November 2019 – Page 2 – 7th Level Music

Review: Prettiest Eyes – Volume 3

Los Angeles’ Prettiest Eyes make music that’s been described as “post-industrial” by other folks, and I suppose that’s as good a description as any other, because I’m not sure I can come up with another. I mean this as a compliment. The trio of Paco Casanova (keyboards and vocals), Pachy Garcia (drums and vocals), and Marcos Rodriguez (bass and vocals) make a wild chaotic mix of new wave, no wave, post-punk, psychedelia, techno latino, and, yes, industrial. As you can imagine, playing this kind of controlled chaos requires a lot of energy, and that energy comes through in their live sets and on their new album, Volume 3.

The opening alarms and snappy beats of “Johnny Come Home” remind one of early Devo tracks. Casanova’s synths seamlessly meld the track into their fun cover of Crash Course in Science‘s “It Costs to Be Austere” – a pogo-inducing rocker that reminds us that being plain and stern in our beliefs does have a price. It sounds like all three of them had a blast recording it, and it’s a blast to hear live.

“I Don’t Know” is a solid psychedelic jam with great keyboard work from Casanova. “Mr. President” is a sharp techno track that dances along the edge of darkwave as Garcia sings about marginalised people seeking recognition (“Mr. President, say my name!”). Speaking of darkwave, the subject of matter of “Nekrodisco” falls into that category, but the instrumentation is straight-up industrial dance music. Rodriguez’s bass licks are relentless throughout it and carry the weight of the track with what appears to be ease but is actually damn hard work.

The squelching, wailing sounds of “The Shame” almost overpower you, and then “Another Earth” comes along – a dub track that throws you for a trippy loop. “Marihuana” is wonderfully bonkers with some of Rodriguqez’s grooviest bass work. “Summer in L.A.” has an underlying menace that you can’t escape. It might induce paranoia in those of weaker minds. “No More Summer” might be the most radio friendly cut, but I doubt they care about such things. “Strange Distance” gets back into psychedelic territory and the closer, “La Maldad,” ups the feedback and fuzz for the finale.

Prettiest Eyes are one of those bands that, after you hear them (and definitely after you see them live), you mention to anyone during any conversation about music. “I just heard this wild band from L.A. called Prettiest Eyes. They might be my new favorite thing,” will be a typical response.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Gong Gong Gong – Phantom Rhythm

Beijing’s duo of Gong Gong Gong (Joshua Frank – bass, Tom Ng – guitar and vocals) might have the most aptly titled album of 2019 – Phantom Rhythm. It’s apt because they don’t have a drummer. All the rhythm on their astounding debut album is made by Frank’s thumping, snappy bass and Ng’s manic, sharp guitar.

All of the album’s vocals are in Cantonese, and the intonations and sounds of the language accentuate the intriguing phantom rhythms throughout the record. “The Last Note” starts with jangly guitar chords and up-tuned bass that almost bring to mind chanted mantras atop a Chinese mountain before the song breaks into a fast gallop. “Notes Underground” continues the rapid pace as Ng sings about walking away from a finished relationship without any lasting grudges on either side.

The phantom rhythm of Ng’s guitar is in full effect on “Ride Your Horse,” a song about eschewing modern technology for tradition. “Moonshadows” has some of Frank’s funkiest bass as Ng sings about the ocean, or sex, or maybe both. “Scattered state, breath quickens, unknowable grasping imperfection,” Ng sings (again, in Cantonese) on the post-punk rocker “Inner Reaches.” It’s a sharp track about avoiding the present moment, as is “Gong Gong Gong Blues.” “Wei Wei Wei” is a grunting, down-and-dirty, fuzzy fire burning through your speakers.

The slower “Some Kind of Demon” seems to be about indecision or some sort of malaise that Ng can’t quite define. We’ve all met this demon at one point in our lives. “Night’s Colour (Chongqing)” is a cool instrumental that almost sounds like warped carnival music at first. The album ends with the heavy “Sounds of Love” – a song about love’s complications and expectations. The tune swirls around the reverb of Ng’s vocals with Frank’s charging bass and some of Ng’s wildest, fuzziest guitar riffs.

It’s a wild record, and easily one of the most intriguing of the year. Their sound is like a phantom – something you can feel and experience but not quite grasp.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Fat White Family – Serfs Up!

It’s impossible to put a label on London’s Fat White Family. Are they a punk band? An art band? A no wave band? A pop band? None? All? Really, why bother trying? Their new album, Serfs Up!, combines all of those elements and more while poking fun at good taste, politics, Kim Jong-un, and a dozen other topics.

Opener “Feet” starts with electro beats and smooth vocals that remind you of some of Moby‘s work from the early 2000’s. The song’s about running from things that can entrap you, like passion, responsibility, and being a wage slave. You can apply the title of “I Believe in Something Better” to nearly anything – the current political climate, the hopes of stopping climate change, universal health care, or even just a better relationship with a lover. The song has all these weird, warping guitars and synths in it that I love.

The cool groove of “Vagina Dentata” instantly brought Gary Wilson to mind. It’s a song about a treacherous woman, which is right up Mr. Wilson’s alley. The jazz lounge piano and saxophone in the song are top notch. “Kim’s Sunsets” is the above-mentioned song about Kim John-un. It’s undeniably catchy and has to be the prettiest song ever written about a modern day Communist.

The wicked bass on “Fringe Runner” will get you dancing. It’s solid disco bass that is probably being sampled by scores of DJ’s even now. “Is there anything more inspiring than a menial job and the pittance it brings?” is the opening lyric of “Oh Sebastian,” a song with orchestral (Yes, orchestral.) touches that will make you grin. “Tastes Good with the Money” follows a similar theme lyrically, with jabs at rich elitists and blown kisses at the working class.

“Show the other kids how the other kids live,” they suggest on “Rock Fishes,” which almost has a reggae feel to it in its rhythm, but also has spaghetti western score flavorings that take it to another level. Those Morricone guitars drift into the slick “When I Leave,” a dark song that practically demands you enjoy it with a stiff drink. “Bobby’s boyfriend is a prostitute, and so is mine,” is the theme of the tick-tocking trippy tune “Bobby’s Boyfriend.” It’s a neat way to end the record, sending it out on a euphoric mind warp. The band does have an admitted history with heroin and booze, so you can’t help but wonder if the closer is something they concocted after a long day of chemical excess.

The title of the album suggests a revolution of sorts. Serfs worked farms for the lords that owned the land. Nowadays, most of us work for a tiny fraction of the world’s population who own practically everything. Fat White Family are telling us to put down our carts and pick up our torches and pitchforks (literal or metaphorical).

Keep your mind open.

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Wrecka Stow: Square Cat Vinyl – Indianapolis, IN

Located in a hip neighborhood full of good restaurants, a comic book store, and live music venues, Indianapolis’ Square Cat Vinyl (1054 Virginia Avenue) offers live music of its own on a small stage in the midpoint of the store. They also offer craft beer, coffee, tea, chai (extra spicy!), and, of course, vinyl records.

They have a wide variety of genres. I saw everything from thrash metal to prog rock to the soundtrack for the third season of Stranger Things there. Their live shows range from solo acoustic sets to electronic acts.

Plus, how can you resist a place with this in it?

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Oh Sees, Prettiest Eyes, Jimmy Whispers – October 12, 2019 – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL

It was the first of two sold-out shows at Chicago’s Thalia Hall for Thee Oh Sees and Prettiest Eyes. Joining them was Chicago’s Jimmy Whispers. I had yet to see Mr. Whispers, and I hadn’t seen Oh Sees since Levitation Austin last year in a small outdoor venue and Prettiest Eyes since Levitation France last year win a multi-purpose performance center.

Jimmy Whispers played a quirky set of bedroom / lounge rock that had one guy behind me saying, “I feel like I’m in a John Hughes movie.” Mr. Whispers sang songs about love and making love, taking on a sound and groove not unlike a Gary Wilson show.

Prettiest Eyes were up next and a complete switch from Jimmy Whispers’ set. They unleashed controlled chaos with wild tracks off their new album, Volume 3. Keyboards shrieked, bass thundered, and drums crashed. The Latino psych-rockers sang most of their tunes in English, unlike when we saw them in France and they kept the lyrics in Spanish for the most part. The songs are good either way, and they’re always energetic performers.

Speaking of energy, there’s always plenty of it during an Oh Sees show. You could probably power the air conditioning system in a Tucson ice cream parlor with the energy they create. They played a great mix of older and new material from their current album, Face Stabber. The mosh pit erupted immediately with “The Static God” and rarely stopped after that.

Other highlights included “The Dream,” “Tidal Wave,” “I Come from the Mountain,” and “Animated Violence.”

A treat and a surprise for me was when they played all twenty-plus minutes of “Henchlock” from the new album. It was even better than I hoped it would be.

It was another excellent performance. Both drummers played in unison and in different time signatures without tripping over each other. Frontman John Dwyer shredded the whole set. Beer was thrown, a lost shoe was held up by someone in the pit, I found an Oh Sees shirt that no one claimed as I held it up (and it was even my size), and I returned a man’s house keys to him I found in the pit during a brief break in the action.

As I said after I first saw them, everything you’ve heard about an Oh Sees show is 100% true. Don’t miss this tour.

Keep your mind open.

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Elephant Stone release new single, “Hollow World,” and upcoming European tour dates.

Elephant Stone has announced a new concept album, Hollow, about people fleeing the Earth after destroying it only to find the beliefs, biases, and illusions that drove them to ruin their first home have followed them to the new one. As frontman Rishi Dhir explains:

“This is a straight-up concept album. If social media has taught us anything, it’s that there are a lot of unhappy people out there who are trying to find a way out. They are looking for meaning and something to believe in… or nothing to believe in. We all want the same thing but are trying to achieve it in different ways. With this in mind, we wrote and recorded our 6th full-length, Hollow. I set forth writing a song-suite telling of a world of unhappy souls who have lost connection with each other.” The result is an ambitious, dystopian sci-fi concept album inspired by The Who’s ‘Tommy’, Pretty Things’ ‘S.F, Sorrow’ and Abbey Road side 2.

“From Side A (‘The Beginning) through to Side B (‘The Ending’), the story takes place immediately after mankind’s catastrophic destruction of the Earth and what happens when the same elite responsible for the first world-destroying climate disaster touch down on New Earth, a recently-discover planet sold with the same life of prosperity as the one they’d just destroyed. As soon as the chosen few step off the Harmonia ship built for the journey, it’s clear that all is not what it seems and humanity appears destined to make the same mistakes: the storyline touches upon the plundering/poisoning of their home, the elite, demagogues, false idols, the truth as seen by children, and, ultimately, the fight for the survival of their species.”

The album is available for pre-order with lots of neat bundles for your enjoyment (T-shirts, buttons, hot pink vinyl, and more). “Hollow World,” a new single from the album, can be heard here. The band has also announced a tour through Europe this winter, dates are below.

Keep your mind open.

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All Them Witches unload heavy new single, “1×1,” ahead of European tour.

Nashvilly psych-rockers All Them Witches have released a new single, “1×1,” ahead of a European tour with Ghost and Tribulation and well as three shows to finish the year at Nashville’s Exit/In. Tour dates are below.

The new single is almost doom metal in its weight and is available on most streaming services. Give it a listen. It’s great.

NOV 16 – Motorpoint Arena – Nottingham, United Kingdom
NOV 17 – Motorpoint Arena – Cardiff, United Kingdom
NOV 18 – SSE Hydro – Glasgow, United Kingdom
NOV 20 – 3Arena – Dublin, Ireland
NOV 22 – The SSE Arena, Wembley – London, United Kingdom
NOV 23 – First Direct Arena – Leeds, United Kingdom
NOV 25 – Black Box Pangea – Kobenhavn, Denmark
NOV 28 – Hartwall Arena – Helsinki, Finland
NOV 30 – Spodek – Katowice, Poland
DEC 1 – Universum – Prague, Czech Republic
DEC 3 – BSA – Budapest, Hungary
DEC 4 – Močvara – Zagreb, Croatia
DEC 5 – Palabam – Mantova, Italy
DEC 6 – Halle 622 – Zürich, Switzerland
DEC 8 – Palau Sant Jordi – Barcelona, Spain
DEC 10 – Altice Arena – Lisboa, Portugal
DEC 11 – WiZink Center – Madrid, Spain
DEC 13 – Zenith Of Strasbourg – Strasbourg, France
DEC 14 – Stattbahnhof – Schweinfurt, Germany
DEC 15 – Zenith – München, Germany
DEC 17 – Rockhal – Esch Sur Alzette, Luxembourg
DEC 18 – Zenith Nantes Metropole – Saint-herblain, France
DEC 19 – Zénith de Toulouse – Toulouse, France
DEC 27 – Exit/In – Nashville, TN
DEC 28 – Exit/In – Nashville, TN
DEC 29 – Exit/In – Nashville, TN

Keep your mind open.

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Jacques Greene announces 2020 tour dates to promote “Dawn Chorus.”

“You get the sense that exploring unfamiliar equipment in new spaces has helped him find new possibilities in his own work—that by plunging himself into guitar pedals and classic French-house compression modules, he’s ushered in a new era for Jacques Greene without losing sight of his unique sentimentality.” — Pitchfork

“The dozen tracks on ‘Dawn Chorus’ capture the hazy, ambient feeling of joyful exhaustion. It’s an elegant soundtrack to a real moment in many ravers’ lives, and rather than create the music you might listen to then, he scores the scene as if it were a movie.” — Billboard

“‘Dawn Chorus’ hangs together as a cohesive work, even when Greene is pushing genre omnivorousness to giddy new extremes.” — Bandcamp

“Coagulating in the form of a sprawling 12-track collection of diversified cuts, the project maintains the producer’s idiosyncratic arsenal of club-heavy textures, albeit repurposed for listening outside of the normative dancefloor atmosphere.” — Hypebeast

Fresh off the release of his “intimate and immense” (Pitchfork) new album, Dawn Chorus, via LuckyMe, Jacques Greene is pleased to announce a slew of 2020 European and North American tour dates. Last week he debuted a sold out run of launch parties in Berlin, London, Manchester, New York, LA and Montreal. In early 2020 he returns to Europe and North America (Boston, Brooklyn, Detroit, Portland, Vancouver, and Oakland). A full list of dates is below.

In conjunction with this announcement, Greene also released the video for “Stars” – the second part of a narrative which started outside a warehouse party in his “Do It Without You” video. The track features spoken word from Canadian artist Sandrine Somé – who reconciles memories from her childhood over understated kik drums and synths. An evocative closer to the album, Mathieu Fortin’s piece of impressionistic cinema seeks to express early AM euphoria as we settle back into reality after a night out. It’s an apt conclusion for an album which has been applauded for his cinematic atmosphere.

Watch Video For “Stars” –
https://youtu.be/ZmXuiFluhB4

Jacques Greene Tour Dates:
Wed. Jan. 29 – London, UK @ Studio 9294
Thu. Jan. 30 – Manchester, UK @ YES (Pink Room)
Fri. Jan. 31 – Dublin, IE @ Lost Lane
Sat. Feb. 1 – Belfast, IE @ The Menagerie
Tue. Feb. 4 – Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
Wed. Feb. 5 – Leeds, UK @ Headrow House
Fri. Feb. 7 – Paris, FR @ Badaboum
Thu. Feb. 20 – Boston, MA @ Middlesex Lounge (DJ Set)
Fri. Feb. 21 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere (DJ Set)
Sat. Feb. 22 – Detroit, MI @ The Red Door
Thu. Feb. 27 – Portland, OR @ Holocene
Fri. Feb. 28 – Vancouver, BC @ The Beaumont
Sat. Feb. 29 – Oakland, CA @ Starline Social Club

Purchase Dawn Chorus – https://jacquesgreene.com/

Watch/Listen/Share:
“For Love” video – https://youtu.be/GzdMcHhM7tQ
“Do It Without You” video – https://youtu.be/ftBguTzzVYI
“Do It Without You” stream – https://bit.ly/2mRYy8n
“Night Service” b/w “Silencio” (Feat. Cadence Weapon) – https://youtu.be/S1JaoIYJ-PE
“Night Service” (Whatever/Whatever Night Version) – https://youtu.be/_x3Ysk3po4k
“Night Service” (Whatever/Whatever Day Version) – https://youtu.be/iltM5sg-f8g

Keep your mind open.

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