. I didn’t really know what to play off the album. “Yes Goddd” has a killer Gesaffelstein-ish beat, but it didn’t work with the rest of the set this week. Maybe next time. I ended up going with “Unknown Loverz,” which has a much lighter sound, at the last minute.
Anyhow, the set list is below. Songs from the past year or so link back to previous mentions on the blog.
Ladytron released a new album, Paradise, yesterday. I gave it a first listen on Bandcamp yesterday and knew immediately that I had to get it and had to play “I See Red” at Underground for Girl Power Nite. The whole album is fantastic. It’s also long and I’ve only listened through it one-and-a-half times at this point, so I don’t have much to say about it yet.
The other new song in last night’s set is “Strings of Terror” by Sam Quealy, who you really need to hear if your taste in music is dance pop-meets-clubby performance art. Stacey Q-meets-Chicks on Speed is the comparison I used in my review. Anyhow, you can also hear “Strings of Terror” on this month’s Beatique mix.
Set list is below. Songs from the past year or so link back to other references on the blog.
If you’re ever like, “I can’t find the Grand Star!” just look for Bruce Lee. (Pic: Liz O. 12/26/25)
Last night at Underground might have been the first time ever that I’ve played “Friday I’m in Love” at a club. The reason is that, yesterday, news broke that Perry Bamonte of The Cure died. He had been playing with the band live in recent years and is in The Show of a Lost World (a terrific concert film that you really must see). However, his tenure with the band in the studio was from 1992-2004, so any song I played in tribute would likely have to come from Wish and, really, it would have to be “Friday I’m in Love.” That’s just how it works out.
Anyhow, the Christmas storm finally ended right before the club opened and it was great to see people out and about. Thanks so much for dancing last night. Club Underground is on Wednesday next week for New Year’s Eve. Both floors of the Grand Star will be open. Larry G. and I are on the decks all night. It will be a good time. NYE at Underground always sells out, so be sure to get your tickets in advance.
Want to guess where Sextile’s album, Yes, Please, landed on this best of 2025 list?
To be honest, the album I listened to the most in 2025 was actually my top pick from last year, Romance by Fontaines D.C. I also spent far too much time listening to two 2024 albums that I didn’t hear until this year, Fine Art by Kneecap and Humble As the Sun by Bob Vylan. We spend a lot of time putting together our year-end lists, but the truth is that time is irrelevant. The right album will hit you when you need to hear it and that could be on the day it’s released or five years later.
Still, I think we should shout out stellar new albums, lest we collectively fall deeper into an algorithmically-induced nostalgia hole. And there was a lot of fantastic music released this year, much more than what’s included on this list. I doubt I heard more than the smallest fraction of good shit released in 2025. So, consider this just the start of a list that will never really be complete.
See you at Club Underground on Friday, December 5 (Pic: Liz O.)
I’m back at Club Underground this Friday, December 5, and we’re going to be celebrating my birthday. Advance tickets are available now, but you can also get them at the door on Friday night at Grand Star Jazz Club inside Chinatown’s Central Plaza, right next to the Bruce Lee statue. Party starts at 9:30 p.m. and is 21+.
So, what’s in store for Friday? IDK, but it’s my birthday (sort of, my actual date of birth is on a weeknight this year), so I’ll probably make you dance to Fontaines D.C. And Sextile and Confidence Man and The New Eves. We’ll see what happens.
Anyhow, that’s not all that’s happening this weekend in Los Angeles, so keep reading for some of my recommendations.
