You gotta have some kind of balls releasing a video today—the very same day Lady Gaga’s highly anticipated visual paean to gay culture, “Alejandro,” drops.
But the dudes from Health don’t give a fuck. Their “USA Boys” video also premiered this morning.
One video looks like it was made by people on drugs, the other is of people on drugs. I’ll let you figure out which is which.
Ooh this is an exciting development. Health and Eric Wareheim collaborating on a video.
Health’s “Die Slow” video was one of the the best videos of 2009. It was like Salo for club kids, Abu Ghraib for the American Apparel set.
The other best video of 2009 was by Eric Wareheim for Depeche Mode and involved tons of cute youngsters and sloppy open-mouthed kissing.
Now, the two camps have joined forces to visualize Health’s “We Are Water” in a video that blends both aforementioned aesthetics.
The scenario: a little girl is chased through the forest by a machete wielding psycho…Will she survive?
REALLY FUCKING SCARY!
Video after the jump. Keep reading.
There’s an amazing interview with Dan Deacon in today’s daily Variety and online (with writer Matt Kivel), and he has a lot of great things to say about L.A., Kyle Mabson, Pehrspace, and the Monday NIght show I hosted for him and Health last summer!
Kudos to Dan, Kyle, and everybody who turned out for that show… Woo-hoo!!!
Check it out (I excerpted some of the interview below)
Q: What do you think of the LA music scene? Do you see similarities between the artistic community you are a part of in Baltimore and the tightly-knit collection of bands here?
DAN: LA is just so massive. It’s hard to compare a city like Baltimore with LA, but I think what’s going on in LA is wonderful. They have a great collection of venues and a really strong, supportive community of people. Also, Kyle Mabson is there, so it’s of course the best. Community is the most important part of anything. The most important aspect of the DIY and independent scene is the community it breeds. To a lot of casual “members of the scene” shows are just a place to meet people and get laid or be “seen” but to people who devote their lives to it, it’s a lot more. It’s about bringing people together and being proud of our city, neighborhood and the people who inhabit it. I know this sounds really dorky or like I’m giving the piece sign while cumming on a tree, but it’s true.
Q: At your El Rey show earlier this year you chose Health and Abe Vigoda as openers — bands one wouldn’t normally associate with the type of music you make — do you think pairing disparate bands on a bill makes for a rich and more rewarding concert experience?
A:Weird, I would think my music would be associated with theirs. I guess I’m made out to play dance music in the press, but all of my shows starting up were with noise-based bands. While our immediate sounds are different, I think we are based in a similar root idea. That idea being expanding upon pop music with large levels of dissonance and arhythmic sounds over a steady rhythmic pattern. I do think a diverse bill makes for a better show, but again, I think the only thing making my music so different from Health’s is the perception the has been attached to it. Health and I have been playing shows for years. It still blows my mind that people say I write dance music. Sorry, I’m venting. I think your question is valid, but I just disagree with thinking that we are vastly different bands. I think it’s weirder when I play a show with just DJs. Health and I played a show at Perhspace in June of last year before either of us were very well known. It was awesome. That was one of my favorite shows. I guess the main difference is that I play music you can “dance” to. Most of it isn’t dance music and I don’t think most people dance to it, they move around really fast. I don’t know, I can’t really see what’s going on when I play. I have the worst seat in the whole room.
WWW.SEANCARNAGE.COM
Mega mega thanks all around… To the performers (Winners, Margot/I.E., The Amazements, The Monolators, Social Junk, Big Nurse, Kyle and Dalton/Sichshifter, Doug/Birth!), the DJs (Health especially Jupiter, Kyle), MC Peter Moran, Anna, Erik Anaya, Vanessa, Dana, everyone else who helped out at the door, Pehrspace, and all the Monday Night friends/supporters/collaborators/attendees past and present… we fucking did it (somehow).
More commentary on the night and the absolutely, joyous and MIND-EXPANDING performances in a follow-up post… I wanted to share last Monday’s photos as soon as possible. These are, just like my shows, FOR YOU!!!
DON’T MISS THIS MONDAY’S SHOW… SURE TO GO DOWN IN THE RECORD BOOKS AS ONE OF THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE EVER!!!
**$1 ADMISSION WITH SMELL HAND STAMP FROM ABE VIGODA SHOW!!**
This MONDAY, August 11th
KXLU’s Demolisten LIVE at Pehrspace!!!
Pinched Nerve
Dog Weed
Mi Ami
+ MUSIC FROM VIDEOS for dancing & watching, by the legendary DJ BIG TV!!!
+ Zaq Landsberg piñata “de-install” (this will be special)
Monday, August 18th
William Burgess presents…
THE BEST OF THE DRUID FILM FEST
Touring program of satanarchic shorts & videos
…plus music from
Daniel Francis Doyle
Skull Kiss Forever (feat. Willam Burgess!)
Monday, August 25th
Sean Carnage & Peter’s Poolboys presents…
Foot Village
Casy and Brian
Icy Lites
E&E
Tent City
All shows start 9:30pm / all-ages / $5
Pehrspace—325 Glendale Blvd., in Echo Park
See you there?
It was really exciting to have this come out on the day of the 3-year anniversary… great photo, eh?
Peter Moran!!!
Anna, Peter, & Dalton… great friends… yay!!!
BJ aka “Jared” from Health!!!
Liz O.!!!
Birth!!!
The Monolators!!!
Sichshifter!!!
Health DJ!!!
Social Junk vs. Big Nurse!!!
(Papa B!!!!)
Winners!!!
(Happy Birthday, Ellen!!!)
The Amazements!!!
I.E.!!!
Cheers to all of you, my friends!!!
MAYBE YOU DIDN’T REALIZE: WE DO THIS EVERY MONDAY!!!
WWW.SEANCARNAGE.COM
This past Monday was thoroughly—sensually—overwhelming. Musically, aesthetically and attendance-wise, the bands and performers blew the place out!!
Mitchell Brown was the guest Monday Night curator for the second week in a row, and his vision was undeniably potent. The bands he chose and the records he spun were the best of the best. Thanks, Mitch, you brought a lot of new music fans together in a way they have never come together before! This show had a particularly smart and energized audience.
Health was just incredible—can you believe that just two years ago they couldn’t hardly get a show here in L.A.? Now, thanks in large part to their huge cadre of Monday Night supporters, they are busting out all over the world. We won’t see them in SoCal for many months, but I for one will be following news of their tour online. The four-piece’s sublime fusion of hardcore noise, equally hardcore rock and trendy dance sounds and image are a great advertisement for the diversity and awesomeness of our lil’ scene.
Oscillator also blew the crowd away—but with with soaring, optically driven white noise and non-stop percussion. This band was really fucking good!!! Ben is in To Live and Shave in L.A. and Nick is in Crooked Cowboy, Rose for Bohdan and Anavan so this shouldn’t have been a surprise… but, again, WOW!!
Rick Potts of Dinosaurs with Horns created hypnotic, overlapping musical clouds of samples and noise as if he was deconstructing the show before it even happened! DJ Mahssa was superb. Her selections of slinky, vintage Middle Eastern funk were spot-on. And Everybody, delayed by several band members that were pressed into service backing a jazz vocalist at the Echo, ended up being the perfect closer. People didn’t stop dancing until nearly 3am when I finally said “Go home!” I’ve been exhausted all week, but this show was sooo worth it. Best show ever?
Last but definitely not least, our hero—Monday Night sound dude and my right-hand man with the shows—Kyle H. Mabson… Well, he hated how he sounded this night, but sometimes performers are not the best judges of their performances. I thought what Kyle did was amazing. And I don’t say that just because he’s my friend. I’m a grump sometimes so I’m not gonna butter him up if he sucked. On the contrary, I think that Kyle’s stew of old and new music, high and low culture, noise and visceral dance music, humor and grimly serious aural attack are at the pinnacle of something very special—something that really sets L.A. music circa 2008 apart from scenes in other parts of the world. And that something is FUN! Yep, it’s a crazy mixed up environment here in California—in the USA and in the the 21st Century in general—and Kyle’s got his finger on the pulse. We need music to be fun above all else. That’s what we’re all here for right!?
Don’t miss this week’s show, with plenty of solo and acoustic weirdness to mangle your brain…
This Monday, February 18th
Sean Carnage presents…
Anni Rossi …magical viola accenting the most gorgeous songs
Mad Gregs …impeccable sonic tapestries hanging in dreamland
Joseph Davancens …imagine a unicorn playing acoustic guitar
Team Andrew …where punk rock, Chicano heritage & pizza all collide
Jim McCray …break your brain, let loose the sorrow
Ema & the Ghosts …haunted ukulele & accordion
Show starts 9:30pm / all-ages / $5
Pehrspace—325 Glendale Blvd., in Echo Park
WWW.SEANCARNAGE.COM
Photos below by Eva, me and Ken Lee… Check out Ken’s web site
Okay… See you at this week’s show?
Rick Potts of Dinosaurs With Horns!!!
Oscillator!!!
width=400 />
Kyle H. Mabson!!!
Health!!!
Everybody!!!
Mitchell Brown… His two weeks as Monday Night curator were an incredible success!!!
DON’T MISS THIS MONDAY!!!
WWW.SEANCARNAGE.COM
Peter Steele dead? Here's what his penis looked like Sultry Type-O Negative singer Peter Steele may be gone now but his enormous cock is with us forever. 2652 view(s) | posted on April 15, 2010 
Let's get physical: Jeff Byron debuts post-Mae Shi music this Monday with Physical Forms L.A.'s iconic Mae Shi may be gone, but their spirit lives on in a new all-star band. 547 view(s) | posted on August 27, 2010 
My former employer Here Media is threatening to sue me because of a Facebook post This gay company is supposed to be for fighting for the underdog. Why do they act so shady? 433 view(s) | posted on July 29, 2010 
Thanks for five years of Monday fun & photos Your favorites from Essay to Justice Yeldham are here in this massive summer photo re-cap... 400 view(s) | posted on August 10, 2010 
Guru dead? Here's what his gay penis looked like Gang Starr: I loved Peter Steele’s image but I've always preferred Guru musically and physically. 363 view(s) | posted on April 26, 2010 