Tag Archives: indie dance

Happening in L.A.

Happening in L.A.: July 11 – July 17

Yeah Yeah Yeahs x Siouxsie Nite at Club Underground in Los Angeles with DJs Larry G and Liz O. on Friday, July 12, 2024

This Friday, I’m back at Club Underground with Larry G. for Yeah Yeah Yeahs x Siouxsie Nite. Both floors of Grand Star Jazz Club will be open and tickets are available now. Party starts at 9:30 p.m. and it’s 21+. Find the Grand Star at 943 N. Broadway inside Chinatown’s Central Plaza next to the Bruce Lee statue.

Click here for more info on Yeah Yeah Yeahs x Siouxsie Nite at Club Underground. 

As for the rest of the weekend and into next week, your options include Pearl and the Oysters’s free show at Levitt Pavilion on Saturday. Also happening Saturday is Razorcake’s annual chili cook-off at Footsies and Décadanse’s tribute to Francoise Hardy at the Grand Star. On Monday, Ed Harcourt is playing at The Stowaway, which is a very intimate venue. Tuesday night, my favorite Schwarzenegger movie, The Running Man, screens at Vidiots in Eagle Rock. There’s plenty more happening in L.A. too. Check out the list below. 

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The Playlist

Here’s What I Played at Decadanse x Underground on July 5, 2024

Photo of full dance floor at Club Underground at Grand Star Jazz Club in Chinatown, Los Angeles on July 5, 2024
The scene at Grand Star Jazz Club for Decadanse x Underground on July 5, 2024

Decadanse x Underground was such a great time and I’m happy to have been a part of it. DJs Pierrot and Fifi LaRoux played French pop on vinyl downstairs. Larry G. and I brought the indie vibes upstairs. We switched off on the controllers about every half hour or so. 

“Amour Ex Machina,” from L’Impratrice’s new album, Pulsar, did pretty well for my first time playing it out. “Digitalism in Cairo,” the Digitalism track that samples “Fire in Cairo” by the Cure, made a reappearance after many years. People probably don’t recall it was a big track back in the ‘00s. 

Anyhow, I’ll be back at Underground next Friday, July 12, for Siouxsie x Yeah Yeah Yeahs Nite. Tickets are already available on Restless Nites, Dice and Eventbrite. 

Check out my set list from Decadanse x Underground at Grand Star Jazz Club on July 5, 2024.

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Got It On Vinyl, The Playlist

This 12-Year-Old School of Seven Bells Song Still Hits Like It’s New

School of Seven Bells Ghostory on vinyl
My vinyl copy of School of Seven Bells’ 2012 album, Ghostory.

When a song isn’t instantly recognizable, you can see it on the faces in the crowd. They’ll shoot befuddled glances around the room, scope the scene and see how many people look like they know it. They half-dance, as if they’re still deciding whether or not to stay on the floor. 

In the DJ booth, this is a tense moment because there are a few ways that the scenario can play out. They might leave the dance floor, taking a handful of people with them. Or, someone who is equally bold and clueless might come up to the booth with the “play something I know” request. In the best possible instances, they stick with the groove and keep moving.

I see people cast the “I don’t know this song, should I dance?” glance whenever I play “Low Times” by School of Seven Bells. The song is 12 years old, and I’ve been playing it for just as long, but it still hits as if it were new. Even though it’s not a song that people automatically know, they keep dancing. Every time, the crowd grows and energy builds alongside the heart-pounding rhythm and breathless vocals. 

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The Playlist

Here’s What I Played at Club Underground on Friday, June 14, 2024

Actors In Real Life single cover
Cover of Actors single for “In Real Life.”

I forgot to take pics last night at Underground. It happens. But, it was another fun night on Friday, the memories of which become hazy after playing music for four hours. I do, however, recall that I really like the way Actors latest single, “In Real Life,” sounds with Roxy Music’s song “More Than This.” It makes sense in my head because Actors always sounded less like a “darkwave”  or “postpunk” band to me and more like people who have listened to a lot of Roxy Music, Bowie, Japan and Duran Duran. But, that doesn’t mean that two songs will go well together and I never know for sure until I try it. 

(Just in case you’re wondering, all my sets are improvised, but, when you’ve been DJing since you were 18 and you’re now a far cry from that, you have a good feel for which songs go together and which ones don’t.)

Also new to my set is “Hechizos” by Glass Spells, which you might have heard me play on Dublab last week. If not, you can click on this link to the archive of the show. Glass Spells are from San Diego and are currently on tour, but, unfortunately, don’t have an L.A. date. However, they will be at the Observatory in Santa Ana on July 17. Check Glass Spells’ website for other upcoming tour dates. The other new addition to my set is Boy Harsher’s remix of Chelsea Wolfe’s song “House of Self-Undoing,” which I love. Anyhow, here’s the set list.  

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New Music

Pulsar, the New Album from L’Impératrice, Is Out Now

L'Imperatrice Pulsar press photos by Augustin JSM
L’Impératrice (Photo by Augustin JSM)

In April of 2021, I saw L’Impératrice live at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles. Three years later, the thing that stands out about that show is how hard everyone danced.. There was one point when singer Flore Benguigui got low and the audience did the same.

I was in the balcony that night and, from my vantage point, I saw a broken heart totem and a crown totem bouncing above bobbing heads. When L’impératrice turned songs from Tako Tsubo, like “Submarine” and “Peur des filles” into full-blown disco jams — the latter sounding like “Love to Love You, Baby”— it felt like the crowd was moving as a single body. Before that night, I had spent more than a month listening to Tako Tsubo  on repeat, partially because I interviewed L’Impératrice for Audiofemme, but also because the album quickly became a favorite of mine for that year. But, L’Impératrice live is a whole other level of wild energy that I hadn’t heard in their recordings, at least until now. 

Continue reading Pulsar, the New Album from L’Impératrice, Is Out Now →
The Playlist

Here’s What I Played at Underground’s 2000s Nite on May 31, 2024

Dance floor scene at Club Underground 2000s Nite at Grand Star Jazz Club in Los Angeles on May 31, 2024. (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
The scene just before midnight on the dance floor at Club Underground. May 31, 2024. (Pic: Liz O.)

I’m not one for nostalgia, but ‘00s Nite at Club Underground on May 31 did make me feel a bit wistful for the final decade of life untethered to phones and social media and streaming platforms. I wouldn’t say the ‘00s were a particularly great decade (like I’ve written before, it wasn’t), but it was nice to not be connected to everyone, everywhere, all the time.

In keeping with this week’s theme at Underground, I busted out one of my favorite mashups, which I had downloaded and burned to a CD for gigs back in the ‘00s, and ended the night with the song that was my closer in the earliest years of that decade. Keep reading for the set list.

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Upcoming Gigs

I’m Back at Underground on May 31 for 2000s Nite

Club Underground 2000s Nite May 31, 2024

I’ll be heading back to the DJ booth at Underground on Friday, May 31 for 2000s Nite. Head down to Grand Star Jazz Club to hit the dance for all your favorite jams from the likes of White Stripes, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, Ladytron, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Miss Kittin and the Hacker, Peaches and so many more.

Party starts at 9:30 p.m. and it’s 21+. Grand Star Jazz Club is at 943 N. Broadway inside Chinatown’s Central Plaza, next to the Bruce Lee Statue. Both street and lot parking are available in the neighborhood and the venue is across Broadway from Metro’s A Line stop in Chinatown. Tickets are available now on Eventbrite and Dice.

Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs.

Related:

HERE’S WHAT I PLAYED AT UNDERGROUND ON APRIL 12, 2024

HERE’S WHAT I PLAYED AT UNDERGROUND ON MARCH 8, 2024

Beatique Mix

Listen to the New Beatique Mix with Music from French Police, Twin Tribes and More

It’s been a while, but I finally made a new Beatique mix. It’s a bunch of relatively new music, a mix of indie, darkwave and synthpop with a touch of shoegaze. I’d say more, but DJs talking about DJing is boring af, which is why I hate Threads. Anyhow, give the mix a listen here or on Mixcloud. Share it if you like it. Turn it up (all the way up) in the office or car or wherever if you really like it. Set list is below. 

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The Playlist

Here’s What I Played for Indie Sleaze at The Offbeat on April 27, 2024

Indie Sleaze at The Offbeat on April 27, 2024 with Scarlett Casanova, Killed by Synth, Drayk and Liz O.

On Saturday night, I played Scarlett Casanova’s Indie Sleaze party at The Offbeat. It was a ton a fun. It was also a reminder that I need to go through my collection and rip a bunch of CDs that I used to play in sets during the ’00s because I was continually reminded of songs I have and probably haven’t heard since I had a laptop with a CD drive. I need to get one of those external drives too.

If ’00s indie is your thing, mark your calendar for Underground x 2000s Nite on May 31. Maybe I wll have ripped some of those old CDs by then.

Click here for Underground x 2000s tickets on Eventbrite.

Click here for Underground x 2000s tickets on Dice.

Next gig: Dolce Vita at The Mermaid on Tuesday, April 30. Starts at 8 p.m. and there’s no cover. More information in this post.

Keep reading for last night’s set list.

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