The 2nd annual Folktale Fest, and the triumphant return of Sean Carnage Monday nights at Pehrspace after a very brief hiatus, made for a packed crowd on a warm summer night. As I entered I found Sacramento performance artist/musician Mom dancing away, half-clothed and squeaking in a cutesy pitch-modified falsetto to novelty type music in a classic Mouseketeer hat. Surrounded by streamers and balloons and dim red lighting the whole experience was very surreal. Mom has a reputation for being quite messy (think blood, urine, and cake) but she toned it down to simply rubbing squids on the audience and covering herself with milk while a giant man-baby breastfed from her in what seemed like an animatronic Disney tableau gone awry. Next up Knight Rider took to the stage with dreamy synth-pop that devolved into creepy Lynchian territory at times, but was unfortunately cut short due to some technical difficulties. Thundersnail played an epicly haunted set involving a Chinese dulcimer, which just might be one of the most beautiful instruments I’ve ever seen. Folktale Records’ founder Chris Payne followed as Whitman, this time backed by a cavalcade of local musicians–former Mae Shi members Ezra Buchla and Corey Fogel on viola and percussion respectively, and Rich Seymour of Clark 8 on cello. Even with that full of a band, Whitman maintained a very sparse, personal sound with a power that packed the room. LA expatriate Jon Barba (formerly known as Nicole Kidman whilst performing) followed up with a set that alternated between upbeat keyboard tracks and completely acoustic guitar performances. A natural performer who manages to transfer his own awkwardness and vulnerability into something that can command devoted silence from the most raucous crowds, Jon’s power as a musician only increases over time. Finally the monstrous Bay Area free-jazz-meets-noise-punk quintet No Babies kicked into a set that rivaled their already infamously epic live performances culminating in a feverish mosh pit that had a new year’s feel as people ripped apart the streamers and popped the balloons prior to the closing soundblast, “Be the Best.” Of course a Monday night at Pehrspace wouldn’t be complete without a dance party to a set of DJ Kyle Mabson playing pop jams and 90s guilty pleasures. If tonight is any evidence, Folktale Records seems to be successfully establishing a new auditory narrative based not on genre but on context and personal expression.

-Walt! Gorecki

Some volume issues during a performance on screen render the crowd restless. Murmurs ripple through, speculating and questioning.

“Can’t hear a fucking thing!” cuts through the darkness, crass and unconstructive.

“Well, you should’ve been there!” retorts another faceless voice, more lighthearted. By the end of the film, he couldn’t have been more right.

The Smell first opened its doors in 1998 and to this day is the only Los Angeles venue heavily DIY in nearly every aspect. Dedicated to the purveyors and connoisseurs of music and art, the Smell is run by the artists whose work decorates the walls, by bands who schedule their own shows and volunteers who love art. It’s a community spot welcoming creative minds.

Michael Fierstein, of Static Aktion, has been working with club owner Jim Smith for over five years now, setting up shows and loving every minute. He’s brought some great acts to the Smell, a magic he used to make their documentary film about the legendary venue, Live at The Smell.

“I love The Smell, it’s my home,” said Fierstein, who produced the film. “I have nothing but the utmost respect for Jim Smith and it really was an honor that he would trust me to oversee a movie about the Smell, using The Smell’s name.”

Working with friend and filmmaker Bob Bellerue, the documentary became the sort of thing only the marriage of like-minds could make happen. Bellerue brought his technical prowess to plate and Fierstein picked bands and booked shows for filming.
“I thought it was important for us to document some of the bands that were around and also document our space and what a show is like at the Smell,” said Fierstein.

From the in-your-face shots of sweaty kids in sonic ecstasy hovering over the Foot Village drum circle to Captain Ahab’s enthusiastic, Speedo (only) clad side show mouthing lyrics and bouncing off every surface he can get to, the shots capture The Smell in true form.

The camera stock, editing, and overall cinematography were very DIY, an appropriate aesthetic for the feature. Reminiscent of Urgh! A Music War, the film showcased live acts in uninterrupted succession. Segments of performances by The Mae Shi, Foot Village, Ponytail, Abe Vigoda, High Places, Gowns, BARR, No Age, HEALTH and Captain Ahab were shown with crisp, flawless audio.

“It’s DIY cinema vérité,” explains Bellerue, “a fancy way of saying we were just working with the equipment available to us.  Amongst the core crew and our friends we had a couple of miniDV cameras, Hi-8, and mini-DVDr.  With good audio any video can work.”

Mirroring the values of the Smell in content and quality, Live at The Smell immortalizes the venue on film. In the press release, Bellerue says, “Venues come and go, but Jim Smith and the Smell are going nowhere fast and taking us all along,”  This film spearheads the ride and from the looks of things, it’s going to be the time of our lives.

—Christina Nersesian

One must personally invest in subject matter. In the case of Monotonix, that dedication involves a smush of bodies holding each other by the waist with one hand and passing around people in the air with the other. Perhaps that involves your own body, whether you asked for it or not, rising seven feet in the air on drunk people’s fingertips. The Monotonix threesome is the hairiest, sweatiest 3-headed creature since mythological times. There’s a blues-riffing guitar and a rousing drumbeat, but the physicality of the band’s performance overshadows everything else. The look in singer Levi “Ha Haziz” Elvis’s eyes, wide open and peering about, is louder than the English and/or Hebrew words he’s growling into the microphone. Anavan’s Aaron Buckley took on the role of making sure the mic, as well as the guitar and drum being tossed around Spaceland, remained plugged in. He appeared delighted with the responsibility—as focused as a hyena. Earlier, Anavan opened the evening’s events by delivering that warm, gushy tootsie-pop three licks below its hard-candy shell. The Mae Shi played next, pep-rally shouting in unison while the audience played under the band’s signature parachute tarp—we all miss kindergarten, don’t deny it. Tonight’s lineup combined effectively to unwind any gripes dragged in, draining the mind of all bullshit. The room reeked of camaraderie and armpits by the time “Ha Aziz” turned his underwear into a thong.

“My body language says I am not afraid.” — Monotonix

—Daiana Feuer

daiana feuer

“What Interpol are to Joy Division, Pop Noir are to New Order—their new single “Girls of Prey” could be an epic cut from the Mancunians classic LP Power, Corruption and Lies, such is its sheer pop power and ’80s throwback sheen. And when we say sheen, we do mean sheen: if “Girls of Prey” got any deliciously glossier it would be $3.99 at your local newsstand. The shiny, swelling synths are also very reminiscent of one of the more carefree scenes in a John Hughes movie. We can only imagine a 16-year-old Molly ringwald being a huge fan.

Pop Noir have signed a deal with RCRD LBL, thus becoming the newest addition to our extended musical family.”

It’s FREE!!! Go download it now and show your old pals Pop Noir some love!!!

Pop Noir “Girls Of Prey”

Mae Shi “Run To Your Grave”

1 VARIOUS ARTISTS Love And Circuits Cardboard
2 DESTROYER Trouble In Dreams Merge
3 MAE SHI HLLLYH Team Shi
4 MOUNTAIN GOATS Heretic Pride 4AD
5 WHY? Alopecia Anticon
6 BORN RUFFIANS Red, Yellow And Blue Warp
7 RAVEONETTES Lust Lust Lust Vice
8 KILLS “Cheap And Cheerful” [Single] Domino
9 DUKE SPIRIT Neptune SHANGRI-LA
10 FACTUMS Spells And Charms Kill Shaman
11 CRYSTAL CASTLES Crystal Castles Last Gang
12 GOLDFRAPP Seventh Tree Mute
13 FLOGGING MOLLY Float SideOneDummy
14 JEFFREY LEWIS 12 Crass Songs Rough Trade
15 HEADLIGHTS Some Racing, Some Stopping Polyvinyl
16 CRYPTACIZE Dig That Treasure Asthmatic Kitty
17 TEAM ROBESPIERRE Everything’s Perfect Impose
18 DODOS Visiter Frenchkiss
19 DENGUE FEVER Venus On Earth M80
20 DESTROY TOKYO Shapes EBC
21 HOT CHIP Made In The Dark DFA-Astralwerks
22 FOOT FOOT Trumpet Aagoo
23 PANTS YELL! Alison Statton Soft Abuse
24 SHE AND HIM Volume One Merge
25 RUBY SUNS Sea Lion SUB POP
26 GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES! More Skin With Milk-Mouth Loves In Heat
27 STATE BIRD Mostly Ghostly Record Machine
28 DEVOTCHKA A Mad And Faithful Telling Anti
29 NIGHTWOUNDS Allergic To Heat Woodsist
30 GROWING Lateral Social Registry

Courtesy KUCI 88.9 FM in Irvine.

Mae Shi “Run To Your Grave”

1 HOT CHIP Made In The Dark DFA-Astralwerks
2 MOUNTAIN GOATS Heretic Pride 4AD
3 MAE SHI HLLLYH Team Shi
4 MAGNETIC FIELDS Distortion Nonesuch
5 BORN RUFFIANS Red, Yellow And Blue Warp
6 RAVEONETTES Lust Lust Lust Vice
7 SONS AND DAUGHTERS This Gift Domino
8 BLOCKHEAD Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book Ninja Tune
9 HEADLIGHTS Some Racing, Some Stopping Polyvinyl
10 BEACH HOUSE Devotion Carpark
11 DELICIOUS The Delicious The Delicious
12 LOVED ONES Build And Burn Fat Wreck Chords
13 RAFTER Sex Death Cassette Asthmatic Kitty
14 SAY HI The Wishes And The Glitch Euphobia
15 XIU XIU Women As Lovers Kill Rock Stars
16 HELIO SEQUENCE Keep Your Eyes Ahead SUB POP
17 HORRORPOPS Kiss Kiss Kill Kill Hellcat
18 CRYPTACIZE Dig That Treasure Asthmatic Kitty
19 BRITISH SEA POWER Do You Like Rock Music? Rough Trade
20 MAHJONGG Kontpab K
21 MUSSELS Little Voices Self-Released
22 JEREMY JAY Airwalker K
23 DUKE SPIRIT Neptune SHANGRI-LA
24 PARSON RED HEADS King Giraffe Yukon
25 TENDER FOREVER Wider K
26 THAO WITH THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN We Brave Bee Stings And All Kill Rock Stars
27 THROW ME THE STATUE Moonbeams Secretly Canadian
28 CLUTCHY HOPKINS Walking Backwards Ubiquity Records
29 VARIOUS ARTISTS Disco Not Disco: Post Punk, Electro And Leftfield Disco Classics 1974-1986 Strut
30 VARIOUS ARTISTS C U La Tour Sampler Self-Released

Courtesy KUCI 88.9 FM in Irvine.

1 HOT CHIP Made In The Dark DFA-Astralwerks
2 RAVEONETTES Lust Lust Lust Vice
3 VIDEOHIPPOS Unbeast The Leash Monitor
4 BORN RUFFIANS Red, Yellow And Blue Warp
5 URSULA 1000 Undressed… Remixed ESL Music
6 THAO WITH THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN We Brave Bee Stings And All Kill Rock Stars
7 XIU XIU Women As Lovers Kill Rock Stars
8 TENDER FOREVER Wider K
9 MAHJONGG Kontpab K
10 MAGNETIC FIELDS Distortion Nonesuch
11 BRITISH SEA POWER Do You Like Rock Music? Rough Trade
12 GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES! More Skin With Milk-Mouth Loves In Heat
13 MOUNTAIN GOATS Heretic Pride 4AD
14 FLOWERS FOREVER Flowers Forever Team Love
15 DIE! DIE! DIE! Promises, Promises S.A.F.
16 HELIO SEQUENCE Keep Your Eyes Ahead SUB POP
17 SONS AND DAUGHTERS This Gift Domino
18 SAY HI The Wishes And The Glitch Euphobia
19 BLOCKHEAD Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book Ninja Tune
20 CAROLINE Murmurs Mixes Temporary Residence
21 HORRORPOPS Kiss Kiss Kill Kill Hellcat
22 HEADLIGHTS Some Racing, Some Stopping Polyvinyl
23 LIAM FINN I’ll Be Lightning Yep Roc
24 NO KIDS Come Into My House Tomlab
25 Y SOCIETY Travel At Your Own Pace Tres
26 VASHTI BUNYAN Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind: Singles And Demos 1964-1967 DiCristina
27 CAT POWER Jukebox Matador
28 AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB The Golden Age Merge
29 SUPER FURRY ANIMALS Hey Venus! Rough Trade
30 EKOTREN Light The Fire Blind Prophecy

Courtesy KUCI 88.9 FM in Irvine.