A very specific gloom belonged to Los Angeles clubs in the mid-2000s — black jeans, a drum machine, a bassline borrowed wholesale from Manchester, and lyrics delivered in a deadpan that people either found irresistible or unbearable. This band was the local product of it, from the Valley, and the songs have aged into something more interesting than their moment: what read as posturing then now sounds like a real record about being young and unpleasant in this city. Their shows have become reunion territory in the literal sense, where the audience is largely the people who were at those club nights and have not seen one another since. The Ventura hall has a flat floor and a good low end, which matters for material built on bass. Music at 9:00 PM on East Thompson Boulevard, a Saturday. Nights like this are less about the band than about who else turns out to have been there the whole time.
A very specific gloom belonged to Los Angeles clubs in the mid-2000s — black jeans, a drum machine, a bassline borrowed wholesale from Manchester, and lyrics delivered in a deadpan that people either found irresistible or unbearable. This band was the local product of it, from the Valley, and the songs have aged into something more interesting than their moment: what read as posturing then now sounds like a real record about being young and unpleasant in this city. Their shows have become reunion territory in the literal sense, where the audience is largely the people who were at those club nights and have not seen one another since. The Ventura hall has a flat floor and a good low end, which matters for material built on bass. Music at 9:00 PM on East Thompson Boulevard, a Saturday. Nights like this are less about the band than about who else turns out to have been there the whole time.
A very specific gloom belonged to Los Angeles clubs in the mid-2000s — black jeans, a drum machine, a bassline borrowed wholesale from Manchester, and lyrics delivered in a deadpan that people either found irresistible or unbearable. This band was the local product of it, from the Valley, and the songs have aged into something more interesting than their moment: what read as posturing then now sounds like a real record about being young and unpleasant in this city. Their shows have become reunion territory in the literal sense, where the audience is largely the people who were at those club nights and have not seen one another since. The Ventura hall has a flat floor and a good low end, which matters for material built on bass. Music at 9:00 PM on East Thompson Boulevard, a Saturday. Nights like this are less about the band than about who else turns out to have been there the whole time.