Oddly Satisfying: Ky Newman & atlgrandma

Two routes into the same booth

Liam Hall's stage name carries his own displacement in it. His family resettled in the suburbs of Atlanta after being forced out by Hurricane Katrina, and it was there, rather than in any studio or conservatoire, that he learned his trade. Venue biographies describe YouTube as his playground: he picked up guitar, music production and video shooting more or less simultaneously from what he could find online. The move west followed, and atlgrandma became a fixture in the part of the Los Angeles scene that sits between hyperpop, rap and club music — work usually described as pensive and digitally curdled, blending rock, rap, pop and dance in deliberately absurdist ways, with internet culture and a soured Western promise as its recurring subject.

Ky Newman arrived from an adjacent world. A UCLA graduate based in Los Angeles, he is the audio engineer, editor and producer behind Emergency Intercom, the comedy podcast hosted by Enya Umanzor and Drew Phillips that launched on YouTube on 9 July 2021. His role is not confined to the desk: the show's format has him joining the conversation alongside the two hosts, which is how a production credit turned into a recognisable name. Away from the podcast he produces in Ableton Live and has built a parallel following from clips of his own DJ sets.

The records, and the credits behind them

The catalogue side of the pairing is almost entirely Hall's. Two albums sit under the atlgrandma name — Even If We Don't Get It Together in 2019 and Angelhood in 2022 — with a run of singles either side: Bested, Chills and Growing Up Is Strange in 2020, Painless in 2023, then Thin Ice, We Invented Love and Reaper in 2024. We Invented Love was a triple-billed collaboration with Dorian Electra and Frost Children. Reaper came out through smartdumb, the label run by producer Nick Sylvester, who is credited as co-writer; it pairs the blown-out texture of vintage bloghouse with what amounts to a sympathetic conversation with Death. Nightmare Blunt Rotation followed in the same stretch of 2024.

The videos map the same taste for collision: Stomp and Grind with Rico Nasty in 2021, WW3 with GRANDMA in 2022, then SHADES ON with Kreayshawn and WET DREAM in 2024.

Hall's production work is arguably the wider footprint. He has shaped records for Willow, Dorian Electra, Snow Wife, The Hellp, D4ine, Izzy Spears, ericdoa and Frost Children, and works frequently with the pop producers Lil Aaron and Y2K. Newman's own discography is thin by comparison, and intentionally so — his output is the podcast's sound and the sets he plays, not a release schedule.

How a warehouse series became a tour

Oddly Satisfying started as a semi-regular warehouse night in Los Angeles, pitched by the promoters who now book it as something between a party and performance art. The two-DJ format travelled better than most club series manage. It opened as a touring proposition on 7 March 2025 at The Vermont Hollywood, and the calendar filled out quickly from there.

The 2025 itinerary ran wide of the usual electronic circuit: Lincoln Hall in Chicago on 16 January with Underscores playing a DJ set and Hafsa Guled opening; Gray Area in San Francisco on 28 February as part of Noise Pop; Empire Garage in Austin on 2 May with Frost Children; Webster Hall in New York on 10 May; The Crocodile in Seattle on 31 May; Terminal West in Atlanta on 12 September; the Majestic Theatre in Madison on 18 September and Outset in Chicago two days later. Other stops included the Middle East in Boston with HAR1Z0N, the Black Cat in Washington and Cat's Cradle in Carrboro. Every one of those is a club or mid-sized theatre rather than an arena, which is the scale the format is built for.

Where things stand now

The audience arithmetic still runs through the podcast. Emergency Intercom had 245 public episodes as of 29 July 2026, released weekly on Fridays and typically running between 60 and 110 minutes, with around 425,000 YouTube subscribers against 101.4 million views and 19,638 Patreon subscribers as of July 2026. Grindr users voted it the fifth greatest podcast in a 2024 poll. That following, rather than radio play or a festival push, is what fills the rooms.

On Hall's side, the most recent release listed on his streaming pages is the FILLY and atlgrandma remix of Cool Star, whose video is dated 2026 — a remix credit rather than a new album, and no full-length has followed Angelhood.

The touring picture in late September 2026 is a southern-hemisphere one. The Live Nation artist page carries no upcoming North American shows, and the dates on sale belong to an October run through Australia into New Zealand. The Brightside in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, has them on its outdoor stage on Saturday 17 October 2026 at 8pm, 18-plus, at A$63.25 general admission. The Tuning Fork in Auckland follows on Sunday 25 October 2026, doors at 8pm, a cashless venue with photo identification required at the door.

What the night actually looks like

The Los Angeles launch in March 2025 is the fullest account of the format on record. It began not with a beat but with a short film made for the occasion, carrying cameos from Role Model and The Dare — a statement that the evening was going to be curated visually as well as sonically. Count Baldor opened. Drew Phillips, Newman's podcast colleague, then played a set that started with a deadmau5 head reveal before he settled into his oversized hat, working Emergency Intercom references and on-stage bits with Enya Umanzor into the mix.

Chris Greatti, a Grammy-nominated producer who has worked with Willow, played guitar solos over hyperpop backing, which the reviewer covering the night called striking and unlike anything heard before. Dorian Electra appeared on the bill, and Frost Children — the siblings Angel and Lulu Prost — turned up unannounced to perform We Invented Love, described as an electric presence. The room stayed on its feet throughout, with fans jumping through the guest spots.

That template has held on the road: a headline DJ set from Newman and Hall billed by venues as a dynamic one, a rotating cast of local and touring guests, and the podcast's comedic register running alongside the music rather than being kept separate from it.