Film still, Santa Claus vs. the Devil, 1959
Hell is other people's playlists. Some ambient rarities. Shoegaze gems. Sound effects. A prick followed by numbness followed by blackness followed by infiniteness.
Friday Playlist: Ballad of Sexual Dependency
Nan Goldin, Rise and Monty Kissing, New York City, 1980
Tender, heartbreaking, beautiful, joyous, Nan Goldin's iconic Ballad Of Sexual Depency changed photography forever. Here is the soundtrack.
Watch The Music Video "Shiny High" By PAULLUS2089 From His Album The Dream Body
SHINY HIGH written by PAULLUS2089 from his album THE DREAM BODY. Music video made by Diffan Norman, a Kuala Lumpur-born, LA-based artist. Listen on Spotify. Listen on BandCamp.
Friday Playlist: Mood Ring Cycle
Friday moodz. Saturday nudz. Music that hits that oxytocin. Call your crush and say I luv U.
Friday Playlist: Pillow Talk
Robert Mapplethorpe, Larry and Bobby Kissing, 1979
Soft. Tracks. Makeup Sex. Pillow talk.
Watch The Premiere Of "Dedicated To Pooch" By Very Nice Massage
Very Nice Massage are back with their sophomore album, Based On The Data. Released on all streaming platforms as well as cassette tape by Baby Race Records, the album maintains their signature dream-like approach to song structure steeped in post-algorithm schizophrenia, yet there has been a complete overhaul of their palette. This new sound brings their spacey ambitions into full fruition. Very Nice Massage have created a mysterious world that refuses to be solved and the endless pleasures of investigation that keep you coming back for more. Follow @verynicemassage and @babyracerecords on Instagram, stream them on your platform, or better yet, get yourself a limited-edition cassette.
Watch The World Premiere Of The Music Video For Eddie Chacon's "Pleasure, Joy, And Happiness" Shot On An Alpaca Farm In New Zealand
Eddie Chacon experienced proper, peak-nineties acclaim in the soul duo Charles and Eddie: they scored a global No. 1 in 1992 with “Would I Lie To You,” appeared three times on Top of the Pops. After a hiatus, Chacon returns with “Pleasure, Joy and Happiness,” which is available on the boutique Los Angeles-based label Day End Records. This is a thoughtfully considered album of quiet, confident R&B: it doesn’t jump out at you, but rather gets in you. Produced by John Carroll Kirby, the like-minded artist and collaborator with Frank Ocean and Solange Knowles, it features restrained percussion from Kanye West’s Sunday Service drummer Lamar Carter. Celestial soul as a break from chaos, these are quietly challenging songs as timeless as they are contemporary. Music produced with footage from the Shamarra Alpaca Farm in New Zealand, by Chacon and Sissy Sainte-Marie. Editing by Brandon Bloom. Preorder the LP here.
Read Our Interview With Papooz On The Occasion Of Their New Video Release
The Parisian duo Papooz became well known in France thanks to their summer 2016 melody Ann Wants To Dance with its sensually whimsical music video directed by artist Soko. They released their second album, Night Sketches in 2019, which encapsulates the essence of France’s warm summer nights: sipping white wine after spending the whole day being sun-kissed on the beaches of Cap Ferret (where Papooz recorded their first album), or enjoying the freshness of an ice-cold drink on a terrace with friends after suffocating in the streets of Paris all day.
This year’s summer plan might not be as sandy and salty as we’d once imagined, but we can only hope for more sexy new tracks and clips like Papooz’s latest sumptuous release. Straight from the garden of Eden, this forbidden fruit was directed by Victoria Lafaurie & Hector Albouker “in the year of Covid-19” and features goddess-like Klara Kristin, who made her film debut in Gaspard Noe’s Love. Papooz’s Armand Penicaut and Ulysse Cottin quarantined with their musical crew at La Ferme Records to prepare the new album, yet to be announced. I sat down with Papooz a couple months ago, before their show at the Moroccan Lounge in Los Angeles, before the world went into quarantine.
Read the full interview and ‘The Garden’ here.
Watch The Music Video For Kanye West's "Wash Us In The Blood" Directed By Arthur Jafa
Autre's Creative Director Fashion Announces New Album: Pleasure, Joy and Happiness
The album, produced by John Carrol Kirby, will be released on July 31st on Day End Records. Pre-order here. Music video for My Mind Is Out Of Its Mind, produced by Sissy Sainte-Marie and David McFarland and Jack Sills.
Cecile Believe Releases New EP "Made In Heaven" With Photographs by Zoe Chait
“We might be tangled in our thoughts, fractured and fragmented, constricted by channels...but if we follow one of the threads for long enough we eventually touch something and connect,” is how artist Zoe Chait describes the concept for these photos made on the occasion of Cecile Believe’s new EP “Made In Heaven,” available to stream here. “Made in Heaven” is her first release since working with Sophie on her Grammy nominated album. photographs by Zoe Chait
Friday Playlist: Soundtrack For The Apocalypse
A soothing dreamscape for a hellscape unfolding.
Watch Wattstax (1972) A Benefit Concert To Commemorate The Seventh Anniversary Of The Watts Riots
Wattstax was a benefit concert organized by Stax Records to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the 1965 riots in the African-American community of Watts, Los Angeles. The concert took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 20, 1972. The concert's performers included all of Stax's prominent artists at the time. The genres of the songs performed included soul, gospel, R&B, blues, funk, and jazz.
Friday Playlist: Don't Panic, Just Dance
Mariko Mori inside her universal “time capsule” : collage by Janeth Davalos
We know you’re worried. We’re worried too. So, let’s all do ourselves a favor and take a break to work it all out. We hope you enjoy these bangers for a world in danger.
Ohslo Releases Their First Full-length Album Honeymoon
Late at night, Dave Sorry and Nanne Hil record slow songs in their bedroom. Sitting closely together on the floor and musing amidst their synthesizers allows them to step back from the mundanity of life. Their electronic jams take inspiration from all sorts of (other)worldly stories, melodies and rhythms and are instantly recorded to capture the vibrancy of the moment. Ohslo’s live performances invite you to join them in this hidden place, for a sit-down between white sheets and synths. The duo’s sounds - glacial beats and warm flutes - are put to surreal visuals, created in collaboration with their collective of friends in the North of the Netherlands. Click here to listen.
Ohslo released their Comfort EP and Healthy Animal EP through Purple Noise Record Club in 2015 and 2016. Their first full-length album Honeymoon is out today on Babyrace Records.
Watch The Premiere Of ROMY's New Music Video: Normal Day Directed By Geneva Jacuzzi →
ROMY, known for her all-girl punk band, agender, and for throwing LA's esteemed queer parties, Homocult and Lez Croix releases "Normal Day" off the new record, Celluloid Self, directed by Geneva Jacuzzi with an all female crew. The video also features visuals from JJ Stratford, exploring themes of voyeurism, desire, and the paranormal. Watch the video and click here to read our interview with ROMY and Geneva Jacuzzi on the eve of the video's release.
Watch FAIRE's New Bloody Music Video: Laisse Lucifer
French Gaule wave band FAIRE just release another video for Laisse Lucifer, featuring french burlesque dancer Maud Amour and directed by Lucie Bourdeu. Their first EP “La Vie” is available on every streaming platform. Read our previous interview with FAIRE here
Malcolm Gladwell in Conversation with Flea @ The Palace Theater In Los Angeles
For the first-ever live version of the popular KCRW podcast, Malcolm Gladwell and Flea discuss his new memoir, Acid for the Children, to be released on November 5, 2019, by Grand Central Publishing. Malcolm and Flea will journey through the rock star’s childhood love of jazz, punk, and funk, what it was like working with Rick Rubin on the classic Red Hot Chilli Peppers albums of the ’90s and ’00s, how he became the signature rock bassist, and other riveting topics. Malcolm Gladwell will be in Conversation with Flea on Wednesday, November 13 at the Palace Theatre 630 S. Broadway Los Angeles. For more information and to purchase tickets please visit: kcrw.com/brokenrecordlive
Listen To The Surreal and Dreamy First Track Off Ohslo's New Album "Honeymoon"
Late at night, Dave Sorry and Nanne Hil record slow songs in their bedroom. Sitting closely together on the floor and musing amidst their synthesizers allows them to step back from the seriousness of life. Their electronic jams take inspiration from all sorts of (other)worldly stories, melodies and rhythms and are instantly recorded to capture the vibrancy of the moment. Ohslo’s live performances invite you to join them in this hidden place, for a sit-down between white sheets and synthesizers. The duo’s sounds - glacial beats and warm flutes - are put to surreal visuals, created in collaboration with their collective of friends in the North of the Netherlands. Ohslo released their Comfort EP and Healthy Animal EP through Purple Noise Record Club in 2015 and 2016. Their first full-length album Honeymoon is set to be released in November 2019 through Babyrace Records. The first single taken from the album is Like You. Out October 30th. Click here to purchase on iTunes or Apple Music, and available on Spotify and streaming platforms.
Watch Tei Shi's New Video "Even If It Hurts" Featuring Blood Orange
Today, lauded recording artist Tei Shi announces details of her highly anticipated sophomore album La Linda, to be released on November 15th on Downtown Records.
Tei Shi says, “I made this song with two of my closest collaborators - Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) and Noah Breakfast. It came together in pieces between LA and New York but sprouted from the lyrics Dev and I kept on singing - 'even if it hurts...I just don't mind'. The concept is really the realization and acceptance that pain is a natural consequence of love. It's a duet about the ways in which we make ourselves vulnerable to those we love, sometimes at a high cost. The video was directed by Cara Stricker and with an incredible and almost exclusively female creative crew. It features a multitude of amazing designers like Collina Strada, Vaquera, Christopher John Rogers, Mugler, Maryam Nassir Zadeh . I wanted to capture the romantic and melancholic elements of the song but put them in a world that feels removed from the every day, its own little odd paradise where Dev and I existed parallel to one another but never really together.”