Specializing in the dark swells of rock music's subgenres, Past Haunts has given XRAY.fm listeners the best in everything from krautrock to coldwave every Monday for the last four years. They've hosted some pretty good live shows in their day and their first one of the year is another one to add to the list. Past Haunts is taking over Lovecraft on Friday by joining Portland's Tender Age with LA's Drab Majesty, and Soft Metals acting as the artist fulcrum between the two cities.

The slo-fi pop of Tender Age is the perfect sound to fully represent the drizzly minimalism of the Rose City. All three of their releases (comprised of two 7" and an EP) eptiomize noisy soundscapes that are more than easy to get immersed in and this show couldn't be a better way for them to ring in 2017 with.

Electronic duo Soft Metals have roots here in the Pacific Northwest and SoCal, with their synthesizer sounds indicative of our darkwave scene as well as what's going on in some of those LA clubs. Rumor has it they're working some new material, exciting Soft Metals fans who have been craving another release following 2013's Lenses. Rounded out by the not so drab coldwave of Drab Majesty and this turns into another delightfully dark night at the Lovecraft. 

We were an hour overdue and loudness was all we could hear. Black metal and small talk warmed the atmosphere as the trio Exray's lined the stage — well it wasn't really a stage, but the gap made it seem otherwise. The intimacy of Trust a Robot and Jon Bernson's continued beckoning tightened spaces between the crowd and them, if only for the last two songs. And the crowd only got tighter as Naytronix followed, with an efficacious live set of Mister Divine — a medley of tambourines, cowbells, Costa Rican-inspired drumming, and Nate Brenner's resonant basslines.

Headliner Deb DeMure came forth with a bust of Apollo to bless the set, wearing a pink changshan to juxtapose. Drab Majesty showered the Non Plus with piercing guitar tones redolent of '80s wave, and we stood transfixiated in darkness. Up last, Creepers thanked those who stayed for the end — it was just us, friends, and the Non Plus residents. Their hard-hitting lysergic psych filled the near-empty space and burrowed deep into our ears. Shiv Mehra's SG came untuned, but even the discordant yaws felt at home as the last of the audience nodded on to synthetic screams and cacophonous overlays of Lush — loudness was all we could hear. And it was glorious. Check our Instagram @TheDeliLA for more pictures of the night. - Ryan Mo, photos by Michelle K. McCausland

To be clear, the Winter Solstice is happening on December 22. But that shouldn't stop you from celebrating the darkest night of the year (in advance) with the Non Plus crowd this Sunday. The illustrious Deb DeMure, aka Drab Majesty, performs its last show with some novel Bay-area lovelies. Exray's conjure their signature grainy sci-fi sounds, followed by the experimental pop project Naytronix (of tUnE-yArDs), whose live set is rumored to reimagine songs from his latest album Mister Divine. Creepers will end the night, drawing out some drug-addled psych visions. Guest DJs Kerry McCoy and George Lesage IV of Deafheaven facilitate our journey into the dusk. - Ryan Mo

The LA Psychfest continues to curate acts that aren't psychedelic. More power to them.

2015 marks the festival's fourth year of existence, and also its first year away from the Bootleg Theater (currently accepting submissions for a new wall mural). Live performances by veteran Drab Majesty, Ras G, and singer-songwriter Jenny O. might not fit the genre of psychedelic, but they'll certainly expand your consciousness. Psych-rock mavens will still leave happy as locals JJUUJJUU and Mr. Elevator and the Brain Hotel join up with Moon Duo, Night Beats,Tomorrows Tulips, The Budos Band, and Earthless. Way more where that came from, with secret guest DJs, a custom poster by Tim Biskup, and live visuals at the Regent Theater and the Echo/Echoplex.

Single-day and two-day tickets still available. Celebrate and expand your consciousness with music and art next weekend, September 19-20 — you don't have to be on drugs. You do have to be 18 or older. - Ryan Mo

The androgynous alter ego of Andrew Clinco (Marriages, Black Mare), Deb DeMure, is not drag — bluntly put, it's a genderfuck medium that channels a windfall of ideas. The occult scholar sees DeMure's physical manifestation as an oracle for Drab Majesty, a growing collection of self-produced music bearing marks of late '80s dreampop, new wave, and post-punk. The project's newest album Careless envelops listeners with modulating guitars, grand cathedral reverb, and effected baritone vocals that hearken back to acts like Asylum Party, Xymox, Cocteau Twins — gothically elaborate, it coalesces the masculine and feminine, the Abrahamic and the arcane. And DeMure takes no credit for the songs' conception.

Says Clinco in a Noisey interview: "We’re just vessels channeling these ideas and making sense of them."

Drab Majesty performs at the LA Psych Fest on September 20th with JJUUJJUU, Earthless, Litronix, and more. Listen to "Everything Is Sentimental" off the newest album Careless, with a second vinyl pressing on Dais Records early October. - Ryan Mo