Shoegaze – Page 8 – 7th Level Music

GIFT encourage us to practice mindfulness on their new single – “Share the Present.”

Brooklyn-based GIFT unveils “Share The Present,” the new single from their forthcoming album, Momentary Presence, out October 14th on Dedstrange. Following previous singles “Feather” and “Gumball Garden,” “Share the Present” stays grounded with solid motorik riffs and airy 80s-inspired synths making a comfortable bed for bandleader TJ Freda’s gentle affirmations. Freda explains, “Sharing the present is being in the present moment. Not looking towards the future or dwelling on the past. Being present is the most important thing you can do when you are feeling down. ‘Don’t look back, you’ll fall down’ don’t dwell on the past of who you were. Look to the present moment and appreciate who you are and where you’re going.” This ethos is central to Momentary Presence, a chronicle of the plight to stay present, and a celebration of the eternal now.

Watch “Share The Present”

Composed of Freda and his bandmates Jessica Gurewitz, Kallan Campbell, Justin Hrabovsky, and Cooper Naess, GIFT have a knack for conjuring soundscapes that are simultaneously turbulent and gorgeous. GIFT’s debut album, Momentary Presence, is a natural match for Dedstrange, the new label co-founded by Oliver Ackermann of New York City noise-rock and psychedelic legends A Place to Bury Strangers and Death by Audio. Inspired by Be Here Now, the 1971 spiritual guide and counterculture landmark by guru Ram Dass, Momentary Presence is a meditation on working through the anxiety and self doubt that we all, at one point, carry.

Momentary Presence introduces TJ Freda as a sorcerous and versatile home-recording engineer. GIFT’s full-length debut contains recordings that seem to tease something seismic coming around the corner, as well as dense, layered productions that feel complete, definitive, and impermeable. Can you open yourself up and appreciate it in its fullness – the ugliness and confusion as well as the beauty and joy? The members of GIFT believe you can. Together, they share the quest for perfect sound, harmony during times of trouble, and radical openness.

Watch:
“Share The Present”
“Feather”
“Gumball Garden”

Pre-order Momentary Presence

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Don’t be a “Stranger” to Ruth Radelet’s new single.

Today, Los Angeles-based artist Ruth Radelet announces her debut EP, The Other Side, out October 7th. Today, she presents its lead single/video, the cinematic ballad “Stranger.” Best known for fronting the influential and beloved group Chromatics, Ruth solidifies her next chapter as a solo artist with The Other Side. Written over the course of two years and recorded with friend and producer Filip Nikolic (formerly of Poolside), The Other Side showcases Radelet’s timeless voice and classic take on songwriting.

Following the single “Crimes,” “her ethereal and poignant debut” (Gorilla vs. Bear), “Stranger” is a love letter to LA. The stark black-and-white video, directed by James Manson and shot on 16mm Kodak film by Freddie Whitman, features Ruth exploring the city alone. “Stranger” is about a specific kind of loneliness that I have only felt in Los Angeles. Although the song is very much about longing, it’s more about a place than a person,” she elaborates. “The lyric ‘I could never hold you in my hands’ is about the feeling of always being on the outside looking in, of the city never fully opening its doors to me.”

Watch Ruth Radelet’s Video for “Stranger”

Exploring themes of love, death, and rebirth, “The Other Side represents a side of my personality as an artist that most people haven’t seen until now,” explains Radelet. “It also represents my coming out the other side of a traumatic experience, gathering what I could from ‘Before’ and figuring out how to exist ‘After.’ This record was forged in the fire of a transformative two-year period during which I lost almost everything, including my father who was a huge influence on me. Most of the songs were written just before I was caught up in a storm of big changes, and they were all finished just as life started to feel sweet again. It feels right to share some of the last chapter before moving into the next, and though it’s a melancholy record, for me The Other Side is a step into a bigger and brighter future.”

Radelet is a singer, songwriter, and musician with diverse influences ranging from Joni Mitchell to Frank Ocean. She has been performing and releasing music for over a decade since joining Chromatics in 2006 for their acclaimed album Night Drive released the following year. Chromatics’ music and aesthetic has notably been used in numerous films, television series, and fashion shows. The band appeared on screen in multiple episodes of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return while Radelet was recently featured on a Chromatics’ 2020 remix of the Weeknd’s #1 hit single, “Blinding Lights.”

Listen to “Crimes”

The Other Side Tracklist
1. Stranger
2. Sometimes
3. Crimes
4. Be Careful
5. Youth

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Yuri at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Babehoven gets dreamy with their new single – “Stand It.”

Last month, Hudson, NY-based band Babehoven announced their debut album, Light Moving Time, out October 28th on Double Double Whammy. Today, they present a new single/video, “Stand It.” There’s an incredible emotional intelligence across Light Moving Time, and this glows throughout “Stand It.” Maya Bon verbalizes an imperfect yet loving relationship that burns bright, but may no longer serve the people involved. Its sonics are coated with My Bloody Valentine’s wobbly shoegaze, as she sings: “I wish there’s something that I could say / I love you but I hate you anyway / I’d rather stand outside getting old / Then learn to love and let you go.” The glitchy, atmospheric accompanying video was made by Babehoven’s Ryan Albert.

“As time moves forward, I feel the fractures deeper: home, bonds, semblances of familial care that slip away from me,” says Bon. “‘Stand It’ is about trying to push through the challenges to be there for one another, to call out for support, to sift through the losses and find the humanity within the dysfunction.”

Watch Babehoven’s Video for “Stand It”
Bon views light as one of life’s few fundamental truths. In times of pain, we often look to simple things we can rely on, and light is as reliable as they come. Light Moving Timerevolves around Bon’s view of life as a confusing, jarring, and kaleidoscopic experience filled with contradictions, loss, and change, so it’s no wonder Bon often looks to light — not so much for specific answers, but as a pillar of continuity and a marker of time. The album encompasses tributes to loved ones and the power of community, experiences of trauma, and explorations of changing relationships, with self-reflections scattered throughout. It’s less about how to deal with pain and more about how we all experience life as a simultaneously cruel, beautiful, and illogical beast — full of complex emotions and a perpetual sense of subjectivity that leaves us unsure of what’s real. But Bon is reassured by the fact that all of us are capable of generosity and a level of connection that’s impossible to articulate with words.

Bon has built a solid partnership with her Albert, her musical collaborator producer, over the last few years, releasing several EPs since 2018. On their full-length, songs alternate seamlessly across styles – some have the wispy ambient calm of a Liz Harris track, another contains the plucky indie-folk warmth of Hovvdy, and lead single “I’m On Your Team” falls somewhere between a flowy country song and an ‘80s power ballad. Light Moving Time rests on lyrics that zoom in and out, inviting listeners to bring their own experiences to these songs when her writing is more cryptic and stew in the moments when Bon presents her entire heart on a platter.

Watch Babehoven’s Video for “I’m On Your Team”

Pre-order Light Moving Time

Babehoven Tour Dates
(new dates in bold)
Thu. Oct. 20 – Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s ^
Fri. Oct. 21 – Syracuse, NY @ Westcott Theater ^
Sat. Oct. 22 – Ithaca, NY @ Deep Dive ^
Sun. Oct. 23 – Buffalo, NY @ Rec Room ^
Thu. Oct. 27 – Catskill, NY @ Avalon Lounge
Sat. Oct. 29 – Allston, MA @ Tourist Trap
Sat. Nov. 5 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool
Fri. Nov. 11 – Washington, DC @ DC9 *
Sat. Nov. 12 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s *
Wed. Nov. 16 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB *
Thu. Nov. 17 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison *
Fri. Nov. 18 – Windsor, ON @ Phog Lounge
Sat. Nov. 19 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop *
Sun. Nov. 20 – Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village *
Wed. Nov. 30 – San Francisco, CA @ Cafe du Nord *
Fri. Dec. 2 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza *
Sat. Dec. 3 – Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall *
Sat. Dec. 10 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon

^w/ Mikaela Davis
*w/ Skullcrusher

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jim and Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]

A Place to Bury Strangers set to release deluxe reissue of “Exploding Head.”

Just in time for its thirteenth anniversary, A Place to Bury Strangers will release a deluxe two-disc reissue of their excellent album Exploding Head on October 21, 2022.

The original album is fully remastered and will be available on limited edition transparent vinyl 2LP, transparent red 1LP and deluxe 2CD. The 2LP version is available exclusively via A Place To Bury Strangers merch stores and features second disc of rarities and remixes.

Watch the new video for previously unreleased ‘Take It All’ here:

The band will also be touring Spain and Asia this November!

Keep your mind open.

[My head might explode if you don’t subscribe.]

[Thanks to Steven at Dedstrange.]

Tan Cologne take us to a lovely “Space in the Palms” with their new single.

As TAN COLOGNE head to Italy to kick off their European tour with a residency at Pescetrullo in Puglia, today they have shared a final pre-release track from their forthcoming new album ‘Earth Visions Of Water Spaces’, set for release on September 9th on Labrador Records.

Continuing the expansive, gravity-defying psychedelia on the New Mexico duo’s second album, latest single “Space In The Palms” shows a delicately brooding, woozy side to the record. The band comment: “Space in the Palms” is about a day we spent on a secluded beach in Baja Mexico where wild horses ran free and played in the waves and found relief from the sun under naturally formed palm huts. There was a small stone structure on the path to the beach that plants and elements had eroded and taken over. We eventually found the beach after many palm tree observations and mile marker searches. The beach was found off of a dirt road that descended from an old highway. It was like a treasure. This song is about that space. While recording guitars, we experienced a major lightning storm in New Mexico.”

Listen to “Space In The Palms”:https://song.link/i/1636678302

Listening to the ethereal, spangled, psychedelic grandeur at the heart of ‘Earth Visions Of Water Spaces’, it feels appropriate that Tan Cologne reside and record amid the sparse, almost lunar landscapes of Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico. Their weightless songs appear to defy gravity, with the voices of Lauren Green and Marissa Macias floating in an empty sky while guitars shimmer on a distant horizon. That said, these same songs feel fluid, almost aqueous, their evolution unhurried as they ripple gracefully towards the skyline. It’s no surprise, therefore, to discover the album’s central theme, one highlighted by its name and more than a few of its song titles, because it’s inspired by something precious to all who live in such environments.

“We would like listeners to feel they are submerged within or near the presence of water,” the duo says. “The entire album is about water: droplets of water, atmospheric exchanges of water, and the transformation of Earth by and through water. We were drawn to this through finding shells within the desert landscape. We also read a story in the newspaper about a 300-million-year-old shark fossil found in the mountains in New Mexico thirty miles southwest of Albuquerque. There’s a lot to consider in reflecting on where the Earth’s path has been, and where and what it may be, water of course being the vital experience for existence.”

Green and Macias began recording their second album, the follow-up to 2020’s ‘Cave Vaults On The Moon In New Mexico’, in the summer of 2021 at their home, a relatively remote location. Swimming became an important daily ritual, as did gardening and visiting a nearby dry river bed, where they wrote recent single “Topaz Wave”, in whose video it can be seen. “The sides of the arroyo walls are shaped like curved waves,” they say, “reflecting the experience of tidal and earth transformation, and how the desert land was once ocean.”

The rest of each day was spent writing and recording. Tan Cologne are an entirely self-contained unit, responsible for every sound on the record, sharing vocal, guitar, lap steel, synths and percussion duties, with Green adding drums, bass, autoharp, and melodica and Macias keyboards as well as bouzouki, not to mention the artwork’s photography. At all times, however, their proximity to nature and the ferocity of its elements made its own crucial contribution to the record’s development. “The summers in New Mexico have major monsoons and lightning storms,” they explain. “Most of the recording was done during moody and wild weather in days full of contrast, from lightning storms to dust devils to snow. The album was created to tell stories of water on Earth, with all of its songs being reflections of past, present, and future civilisations.”

“The present and future being of Earth’s water and lands are an ever-present concern and prayer cycle for us,” they conclude. “The fires in the western United States are becoming omnipresent, and everything feels different and, at times, bleak. We hope humanity can shift to care for and heal our Mother Earth together.” ‘Earth Visions of Water Spaces’ is consequently the work of a band who’ve seen first-hand the crisis unfolding around us, and it’s a vivid, ingenious and aptly atmospheric reminder of what’s at stake. There’s really no excuse not to dive in.

‘Earth Visions Of Water Spaces’ will be released on September 9th via Labrador Records.

Tan Cologne live dates:
September 2 – Pescetrullo (Artist residency performance) – Ostuni, Italy
September 9 – Landet – Stockholm, Sweden
September 10 – (Day) at Delicious Goldfish Records – Stockholm, Sweden
September 10 – (Night) at Patricia (boat show) – Stockholm, Sweden
September 13 – Kazimier Stockroom w/ Sunstack Jones – Liverpool, UK
September 14 – Abbeydale Picture House w/ Bobby Lee – Sheffield, UK
September 16 – The Betsey Trotwood – London, UK
September 18 – La Pointe Lafayette – Paris, France

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

Pink Frost return with title track from new album, “Until the Summer Comes.”

Chicago band Pink Frost announce their first new album in 5 years today, sharing the video for the title track from their forthcoming album Until The Summer Comes via Brooklyn Vegan. Watch and share the high production value video directed by Chris Hershman (Alabama Shakes, Wynonna Judd) for “Until The Summer Comes” HERE. (Direct YouTube.) Pre-order/pre-save Linktree.

“It was a new torture, the waiting,” says Pink Frost vocalist/guitarist Adam Lukas.

When life suddenly froze for all of us, it wasn’t the downtime that was unbearable, it was the growing uncertainty as time dragged on that all of our loose threads would ever be connected.

The Chicago band had just completed recording their fourth album — splitting the studio time with sister band Touched By Ghoul (whose 2020 Cancel The World album title proved prophetic) — when plans to reconvene in France with longtime engineer Gregoire Yeche to mix in April 2020 became impossible.

When Gregoire eventually returned to Chicago in 2021, life in limbo seemed the new normal. Yet, the band felt somehow liberated. “We were like ‘F**k it, let’s make our dream record,’” Lukas says. “We went in depth in a way we never have before. There are no compromises on this album. No cringeworthy oversights. We almost lost our minds doing it, but I’m happy we did.”

Indeed, the 9-song album is a feast of hooks and subtle transformations that shows both a slight return to the band’s previous indie-punk take on Smashing Pumpkins style oversized alt-rock, and their ever-growing palette of shoegaze, drone and anthemic rock. There’s even an almost peak NIN, Wax Trax industrial vibe to some tracks that underscores how the band continues to wield new ideas.

“We lost (guitarist) Paige Sandlin during the pandemic,” Lukas says. “But gained Angela from Touched By Ghoul, who now plays guitar and contributed some vocals on the LP, and brings a whole new excitement to the live show.”

Until The Summer Comes was recorded in Chicago at Steve Albini’s legendary Electrical Audio with longtime engineer Gregoire Yeche, just as the band has done on New Minds (2017), Sundowning (2013) and the Traitors EP (2014). “Electrical Audio is almost like another member of the band at this point,” Lukas says. “There is a purity to their method that captures the essence of the performance and preserves it in this magical 3-D way.”

The album opens with the title track’s thumping toms in a marching rhythm, soon joined by buzzing fuzz guitars before the whole song erupts in a huge chorus with chunky guitars reminiscent of peak Downward Spiral era NIN. “Two Faces” is an explosive diatribe driven home by bassist Alex Shumard’s lunging 4-string. “On A Clear Day (You Can See The End of The World)” sets a Beatles-esque acoustic guitar led melody atop psychedelic haze and rollicking drums. “Halo” serves up a lush shoegaze ballad in which drummer Nate Furstenau nods to My Bloody Valentine’s hybrid of drum machines and live drums for powerful effect. “Feed The Hungry Bee” closes the album with a repetitively building tension that leads into a dramatic finish that’s certain to be a live favorite.

Pink Frost’s previous albums received an onslaught of praise from such revered outlets as Pitchfork, SPIN, Noisey, Brooklyn Vegan, Magnet Magazine and Chicago Reader, as well as song placements in a feature film (“The Lookalike”), TV’s Shameless, The Rookie, The Vampire Diaries, CSI: Miami and more. In December 2015, Pink Frost released a completely remixed, rethought and remastered version of their debut album Gargoyle Days, originally issued under the band’s former name Apteka.

Until The Summer Comes will be available on LP, CD and download on September 16th, 2022 via Under Road Records. Pre-orders are available HERE.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to US / THEM Group.]

Cold Gawd gets dreamy on their new single,”You Should Be Fine Down There.”

Cold Gawd is the flag under which California-based multi-instrumentalist Matt Wainwright creates stormy, wounded shoegaze music born of open tunings and R&B melodies. Inspired by these sounds, Cold Gawd presents a refined, modernized take on the genre.

Wainwright cites the thematic common ground between shoegaze and R&B as a central muse, both obsessively fixated on love, lust, and longing, in forms alternately grandiose and minor key. Lyrically, God Get Me The Fuck Out Of Here sways between oblique and desperate, yearning and resigned – with the exception of “Comfort Thug,” a brooding, largely improvised spoken word piece inspired by the notable lack of black musicians in shoegaze.

Cold Gawd is here to change that. God Get Me The Fuck Out Of Here — set for release on September 23rd via Dais Records— channels malaise and melancholy into gauzy, galvanized anthems of escape, change, and introspection. Today, Cold Gawd has unveiled the album’s lush, introspective second single “You Should Be Fine Down There.”

Listen to (+ share) “You Should Be Fine Down There” on YouTube.

God Get Me The Fuck Out Of Here took shape in the winter of 2020 while Wainwright was working long solo shifts at a coffee shop in Chicago. Fueled by dreams of returning to his hometown of Rancho Cucamonga and reconnecting with old friends from past hardcore bands, Wainright holed up with his coveted pink Jazzmaster, an array of FX pedals, and a laptop, and wrote the entire album in a month. In March of 2021 he made the move, heading back west to the Inland Empire, where he booked sessions with Gabe Largaespada at Open Ocean to track and mix.

Despite recording every instrument himself, the results have the lived-in feel of a practiced live band (which Cold Gawd now are, fleshed into a six-piece). Cascading walls of guitar churn, surge, and ripple, framed by sunken rhythms and Wainright’s distant, defeated voice, veiled in violet haze.

Pre-order Cold Gawd’s God Get Me The Fuck Out Of Here here. Revisit the music video for album’s first single “Sweet Jesus Wept Shit”.

Keep your mind open.

[You should be fine when you subscribe.]

[Thanks to Stephanie at Indie Publicity.]

WSND set list – Deep Dive of Failure

Thanks to all who listened to my Deep Dive of Failure. Here’s the set list!

Failure – Stuck on You
The Cure – Fascination Street
Joy Division – Disorder
Failure – Count My Eyes (demo version)
Failure – Pro-Catastrophe
Failure – Macaque (live)
AC / DC – Girl’s Got Rhythm
Failure – Undone
Failure – Moth (demo version)
The Replicants – Just What I Needed
Failure – Saturday Savior
Failure – Another Space Song (live)
ON – Soluble Words
Year of the Rabbit – Last Defense
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Ha Ha High Babe
Chris Cornell – You Know My Name
Lusk – Backworlds
Autolux – Plantlife
Blinker the Star – Below the Sliding Doors
Failure – Come Crashing
Failure – Hot Traveler
Failure – Heavy and Blind
Failure – Headstand
Failure – Mercury Mouth

Next week’s deep dive will cover Kraftwerk! Come get weird!

Keep your mind open.

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

Cold Gawd drop a shoegaze stunner with debut single, “Sweet Jesus Wept Shit.”

Today, Cold Gawd announce details for their Dais Records debut album, set for release on September 23rd. The group’s second collection, God Get Me The Fuck Out Of Here, took shape in the winter of 2020 while Wainwright was working long solo shifts at a coffee shop in Chicago. Fueled by dreams of returning to his hometown of Rancho Cucamonga and reconnecting with old friends from past hardcore bands, Wainright holed up with his coveted pink Jazzmaster, an array of FX pedals, and a laptop, and wrote the entire album in a month. In March of 2021 he made the move, heading back west to the Inland Empire, where he booked sessions with Gabe Largaespada at Open Ocean to track and mix.

Watch (+ share) the video for God Get Me The Fuck Out Of Here‘s first single “Sweet Jesus Wept Shit” on YouTube.

Wainwright cites the thematic common ground between shoegaze and R&B as a central muse, both obsessively fixated on love, lust, and longing, in forms alternately grandiose and minor key. Lyrically, the album sways between oblique and desperate, yearning and resigned – with the exception of “Comfort Thug,” a brooding, largely improvised spoken word piece inspired by the notable lack of black musicians in shoegaze.

Cold Gawd is here to change that. God Get Me The Fuck Out Of Here channels malaise and melancholy into gauzy, galvanized anthems of escape, change, and introspection. The crushing closing cut, “Passing Through the Opposite of What It Approaches,” heaves and hovers like looming storm clouds, beneath which Wainright sings (and bandmate Arturo Ramirez screams) as close to a mission statement as the album offers: “leave what you know / and get grown / everyday / remember / why you left.”

Pre-order God Get Me The Fuck Out Of Here here and look for more music and news to surface soon from Cold Gawd.

Keep your mind open.

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

[Thanks to Stephanie at Indie Publicity.]

Live: Failure – Bottom Lounge – Chicago, IL – July 01, 2022

I hadn’t seen Failure live since 1997 – when Lollapalooza still toured. They played the second stage late in the date and put on a killer set – one of the best of the festival. I got to meet three of the (at the time) four lads – Ken Andrews, Kellii Scott, Greg Edwards, and Tory Van Leeuwen (who would later go on to join Queens of the Stone Age) – after their set, where they signed their photo in the festival program.

Fast forward twenty-five years later, and Failure were now back with three new albums of original material, a live album, four EPs, and numerous side projects. They’d also done a couple tours by now, and I missed one due to illness. I wasn’t going to miss this show at Chicago’s Bottom Lounge, and when they offered a VIP experience for a great price, I jumped on it.

There were twenty-three of us there for the VIP experience a full four and a half hours before Failure went on stage. We had early access to the merch table (and our own exclusive VIP merch), but even better – a meet and greet with the band and the opportunity to watch their three-song sound check.

Sound check. L-R: Greg Edwards, Kellii Scott, Ken Andrews

Afterward, we got to hang out with Failure for nearly two hours. They chatted with all of us, signed anything we asked them to sign (and some things they requested to sign – i.e., “Let me sign your VIP badge!”), and posed for a photo with each of us. We heard plenty of stories about the making of their new album Wild Type Droid (review coming soon), possible re-releases of side projects, and how the pandemic affected their touring schedule and everything else. They were extremely gracious and kind to everyone there. The highlight of the meet and greet for me was being able to tell each of them how much “Another Space Song” (from their 1995 masterpiece Fantastic Planet) has come to mean to me since my wife’s death in 2021. I choked up with each telling of the story, and all of them were thankful to hear how the song has become one of hope for me.

Best dressed at the VIP experience and the show. She hand-painted this, and the band loved it.

Yours truly, still trying not to choke up while thanking Failure one more time.

We had time after the meet and greet to drop off our merch at our vehicles and come back for a bite and / or a drink at the Bottom Lounge’s restaurant before heading in for the main show – which was either a sell-out or a near sell-out. The place was packed.

Their opening act was a half-hour clip of the upcoming documentary about the band, which made even more eager to see it. The addition of the Ren & Stimpy episode “Space Madness” before their set was also a nice, fun touch – as a lot of the band’s music has themes of space, the cosmos, and the effects of both on one’s mind.

They came out gunning with tracks like “Submarines,” “Macaque,” and “Frogs,” spanning some of their earliest material to their newest. I’d forgotten how powerful they are live, and their sound engineers did a top-notch job. Greg Edwards’ guitar tones are like the sound of magic happening in front of you, Kellii Scott has some of the best chops of any drummer in all of rock, and Ken Andrews’ bass riffs were sometimes so heavy it sounded like Failure had become a doom metal band.

The crowd was bonkers by the time they were at “Counterfeit Sky.” The power they were generating could’ve lit up a Las Vegas casino marquee. They saved multiple tracks from Fantastic Planet for their encore – and, yes, I did cry when they played “Another Space Song.”

Greg Edwards and Ken Andrews would switch bass and lead guitar so many times that it was easy to lose count of them all.

Everyone left with a buzz pin their bodies and / or ears. This was the best show I’ve seen so far this year, and I will always be thankful to Failure for offering the VIP experience to us beforehand. Don’t miss them if they come near you.

Thanks to the kind lady who let me take this photo of the set list she scored.

VIP stuff and everything Failure signed for me.

Keep your mind open.

[Thanks also to the mighty Rebecca, who ran the VIP experience and worked hard for everyone.]

[Don’t fail to subscribe.]