Posts Tagged ‘costa mesa’

NO SMITHS TRACKS

July 2, 2008

Peter Hook in motion

ILLUSTRATION by JOE MCGARRY
Right before Peter Hook—New Order and Joy Division’s ex-bassist—picked up deejaying, a friend warned him: the loneliest place in the room was behind the turntables. Despite the thousands of people in front of you dancing, you’re totally alone up there. “When you’re deejaying, there are no fans,” Hook says [...]

IN THE PINES

July 2, 2008

North by Northwest at Plums Café

PHOTO by RICK POON
There’s a sharpness in the air around Plums Café, a clean scent that makes for the kinds of brisk breaths that usually only occur when flowers and trees all exhale at once. It’s hard to notice at first, but that crispness is part of Plums’ patio, a [...]

PUPUSERIA SAN SIVAR

June 25, 2008

What makes Pupusería San Sivar’s pupusas remarkable isn’t just variety—it’s that each one fluffs up in the same style as a flour tortilla, lightened to the point that they might as well be injected with air. It’s with that puffed-up edge that the pupusas are able to fare so well as a meal of their [...]

YOUNG AMERICANS

June 25, 2008

YACHT and Mika Miko make the end of the world even weirder

YACHT started as the acronymic pen name (Young Americans Challenging High Technology) for Jona Bechtolt, then beating up a MIDI controller and a PowerBook while screaming out Scout Niblett covers and Donnie Darko references. Back in 2004, his only record was Super Warren MMIV: [...]

TAKE ME TO THE MAN

June 25, 2008

Respect and a check with C.R.A.C.

PHOTO by ANGELICA GARDE
Two sentences into a C.R.A.C. interview (“This is Ta’Raach.” “This is Blu.”) and they run right to fundamental questions of craft and creation before they even sit all the way down—is Pete Rock the best producer because he has the best record collection? Does Blu need more [...]

FREE FOR ALL

June 18, 2008

Busywork and its year of total harmony

ILLUSTRATION by JOE MCGARRY
When Dan Sena co-founded Busywork with fellow resident DJ GMO (Guillermo Arce) his life was in limbo: He’d been floating between various dead-end temp jobs and his band, Bullet Train to Vegas, was stuck working on a doomed follow-up to 2005’s We Put Scissors Where Our [...]

TV DINNER

June 18, 2008

Pupusería San Sivar’s puffed-up pleasures

PHOTO by RICK POON
Even if you can’t see them, chances are the staff at Pupusería San Sivar can see you. That’s partly because of the two-way mirror that feeds into the kitchen, but it’s mostly just a simple fact of the lunch rush, the staff spread thin by eaters packed in [...]

BEER OF THE MONTH

June 18, 2008

German Pilsner

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
Pilsner is a light-colored, yet incredibly delicate and flavorful beer with historical ties to Pilsen, Bohemia, in the Czech Republic. The naturally soft waters of the region allowed brewers to be the first to make their beers with a base entirely of pale malted barley, absent of “specialty” grains. Early pilsners [...]

BLOOD, NOT SO SIMPLE

June 11, 2008

The frightening beauty of Six Foot Owl’s ‘Closing Thoughts’ tees

Most of Six Foot Owl’s hand-painted T-shirts and jackets verge on being a bit too romantic for my tastes. The “clothing art company,” founded by high school friends Brianne Cirel and Johnie Thornton, plays with images both sorta cute (piano keys, telephone poles, ants tracking down [...]

THE LUCKY ONES

June 4, 2008

Matt McCluer starts band, IHOP closes

ILLUSTRATION by JOE MCGARRY
Two years ago Matt McCluer released his last official solo record—at least he says it was his last. A Good Day to Rock was 15 home-taped pop songs with ooh-ahh harmonies, double-tracked vocals and therapeutically selfish breakup lyrics, opening with “I fell off the earth/but I promise [...]

 

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