Andy Hermann
Glendale isn't usually thought of as a hotbed for experimental music, but maybe it should be. Besides being home to Complex, the L.A. area's best club for metal and industrial, the Jewel City also is the base of operations for Deathbomb Arc, a label serving “genres unknown since 1998,” as its website aptly declares. Label founder Brian Kinsman's big claim to fame (for which he hasn't gotten enough credit) was unleashing noise-rap innovators Death Grips and clipping. upon the world, but many of Deathbomb's less well-known artists are just as mind-blowing, including the all-drums punk/noise combo Foot Village and its latest “krautrap” troublemakers, True Neutral Crew — both of which, not coincidentally, include Kinsman as a member. Along the way, Deathbomb has released various splits and compilations with the likes of Julia Holter, No Age, Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, Black Pus and Thurston Moore, quietly accumulating what is now arguably the best catalog of cutting-edge sounds of any label in Los Angeles. Or Glendale, for that matter.
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