Category Archives: The Playlist

Alison Goldfrapp Brings Dance Floor Heat on Flux

Alison Goldfrapp Flux album cover

If you’ve been paying attention to the singles that Alison Goldfrapp has dropped this year, then you have an idea of what to expect from the singer’s new album, Flux. It’s a pop-minded album that does, at least at times, recall her work with Goldfrapp, the duo that bears her name. Still, “Reverberotic” and “Find Xanadu” aren’t the only jams on this album and, if you’re a fan of those two songs in particular, definitely get Flux in your queue asap. 

Flux is Goldfrapp’s second solo album. Two years ago, she released The Love Invention, a dreamy disco collection that was one of my favorite albums of 2023. With Flux, the sound is a little more rooted in the singer’s legacy while maintaining a contemporary sound. 

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Jeffrey Runnings’ Piqued Is A Beautiful Final Solo Album From the Late For Against Bassist and Vocalist

Piqued by Jeffrey Runnings on vinyl out now on Independent Project Records
Jeffrey Runnings’ final solo album is out now on Independent Project Records (Pic: Liz O.)

In the extensive liner notes by Camilla Aisa, Jeffrey Runnings says that it wasn’t his intention to release the music that he was recording on a thrifted 8-track machine. But, in a tragic turn of events, Piqued  would be Runnings final solo album. Last fall, the musician, known for his work as bassist and singer of For Against, learned that he had advanced stage cancer. Over the course of the next few months, he was able to finish up the collection of songs and work with Independent Project Records, who had previously released For Against albums, to begin approving the artwork. Runnings died on March 3, 2025 at the age of 61. Piqued was released posthumously in July. It is both a testament to Runnings’ creativity and a loving tribute to the musician. 

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New Alice Glass and Lebanon Hanover + More of What You Heard at Nocturno (Darkwave/Indie/New Wave Room) on August 8, 2025

Vilevo live at Nocturno in Los Angeles on August 8, 2025 (photo: Liz Ohanesian)
View from the DJ booth: Vilevo live at Nocturno (Pic: Liz O.)

Vilevo played live last night at Nocturno and their set was fire. I watched from the DJ booth, both above and behind the stage, so I really could only see the backs of the musicians, but I saw the way the crowd lit up when they played and that was really cool. Anyhow, I bought their album, Recopilación, this morning and am listening to it right now. Give it a listen when you have a chance. 

Alice Glass dropped a new single a couple weeks ago, “Catch and Release,” and it slayed last night. Instant banger. You’ll definitely be hearing this more in the coming weeks/months. Other new tunes in the set include “My Love” from Lebanon Hanover, which turned up pretty early in the set, plus “Everything We Thought We Knew” from N8NOFACE and “Rearrange” by Sextile, both of which I started playing at Underground in the past few weeks. Then there are the new-ish songs that I’ve played at Nocturno previously this summer, but are definitely getting more people out on the dance floor now: French Police “Sugar Killer,” Mareux “Nonstop Romance” and Ultra Sunn “Wrong Floor.” Set list is below. 

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New N8NOFACE, Ora the Molecule and More of What You Heard at Club Underground on 8/01/25

Club Underground at Grand Star Jazz Club August 1, 2025
View from the DJ Booth (pic: Liz O.)

It was hard to decide which new N8NOFACE song should get played first in my sets. Then, while playing at Underground last night, it hit me that “Everything We Thought We Knew” would work well with the one Molchat Doma song that everyone knows. I think it’s a keeper. Finally got around to playing “Nobody Cares” by Ora the Molecule last night too and that also did well. 

There’s one new song that I really wanted to play last night, but couldn’t fit it into the set, so you’ll have to wait a few weeks until I’m back at Underground. Other than that, thanks for dancing and here’s the set list. Anything new-ish is linked to a related post or, if there is no related post, a YouTube clip.  

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Nuovo Testamento, Mark Stewart and More New Music for July, 2025

Press photo of Mark Stewart by Chiara Meatelli and Dominic Lee
Mark Stewart, founder of the Pop Group, finished work on The Fateful Symmetry before his death in 2023. The album was released earlier this month. (Photo: Chiara Meatelli and Dominic Lee)

Sometimes, it feels like there’s just too much awful news in the world to pay attention to new music. This is one of those times. But, if I’ve learned anything after IDK how many years of music obsession, it’s that turning up the stereo/laptop/earbuds/whatever and tuning into something different can help. Sometimes the songs make you dance, sometimes they make you chuckle, sometimes they even give you some new insight into the news on our screens. 

Here’s a small sample of what I’ve been listening to in July of 2025. At the end of the post, you’ll find links to a few other recent releases that I’ve already reviewed. 

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Fever Ray Refreshes Classics and More on The Year of the Radical Romantics

Fever Ray The Year of the Radical Romantics

The only time I’ve seen Fever Ray live was at Coachella in 2010 and, even then, I only caught part of their set sometime on the first night of the festival after I had already decided that I was over Coachella and the only thing that might ever get me back is The Smiths reunion that I estimated would be announced the day after hell freezes over. All that said, I don’t really have a true concert experience to compare to The Year of the Radical Romantics, the new, live-ish album from Fever Ray, but that’s probably for the best. 

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Disco, Italo and House at Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Sunday Sessions, 7/20/25

View from the stage at Gloria Molina Grand Park's Sunday Sessions on July 20, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
View from the stage at Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Sunday Sessions on July 20, 2025 (Pic: Liz O.)

Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Sunday Sessions is a highlight of summer in L.A. It’s a series of free, all ages, dance party picnics right in the middle of downtown, inside the park that sits between the Music Center and City Hall. At the event on July 20, my friend, Maurice de la Falaise curated a lineup of DJs to celebrate the roots of house music, and I got to DJ alongside Loopdropkid and Clifton Weaver, with KG Superstar MCing the afternoon. It was a ton of fun.

For my own set, I played mostly disco and Italo, with a lot of edits to kind of stress that connection between disco and house. In the first set, which started at about 3 p.m., I dropped Horse Meat Disco and Phenomenal Handclap Band’s track “Sanctuary,” which you probably heard a lot if you went to my nights back at The Lash right after the pandemic, because the lyrics are relevant to the moment. The second set, which was from 5:15 – 6 p.m., took a house turn towards the end because the crowd seemed up for it, so I dropped in two of my favorite tracks from the past handful of years “Cissy” from Natasha Kitty Katt, which pulls vocals from the Cissy Houston song “Think It Over,” and Kerri Chandler’s remix of Gabriels “Love and Hate in a Different Time.”  Set list is below.

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Olya Sonica, Izzy Outerspace and Lots of Britpop at Hotel Ziggy, 7/17/25

Olya Sonica live at Hotel Ziggy in Los Angeles on July 17, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
Olya Sonica live at Hotel Ziggy on July 17, 2025 (Pic: Liz O.)

Olya Sonica has a new single, “You Only Live Forever (YOLF)” out now and shows in the U.K. next week, so, to celebrate, she put together a special Britpop-themed show last night at Hotel Ziggy. Izzy Outerspace opened. Olya played a full set with her new single and then brought together a group of friends for a set of Britpop covers with various vocalists, including Blur “Song 2,” Pulp “Disco 2000,” The Verve “Bittersweet” and multiple Oasis songs. They finished with a singalong of “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” of course. 

Oh, yeah, and I DJed too. Dug through my Britpop stash and managed to pull out some tunes that I haven’t played in a long time. Some I haven’t played in a really long time, like maybe not since the Bang! days. Check out the set list below and maybe I’ll see you tonight at Club Underground’s Pulp Party

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New French Police + More of What You Heard in Klub Nocturno New Wave vs. Darkwave Room, 7/11/25

New wave vs. darkwave room at Klub Nocturno, July 11, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
Black and white view from the DJ booth in the new wave vs. darkwave room. (Pic: Liz O.)

It was She Past Away Night in the New Wave vs. Darkwave room at Nocturno last night, so, if you were there, you heard a lot of them throughout the night. But, also, French Police’s new song, “Sugar Killer,” made it into the set early. It did pretty well for 10 p.m., so you’ll probably hear it again. “Nonstop Romance,” the title track from Mareux’s new album, was first played in the new wave vs. darkwave room at the last Nocturno party and, since it did well earlier in the night, I dropped it somewhere around 11:30 p.m. this time around and it did really well. “Reason to Stay” from Pixel Grip is a middle-of-the-night song now, which is good to see. “Wrong Floor” by Ultra Sunn, which someone requested last month, stuck around this month. I like that one a lot. And “Women Respond to Bass” from Sextile is basically this year’s summer song.  I think that’s it for the new music from last night. 

Overall, it was a fantastic night and the crowd was great, as well. Someone made two requests that were in the BPM ranges I was playing in, which never happens. I asked, “Are you a DJ?” No. “Are you a drummer?” No. Anyhow, it’s an impressive skill and it means that those requests landed in the set immediately instead of whenever I was able to raise the tempo or slow it down enough to fit the song into the set. 

Anyhow, here’s what you heard last night. 

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“Supernature MMXXV”: Cerrone Revives Disco Banger with Christine and the Queens and Purple Disco Machine

Cerrone and Christine and the Queens photo by Thomas Spault
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.”

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