Rock – 7th Level Music

Psychic Pigs announces debut album due May 23, 2025.

Two decades as one-half of the garage psych-pop duo Crocodiles confined San Diegan musician Brandon Welchez to the mid-fi n’ melodic end of the sonic spectrum, but his new project, Psychic Pigs, shows a different side with how the raw n’ bleeding hardcore punk and power pop bands on the Killed By Death compilations influenced his work just as much as The Jesus and Mary Chain has. Psychic Pigs certainly has a certain Robert Louis Stevenson novella angle to Welchez’s career, but the unhinged nature of the songwriting boils down to Welchez not sticking to his comfort zone.

Psychic Pigs was born from Welchez writing music he knew was too discordant for Crocodile’s poppy sound. Recorded in April 2024 over four days while in London with Jonah Falco (Fucked Up, Career Suicide) handling the production helm and the drum kit, the project went Stateside with the goal mind of forming a band that could replicate the aggressive live sound captured on the recordings. Connections throughout the years proved fruitful as the live band rounds out with Fake Fruits, Surfbort, and Choir Boy members. The march of the Pigs begins this month in downtown Los Angeles on March 19th as they make their live debut at The Escondite with their record release show held at Permanent Records Roadhouse in late May. More dates are to come.

Psychic Pigs will be released on vinyl and through all DSPs on May 23rd. Pre-orders are now running through Slovenly Recordings.

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[Thanks to Matthew at Shattered Platter PR.]

SOAPBOX nearly slap you into oblivion with new single – “Do As Ur Told.”

Already gaining attention for their live shows and even louder political views, Glasgow’s SOAPBOX announce new EP LOCK IN out 25th April as well as sharing new single ‘Do As Ur Told’. The band will also be appearing at various festivals this Summer across UK & EU.

SOAPBOX have graced the cover of Spotify’s The Punk List amongst being included in other playlists such as New Music Friday, All New Punk, and Hot New Bands. Pulling from influences like The Damned to Soft Play, Amyl and the Sniffers and Viagra Boys, the band say about their music, “we all have a severe praise kink so as long as people keep listening, we’re happy.”

Their new EP LOCK IN follows last year’s HAWD THAT, and comes out the same day they play their biggest headline to date at 500 capacity Glasgow School of Art.

‘Do As Ur Told’ is a song about abuse of power, explains vocalist Tom Rowan.

“Its lyrics are specific to a bad experience we had in the music industry where we felt we were being taken for a ride, but we feel it’s more broadly about being strong-armed into situations which are non-beneficial. The frustration we feel as musicians struggling to scratch out a living, and being squeezed on every penny we do make by other parties, translates to situations people find themselves in every day whether that’s off of a colleague, boss, landlord or someone else in a position of power over them.”

Listen to ‘Do As Ur Told’ HERE

Refusing to stray from their political stance, the band promoted their last EP with posters featuring their lyrics about Nazis and BDSM around Glasgow. Not even a week later, the posters were hastily removed due to a volume of complaints from Glasgow City Council. The band responded, “Glasgow City Council don’t believe in punching Nazis apparently” and urged fans to seek out any remaining posters.

In true SOAPBOX fashion, the band have faced more controversy surrounding a run of posters they plastered over Glasgow which featured their contentious lyrics and political support from politician Jeremy Corbyn. Previously, the band received an unsolicited endorsement from Alt-right ring-leader Gavin McInnes which was covered in The Times.

SOAPBOX are: Tom Rowan (Vocals) He/Him, Angus Husbands (Guitar) He/Him, Aidan Bowskill (Bass) He/Him, Jenna Nimmo (Drums) They/Them

LOCK IN EP out 25th April.

Tour Dates

Fri 21 Mar – North Shields, The Engine Room
Sat 22 Mar – Blackpool, Bootleg Social
Sun 23 Mar – York, The Crescent *with KID KAPICHI
Sat 05 Apr – Middlesbrough, This Is Middlesbrough Fri 18th Apr – Carlisle, The Brickyard
Fri 25 Apr Glasgow, The Garage
Fri 23 May – Den Haag Netherlands, Sniester Festival
Sat 24 May – Amsterdam Netherlands, Pretty Pissed Festival Thu 29 May – Paris France, Supersonic’s Block Party Festival
Fri 30 May – Paris France, Supersonic’s Block Party Festival
Sat 31 May – Mannheim Germany, Maifeld Derby
Sun 03 Aug – Cumbria, Kendal Calling

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[Thanks to Amy at After Hours PR.]

Salem 66 to release new compilation of tracks out of print for decades.

Salem 66 were founded by Judy Grunwald, Beth Kaplan and Susan Merriam in Boston in 1982. A major part of a thriving Boston scene that produced bands like Mission of Burma and Dinosaur Jr (Dinosaur Jr’s first New York show was notably an opening slot for Salem 66 at Folk City), the band were ahead of their time.

They were one of the few women-led bands in their scene, and made their mark with an adventurous blend of arty post-punk (they notably covered Wire’s “Fragile”) and melodic pop. Between 1984 and 1990 they released one self-titled EP, 2 singles and 4 albums, 1985’s A Ripping Spin, 1987’s Frequency & Urgency, 1988’s Natural Disasters, National Treasures, and 1990’s Down The Primrose Path (produced by Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie who went on to produce Radiohead’s Pablo Honey and Hole’s Live Through This), all on the venerable New York imprint Homestead Records, label home to bands like Sonic Youth, Big Black and The Chills. The band earned comparisons to R.E.M., The Talking Heads and The Velvet Underground from The New York Times, and further praise from outlets like Rolling Stone, CREEM, and the Village Voice. They shared stages with The Replacements, Mission of Burma, the Go-Betweens, the Wipers, the Saints and the Raincoats, and toured across the country on multiple occasions, but despite their prominence in the ’80s, the Salem 66 catalog has been out of print for decades and their music has never been available on streaming.

Today, Don Giovanni Records are announcing a new compilation entitled SALT, and have made the band’s music available on all streaming services for the first time. To mark the announce the band are sharing a recently unearthed video for their song “Lucky Penny.”

Beth Kaplan says of the reissue:

“We were a long time putting together this re-release, and it has been a journey – from finding the pictures to not finding the master tapes, from writing up some thoughts to deciding which songs to include here. Judy and I picked the songs and it wasn’t easy. After exploring and rejecting more scientific methods, ultimately we decided to just highlight some of our favorites, or, the songs that felt the most like us. So what you see (or hear) here is not necessarily a representative sampling from all of the recordings but it does feel, to me, like a pretty good Salem 66 sampler. Like a cross-stitch. Or a Whitman’s Sampler.

“I hope you enjoy this record. If you were there with us, on the scene, whether in Boston or another town, I hope this brings you back to those youthful, passionate, perfectly imperfect days. If the band or the songs are new to you, or if you were born a generation or two after the fact, I hope you enjoy a glimpse at this sliver of a sliver of history.”

The band’s catalog is available on all streaming services now, and the SALT compilation will be available on June 6th via Don Giovanni.

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[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media.]

Rewind Review: Iguana Death Cult – Echo Palace (2022)

Hailing from The Netherlands, Iguana Death Cult both blend and defy genres on their 2022 album Echo Palace.

Opening with funky post-punk on “Paper Straws,” IDC instantly reminded me of !!! with their quirky dance grooves and solid bass lines from Justin Boer. The title track brought some of Parquet Courts‘ groovier stuff to mind, and Tobias Opschoor‘s frenetic guitar riffs on it are great.

“Pushermen” is a good example of the band clicking together in the studio, as they wrote it in about an hour. It seems to be a song about escaping the constraints of the urban grind (“Living in a box of concrete, how do you keep occupied?…Maybe I’ll take you anywhere. Don’t believe the hype. Maybe I’ll take you anywhere. Freedom’s in the mind.”).

“Sunny Side Up” is a quirky garage rock track, not unlike early Devo, about how trying to make it through a typical day of work and the “superficial spectacle.” (“I’d give you all of my money if I could borrow some time.”). Benjamin Herman‘s guest saxophone solo on “Sensory Overload” is outstanding. “Conference to Conference” once again tackles the banality of the corporate life.

“I Just Want a House” is a great post-punk track with great back-and-forth vocals between Jeroen Reek and his bandmates as they pine for a simpler life away from the hustle and bustle (“I’ll admit I’m confused on how we even got here. Just want a house where I can lay back.”). “Oh No” is like a lit fuse racing toward a pound of dynamite. Boer’s bass borders on panic, and Reek blasts out trombone honks to inspire more wild dancing in the clubs.

“Rope a Dope” is a good example of Arjen van Opstal‘s “sounds easy but is deceptively difficult for others to place” drumming ability and the keen and subtle use of Jimmy de Kok‘s synthesizers. You realize that a lot of the tracks on Echo Palace wouldn’t sound right without them.

van Opstal’s hi-hat work is on-point on “Heaven in Disorder,” and I love the slight echo effect on Opschoor’s guitar in it – and the neat sense of menace in the last quarter of the song. The album ends with the garage / new wave (How did they mix those genres so well?) rocker “Radio Brainwave.” It’s a great way to wrap up the record.

I discovered IDC when I saw them open for Osees last October. They won over the crowd right away, and I’m keen to see where they go next.

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Water Machine announce their debut album, “God Park,” with its first single – “Tiffany.”

Flooding out of Glasgow in 2022, Water Machine have quickly gained a reputation for their weird and wonky art-punk, winning hearts with sing-along songs about dogs, struggling artists and the housing crisis. Now, they announce their debut album God Park out 20th June via FatCat Records, as well as sharing first taster with new single ‘Tiffany’. Explaining the track, vocalist Hando says, “This song was originally called Orange as we think it sounds like an Orange Juice song. We decided not to call it that due to a certain king and the city we live in being Glasgow. Eventually it was changed to Tiffany as it felt safer for our careers (we are not sectarians). We wrote this in one sitting after I had a panic attack in the studio and we decided to write something happy. As usual it ended up being a hypothetical love song about a car crash.”

Listen to ‘Tiffany’ HERE

Debut album God Park takes a collection of disparate influences and distils the disjointed into something new. Taking influence from everywhere, the tunes are always on the verge of falling apart or breaking down. Their world is a swirling eddy of melodic bass lines and volatile guitar sliding between jazz chords and punk riffs, all the while narrated by sardonic social commentary, silly stories, and pop sensibilities. This group of young Glaswegians recognise that they owe something to the city’s rich musical history, in particular the 1980’s scene captured so brilliantly in Grant McPhee’s documentary, Teenage Superstars.

Tired of listening to songs about gloom and heartbreak, Water Machine, instead, want their lyrics to provide a “realistic escapism.” Their words, while rooted in the day-to-day-maybe-mundane, are spun into what the band call “hyper conceptualised allegories.” So while they might sometimes sing about love, this is hidden amongst copulating clouds, car crashes, housing crises, rabies outbreaks, toxic jobs and unrequited office romances.

Everything on the album packs positive, punk energy. As Henry Rollins put it: “Water Machine is a very cool band”.

Water Machine are: Hando Morice [they/them] – vocals, violin, synth, Flore De Hoog [she/her] – bass, vocals, Nicky Duncan [he/him] – drums, percussion, Baby Cousland [they/them] – rhythm guitar, Ellie McWhinnie [she/they] – lead guitar

God Park is out 20th June via FatCat Records. Pre-order HERE

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[Thanks to Amy at After Hours PR.]

Rewind Review: The Jesus and Mary Chain – Honey’s Dead (2009 reissue)

The Jesus and Mary Chain came out swinging on their 1992 album (their fourth) Honey’s Dead. First, the title refers to their hit “Just Like Honey” and how they’ve decided to move on from it, so get on the train or get off the tracks. Then, the first line of the opening track, “Reverence,” is “I wanna die just like Jesus Christ.” The song was banned across many BBC airwaves for that lyric (along with “I wanna die like JFK.”) and its repeated apparent references to suicide – which were actually about letting go of relationships and the ego.

There’s no hidden meaning behind “Teenage Lust.” It is what’s advertised. William Reid‘s guitars sound like they’re being banged around in a tool & dye plant. “Far Gone and Out” is still one of JAMC’s biggest hits, and it has Jim Reid singing about a woman he wants to teach a lesson (“No one works so hard just to make me feel so bad.”).

His brother, William, on the other hand, has much better things to say about the subject of “Almost Gold” – a woman who was the closest he’d come to perfection by that point in his life. HIs guitars on “Sugar Ray” roar and growl like angry wasps as he tries to tell a woman that he’s not like “All those boys [who] have fun with toys. All I want is you.”

“Tumbledown” has Jim Reid dealing with the fallout of another lover who’s nothing but trouble, while Steve Monti, bringing a nice return of live drumming to the band, knocks out frantic beats. “Catchfire” is a standout if you love some psychedelia mixed with your shoegaze. The title might be a drug reference. After all, the album was recorded in their studio they’d named the “Drugstore.”

Jim Reid finally finds Mrs. Right (Now?) on “Good for My Soul” – a downright lovely shoegaze song giving praise to a woman who “Ever since she came I’ve been whole, believe me.” “Rollercoaster” is an early 1990s rock gem with William Reid trying to forgive his past after others have already done so (and Monti nails some killer beats in the meantime). On “I Can’t Get Enough,” he sings “Honey, you’re so cool” to a woman, but you really don’t believe him. His brother’s guitar work highlights his snarky frustration.

By the time we get to “Sundown,” William Reid is ready to give up. “The planet poisoned me. It’s a sick place to be. I’ve got a taste for it. Now I’ve gotta leave.” “Frequency” is the sibling to “Reverence,” which much the same lyrics but with William Reid on vocals and extra guitar crunch and shredding sprinkled on top.

Honey’s Dead was (and still is) a good record, and a second launching point for the band to explore more options and sounds. Don’t skip it.

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Smut releases new single that’s anything but “Dead Air.”

Smut — the Chicago band comprised of vocalist/lyricist Tay Roebuck, guitarist Andie Min, bassist John Steiner, guitarist/synthist Sam Ruschman, and drummer Aidan O’Connor — releases “Dead Air” via Bayonet Records. It’s the first new single from a forthcoming release out later this year and follows their revelatory 2022 Bayonet debut, How the Light Felt, hailed by Under the Radar as “pop perfection.” “Dead Air” starts out with crystalline guitars and fall air-crisp bass. Then Roebuck’s vocals come in. She sounds like Elizabeth Fraser, but more rock ‘n’ roll, shifting her vocals from honeyed and dreamy to a pop punk shriek. It’s patched together Frankenstein-style, with lyrics and riffs the band worked on solo and together. Lyrically, it’s a break up song, a band break up song— a song about relationships ending and changing. “I heard you say forever,” she sings, “Forever.”

Stream “Dead Air”

When setting off to write “Dead Air,” Smut wanted to make something that rocked. They wanted to make something that was as fun to make as it was fun to listen to. They went back to their favorite bands growing up, playing My Chemical Romance and Metric. Green Day and The Fall. Twisting metal riffs into a pop context.

“Dead Air” marks the first track drummer Aidan O’Connor and bassist John Steiner have recorded on as full-fledged members of Smut. Part of what makes the song so electric is the excitement the band felt working in this new iteration. “We have so much energy right now,” says Roebuck. To record, “as live as they could,” they went off to New York to work with Aron Kobayashi-Ritch (Momma) at a studio in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Right before they went off to New York, Roebuck and Min got married. When they were recording, Roebuck had completely blown her voice by the end, chugging lemon and honey and hot water. The band slept on friend’s couches and floors. Smut has always been DIY. Because they love it, they love to work together. They love to collaborate. “Dead Air” is the product of that collaboration.

Formed a decade ago in Cincinnati, OH, Smut have conquered national tours with Bully, Swirlies, Nothing, and Wavves since their founding. Where their 2020 EP Power Fantasy dipped its toe into the experimental, their most recent album, How the Light Felt (mastered by Heba Kadry), dives head-first into 90s influences — brit-pop, shoegaze, and trip-hop, taking Smut’s sound to exciting heights, with more new music to be released in the coming months.

Stream/Purchase How the Light Felt

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Blackwater Holylight announce new EP, “If You Only Knew,” with its first single – “Wandering Lost.”

Blackwater Holylight crafts music that offsets airiness and immediacy. Today [February 26, 2025], the Los Angeles, CA band announces their new EP, If You Only Knew, out April 18, 2025 via Suicide Squeeze Records. Though it clocks in at just four tracks, the EP traverses countless cosmic peaks and sludgy valleys. The band has also shared the single “Wandering Lost,” premiering on FLOOD Magazine, which gradually evolves from atmosphere to heaviness. Over the course of almost seven minutes, metal, shoegaze, and psychedelia coalesce. The song was slowly conceptualized while Blackwater Holylight was working with acclaimed producer Sonni DiPerri (Animal Collective, DIIV, Suzanne Ciani) in Los Angeles, and mimics the mysterious, sometimes painful chapters of life by shifting between multiple movements. Like all of Blackwater Holylight’s material, there is an ample dose of beauty to be found beneath “Wandering Lost”‘s snarling exterior.

On “Wandering Lost,” singer, guitarist, and bassist Sunny Faris shares: “‘Wandering Lost’ came to us in pieces throughout a handful of weeks in Los Angeles. The four of us intentionally wanted this song to have multiple parts to tell a story that takes you on a journey throughout. This song is very special to us because it represents us as musicians individually and is a perfect reflection of what we’ve created as a group. It’s a song about wandering through the chapters of life, curiosity, and the connection we all have to each other through the unknown of how it will all unfold.”

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[Thanks to Andi at Terrorbird Media.]

Levitation France announces its 2025 lineup.

Levitation France has announced its full (?) lineup for 2025, and they’ve packed a lot of good bands into just two nights.

Vendredi (Friday) brings in Italy’s New Candys (whose new album, so far, sounds pretty cool), UK’s Ditz (a sharp new post-punk band), Spain’s Hinds (also promoting a new album), Danish metal giants Kadavar, and the U.S.’ own Blonde Redhead.

Samedi (Saturday) has Angers post-punkers Rest Up, UK’s mysterious HONESTY, goth-queen Heartworms, experimental psych-rockers Bryan’s Magic Tears, and psych-proggers bdrmm, plus the U.S.’ synthwave duo Boy Harsher, and finally French psych heavyweights The Limiñanas.

It’s a good lineup with some serious rock in it this year, and it’s in a new location – a pyramid on a lakefront, no less. Don’t miss it.

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Triathalon releases appropriately titled “RIP” from their upcoming “Funeral Music” album.

Triathalon — the New York-based trio of Adam Intrator, Chad Chilton and Hunter Jayne — announces its new album, Funeral Music, out May 16th on Lex Records, and presents the lead single/video, “RIP.” Funeral Music, the band’s fifth album, began taking shape when the band imagined what they’d like played during their memorials. Continuously referencing “play this at my funeral” throughout writing and recording, the album became a realization of this concept. Lead single “RIP” is a 90s-influenced rock track inspired by artists like Pixies, Deftones, and Nirvana. Adam Intrator says, “The aim for ‘RIP’ was to kick start feelings on what it felt like to listen to a late 90s rock song for the first time as a kid in your parents car in the backseat and asking to hear it louder. ‘RIP’ has a double meaning; it’s about both dying and being reborn.”

Watch/Stream “RIP”

Born out of a period of heartbreak, growing pains, and self discovery, Funeral Music showcases a darker, more vulnerable side of the band. With a more minimal approach, every element within the album is highlighted, from cleaner guitar tones, to live-tracked drums, to first-take vocals mixed with singular piano playing and experimental production. Funeral Music not only reflects the band’s sonic shift but also reinvents the overall dynamics between their sound, energy, and workflow. These songs were written, demoed, recorded, and mixed in various places, bedrooms, studios, and houses over the course of two years and is the band’s strongest and most cohesive work to date.

Pre-order Funeral Music

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]