Emily Jane White, the intriguing Northern California-based songwriter who Pitchfork noted for her ability to pair her “wispy and sweet” vocals with “world-weary” introspection and Brooklyn Vegan has championed for her “gothy, ethereal folk” releases Alluvion on March 25 via Talitres.
“’Show Me the War’ calls attention to the convergence of misogyny and racialized violence as a pervasive worldwide epidemic,” explains White. “During the summer of 2020 in Oakland, California, I wrote this song in response to the many political uprisings sparked by the murder of George Floyd. ‘Show Me the War’ also highlights more global examples of injustice like femicide in Juarez, Mexico and the near-total abortion ban in Poland. By grieving the many losses resulting from social and ecological injustice, we shed light on these unacceptable epidemics and those deeply affected by them, further enabling change.”
News of the Alluvion’s forthcoming arrival is paired with today’s release of “Show Me The War” and its accompanying, Bobby Cochran-directed video (https://youtu.be/ENrsd0YjjBs). The black and white clip filmed in Oakland features local teen dancers Satya Zamudio, Olivia Wenzler, Dinah Cobb, Kalia Morales, and Lina Santos, displays bold Gen Z women powerfully claiming public spaces with their art form, touching the sacredness of nature, while also contending with current social justice issues and the climate crisis.
Rooted in a moment of catastrophe, Alluvion is an album about personal and collective grief resulting from the loss of human life and the continued loss of our natural world. We live in a moment of merging traumas, of converging environmental, social, and political crises. These crises are exacerbated by our lack of cultural practices for individual and also shared, public grieving–which is not without consequence. Emily’s album offers a space to consider where grieving is absent in our world, and where it is deeply necessary. Grief moves in waves and cycles, and through its flood we can build anew. Alluvion: the gradual addition to the land by the wash of water against a shore.
Alluvion was produced by and arranged by multi-instrumentalist Anton Patzner (Foxtails Brigade, Bright Eyes) and mixed by Alex DeGroot (Zola Jesus).
Southern California’s Dream, Ivory – a duo composed of brothers Christian and Louie Baello – shares the new video for the single, “Blue,” from their self-titled debut album on AWAL. Dream, Ivory is the product of long hours spent in their Lake Elsinore bedroom, Christian helming the production and Louie growing into lead vocalist. Only 11 months apart, the Baellos shared everything – clothes, toys, and music. “We played rock-paper-scissors to choose who got to keep a Gorillaz album; Louie won and I cried the entire way home,” says Christian. “He ended up giving it to me because he felt bad.”
Raised in a Filipino household, Christian and Louie’s parents wanted them to be stars. “Ever since we were kids, our Dad would always tell us that our star is shining, and will forever shine on,” say the brothers. Their parents enrolled them in piano lessons, which they both hated at the time. “We would dread going to class, because we wanted to go and play like the other kids. Now, we are so grateful that we had the opportunity.” Their earliest musical experiments included reenacting guitar solos from performance videos they watched online and sharing their own cover songs on YouTube, which would be the impetus to creating their own art.
“When we first started Dream, Ivory I was still in high school and it was a way of self-expression,” says Louie. Dream, Ivory’s hazy and melancholic atmosphere was inspired by bands such as Beach Fossils, Slow Dive, and Beach House. “Blue” is an enthralling glimpse into their collaborative energy. “It’s a typical ‘heartbreak song,” adds Louie. The accompanying video was produced by Hungry Ghosts, and is the first in a series of new videos the band will be sharing ahead of more new music in 2022.
Lucy Dacus released Home Video via Matador last year, solidifying her place as one of music’s best storytellers, with a remarkable showing on year-end lists. After a series of flyers appeared in several US cities last week with tear-off tabs for a “Kissing Lessons” hotline, a stream of callers to the number then reported being able to hear a new song by Dacus. No longer requiring a phone, “Kissing Lessons” is now available as a single for all to hear. It is accompanied by a video directed by Mara Palena. Complete with hand-drawn hearts and Polaroids, “Kissing Lessons” is another gem mined from Dacus’ childhood in Richmond, Virginia. It was recorded and mixed during the Home Video sessions, and stood out with its sweet and relatable reflection of childhood infatuation as Dacus sings atop infectious guitars, “We’d take turns being seduced // Imagining the day it would come into use // Imagining the day we’d start breaking hearts // And taking names.”
“Kissing Lessons” and “Thumbs Again” will be released as a 7” on June 3rd. The 7” is available for pre-order now.
Next week, Dacus kicks off a US tour where she will play many cities not yet visited in support of Home Video, and a few rescheduled shows from the fall. Additionally, after selling out three Brooklyn Steels last year, Dacus announces a headline performance at New York City’s SummerStage in Central Park on Thursday, July 21st. Tickets go on sale this Friday, February 4th at 12pm Eastern. Watch Lucy Dacus’ Video for “Kissing Lessons”
Home Video Tour (new dates in bold) Wed. Feb. 09 – Pitts, PA @ Stage AE * Thu. Feb. 10 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic * Fri. Feb. 11 – Newport, KY @ Ovation * Sat. Feb. 12 – Indy, IN @ Egyptian Room * Mon. Feb. 14 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Ballroom Valentine’s Day * Tue. Feb. 15 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall (Rescheduled Date) * – SOLD OUT Thu. Feb. 17 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave (Rescheduled Date) * – SOLD OUT Fri. Feb. 18 – Iowa City, IA @ Englert Theatre (Rescheduled Date) * – SOLD OUT Sat. Feb. 19 – Lawrence, KS @ Liberty * Sun. Feb. 20 – OK City, OK @ Tower Theatre * Wed. Feb. 23 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre * Thu. Feb. 24 – Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel * Fri. Feb. 25 – C-Ville, VA @ Jefferson * – SOLD OUT Sat. Feb. 26 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony * – SOLD OUT Mon. Feb. 28 – Ithaca, NY @ Hangar Theatre Tue. Mar. 01 – Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts Thu. Mar. 03 – Providence, RI @ The Strand Sat. Mar. 05 – Baltimore, MD @ Ram’s Head Fri. Mar. 18, 2022 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club ^ – SOLD OUT Sat. Mar. 19, 2022 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club ^ – SOLD OUT Sun. Mar. 20, 2022 – Glasgow, UK @ St. Lukes ^ – SOLD OUT Mon. Mar. 21, 2022 – Dublin, IE @ Olympia Theatre ^ Wed. Mar. 23, 2022 – Manchester, UK @ Gorilla – SOLD OUT Thu. Mar. 24, 2022 – Bristol, UK @ Marble Factory ^ Fri. Mar. 25, 2022 – London, UK @ Kentish Town Forum Sat. Mar. 26 – London, UK @ Rough Trade – In-Store Performance Sun. Mar. 27 – Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2 ^ Tue. Mar. 29, 2022 – Brussels, BL @ Rotonde ^ – SOLD OUT Wed. Mar. 30, 2022 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Noord ^ Thu. Mar. 31, 2022 – Cologne, DE @ Artheater ^ Sat. Apr. 02, 2022 – Hamburg, DE @ Molotow ^ Sun. Apr. 03, 2022 – Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen ^ – SOLD OUT Mon. April 04, 2022 – Aarhus, DK @ Atlas ^ Wed. Apr. 06, 2022 – Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret ^ Thu. Apr. 07, 2022 – Stockholm, SE @ Nalen Klubb ^ Sat. Apr. 09, 2022 – Berlin, DE @ Lido ^ Sun. Apr. 10, 2022 – Jena, DE @ Trafo ^ Tue. Apr. 12, 2022 – Vienna, AT @ Chelsea ^ Wed. Apr. 13, 2022 – Munich, DE @ Milla ^ Thu. Apr. 14, 2022 – Zürich, SU @ Bogen F ^ Fri. Apr. 15 – Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie ^ Thu. Jul. 21 – New York, NY @ SummerStage in Central Park # Sun. Aug. 7 – St. Charles, IA @ Hinterland Festival Fri. Aug. 26 – London, UK @ All Points East Festival Sat. Aug. 27 – Sun. Aug. 28 – Darmstadt, DE @ Golden Leaves Festival Thu. Sep. 1 – Sun. Sep. 4 – Salisbury, UK @ End of the Road Festival
* = with Indigo De Souza ^ = with Fenne Lily # = with Hop Along
Keep your mind open.
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Levitation France has announced the first group of bands scheduled to play the 2022 festival in the cool town of Angers. This is also the first year the festival will be a three-day event. Tickets are on sale now.
The lineup is already looking good. The Brian Jonestown Massacre will surely bring in a large crowd, and it will be cool to see Kim Gordon perform. Death Valley Girls and Frankie and the Witch Fingersalways put on good performances, and I won’t miss Automatic‘s set.
Following the fêted success of 2021’s Wet and Tired, The Wife Guys of Reddit are back with their forthcoming single “Pig Fat” – a song that poses two questions:
What would happen if I literally decided to fight God?
What would happen if God turned out to be a little bit sexy?
Arion Xenos and Niamh MacPhail once again lend their vocal talents to the track, melding their trademark irreverence with a healthy dose of spunk. The addition of seasoned instrumentalists Elise Atkinson and Angus Fernie to The Wife Guys of Reddit’s ranks shines through on this single, with the band concocting their thickest sound yet. While their hardest studio release to date, this shift should come as no surprise to those who have managed to catch one of the band’s protean live shows; Xenos said of “Pig Fat”: “With the band being able to flesh out the single together in the studio, we were able to properly experiment and push the boundaries of what we want The Wife Guys to be: “Pig Fat” bridges that gap between mellower past studio releases, and the wired energy of our live performances.” Not content with stopping there, the single release will be accompanied by a found footage horror-inspired homemade video, demonstrating the full creative prowess of this outfit.
In spite of their recent inception shortly before Christmas 2020, the self-titled ‘purveyors of soupy rock’ have already sparked interest in DIY circles across the globe, gaining coverage in BBC Radio Scotland with Vic Galloway, NARC. Magazine, Tenement TV, Amazing Radio with Jim Gellatly, and KXSF Radio, among others. The band are additionally looking forward to weirding out the 2022 live circuit at Left of the Dial Festival, The Great Western, NXTGN Festival, and supporting She Drew The Gun on tour; as well as working on their forthcoming EP, produced by Catholic Action’s Chris McCrory.
Failure have announced a North American tour in support of their recently released, widely-praised sixth album, Wild Type Droid.
Ken Andrews said of the live outings: “I have not been this excited to bring new material to the stage since Fantastic Planet. Prepare yourself for an out-of-body experience.”
The dates, which kick off on June 2 in San Diego and run for five weeks before culminating in a hometown show at Los Angeles’ Regent Theatre, are on-sale today at 10 am local time. All shows will open with a special preview of the forthcoming Failure documentary.
Wild Type Droid (https://failure.ffm.to/wildtypedroid) arrived in December via the band’s own label, Failure Music. Rolling Stone called the 10-song collection “incredibly expansive,” Guitar World described the album as “one of the most inspiring alternative guitar records to arrive in 2021,” and Paste Magazine said the trio “make a career-defining statement.”
“To me, it captures a lot of the new musical approaches and techniques we were going for on this album, but somehow is still quintessential Failure,” Ken Andrews explained as news of the album was revealed. “We’ve been together long enough to know that some of our best ideas come directly from these experimental sessions. For this album, we simply cultivated that methodology for a much longer time than we have in the past. It brought out the trio aspect of the band. There was a feeling we could really push the individual parts further away from each other and let the more interesting and challenging combinations take center stage.”
Failure is Ken Andrews (vocals, guitar, bass, programming), Greg Edwards (vocals, guitar, bass, keys), and Kellii Scott (drums, percussion). Forming in early ‘90s Los Angeles, the trio have released six albums: Comfort (1992), Magnified (1994), Fantastic Planet (1996), The Heart Is A Monster (2015), In The Future Your Body Will Be the Furthest Thing from Your Mind (a series of EPs released as an album in 2018), and Wild Type Droid (2021). The group is considered one of the era’s most influential rock bands with Vice, in an all-encompassing retrospective upon the band’s return saying: “While many of their contemporaries became prolific by releasing an ungodly amount of materials, Failure’s [initial] three-record catalog is minuscule, but just as important in terms of content, style, and music texture.”
Formed by the members of the beloved and now defunct New York post-punk band Pill and their NYC underground peers Eaters, P.E. have been trafficking in boundary-pushing, dystopian grooves since the release of their mesmerizing first single “Top Ticket” in 2019. Collaborating with artists like Parquet Courts, Xiu Xiu and Liars, the band have developed a growing cult following that has continued expanding as they come to broader attention with the release of their first LP Person, in 2020 and last year’s The Reason For My Love EP, which have earned praise from outlets like Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, Bandcamp, The Guardian (who had the EP’s title track on their 2021 Best Songs You Haven’t Heard list) and Pitchfork (who had the EP on their list of Great Records From 2021 You May Have Missed). Today, the band are returning to announce their most fully-realized artistic statement to date, an album called The Leather Lemon that will be released on the buzzing Brooklyn label Wharf Cat Records (Palberta, Water From Your Eyes, Lily Konigsberg) on March 25th, and sharing that album’s first single “Blue Nude (Reclined)” which is premiering today on FADER.
LISTEN: to P.E. – “Blue Nude (Reclined)” on YouTube // FADER
Writing about the band’s last single The Guardian said that P.E. channel “the fidgety, dark, and inescapably danceable sound of Mudd Club-era, underground bands like Bush Tetras, the Contortions and ESG,” and this latest single feels like a further refinement of that direction. Their sound is far from a retread however, as they process the sounds of the 70s and 80s Lower East Side through the filter of contemporary influences and recording techniques, using surprising building blocks to create something that is as effective as pop music as it is forward-looking.
“This was one of the first songs we wrote for the new record, shortly after settling ourselves mentally & physically around the country,” singer Veronica Torres says of the song. “With all of our tour plans scrapped in the initial wave of the pandemic, the five of us decided to put our energies into writing new material for the next record, trading files back and forth in order to shape our new sound. “Blue Nude” quickly became an inspiration for the rest of The Leather Lemon – something that foregrounded both the song and the sound, as fun as it was abstract.”
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P.E.‘s sophomore album, The Leather Lemon (Wharf Cat Records, out March 25, 2022), ushers in a new era for the New York band. A wild ride through chewy bubblegum pop, sweeping synthetic orchestrations, and mutant club beats, the album slides ever closer to the fully-realized pop sensibility only winked at with their debut album Person (2020) and subsequent releases.
Digging into mystery, romance, and sex appeal with The Leather Lemon, the group — composed of members of Pill (Mexican Summer/Dull Tools) and Eaters (Dull Tools/Driftless) — centers its sound within a Bermuda Triangle of dance music, electronic composition, and experimental rock. Members Jonathan Schenke, Bob Jones, and Jonny Campolo play within pop parameters, building upon free-form collaboration to create a fluorescent groove machine that harnesses the energy of their frenetic live shows. Singer Veronica Torres explores her softer side, expanding her vocal repertoire from spoken word and jagged growls to cherubic and sensuous psalms. Sax virtuoso Benjamin Jaffe’s chiseled experimental tone is heard in an extended solo of true romance in “Tears in the Rain,” a somber surrealist duet penned by Torres and Andrew Savage, singer/guitarist of Parquet Courts.
Recorded primarily at Schenke’s Studio Windows in Brooklyn, NY, The Leather Lemon was cultivated from a fertile creative period between spring 2020 and summer 2021, which also yielded 2021’s acclaimed The Reason For My Love EP, of which Pitchfork writes:
The quintet refines their impulses on their 2020 debut Person and transforms them into a body-moving EP. The jittery electronics are still there, but the drum cuts feel sharper and lighter, bringing a sense of structure to what could easily be shapeless. Vocalist Veronica Torres abandons spoken-word and leans fully into singing about poetry, beauty, and the contours of the body. Her lovely vocal stretches fill up the space once occupied by industrial bass drops. Sensuality suits them well.
The Leather Lemon is a reckoning record for the times; an album of psychedelic resurfacing, real-time response to world events, and soft, sympathetic magic. This is a collection of songs shaped by five individuals who embrace music-making as a way to center themselves in times of uncertainty; it’s resilience and imagination given shape. The Leather Lemon is a true sweet-and-sour listening experience, an album as bright and clear as it is fractured and fun. Get turned UP and ON with the electrifying new lemon drop from P.E.!
The Leather Lemon will be released on Wharf Cat Records on March 25th. It is available for preorder here.
The Philly punk scene is a powerful thing. It should come as no surprise that this bastion of hard hitting punk rock would be a lodestone for some of the best metal punk talent in the world! Such was the case for vocalist/guitarist Phillipa Tank of California Motorhead tribute band Motorbabe, and now frontwoman of the hard hitting punk thrash band, Roadkiller. After an initial burst of shows, Roadkiller quickly recorded their self-titled debut EP, a record fated to make your ears bleed in all the right ways. Created with the goal of fusing punk, hard rock and crossover thrash whilst still remaining uniquely Roadkiller, Phillipa is on a mission to write songs to get your blood pumping. With dreams of constant touring and a dedication to quality songwriting, Roadkiller is more than just another punk band. We are witnessing the birth of a well oiled machine, representing the magic of all the underground has been and will be.
Phillipa Tank shares “This is the second single off of my upcoming record Pick of the Litter, featuring the inimitable Dave Witte (Municipal Waste, Melt Banana, Discordance Axis) who nailed my song ‘Slicker than Oil’. We shot down at Graffiti Pier, directed and filmed by my awesome crust-lord, drone pilot friend, Botgrinder.” Dave Witte adds “Phillipa Tank‘s ROADKILLER songs are rocking and full of energy. It was really fun to play the tune and film a cool video to boot! Also to be included among a really great group of drummers playing on the record is equally as exciting.“ 2022 will see the release of Roadkiller‘s first full length record “Pick of the Litter“, featuring stacked guest spots of iconic drummers across the heavy music spectrum.
About ROADKILLER: Phillipa Tank is ROADKILLER. Phillipa is the vocalist, singer and composer of the music and lyrics of all of the songs on the record. She is also the guitarist and founding member of all girl Motorhead tribute band, Motorbabe. Five guest drummers participated in the recording of the upcoming ROADKILLER album, Pick of the Litter: Dave Witte (Municipal Waste), Jess Margera (CKY), Donald Tardy (Obituary), Tommy Akerholdt (Turbonegro) and Adrian Aguilar (Exmortus). Phillipa invited each drummer to record a song that best fit each drummer’s style of playing. Each session was filmed and a total of five videos will be produced.
Today, Orange County-bred Vicky Farewell announces Sweet Company, her debut album, out April 8th on Mac’s Record Label, and presents a visualizer for its lead single, “Are We OK?” Possessing a rare combination of elite musicianship and singular vocal performance, Farewell produced, arranged, and engineered Sweet Company herself. Her particular knack for pocket-driven ear worms match the album’s melancholy tone with whimsical notions and unbridled joy.
Farewell’s emergence as a solo act is the latest chapter in an already impressive career. A classically-trained pianist, songwriter, and producer, Farewell began to flourish at the epicenter of the funk-addled and deeply experimental Angeleno musical ecosystem alongside The Free Nationals in the studios of Shafiq Husayn (of Sa-Ra Creative Partners) before graduating to the legendary hip-hop producer Dr. Dre. Boasting writing credits on Anderson .Paak’s acclaimed GRAMMY-nominated album Malibu (Best Urban Contemporary Album) and the GRAMMY-winning album Ventura (Best R&B Album); it was in the company of these giants that Farewell found her sound, and—at their urging—she ultimately found her own voice.
Today’s “Are We OK?” was born at the height of pandemic uncertainty, conveying the palpable vulnerability of that fraught period. “‘Are We OK?’ was the first song I ever wrote and produced to completion on my own,” says Farewell, “Honestly, I never considered myself much of a singer until I made this song. It really paved a way for the rest of the record.”
Grounded by the pandemic, Farewell channeled her artistic energy into a vehicle she could operate from the comforts of her own home. The ability to work with little to no input from the outside world is a hallmark of the scene that made her, and this approach affords Farewell the freedom to perfect her output. Though the first track came from her decision to write tunes for fun, Farewell was encouraged to record a full-length record by the more established artists in her orbit who were digesting these early demos. Upon finishing Sweet Company, Farewell played the album for Mac Demarco and was offered a deal on the spot: “I’ve known Vicky for several years now, she’s a good friend and a ripping musician. I’m super excited to be working on this release with her. Vicky shared a couple of the songs with me as she was making them a while ago, and it’s been cool to watch the rest of her process in putting it all together. I love all these tunes, I’m happy Vicky’s allowed us to help out with them, and I’m really excited for everybody else out there to have a rip on them.”
Sweet Company cements Farewell as a true record producer, complete with the confidence to let the music do the talking. For Farewell, it’s “all about the music and the music is fucking good.” Sweet Company is a bold statement of artistic capacity delivered in feather-light refrains, bursting phasers, and robust arpeggios that conjure pastels and the tender nostalgia of a childhood crush. Farewell finds herself fully realized in the span of eight tracks painstakingly designed to shatter industry norms.
Sweet Company Tracklist 1. Prelude 2. Sweet Company 3. Kakashi (All of the Time) 4. Believe Me 5. Are We OK? 6. H.W. 7. Forever 8. Get Me
Trip Villain is a Brooklyn-based power duo that fuses synth-laden psychedelia with the prehistoric stomp of doom metal. Trip Villain is Josh Musto (Tragedy, ex-ShitKill, ex-Netherlands) and Damien Moffitt (Leach, ex-ShitKill, ex-Netherlands). Today, Trip Villain released their new dance-punk single/title track “Won.” This is the third single off their upcoming debut LP, Won, which drops February 22nd. Accompanying the single is a live in-studio performance of the song shot at Rad Hazard Studios.
Guitarist Josh Musto and drummer Damien Moffitt share “The title track, ‘Won’ was the first jam we came up with as Trip Villain. The prompt we gave ourselves was ‘heavy, sexy, dancey,’ and once our friend, Trip-Pop artist, Leach recorded a guest vocal, it gelled beautifully. Lyrically, ‘Won’ is about breaking free from bad relationships and controlling your own destiny.
An instant digital download via Bandcamp of the three singles “Won”/ “The Villain”/”Is This Love?” comes with a preorder of either the digital album Won or the two-track 7″ flexi-disc of “The Villain” & “Ego Death.”
The 7” Flexi-Disc is two tracks (The Villain, Ego Death) and comes with a full album download via Bandcamp. 7” Flexi-Discs will not ship until late-March.
Trip Villain explains“Won is the culmination of the two of us playing together in various bands since we were thirteen. We wanted to make an album that punches as hard as the riffy metal bands we grew up with, but with the emotional depth and synthy sparkle of the psychedelic music we’re influenced by as adults. Since most of these songs were born out of improvised jams, our seventeen years of musical chemistry is front and center. The sound we ended up with lands somewhere between the metallic grooves of Helmet and the tripped out ecstasy of The Flaming Lips, all with a deep reverence for the almighty RIFF.”
Two previously released singles from the upcoming album, Won, “Is This Love?” and “The Villain”are also currently streaming HERE on Spotify
