Tag Archives: Vinyl

New Music

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 Playlist

Molly Nilsson, The Clash and More of What You Heard at Bigfoot Lodge on July 5, 2025

Bigfoot Lodge Los Angeles California July 5, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
Inside Bigfoot Lodge

For anyone who hasn’t been there before, Bigfoot Lodge is this bar on Los Feliz Blvd. that’s designed to look like a cabin in the woods. There are animatronic critters near the entrance and taxidermy hiding out in the corners. It’s a trippy bar that’s been around for some 25 years. Every once in a while, I pop in to guest DJ on Malvada’s nights there, which is why I packed a bag of vinyl and headed to Bigfoot Lodge last night. I brought some recent releases (Pulp, Optometry, Sextile) and some oldies that I picked up on recent digs (Freda Payne, Heaven 17). There were songs I haven’t played out in public before, but felt needed to be heard (Molly Nilsson “Jackboots Return) and songs that I’ve played many, many times, but should be heard again (The Clash “Police On My Back”), but there wasn’t a real theme or anything. There were three of us DJ last night, so we swapped off throughout the night. My set lists are below. 

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Interview, Movies

Director Christopher Bickel on Pater Noster and the Mission of Light

Pater Noster and the Mission of Light directed by Christopher Bickel movie still
Pater Noster and the Mission of Light (2024) directed by Christopher Bickel

Earlier this year, while scrolling through Night Flight (the only streamer worth a paid subscription), I stumbled across a movie called Pater Noster and the Mission of Light. A horror movie about the hunt for a possibly cursed record made by a cult in the ‘70s, it was full of vinyl nerd in-jokes, references to the Source Family, the Merry Pranksters and Whipped Cream and Other Delights. I was smitten with it. 

Directed by Christopher Bickel, Pater Noster is a wild ride through dusty record bins and into the strange, terrifying world of a fictional psychedelic cult. The film, made with a budget of just $21,000, is also an exercise in resourcefulness. “We do these movies on such a low budget, so when I go to write it, I have to write to things that I have access to,” says Bickel on a recent video call, “things that I think would elevate the production value, to make it look like we spent money on this thing or that thing.”

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Books, Happening in L.A.

Get Your Physical Media Fix at Analog Outlaw This Weekend

Paper flyer for Analog Outlaw at 2220 Arts + Archives in Los Angeles on Saturday, June 28
Don’t you miss paper flyers? Here’s one for Analog Outlaw happening on Saturday, June 28 at 2220 Arts + Archives in L.A.

The first thing I heard while roaming the stalls at Analog Outlaw Book and Record Fair last September was “Wicked,” a Psychic TV track that came out at the cusp of the 1980s and 1990s. It’s this seemingly endless, loopy acid house number— I hesitate to call it a song— that appeals to a very specific kind of weirdo who collects the fruits of the Throbbing Gristle family tree and spends their free time reading about cults and psychedelics and psychedelic cults. So, if you’re that type of weirdo and you hear “Wicked” out in the wild, you know you’ve found your people. 

And, yes, dear reader, I did find my people that day. Organized by Bibliomancers and Nooners Books, Analog Outlaw is a counterculture physical media marketplace. At the inaugural event, held at Zebulon last year, vendors from vintage issues of Rolling Stone to Goblin on vinyl and Frankenhooker on VHS to paperback porn. Mark Webber from Pulp was on hand to sign copies of his book, I’m With Pulp, Are You? I can’t even remember how many club pals I ran into that day. It was one of those events where you spend half the time hunting for treasure and the other half showing your friends what you found. 

For their second fair, on June 28, Analog Outlaw is moving to a larger venue, 2220 Arts + Archives. The roster includes mix of vintage media vendors and indie publishers, amongst them Hat & Beard Press, horror zine Midnight Companions and Neither Neither Books, as well as the first West Coast appearance of Japanese Avant Garde Books.

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New Music

Classic Pulp and Northern Soul Meet on “Got to Have Love” + More. on New Album

Pulp More. vinyl photo by Liz Ohanesian taken at Moldy Toes Records in San Clemente, CA
Found Pulp’s new album, More., on vinyl at Moldy Toes Records in San Clemente

Every time I hear “Got to Have Love,” I have to stop what I’m doing and dance. The second single from More., the first new full-length Pulp album in 24 years, is a northern soul-style stomper. Like the Four Seasons songs “The Night,” which Pulp covered many years ago, and “Beggin’” it has a beat that pushes you to dance harder and faster, to kick and spin and drop to the ground. And if the song itself doesn’t quite compel you to do all these things, the video, comprised of footage from the legendary U.K. club Wigan Casino, will. By the song’s end, you should feel some kind of relief. Maybe the weight of the world has lifted. Maybe you’re just overjoyed that you got through the song without pulling a muscle. 

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Record Stores

Digging for Fire at Penny Lane Records in Upland

A bin of vintage 45 vinyl with a Gene Pitney single in front at Penny Lane Records in Upland, California (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
45s at Penny Lane in Upland (Pic: Liz O.)

I’m sitting on the floor of Penny Lane Records digging through bins of 45s while eavesdropping on the other shoppers. It’s busy at around noon on a Saturday and the names dropped are varied. Clairo. Phoebe Bridgers. Crystal Castles.  “Have you heard Slowdive?” one person asks. “They’re shoe— there’s a name for it.” A mom, who is probably right around my own age, is hyping up Korn and System of a Down to a disinterested kid. Trust me, this is not a conversation you would have overheard anywhere in 1999. I’m trying not to laugh. Need to concentrate on the old soul records in front of me. Ooh, Ann Peebles!

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Got It On Vinyl

Who Is Bobby Velvet and How Did He End Up Doing “The Martian”?

Bobby Velvet "The Martian" Ernest Kohl "Sooner or Later" 12" vinyl singles found at Sonido del Valle in Los Angeles
Pic taken at Sonido del Valle where I found Bobby Velvet “The Martian” and Ernest Kohl “Sooner or Later” (which I’ll post about later) last November. (Pic: Liz O.)

Sometimes, I buy a record because it contains a mystery that may or may not ever be solved. Like, who is Bobby Velvet and how did he end up doing “The Martian” in a North Hollywood recording studio for a 12” single released on a label based out of a Pasadena building that’s now a law office? 

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Got It On Vinyl, Record Collecting

The Extended Mix of Toto Coelo “Milk from the Coconut” Is New Wave Heat

Toto Coelo "Milk from the Coconut" extended dance mix 12" single on vinyl (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
Toto Coelo 12″ single with the extended dance mix of “Milk from the Coconut.” (Pic: Liz O.)

On a Sunday afternoon, I flipped through a bin of new wave records at Sonido del Valle in Boyle Heights. At this point in the dig, I had already found a 12” of Bananarama’s cover of “He Was Really Saying Something” for 99 cents that was dusty, but definitely playable. I was starting to feel lucky. Not lottery ticket lucky, but lucky enough to take a chance on a Toto Coelo 12” single called “Milk from the Coconut.” 

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Got It On Vinyl, The Playlist

Here’s What I Played at Razorcake Hearts… on March 9, 2024

Gucci Crew II vinyl 12" for "Sally That Girl"

Something that happens when I play all-vinyl sets is that I decide on a personal theme that should, theoretically, make it easier for me to narrow down what I pull from my stacks. Take, for example, Saturday night’s Razorcake party at Footsies. My theme for the night was dubby ‘80s, a mishmash of the dub mixes found on 12” singles during that decade and post-punk tunes that are clearly influenced by dub.

But, now matter how often I say to myself, “Liz, stick to theme,” I just can’t do it. In this case, I started out pulling essentials like The Flying Lizards, Tom Tom Club, The League Unlimited Orchestra, Bauhaus and The Clash. Then I came across a copy of Outkast’s album Speakerboxx/The Love Below and was like, ‘when was the last time I listened to this?’ And then I find my copy of “Sally That Girl” and start thinking about how there will totally be people in the bar who haven’t heard that song since a middle school dance in 1990. But, if I’m going to play that, then I really need to bring Cybotron because that might be the only way I can mix out of Gucci Crew, and then I should probably bring Patrick Cowley too, just because I forgot to bring it to Disco Matinee last week. 

Long story short, that’s how you end up with set lists like the ones listed below. If this is your jam, you should probably pick up tickets for Disco Matinee: Punk ’n’ Funk Edition on April 7 because it will also be all-vinyl and I know a few of these tracks will end up in my crate for that party as well. 

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Got It On Vinyl

“Me and My Music”: The Candi Staton Song That Reminds Me Why I DJ

Cover of Chance, 1979 album by Candi Staton featuring "Me and My Music" (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
The cover of Chance

I think I’ve encountered nearly every album Candi Staton released on vinyl while sifting through L.A. record store bins these past few years. Sometimes, I’ll find multiple copies of the same album in one dig. There’s one, though, that has eluded me. It’s called Chance and it was high up on my wish list since the pandemic. I wanted this album for one reason, a song called “Me and My Music,” which became a welcome earworm back when Los Angeles’ nightclubs were closed. 

Candi Staton is best known in the U.S. for the 1976 disco jam “Young Hearts  Run Free.” People in the U.K., and househeads here, are probably also quite familiar with “You Got the Love,” an early ‘90s dance hit that was famously covered by Florence and the Machine in the late ‘00s. But, Staton has been singing since the 1950s and is still active (she played Glastonbury last year), so there’s a significant amount of her music out in the world. Some releases are harder to track down than others, which is the case with Chance. Not only did it take me far-too-long to find the actual vinyl, but, from what I’ve seen, it’s not available to download and streaming options are limited to Deezer and a few YouTube clips.

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