Rock – Page 15 – 7th Level Music

Slowdive announces 2024 North American tour.

Earlier this year, Slowdive released everything is alive, their first record since 2017’s self-titled album and first record with Dead Oceans. The record was met with critical and commercial acclaim, garnering praise from the likes of Vulture (“hypnotically gorgeous”), Billboard (“a dreamy yet taut melding of their strengths”), Brooklyn Vegan (“perhaps the best record of their career”), and more. On the heels of their sold-out fall U.S. tour, Slowdive have announced they’ll be returning to the US for a spring North American tour next year. Including the already sold out Sick New World festival in Las Vegas, they’ll play many cities not yet played in support of everything is alive: Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, New Orleans, and more.

As the Chicago Tribune commented, “Experimental and shimmery, [everything is alive] packs a lush and enigmatic punch. Don’t take their latest releases and live shows for granted. Who knows when this influential band will be back in town?” Tickets for all shows will be on sale Friday, December 8th at 10AM local time and more information can be found here.

Slowdive Tour Dates
(new dates in bold)

Tue. Jan. 16 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Wed. Jan. 17 – Paris, FR @ La Cigale
Thu. Jan. 18 – Cologne, DE @ Live Music Hall
Sat. Jan. 20 – Hamburg, DE @ Grosse Freiheit 36
Sun. Jan. 21 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA
Mon. Jan. 22 – Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene
Tue. Jan. 23 – Stockholm, SE @ Munchenbryggeriet
Wed. Jan. 24 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA
Thu. Jan. 25 – Berlin, DE @ Columbiahalle
Sat. Jan. 27 – Warsaw, PL @ Progresja
Sun. Jan. 28 – Prague, CZ @ Divaldo Archa
Mon. Jan. 29 – Munich, DE @ Muffathalle
Tue. Jan. 30 – Zurich, CH @ Volkshaus
Wed. Jan. 31 – Milan, IT @ Alcatraz Club
Fri. Feb. 2 – Bologna, IT @ Estragon Club
Sun. Feb. 4 – Lyon, FR @ La Transbordeur
Mon. Feb. 5 – Barcelona, ES @ Razzmatazz
Tue. Feb. 6 – Madrid, ES @ La Riviera
Thu. Feb. 8 – Brussels, BE @ Cirque Royale
Fri. Feb. 16 – Brighton, UK @ Brighton Dome
Sat. Feb. 17 – London, UK @ Eventim Apollo
Sun. Feb. 18 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute Birmingham
Mon. Feb. 19 – Norwich, UK @ LCR UEA
Wed. Feb. 21 – Liverpool, UK @ O2 Academy Liverpool
Thu. Feb. 22 – Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK @ NX
Fri. Feb. 23 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland Ballroom
Sat. Feb. 24 – Edinburgh, UK @ Liquid Room
Mon. Feb. 26 – Cardiff, UK @ Cardiff University Great Hall
Tue. Feb. 27 – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Academy
Mon. Mar. 11 – Tokyo, JP @ Toyosu Pit
Wed. Mar. 13 – Osaka, JP @ Namba Hatch
Thu. Apr. 25 – Ventura, CA @ The Majestic Ventura Theater
Fri. Apr. 26 – Pomona,CA @ The Fox Theater Pomona
Sat. Apr. 27 – Las Vegas, NV @ Sick New World Festival
Sun. Apr. 28 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
Tue. Apr. 30 – Albuquerque, NM @ The Historic El Rey Theater
Wed. May 1 – Denver, CO @ Levitt Pavilion Denver
Fri. May 3 – Kansas City, MO @ The Truman
Sat. May 4 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
Sun. May 5 – Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
Tue. May 7 – Louisville, KY @ Old Forester’s Paristown Hall
Wed. May 8 – Pelham, TN @ The Caverns
Fri. May 10 – Dallas, TX @ Longhorn Ballroom
Sat. May 11 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
Sun. May 12 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live at The Moody Theater
Tue. May 14 – New Orleans, LA @ The Civic Theatre
Thu. May 16 – Birmingham, AL @ Avondale Brewing Company
Fri. May 17 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
Sun. May 18 – Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit

Purchase everything is alive
Watch “alife” Video
Watch “kisses” Video
Watch “skin in the game” Visualizer
Watch “the slab” Video

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]

A Place to Bury Strangers announces European tour dates.

A Place to Bury Strangers are gearing up to crush Europe in April 2024 with shows ranging from the Netherlands to France. Don’t miss them if you’re in any of these cities. Heck, make a trip to see them while you’re are it. You won’t regret it.

They’re also doing a New Year’s Eve DJ set in Brooklyn!

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Steven Matrick.]

Review: Cavaran – Nights at Josan

Returning after three years since their last album, Belgium’s Cavaran remind us that stoner / desert rock is alive and well in Europe with their new album, Nights at Josan.

I don’t know where Josan is. The cover makes it appear to be some sort of Southwestern U.S. ghost town. As far as I can tell, there are only five places named Josan in the world, and none of them are in the United States. They’re in North and South Korea, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Croatia. Of course, it could just be a cool place Caravan made up, or visited while shredding riffs that became out-of-body experience – because there are plenty of those on this record.

“It Gives” revs up the motor of your dust-covered motorcycle and launches you down a highway that stretches across mountains and seemingly upward into the sky. Patrick Van Der Haegen‘s bass on “Dying Whales” is the sound of giant marine mammal hearts. “Bad Roads and Mountains” is a stand-out with Lieven Tronckoe‘s metal guitar riffs leading the charge.

“Way Down Low” sends your motorcycle ride down a steep hill and into a dark, possibly werewolf-infested valley, and then “Snail Horns” has you swinging a chain at those same monsters as you blast down the main street of their creepy town. It is anything but slow like a snail. “Storm” is a banger. The groove on it is undeniable and hooks you right away. Your desert road heads into a thunderstorm that will either refresh you or pummel you, possibly both.

“Strawberry Butt” might have a silly title, but it might also be the hardest-hitting track on the album. Everything about it slams into you like hot wind coming down from a sacred mountain. “Black Trip” is a great groover that shows off Gert D’hondt‘s dexterity on a drum kit, and “Bullface” is a great way to close the record – as it practically launches you off a cliff like Evel Knievel over Snake River Canyon. The whole band clicks like a well-tuned engine and leaves you with wind-blown hair and sand-blasted skin.

Again, I don’t know where Josan is, but I want to visit there. You will, too, after hearing this.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Polder Records!]

Review: Art Feynman – Be Good the Crazy Boys

Recording for the first time with a full band, Art Feynman (Luke Temple) took on new energy after relocating to Los Angeles from northern California and decided to create a record that dives into why he, and so many of us, have a fear of missing out (FOMO) and not a joy of missing out.

“Early Signs of Rhythm” bumps and clicks with Talking Heads-like beats, and they are a fully acknowledged inspiration on the album. Temple sounds like he’s looking for signs of true fun in a world that pushes false narratives of what joy really is as he spots a woman so lovely she can melt the frozen ground. Shane McKillop‘s bass on “In CD” is great, pushing the song into a happy mania. The post-punk paranoia of “Therapy at 3pm” is delightfully catchy.

“All I Can Do” has Temple singing about how he’s barely getting by at the rat race runs all around him. Kosta Galanopoulos‘ drums on it are razor sharp and the secret weapon of the whole track. “He Dances” might as well be called “You Dance,” because McKillop puts down a Barney Miller theme-like bass lick and the next thing you know you’re at least tapping your toes and nodding your head in his rhythm.

“Don’t have light to burn,” Temple sings on “Passed Over” – but he might actually be singing “Don’t have life to burn.” Both lyrics fall into the FOMO theme of the record, and the beats encourage us to dance before the end of the night, or our lives, gets here. “Chasing My Life” has Temple trying to catch up with something he can’t define. He likens it to a precious diamond he’s searching for in the dark. It’s the struggle of the ego, an ultimately fruitless task we all stumble into now and then. You can’t help but think he’ll find it, however, as the song is so peppy you end up cheering for him.

By the time we get to “Desperately Free,” Temple is worried about how he’s going to adapt to leaving his ego behind (“Desperately free, I don’t wanna be.”) or how he’s still trapped in FOMO and choice paralysis. The closer, “I Do,” brings us back to Temple’s love of Talking Heads with its simple beats, chimes, keyboard chords, and lyrics about love, hope, and release from stress that’s ours for the taking if we’ll just reach for it.

Reach for this album as well. It’s worth your time.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: The Hives – The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons

Returning after eleven years when we needed them most, The Hives emerged from their Swedish tombs and brought us The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons to remind us that they are one of the fiercest rock bands on the planet.

The album starts off like a pipe bomb exploding with “Bogus Operandi” – a powerful, strutting rocker, and then takes off like the Road Runner on “Trapdoor Solution,” which proves that The Hives have lost none of their punk rock flair since their first album. “Countdown to Shutdown” shows off the heavy bass of newest member The Johan and Only as the band sticks their fingers in the eyes of 1%ers.

“Rigor Mortis Radio” has lead singer Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist letting everyone know he has no time for bullshit (“I got your e-mails say you’re warnin’ me. I got your e-mails. Delete, delete.”). “Stick Up” sounds like it has some New Orleans blues influence to it, which shouldn’t surprise us considering the frequent themes of death throughout the album. “Smoke & Mirrors” skewers illusions, and “Crash into the Weekend” has great handclap percussion that gets you fired up for that party, concert, or roadtrip you’ve been craving all week.

“Two Kinds of Trouble” has that distinctive Hives swagger, as does “The Way the Story Goes.” Nicholaus Arson‘s guitar work on “The Way the Story Goes” is especially fuzzy and gritty, which means it sounds great. “The Bomb” lets us all know that we’re all going out to party with The Hives and none of us are going home until we’re done getting down. Chris Dangerous‘ drums on it are flat-out frantic.

“What Did I Ever Do to You?” brings in programmed drums and spaghetti western guitar to a song in which Almqvist sings about just wanting to chill while some random dude goes off on a rant and blames him for everything. The album ends with “Step Out of the Way,” which could be a gauntlet thrown down to younger bands trying to emulate The Hives. Just get out of the way, young’un. You’re likely to be trampled by The Hives’ spotless dress shoes as they head into the club for the sole purpose of leveling it to the ground.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: CHAI – self-titled

I don’t know what’s happening on the cover of CHAI‘s self-titled album, but it looks like they’re having a blast. My guess is that it’s them portraying their fans as they cheer on themselves at a rock show. CHAI are all about self-expression and being true to who you are, so why shouldn’t they love themselves? Isn’t that a goal we all want to achieve?

I’ve been a fan of CHAI since their debut album, and they only further cement my love for them by putting out a song called “MATCHA” (one of my favorite drinks) to start their newest record. It has the slip and slide of an R&B slow jam as they sing about drinking tea and taking time to enjoy it. “From 1992” has a delightful beat that probably inspires synchronized handclaps and dancing by their audience.

“PARA PARA” (a song about a popular dance in Japan) is a perfect mellow jam for summer pool parties or rollerblading along a beach. “I’m ready to rejoice,” they sing on “GAME” – a peppy dance track with synth-bass that sounds like it was pulled from a 16-bit video game. “We the Female!” is a bumpy, bouncy reminder to ladies everywhere that they rule the world. “Don’t try to be somebody,” they say. Again, stay true to yourself. “We the female. Just love us and listen.”

Yuna‘s drums on “NEO KAWAII, K?” could be dropped into any post-punk album or hip hop record. The song is the band’s philosophy of being cute and worthy of love in your own way, not according to others’ expectations or images of what “cute” is. The blippy, bloopy synths of “I Can’t Organizeeee” reflect the song’s title and the band’s (really, any band’s) hectic schedule. Likewise, “Driving22” is a fun song about something all bands experience – the frequent drudgery of getting from gig to gig without going mad from the boredom of all…that…driving.

Mana‘s synths on “LIKE, I NEED” start off in synthwave land and then move into synth-pop territory without missing a beat. “KARAOKE” closes the album with the band singing about how much fun it is to get goofy with your friends at a karaoke bar.

CHAI’s love of Japanese culture and being modern Japanese women is a running theme throughout the record, thus the self-titling of the album. It’s an album about them, but to which anyone in any country, or any sex or sexual identity, can relate.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Auralayer – Thousand Petals

Part-doom, part-post-punk, part-prog rock, part-Buddhist mantra, Auralayer‘s (Vladimir Doodle – drums, Thomas Powell – guitar and vocals, Jake Williams – bass) debut album, Thousand Petals, is a wild ride and one of the catchiest metal albums of the year.

“The Lake” opens the album with powerful double kick drums from Doodle and enough guitar fuzz from Powell and Williams to knock down a castle wall. It and the following track, “All My Time,” remind me of some of The Sword‘s early tracks with heavy riffs sometimes purposefully overwhelming the vocals. Powell’s solo on “All My Time” soars like a bird of prey swooping down on an unsuspecting mouse. “Christ Antler” roars all the way through, and “Faith to Reason” fakes you out for a moment with a short, soft intro before it unloads with cosmic rock fury. It becomes difficult to determine which of the band members is hitting their instrument the hardest during the chorus. Powell’s vocals sound like he’s shouting them from the top of a wizard’s tower.

“Shelf Black” reveals some of the band’s prog-rock influences and the vocals bring classic Agent Orange records to my mind. They ask us to give peace a chance on “Peacemonger,” but the song is anything but peaceful. It’s more like John Cena-as-the-Peacemaker kind of peace which might involve knocking you through a wall with the power of rock.

You’ll probably want to mosh during “You Walk,” a stomping, romping track that has Doodle clanging cymbals and thumping his kick drums like a happy kid as the song moves out of orbit and straight for the sun. You’ll definitely want to mosh to “Dance to Thrash” from the title alone, and Williams’ heavy bass will turn the floor to lava if you don’t get your ass moving soon. “Monstrum” closes the album with funky, fuzzy bass, a bunch of wild drum fills, and guitar work that sounds like it would be on the playlist of that weird guitar-playing dude in Mad Max: Fury Road.

This is a helluva debut, and I love how their name could be taken two different ways: “Aura Layer,” as in a layer of someone’s aura, or one of the seven chakras (and the album’s title is a reference to the crown chakra after all), or “Aural Layer,” as in a layer of sound – of which there are plenty.

Keep your mind and your chakras open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

Mandy, Indiana release new remix and tour dates for this winter.

Today, i’ve seen a way — the acclaimed debut from Manchester quartet Mandy, Indiana released via Fire Talk Records — was named one of Rough Trade’s Best Albums of 2023. In conjunction with today’s announcement, Mandy, Indiana present “Sheared (Pinking Shears Rework),” a clipping. remix of album standout “Pinking Shears.”

clipping.’s rework of “Pinking Shears” filters the politically charged track through a US lens. “The dream is all crooked cops, retail mark-up on basic goods, an ex-president getting away with treason,” raps Tony and GRAMMY Award winner Daveed Diggs. Rough Trade’s exclusive 12”features the clipping. remix alongside the original “Pinking Shears” and an instrumental version of the track.

Next month, Mandy, Indiana will bring their ”physically — yet brilliantly — overwhelming” (NME) live show to the US for their debut tour, featuring stops in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and a newly announced date in Chicago. Mandy, Indiana thrive in the unexpected, and their performances have become a vehicle to explore the boundaries of tension and release. A full list of dates are below and tickets are on sale now.

Listen to “Sheared (Pinking Shears Rework)”

Mandy, Indiana Tour Dates [New Date in Bold]:
Sat. Dec. 2 – New York, NY @ Baby’s All Right [SOLD OUT]
Tue. Dec. 5 – Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
Thu. Dec. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
Fri. Dec. 8 – San Francisco, CA @ Popscene – Brick & Mortar
Fri. Feb. 9 – Dublin, IE @ The Workman’s Cellar
Sat. Feb. 10 – London, UK @ Village Underground
Thu. Feb. 22 – Nijmegen, NL @ Merleyn
Fri. Feb. 23 – Utrecht, NL @ EKKO
Sat. Feb. 24 – Groningen, NL @ Hybrid Festival
Wed. Feb. 28 – Berlin, DE @ Kantine Am Berghain
Sat. July 6 – Roskilde, DK @ Roskilde Festival

Stream/Purchase i’ve seen a way
Watch “Pinking Shears” Video
Watch “Drag [Crashed]” Video
Watch “Injury Detail” Video

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Sleater-Kinney announces new tour dates with Palehound and Black Belt Eagle Scout.

I wouldn’t wait much longer if you plan on seeing Sleater-Kinney‘s “Little Rope” tour, as two dates on the east coast are already sold out, and I’m sure other venues already have low ticket warnings in place. Joining them will be Black Belt Eagle Scout and, it was recently announced, Palehound.

Tickets are on sale for all shows now, so grab them while you can.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Be Your Own Pet and Birthday Girl – Headliners – Louisville, KY – October 29, 2023

I was on my way back from a road trip to Atlanta and had time to stop in Louisville, Kentucky on the return route to catch the recently reunited Nashville punters Be Your Own Pet. I was late to the news that they’d reformed, let alone were touring and had a new album, so I was happy to have the chance to see them for the first time.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get there in time to see local rockers Zerg Rush, and Birthday Girl were already a few songs into their set. Birthday Girl play a wild mix of post-punk, power pop, and some kind of art rock. I mean, they even have a cellist in the band – who adds a great extra bass line to all the tracks.

Be Your Own Pet came out blazing, with classic tracks like “Zombie Graveyard Party,” “Food Fight,” and “The Kelly Affair,” and tracks from their new album like “Hand Grenade,” “Goodtime!”, and “Worship the Whip” (the title of which was emblazoned on lead singer Jemina Pearl‘s shirt).

Not only was BYOP’s set fiery, crazy, and downright frenetic, it was also free of any set list. A good portion of it was done on the fly, with band members suggesting songs to each other as they went or taking audience requests. This led to guitarist Jonas Stein saying, “Call it out.” to Pearl, who immediately said, “Girl U Want,” and then they launched into the Devo cover as easily as crossing the street.

Don’t miss them if they’re near you. It’s a wild show, and it’s great to have them back after fourteen years.

Keep your mind open.

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