Angel Bat Dawid in the courtyard of the PRS (Photo by Sam Lee)
(hi! there will be walkup tix at the door in case we reach capacity online)
Oh my stars, a new Julius Smack album has graced our mortal coils 😭
Join us along our friends at the Philosophical Research Society & KCRW in celebrating the release of Julius Smack’s Starlight!!! As one of the great divas of LA’s DIY arts communities, this evening is an assured gift wrapped in cosmic stardust.
This latest full-length offering from the LA-based artist envisions a dark future where AI has decimated civilization and artists are among the last to survive. These songs are transmissions, moments in dialogue with a fictional AI assistant named Starlight, to share a story of his origins. This performance will take place outdoors and throughout the courtyard of the PRS where Julius Smack will be joined at nightfall by Josephine Shetty (Kohinoorgasm, Girl Debord, Pride Month Barbie) on vocals and Taylor Plenn on sax. Chosen family Sehseiyah and Cora Laszlo will perform through the twilight hour to set the tone for our evening together.
Julius Smack is the musical alias of Peter Hernandez, a Los Angeles-based musician, performer, and director of Practical Records. His work explores intuitive and imaginative landscapes, envisioning new modes of perception and existence. Drawing inspiration from vogue, postmodern dance, Japanese environmental music, and contemporary dance music, he synthesizes these influences into a singular artistic vision rooted in queer and indigenous heritage. With releases on labels such as Leaving Records, Noumenal Loom, Practical Records, and Constellation Tatsu, Julius Smack’s music resonates across diverse audiences. He has performed at prestigious venues including MOCA Geffen and The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Stavanger Kunsthall in Norway, and Aunt Charlie’s Lounge in San Francisco.
Photo by Erin Birgy
Sehseiyah is the solo avant industrial-pop project and alias for Los Angeles-based visual, recording, and performance artist Sepehr Mashiahof (fka The Bedroom Witch). After releasing an expansive discography of five LPs and four EPs as the Bedroom Witch, she announced the departure from her decade-long moniker in June 2024. Formed through an abstraction of letters taken from the artist’s first and last name, Sehseiyah presents in this refined era of artistry as an ever-evolving enigma. Alluring and at times frightening, Sehseiyah’s multi-range vocals are suspended in dark atmospheric sonic worlds and eviscerated by catchy percussive clangs and distorted torrential synth textures. Mashiahof mythologizes Sehseiyah’s compositions as a haunting, cinematic soundtrack that accompanies a melancholic siren lost in a cavernous industrial rave. Through the fog of this new character arc, Sehseiyah, as the name itself evokes, ascends like an angel.
Photo by Gabriel Gamboa
Cora Laszlo is a Brazilian dance maker, teacher, and researcher currently based in LA, where she is pursuing a PhD in Cultures and Performance at UCLA. Her work focuses on dance improvisation, presence studies, and critical pedagogies. Cora’s practice is based on the Klauss Vianna Technique—a Brazilian dance and somatic education technique. Cora's work has been presented in Brazil and the US, including at the Fowler Museum, First Draft LA, Movement Research at Judson Church, Triskelion, ¡Spontaneous Combustion!, SESC (BR), and Teatro do Centro da Terra (BR). She is also the recipient of HTDS Art Residency in Joshua Tree (2025), LEIMAY Arts in the Community Garden Fellowship (2021); City Artist Corps Grant (2021), and Proac-BR (2017). In dialogue with her artistic career, Cora is a dance scholar, holding a BA in Dance and a Licentiate degree in Dance Teaching from Unicamp (Brazil), a specialization degree in Klauss Vianna Technique from PUC-SP (Brazil), and a MA in Performance Studies from NYU. In addition to her academic work, Cora is the author of Outros Caminhos de Dança, a book on the Klauss Vianna Technique published in Brazil.
Photo by Gunindu Abeysekara
Josephine Shetty is an experimental pop artist and vocalist, best known by the monikers Kohinoorgasm and Girl Debord, and as the lead singer of electro-pop duo Pride Month Barbie. Shetty is known for combining susurrate vocals and extended vocal techniques with a minimal and hypnotic production style while integrating vast influences from Cocteau Twins to Diamanda Galas to Sheila Chandra.Since releasing her debut solo album Titalee in 2017, Shetty has performed at SXSW, The Echo, Zebulon, UCLA, Berkeley Art Museum, Sarah Lawrence College, Great American Music Hall, and most notably within California’s underground music scene. Her passion for creative collaboration has also led to various roles in music education and audio engineering, including teaching music technology courses at California Institute of the Arts and providing sound design support for local live productions and sound installations. You can catch her performing or DJing at bars and small venues around Los Angeles, or listen to her monthly radio show People's Portal on Dublab where she highlights underground and experimental music.
Photo by Allegra Messina
Taylor Plenn is a Los Angeles-based saxophonist and flutist with over 16 years of experience as both a sideman and a bandleader He is known for his versatility across musical styles – from hard bop, rock, and blues to free jazz, hip hop, and electronic music – and his adaptable musicianship has earned him opportunities to work with a diverse array of artists. Plenn’s wide-ranging collaborations include Wild Nothing, Mary Droppinz, David Sabastian, Tim Heidecker, Jimmy Whispers, Riley Geare, Dante Elephante, Kiefo Nilsson, Alex Lilly, Van Dyke Parks, Jonathan Rado, Bobby Halvorson, Dynasty Handbag, and Hasco Enjoyments.