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  • Yeah Yeahs Yeahs x Siouxsie and the Banshees Night at Club Underground + More Happening in L.A. 8/21 – 8/27/25

    Yeah Yeah Yeahs x Siouxsie and the Banshees Night at Club Underground on August 22, 2025 with DJs Larry G and Liz O.

    This Friday, August 22, is Yeah Yeah Yeahs x Siouxsie and the Banshees Night at Club Underground. Larry G. and I are DJing and both floors of Grand Star Jazz Club will be open. It’s been more than a year since Underground last did this theme and, if you’ve been to it before, then you know it’s a good time. Tickets are available now and you can get yours on either Eventbrite or Dice.  Party starts at 9:30 p.m. on Friday night and it’s 21+.

    Saturday, August 23, is the last day to check out Monday Nights: L.A.’s Scene of the Century, the retrospective exhibit of Sean Carnage’s Monday Nights, which I co-curated, at Leiminspace in Chinatown. For the closing party, John Thill will be playing live and Kyle Mabson is DJing. This is also Leiminspace’s 10th anniversary, so come out and celebrate from 4 – 7 p.m. There’s more information on Sean Carnage’s website. 

    Keep reading for my club, concert and movie screening recommendations for this weekend. 

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  • In The Sunflower Boys, Sam Wachman Weaves a Touching Portrait of Ukraine and the Impact of War on Youth

    cover of The Sunflower Boys by Sam Wachman

    Sam Wachman was in Romania helping to organize an English immersion camp for youth from Ukraine, drinking tea with some of the kids. A year had past since the start of the war and, after hearing their stories, he suggested they write a book. “They said, we’re busy,” he recalls, “you write it.” 

    Six months later, Wachman had a first draft of The Sunflower Boys, which was released on August 12. In it, a Ukrainian boy on the cusp of his teens, Artem, sees life forever changed when war comes to his hometown. After tragedy strikes his family, his priorities shift as Artem must now escape the country with his younger brother in hopes of reuniting with their father. It’s a riveting, and heartbreaking story. In fact, there are two, equally compelling stories that intertwine in The Sunflower Boys because, while Wachman was able to complete the novel after that conversation over tea, he had actually started work on what would be his debut novel before the war began. 

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  • Tomata du Plenty at MutMuz Gallery and Art as a Human Act

    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

    On Friday night, the party at MutMuz spilled out of the gallery and onto the otherwise quiet Chung King Road, a semi-hidden pedestrian street in Chinatown that’s known for art galleries. First wave L.A. punks mingled with my own generation of electro-weirdos, while a handful of teenagers milled about the gallery owned by Mark Mothersbaugh. On the walls was a retrospective of of the late artist Tomatâ du Plenty, including his paintings, as well as photos and ephemera related to his performances, including his time as the frontman of seminal synthpunk band the Screamers. 

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  • New Alison Goldfrapp, Tyler the Creator and Everything Else You Heard at The Mermaid on 8/17/25

    The Mermaid Little Tokyo Los Angeles August 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Inside the Mermaid 8/17/25 (Pic: Liz O.)

    It’s been a minute since I’ve DJed at The Mermaid, long enough where I hadn’t seen how the corner near the DJ booth now looks like an underwater cave (see pic above). It’s super cute. Anyhow, last night was an open format set, so you heard everything from new Alison Goldfrapp and Tyler the Creator to oldies from Brenton Wood and Creedence Clearwater Revival to everything in between. Set list is below. 

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  • 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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  • Nuovo Testamento Continues Their Dance Pop Experiments on Trouble

    Nuovo Testamento press photo by Kristopher Kirk
    Nuovo Testamento (Photo: Kristopher Kirk)

    Good things take time and Nuovo Testamento is a band that’s keenly aware of that. About a year after releasing their 2023 full-length, Love Lines, the L.A.-based trio returned to the studio and, just last month, they released the result, a five-song EP called Trouble. In the context of recorded music’s history, two-and-a-half years isn’t much of a gap between releases. Still, singer Chelsey Crowley says, during the in-between time, the band heard, “you guys haven’t put out music in so long.”

    It’s an extension of the art vs. content debate. How often should bands be releasing music? Should you pump out the jams to satiate the platforms or wait until the songs you want to make are ready? Crowley offers a definitive answer. “We prefer to have songs that we like,” she says. “We’ll let them marinate for a second.”

    It’s an attitude that’s reflective of the band’s roots too. While Nuovo Testamento’s music is steeped in late 20th century pop influences, they’re still punk to the core. They tend to tour extensively and are proponents of physical media. “It’s not just about this digital space,” says Crowley. 

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  • Tomata du Plenty Art Show, Echo Park Rising and More Happening in L.A. 8/14 – 8/20/25

    buttons on jackets and t-shirts hanging outside of Leiminspace in Chinatown for opening Monday Nights: L.A.'s Scene of the Century (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    See Monday Nights: L.A.’s Scene of the Century and make your own buttons on Saturday, August 16, at leiminspace in Chinatown

    I’m not DJing this weekend, but have a pretty good amount of recommendations for shows, dance parties, movie screenings and more. Keep reading for my top picks of events happening in L.A. between Thursday, August 14 and Wednesday, August 20.

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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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  • The Sound of Saturday Night in Downtown Los Angeles

    HLLLYH live at The Smell on Saturday, August 9, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    HLLLYH live at The Smell on Saturday, August 9, 2025 (Pic: Liz O.)

    I’m trying to think of the last time I had been to The Smell. It was so long ago that I nearly forgot to enter through the alley in the back. Maybe I haven’t been here since before the pandemic? The last show I remember seeing at the venerable L.A. DIY space was that dog and Graham Coxon. It was a night hotter than this one, sometime during the summer before the timeline went awry. A lot has changed since 2019. That The Smell still exists says a lot about the venue. I probably should go to shows here more often, but the thing is that, once you hit a certain age, hanging out at an all-age punk venue with no specific purpose can be a little awkward. Like, do I really need people to assume that I’m a mom keeping an eye on her weird kid when I’m still, mentally, the weird kid?

    Tonight, though, I have a specific, age-appropriate purpose. I’m going to see HLLLYH, which is the new band spawned from The Mae Shi, who I saw at The Smell more than once back when I was young and downtown was still a ghost town after dark.

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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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