Rock – Page 17 – 7th Level Music

The Veldt announces U.S. tour and release of their shelved 1989 debut album.

As they approach the release of their ‘Illuminated 1989’ album, the original 1989 full-length record produced by Cocteau Twins’ Robin Guthrie, trailblazing soul-influenced shoegazers The Veldt announce North American tour dates and also present the single ‘Aurora Borealis’ with Elizabeth Fraser making a cameo appearance on backing vocals towards the end. Complementing this is the B-side remix, created by The Veldt around the turn of the century.

This is the second single from the album, which Guthrie produced in autumn 1989 and has now remastered for vinyl. While intended to be the band’s first album, their label Capitol Records shelved the recording and sent them back into the studio with producer Lincoln Fong (Moose), resulting in their first album released with the title ‘Marigolds’.

Earlier, the band released the lead track ‘The Everlasting Gobstopper’ digitally (with a video produced by Jammi York and the late Yuko Sueta) and on vinyl, involving a B-side previously unreleased vinyl exclusive ‘Joshuu Lullaby’, also recently produced by Guthrie.

One of the most notable first-wave shoegaze bands, formed in North Carolina in the 1980s, The Veldt surrounds identical twins Daniel Chavis (vocals, guitar) and Danny Chavis (guitar). Their unique sound was influenced by Cocteau Twins as readily as Marvin Gaye and free-jazz warriors Sun Ra and Pharaoh Sanders. Referencing European post-punk while embracing modern hip-hop, these trailblazers work with transient dreamscapes as fluidly as solid song structures.

Pitchfork included The Veldt’s album ‘Afrodisiac’, produced by the legendary Ray Shulman (The Sundays, Bjork, The Sugarcubes) and released via Mercury Records, in the top 50 shoegaze albums ever released, while Stereogum included ‘Until You’re Forever’ in the top 31 shoegaze tracks. Their sound also inspired future generations of alternative artists, including TV On the Radio.

Daniel Chavis on their inspiration for ‘Aurora Borealis’: “This song is about my brother’s love for his newborn daughter. Written out of high school and dug out around the time the band had started to get noticed. We had written so many, but it was one of the newest pieces that we had begun experimenting. This would signal our departure from being a band that made people dance to a band that made people confused. ‘The Everlasting Gobstopper’ came shortly thereafter and was being finished.”

Danny Chavis adds, “This song was written in 1986 and was included in the first batch of songs we demoed under the name VELDT. Having heard ‘Treasure’ by Cocteau Twins, this song was inspired by that very album and RUN DMC’s ‘Sucker MC’s’ around the same time that year.”

The Veldt’s journey is fascinating. Performing since they were children, the Chavis brothers’ musical roots lead back to the church and southern juke-joints, and listening to music that included gospel, Motown and Pink Floyd. The Veldt formed in the late 80’s in Raleigh amongst the legendary North Carolina music scene of the time, initially signing with Mammoth Records – leading to a chain of major-label relationships that took the group across Europe and the U.S. playing shows with the likes of Throwing Muses, Pixies, Cocteau Twins and Jesus & Mary Chain.

After moving from Raleigh to New York, they briefly performed as Apollo Heights before returning to their original name The Veldt. Joined by Japanese bassist-programmer Hayato Nakao, they together forging music that is a heady and sensual blend of shoegaze and progressive soul, dreamy soundscapes and infectious grooves. Some of the band’s recent notable releases include ‘The Shocking Fuzz Of Your Electric Fur’ EP (2017) and the album ‘Entropy is the Mainline to God’ (2022).

Over the years, The Veldt has collaborated with TV On The Radio, Mos Def, Lady Miss Kier (Deee-Lite), A.R.Kane and toured or played with Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Pixies, Throwing Muses, Echo & The Bunnymen, Cocteau Twins, Manic Street Preachers, Phantogram, Modern English, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Oasis, Chuck D, Living Colour and Schooly D.

‘Aurora Borealis’ is now available everywhere, including Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp. On November 24, the ‘Illuminated 1989’ album will be released on vinyl, CD, cassette and digitally via Portland-based Little Cloud Records and 5BC Records. From October through December, The Veldt will be touring many cities and will be performing at Levitation Festival in Austin and Seattle’s KEXP, as well as playing several exclusive dates supporting Violent Femmes.

TOUR DATES
SAT 10/21 = Norfolk, VA @ the NorVa w/ Violent Femmes
SUN 10/22 = Richmond, VA @ the National w/ Violent Femmes
MON 10/23 = Asheville, NC @ TBA
TUE 10/24 = Nashville, TN @ the Underdog
WED 10/25 = Memphis, TN @ Growlers
THU 10/26 = Little Rock, AR @ EJ’s Drinks and Eats
FRI 10/27 = Dallas, TX @ TBA
SAT 10/28 = Austin, TX @ the Far Out Lounge (LEVITATION Festival)
MON 11/27 = Atlanta, GA @ 529
TUE 11/28 = Birmingham, AL @ TBA
WED 11/29 = New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa
THU 11/30 = Houston, TX @ 1810 Ojeman
FRI 12/1 = Austin, TX @ Hotel Vegas
SAT 12/2 = Silver City, NM @ Whiskey Creek Zocalo w/ Tremours
SUN 12/3 = Phoenix, AZ @ Linger Longer Lounge w/ Tremours
MON 12/4 = San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar w/ Tremours
TUE 12/5 = Los Angeles, CA @ Gold Diggers w/ Tremours
WED 12/6 = San Francisco, CA @ Kilowatt w/ Tremours
THU 12/7 = Portland, OR @ Show Bar w/ Tremours
FRI 12/8 = Seattle, WA @ the Central Saloon (TremoloFest) w/ Tremours
SAT 12/9 = Vancouver, BC @ TBA
SUN 12/10 = Bellingham, WA @ The Shakedown w/ Tremours)
MON 12/11 = Eugene, OR @ Old Nick’s w/ Tremours
TUE 12/12 = Olympia, WA @ Le Voyeur w/ Tremours
WED 12/13 = Tacoma, WA @ TBA
THU 12/14 = Seattle, WA @ KEXP

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to Shauna at Shameless Promotion PR.]

Rewind Review: Ian Dury – Hit Me! The Best of Ian Dury (2020)

Hit Me! The Best of Ian Dury is a great three-disc collection of Ian Dury classics, demo tracks, live cuts, new wave bangers, tenders ballads, and punk ragers from one of the best songwriters of his era.

Starting with two funky floor-fillers out of the gate, “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll” and “Wake Up and Make Love with Me,” the compilation is already firing on all cylinders. I discovered Dury’s work through live versions of songs like this when I was in a record store in Bloomington, Indiana and the clerk was playing a live album from Dury and his killer band, The Blockheads. I thought, “Who is this?” and had been intrigued ever since. I snatched up this collection at a London record store as soon as I saw it.

It doesn’t disappoint. Ever. “Sweet Gene Vincent” pays tribute to one of Dury’s heroes. “Clevor Trever” and “Billericay Dickie” have Dury taking on alternate identities (Or are they?). “Blockheads” (with Dury singing / yelling toward the back of the room) ended up giving his future band their name. Dury is brutally honest with himself, and any female suitors, on the groovy “If I Was with a Woman.” “The Mumble Rumble and the Cocktail Rock” showcases Dury’s love of 1950s jukebox rockers. “Crippled with Nerves” (a song about his life with polio) showcases his love of country, gospel, and Elvis Presley, whereas “Blackmail Man” is a punk punch in the face…and that’s all on just the first disc.

Disc two starts with two more classics – “Reasons to Be Cheerful (Part 3)” and “Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick.” “What a Waste” is sultry and slippery, reminding me of some of Frank Zappa‘s work, and the groove of “Inbetweenies” is outstanding. On “I Want to Be Straight,” Dury and the Blockheads are “sick and tired of taking drugs and staying up late.” The saxophone work on “Waiting for Your Taxi” is perfect for a late 1970s crime film. “Dance of the Screamers” turns into a psych-jazz freakout with disco beats behind it, showing us how the Blockheads were (are) one of the best bands out there. That hot disco groove continues on “Don’t Ask Me.”

“Mash It Up Harry” starts out disc three with a reggae twist (and, later, “Itinerant Child” continues it). “Dance Little Rude Boy” is another funky classic made even funkier by the electric piano work throughout it. The live version of “Spasticus Autisticus” is sharp as a razor and is a brief glimpse of how much the Blockheads were a murderer’s row of musicians. The guitar solo on “Bed O’Roses” is somewhere between a yacht rock anthem and a prog-rock ripper. The relentless rhythm of “Jack Sh*t George” is perfect for both a new wave club or even a late 1980s nighttime talk show theme. The disc, and the collection ends with a demo version of “England’s Glory,” which has a rough, raw edge to it that’s great, and it sounds like Dury and his band had a fun time in the studio that day.

This is a great entry point to Dury’s music, and it certainly made me want to find live albums by him.

Keep your mind open.

[I’ll have another reason to be cheerful if you subscribe,]

Duvet encourage us to dance on their new single – “Sweaty Dog.”

After recently announcing their split 7″ ‘Girlcow / Sweaty Dog’, which is out on October 6th, Manchester-based band Duvet are back with the second track “Sweaty Dog“, which channels the band’s jagged post-punk and cider-drenched commitment to having a good time.

On the new track, the band said “‘Sweaty Dog’ is a simple song about the state you become after a long night out going from place to place trying to stay out till you develop a animalistic state covered in sweat, booze and other substances while trying to still dance and have fun waiting for your next drink . Some of us in the band like the idea that maybe the ‘Sweaty Dog’ is a dance you do or that they’re this actual half man half dog. We hope everyone has as much fun listening to the track as we do playing it, and just take it for what it is…Our party rock anthem!”

“Sweaty Dog” on YouTube here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzg1ygaHC9Y

Self-released earlier this year, previously single “Rodeo” takes these markers and gallops full steam ahead, kicking up a dust storm of dissonance and teflon-tough drumming fortified by howls from lead singer Grace Walkden. The song lays into armchair activists who “jump on the rodeo” and “complain about topics they never actually act on”,according to the band.

First forming in 2022, Duvet dipped their toes in dream-pop and riot grrrl before landing on the driving basslines of post-punk. The band’s debut offering “Clown Clown Clown” cuts a hard-hitting figure of scabrous riot grrrl energy in thrall to the 1990s. Duvet assembled their current lineup of vocalist Grace Walkden, guitarists Tasmin Stephens and Seth Lloyd, bassist Jimmi Brown and drummer Victoria Melling and settled on a post-punk sound indebted to the genre’s new wave of artists like Shame, Warmduchser, and Viagra Boys.

Released as a split 7” with “Sweaty Dog,” new single “Girlcow” is flecked with specks of noisy grunge and was written from the perspective of “a pervy cowboy”. The haunting track showcases the band’s knack for crafting stories, as they flip the script and hand over the narrative reins to a female protagonist. “We all mutually find cowboys quite funny,” offers Tasmin Stephens. “I think we all live through cowboys – somehow.”

On the flipside, “Sweaty Dog” channels the band’s cider-drenched commitment to having a good time. The propulsive track is “basically just about being really sweaty and dancing”, according to Walkden. Meanwhile, guitarist Seth Lloyd has designs on transforming “Sweaty Dog” into a dance. “There are sweaty dogs inside all of us,” he jokes.

It’s this uninhibited sense of humour that shines through the band’s songwriting and at their riotous live shows with which they have been building their reputation over the past few years. “The reason we tend to write songs more of the fun side of life is because myself and Grace had many conversations at the start about how people only expect us to only talk/sing about harsh topics that affect a lot of women,” explains Stephens. “We tried it, but it didn’t work for us. Maybe in the future it will, but we came to the conclusion that we are here to have fun with the band and escape that side of life.”

“You come to the practice room with a smile on your face because this is meant to be fun, and that’s why we hopefully write songs that we think are fun,” says Lloyd. “We are here to distract from the shit things in life.”

Links:
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter

Keep your mind open.

[Dance over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]

King Buffalo announces early winter U.S. tour.

Don’t miss your chance to see psych / desert rock giants King Buffalo this winter as they make one last tour through the east and midwest before they finally take a break to record another album. They never disappoint, and tickets are already on sale – not only for this tour, but also for the European tour they’re already running!

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

[[Thanks to King Buffalo!]

Rewind Review: The Damned – The Captain’s Birthday Party Live at the Roundhouse (2016)

Recorded live November 27, 1977, The Damned‘s The Captain’s Birthday Party Live at the Roundhouse is, like other Damned records, mired with some weird history.

First, this album is often known and titled as Not the Captain’s Birthday Party. The band did play a show at the Roundhouse on April 23, 1977 – a day later after (then bassist, now guitarist) Captain Sensible‘s birthday. However, this show wasn’t recorded until seven months later at the same venue. Their label at the time, Stiff Records, thought this album was the April 1977 show and thus released it as The Captain’s Birthday Party. Later, in 1986, the album was re-released by Demon Records as Not the Captain’s Birthday Party. Are we all clear?

Another interesting bit of Damned history with this album is that it’s a recording of a rare lineup of the band with the Captain on bass and perpetual lead singer Dave Vanian, but with two guitarists – Brian James and the newly acquired Robert “Lu” (short for “lunatic”) Edmunds – and a new drummer – Jon Moss (who would later go onto worldwide fame drumming for Culture Club), as the legendary original drummer, Rat Scabies, had quit the band two weeks earlier.

The album is just eight tracks, but they’re eight tracks of raw power thrown at an enthusiastic crowd. Opening with “You Take My Money,” the guitar roars and feedback are immediately apparent, and Moss is holding his own with just two weeks of practice with three guys who were already punk legends just a couple years into their careers. “Creep (You Can’t Fool Me)” gets a great response from the crowd. “Fan Club” is rough, with Edmunds and Moss still figuring out some of the band’s mechanics, but that energy just brings more growl to it.

“This one’s for Rat Scabies,” Vanian announces before they start “Problem Child.” The whole band is energized for this one, and you can tell Moss wanted to slay it. “So Messed Up” is a full-blown sprint that must have sent the crowd into a panic. “New Rose,” their first hit (and, by most accounts, the first punk single) transforms from a grungy rocker into a wild mix of feedback, crashing drums, and bass rumbles that only settle for a moment before they rip into a blistering cover of The Stooges “Feel Alright.” They end with “Born to Kill,” barely leaving you any time to process what the hell just happened.

It’s a wild ride, not unlike one of those carnival rides that takes you up high, spins you around, and then drops you at a frightening rate.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

Primus, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer team up for a western U.S. tour.

Sessanta, an untraditional tour that sees Puscifer, A Perfect Circle, and Primus joining forces, and sharing band members, is slated for April of 2024.

The Western U.S. outing is a resurrection, and expansion, of the 2014 Los Angeles event, Cinquanta, which was originally a one-time only celebration. Much like that fabled evening, which commemorated Maynard James Keenan’s landmark 50th birthday, Sessanta celebrates the Puscifer and A Perfect Circle frontman as he turns 60.

Sessanta’s unique format sees the musicians from the trio of bands joining each other’s performances throughout the concert. While each group will have their own distinctive set, the players will continually transform as the night unfolds.

“It took some massaging, and some long days in rehearsal, but we managed to seamlessly pull off this three-song rotation at Cinquanta, my 50th birthday shows, at The Greek Theatre in 2014,” says Keenan of the seven-date run that also sees A Perfect Circle’s first live performances since 2018. “Bands aren’t used to simultaneously sharing the stage with other bands, but if anyone can do it, it’s Primus, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer.”

Tickets are on-sale now, with VIP options available via Tour.puscifer.com.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to Monica at Speakeasy PR.]

Rewind Review: Julian Cope – Barrowlands (2019)

Recorded live in Glasgow, Scotland in 1995, Julian Cope‘s Barrowlands is almost seventy minutes of Cope and his four-piece band (Richard “K-R” Frost – bass and vocals, Michael “Mooneye” Watts – lead guitar and vocals, Mark “Rooster” Cosby – drums, Timothy “Thighpaulsandra” Lewis – vocals, piano, Mellotron 400, and synths) performing what was a three-hour set that’s been whittled down to this album. It marked a heavy synth influence on Cope’s live shows, as he’d recently acquired a vintage 1966 Mellotron 400 and dove head-first into synth-psych.

As a result, the live show is a wild freak-out (as, I’m sure any Cope concert is) heavy on synths and keys, but not skimping on raucous guitar riffs, tight bass, or near-panicked drum beats.

The album opens with blasting versions of “East Easy Rider” and “Spacehopper” before they slow things down a bit on “Nineteen Ninety-Five” (which Cope dedicates to a rowdy man in the crowd as Cope offers to throw him some meat). It’s a song that encourages us to open our minds and explore, and the heavy piano chords behind the message have a hint of danger to them (and the journey).

“Sleeping Gas” is downright manic, with Mooneye’s guitar sounding like an industrial saw one moment and a thrash metal solo the next. “Don’t Take Roots” is wonderfully loopy, and tracks like “Leli B.” and “Passionate Friend” (a Teardrop Explodes track, no less) keep the crowd rowdy. “Torpedo” features Cope’s unique voice supported by Thighpaulsandra’s Mellotron chords. Cope’s vocals can go from crooning to punk rage and then dreamy stylings that almost become spoken word pieces. “Torpedo” is a good example of this last one. “Julian H. Cope” is a solo acoustic track that’s like a warm-up before the sonic blast of “Out of My Mind on Dope & Speed.”

“Double Vegetation” sounds even better live than I’d hoped. Cope’s band brings a strange, haunting energy to it. Afterwards, Cope tells the crowd there won’t be an encore. “It’s really hard to go offstage after three hours and then come back,” he says. , claiming there will be only two more tracks. There are actually four.

“Reward” is first, another Teardrop Explodes classic. “It’s coming to an end,” Cope says before he and his crew launch into “Hanging Out & Hung Up on the Line.” Cope’s vocals take on an angry snarl while Mooneye’s guitar buzzes like someone just threw a beehive on the stage. “World Shut Your Mouth” roars with heavy bass from Frost and Thighpaulsandra’s synths are at times bright and other times skronky. The album ends with Cope’s wild, trippy, frenetic classic “Reynard the Fox” – which must have caused a near riot when they played it at this show because it’s like ending a marathon with a kickboxing match. It’s always been one of Cope’s best songs, and getting a live version of it on this record is a treat.

The whole thing is a treat if you’re a fan of Cope’s work. I hope the Archdrude releases more live cuts. He’s a bit of a hermit nowadays, and has mostly given up the rock life, but maybe, just maybe, he’ll come out of hiding and surprise us.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe while you’re here.]

Zooey Celeste shares the title track from his upcoming album – “Restless Thoughts.”

Today, Southern California-bred musician Zooey Celeste signs to ATO Records, announces his debut album, Restless Thoughts, out November 3rd, and presents the lead single/title track. Produced and recorded by acclaimed artist Nick Hakim at his Brooklyn studio, Restless Thoughts centers on Zooey’s hypnotic baritone vocals, often set against a strangely potent backdrop of sparse drum-machine beats and droney guitar tones. The result is a fully-realized soundscape, a darkly ethereal palette which Zooey classifies as astral-pop. Restless Thoughts takes its title from a song inspired by a particularly dramatic scene in Zooey’s novel, a metaphysical thriller narrated by the character of Zooey Celeste. “It’s a scene where the father of the protagonist has destroyed his marriage and left his daughter behind, and he’s going to meet his mistress and driving in a very suicidal headspace,” he explains. “He gets into a car accident, and two-thirds of the way into the song he’s floating above his body and watching as they’re trying to resuscitate him.”

Like many of the album’s songs, the gorgeously chilling track took shape in the throes of the novel-writing process. “I’d write a chapter and pick up my guitar and start writing songs based off the scenes I’d just finished,” says Zooey. “It’s funny because it’s the first time I’ve ever allowed myself to write from the perspective of a character, but it’s also the most authentic thing I’ve ever made in my life.”
Stream Zooey Celeste’s “Restless Thoughts”
Restless Thoughts is the real-life manifestation of its creator’s alter ego — an astral shaman responsible for leading the newly departed into the great beyond. After dreaming up the character of Zooey Celeste in a feverishly written novel he refers to as “somewhere between Quentin Tarantino and the Bhagavad Gita,” Zooey began working with longtime friend Nick Hakim (whose production credits also include Lil Yachty and Lianne La Havas) to create this ideal soundtrack for nocturnal driving, an immediate conduit for lasting transcendence. Alongside Hakim, Zooey enlisted a wide array of guest musicians to flesh out the sound of Restless Thoughts, including Unknown Mortal Orchestra bassist Jake Portrait, drummer Abe Rounds (Andrew Bird, Blake Mills, Devandra Banhart), and Columbian-Canadian singer/songwriter Tei Shi. Mastered by Heba Kadry (Ryuichi Sakamoto, Björk, Julianna Barwick), Restless Thoughts endlessly drifts between avant-punk and chamber-pop and lo-fi psychedelia, quickly drawing the listener into a sustained dream state.

Naming J.D. Salinger, Iggy Pop, and Tyler, the Creator among his inspirations, Zooey started writing songs at the age of eight after hearing The Beatles for the first time. Along with studying poetry and creative writing, he later took up guitar, piano, and harmonium and played in a series of indie-rock-leaning musical projects that ultimately proved unfulfilling. “We’d finish a show and it would be the best show we’d ever played, and I’d feel physically sick afterward,” he says. “People liking it made me feel bad, which is probably because I knew I wasn’t being my most authentic self.” After a seven-year stint in New York (where he first connected with Hakim), Zooey spent several years in Hawaii and devoted much of his time to surfing—an essential part of his life since early childhood. “I got addicted to surfing bigger waves at Sunset Beach on the North Shore and had a near-death experience where I went through a coral reef, and it changed my life in a lot of ways,” he says. “It took the air out of the wanderlust I’d felt for a long time, and brought me closer to the things I’d been running away from. Because of that, music went from being an escape to a base of reflection where I’m able to really sit with my emotions and process them and be totally honest with myself about what I want from life.”

With the release of Restless Thoughts, Zooey hopes to instill the audience with a similarly expanded sense of possibility. “Making this record showed me that if I’m not going beyond what the world has handed me as options, then I’m not being creative,” he says. “I went as far as I could with the process of self-exploration, and I felt fully supported in that—almost like everything was a little bit fated, or we were tapping into something in the ether. I’d love it if that inspired other people to go off and do whatever they feel compelled to do, and let themselves be completely entranced by it.”
Pre-order Restless Thoughts

Keep your mind open.

[I’ll be restless until you subscribe.]

[Thanks to Jon-Carlo at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Patio share their “Inheritance” with their newest single.

Next week Patio will release their sophomore LP Collection. Produced by Nate Amosof Water From Your Eyes, the album will be released on Fire Talk Records, and is the follow up to their acclaimed 2019 debut LP Essentials, the album has so far seen the release of three singles, “Sixpence,” “Relics” and “En Plein Air,” which have seen praise from outlets like Rolling Stone, Stereogum, Paste, BrooklynVegan and Clash among many others.
Today, the band are sharing a final preview from the record, a dub-inspired dance track entitled “Inheritance.”

LISTEN: TO PATIO’S “INHERITANCE”

Inspired by classic 80s bands like Pylon, Bush Tetras, and New Order, “Inheritance” was conceived as a shadowy sister song to “Relics,” utilizing a dense network of cultural and historical references to further explore the idea of generational trauma.
As the band explains:
“Inheritance” summons the forces of southern Italian folklore, weaving together myths, stories, and allusions to family history, cult 80s punk, and Proto-Renaissance art.”
Together with producer Nate Amos — a “musical genius” who became the band’s “perfect fourth brain” — “Inheritance” allowed Patio to experiment with in-studio improvisation. Tasked with the job of crafting a dance-floor-ready “remix,” Amos added unexpected sonic flourishes like drum effects, piano crashes, and jagged sounds from a bucket of screws.
In support of the release the band will be embarking on a European tour date supporting Deeper in the fall. Full details on those dates and the band’s New York release show and London headline gig can be found below.
Patio’s Collection is available for preorder HERE

Tour Dates

September 30th – New York, NY @ Gottscheer Hall

October 31st – Berlin, DE @ Urban Spree *

November 2nd – Hamburg, DE @ Molotow *

November 3rd – Brussels, BE @ Botanique *

November 4th – London, UK @ Sebright Arms

November 5th – Paris, FR @ La Boule Noire *

* = w/ Deeper

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media.]

Review: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Changes

The story behind King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard‘s October 2022 album, Changes, is a bit of an odd one, but which King Gizz album doesn’t have an odd story behind it?

Changes was recorded over five years in various studios, houses, and other places, and it was supposed to be the last album of their 2017 project to release five albums in one year. However, the songs they’d crafted so far didn’t fit in with the project they had in mind, and the last album they put out in 2017 ended up being Gumboot Soup.

They never abandoned Changes, however, and kept coming back to it as something they felt they had to finish. The album is built around the concept that every song on the album is changing key practically all the time. The band kept tinkering with the record until they felt they had it right and finally released it just in time for Halloween last year.

The thirteen-minute, three-second opener, “Change,” is the record’s diving board, plunging you into this weird, constantly shifting world. Change is the only constant, after all. The song is a lovely, floating bit of psychedelia that carries you along a winding river which might not end until you’re in the ocean, but that’s okay with you as you’re okay with whatever life rolls at you by this point.

The bouncy keyboards of “Hate Dancin'” are a funny contrast to Stu Mackenzie‘s lyrics about how much he hates dancing, because the song is highly danceable. Cookie Craig‘s funky bass on “Astroturf” will perk up your ears. The guitar on “No Body” sounds like wax melting down the side of a candle.

“Gondii” dives into the band’s love of electronica with its synth-beats and 16-bit video game rhythms. “Can’t get a message to my brain. I can’t control myself,” Mackenzie sings as electro-hi-hats sizzle around him. I think that lack of control is meant for the dance floor. You’d think a song titled “Exploding Suns” would be some thrash metal track on one of their albums like Infest the Rats’ Nest, but instead it’s a mellow track best suited for meditation and zoning out with a pair of headphones and warm tea (which means it’s lovely). The album ends with “Short Change,” a nearly instrumental that runs through the constant key changes throughout the album, reminding us that change is ever-flowing and something to float along with rather than fear.

Don’t fear this album either. It’s not a bad place to start if you’re new to the Gizzverse.

Keep your mind open.

[Change the way you get your music reviews and news by subscribing.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]