Surfing, Skateboarding, Music, Photography, Travel, Culture and general antics of the youth on the run.

Thurston Moore made our ears bleed Live from the LA Art Book Fair

thurston moore what youth
Photos: Asal Shahindoust

A wild range of new-age art books and zines were on display at the recent LA Art Book Fair at Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. The event was a sea of indie, and who else would be there leading the way other than Thurston Moore.

The king of dissonance himself put on a live performance on the last day that was more performance art than show. To the surprise of the many hipsters in attendance, Thurston didn’t perform a set composed of typical songs off his recorded albums, instead he took us all for a spin in the hot LA sun with a screechy noise ballad made up of continuous feedback, loops, and tons of distortion.

image-2

This should not be surprising for true fans of Thurston — who’s obsession with noise has destroyed the ears of everyone but the truly diehard at some point or another.

And Thurston wasn’t alone, accompanying him was the legendary musician, artist and composer, John Wiese. Wiese sat in the back with a mixer and a laptop, looping all the static, hisses and hums.

image-3 

The noise set may have clashed with the audience’s expectations of a full rock ‘n’ roll performance, perhaps hoping for some songs off his latest album, “The Best Day.” But instead, Thurston delivered a solid emotional rock performance — unconventional as fuck — but rather appropriate for the LAABF’s appreciation of the avant-garde attitude.

image

My ears hurt for about a day but I wouldn’t say the set was, as I overhead some tough guy say: “A dick in the ass to everyone.” Because Watching Thurston Moore perform for free in 2015, even if it was a chaotic improvisation of aesthetic noise resulting in bloody ears, it was still quite a treat. The King of Dissonance reigns again. —Asal Shahindoust

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 preset

 Noa Deane at the LAABF. Photo Shane Fletcher.

 

what youth dylan rieder rest in piece

Dylan Rieder: 1988-2016 R.I.P. to one of the greatest of all time

It’s strange to type this. Hard to believe what the keys are putting down, but Dylan Rieder has passed away from complications with leukemia. He was 28 years old. Dylan’s influence is ingrained so very deeply in skateboarding and everything he touched, and forever will be. Happy to have had the pleasure to spend time…

france, travis ferre

I’m Home! But Have No Idea Where I am After a month in the Old World, I’ve returned to a disheveled homeland

I just got home from a few weeks away. I think it’s called holiday. Or vacation. Depending where you’re from. First one I’ve ever tried. And holy shit do I recommend it. I surfed beautiful waves in Portugal, strolled ancient streets of Lisbon, ate extremely well in San Sebastián, biked through a forest in France…

“There are no beers for Media” Another downtrodden day for the WSL press corps

It was Sunday. I felt like watching surfing and I am fortunate to live within a stone throw of a ‘CT venue that shall remain anonymous, but it is in Europe, is not in Portugal and is within a country renowned for cheese and wine. You get the picture. Some friends and I have media…

Peter Hook and the Light at the Wiltern And we all danced

If you don’t like at least one song by Joy Division or New Order than you’re probably a liar. The thing about both of these bands is that they are so prominent in music of various genres. Whether you like it or not, we hear them everyday in our favorite bands. The extent of their influence…

what youth black sabbath music live concert

Black Sabbath played last night at the Hollywood Bowl For those who don’t want “The End” to end

Black Sabbath played last night at the Hollywood Bowl, and I was there, lucky beyond any measure, to have witnessed what they’re calling their last tour ever, appropriately and painfully called “The End.” With almost all original members on stage – Prince of Darkness Ozzy, Godfather of Metal Tony Iommi, and bass legend Geezer Butler…

taj burrow, surfing

The Tour Without Taj It’s like a sad Friday night in

I’m about to walk down the trail at Lowers to watch the contest. Live. Yep, fuck it, I wanna watch some surfing. And make sure there is still free beer at contests. I remember Jay Larson said he surfed because there was “Free beer at contests” in an old issue of Surfer Magazine. I need…

what youth hunter martinez surfing photography

Hurricane Hermine Hunt Photographer Hunter Martinez took us on his recent hurricane chase

Being from the West Coast, hurricanes — at least the ones they get in the east — are exciting. They seem to change and move and shift and are all sorts of unpredictable (and dangerous). And because of that, it’s not rare to score all by yourself if you’re persistent. It’s also really easy to…

what youth issue 15 launch party

Issue 15 party in the desert Full-moon skinny dips, The Paranoyds and a new issue of What Youth in the desert

At one point last night I looked around and everyone was either in just underwear or swimming in the ACE pool with all their clothes on. The moon was full. The Paranoyds had just blown our minds and HUF and Richer Poorer had kitted everyone out with gear, and then we were swimming. We were nowhere…

Metal Neck and the Olympics What an interesting day it has been

Last night Metal Neck II: The Bangover was released. And of course, we fucking loved it. A classic (and free!) give-no-fucks throwback independent surf vid starring a lot of our friends and a few wild characters including Christian Fletcher, Muffin Man, Noa, Droid, Colin Moran and more. And wouldn’t you know it, the awkward little…

what youth surfing padang padang mason ho

Mega Semadhi wins the Padang Cup A Contest We can definitely get behind

The Padang Cup has always been one of the few contests that we can get behind. The dudes who come out to go left and get tubed at one of our favorite waves are always a perfect mix of local standouts and global superheros like Bruce Irons, Mason Ho and Damien Hobgood and more. The…

The same day in Amsterdam and Paris Europe for the Brixton Broadcast and a bit of radical class tourism

Paris is far too big to seen properly in one day, yet so damn pretty you can feel like you did. And we’re here, right now, but not for long. As is too often the case. We were in Amsterdam last weekend and then Paris. A few nights ago, we watched and documented the Brixton Broadcast…

what youth dear suburbia us open

Surf movie premiere season The US Open of Surfing isn’t just underage drinking and drawing

The US Open of Surfing doesn’t just mean no parking, terrible traffic, underage drinking and drawing, the Huntington Hop, overcrowded lineups, MMA flexing and heavily policed streets. It also means premiering new surf movies. And although it may not be the same grandiose events that used to take place in front of the Shorebreak Hotel…

Sign up for letters from What Youth


By enabling this page, you are acknowledging and accepting our privacy terms and conditions.