my letter to the Star
Shygirl @ The Wiltern [3/24/23]
concatenation: march 23
Being able to draw was once a dream of mine. Corners of my childhood bedroom are still lined with discarded sketches of characters that unintentionally look like knock-off piñatas. I would spend hours online watching “how to draw Olaf” or “make flowers look real,” but quickly lost interest as soon as the petals fell or…
Coco & Clair Clair @ El Rey [3/23/23]
When tapping into the ever-evolving tastes of Gen Z, Atlanta-based duo Coco & Clair Clair’s eclectic Y2K sound is nothing short of genius. In the last few years, Y2K aesthetics have dominated social media, and Coco & Clair Clair’s brazen pop-rap sounds straight out of the early 2000s. Their satirical mean-girl lyrics float over their…
Christian Kuria @ The Troubadour [2/25/23]
As a cradle Catholic, I grew up going to vacation bible school and religious retreats. Usually, at these retreats, we would always have a concert-like worship: praising the Lord, hands held up, people would scream and cry to the songs that connect them deeply to their faith. Surrounded by blankets of blue & purple and…
JAWNY (/Wallice/Devon Again) @ El Rey [3/4/23]
Outside El Rey at 7:15, I plugged in my borrowed headphones waiting in line for the door. I hadn’t yet listened to Jawny’s new album, It’s Never Fair, Always True, which was only released the day before the show. I might as well know what I was getting into: I was lightly battling nerves for…
Mau P @ Night Trip, Academy LA [2/18/23]
Mau P @ Night Trip, Academy LA As LED screens blared the statement “House Music All Night Long”, dancers and bass shook the pavement. However, when the clocks struck midnight, the whole venue stood still, and so did the music. Suddenly, the crowd was engulfed in a shower of red lighting, as the stereos projected…
Blondshell @ The El Rey Theater [2/11/23]
Leah Sokol Have you ever imagined getting a private concert in the comfort of your own home? Although the El Rey Theatre doesn’t quite offer the luxury of my living room couch, Blondshell’s intimate performance evoked a similar sense of intimacy. Preceding the headliner, Suki Waterhouse, Blondshell exceeded her title as “opener.” Never before have…
concatenation: february 23
I didn’t check the weather forecast before heading into this month. With my classes settled and life on track, I waited for another day of sun with my eyes on the prize. Instead, I was greeted by an incredibly windy February. Days reached speeds of twenty-to-thirty miles an hour, leaving me to force headfirst through…
Hip Hop Congress’ Contributions to Black History at UCLA
Hip Hop Congress (HHC), a prolific arts and cultural club, has established itself in the center of UCLA’s creative Black community. As a club that blossomed as a form of resistance against the historically exclusive nature of UCLA’s student affairs, HHC has established community and cultural pride for Black folks here within the booming scene…
Charlie Havenick live review — folk, shoegaze aesthetics rage against orchestral sincerity
Charlie Havenick’s music is like….rain on a blue tarp. A dog blissed out in a patch of sunlight.
LOVE ON THE BRAIN
Here’s my final advice: I’d probably try out our last names together a few times, engage in a passionate flirtation during intern class, and then completely lose interest once I realize he’s as one-dimensional as a smart board.
Truth or Consequences
We moved as an amoebic mass into a plush blue velvet room with a DJ spinning house music in Muay Thai shorts. It was a Lynchian dream sequence, complete with a bicycling dancer in an orange bodysuit throwing glitter on the floor.
Sammy & The Friends @ The Fonda [11/13/2022]
What do you do after a 23 mile hike at Big Sur, you go to a Sammy Rae & The Friends Concert. I went with Harry Frahn, who was also on the camping trip with me. As I quickly shoved myself to the front before another wave of people came in – Miki Ratsula, the…
concatenation: january 23
art by skye schoenhoeft In March of 2019, I made a playlist with new music I found that month. It wasn’t curated, it wasn’t ordered, it was just songs I liked, in the arrangement I found them in. No matter what has happened, I have stitched something together to remember each month since. Often, looking…
Tei Shi @ Zebulon [12/10/22]
My first and prevailing predominant thought over the course of the night: this venue is way too cool for me. Zebulon Cafe holds an intimidatingly good looking [and potentially pretentious] queer crowd. The cafe’s composition works perfectly for a low-key concert with a distinct separation of space between the performance and eating area, each with…
The Politics of Glitch and the Neurodivergent mind, aka Why I Listen to Hyperpop
Junior year of high school, I was driving around with my best friend, depleting both the gas tank and our day. Pulling into the In-N-Out, they turned to me and said, “I found this song—let me just play it.” Innocently, I shrugged. The speaker muttered “My face is the front of shop,” stirring the air…
Guerrilla Girls: Art Activism in Action
For the average museum-goer, looking at art is a passive experience – concerned mainly with the aesthetic presentation of what we see before us. However, taking a critical approach to the diversity of artists represented reveals the insidious and exclusionary practices that exist in many “respected” institutions, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New…
A Subtle Revolt
Against a backdrop of a biblically proportional man-made drought, the quiet detritus of human anguish that tumbles down empty sidewalks, and a garish peacocking of wealth native to the region of Los Angeles, there’s an ambient sense of unease in the air.
The War on Women: Iran’s Fight for Freedom
Featured Art by Shahzaad Raja “I have always thought that if women’s hair posed so many problems, God would certainly have made us bald.” This quote, taken from Marjane Satrapi’s critically acclaimed graphic novel Persepolis, reflects the sentiment of younger Satrapi as she’s forced to navigate the complex prism of childhood while simultaneously growing up…
Gen-Z American Superstar
Wallice @ Lodge Room [12/6/22] “LA is my favorite show ever,” Wallice says. Up on stage, she towers over a sea of cowboy hats, unif jackets, and Tik Tok inspired fits. Tonight, the Lodge Room is a Gen-Z mecca, where hundreds of Zoomers are gathered to see Indie-Pop darling Wallice. Although Los Angeles native Wallice…
Soccer Mommy @ The Wiltern [12/13/22]
Photos by Soph Russo, Art by Skye Schoenhoeft At around 7pm on December 13th, the 720 bus spits us out at the entrance to the Wiltern — I’m grateful the driver did not notice we didn’t pay our fare. We picked up our tickets and went inside. Eyeing the incoming crowd, I see a lot…
UCLA Radio Wrapped 2022
Whether it’s a song that shrouded a memory or a movie that opens new perspectives, the media we interact influences us, adding new depths and colors to our already eventful lives. Romance, existentialism, a need to dance one’s heart out on the way to class, and many more stories come together as our writers reflect…