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Author: Liz O.

  • New FKA Twigs and More Music You Heard at The Mermaid on Sunday, January 26

    FKA Twigs Eusexua album cover

    FKA Twigs dropped a new album, Eusexua, on Friday. I haven’t had a chance to listen to the whole thing yet, but, I really like the song “Drums of Death,” so I tried it out to open last night’s set at The Mermaid and you’re probably going to be hearing it more in my sets. Splash! Sundays is genre-free, so the set ranges from ‘60s rock and soul to new darkwave and indie.

    I woke up Sunday morning with “Silver Rings” from Matt Berry’s new album, Heard Noises, stuck in my head, so that made it into last night’s set, sandwiched in between Shocking Blue and Los Bravos. Other new-ish songs in the set include “No Longer Mine,” from South Bay soul group Thee Heart Tones, and Male Tears’ latest synthpop jam, “Little Doll.” Keep scrolling for the rest of the set list. 

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  • Matt Berry Drops A New Batch of Psychedelic Earworms on Heard Noises

    Matt Berry Heard Noises 2025 album cover

    Years ago, Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher had a show called Snuff Box, a comedy about two executioners who hang out at a gentleman’s club— the British kind, not the Bada Bing! kind. The show itself is fantastic, but the most memorable thing about it is the theme song. That melody has haunted me for years, even when my content-addled brain struggles to recall what actually happened in the series. Matt Berry writes a good earworm. 

    Berry, the actor who has been in cult favorite shows like Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and The Mighty Boosh, starred in the British series Toast of London and recently ended a six-season run as Laszlo in What We Do in the Shadows, has a parallel career as a musician. His latest album, Heard Noises, was released on January 24 and it’s potentially as sticky as that Snuff Box theme song. 

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  • Happening in L.A.: January 23 – January 29, 2025

    Splash at The Mermaid on January 26, 2025 with DJ Liz O.

    This Sunday, January 26, I’ll be DJing at The Mermaid for Splash! This is an open format night, so anything goes as far as the music is concerned. Music starts at 8 p.m. and goes until 1 a.m. There’s no cover and it’s 21+. You’ll find the Mermaid at 428 E. 2nd Street in Little Tokyo. There is street and lot parking in the neighborhood and The Mermaid is just a couple blocks away from Metro’s A/E Line station. Hope to see you there!

    As for the rest of the weekend, and early next week, check out the list below to see what’s happening in L.A. While Jamie XX’s dates at the Shrine are sold out, there are some other fantastic shows happening around town, from Tropa Magica at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach to Nuovo Testamento at Saturday night’s Abortion Access Benefit at the Lodge Room and Travis on Tuesday at The Wiltern. 

    From the looks of it, the David Lynch film screenings— like Fire Walk With Me at Brain Dead on Thursday night and  Blue Velvet on Sunday at the Aero— are sold out. Some other worthwhile screenings include Oldboy at Gardena Cinema on Friday and Viridiana at Vidiots on Saturday.If you’re in/around Orange County, Tank Girl (!!!) Is playing at The Frida on Monday night. 

    Keep reading for details on these and more events happening in L.A. between Thursday, January 23 and Wednesday, January 29. 

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  • CSS Live at The Regent January 19, 2025

    Marquee for sold out CSS show at Regent Theater in Los Angeles on January 19, 2025
    Pics: Liz O.

    Near the end of CSS’ set at The Regent, singer Lovefoxx reminisced with the crowd about the band’s previous gigs in Los Angeles. There was their first show in the city, somewhere in the Fashion District. At least one person in the audience was there. There was some back and forth about a show where Lovefoxx lost her voice. As for this show, it was jam packed. But, Lovefoxx said to the crowd, the love for CSS in the room might not have been about the band itself. 

    “We were playing in the background of your life,” she said. “And I think that you’re all here because you just love your history and your songs. We’re just lucky to have been in the background on your MySpace page.” 

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  • Mary Ocher Live at 2220 Arts + Archives January 16, 2025

    Mary Ocher live at 2220 Arts + Archives in Los Angeles on Thursday, January 16, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Mary Ocher live at 2220 Arts + Archives in Los Angeles on Thursday, January 16, 2025 (Pic: Liz O.)

    “It feels like the apocalypse,” Mary Ocher said on stage at 2220 Arts + Archives. “But,” the Berlin-based artist added, “it feels like the apocalypse everywhere.” 

    It’s Thursday night, one week and one day after the wildfires began, and we’re in a small, indie theater on Beverly Blvd., just outside of downtown Los Angeles. In all honesty, the city looks better than it did a week ago. Last week, the downtown sky was orange-gray, casting a haze over streets, still littered with the debris from the windstorms, that made everything look like a 1970s photograph. Even with a mask, it was hard to walk around those first few days without feeling ill. Headaches, sore throats, coughs— the sort of things you might expect when wildfires loom in the distance— came and went with open windows and errand runs. 

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  • New Wave vs. Darkwave at Klub Nocturno on January 17, 2025

    Nosferatu statue at Klub Nocturno in the New Wave Darkwave room on January 17, 2025
    Nosferatu welcoming you to the New Wave vs. Darkwave room at Klub Nocturno on Friday, January 17, 2025

    If New Wave vs. Darkwave were a real battle, IDK who would have won. Last night, in the Loft at Catch One, where I DJed all night for Klub Nocturno’s fundraiser for those impacted by the recent wildfires, new wave was visibly the clear winner. Nothing packed the floor like the ‘80s jams last night. However, the requests were overwhelmingly for the darkwave bangers and the groups nearest to the DJ booth, some of whom were dancing virtually the entire night, definitely were into Boy Harsher, French Police, Molchat Doma, etc. , so darkwave was also a winner.

    Anyhow, here’s the set list from the New Wave vs. Darkwave room at Klub Nocturno on January 17, 2025. The only new song— as in the first time I’ve played it out— in the set is “God Whispers” by Soft Vein, whose latest album, Through Blinds, came out on Friday. Check it out if you’re into dark, EBM-influenced synthpop, which you probably are if you’re reading this post. 

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  • It’s So Lonely In Heaven on Legendary Pink Dots’ New Album

    Legendary Pink Dots So Lonely in Heaven album cover

    Click here to read the interview, “Edward Ka-Spel on How AI Inspired New Legendary Pink Dots Album, So Lonely in Heaven”

    In 2022, Legendary Pink Dots released The Museum of Human Happiness, their first album since the pandemic. It was one of my favorite albums of that year and, really, one of the finest releases from a band who celebrated their 40th anniversary just before lockdown. Now, two weeks into 2025, they’ve dropped the follow-up, So Lonely in Heaven, via Metropolis Records and I humbly recommend that you listen to the two albums back-to-back. I don’t know if it’s intentional, but from the listener’s perspective, The Museum of Human Happiness and So Lonely in Heaven sound as if they are part of the same extended body of work. 

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  • Greek Jam “Black Eyelashes” Stands Out On Franz Ferdinand’s The Human Fear

    Franz Ferdinand The Human Fear album cover

    In the four or five times that I’ve listened to The Human Fear, the latest album from Franz Ferdinand, since it was released on January 10, I keep going back to one song. “Black Eyelashes” is the band’s take on rembetiko (also spelled rebetiko), a style of Greek music that was particularly popular in the first half of the 20th century, and I’m hooked on it. 

    It’s sounds like there have been a Greek influence on Franz Ferdinand’s music from the get-go. I can’t really pinpoint exactly what it is, but something in the guitar tones and the rhythms they use has struck me as very eastern Mediterranean since I first heard “Take Me Out” 20+ years ago. On, “Black Eyelashes,” though, the influence is so blatant that you might start imagining that final dance scene in Zorba the Greek. I did. 

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  • Club Underground’s Bowie Night, Klub Nocturno and More Happening in L.A. This Week

    Club Underground Bowie Night January 10, 2025 Grand Star Jazz Club Los Angeles DJ Larry G and DJ Liz O


    It’s David Bowie’s birthday, which means that Friday night, January 10, will be Club Underground’s annual Bowie night. Both floors of the Grand Star will be open so ready for some sound and vision with Larry G. and me in the DJ booths and Miho ready to make you up like Aladdin Sane. Underground’s Bowie Nights do sell out, so click on this link to get your tickets asap. 

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  • Finally, There’s a Horror Movie for the Vinyl Nerds

    Pater Noster and the Mission of Light horror film 2024

    Finally, there’s a movie that truly understands the vinyl nerd, one that gets the crazy, stupid and possibly dangerous lengths we might travel to procure an ultra-rare, likely-cursed album released by a hippie cult a half-century ago. Of course, this movie, Pater Noster and the Mission of Light, is a horror flick served with a good dose of comedy. Where else did you think a hunt for Discogs gold would take you? 

    Directed by Christopher Bickel, the South Carolina-based, “anti-Hollywood” filmmaker whose previous efforts include Bad Girls and The Theta Girl, Pater Noster and the Mission of Light is no-budget cinema at its finest. It looks good, has a great soundtrack with original music and, most importantly, is a clever, well-written film. Released last year, Pater Noster has been streaming on Night Flight, which is where I caught it. There’s also a Blu-Ray release on the horizon.  

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