The Cure Nite at Club Underground + New Mix and More
Friday, September 25, is The Cure Nite at Club Underground with Larry G. and I DJing. Both floors of the Grand Star Jazz Club will be open, with one floor dedicated to The Cure and the other to a mix of indie, Britpop, post-punk, new wave, darkwave, synthpop, etc. Advance tickets are available now and it’s 21+. Party starts at 9:30 p.m. and goes until 2 a.m., so if you’re going to the sold out Fontaines D.C. show at Hollywood Forever, stop by afterwards to hit the dance floor. For those of you who haven’t been to Underground before, the Grand Star is located in Chinatown’s Central Plaza, right next to the Bruce Lee statue.
I have a few recommendations for the rest of the weekend, as well as early next week, too. If you want to read those, head over to Beatique.
And if you want to listen to some tunes at home or in the car or wherever, check out the September Beatique Mix.
Is Get Mean Boy Harsher’s Pop Album?
Let’s start this review with a confession. I like Boy Harsher, but I’m not the mega-fan that so many people I know are. Too many of their songs sound the same to me, to the extent that I frequently have to double-check what I’ve played when I’m DJing, lest I confuse “Country Girl,” “Give Me a Reason” and “Come Closer.” That said, I was very excited to hear “Jeans” because it doesn’t sound at all like a Boy Harsher banger. At first it sounded very New Order to me. Now, it reminds me of “I Go Crazy,” the Flesh For Lulu song that’s in Some Kind of Wonderful. I love “Jeans,” but wasn’t quite sure that the club crowds would. In fact, it’s been one of the big hits on the dance floor this summer. Thanks to “Jeans,” there were a few nights where I didn’t have to play “Pain.” That’s a relief.
Hercules and Love Affair Gives Classic Synthpop a Modern Twist on Danseur
Did you know that there’s a new album from Hercules and Love Affair out now? Neither did I. Hype surrounding Danseur has been scant, which is a shame because it is a fantastic album. It’s also an album that can’t be described with whatever marketing buzzwords are trending this week, so I suppose the lack of buzz is to be expected.
For the uninitiated, Hercules and Love Affair is the project of DJ, musician and producer Andy Butler. Back in 2008, he unleashed a monster club hit, “Blind,” with Anohni on vocals. I’m hesitant to refer to the song as a banger because it’s pretty melancholy, but “Blind” still packs the floor nearly 20 years later. (In fact, I played it just last night, and the night before that, in DJ sets.) In the years that have passed since then, Hercules and Love Affair has become synonymous with smart dance music over the course of five albums. Butler’s productions, which sit at the crossroads of disco, house and synthpop, are steeped in nightlife and LGBTQ+ culture For his sixth album, Danseur, Butler explicitly pays tribute to the queer club history.
Who Are Moomin and Why Are They on So Much Stuff?
The downtown L.A. Moomin pop-up is easy to miss. It’s on the same level of The Bloc as Kinokuniya, but a couple doors down from the Japanese bookshop, lodged between a Botox salon and a vacant storefront. And Moomin is understated in a very Nordic way, with lots of clean lines and earthy colors, so it’s easily overshadowed by the vacant shop’s hot pink window signs that have been advertising a K-beauty photo studio “coming soon” for months now.
I’m not sure how many times I blindly walked past the pop-up before I finally took note of it and ventured inside. When I did, I was instantly drawn to these snowy-white, hippo-like characters that I recognized from the internet and Japanese stationary shops, but didn’t really know. Who were the Moomin and why were they on so much stuff? Not just pins and notebooks, but houseware and Christmas ornaments. I looked around for clues and found a display of books in the back of the shop. I flipped through a Drawn & Quarterly compilation of old comic strips before purchasing it.
I know that it’s been awhile since I’ve sent out one of these things. It happens. That said, there are plenty more stories to read, like a rant about how the algorithm is making me sick of the stuff I like, an interview with Haircut 100, reviews of Los Mirlos at the Music Center, Coyote vs. ACME and lots more.
That’s it for now. See you on the dance floor!
Liz O.