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  • Moviola Captures the Difficulty and Absurdity of American Life on ‘Earthbound’

    Moviola press photo by Carrie Klein
    Credit: Carrie Klein

    In the video for “Slage Wave,” the first single off Moviola’s recently-released eleventh album, Earthbound, the employees of Don’s Tiny Weenies toil over the grill as they dish out Doge Dogs and Pigs on a Golf Course.  “You’re a wage slave, from the cradle to the grave,” the song goes, “you don’t work, you don’t get paid, you don’t get nothin’.”

    Fate- or, rather,  the labor movement- intervenes in the form of a customer in a Johnny Paycheck, who hands over a “Take This Job and Shove It” sticker. A Pete Seeger-like musician follows, sliding a union handbook across the counter. It’s a video that almost has a happy ending, until the hot dog vending machine arrives.

    “We debated on how to end it,” says Jake Housh, who plays guitar and piano/keys in Moviola and also shot and edited the video, “but it seemed kind of realistic maybe that the machines will win.”

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  • The Divine Comedy Is Back With Rainy Sunday Afternoon

    The Divine Comedy Rainy Sunday Afternoon album cover

    Neil Hannon is a genius. The Northern Irish force behind The Divine Comedy has been writing albums full of poignant, literate baroque pop since the 1990s. On Rainy Sunday Afternoon, his first full-length in six years, Hannon bestows another 11 gems upon us, including the masterful dunk on MAGA, “Mar-a-Lago By the Sea.” 

    The song itself is drenched in oceanic kitsch, stylistically reminiscent of mid-20th century exotica albums. Against a backdrop that evokes images of sandy beaches and coconut cocktails, Hannon croons recollections of past holidays as if he’s singing to a supper club full of seniors. “Mar-a-Lago, dare I dream/That someday I will be/Within your walls again,” he sings. Then, he drops the bombs. 

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  • Decoder Is the Punk Sci-Fi Film, and Soundtrack, You Need in Your Life

    Christiane F. and F.M. Einheit in Decoder
    Christiane F. and F.M. Einheit in Decoder

    Sometime during lockdown, I stumbled upon a movie called Decoder via Tubi and streamed it not knowing what to expect. By the time I reached the end, I wondered, how did I not know this film existed? Released in 1984, Decoder is a German sci-fi film with serious counterculture cred. It stars F.M. Einheit, then a member of Einsturzende Neubauten, and Christiane F. and also features appearances from Genesis P-Orridge and William Burroughs. P-Orridge composed the film’s main theme with Dave Ball of Soft Cell, whose song “Seedy Films” is featured prominently in the movie, alongside music from Neubauten, Einheit and The The.

    The Decoder soundtrack, which was just re-released on CD via U.K. label Cold Spring, is killer, which one might expect with that caliber of contributors. The movie, though, is even better. In it, Einheit plays a young man who realizes that the muzak playing in the fast food restaurant is a form of mind control and that he can manipulate the sounds to elicit a completely different response from the public. 

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  • ‘Ballad of Buttery Cake Ass’ Author Aug Stone Releases New Single of His Own

    Aug Stone musician and author of Ballad of Buttery Cake Ass and Sporting Moustaches "Rachel on the Rooftops" video still.
    Aug Stone in a still from the video for “Rachel on the Rooftops” (Photo courtesy of the artist)

    Aug Stone has been making music for decades, but it wasn’t until last week that he released his first single under his own name. “Rachel on the Rooftops” is power pop-tinged rock jam that showcases the musician and author’s knack for narrative. The single also features backing vocals from Rachel Love, best known for her time in Dolly Mixture, the seminal British indie pop band that would later sing backup on Captain Sensible singles like “Happy Talk.” 

    “They’re one of my all time favorite bands,” says Stone of Dolly Mixture. “It’s punky in attitude, but it’s like all the great girl pop of the ‘60s. I love all those songs.”

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  • Twin Peaks: The Return, Tomata du Plenty Art and More Happening in L.A., 9/18 – 9/24/2025

    Inside MutMuz Gallery in Chinatown, Los Angeles for the opening of Tomata, a retrospective show of the art of Tomata du Plenty
    Inside MutMuz Gallery for the opening of Tomatâ

    Remember the Tomata du Plenty art show that I wrote about here on Beatique back in August? Tomata, the retrospective of work from the late artist and frontman for seminal L.A. punk band the Screamers, closes at MutMuz Gallery in Chinatown on Friday, September 19. There will be a closing party on Friday night, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. If you haven’t seen the show, or you want to see it again, I highly recommend going to the closing event. 

    After the closing party, hit up Club Underground at Grand Star Jazz Club, which is right across Hill Street from MutMuz. (The gallery is on Chung King Road, Grand Star is in Central Plaza, Hill Street runs between the two plazas.) I’m not DJing this week, but it’s still going to be a vibe with Larry G. on the decks all night playing indie, Britpop, post-punk and more. Tickets are available at the door, or in advance via Dice or Eventbrite.

    As for more of what’s happening this weekend and early next week, keep reading.  (And my next gig, in case you’re wondering, is Nocturno at Catch One on September 26.)

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  • Beatique Mix, Sept. 2025 with Music from Gorillaz, Bob Vylan, Heaven 17 and more

    Heaven 17 "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" 45 RPM vinyl single (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Heaven 17 “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang”

    Over the weekend, I realized that it’s been a few months since I made a mix, so this is a quick set with some dance tunes and some rock tunes. It’s mostly new music, but I threw in a couple oldies that fit my mood. There’s no real adherence to genre because that’s not how I listen to music at home. All of the artist names on the set list below link to where they’ve been previously mentioned on Beatique. 

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  • Let There Be Gwar Made Me Nostalgic for Freedom of Speech

    Let There Be Gwar exhibition at Beyond the Streets in Los Angeles. Photos by Liz Ohanesian
    Let There Be Gwar is open at Beyond the Streets in Los Angeles through November 2. (All photos: Liz O.)


    I’m not one for nostalgia, but, damn, that longing for what was hit me hard as I walked through Let There Be Gwar at Beyond the Streets on Saturday morning. Inside the La Brea Avenue gallery is a treasure trove of costumes, props and ephemera from the rock band/art collective. A massive anthropomorphic toilet and plunger stands near the front entrance. Decapitated heads line a wall, a recipe for DIY bloodbags beside them. On the TV screens are flashbacks to Gwar’s time on the 1990s talk show circuit. Joan Rivers! Jerry Springer! Wally George!

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  • Modeselektor Drops Inventive, Unpredictable Mix for !K7’s DJ-Kicks Series

    Modeselektor !K7 DJ-Kicks album cover

    I’ve long been a fan of Modeselektor, but when I think about the German DJ/production duo, the one release that always pops into my head is their 2009 installment for Get Physical’s Body Languageseries. Somewhere in the last 20 minutes of the mix, a space techno woosh morphs into Animal Collective’s song “My Girls.” It was completely unexpected and made me fall for a song from a band that I was otherwise ambivalent about. The best DJs do that and Modeselektor are still amongst those I would consider the very best. 

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  • On Lead Into Gold’s ‘Knife the Ally,’ Paul Barker Urges Musicians to ‘Challenge Yourself’

    Lead Into Gold Paul Barker Press Photo by Mahsa Zargaran
    (Photo: Mahsa Zargaran)

    “I really don’t want to listen to any of the music that I listened in the ‘80s and ‘90s. I just don’t. I know that music so well, I don’t want to hear it anymore,” says Paul Barker. “It’s like listening to the Beatles. I love the Beatles, but I never listen to the Beatles because it’s part of our consciousness. You just grow up with it.”

    Barker’s urge to lean into less familiar musical terrain extends to his own work. Active since the early 1980s, he played in Seattle post-punk band The Blackouts before going on to spend close to 20 years in Ministry. He released his first album as Lead Into Gold in 1990 and the most recent one this year. Knife the Ally is the name of the latest Lead Into Gold full-length, which was released via Artoffact Records in June. “The ally is industrial music,” he says and the album is, in a way, a call to arms, to do something musically different.

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  • Eraserhead Screening at Greystone Mansion, Gwar Art Show and More Happening in Los Angeles September 11 – September 17

    Mike Meyers So I Married an Axe Murderer coffee House screenshot
    So I Married an Axe Murderer is playing this weekend too. Friday night at Vidiots.

    If you’re not still recovering from Oasis-mania, there is plenty to get you out of the house and away from your screens this weekend. Thursday’s Desire and Johnny Jewel show at Hollywood Forever is already sold out, but there will be an afterparty at Gold-Diggers. Friday night is packed with concerts, including Anamanaguchi at The Wiltern and Cold Waves XIII at The Mayan. Retrospective exhibition Let There Be Gwar opens at Beyond the Streets on Saturday, while Jaws: The Exhibition debuts at The Academy Museum on Sunday. Plus, Eraserhead screens at Greystone Mansion on Saturday night.

    Heading into next week, Swans play three nights at The Lodge Room, one of which is already sold out, and generative Brian Eno documentary, Eno, heads to Philosophical Research Society. There’s more too, so keep reading for the details on what’s happening in Los Angeles between Thursday, September 11 and Wednesday, September 17. 

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