now i go to regular school

Need a reason to celebrate this midterm season? Get festive every Wednesday morning with National Treasure! The show commemorates bizarre and obscure social media holidays each week, from #GourmetCoffeeDay to #LaughAndGetRichDay. DJ Amy keeps listeners engaged with the theme through fun activities - she even offered to give away a glass of milk in honor of #MilkDay.The celebrations are complemented with a “grab bag” of tunes - listeners are told to “get ready for some mid-2000’s hits scattered in between indie and weirdo music that I find on all corners of the internet.” The highlight of the show so far, according to DJ Amy, has been #DecoratingWithCandyDay, when she and co-host DJ Paleta con Chile featured candy related tracks and swapped uncomfortable Valentine’s Day stories - such as the time DJ Amy was given candy by her “valentine” even after she politely refused him. National Treasure is a little wacky, very fun, and a great excuse for some low-key festivities.

Written By: Amy Cummings

Photo/Video Credits: Bryan Villalpando

Post Date: 2/13/17

El Ten Eleven opened for Lotus at the Fonda this past weekend — and with a floor full of enthusiastic listeners, you wouldn’t have guessed that they weren’t headlining. Bryan and I headed in early and camped out at the barrier with a clear view of the stage, which was packed with an elaborate setup: at least four bass/guitar combos and a full drum kit for El Ten Eleven — a duo — alone. It was our third time seeing the band perform live, so we had high expectations. The band came on at nine o’clock sharp and delivered a consistently excellent performance, as usual.

The first time Bryan and I saw El Ten Eleven, they were nearly late to their show at the Teragram Ballroom due to mudslides across major California highways. The band joked about playing a mudslide remix of their songs in homage to the day’s events. The second time we saw them, Kristian Dunn was disgruntled that we weren’t loud enough in the crowd (we were too busy dancing; who knew?). This time, we were determined to bring the band some joy and danced and cheered loudly to show our support. I guess it worked because we brought an elusive smile to Kristian’s face. They are a joy to watch because of the sheer physicality they exhibit in the layering together of their complex music for a live performance. While Tim Fogarty goes hard on the drum kit, his hair progressively deflating from sweat, Kristian works the loop pedal and deftly swaps among his multiple double-necked guitars. You can’t help but feel impressed when you realize the amount of gear these dudes have to schlep around for a duo act, and a little bit intimidated when you actually see them put all the puzzle pieces together. But it works so well, and that’s what makes them great.

Despite a brief technical difficulty or two, the band kept the energy high for the entire hour-long set and seemed to be having a good time. I had heard others in the crowd around me talking about how they’d seen El Ten Eleven shows in the past, and that the band brought them back to this show even though they weren’t headlining. It’s extremely difficult to talk about this band since they’ve already rejected so many labels like math rock or art rock, since they create a totally unique experience whenever they take the stage. Their transcendent performance was also perfect against the backdrop of the Fonda, which was full of cool air and misty light. 

Written By: Amy Cummings, UCLA Radio Intern

Post Date: 12/11/16

Jay Som played to a small but appreciative crowd of fans at their Los Angeles Turn Into physical release party at the Echo. The band and their fans came together in the intimate setting of the Echo for an early show to celebrate, creating a friendly atmosphere as if we were all friends out to support each other at a house show.

While waiting for Jay Som’s set I befriended Neil, who was working the merch table, and he showed us the full array of physical albums. The physical release of Turn Into was confirmed as something to celebrate as I eyed the pressings on gorgeous white and green marbled vinyl, pink cassette tapes, and CDs. Neil offered to throw in a copy of the album if I bought the ‘$3,000 Bratz mixtape’ that was inexplicably also displayed. Like many artists who play the Echo, Melina Duterte and the rest of the band hung out in the audience to watch supporting acts Plush and Los Angeles Police Department before taking the stage to set up their own equipment. Duterte, the multi-talented face of Jay Som, plugged in cords as a fan asked her, “What’s your sign?” The drummer handed out minty chewing gum to fans at the front of the stage and shortly afterward, they started with the title track.

Considering the purpose of the evening was conceivably to promote the Turn Into physical release, the band focused on appreciating their fans and just having fun with their music, despite a solemn nod to the tragic events of the previous night’s warehouse fire in Oakland that deeply affected the artist community where Jay Som is based. Though already well-known on Oakland’s music scene, Jay Som’s popularity is growing, boosted by their national tour this year opening for Japanese Breakfast and Mitski. The tour also visited the Echoplex in July, surely resulting in a crop of new fans from around Los Angeles. But the band certainly doesn’t feel like an opener. Jay Som appears on stage as a drummer and three guitars, with vocals provided by Duterte. They are confident performers, with a rock sound but a relaxed attitude that makes Turn Into a solid listen, and no doubt helped them amass the dedicated fans that turned out to watch them headline for their release party.

Jay Som jammed through most of the songs on Turn Into, including a playful extended ending of “Next to Me,” that Duterte said she had agreed to do after losing a bet. The live performance didn’t disappoint, and the band and audience alike seemed to be having a great time. To finish, Jay Som brought up the Plush to sing on an excellent cover of “Maps,” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and then invited up the audience for an impassioned rendition of Weezer’s “Undone - The Sweater Song.” A few enthusiastic audience members climbed onto the stage to provide all the in-song banter and rocked out to the lyrics with Duterte. For their musical professionalism, it’s obvious that Jay Som knows how to have fun.

After the set ended, I snagged the set list “for my notes,” bought a pink tape, and borrowed a Sharpie from my new friend Neil. Duterte was hanging out chatting with fans and graciously signed merch for a few of us. I told her I really connected with what she had said about riding the bus during her show with Mitski. Later, we caught up with a couple other students riding the 2 back to UCLA and discussed how much we all liked the show (and commiserated about the bus.) Jay Som has a bright future ahead and I’ll be looking forward to the next LA appearance.

All quarter I’ve been interning for ucla radio and tomorrow is my air check! i will be proving myself by hosting a 1-hr show by myself and it’s my ‘final exam’ before i can have my own show ! ! ! really pumped. fr now set list will remain a secret but it’s all moon themed and includes classics from bowie n dylan, new shiz from ari grande and britney (i had to do it), of course my fave mitski, some jazz, and a few funky tracks – stay tuned 4 a childhood throwback at the end :_)

Written By : Amy Cummings, UCLA Radio Intern

Photos Courtesy of Red Bull Sound Select Content Pool

Post Date: 11/30/16

Considering how easy it is to listen to Car Seat Headrest in daily life, it never would have occurred to me to label them as a “rock” band. Accordingly, I didn’t fully consider just how loud their live performance would be, or how much screaming would be involved. Tickets to the show sold out in just over an hour, and I mourned for weeks that I hadn’t gotten tickets before miraculously getting my hands on a press pass.

As soon as Will Toledo walked on stage, soon joined by the rest of the band, I could feel the energy in the room rising. After acknowledging the recent presidential election and citing the death of Leonard Cohen this week, as well as the year’s earlier loss of David Bowie, the band opened with covers of Cohen’s “Field Commander Cohen” and Bowie’s “Five Years” to start the show. All four members of the band were giving it their all, evidenced by the blasting guitars and drums radiating over the crowd. But the moment I knew we were in for a great ride was when we heard the opening notes of “Fill in the Blank,” the first track from CSH’s highly-anticipated Teens of Denial album, which came out earlier this year. After a roar of approving applause and cheers, the crowd began singing along: “I’m so sick of… (fill in the blank)…” As the instruments all briefly cut out for the start of the chorus, the crowd started to not just sing but scream along with the chorus: “‘You have no right to be depressed!’ ‘You haven’t tried hard enough to like it’… it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts…” Although the band’s faces remained stoic, the crowd’s energy built throughout the set to match the intensity of the music pouring off the stage. The crowd continued alternatively singing and screaming along, even to some of the band’s older songs.

The show, of course, was incredible. It was almost hard to believe that such a strong musical performance was coming from this relatively calm-looking group of musicians. Unlike performers who throw their whole bodies into their act, the band’s faces reflected a placid state of concentration. Will, the poster child of CSH, barely moved for most of the show, besides picking up and putting down his guitar. The ultimate of art boys, he was clad in a gray dress shirt, shiny black dress shoes, and a dark tie and jacket as if he had just escaped from some oppressive prep school. I wondered how he was able to play without sweating through all those clothes. Nonetheless, his vocals were surprisingly powerful, to say nothing of the frequent screaming that broke through sporadically. The band’s outward low-energy stage presence, contrasted with the intensity of their performance, seemed to represent something often reflected in their lyrics: you might look calm on the outside, but inside you can still be filled with rage, power, and pain.

Pictured above: UCLA Radio interns before having their minds completely blown by Car Seat Headrest

After an impressive hour-long set that went by in what seemed like a few moments, Will stepped to the mic and announced, “We were going to end this with a sad song, but I don’t want to do that anymore ‘cause I’m actually feeling pretty good right now.” We saw his elusive smile for maybe the first time as he turned to his bandmates and they banged out “Destroyed by Hippie Powers” to close out the set. Then they disappeared off stage, and the crowd screamed for an encore like our lives depended on it. After an excruciating minute or two that almost made us believe that the walk-off was for real, they re-emerged and told us they hadn’t been able to decide between “the sad encore” or “the happy encore,” so they would do both. The sad factors were obvious, but “the happy thing is that life goes on, and we still go to rock shows, and we still fall in love and all the other good shit,” Will told us. The band played two more songs. I didn’t want it to end and neither did anybody else.