khai dreams is like jesus. i remember when sunkissed was the song everyone was dancing to on tiktok in late 2019. i shamelessly searched it on spotify, and it was the soundtrack that played in my mind when i imagined myself and my hypothetical lover being deeply and incandescently in love. khai creates beautifully addictive…
“what the fuck is this?” i showed my violently straight white male roommate the video on my tiktok for you page: one of mad tsai’s promos for his music video of stacy’s brother. mad tsai innovatively reworked the original stacy’s mom into a queer narrative that features an addictive pop-rock style and a plethora of…
Photos by Sophia Russo If anyone can disrupt a scene and make it their own, it is singer-songwriter Kelela. Kelela debuted her experimental sound with her mixtape ‘Cut 4 Me’ in 2013, where she mixed R&B, house, electronic, and soul to establish her own sound and identity as an upcoming and unapologetically herself artist. Fast…
The ability to play music anytime, anywhere at the tips of your fingers. I mean…who’s complaining about that? In today’s age, the digital world has expanded tremendously, especially as it’s evolved into the primary mode for media consumption. Digital music streaming services have grown exponentially over the past few years, and account for about 80%…
Monday, April 3rd, 2023. I am walking up the smoke-stained staircase, the carpet grayed by travelers like me. Rounding a rickety exterior walkway, I scoot around the bleach blond couple making out dangerously on the railing. I push through a thick curtain into a hazy art deco scene, populated by people shrouded in cloaks of…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…