7th Level Music

Snõõper releases “Powerball,” and we all end up winning.

The Nashville-based DIY punk outfit Snõõper will release their highly anticipated debut album, Super Snõõper, on July 14th via Third Man Records.Today, they present another fully-charged single/video, “Powerball.” Clocking in at just over a minute, Snõõper max out the short and sweet run time on “Powerball” by packing it with frantic guitars, berserk drums, and the ever-cool vocals of Blair Tramel. The accompanying “Powerball” video — directed by Tramel and featuring puppeteering by Grace Hall — channels the song’s chaos delectably, and previews the playful mayhem of Snõõper’s storied live sets for those yet indoctrinated.

Tramel explains: “‘Powerball’ was written after a scratch-off winning streak. My mom called me to let us know that the Powerball jackpot was the highest it had been in years. It’s a funny thing to feel like you are going to win something so arbitrary – to feel like you are going to be the one in a billion winner. When our numbers were not announced, we decided to buy some scratch-offs and, to my surprise, I won $50 on a $2 scratch off. I kept buying scratch-offs from different gas stations around town and kept winning. It was a comical sort of high I hadn’t felt before and even when I started losing money I wanted to keep going.”
Watch Snõõper’s “Powerball” Video

Snõõper doesn’t play fast; they play at the speed of Snõõper. They maintain super precise instrumentals and skillfully melodic vocals, even though they’re flooring it almost the entire time. The project began in 2020 as a collaboration between local Nashville punk mainstay Connor Cummins (guitar) and Blair Tramel (vocals), an early education teacher with a sideline in wickedly funny animation and art. As their cassette tapes and homemade videos began to find scattered fans around the world, the duo brought the project to the live stage in late 2021 with the addition of Cam Sarrett (drums), Happy Haugen (bass), and Ian Teeple (guitar). Thus, Snõõper was born.

Snõõper is a band who, in a 33 ⅓ RPM world, make 45 RPM music they play at 78 RPM. Their debut album, Super Snõõper, was recorded at The Bomb Shelter in Nashville. It follows EPs “Music For Spies” (2020), “Snõõper” (2021), and “Town Topic” (2022), as well as the live album LIVE AT EXIT/IN 11-23-22released this past February. Given the brief glimpses into Snõõper’s music from their 7”s, EPS, and thrilling live performances, one might wonder if the group could hold the line for a full album. The answer is an enthusiastic yes. In the words of Henry Rollins, “Speaking selfishly, I want Snõõper to hurry up and make another album. Super Snõõper is a really cool record.” Snõõper are known for their raucous live show which integrates many different artistic mediums — music, video art, puppetry, assemblages, and more — to create a unique experience for each performance. The band is currently touring Australia and will return stateside for a handful of shows. A full list of dates is below, with more to be announced soon.
Stream “Powerball”
Watch “Pod” Video
Watch “Fitness” Video
Pre-order Super Snõõper

Snõõper Tour Dates
Sun, July 16 – Pomona, CA @ Viva Pomona
Fri. Oct. 13 – Sun. Oct. 15 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival
Sun. Nov. 5 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
Mon. Nov. 6 – Gladow, UK @ Hug & Pint
Tue. Nov. 7 – Manchester, UK @ YES Basement
Wed. Nov. 8 – London, UK @ The Windmill
Fri. Nov. 10 – London, UK @ Pitchfork Festival (Roadhouse)
Sat. Nov. 11 – Bristol, UK @ The Lanes

Keep your mind open.

[I’ll feel like I’m winning if you subscribe.]

[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Will Butler + Sister Squares frolic in the “Long Grass” with their debut single.

Will Butler + Sister Squares announce their new self-titled album out September 22nd on Merge and present its lead single/video, “Long Grass.” Sister Squares are Miles Francis, Julie Shore, Jenny Shore, and Sara Dobbs; what made them a musical unit was working with Grammy winner and Oscar nominee Will Butler. The resulting Will Butler + Sister Squares is a record with a warm, humane soul.

“I met Jenny—my wife!—in college, the year before I joined Arcade Fire,” says Will. “When I needed a band to tour Policy [Merge, 2015], I asked [Jenny’s sister] Julie to join because I trusted her musically. And I asked Sara, Jenny and Julie’s childhood friend, because I knew she was super talented,” says Will. “Antibalas (who I was drumming for) opened some Arcade Fire shows,” says Miles, who offered to play drums anytime Will needed. Will, Julie, Sara, and Miles jelled on tour and everyone worked on vocal arrangements. All along, Jenny contributed to recordings and general performance ideas, and she joined onstage in 2019.

“After Generations [Merge, 2020], I considered making a weird solo record. Me alone in the basement, etc., etc. Mostly I realized that what I wanted was the opposite,” says Will. He increasingly turned to the band for feedback on lyrics and song structures. He asked Miles if they’d produce the record.

“Will and I organically discovered our relationship as a production duo through making this album. We didn’t have to talk too much about things as they happened, because the music just flowed,” says Miles. “As a producer, working with Jenny, Julie, and Sara is the dream. They connect so innately. In one motion they can conjure a mood, or get at the root of a feeling.”

The band played a run of shows in August 2022, airing out studio ideas in live rooms. After coming home, the band regrouped at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn. The album, broadly, is equal parts from Figure 8, group experiments from Will’s basement, and sessions in Miles’ Synthia Studio.

“I had quit my band Arcade Fire very recently, after 20 years—maybe the most complex decision of my life. I had spent the preceding two years at home with my three children. I was 39 years old. I was waking up every morning and reading Emily Dickinson, until I had read every Emily Dickinson poem. I was listening to Morrissey, to Shostakovich, to the Spotify top 50. I had unformed questions with inchoate answers,” says Will. “But, honestly, I was feeling great about the record.”

The album projects widescreen emotional landscapes. Lead-off single “Long Grass” is like a Harry Styles song with 20 more years of life behind it. “I had read this novella called Jamila by a Soviet/Kyrgyz author named Chingiz Aitmatov from the ’50s,” says Will. “It’s about an artist looking back on his childhood in a small town in Kyrgyzstan in WWII. It’s about love, and becoming an artist, and melancholy, and vast landscapes with a single train track running through them. And it reminded me of young adulthood, of wandering moodily down the train tracks. Maybe the song is also about leaving behind the things that formed us, but trying to remember the world as it used to be?”

Will Butler + Sister Squares will tour in support of their new album this fall.

Watch the video for “Long Grass”

Pre-order Will Butler + Sister Squares

Will Butler + Sister Squares Tour Dates:

July 29-30 – Guelph, ON @ Hillside Festival

Sept. 23 – Brooklyn, NY @ Zone One

Oct. 3 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon

Oct. 4 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent

Oct. 6 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios

Oct. 7 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza

Oct. 8 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret

Oct. 17 – Boston, MA @ Deep Cuts

Oct. 18 – Montreal, QC @ Bar le Ritz

Oct. 19 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace

Oct. 20 – Detroit, MI @ Loving Touch

Oct. 21 – Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village

Oct. 22 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop

Nov. 7 – Riga, LV @ Palladium

Nov. 10 – Berlin, DE @ Privatclub

Nov. 12 – Aarhus, DK @ VoxHall

Nov. 14 – Rotterdam, NL @ Rotown

Nov. 15 – Paris, FR @ Café de la Danse

Nov. 16 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique

Nov. 17 – London, UK @ ICA

Nov. 18 – Dublin, IE @ Whelan’s

Nov. 30 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA

Dec. 1 – Washington, DC @ DC9

Dec. 2 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Wrecka Stow: Casbah Records – Greenwich, London.

Located in the lovely Greenwich borough of London, England, Casbah Records is a cool shop full of great stuff. You could easily spend a couple of hours there. They make a good use of the limited space and have a lot of different genres to choose from among the records, CDs, and DVDs.

They had a lot of good box sets, both for CDs and LPs. The sheer amount of neat collections they had for sale was impressive. You can see a great Neu! there on that shelf among other neat sets.

Choosing just a few things was difficult, but I went for these.

That Studio One Space-Age Dub Special looked too cool to pass up, as did DJ Format‘s Psych Out. I haven’t heard either, but they’re bound to be wild.

As is Casbah Records. Don’t pass it up if you’re in Greenwich.

Keep your mind open.

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WSND DJ set list for July 09, 2023

Thanks to all who tuned in for my Nocturne show last night. It was a wild set, with a lot of good live cuts. Here’s the set list:

Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings – All Over Again
Jackie Shane – New Way of Love
The Rolling Stones – It’s Only Rock and Roll (but I Like It)
Robin Trower – 20th Century Blues (requested)
The Quests – Hava Nagila
Phantogram – When I’m Small
Mavis Staples – Slippery People (live)
The Beths – Little Death (live)
Julian Cope – East Easy Rider (live)
Missing Scenes – Lectreus
Devo – Are You Experienced?
Kaiser Chiefs – Spanish Metal
Oysterhead – Pseudo Suicide
The Rolling Stones – You Got Me Rocking (requested)
Sausage – Recreating
The Black Keys – Them Eyes
The Raconteurs – Carolina Drama
John Carpenter – Vortex
Osees – Static God (live)
The Archies – Sugar Sugar (requested)
Motörhead – (Don’t Need) Religion (live)
Motörhead – Shut It Down
Queens of the Stone Age – Song for the Deaf
L’Epée – Lou

I’m back on the air next week. Don’t miss it!

Keep your mind open.

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WSND set list: Deep Dive of AC/DC

Thanks to all who blew out their eardrums with me for the Deep Dive of AC/DC last night. Here’s the set list:

AC/DC – Back in Black
Rabbit – Too Much Rock ‘n’ Roll
Masters Apprentices – Living in a Child’s Dream
Sherbet – Summer Love
AC/DC – Can I Sit Next to You, Girl?
Fraternity – Seasons of Change
Little Richard – Rip It Up
AC/DC – Baby, Please Don’t Go (live)
AC/DC – It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)
Anthrax – TNT
AC/DC – The Jack
AC/DC – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (requested)
AC/DC – Ride On
AC/DC – Whole Lotta Rosie (requested)
The Brian Setzer Orchestra – Let There Be Rock (live)
AC/DC – Riff Raff (live)
Rick Astley – Highway to Hell (live)
AC/DC – Girls Got Rhythm
Ike and Tina Turner – Nutbush City Limits
AC/DC – Givin’ the Dog a Bone
AC/DC – Rock ‘n’ Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution (requested)
AC/DC – Let’s Get It Up
AC/DC – Thunderstruck (requested)

Next week is a Deep Dive of Betty Davis. I won’t be responsible for any babies conceived during that show.

Keep your mind open.

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George T sends us a “Love Letter” with his new single.

Edinburgh-based producer George T announces the release of his latest single, “Love Letter,” which is set to drop on Paradise Palms Records. The track, a beautiful mind buffet of left-field and dubby influences, marching hypnotic lead synth, pads, syncopation, and an enchanting, haunting vocal. “Love Letter” marks a new chapter in George T’s rich and ever blossoming career, showcasing his talent for crafting genre-bending tracks that blur the lines between electronic and experimental music. With its intricate production, mesmerizing melodies, and captivating rhythms, the single transports the listener to a warped pleasure planet. In addition to the original version of the track, George T also offers up a hypnotic dub version “Dub Letter.” Doused in acid and featuring an instrumental-only arrangement that emphasizes the song’s rhythmic and atmospheric qualities.

The single and accompanying dub is releasing digitally with Paradise Palms Records and being distributed globally through EPM on the 14th of July.

Keep your mind open.

[A subscription is like a love letter from you to me.]

[Thanks to Aaron at Paradise Palms Records.]

Teddy Thompson embraces classic country on his upcoming album.

Teddy Thompson has announced his eighth studio album, My Love Of Country, will be released August 18. True to its title, Thompson offers deeply personal and heartfelt readings of ten classic country songs by songwriters like Buck Owens, Hank Cochran, Eddy Arnold, Cindy Walker and even his own father, Richard Thompson. The collection’s first single “A Picture Of Me Without You” (listen/share here), a top ten hit for George Jones in 1972, and its accompanying video (watch/share here), directed by Ethan Covey, is out today

The simplicity and emotional intensity of classic country has been a big part of Thompson’s own sound as an artist, which The New York Times called “beautifully finessed” and NPR hailed as “the musical equivalent of an arrow to the heart.” Back in 2007, he explored his roots with Up Front and Down Low, an album of Nashville golden era favorites. And now he’s picked up the thread again.

“The goal was to do it in the way that country records I love – mostly from the ’60s – were made,” says Thompson. “Everything was mapped out, with charts and string parts in place. The musicians came in, and we cut the songs the way they did back then. We just blazed through them.”

The results are riveting. Thompson’s rich, honeyed voice responds beautifully to “A Picture Of Me Without You,” “Cryin’ Time,” and other songs of poetic despondence, throwing off both sparks and tears without ever seeming showy. You can hear how he’s listened deeply to the genre’s masters, absorbing the finer stylistic points of their influence. But rather than imitate, he does something more nuanced and profound. He makes the material his own, and makes the familiar sound new.

Helping Thompson realize his vision for My Love Of Country was multi-instrumentalist producer David Mansfield, whose resume includes touring with Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, scoring Oscar-nominated films like The Apostle and years of high-profile session work with the likes of Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams and Dwight Yoakam. Mansfield and Thompson assembled a list of twenty titles, then whittled it down to ten. There are well-known standards, old and new, such as Hank Cochran & Harland Howard’s “I Fall To Pieces” (a signature hit for Patsy Cline in 1961), Randy Travis’s 1989 western swing-flavored chart-topper “Is It Still Over?” and Cindy Walker’s portrait of unrequited love, “You Don’t Know Me” (a hit for both Eddy Arnold and Ray Charles). Adding balance are lesser-known gems such as Dolly Parton’s 1968 album track “Love and Learn,” Don Everly’s “Oh, What A Feeling” and a finely-etched drinking song, “I’ll Regret It All In The Morning,” penned by Thompson’s father Richard Thompson. Recorded at Mansfield’s studio Hobo Sound in Hoboken, NJ, the album balances elegant, wrap-around arrangements with one-take energy. A star-studded group of harmony vocalists, including Vince Gill, Rodney Crowell, Logan Ledger and Aoife O’Donovan, added final touches.

“These are all songs that I’ve known and loved for years. That’s the real key, having them in your body for a long time, decades really. I didn’t really have to think at all about how to sing them. I just honored the originals,” explains Thompson. “In my favorite eras of music, it was all about the song. Most of the classics that I know and love were recorded by dozens and dozens of people. And it was all in the service of the song. I grew up with that being the most important thing. For this record, that was a huge part of it. I just want people to hear these songs.”

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Kevin at Calabro Music Media.]

Current Affairs release new single, “Reactor,” ahead of debut album album due July 14, 2023.

Today Glasgow & Berlin-based band Current Affairs have shared another new single from their forthcoming debut album ‘Off the Tongue’, which is set for release on July 14th via Tough Love Records.

Written from within the world of crumbling services, broken bonds and wounded spirits, their debut album ‘Off the Tongue’ rolls off an ecstatic rage, filled with hope for you, them and everyone else.

Following the raw and biting love song, “No Fuss“, and the call to arms against the fragmentation of the left, “Right Time“ today they share third new track entitled “Reactor“.

“We wrote Reactor in that fizzy space of the will-you, won’t-you” explains front-woman Joan Sweeney. “It’s a love song more for the feeling than the person, if you’re really honest.” The track comes accompanied by a karaoke-style visual – online now.

“Reactor” video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Em3_bjVU4FY
‘Off the Tongue’ pre-order/pre-save links:https://linktr.ee/currentaffairsoffthetongue

To call Current Affairs a Glasgow band may initially seem misdirection. Though Joan Sweeney (ex-Rose McDowall’s Band, Aggi Doom, The Royal We) is a lifer, Sebastian Ymai (Comidillo Tapes, Pissy, Anxiety)came from Chile via York, recently relocating to Berlin in 2021, and new member Gemma Fleet (The Wharves, Order of the Toad, Dancer) alongside Andrew Milk (Shopping, Pink Pound) were persuaded to leave London for the ‘second city’ after touring through with previous bands. However, Glasgow is the heart and hub of the band’s music, musical life and the place where ‘Off the Tongue’ was solidified and produced.

Current Affairs’ presentline up formed in 2020, but the four have been circling each other for years, touring and playing with their previous bands within the close UK network of DIY music. Stalwarts of their respective scenes they finally began working together through the creation of the Spitehouse collective – a project designed to promote Queer and female-fronted music through events mainly held at Transmission Gallery and Glasgow Autonomous Space, putting on many local and international acts (Sneaks, Sacred Paws, Still House Plants and Comfort amongst others). When an opening for a new bassist arrived, Gemma was the obvious compliment, the slogan of Spitehouse being the language of Current Affairs – “Everyone’s welcome, but don’t get it twisted.”

Following on from 2019’s EP singles collection, ‘Object & Subject’, the wait for their debut full-length may belie the urgency of its sound, but as the album’s lead single emphasises, “it’s the right time!”

‘Off The Tongue’ is ten short, sharp bursts, written in pieces over a long time and distance, but fully formed in the instant of the recording room across just a few days by producer Ross McGowan at Chime Studio. Current Affairs’ song-writing process has always been collaborative. Songs are developed responsively, with each of the band’s members sending/bringing elements or hooks to each other, but practices being the place where the songs flesh out, structure and are fully realised. These new songs feel a little brighter than their previous offerings, yet still hold true to their propulsive and caterwauling sound. Still embryonic in the most exciting way that that can be. Current Affairs’ music straddles new-wave pop and gothic post-punk in the way that you should expect a Glasgow-Berlin band to do so: with grit and panache.

Flowing through the many different layers of relationships, moving from romance to friendship, community and socio-politics before coming back to a personal conversation at the end, Sweeney sees her songwriting on ‘Off the Tongue’ as a way to inhabit the different parts of herself and let them speak with unfettered clarity. “Current Affairs is where I can burn the world down one minute and then push for brighter things the next” she explains. “I wanted to show that there’s a place for all your feelings and personalities and that we should sometimes let the negative thought ring out honestly and then show it a little compassion, give it a purpose. It’s not always bad to rage, cry or be a Pollyanna.”

Current Affairs tour dates:
July 20th – Glasgow, Stereo
July 21st – Birkenhead, Future Yard
July 22nd – Sheffield, Delicious Clam/Clamlines
July 23rd – Cardiff, The Moon
July 24th – Nottingham, JT Soar
July 25th – Bristol, Crofter’s Rights
July 26th – London, The Lexington
July 27th – Oxford, Divine Schism
July 28th – Leeds, Wharf Chambers
July 29th – Newcastle, Lubber Fiend
July 30th – Edinburgh, The Wee Red Bar

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

Mort Garson takes us to “Zoos of the World” from an upcoming release of some of his classical material.

A master of playful sonic whimsy, electronic pioneer Mort Garson spent a lifetime quietly pushing the boundaries of synthesis. The latest track to his name, “Zoos of The World,” is baroque and unpredictable. Centered on warm keyboard patches that come together to replicate the tonalities of a retro-futuristic orchestra, the springy cut was taken from a 1970 National Geographic special. The track follows “Moon Journey,”the soundtrack to the live broadcast of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, as first heard on CBS News. Nearly in tandem with the release date, July 20th will mark Garson’s 99th birthday, and the anniversary of the moon landing. Both taken from the forthcoming archival release Journey to the Moon and Beyond, out July 21 via Sacred Bones.

Journey to the Moon and Beyond advanced listening parties have been announced at the following locations for July 20, 2023:

Amoeba, San Francisco, US

Balades Sonores, Paris, FR

End Of An Ear, Austin, US

Family Store, Brighton, UK

Monorail, Glasgow, UK

Newbury Comics, Boston, US

Rough Trade, New York, US

Seasick Records, Birmingham, US

Stranger Than Paradise, London, UK

It’s hard not to use plant terminology when discussing the long, strange career –and subsequent renaissance– of Mort Garson. Like a seed buried deep and left to germinate for months (or in this instance, decades), his great body of work was scattered in record bins and tape closets and all but forgotten in pop culture. A classically trained musician and electronic researcher with a tireless work ethos that led to nearly over a thousand writing and arranging credits, Mort Garson’s music got buried in the topsoil of time.

When Sacred Bones first began their Mort Garson reissue project in 2019 with a proper reissue of Plantasia, the Garson-naissance began in earnest. Soon after, you could hear Mort Garson and his Moogs bubbling up on TV shows, documentaries, podcasts, hip-hop tracks, or anywhere else, the man a cultural phenomenon once more. (And naturally, just playing the vinyl reissue of Plantasia at home made every single plant in your house thrive.)
Like a perennial that returns with each new spring, the Mort Garson archives have brought to bear yet another awe-inspiring bloom. Journey to the Moon and Beyond finds even more new facets to the man’s sound. There’s the soundtrack to the 1974 blaxploitation film Black Eye (starring Fred Williamson), some previously unreleased and newly unearthed music for advertising. Just as regal is “Zoos of the World,” where Garson soundtracks the wild, preening, slumbering animals from a 1970 National Geographic special of the same name. The mind reels at just what project would have yielded a scintillating title like “Western Dragon,” but these three selections were found on tapes in the archive with no further information.

The crown jewel of the set is no doubt Garson’s soundtrack to the live broadcast of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, as first heard on CBS News. That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for Moogkind. But for decades, this audio was presumed lost, the only trace of it appearing to be from an old YouTube clip. Thankfully, diligent audio archivist Andy Zax came across a copy of the master tape while going through the massive Rod McKuen archive. So now we get to hear it in all its glory. Across six minutes, Garson conjures broad fantasias, whirring mooncraft sounds, zero-gravity squelches, and twinkling études. It showcases Mort’s many moods: sweet, exploratory, whimsical, a little bit corny, weaving it all together in a glorious whole.

Maybe at the time it scanned as crass and opportunistic for Garson to apply his keyboards to subjects like astrological signs, the occult, hippiedom, houseplants, or the moon landing. But more than most other electronic music pioneers of his ilk, Garson foresaw the integration of such electronics into our daily lives, how they would allow us to engage with the world –in small daily things, popular trends, and big historical events– with our tweets, posts, reaction videos, and the like. In that way, Garson lived such history and then added his own little spin on things.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Alex and Andi at Terrorbird Media.]

L7 announces tour dates in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand.

L7 have announced two upcoming tours that will include shows in small venues.

Seeing L7 live is always a good choice, and seeing them in a small venue is a no-brainer. If you’re on the other side of the planet, check out this tour in December.

As you can see, the last two shows of that tour in Melbourne, Australia are already sold out. Bricks Are Heavy is a great album, and hearing all of it live would be a blast.

They’ve also announced a new single will be released soon, so keep your ears open for it.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to L7!]