My first quandary of 2024 occurred late in the afternoon on January 1 inside Going Underground Records as I quickly flipped through a crate of indie releases alphabetized by the letter F. There, I found Kate Fagan I Don’t Want to Be Too Cool and Future Islands As Long As You Are on vinyl, both of which I could use in my collection. But, when it comes to new vinyl, I need to exhibit some restraint. Which should I choose?
In the end, I chose neither.
Continue reading New Year, New Vinyl
It was such a 2023 ending to the year. I was upstairs DJing at Underground’s New Year’s Eve Ball and preparing for the countdown. My stupid iPhone does everything but count down the seconds to midnight. So, I find a website with the time in L.A. down to the seconds. We’ve got 15 minutes to go. I slow things down with “Por Que Te Vas” so people can get their drinks. Keep it mellow with “Tide is High” and “Rock Steady.” We’re about three minutes away from midnight when I work in “E.V.A.,” then one minute, then 30 seconds. Then the website crashes, because, of course that’s what will happen at the end of the year where everything stops working. We got through the countdown regardless, but I’m adding “watch with a second hand” to the list of antiquated things I need to get this year because nothing new works.
Continue reading Here’s What I Played at Club Underground’s New Year’s Eve Ball
Club Underground‘s New Year’s Eve Ball is ready to drop this Sunday, December 31 at Grand Star Jazz Club in Chinatown. I’ll be DJing alongside Larry G. and Malvada as we takeover both floors of the venue from 9:30 p.m. until 2 a.m. Tickets for the party, which is a NYE event pick in Southern California News Group papers, are going fast online, so get yours as soon as possible via Dice or Eventbrite. Last year’s event sold out, so don’t wait until the last minute for this. This is a 21+ event.
Continue reading L.A. Music Events: December 28 through January 3
We were right around a dark stretch of the 110, near where the freeway crosses the L.A. River when I saw very brief flash of light and heard my Lyft driver gasp. Somebody was running across the freeway, he said. I looked to the side and saw a figure— thin, dressed entirely black save for the sneakers, which had something reflective on them— climb over the barricade. I don’t know about the driver, but I was stunned for the rest of the ride home from La Cuevita, remaining mostly silent through the end of “Personal Jesus,” which was bumping in the car, and then nervously tapping the beat of “This Charming Man” on my leg while thinking about how grateful I was to have gotten such a good driver right before the surge pricing went into effect on the Friday before Christmas.
Continue reading Here’s What I Played at La Cuevita on December 22, 2023
I don’t know if the annual “best of” lists are necessarily fair. There is still a virtual pile of 2023 albums on my Bandcamp wishlist and running list in my head of albums that I need to hear. There are likely new albums from bands I follow that I don’t know about because, well, you know how social media works these days. Then there are the albums and bands who aren’t even on my radar, but will be next year, or the year after that, or maybe a half-decade down the line. Still, I made a list of my top 10 albums of 2023 that include music you may have heard in my DJ sets IRL, on Mixcloud or a few of the radio appearances I’ve done this year.
Continue reading Here Are My Top 10 Albums of 2023
I don’t have any club gigs this week, but you can catch me on Sunday, December 17 in “The Conversation” with Mike Regalado at 8 p.m. on Boyle Heights radio station KQBH. It’s a talk show about music, so tune into 101.5 FM if you’re in Boyle Heights or listen online outside of the neighborhood to find out what we discuss. As for actual L.A. music events, I have some suggestions for those of you who aren’t heading to Crypto.com Arena (ugh, can they change that stupid name soon?) to see Depeche Mode this weekend. Keep reading for more info.
Continue reading L.A. Music Events: December 15 – December 20, 2023
With only a handful of gigs left for this year, I figured that now is a good time to post my top 10 jams for 2023. Technically, these aren’t all songs that came out this year, and my top pick I actually started playing in 2022, but they all made an impact on my DJ set in 2023. Check out the list below and I hope to see you on the dance floor soon.
Continue reading Here are My Top 10 Jams for 2023
I don’t know what I’m most grateful for tonight. Was it the people at Club Underground who danced to the brand new Confidence Man tune? Was it the person who admitted listening to Confidence Man, who released one of my favorite albums of 2022, because of my sets? (BTW, Confidence Man is at the Echoplex on December 2.) Or, was it the trio who listened to my rant about how Chumbawamba were the working class heroes we needed, but we didn’t deserve them and now we’re stuck with capitalist icon Taylor Swift? Maybe it’s all that.
Continue reading Here’s What I Played at Club Underground on November 10, 2023
Last night was the first time I played Gold Diggers, which is a small music venue/hotel/recording studio on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood that’s filled with disco balls and good vibes. It was Dum Dum Records Second Anniversary party and Taleen Kali had asked me to DJ alongside Ann Eliza for the night. So, this was also the third event with Taleen that I’ve played this year. (I DJed for shoegaze night at the band’s Harvard and Stone residency and at the Flowers of Life album release afterparty back in April. However, it was, Taleen noted late in the night, the first where we both ended up on the dance floor at the same time. It was also initially going to be the first time Ann Eliza and I DJed together, but we both ended up playing Vidéothèque’s reopening party last month.
Continue reading Here’s What I Played at Dum Dum Records 2 Year Anniversary Party at Gold Diggers
Thanks to everyone who started off this week at Disco Matinee with Jus’ B, Jen Rock and me. I have two more gigs this week– Dum Dum Records Anniversary Party and Underground’s Interpol Nite– and hope you can make it out to one or both of them.
Continue reading This Week, Head to Dum Dum Records’ Anniversary Party at Gold Diggers and Interpol Nite at Club Underground