Beatique

Category: Music

  • Bizou to Play EP Release Show at Gold-Diggers on November 3

    Bizou press photo Ben Thomas
    Bizou (Photo: Ben Thomas)

    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.

    (more…)

  • The Devils You Know

    Downtown Los Angeles No Kings march October 17 2026 photo Liz Ohanesian
    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. 

    (more…)

  • Psychedelic Sounds Abound on New Teenage Fanclub Album, Do Not Dare to Dream

    Teenage Fanclub Do not Dare to Dream album cover
    Do Not Dare to Dream by Teenage Fanclub is out now.

    Scottish indie band Teenage Fanclub has been together for more than 35 years now, with a few lineup changes along the way, and have just released their 13th album. It’s called Do Not Dare to Dream and it’s out now via the venerable indie label Merge Records. I’ve listened to the album a number of times to write this review and the one song I keep hanging onto is “Over and Over.” 

    “Over and Over” is an interesting song. It begins with a gentle vocal harmony, a bit reminiscent of 1960s Bee-Gees. Less than a minute into the song, a funky drum kicks into gear, but those vocals, they remain subdued and a bit melancholy. By the chorus, the guitar picks up a Johnny Marr quality, like The Smiths’ take on ‘60s pop in songs like “Unloveable.” All this leads to a Can-like, psychedelic outro that goes on for close to a minute. It’s a lot to pack into a song and Teenage Fanclub does it well and it’s a testament to the band’s eclecticism. 

    (more…)

  • Imperial Teen Is Back and All Over You

    Imperial Teen by Milan Zrnic
    Imperial Teen (Photo: Milan Zrnic)

    It’s been a minute, but Imperial Teen is back with a new album, All Over You, set for release on October 9 and a U.S. tour that kicks off at Zebulon in Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 14. The long-running indie rock band return in fine form with a sound and an energy that recalls albums like What Is Not to Love and On. 

    “Honestly, the last record we put out, Now We Are Timeless, it felt like our final record, to me anyway,” says Roddy Bottum. “This one kind of feels like taking that back a little bit, or correcting ourselves, or readdressing ourselves. Finding the words in ourselves to share again.”

    (more…)

  • Listen to the October 2026 Edition of Beatique

    The latest edition of Beatique is online now and features new music from Soft Cell, Hercules and Love Affair, Boy Harsher, ADULT.  and more, plus a few old favorites, including a New Order song that is neither “Blue Monday” nor “Bizarre Love Triangle,” a Bauhaus song that isn’t “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” and one of my all-time favorite club bangers. Listen here or on Mixcloud. Set list is below. 

    (more…)

  • New Arab Strap + More of What You Heard at Club Underground 10/02/26

    Arab Strap Half-Told Tales Album Cover
    Cover of Half-Told Tales by Arab Strap

    I’m way into “You You You,” from Arab Strap’s new album, Half-Told Tales. Played in my set for the first time on Friday night at Club Underground. It’s a groovy, dance-rock track that’s good for the warm-up portion of the night. Anyhow, it’s been a long-hot weekend so I don’t have much to say, except that the set list from Friday night is below. I’ll be back at Underground on October 16 for the Fontaines D.C. album release party. Get your tickets for that asap.

    (more…)

  • New Music from Arab Strap, Club 8 and Murex

    Arab Strap Half-Told Tales Album Cover
    Cover of Half-Told Tales by Arab Strap

    Long-running indie duos Arab Strap and Club 8 both released new albums in September. Plus, Swedish singer/musician Murex released her debut. Keep reading for the reviews.

    (more…)

  • Soft Cell Returns to Danceteria for Swan Song

    Soft Cell Danceteria album cover

    On my first trip to New York, I connected with an L.A. friend who was at NYU. We were going to meet up in Times Square. “Meet me by the Disney Store,” he said. 

    The Disney Store? I don’t know if my shock and disappointment carried over the hotel lobby phone. This was the end of the 1990s, the era of Rudy Giuliani and TRL if you will, but the Times Square in my head was closer to the one Marc Almond describes on the latest Soft Cell album, with B movies playing in rundown theaters.  

    For their final album, Danceteria, Soft Cell takes listeners to the New York that inspired inspired so much of the English duo’s work. It’s the same New York that Madonna recalls on Confessions II and, if you listen to the two albums, you can hear similar perspectives that unfold in very different ways. Where Confessions II jumps back and forth through time, Danceteria maintains a narrative, and sound, that’s firmly rooted in the 1980s. You can hear the end of disco and the beginning of house in “Danceteria” and “The Space Inside,” which sit side by side on the album. 

    (more…)

  • On Debut Album, waltzerr Reminds Listeners Tomorrow Will Be Better

    waltzerr press photo Photo by Will Harvey
    waltzerr’s debut album Tomorrow Will Be Better is out now. (Photo by Will Harvey)

    It’s been three years since waltzerr’s first show, but band founder Emily Waltzer remembers it well. “We had only been playing music in my friend’s bedroom for a year,” she recalls of the gig opening for Palettes at Seattle venue Funhouse. “We didn’t know how it was going to turn out. My mic didn’t work for half of the set.”

    In spite of the mic issue, it was a good night, she adds. “It was a really tiny venue, which was kind of nice because it filled up quickly, so it felt like a large audience.” 

    (more…)

  • Is Get Mean Boy Harsher’s Pop Album?

    Boy Harsher Get Mean album cover
    Get Mean by Boy Harsher is out now.

    Let’s start this review with a confession. I like Boy Harsher, but I’m not the mega-fan that so many people I know are. Too many of their songs sound the same to me, to the extent that I frequently have to double-check what I’ve played when I’m DJing, lest I confuse “Country Girl,” “Give Me a Reason” and “Come Closer.” That said, I was very excited to hear “Jeans” when it was released as a single a few months back because it doesn’t sound at all like a Boy Harsher banger. At first it sounded very New Order to me. Now, it reminds me of “I Go Crazy,” the Flesh For Lulu song that’s in Some Kind of Wonderful. I love “Jeans,” but wasn’t quite sure that the club crowds would. In fact, it’s been one of the big hits on the dance floor this summer. Thanks to “Jeans,” there were a few nights where I didn’t have to play “Pain.” That’s a relief. 

    (more…)