Photos by Chloe Gonzales Alice Phoebe Lou’s socks were tie-dyed. Sprightly and balletic, they brazenly traced the Lodge Room’s stage; if Alice Phoebe Lou can be deemed anything, it’s whimsical. Light on the balls of her feet, Lou radiated merriment in an earnest, almost child-like way, her small movements and bashful smile permanent fixtures throughout…
Photos by Ava London & Dylan Simmons Peachy San Diego is a love letter to all of SoCal and its unique, flourishing alternative music scene that sometimes takes a backseat to the dominant, mainstream music industry of Los Angeles. The annual, one-day mini-festival highlights San Diegoan artists and local alternative bands, hosted by the iconic…
Photos by Dylan Simmons & Ava London Singer-songwriter, orchestra kid, Trump impersonator… in the span of a Friday evening, the mononymous Jordana proved herself a jack of all trades. Jordana Nye’s sugary bedroom pop sound is on full display in 2024’s Lively Premonition, her fourth studio album which traverses theatrical to orchestral to comedic overtones.…
The artistry displayed in the roughly two hour performance was so intensely original, stories conveyed so acutely, I left Kaufman theater battling with the profound hollowness of having witnessed greatness from the outside, the elation of one basking in the irrefutable achievements of one’s peers. No genre left untouched, WACSmash 2025 was a celebration of a talented student body left unchecked, of the immense creativity artists exercise when given total freedom to create.
I exited the House of Blues with the memory of my horrendous commute veritably wiped. In its place was a lingering contentment I could feel pulling my lips almost unconsciously into a slight smile; on my mind was the complete and total satisfaction Joyce Manor, Algernon Cadwallader and Toys That Kill had birthed. The bands were perfect, the crowd was a picture of total engagement, leaving absolutely nothing to be desired. I can always identify a great show by the artist’s level of disruption into my listening habits in the subsequent days after the show; safe to say Joyce Manor left their mark.
Photos by Dylan Simmons Entering the Fonda Theatre as the final distorted riffs of Her New Knife’s blaring set faded into nonexistence, my night officially commenced with the arrival of hyperpop duo Frost Children. The New York-based sibling duo Angel (bass) and Lulu Prost (guitar) delivered a maximalist, adrenaline-filled set teeming with an overwhelming quantity…
Photos by Ava London The original article incorrectly stated that the drummer for The Swirlies in Los Angeles was Kevin Shea, instead of Adam Pierce. A distinctly familiar yet unexpected crackling permeated the hazy confines of Silverlake’s The Echo, amplified packing tape perhaps an allegory for the soon-to-play Swirlies’ experimentation with the modalities, forms, and…
Harrison Patrick Smith, who performs under the moniker, The Dare, was exhilaratingly sleazy, with sex, drugs, alcohol, and every now and then love made palatable through omnipresent synths; a lá Calvin Harris circa 2007. The Dare resurrected the eccentric grittiness manifested in the indie sleaze subculture of the early 2000s, with hedonism as its face (and probably also offbeat graphic tee-shirts).
Horse Jumper of Lover epitomized slumped shoulders, abstract smears of ash on cigarette-littered concrete, unlaced shoes and ill-fitting jeans. As a collective, the indie rock band delivered a harrowingly pessimistic performance to Highland Park’s Lodge Room, supported by the similarly downcast Teethe and the slow-burning Sour Widows.
Ghanaian-Australian artist Kofi Owusu-Ansah—better known by the moniker Genesis Owusu—is anything but a conformist. With a genre-defying discography that communicates deeply personal, critical narratives, Owusu is constantly pushing the boundaries of his medium; Owusu touches on themes of racism, depression, and Absurdism, utilizing soundscapes that veer from R&B to EDM to Hip-Hop.