Show Review: Re-TROS, Liars, and Flacid Mojo at The Novo (DTLA), 04-04-2024

I think the last time I saw a show in the LA Live complex in Downtown Los Angeles was when Steven Wilson was touring Hand.Cannot.Erase. It’s a surreal place. High end chain restaurants, shops, and live concert venues all pieced together in a way to showcase itself as a gathering center for food, art, and media, but really it just comes off as an attempt at a capitalist utopia. The Novo is the current iteration of what used to be Club Nokia, the more affordable venue in the complex, especially when compared to The Crypto Arena or the Staples Center. It was still Club Nokia when I saw Steven Wilson, Mindless Self Indulgence, Reel Big Fish, and a number of other bands back in the early 2010s. Nowadays, it is home primarily to hip-hop and pop artists, as a bartender shared with me, so it was going to be a very different night and a different crowd than usual as Re-TROS, Liars, and Flaccid Mojo took the place over.

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Album Review: Liars – Mess

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Rating: Silver

Seven albums in and Liars are still one of the most notorious and formidable bands around. From their debut They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top to this year’s Mess, they’ve continued to defy expectations and challenge listeners. With each release the stacks have been raised and Liars have met these expectations by taking their music in a completely different direction. From their dance punk origins through the post punk and even noise offerings of Drums Not Dead to the more subdued but darker Sisterworld they’ve refused to stay true to one identity and in turn their identity has become protean and malleable. This can be an admirable trait in an artist but it can also be a hindrance as the artist’s allegiances begin to shift with the changing trends their artistic integrity is challenged. This is the quagmire that Liars finds themselves in with Mess.
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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 7/5/12 – 7/11/12

Coming to the Uptown in Oakland!

Happy Fifth of July, loyal readers!

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 4/21/10-4/27/10

If I could sum up this week’s biggest live Bay Area events in one nonsensical fake-Spanish declaration, it would be this: ¡YO LA COCO! Over the next few days we’ll have multiple live performances from both Conan O’Brien and Yo La Tengo, as well as an exhaustingly awesome array of other rad shows. Check out some of our favorites after the jump.

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New Release Round Up 3/9/2010 – 38 Instant Album Reviews

Does Pouria think that this guy delivers?

There was a lot of boring crap for most of my listens. A few fun gems in there like Prizzy Prizzy Please and Via Audio’s Animalore. Continue reading “New Release Round Up 3/9/2010 — 38 Instant Album Reviews”

Album Review: Liars – Sisterworld

My first experience with the New York combo Liars is an interesting one. I went on a date with a girl to go see the band Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. The opening acts were two New York bands, one band that was already getting a fair amount of press called The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the other was Liars. They blew my mind! They played brilliant layered noise that was chaotic and danceable. I was overjoyed to learn about this new band. My date thought that they were absolutely wretched. By the end of the night, I had a new favorite band, and she started making out with some guy that resembled Kim Thayil of Soundgarden. I think I won.

The years have been very kind to Liars, gradually improving upon their sound, while also building a fan base. I was always going to be excited about a new release by these guys, but nothing prepared me for Sisterworld.

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