Musician José (Luis) Vásquez of the post-punk band Soft Moon, John (Juan) Méndez, the DJ known as Silent Servant and a third person were found unconscious in a loft apartment in downtown Los Angeles last week and they were found guilty. dead, according to their representatives and Los Angeles authorities.
Vásquez's death was announced in a post on the band's Facebook page on Friday. Records maintained by the Los Angeles County coroner show that José Vásquez, 44, died at a residence the day before, on January 18.
The Triangle Agency, which represents Méndez, confirmed his death to the electronic music platform Resident Advisor. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office says John Mendez, 46, also died on Jan. 18 at a residence.
The coroner's office said a third person, Simone Ling, 43, was also found the afternoon of Jan. 18 at the private residence in the 600 block of South Main Street in Los Angeles. A spokeswoman said the Medical Examiner's Office has deferred the cause of death in all three cases and that it could take three to six months to make a final determination on the cause.
Lt. Letisia Ruiz, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department, said officers responded to a call about a missing person and upon arriving at the Pacific Electric Lofts downtown, entered a unit and found three unresponsive adults. . “Officers also observed possible narcotics and narcotics paraphernalia,” she said. All three people were pronounced dead at the scene, she added.
Homicide investigators were sent to the scene and found no evidence of foul play or forced entry into the location, Lt. Ruiz said. The coroner's office will handle the case and conduct toxicology tests, he said.
A multi-instrumentalist, Vásquez released at least five albums between 2010 and 2022 as Soft Moon. “Because Soft Moon is a personal journey for me, it's important that I write on my own,” he told Post-Punk.com in 2014. “Everything about the project is about self-discovery, growth, emotional healing.” , the battles with my inner demons, my biology and unearthing the past. I started Soft Moon as a means of therapy for myself.” Other members joined for live shows.
The band's website lists next month's tour dates in Denmark, Georgia, Turkey and Greece.
“This is a huge loss and our hearts are broken,” the Facebook post on the band's page read.
Mendez, who grew up in Southern California, began releasing work under the pseudonym Silent Servant in the mid-2000s, when he was still a member of the techno collective Sandwell District. He released his first full-length album, “Negative Fascination,” in 2012 and a second album in 2018.
A 2017 profile of Méndez in Resident Advisor said Méndez owned a loft in downtown Los Angeles and detailed his work as a designer and art director, which also included covers for music.
In the profile, he described his mindset as he shaped the aesthetic of the Sandwell District during downtime at his day job years ago. “It was just about doing something every day you were free,” she said. “No matter what, just do something.”
Resident Advisor said Mendez was scheduled to perform as a DJ in Phoenix on Friday.
