Photography by Ava London
Amongst herds of Laker fans, USC apologists, and evening rush hour workers in downtown Los Angeles, it was hard to discern if we were heading the right way to the Snow Strippers show. Our suspicions gave way to relief when we saw concertgoers adorned in fuzzy leg warmers, anime girl T-shirts, and countless chunky necklaces snaking around L.A. Live.
Snow Strippers is the team effort of vocalist Tatiana Schwaninger and producer Graham Perez, often hailed by YouTube essayists as a proponent of the indie sleaze revival in music. Their electropop and EDM sound has captivated the attention of Gen Z (also affectionately called “zoomers”), who were in elementary school during the heyday of indie sleaze groups like Crystal Castles and LCD Soundsystem. I’ve often thought about why this aesthetic has become so popular within the past few years. The FOMO-inducing flash photos? A desire for unabashed dancing? The freedom to dress in kooky clothes? Whatever it may be, the indie sleaze revival is all the rage with zoomers.
Entering The Novo was overstimulating: “Trap Queen” by Fetty Wap blasting on the speakers, smoke drifting above me, and crowding near the side barrier. It was the perfect environment for the first opener, SUICIDAL-IDOL.
SUICIDAL-IDOL, a project by dance/electronic musician Alupe Tolentino, started out strong with glitchy energy that seemed reminiscent of 100gecs. Their last song “ecstasy”, an infamous TikTok audio, prompted Tolentino to hype up the formerly listless audience (“Time to get your phones out for this one!”). Even then, I could only see a third of the crowd following through.
Next up was POiSON GiRL FRiEND, the ‘90s dream-pop/ambient endeavor of Japanese musician Noriko Sekiguchi. She set the mood with romantic, yet haunting vocals. “The October Country” stood out to me – a bittersweet tune about former lovers and changing seasons. Decked out in orange clothing and with pumpkins at her feet, Sekiguchi was Autumn incarnate.
She profusely thanked us after every song; after she left, I thought of how different the remaining two openers would be compared to what I just heard. Following up such a wistful act with trap beats felt peculiar.
evilgiane, the most familiar opener to me, came in for his DJ set. As the founder of Surf Gang Records and collaborator with rising rappers Nettspend and xaviersobased, I knew that the crowd would get animated due to the fanbase overlap between him and Snow Strippers. He set the mood with visuals from the Japanese countryside in the background as he started mixing. However, my excitement gave way to fatigue – evilgiane’s set was around an hour long, and I saw other fans’ eyes glaze over at the now-repetitive visuals and beats.
Certified Trapper, the last opener, rushed out on stage to wake us all up. He wove in and out of the audience, taking people’s phones to record himself rapping as he did so. Seeing the audience come to life again lifted my spirits, and Certified Trapper clearly enjoyed himself amidst the crowd-crush.
Without even a second to catch my breath, I saw Snow Strippers’ producer Graham Perez at the DJ table chopping and screwing “So What If I’m A Freak” – the sleazy club tune that first got me into Snow Strippers. Lead vocalist Tatiana Schwaninger bounced from the side to center stage on beat while the crowd jostled against one another. Schwaninger’s down-pitched backing track mixed with her higher live voice lent itself to a peculiar contrast; the former would fade in and out so that she could accentuate her own voice. The beat was punctuated with random gunshots and ad-libs that rang through my ears.
“So What If I’m A Freak” transitioned into Snow Strippers’ other iconic single: “Just Your Doll”.
Perez left the DJ table to dance alongside Schwaninger as she sang; he ran along the stage and fist-pumped towards us, beckoning us to keep raging down at his feet. At this point, the fully-warmed-up audience was more or less a wall of phones.
Perez led us into another one of my favorites, “Passionate Highs,” where he sped up the track and Schwaninger sang in a higher pitch to match. I closed my eyes and lost myself in the just-muddled-enough mixing. Feet swayed from side to side, shoulders bumped shoulders, and hips went every which way all around me; my brain could only process that the people around me and I were now one living, breathing mass.
Schwaninger spoke to the crowd about how much she loved performing to Los Angeles audiences, and Perez introduced several unreleased songs to us. Even if I couldn’t hear the words, melody, or my own thoughts, the audience moshed against each other – clearly satisfied with what they were served.
Perez’s tag, “NIGHT KILLAZ! WE LOVE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS!” repeatedly interjected another one of my favorite tracks, “Sabotage” from April Mixtape 2. Schwaninger twirled around as her autotuned vocals lifted us off the ground and into the haze of The Novo. Once again, I could barely distinguish between her voice and the trance beats. Multiple flashing spotlights made her look choppy and unreal, like a cartoon animating before my eyes.
“‘Cause you look so serious, but it’s all a game / I’m trying a new condition, we’re so into it”
“Sabotage” – Snow Strippers
I knew that the very last song of the night was going to be “Under Your Spell”; after all, it had blown Snow Strippers up from the underground overnight through fan-edits. Just as I expected, its first few lyrics set in and phones raised in the air. It was the perfect way to end the night: Schwaninger’s chopped-up vocals filling the chorus and the Novo with jubilee, arms and legs thrashing about, my hands grasping the barricade of the side view.
Exiting the theater and re-entering downtown Los Angeles, it was hard to imagine that a city so immersed in sports could have such a thriving alternative scene. For a second, I felt like that environment could only exist in the confines of a theater. Passing by swarms of ushanka-clad kids taking fit pics, however, snapped me back to the electric night that had now become a memory.
Check out Snow Strippers’s latest release, Night Killaz Vol. 2, here:
