Carla J. Easton’s new album, I Think That I Might Love You, is out now. (Photo: Craig McIntosh)
Throughout her career, Carla J. Easton wrote and played with piano and synthesizers. That changed, though, after spending eight years working on the documentary Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands. “I would just interview and spend time with these incredible, powerful, independent women,” says Glasgow-based Easton on a recent video call. “None of them ever waited for an invitation. A lot of them are just like, I’ll pick up a guitar, fuck it.”
So Easton, too, picked up a guitar too. The result is her latest solo album, I Think That I Might Love You, out on May 8.
The May, 2026 edition of Beatique is up on Mixcloud right now and I hope you’ll give it a listen. This month’s set includes a few current club hits from the likes of Sextile, Fcukers and Alice Glass, an electroclash throwback and a big ol’ ‘90s club banger. There are also a couple 1960s/early ‘70s jams and new tunes from Tomora, Kneecap, Fontaines D.C. and more.
Psst! I heard the D Line extension opens this weekend! (Pic: Liz O.)
This Friday, the first section of Metro’s D Line extension opens, which means we’ll finally have subway access to Miracle Mile. The Wilshire/La Brea is El Rey adjacent. Wilshire/Fairfax will take you to Museum Row and the timing couldn’t be better now that LACMA’s David Geffen Galleries are open. You can also ride the D to the Academy Museum for a super cool screening listed in this week’s Movies section. And, maybe that Wilshire/La Cienega stop will lead to a Beverly Center resurgence. Who knows?
Metro news aside, here are my recommendations for concerts, clubs, movie screenings and a few art events that are happening this weekend and early next week.
In her video for “Fist in a Honeypot,” Mignon cuts a regal figure, decked out like a Marie Antoinette for late stage capitalism. With Benjamins dripping from her cage skirt, and more bills doubling as a fan, she sips tea and spits out lines like, “money to cheat for/they rob you.” Both the costume, made by the singer herself, and the song are a commentary on today’s “let them eat cake” elite.
“It’s about people having too much money,” Mignon says with a laugh about what she describes as the most anti-capitalist of her new batch of songs.
The first time I heard Fenian, the new album from Kneecap, was at a listening party in January. It was a private thing- mainly press and industry, I think- in the back room of an LA pub where the album played once and I spent the bus ride home scribbling notes about the album’s clubby flow, its nods to ‘90s hip-hop- there’s definitely a Wu-Tang energy in there – and the killer drum ’n’ bass track in the middle of Fenian. This isn’t an overstatement or the result of a hype-buzz, but I was genuinely excited for the new album.
The second time I heard Fenian was roughly three months later, on the album’s May 1 release date. In between, I had amassed the digital singles- the album’s title track is now one of my current favorites to play when I DJ at Underground– and scrolled through enough posts that half my Instagram timeline would have me convinced that this is the most anticipated album of the year. TBH, I’m not sure if that’s the case for anyone but myself. But, whatever. Fenian is top-tier album.
This Friday, May 1, Klub Nocturno is back at Catch One with five rooms for dancing. I’ll be in the new wave vs. darkwave room this time around, which is also where you’ll find Joy Division Night. So, you’ll be getting a heavy dose of Joy Division (and New Order) in addition to the usual mix of darkwave, new wave and post-punk bangers. Tickets are available now on Dice for this 21+ bash.
As for the rest of this weekend and early next week, keep reading for my recommendations.
Spanish new wave revenge tale Poppers is available now on streaming and physical release.
Poppers isn’t what you think. Or, at least, it isn’t what I thought, when I noticed the movie on Night Flight’s homepage recently. I figured it would be an Italo disco-fueled sex romp trimmed in leather. The film’s opening scene, where a chiseled, dark-eyed hunk lathers himself in the shower, gave false confirmation of my suspicions. All too quickly, the scene, and the tone shifted. That would happen multiple times in the first handful of minutes into the film, until it becomes clear that what we actually have here is a Spanish new wave revenge romp clad in leather, but with no actual poppers in sight. To be honest, the title still leaves me scratching my head. Do poppers mean something else in 1980s Spain? No sé.
Released in 1984, Poppers, from what I read, languished in obscurity until relatively recently. Last year, the film was released in the U.S. as part of Severin’s box set Exorcismo: Defying a Dictator & Raising Hell in Post-Franco Spain and it’s now streaming on multiple platforms. If you’re into post-punk cinema oddities- think Liquid Sky,Decoder orDer Fan– you should check out Poppers. It’s more a thriller than a horror film, albeit one with some nods to giallo.
Westside delivery bots spotted from the E Line platform (Pic: Liz O.)
“I can’t really hate the robots,” I say to my husband, about a half-mile or so into a walk up Sawtelle. We’ve passed a smattering of delivery bots already. The one in front of me is a green, doe-eyed model named Noor. “When I see them, I think of Wall-E.”
Almost immediately, déjà vu hit. Did we have this conversation before somewhere closer to home? Maybe near 7th Street, where downtown’s IRL bot armies tend to congregate? “I know I’m being emotionally manipulated,” I add. I’m anthropomorphizing the tech that’s contributing humanity’s demise. Or, something like that. I can’t bring myself to hate the robots, but they are definitely harbingers of doom.
Album covers on view at Human Resources for Cumbia de mi Tierra. The exhibition closes this weekend. (Photo: Liz O.)
No DJ gigs for me this weekend, but I have some LA clubs, concert and movie recommendations for you, including Art Brut, Strange Boutique and The Cribs live, the Quay Brothers and rare Soviet animation in theaters and more. Keep reading for the details. (And, in case you’re wondering, my next gig is Friday, May 1 at Klub Nocturno.)
There are few albums in my recent memory that have the transportive power of Wormslayer, the latest from English rock band Kula Shaker. Throughout its eleven songs, the album takes listeners into tales of devil’s bargains, bloodsucking villains and unassuming heroes. And, like all good fairytales, Wormslayer has its roots in the here and now, with songs like “Good Money” and “Charge of the Light Brigade” riding a lyrical line between social commentary and fantasy.
For their eighth album, Kula Shaker’s classic lineup (Vocalist and guitarist Crispian Mills, Hammond organist Jay Darlington, bassist Alonza Bevan and drummer Paul Winter-Hart) primarily recorded live and with analog equipment, the end result being an album that captures a similar urgency that’s steeped in the songs’ lyrics. Meanwhile, Mills’ brought together elements of “The Winged Boy,” a story that he had previously been developing as a film, and manifest in the song of the same name, as well as “Good Money” and “Shaunie,” with references to WB Yeats and dragon lore for the lyrical content. While Wormslayer may not be a concept album in the strictest sense, it does flow like a battle between good and evil, particularly when the tension mounts on the eight-minute title track. In an email interview, Mills shared some insight into the making of Wormslayer and explained who the worm and wormslayer(s) are.
