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Tag: The Bulls

Ultra Violent Rays help usher in The Bulls’ Grrl Power August Residency at The Satellite

photo by Hannah Nicholson

photo by Hannah Nicholson

When we first introduced you to L.A.’s Ultra Violent Rays back in February, we reckoned that their dark gothic electro-pop felt just right on a snowy and bleak winter’s night, but might feel a tad out of place on a warm summer’s evening.


Some lucky Los Angeles clubbers will get to see if that prediction is correct when the darkwave duo joins The Bulls at The Satellite for the opening night of the latter’s August residency. This special series of FREE shows is hosted by KROQ’s Locals Only show and is being billed as “Girlschool” — the club’s first 100% female-fronted residency.

In addition to Ultra Violent Rays, the five shows on every Monday night (August 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31) will feature bands such as White Sea, Gothic Tropic, Conway, Alex Lilly and Nightjacket. The festivities begin tonight with The Bulls, Nightjacket, NANCY and Ultra Violent Rays. Doors open at 8:30 and the show starts at 9pm.


We’ll be reviewing The Bulls’ debut EP soon (which I can tell you right now is stunning), so stay tuned. Meanwhile, we wish them a tremendously successful residency!

For those of you who can’t make it to The Satellite, you can at least sit back and enjoy this new video from Ultra Violent Rays for their single “Wish,” which is inspired by pop art legend Roy Lichtenstein. It was directed by Patrick Flaherty, with (amazing) makeup by Janica Polmanteer.

the bulls | nightjacket | nancy | ultra violent rays | the satellite | kroq’s locals only

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Introducing… The Bulls (as they Come Unwound)

Photo by Josh Giroux

Photo by Josh Giroux

Just one song so far, and it’s a shimmering beauty. The Bulls is multi-instrumentalist Anna Bulbrook (The Airborne Toxic Event) and guitarist Marc Sallis (The Duke Spirit). In early October, they unveiled their first song, “Come Unwound,” which begins as a reverent and breathy Nico-esque sad prayer to an unraveling relationship. The minimalist music slowly builds into a dramatic orchestral production with soaring strings and reverb-soaked guitars, dropping back down for each verse. Stunning.

After hearing Anna’s beautiful voice slowly taking on a more prominent role in her outings with Airborne, it’s a real treat to enjoy it full-strength, front and center stage. And likewise, as her “day job band” embraces synthesizers on their next release, it’s a pleasure to know that her stellar violin/viola skills will enjoy free rein here. With influences ranging from late ’80s/early ’90s dream-pop and shoegaze, The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees, bits of new wave and guitar grunge, luscious strings and ethereal vocals, The Bulls promise to give us some pleasant daydreams to float off and away in.

To accompany these aural delights, The Bulls released equally compelling visuals in the form of a provacative video, directed by Evan Mathis, that features Kinbaku model Stacy Lewis. Anna and Marc talk about the video and the formation of The Bulls in an interview with L.A. Weekly.

I’m looking forward to their debut EP, hopefully out early next year. In the meantime, you can purchase “Come Unwound” on iTunes.

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