Anthony Hernandez has spent his 45-year career photographing Los Angeles and its environs, shifting his approach over the years both technically and thematically as he sought to capture the myriad, and often seemingly contradictory, realities of life in the sprawling city. His work shows a special sensitivity to the people on the fringes of society, often depicting the detritus we leave behind. Without formalized training, Hernandez was free to develop a street photography style and social message all his own—finding beauty in desolation and testifying for the individual against a harsh, built environment. To accompany Hernandez’s first retrospective at San Francisco MOMA, D.A.P. has teamed up with the museum to release a book of his photographs, including never-before-seen plates and images. Anthony Hernandez offers, for the first time, the photographer’s many phases and approaches to photographing his home city. Taken together, these images add up to an important and perspective-shifting thesis on life and hardship in Los Angeles. (D.A.P./SFMOMA)

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Facing controversy over their politically-charged and contentious name, Viet Cong adopted a more neutral appellation for their sophomore album: Preoccupations. Thankfully, this in no way indicates that their music has been similarly defanged. On their self-titled new record, Preoccupations still summons up unease with gothic-industrial atmospherics, stabs of discordant guitar and war-percussion drums, all wrapped up under lead singer Matt Flegel’s brooding, affectless vocals. But what sets Preoccupations apart is that the unease, at times, breaks open. The band seems to find strength and beauty amid the pain of living in a world whose prognosis seems grim. This is most evident in their stand-out single “Anxiety,” a title which distills much of the band’s overarching aesthetic. After the gloom of lyrics like, “Deteriorating to great acclaim / Help has fallen by the wayside / Nowhere near to finding better ways to be,” a bit of light breaks through. Flegel summons the strength to insist: “I’m not here purely for the sake / Of breathing, I am wide awake.” Sometimes that is good enough.

via Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar

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Labeled one of “the great literary hoaxes of our day” by columnist David Segal, the story of JT LeRoy began in the 1990s, when writer Laura Albert began publishing her own stories under the pen name. Ostensibly born in West Virginia in 1980, LeRoy published his work in many respected international publications and put out four novels between 1990 and 2007. With a personal history of drug addiction, prostitution and homelessness, LeRoy was rumored as deeply shy and public appearances were limited until 2001, when Albert’s sister-in-law Savannah Knoop donned a wig and sunglasses, claiming LeRoy was gender fluid. Albert herself appeared in public as LeRoy’s manager. The author traveled with a close entourage and enjoyed a cult-like following of fans and literary figures alike—a performance which lasted years. LeRoy became a sort of celebrity. What happened when, in 2005, an article by Stephen Beachy in New York magazine outed Albert as the ‘real’ JT LeRoy was a total blowback from the press and fans alike—the work of LeRoy was mostly forgotten, but the sham, the celebrity remained.

This is where you enter Author: The JT LeRoy Story, a documentary produced, written and directed by Jeff Feuerzeig, which premiered at Sundance 2016 and was nominated for the Documentary Grand Jury Prize. Feuerzeig’s work mimics LeRoy’s frenzied ascent with energetic pacing, using original footage of LeRoy, the press and his celebrity followers, as well as drawings from and recent interviews with Albert. Albert claims LeRoy was a way for her to write what she couldn’t under her own name, once saying she created him “the way an oyster creates a pearl: out of irritation and suffering. It was an attempt to try to heal something.”

In 2016, the discussion of gender identity and creation of personas over social media is fairly common, and that’s why this is the perfect moment for Author: The JT LeRoy Story, wherein Feuerzeig presents LeRoy not only as a writer or avatar or stunt, but the true innovator Albert made him; that she is herself. The film is arresting, and touches on the nature of art, celebrity and identity as it builds to the overwhelming question: Does it matter who created the work if the work, indeed, exists?

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Frontman of Man Man and Mister Heavenly, Honus Honus (stage name of Ryan Kattner) is releasing his debut solo record, Use Your Delusion, which he describes as an “apocalyptic LA pop album.” For the release, Honus assembled a talented team of musicians, including Joe Plummer of Modest Mouse and the Shins, actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, comedian Jon Daly and Shannon Shaw of Shannon & The Clams, with production by King Cyrus King, composer for Adult Swim.

As pianist, singer and lyricist with Philidelphia’s Man Man, Honus Honus put out five albums between 2004 and 2013, most recently On Oni Pond. He also released one 2011 album, Out of Love, with side-project Mister Heavenly, a ‘supergroup’ with Plummer and Nicholas Thorburn of Islands and The Unicorns. Use Your Delusion was funded and released by Honus Honus directly through PledgeMusic, with a slew of giveaways for pre-orders. The album was written from LA, with reference to Echo Park favorite Taco Zone in its first single “Heavy Jesus,” taking a more lighthearted, pop-driven bent than his previous work.

self-released

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Photographer Kevin Amato is releasing his first book, The Importants, which celebrates the culture and faces of the Bronx, where he discovers most of the subjects he casts in fashion shows and campaigns. Amato’s work for the high-fashion streetwear line, Hood By Air, from 2007 to 2014 brought him international attention. Now he’s turning to his source of inspiration, who he calls ‘The Importants’: young people of the Bronx living in a way that exemplifies diversity and inclusivity, using fashion and culture as an outlet, creating their own world in which to live despite the odds against them. The book is compelling and provocative in both layout and subject, revealing the landscape and personality of Amato’s Importants through his singular eye.

via Phaidon

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Angel Olsen broke through to a worldwide audience with 2013’s bare and haunting LP Burn Your Fire for No Witness, and now returns with My Woman, her third full record to date. Recorded with a proper A-side and B-side, My Woman centers even more fully on Olsen’s vocals than previous releases, replacing piano with synth, expanding her musical styles and removing the shroud of reverb around her lyrics. She worked with producer Justin Raisen (Charli XCX, Sky Ferreira, Santigold) and recorded live to tape in LA alongside guitarist Seth Caufmann and her regular bandmates.

As for the title My Woman, Olsen says its theme isn’t overtly gender-specific, but deals with “the complicated mess of being a woman and wanting to stand up for yourself, while also knowing that there are things you are expected to ignore, almost, for the sake of loving a man. I’m not trying to make a feminist statement with every single record, just because I’m a woman. But I do feel like there are some themes that relate to that, without it being the complete picture.”

›› Issue Feature: Discussion between Angel Olsen and Kevin Morby.

via Jagjaguwar

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Following A Folk Set Apart, a rarities compilation released last year, Cass McCombs is set to release his eighth studio album, Mangy Love. The last decade has seen a slew of folk releases from McCombs, and this new material takes on sociopolitical issues while channeling soul, psychedelia and beat poetry. Guest contributors include Angel Olsen and Blake Mills, with production by Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Fidlar) and Dan Horne.

via Anti

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On Take It, It’s Yours, musicians Katy Goodman of La Sera (and formerly Vivian Girls) and Greta Morgan of Springtime Carnivore rework 10 classic punk and New Wave songs by the Stooges, the Misfits, the Replacements, the Gun Club, Bad Brains, Wipers and more. The two are long-time friends and collaborators—in 2014, Goodman interviewed Morgan for Issue on her self-titled debut, Springtime Carnivore. Introducing their joint album, the two remark, “These songs helped shape who we are. They gave us the songs, and now we get to give them back as our thank you.”

via Polyvinyl

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