Pittsburgh trio Love Ethic announce their forthcoming debut album The Thinking Man’s Redux, sharing the first single — a fitting Valentine’s Day tune — “Let Me Count The Ways” via Punk News. Hear “Let Me Count The Ways” HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)
The influence of punk history on Love Ethic’s music is no secret. The band wields angular texture, guitar eruptions, non-sequitur genre-bending, and an arresting holler from frontman/guitarist The Inevitable Mr. Chris that would fit seamlessly next to their predecessors (e.g. Minutemen, Nomeansno, The Birthday Party, Fugazi, Melvins, etc.)
The ferocity, however, is punctuated by exhalations of pop sensibility, delta moans, and a crooning allure that have attracted a broad mix of listeners to this dynamic music.
The band revived its musical enterprise just over a year ago in its birthplace of Pittsburgh, PA with a young, hungry rhythm section comprised of Anthony Capozzi’s searing drum battery and complex counterpoints provided by bass virtuoso Ethan Zajac-Woodie. Since then, they have quickly garnered glowing attention performing alongside a variety of established groups including Jon Spencer + The Hitmakers, Ed fROMOHIO (of fIREHOSE), Sponge, The Schizophonics, and Beechwood.
Love Ethic has recently completed a reworked album of their early oeuvre engineered/produced by Spotlights (Ipecac) helmsman extraordinaire Mario Quintero and mastered by Seth Manchester of Machines with Magnets studio (METZ/IDLES, Mdou Moctar, Full of Hell), intent on expanding their territory in audiences’ hearts and record collections both domestically and abroad.
The Thinking Man’s Redux will be available on LP, CD and download on April 28th, 2023.
Today, the Atlanta-by-way-of-Alabama artist Lonnie Holley unveils his new single, “I Am A Part of the Wonder” (with Moor Mother), from his forthcoming album Oh Me Oh My, out March 10th on Jagjaguwar. “I Am A Part of the Wonder” follows the previously shared title track with REM’s Michael Stipe, “an opportunity to experience beauty moment by moment” (NPR Music), and is one of two Moor Mother collaborations boasted on Oh Me Oh My. Written by Holley alongside Camae Ayewa and Jacknife Lee (The Cure, REM, Modest Mouse), “I Am A Part of the Wonder” also features Lee on percussion, drums, bass, marimba, kalimba, vocals, keyboards, and synthesizer programming. During each Oh Me Oh Mysession, Holley and Lee would discuss the essence of the songs and distill Holley’s words to their most immediate center.
Oh Me Oh My is an achievement in the refinement of Holley’s impressionistic, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. Both elegant and ferocious, it sharpens the work contained on Holley’s 2018 Jagjaguwar debut, MITH. Oh Me Oh My is both stirring in one moment and a balm the next. It details histories both global and personal, and taps collaborators like Moor Mother, Michael Stipe, Sharon Van Etten, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and more to give Holley’s message flight, and to reaffirm Holley as a galvanizing, iconoclastic force across the music community.
Holley’s music and visual art (which is in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and National Gallery of Art, and is represented by the illustrious Blum & Poe) is much more about our place in the cosmos itself. It’s about how we overcome adversity and tremendous pain; about how we develop and maintain an affection for our fellow travelers; about how we stop wishing for some “beyond” and start caring for the one rock we have. Holley has never delivered this message as clear, as concise, and as exhilaratingly as he does on Oh Me Oh My.
Next month, Holley will perform at the Royal Academy in London, followed by two performances at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee. Dates are listed below and tickets are on sale now.
Lonnie Holley Tour Dates Fri. Mar. 17 – London, UK @ Royal Academy Sat. Mar. 18 – London, UK @ Café Oto Thu. Mar. 30 – Sun. Apr. 2 – Knoxville, TN @ Big Ears Thu. May 18 – New York, NY @ The New York Society for Ethical Culture
Berlin-based duo Das Beat, made up of Agor of Blue Hawaii & German actress Eddie Rabenberg, are today sharing their new single “Last Laugh“, which is out now via Arbutus Records. T
Speaking about the track, the band said “Who laughs last does not necessarily laugh the best. There’s always more to any situation than meets the eye and it’s hard to see it from any one perspective. The song plays with German sayings and inspires one to just let go and have fun.”
Blending sounds of New Wave, Dark Disco, Indie, & Dance, their sound is unified by the vocals of Eddie Rabenberger, sung and belted in both German and English. Amidst the spirited lyrics lies a strong dancey pulse, pinning down the duo’s dreamy atmospherics, guitars and percussion.
The duo is half-Canadian and half-German. Dj Kirby (Blue Hawaii), moved to Berlin from Montreal in 2018. Eddie is a theatre actor originally from a small town in southern Germany. Together they find an alluring symbiosis – like Giorgio Moroder meets Nico, or Gina X Performance finds The Prodigy.
Inspired by the seminal duets of Serge Gainsbourg – CAESAR SPENCER – returns in 2023 with the grandiose baroque-pop of: “When I Whisper In Your Ear”.
Nodding to some of Gainsbourg’s greatest collaborations with female counterparts like Jane Birkin and Brigitte Bardot, on his latest single Caesar vocally entwines with Mareva Galenter (an artist in her own right and previous Miss France) in what makes for a seductive, smouldering listen.
Speaking about his passion for the works of Gainsbourg and how “When I Whisper In Your Ear” came to fruition, Caesar reflects:
“When I Whisper In Your Ear is a homage to Serge Gainsbourg. Gainsbourg was someone who managed to combine intelligence, sexiness and mild provocation in a way that may seem a little foreign to non-Francophone ears. Leonard Cohen and Prince came close to hitting this sweet spot but still, they gave off a slightly different vibe… I wanted to capture that spirit of Gainsbourg into English. But at the same time it had to be brought right up to date. It felt important to introduce a strong female character who knows exactly what she wants. A simpering and slightly affected female lead would have felt very wrong today. That’s one reason why it was great to have Mareva Galanter onboard for this song.”Based on the star-crossed lovers who appear in the Nagisa Ōshima film ‘In the Realm of the Senses’, “When I Whisper In Your Ear” finds Caesar and Mareva step into the roles of one of cinema’s most complex relationships. A couple madly in love, but skewered by the sadomasochistic games that obsessively consume them; the new single is partnered with a stylish official video which pays reference to the closing scenes of Ōshima’s film. Watch ithere
Balancing risqué exchanges with a bespoke classicism courtesy of French soprano Aurélie Ligerot (who also guests), the track is notably adorned with verdantly beautiful string sections that come courtesy of Macedonia’s FAME Symphony orchestra. Emulating the work of Jean-Claude Vannier, who famously worked with Serge
Gainsbourg on the “Histoire de Melody Nelson” album, FAME’s orchestral flourishes provide “When I Whisper In Your Ear” with sweeping arrangements and a masterful authenticity.
The immediate follow-up to the previous singles Waiting For Sorrow and Isn’t That What Jimi Said, both tracks appear on Caesar Spencer’s much-anticipated debut solo album: ‘Get Out Into Yourself’. Due to be released through Modulor on 28 April 2023. In keeping with the explorations of “When I Whisper In Your Ear”, it’s a record that finds Caesar shining a light on French musical artistry, while infusing classic elements of English pop.
As an Englishman born in Peru, with Swedish roots, who now finds himself in France; the debut from Caesar Spencer continues in a long line of songwriters, from Scott Walker to Lee Hazlewood, Morrissey to Peter Doherty, who have long looked beyond their patch for a deeper sense of connection. Broadly echoing his own journey to date, Caesar’s debut ‘Get Out Into Yourself’, is a concept-album-of-sorts; inspired by those with nomadic origins and their search for identity. With a loose narrative that follows a protagonist journeying through different cultural landscapes, it unspools a tale laced with existential questions and the quest to find yourself in an ever-shifting world.
Whilst it’s a record that often switches from vintage British pop to gnarly West Coast surf-rock with a dextrous flick, above all else ‘Get Out Into Yourself’ is an homage to the musical heritage of his newfound home in France.
“It’s simply a love letter to France. I wanted to give something back to a country that has given me so much. And I really wanted to shine a light on this incredibly sophisticated French musical artistry.” says Caesar.
Recorded at the Studio La Fugitive (where acclaimed French band Les Rita Mitsouko recorded) with esteemed producer Gaétan Boudy (Zaz, Alex Renart, Emel Mathlouthi) and his formidable backing band of Fred Lafage (Tony Allen, Paris Dernière) and Frantxoa Erreçarret (Askehoug, Barcella); the album also sees Caesar joined by a raft of prominent special guest appearances. Alongside Jean Felzine (Mustang) and Jo Wedin (who both appear on “Isn’t That What Jimi Said”); a collaboration with 60’s ye-ye chanteuse Jacqueline Taïeb can be heard on previous single “Waiting for Sorrow”). Elsewhere, French punk icon Gilles Tandy (Les Olivensteins), the multi-talented Mareva Galanter,opera star Aurélie Ligerot and FAME’S PROJECT (Jarvis Cocker, Chilly Gonzales) all lend their talents to the album. Deftly bridging the channel between British and French pop, ‘Get Out Into Yourself’ is a record with a timelessness of sound that dares to dream beyond typical boundaries in its quest for true identity. Available everywhere on 28th April, physical editions of the album will also be accompanied by a limited edition elegant conceptual storyboard illustrated by French artist Thierry Beaudenon.
Black Belt Eagle Scout, the project of Swinomish musician Katherine Paul, presents a new single/video, “Spaces,” and announces a spring North American tour leading into the release of The Land, The Water, The Sky, out next Friday, February 10th via Saddle Creek. Rolling Stone hailed it as “fiery, brilliant,” stating, “with each song, you can feel the weight of an entire community behind her.”
“Spaces” is a song about healing that surges with electric guitar, violin, Paul’s hushed vocals, and features contributions from her parents. Her father is also in the very special accompanying video, directed by Evan Benally Atwood and Morningstar Angeline, and originally conceptualized by Quinn Christopherson.
“I wrote ‘Spaces’ for an audience as a way to sing melodies of healing and care for them,” says Paul. “Since starting Black Belt Eagle Scout, I have moved through many spaces, playing shows for crowds of people. I can’t always connect one on one with everyone and so this song is an attempt to bring my feelings of appreciation I have for everyone who supports my music to life. My parents lend their voices in the chorus melody, my dad with his strong pow wow voice and my mom with her wholesome tone that sounds so similar to mine you can barely notice the distinction between me and her. I want this song to be an offering for those who need to grasp onto something and feel because through feeling and being together, there is healing.”
Paul continues, “It was incredible to incorporate my family trade of carving within the music video. My dad has been carving Coast Salish style art for over 50 years. I grew up around it and learned how to carve and paint when I was a teenager. This video shows a creation process and the kind of intimacy we give to our art. In the video, we carve an eagle out of yellow cedar. The eagle is representative of strength and guidance.” To learn more about K Paul’s Carvings, click here.
In Paul’s words, “I created The Land, The Water, The Sky to record and reflect upon my journey back to my homelands and the challenges and the happiness it brought.” Paul found herself far from her ancestral lands during a time of collective trauma, when the world was wounded and in need of healing. In 2020 she made the journey from Portland back to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. There is a throughline of story in every song on The Land, The Water, The Sky, a remembrance of knowledge and teachings, a gratitude of wisdom passed down and carried. There are moments of frustration over a world wrought with colonial violence and pain, and the presence of joy, a fierce blissfulness that comes with walking the trails along the river, feeling the sand and the stones beneath her feet. It is the pride and the certainty that comes with knowing her ancestors walked along the same land, dipped their hands into the water, and ran their fingertips along the same bark of cedar trees. Even in its most melancholy moments it is never despairing. That is the beauty of returning home.
This month, Black Belt Eagle Scout will play select shows across the Pacific Northwest. Following, she’ll tour across Europe for the first time before returning stateside for a month of shows. Tickets for newly-announced dates will be available via pre-sale February 6th – 10th, with general on sale running congruent to album release day. A portion of presale ticket proceeds will go to Potlatch Fund, a Native-led nonprofit organization formed in 2002 that provides grants and leadership development to Tribal Nations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. A full list of dates can be found below.
Black Belt Eagle Scout Tour Dates: (new dates in bold) Wed. Feb. 15 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos Fri. Feb. 24 – Manchester, UK @ Night & Day Sat. Feb. 25 – London, UK @ Moth Club Mon. Feb. 27 – Paris, FR @ Le Pop Up Tue. Feb. 28 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique – Witloof Bar Wed. March 1 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Upstairs Thu. March 2 – Copenhagen, DK @ Stengade Sat. March 4 – Rotterdam, NL @ Rotown Sun. March 5 – Berlin, DE @ Badehaus Fri. Mar 31 – Eugene, OR @ Soreng Theater Sat. Apr. 1 – Spokane, WA @ Lucky You Lounge* Sun. Apr. 2 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux* Mon. Apr. 3 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The DLC at Quarters* Tue. Apr. 4 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge* Thu. Apr. 6 – Iowa City, IA @ Mission Creek Festival Fri. Apr. 7 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center* Sat. Apr. 8 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean* April 11 – Toronto, ON @ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern* Wed. Apr. 12 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le “Ritz” P.D.B.* Fri. Apr. 14 – Cambridge, MA @ Elk’s Club* Sat. Apr. 15 – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right* Mon. Apr. 17 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s* Tue. Apr. 18 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd* Wed. Apr. 19 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook* Thu. Apr. 20 – Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor* Fri. Apr. 21 – Atlanta, GA @ 529 Club* Sat. Apr. 22 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa* Mon. Apr. 24 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger* Tue. Apr. 25 – Austin, TX @ The Parish* Thu. Apr. 27 – Norman, OK @ Norman Music Festival Fri. Apr. 28 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sister* Mon. May 1 – Mesa, AZ @ The Underground at The Nile Theater Tue. May 2 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah* Thu. May 4 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo* Fri. May 5 – Fresno, CA @ Strummer’s* Sat. May 6 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop* Mon. May 8 – Tacoma, WA @ ALMA*
Caroline Rose announces The Art of Forgetting, their new album out March 24th on New West Records, and presents a new single/video, “Miami.” Rose is an artist known for their wit and satirical storytelling, but for the first time, with The Art of Forgetting, Rose’s music teems with raw, intense emotion. With no guard up this time, they present the type of confessional honesty we’ve only previously caught glimpses of in their work. Of course, Rose’s impish humor does pop up unexpectedly amidst themes of regret and grief, loss and change, shame and the inevitability of pain.
After a series of heartbreaking events, Rose had no desire to make a statement, let alone make a new album. It was a time of contemplation and transformation. What transpired was what Rose considers a gradual union of reconnection and growth. Prompted by a difficult breakup, Rose began a deep-dive inward, unknowingly digging up long-buried childhood experiences. All the while, Rose was getting voicemails from their grandmother “who was clearly losing her mind.” These respective moments are pieced throughout the album, offering moments of lightness amidst an otherwise heart-rending story of a person who has forgotten, and is perhaps re-learning, how to love themselves. “It got me thinking about all the different ways memory shows up throughout our lives,” says Rose. “It can feel like a curse or be wielded as a tool.”
With this in mind, Rose produced the album using devices and media that embody the characteristics of fading or faulty memories. They gravitated towards instruments that naturally changed or decayed over time: wooden and string instruments, voices, tape, and granular synthesis. They began recording basic layers in their home studio, and “from there it was about a year of experimenting with those recordings both at home and in a couple other studios–chopping them up into loops and smears, creating modular percussion, and ultimately building any additional parts around them,” says Rose. Layers of vocal arrangements from Balkan-influenced yawps to Gregorian autotune choirs, acoustic instrumentation chopped and mangled like a glitching memory, and dreamlike synths push and pull to create a hugely dynamic soundscape.
Today’s “Miami” is an acoustic-centered track whose chorus of squealing guitars and bombastic drums seems to all but burst out of the speakers. Rose explains: “I’m not one to shy away from drama, and so this was a perfect opportunity to really bring out every ounce of desperation and anger and all those confusing emotions that happen after a big heartbreak.” Rose sings:
Clean up all the memories Sweep the bad under the rug Put the good inside a coffer I wish I knew anything ‘Cuz even at my best I don’t know why I even bother
This is the hard part The part that they don’t tell you about There is the art of loving This is the art of forgetting how
The “Miami” video, starring Rose playing a version of themself alongside Massima Bell, was directed by Sam Bennett, and shot at the Austin Motel, Sagebrush, and a sound stage in Austin, and continues Rose’s run of theatrical, storyline driven videos. “For the ‘Miami’ video, I was mainly focused on what would be the most effective way to move people in regards to the two characters and how they interact,” says Rose. “Because this is a sort of loose recreation of some things in my life it was important to me to interpret the feeling of that time as accurately as we could within four minutes’ time. Sam, who is a dear friend of mine and brilliant director, thought a great way to capture that fever-dream-like quality was to create a lot of movement with a continuous shot. He showed me different lenses and cameras to use and we ultimately went with an anamorphic, Old Hollywood-esque feel, which gives it that nostalgia thinking back on a time past.”
“Every time I make an album I’ll come out of it learning a lot about myself,” comments Rose. “Now I look back and see the healing of a wound. I feel like a new version of myself. I think one for the better.”
This spring, Caroline Rose will bring their energetic live show across North America and the UK/EU. Newly-announced dates are on sale Friday at 10am local time and a full list of dates can be found below. Listen to “Love / Lover / Friend”
The Art of Forgetting Tracklist 1. Love / Lover / Friend 2. Rebirth 3. Miami 4. Better Than Gold 5. Everywhere I Go I Bring the Rain 6. The Doldrums 7. The Kiss 8. Cornbread 9. Stockholm Syndrome 10. Tell Me What You Want 11. Florida Room 12. Love Song For Myself 13. Jill Says 14. Where Do I Go From Here?
Caroline Rose Tour Dates: (new dates in bold) Fri. March 31 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Arthur Zankel Music Center Sat. April 1 – Montreal, QC @ Petit Campus Tue. April 4 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Wed. April 5 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Thu. April 6 – Boston, MA @ Royale Sat. April 8 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern Sun. April 9 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre Tue. April 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer Wed. April 12 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall Fri. April 14 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club Sat. April 15 – Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall Sun. April 16 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle Tue. April 18 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel Wed. April 19 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl Fri. April 21 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall Sat. April 22 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom Sun. April 23 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue Tue. April 25 – Denver, CO @ The Gothic Theatre Fri. April 28 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox Sat. April 29 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom Wed. May 3 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore Fri. May 5 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre Sat. May 6 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s Wed. May 31 – Manchester, UK @ BOTW Thu. June 1 – Dublin, IE @ Whelan’s Sat. June 3 – Glasgow, UK @ Stereo Sun. June 4 – Bristol, UK @ Exchange Mon. June 5 – London, UK @ Heaven
In November, Tanukichan announced their sophomore LP GIZMO(out March 3rd via Company Records). A project led by Hannah van Loon, in collaboration with the Grammy-nominated chillwave pioneer Chaz Bear of Toro y Moi, their album is the follow up to their debut LP, Sundays, arelease that saw an enthusiastic response when it was released in 2018, earning praise from outlets like Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, FADER, Stereogum, Loud & Quiet and The AV Club.
The album’s lead single “Don’t Give Up“ was greeted with excitement upon its release, earning best of the week nods from outlets like MTV and Pitchfork, and today Tanukichan are sharing a second single from the album, a track called “Thin Air” that features Aramis Johnson of the Tacoma, Washington band Enumclaw. To coincide with the single’s release van Loon has spoken to Stereogum about the new album.
LISTEN to Tanukichan’s “Thin Air” feat. Enumclaw HERE
“This song is about exes, some people that I really cared about but ultimately didn’t want to be with,” van Loon explains. “The sadness I feel when I’m hurting someone, and missing them and knowing you won’t ever have that closeness again. It’s about how important they are and how much they’ve taught me, or helped me, but how I also know that people come and go. The chorus has a double meaning for me where I feel like I can’t prioritize relationships because I need to keep on focusing on myself. The other is feeling like I’m broken and keep ending up with the wrong people, and hurting them.”
——–
GIZMO is named after van Loon’s, who became a much-needed companion while the Bay Area musician wrote her second album as the pandemic began. The album is an exercise in release, whether from situational hindrances — a forced lockdown, for one — or from self-imposed hedonistic coping mechanisms. “A theme I always had floating around was escape,” van Loon explains of her follow-up to 2018’s Sundays. “Escaping from myself, my problems, sadness and cycles.”
To channel the more uplifting spirit she wanted for GIZMO, van Loon turned to the radio pop-rock of her childhood: “I was struck by the in-your-face positivity of the lyrics,” she adds, referencing artists like 311, The Cranberries, and Tom Petty. “I wanted to bring that positivity while writing about the sad and helpless emotions I’d been grappling with.”
This new found positivity and interesting blend of influences are in evidence on “Don’t Give Up,” a nu metal-meets-Cocteau Twins groove that deals with the experience of trying to overcome imposter syndrome, as van Loon explains:
“This song is about feeling I haven’t done anything with my life, but also knowing that I’ve accomplished a lot and it’s only getting better. I started writing the lyrics when I was on tour opening for the Drums after my first album came out. We were playing sold out shows in front of hundreds of people, but I knew it could change in an instant. I felt like I hit rock bottom emotionally, I wasn’t ready for the road and it killed me. I felt so disconnected from the band even though they were my backbone and were making it happen. The only thing that really helps me at that point is feeling like I can just let everything go, and we all die. Just accepting the fact that I can’t control anything and that in the end it doesn’t matter. We will all disappear. I wrote the chorus years later when I was finishing a bunch of the songs. I didn’t want it to be depressing, even though that’s where it came from. It came from giving up but I wanted to keep going. I wanted it to mean something moving on from the negative and I came up with a ridiculously positive chorus. Don’t give up now you know there’s another day, just know you’re going to get to a better place, a better place meaning a better place in life, or “heaven,” just nothingness where all your worries are gone.”
GIZMO will be released on Company Records on March 3rd. It is available for preorder/presave here.
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December 2022 saw the announcement of Wild Noise Records and its debut vinyl release from The Jackets with the single “Pie In The Sky.” Today, the single’s B-side “Misery of Man” is premiering via Vive Le Rock in addition to a slew of European tour dates beginning this month.
Chris Rosales explains the context behind the songwriting. “Misery of Man” is a song about humans’ strongest feelings and how overwhelming they can be for good or evil. Pain, fear, love, hate; these emotions can guide us into strange and sometimes perilous directions. This is Man’s misery – our misery and dealing with these emotions can seldom be simple. (Chris Rosales – 2023) “Pie In The Sky/”Misery of Man” is The Jacket’s follow-up to their acclaimed Queen Of The Pill album and one of two confirmed 7″ releases for 2023. A cross-continental production, the band entered Shirt-Off Studio in Bern with Sebastian Zwahlen to helm the recording process and enlisting notable Detroit producer Jim Diamond to handle the mixing and mastering process. The artwork is the creation of the Bucharest-based animator Andy “Sinboy” Luke.
Since Queen of the Pill‘s release, The Jackets have maintained momentum through tours across the European Union, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Mexico. No strangers to the European festival circuit as well, crowds that have witnessed the band’s aerodynamic and raucous live spectacle include Funtastic Dracula (ES), Cosmic Trip (FR), Purple Weekend (ES), Festival Beat (IT), EuroYeyé (ES), and Hipsville A Go Go (UK).
“Pie In The Sky” is available digitally through all digital service providers and will be released on vinyl in March 2023 via Wild Noise Records. Pre-orders are available here.
The Jackets Upcoming Tour Dates
February 9th: Blah Blah (Turin, IT)
February 10th: Cloud 9 Weekender (Rimini, IT)
February 11th: Joshua Blues (Como, IT)
March 1st: Rössli (Bern, CH) w/Nestter Donuts + DJ Bone
March 2nd: Schüür (Lucerne, CH) w/Nestter Donuts + DJ Bone
March 3rd: Cafe Mokka (Thun, CH) w/Nestter Donuts + DJ Bone
March 4th: Amboss Rampe (Zürich, CH) w/Nestter Donuts + DJ Bone
March 30th: Irrsinn Bar (Basel, CH)
March 31st: Gaswerk (Winterthur, CH)
April 14th: Wild Weekend (Mallorca, ES) w/Reverend Beat-Man, Holly Golightly, The Sex Organs, The Brood, The Stompin’ Riffraff, and more.
Bodywash — the Montreal duo of Chris Steward and Rosie Long Decter — announces its new album, I Held the Shape While I Could, out April 14th on Light Organ Records, and shares the lead single/video, “Massif Central.” Over I Held the Shape While I Could’s twelve tracks, Steward and Long Decter reflect on their separate and shared experiences of losing a sense of place, the way something once solid can slip between your fingers, and their attempts to build something new from the fallout. On lead single “Massif Central,” stark guitars and relentless drums accompany Steward’s whispered vocals as he recounts an experience of bureaucratic purgatory: a typo in a government letter caused Steward to lose his legal work status in Canada.
“After eight years living in Canada, in the Spring of 2021, a government clerical error caused me to lose my legal status here,” Steward explains. “As a UK national, I lost my right to work. My savings trickled away during months where I could do little but pace the corners of my apartment. I was prepared to pack my bags and leave as the life I’d hoped to construct for myself seemed to vanish into a bureaucratic abyss.”
“‘Massif’ is the sound of wailing into a cliff and not knowing if you’ll hear an echo,” continued Steward. “The spoken word is inspired by a squirrel that was trapped in the wall behind my bed, clawing its way to salvation. With the help of friends, family, music, and a few immigration lawyers (and the rest of my savings), I’m now a permanent resident here. But this song remains as testament to my experience with an exploitative institution.”
The accompanying video by Jordan Allen is a stunning collage of live footage, distorted visuals, and eerie graphics. “With ‘Massif Central,’ we wanted to encapsulate the panic and urgency that Chris experienced, and have the abstracts portray the anxiety and hopelessness one can feel at the hands of bureaucracy,” Allen adds. “I chose graphics that heavily leaned into feelings of being lost in a maze, with towering structures and horizon lines pulling you into them. The idea was that the camera would be both a CCTV view of the band, but also glitching to reveal the more emotionally internal visual aspects.”
Watch “Massif Central” Steward and Long Decter met in college in 2014, but didn’t immediately share a musical language. Chris grew up in London listening to British dream pop and classic shoegaze; Rosie was raised in Toronto on folk and Canadiana. Working toward their own blend of airy vocals, intricate guitar work and atmospheric synths, they released their debut EP as Bodywash in 2016 and their first full-length, Comforter, in 2019.
As they prepared to release Comforter, Long Decter and Steward both experienced alienating shifts in their personal lives, leading to a mutual sense of dislocation. They began writing new material that was darker, more experimental, and at the same time more invigorating than the soothing dream pop on Comforter. In 2021 they took these songs into the studio, sharing them with longtime drummer RyanWhite and recording/mixing engineer Jace Lasek (Besnard Lakes). The resulting I Held the Shape While I Could is a record that lives in the sonics of decay and renewal: breaks that burst forth from a squall of fuzz guitars, drones that glitch and stutter like ice willing itself to thaw.
There are many places like home, and on I Held the Shape While I Could, home is a mutable thing; a location that is fixed until it isn’t. Across the record, Steward’s abstract guitars and Long Decter’s cascading vocals act as ambient throughlines, blurring the digital and organic, gesturing toward something intangible, just out of reach. Home is a process — the back and forth of guitar riffs and vocal hums, of files sent and received across the ocean. A world imagined and sculpted together.
Today, shame — the UK-based quintet led by frontman Charlie Steen — unveil “Six-Pack,” the newsingle/video from Food for Worms, their new album out February 24th on Dead Oceans. Quickly becoming a fan favorite during the band’s recent live sets, “Six-Pack” is shame at their punchiest and most pulsating. Following lead single “Fingers Of Steel,” “Six-Pack” sees shame enter a new, surreal landscape, as reflected in Food for Worms’ cover artwork designed by acclaimed artist Marcel Dzama. It’s suggestive of what is left unsaid, what lies beneath the surface, the farcical and fantastical everyday that we are living in, a society where both everything and nothing is possible.
On “Six-Pack,” Steen adds: “‘Six-Pack’ is essentially the opposite of a Room 101; instead it’s a room where all your wildest desires can come true and will be showered upon you. Be it commodities, self-obsession, foods and B-lister celebrities, it’ll all be there if you want it to. You’ve done time behind bars and now you’re making time in-front of them. It’s time to make up for anything you’ve lost or wasted, it’s time to get it all.”
“Six-Pack” arrives alongside a video directed by Gilbert Bannerman and animated by Cyrus Hayley, featuring a warped reinvention of Napoleon befitting of New Year’s resolution season. Bannerman explains: “The idea was to make a parody of a middle aged bloke thinking he’s a king for going to the gym once. I read a lot about Napoleon and thought it would be a laugh to make it about him. The style comes from trying to make my youth spent playing PS1 not entirely wasted.”
On one hand, shame’s new album Food for Worms calls to mind a certain morbidity, but on the other, it’s a celebration of life; the way that, in the end, we need each other. Food for Worms is an ode to friendship, and a documentation of the dynamic that only five people who have grown up together — and grown so close, against all odds — can share.
It’s through this, and defiance, that shame have continually moved forward together; finding light in uncomfortable contradictions and playing their vulnerabilities as strengths: the near breakdowns, identity crises, Steen routinely ripping his shirt off on-stage as a way of tackling his body weight insecurities. Everything is thrown into their live show, and the best shows of their lives are happening now.
Now they arrive, finally, at a place of hard-won maturity. Enter: Food for Worms, which Steen declares to be “the Lamborghini of shame records.”
shame Tour Dates (New Dates in Bold) Tue. Feb. 28 – Dublin, IE @ Button Factory Wed. Mar. 1 – Dublin, IE @ Button Factory Fri. Mar. 3 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 Sat. Mar. 4 – Newcastle, UK @ Boiler Shop Sun. Mar. 5 – Leeds, UK @ Stylus Tue. Mar. 7 – Sheffield, UK @ Leadmill Wed. Mar. 8 – Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory Thu. Mar. 9 – Bristol, UK @ SWX Sat. Mar. 11 – Manchester, UK @ New Century Hall Sun. Mar. 12 – Cardiff, UK @ Tramshed Tue. Mar. 14 – Nantes, FR @ Stereolux Wed. Mar. 15 – Paris, FR @ Cabaret Sauvage Thu. Mar. 16 – Bordeaux, FR @ Rock School Barbey Sat. Mar. 18 – Lisbon, PT @ LAV Sun. Mar. 19 – Madrid, ES @ Nazca Mon. Mar. 20 – Barcelona, ES @ La 2 de Apolo Wed. Mar. 22 – Nimes, FR @ Paloma Thu. Mar. 23 – Milan, IT @ Magnolia Fri. Mar. 24 – Zurich, CH @ Plaza Sun. Mar. 26 – Munich, DE @ Technikum Mon. Mar. 27 – Berlin, DE @ Astra Tue. Mar. 28 – Hamburg, DE @ Markthalle Thu. Mar. 30 – Oslo, NO @ Vulkan Fri. Mar. 31 – Stockholm, SE @ Debaser Sat. Apr. 1 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA Tue. Apr. 4 – Cologne, DE @ Floria Wed. Apr. 5 – Brussels, BE @ AB Thu. Apr. 6 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg Fri. Apr. 28 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy Sat. May 6 – Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Festival Sun. May 7 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East * Tue. May 9 – Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle * Wed. May 10 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall * Fri. May 12 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar * Sat. May 13 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer * Sun. May 14 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw * Tue. May 16 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair * Thu. May 18 – Montréal, QC @ Foufounes Électriques Fri. May 19 – Ottawa, ON @ Club SAW Sat. May 20 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace Mon. May 22 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Eccentric Cafe * Wed. May 24 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall * Fri. May 26 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway * Sat. May 27 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck * Sun. May 28 – Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge * Tue. May 30 – Dallas,TX @ Granada Theater * Fri. Jun. 2 – Austin, TX @ The Scoot Inn * Sat. Jun. 3 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall * Sun. Jun. 4 – New Orleans, LA @ Toulouse Theatre *
* w/ Been Stellar
Keep your mind open.
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