Month: January 2018

Shopping – The Official Body

Are you shopping for Valentine’s Day gifts?  Do you need something for your lover who hates everything played on commercial radio, or your husband who loves 80’s music, or your wife who enjoys funk and dance rock, or yourself?   Let me save you some time: Buy them The Official Body by Shopping.

Consisting of just three members (Rachel Aggs – guitar and vocals, Billy Easter – bass and vocals, Andrew Milk – drums and vocals), Shopping’s third full-length is the grooviest post-punk album I’ve heard all year.  The opener, “The Hype” (which you’d better believe with this band), begins with a Bow Wow Wow-like drum count before the three of them put down a groove that instantly gets you moving.  I love their vocals bounce off each other like they took lessons from the B-52’s.

“Wild Child” (a song about keeping up appearances) continues the dance grooves (and Easter’s killer bass work), but brings in some subtle synths into the mix.  The use of synths is frequent throughout the record and brings even more of a dance-punk feel to the album.  Aggs’ guitar on “Asking for a Friend” is bouncy and tight, which is difficult to pull off, but she seems to do it with ease.  “Suddenly Gone” is a sharp song about Aggs’ struggles of being black and queer in an industry dominated by straight white dudes.

Milk sings about losing one’s sense of self  on “Shave Your Head” while Aggs’ guitar chatters over his typewriter-like beats.  The synth bass on “Discover” is a bit jarring at first, but I love the darkness it brings to a song about being desperate for attention.  “Control Yourself,” despite its title, will get your toes tapping before you realize it (thanks in large part to Milk’s wicked beat).  I also love the chorus of “I know what I like, and I like what I know.”  It sums up the (closed) mindset of many these days.

Aggs’ guitar work on “My Dad’s a Dancer” is a bit Middle Eastern and her vocals about bigotry (i.e., “Would you like me if I looked like you?”) are sharp as a knife.  “New Values” begins with synth bass that reminds me of weird 1990’s 16-bit video games, but Easter’s vocals are solidly in the modern world.  “Overtime” seamlessly blends the synths and the traditional instruments as it builds in tempo toward an exhilarating finish to the record.

I’ve been on a post-punk kick all year, and The Official Body is a great kick-off to 2018 for me and the genre.  Don’t let it slip by you.

Keep your mind open.

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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Wrong Creatures

I’ve been looking forward to Wrong Creatures, the new album from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, for a while.  I was interested to hear how they’d follow up Spectre at the Feast – an album that dealt with loss and upheaval following the death of bassist / vocalist Robert Been‘s father, and how they’d bounce back after drummer Leah Shapiro was diagnosed with a brain disease and had to undergo surgery (from which, thankfully, she’s fully recovered).

The new album is mellower than some of their past material, but no less haunting.  Most the tracks have names that evoke images of ghosts, shadows, dreams, or the unknown.  After a brief instrumental opener (“DFF,” which almost sounds like a haunted train station), the first full track is “Spook.”  It starts with that rough, almost spaghetti western soundtrack guitar (from co-vocalist and guitarist Peter Hayes) that BRMC does so well and I’m happy to say that Ms. Shapiro is still able to lay down serious beats.  The lyrics mention dead cities falling into ruin.  One of the first lyrics on “King of Bones” mentions living on borrowed time.  Been’s fuzzed bass growls through the entire track.

“Haunt” comes after it, with Hayes taking lead vocals on what almost becomes a western-twinged ballad.  “Echo” is aptly named.  Sometimes it’s big and bold, other times it’s quiet and distant.  “Ninth Configuration,” with its rainstorm-like guitar work (some of Hayes’ best on the record), lies somewhere between shoegaze and dream pop.  “I’ll give you what you want if you promise you’ll keep walking away,” Been sings on the wicked “Question of Faith” – a song about obsession and heartbreak.

“Calling Them All Away” sprinkles in what sounds like a sitar with Hayes’ droning guitar and Been’s humming bass.  The piano in it is another nice touch.  “Little Thing Gone Wild” is a scorcher, with Hayes shredding harmonica and guitar and Shapiro sounding like she’s beating her kit to make up for the time she lost while recovering from surgery.  Another aptly named track is “Circus Bazooko.”  It has this slightly creepy circus sideshow organ riff throughout it while Hayes swaggers, Been grooves, and Shapiro puts on a precision clinic.

“Carried from the Start” brings back the wall of fuzz BRMC mastered a long time ago while Shapiro’s beats border on Native American pow-wow rhythms before hammering out solid rock riffs.  The album ends with “All Rise,” a slow burn of a track that builds to stadium rock levels (and includes violin!).

It’s nice to hear BRMC stretching their muscles.  Not counting the instrumental “DFF,” the shortest song on this album is 3:19.  It’s also nice to hear them embracing the soft and the hard, which are found in all of the album’s themes (death, sex, love, etc.).

Keep your mind open.

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Red River Dialect shares first Pink Floyd-like single, “Gull Rock,” from upcoming album.

RED RIVER DIALECT SHARES “GULL ROCK,” NEW SINGLE TAKEN OFF UPCOMING ALBUM BROKEN STAY OPEN SKY OUT FEBRUARY 2ND VIA PARADISE OF BACHELORS
https://youtu.be/9xeRP526kq0
“Fuses folk-rock’s past with its future. Red River Dialect is a language open to all.” – The Quietus“Strangely life-affirming sorrow … a tribute to the power of healing and reconciliation.” – All Music

Red River Dialect will release their sophomore album, Broken Stay Open Sky, on February 2nd via Paradise of Bachelors. After presenting the “rhapsodic” (NPR Music) lead single “Kukkuripa,” the band now shares “Gull Rock” described by Uproxx as “frenzied [and] fantastic.”“The cover photograph portrays Gull Rock, as seen from Trebarwith Strand in North Cornwall. Once I had seen this image, the work of Dayna Cowper, it would not leave my imagination, and I hoped it could become a part of this album. Initially I wanted to conceal it inside the album’s sleeve; a double-lurking cave on an inside horizon of childhood memories. But it would not stay hidden, and strangely it shone through every other proposal for the cover.”
-David Morris

The London-based Red River Dialect (with Cornish roots) brings a windswept energy and daylight to a contemplative, gorgeously rendered suite of songs about inhabiting the landscape, and our bodies, in joy and pain alike. Informed by songwriter David Morris’s spiritual practice, and recorded largely live in the studio, this is the band’s most ambitious and emotionally affecting work to date: atmospheric but deeply rooted, equally concerned with investigating the concrete and the cosmic, both quiet details of the everyday and looming matters of faith.

Listen to Red River Dialect’s “Gull Rock” –
https://youtu.be/9xeRP526kq0
Listen to Red River Dialects’ “Kukkuripa” –
Pre-order Broken Stay Open Sky:
Via PoB – http://www.paradiseofbachelors.com/pob-039
Other options – http://smarturl.it/PoB39

L7 – Detroit (live)

There aren’t many better ways to start a new year than a release from L7, and it’s ever better when it’s a recording of a crazy 1990 live show in Detroit.  Detroit begins with the band apologizing for arriving late, co-lead vocalist and guitarist Donita Sparks making fun of a drunk guy in the crowd, and then having issues with guitarist / co-lead vocalist Suzi Gardner‘s microphone before unleashing a sonic assault with “Fast and Frightening.”  Thankfully, Gardner’s microphone works just fine for “(Right on) Thru” as she belts out the vocals like a professional boxer.

“Scrap” chugs along like a monster truck.  “Broomstick” is a forgotten metal classic.  “Packin’ a Rod” seems to fly by at 100mph (and ends with more great banter of Sparks taking down the rude drunk).  The inclusion of one of their earliest hits, “Cat-O’-Nine-Tails” is a welcome one, and the first time I’ve heard it live.  It’s crazier (and better) than I’d hoped it would be.  “Deathwish” is like a saw slicing through a log while the lumber mill is being swarmed by killer bees.  It ends with more fun banter like Sparks promising she’ll learn how to play guitar before their next tour.

“Till the Wheels Fall Off” has drummer Dee Plakas going bonkers through the whole track and probably terrifying most of the men in the crowd.  Gardner’s vocals on “Shove” are, as always, more like a hockey check than a push.  They end on “Bloodstains” before coming back for a fiery encore.  They initially offer to take requests, but that quickly devolves into drunken chaos in the crowd and Sparks dealing with tuner problems.  Bassist Jennifer Finch briefly teases playing some Black Sabbath before they announce “This is really going to suck, but we’re gonna do it anyway,” and launch into “Shitlist.”  This was when “Shitlist” hadn’t reached its levels of popularity that it has today.  This is the first time I’ve heard reverb effects on Sparks’ vocals (as she dedicates the song to her broken tuner), and they push her voice to the back wall of the venue.

Detroit is a welcome edition to L7‘s catalogue, and a nice time capsule of raw 1990’s rock.  By the way, they haven’t lost a thing.  They still hit as hard almost thirty years later.

Keep your mind open.

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Suuns’ new album, “Felt,” is due March 2nd, but the first single is out now.

Suuns Announce New Album, Felt, Out March 2nd On Secretly Canadian

Watch Video For Lead Single “Watch You, Watch Me”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUCtZNoj_ww

[Photo by Joseph Yarmush]

Suuns are pleased to announce their new album, Felt, coming out March 2nd on Secretly Canadian. Singer/guitarist Ben Shemie says, “This record is definitely looser than our last one [2016’s Hold/Still]. It’s not as clinical. There’s more swagger.” You can hear this freedom flowing through the 11 tracks on Felt. It’s both a continuation and rebirth, the Montreal quartet returning to beloved local facility Breakglass Studios (where they cut their first two albums [Zeroes QC and Images Du Futur] with Jace Lasek of The Besnard Lakes) but this time recording themselves at their own pace, over five fertile sessions spanning several months. A simultaneous stretching out and honing in, mixed to audiophile perfection by St Vincent producer John Congleton (helmer of Hold/Still), who flew up especially from Dallas to deploy his award-winning skills in situ.

Felt lead single “Watch You, Watch Me” debuts today via NPR Music. The song showcases an organic/synthetic rush that builds and builds atop drummer Liam O’Neill’s elevatory rhythm. O’Neill exclaims, “It was different and exciting. In the past, there was a more concerted effort on my part to drum in a controlled and genre-specific way. Self-consciously approaching things stylistically. Us doing it ourselves, that process was like a very receptive, limitless workshop to just try out ideas.”

Complementing O’Neill are the ecstatic, Harmonia-meets-Game Boy patterns unleashed by electronics mastermind Max Henry. Eschewing presets, Henry devised fresh sounds for each song on Felt while also becoming a default musical director, orchestrating patches and oscillations. Quietly enthusing about “freaky post-techno” and Frank Ocean’s use of space, he’s among your more modest studio desk jockeys: “Yeah, I sat in the control room while the others played – hitting ‘record’ and ‘stop’. It also gave me the flexibility to move parts around and play with effects. I do have a sweet tooth for pop music.”

Accompanying “Watch You, Watch Me” is a video directed by Russ Murphy. “Often we think we know peoples’ faces well, especially casual acquaintances but when we stop and really stare at them they start to look different to us,” says Murphy. “I wanted the video to give you that slightly odd feeling and also the uncomfortable feeling of being watched. Mainly I wanted it to be a crazy, frenetic & unsettling like the track itself.”

Suuns are proud of their roots in Canada’s most socialist province, whilst not sounding quite like anything else the city has produced. Quebecois natives Shemie and Joseph Yarmush founded the group just over a decade ago, the latter having moved to Montreal from a nearby village. The only member not to be formally schooled in jazz, guitarist Yarmush studied photography and utilized his visual training to help realize Shemie’s novel concept for the eye-catching album artwork.

“I was at a barbecue last summer and there were balloons everywhere,” recalls the singer. “I like this idea of pressure, resistance, and pushing against something just before it brakes. And there is something strangely subversive about a finger pushing into a balloon. It seemed to fit the vibe of the record we were making. We made plaster casts of our hands, going for a non-denominational statue vibe. Joe came up with the colour scheme, the sickly green background, and shot the whole cover in an hour.”

It’s a suitably outré image for Felt, which breaks with Suuns’ earlier darkness for a more optimistic ambience. The record’s playful atmosphere is echoed by its double meaning title. “Some people might think of the material,” muses Ben. “I like that that could be misconstrued. Also it’s to have felt and not to feel – a little introspective, but that feeling’s in the past.”

Watch Suuns’ “Watch You, Watch Me” Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUCtZNoj_ww
Felt Tracklist:
1. Look No Further
2. X-ALT
3. Watch You, Watch Me
4. Baseline
5. After the Fall
6. Control
6. Make It Real
8. Daydream
9. Peace and Love
10. Moonbeams
11. Materials
Tour Dates:
Fri. Feb. 9 – St-Casimir, Canada @ La Taverne
Fri. Feb. 16 – Trois-Rivieres, Canada @ Le Zenob
Sat. Feb. 17 – Gatineau, Canada @ Le Minotaure
Sat. Mar. 3 – Guadalajara, Mexico @ Festin de Los Munecos
Wed. Mar. 7 – St-Hyacinthe, Canada @ Le Zaricot
Sun. Mar. 25 – Knoxville, Tennessee @ BIG EARS FESTIVAL
Thu. Mar. 29 – Rome, Italy @ Monk Club
Fri. Mar. 30 – Milan, Italy @ Magnolia
Sat. Mar. 31 – Winterthur, Switzerland @ Salzhaus
Sun. Apr. 1 – Marseille, France @ Espace Julien
Tue. Apr. 3 – Saint-Malo, France @ Nouvelle Vague
Wed. Apr. 4 – Paris, France @ Elysee Montmarte
               Thu. Apr. 5 – London, United Kingdom @ Scala
Fri. Apr. 6 – Brussels, Belgium @ Le Botanique
Sat. Apr. 7 – The Hague, Netherlands @ Rewire Festival
Sun. Apr. 8 – Koln, Germany @ Gebaude 9
Mon. Apr. 9 – Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow Musikclub
Tue. Apr. 10 – Berlin, Germany @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
Wed. Apr. 11 – Istanbul, Turkey @ Babylon


Felt artwork

Pre-order Felt – suuns.lnk.to/felt

Caroline Rose releases “Soul No. 5” from album due out next month.

Caroline Rose Presents New Single/Video, “Soul No. 5,”
Off LONER, Out February 23rd Via New West

WATCH HERE

“With her newly honed interest in producing, Caroline Rose has made an unwaveringly entertaining album filled to the brim with songs that are at once contemplative and coax the listener to get out of their seat and dance.” — Rookie
“Rose is a fascinating person, and from DIY production trickery to her multi-role star turns in her videos, LONER represents her at her best.” — Stereogum “Artist to Watch”
Caroline Rose will release LONER, her darkly comedic second album, on February 23rd via New West. Armed with an arsenal of new instruments and equipment, an ever-growing sense of “ahhh f**k it,” two years of exploration, and a wicked sense of humor, LONER is a set of serious songs wrapped in a sprightly, angst-fueled pop burrito.

Following the release of first single, “Money,” Rose presents “Soul No. 5,” which, along with the rest of LONER, captures the cheeky satire, comical musings, and often jarring mood swings that make up much of Rose’s personality. “’Soul No. 5’ was inspired by being catcalled and how weird and kind of funny it is. I find the machismo nature of catcallers kind of hilarious, so I thought it’d be funny to act out the part of a cocky catcaller who in reality isn’t all that impressive. Kind of like ‘No Scrubs’ by TLC.” Rose explains further, “When I originally wrote this song the lyrics were much different, and I’d kind of grown tired of how earnest they were. In fact, the title, ‘Soul No. 5,’ is poking fun at how many versions of this song I’ve done. I also like that it is sort of reminiscent of ‘Mambo No. 5.’ The accompanying video, which Rose directed herself, brings out the humor and satire in the song. “I think the visuals can really enhance some elements that might get lost on listeners, humor being one of them. I had a particular vision to make this video slightly parodic, like a mix between a ’90s rap video and Napoleon Dynamite.”

Watch Caroline Rose’s “Soul No. 5” Video –
https://youtu.be/zzIfmtKSLTE

Watch “Money” Video –
https://youtu.be/NcOPz7Kby1A

Pre-order LONER –
http://geni.us/crloner?track=pr

Caroline Rose Tour Dates:
Thu. Jan. 11 – Chattanooga, TN @ JJ’s Bohemia w/ Ron Gallo
Fri. Jan. 12 – Memphis, TN @ Growlers w/ Ron Gallo
Fri. Jan. 13 – Oxford, MS @ Proud Larry’s w/ Ron Gallo
Wed. Mar. 14 – Sat. Mar. 17 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
Fri. Mar. 23 – Austin, TX @ Antone’s w/ The Weeks
Sat. Mar. 24 – Dallas, TX @ Dada w/ The Weeks
Sun. Mar. 25 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa w/ The Weeks
Tue. Mar. 27 – Nashville, TN @ The High Watt
Wed. Mar. 28 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
Thu. Mar. 29 – Asheville, NC @ The Mothlight
Fri. Mar. 30 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
Sat. Mar. 31 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
Tue. Apr. 3 – Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade
Wed. Apr. 4 – Boston, MA @ Great Scott
Thu. Apr. 5 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brendas
Fri. Apr. 6 – New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine
Sat. Apr. 7 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Showcase Lounge
Fri. May 18 – Gulf Shores, AL @ Hangout Music Festival

Download hi-res press images and cover art –
www.pitchperfectpr.com/caroline-rose/

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RIDE release “Catch You Dreaming” from upcoming EP.

Shoegaze rock legends RIDE, fresh off the success of their excellent return album The Weather Diaries, are already preparing a new EP, Tomorrow’s Shore, due out this February 16th.  The newest single from it, “Catch You Dreaming,” is out now and mixes dreamy riffs with their uplifting lyrics.  2018 is already setting up to be a good year for shoegaze.

Keep your mind open.

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Terminal Mind – Recordings

Austin, Texas punk / no wave legends Terminal Mind only blazed through the Austin scene for three years (1978 – 1981), but they are back with a powerful release of rare cuts from their short time together.  Recordings collects a rare four-song 7″, live cuts, and unreleased studio tracks.  It’s a solid collection and already in the running for best reissue of 2018.

Opening with the skronky, bold “I Want to Die Young,” the band’s powerhook guitars are put front and center right away.  “I see life as a TV at midnight, nothing but static and outdated reruns,” Steve Marsh sings as he dreams of becoming something better than he is now before he gets old and waits for a heart attack.

“Refugee” has Marsh continuing his themes of alienation as he sings, “In a war, there are winners and losers.  I’m in-between.”  The post-punk attitude of “Sense of Rhythm” is sharp as a hatchet (and so is the drumming).  “Zombieland” sounds like an early Devo cut as Marsh sings about the joys of “living in negative space” and ignoring the suffering and injustice around you.  The guitars on it devolve into a wild cacophony that almost sounds like air raid sirens by the end.

“Obsessed with Crime” has a raw energy not unlike something you’d hear from the Stooges.  Terminal Mind once opened for them, so the influence shouldn’t surprise anyone.  The guitars and bass on “Fear in the Future” are downright dangerous.  Marsh growls “Time is a trigger, I hold it in my hand.  I point it at the future.  I think you understand.”

The live tracks begin with the snappy “Radioactive,” in which Marsh sings about hoping to have super powers so he can survive a nuclear war and watch everything burn around him.  The equally speedy “Bridges Are for Burning” follows it.

“No one wants to know the meaning of life anymore,” Marsh sings on the angry “(I Give Up on) Human Rights.”  “Black” is like Joy Division if they decided to speed up the beats and crank up the distortion.  You can almost feeling the audience grooving during “Missing Pieces.”  The keyboards on “Bureaucracy” slather the song in a glorious, distorted noise that ends the album on a high, post-punk note.

Three years was too short for a band this good, but at least we have this reissue to remember Terminal Mind.  Let’s hope for some new material in the future.  I’d love to hear their take on modern times.

Keep your mind open.

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King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Gumboot Soup

Australian psych-rock work horses King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard set out at the beginning of 2017 to do something in one year that many bands don’t do over the course of an entire career – release five albums.  Yes, five albums in one year.  The band has always been prolific, but this seemed a bit nuts.

First came Flying Microtonal Banana, then Murder of the Universe, then Sketches of Brunswick East, then Polygondwanaland, and finally (released New Year’s Eve 2017, no less) Gumboot Soup.

The endcap on KGATLW’s crazy year is a mix of mellow and heavy that sums up 2017 pretty well for them.  Opener “Beginner’s Luck” is, on its surface, a song about gambling in a casino but is secretly about addictions and temptations.  The walking bass line on it is great.  “Greenhouse Heat Death” takes us from the mellow feel of the opening track to the distorted and warped feel of KGATLW’s heavier material.  Some microtonal touches are sprinkled in for good measure, too.

Stu MacKenzie‘s flute takes lead on the quirky “Barefoot Desert.”  “Muddy Water” is a sharp track that I suspect might be a take on a Taoist story about being a happy turtle in the mud instead of becoming a glorious dead shell in a palace.  The song builds into  Middle Eastern-flavored rocker that never lets go of your attention.

Believe it or not, the band moves into a bit of synth-psych (or is it psych-synth?) on “Superposition,” combining synthesizers with flute, more great bass and drumming, and ethereal vocals.  “Down the Sink” has a Bee Gees-inspired beat that I love.  I hadn’t considered before if KGATLW were inspired by their fellow Aussies, but this track makes it seem obvious.  It’s not a disco cut, mind you, but that wicked dual drummer beat is definitely something Barry Gibb might’ve cooked up in the studio.

“The Great Chain of Being” is a guttural chunk of stoner metal and a wild contrast to some of the earlier tracks.  It’s like Sleep and Electric Wizard squaring off in a dirty pub.  Just to mess with us, they follow it with “The Last Oasis” – a lovely track that reminds me of some of Thundercat‘s work, but with lyrics that sound like they’ve been lounging under a palm tree all day.

“All Is Known” is sort of a bridge between Flying Microtonal Banana and Nonagon Infinity as it combines the microtonal guitar work of the first album with the dead-run beats and mind-blown lyrics of the second.  “I’m Sleepin’ In” could easily be a Sketches of East Brunswick B-side.  I love its subtle harmonica work behind the distorted hip hop beats.  The closing track is “The Wheel” – an acid lounge cut that tells us that the cosmic “wheel that spins us into our future” is the same one that brings us back to where we started.

It would’ve been easy for KGATLW to make their final release of 2017 a live album or a collection of B-sides and outtakes, but they stuck to their promise and delivered five albums of original material.  Each of them is quality stuff, and Gumboot Soup is no exception.

Keep your mind open.

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Shaky Knees 2018 Festival announces lineup.

Atlanta, Georgia’s Shaky Knees Music Festival has announced its lineup for 2018.  There are some great acts to see over the course of three days in May.  Jack White will probably be playing a lot of material from his upcoming album, as will David Byrne, Franz Ferdinand, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Bully, and Marlon Williams.  The Black Angels, Parquet Courts, and the Brian Jonestown Massacre will be fresh off their shows at Levitation 2018.  I’d also be sure to check out L.A. Witch if I were there.

Three-day tickets start at $179.00, so don’t wait too long to score yours.  They also offer layaway plans starting with a 40% down payment.

Keep your mind open.

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