7th Level Music

Dry Cleaning have “No Decent Shoes for Rain” with their new single.

Dry Cleaning share a new single/video, “No Decent Shoes for Rain,” off their upcoming album Stumpwork, out October 21st on 4AD. Following the recently released “Gary Ashby,” the group takes a more somber turn on “No Decent Shoes for Rain.” It begins with Florence Shaw’s vocals coiled tightly over woozy guitar and minimal percussion: “my poor heart is breaking.” Shaw says about the track; “’No Decent Shoes for Rain’ is inspired by grief, grief over past relationships, grief for loved ones who have died, and all the things that come with that; loneliness, numbness, yearning, ruminating about the past.” It shows Dry Cleaning in a more pared back state, not seen in their previous discography. The video is made of footage of the band in the studio at Rockfield and on tour.

WATCH DRY CLEANING’S VIDEO FOR “NO DECENT SHOES FOR RAIN”

Stumpwork was made in the aftermath of the death of two very important people to the band; bassist Lewis Maynard’s mother, and guitarist Tom Dowse’s grandfather. Both were instrumental in the band’s development, both in encouragement and, in the case of Maynard’s mother, literally providing the band with a place to rehearse. Shaw’s lyrics explore not only loss and detachment but all the twists and turns, simple joys and minor gripes of human experience too. Ultimately, what emerges from it all is a subtle but assertive optimism, and a lesson in the value of curiosity. Stumpwork is a heady mix that is entirely the band’s own, distinguishing it from anything produced by their contemporaries.

This fall, Dry Cleaning will tour across Europe. Following, they’ll play in Australia, and then embark on a lengthy run in the US. Then, they’ll return to Europe. Tickets for all shows are on sale now and a full list of dates can be found below.

LISTEN TO “GARY ASHBY”

LISTEN TO “ANNA CALLS FROM THE ARCTIC”

WATCH THE “DON’T PRESS ME” VIDEO

PRE-ORDER STUMPWORK

DRY CLEANING TOUR DATES (new dates in bold)
Thu. Oct. 20 – London, UK @ Peckham Audio
Tue. Oct. 25 – Kingston, UK @ Pryzm (Banquet Outstore)
Tue. Nov. 8 – Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo
Wed. Nov. 9 – Cologne, DE @ Club Volta
Fri. Nov. 11 – Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who? Festival
Sat. Nov. 12 – Kortrijk, BE @ Sonic City
Wed. Nov. 30 – Tokyo, JP @ Liquid Room
Thu. Dec. 1 – Osaka, JP @ Club Quattro
Tue. Dec. 6 – Auckland, NZ @ Tuning Fork
Wed. Dec. 7 – Wellington, NZ @ San Fran
Fri. Dec. 9 – Brisbane, AU @ The Brightside
Sat. Dec. 10 – Meredith, AU @ Meredith Festival
Mon. Dec. 12 – Melbourne, AU @ The Corner Hotel
Tue. Dec. 13 – Melbourne, AU @ The Corner Hotel
Wed. Dec. 14 – Sydney, AU @ Manning Bar
Fri. Dec. 16 – Perth, AU @ Rosemount Hotel
Tue. Jan. 10, 2023 – Montreal, QC @ La Tulipe
Wed. Jan. 11, 2023 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix
Fri. Jan. 13, 2023 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Sat. Jan 14, 2023 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
Tue. Jan. 17, 2023 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw
Wed. Jan. 18, 2023 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune
Thu. Jan. 19, 2023 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
Sat. Jan. 21, 2023 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
Sun. Jan. 22, 2023 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco
Mon. Jan. 23, 2023 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
Tue. Jan. 24, 2023 – Tucson, AZ @ Congress Plaza
Thu. Jan. 26, 2023 – Dallas, TX @ Texas Theatre
Fri. Jan. 27, 2023 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
Sat. Jan. 28, 2023 – New Orleans, LA @ Toulouse Theatre
Sun. Jan. 29, 2023 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 – Washington, DC @ The Howard Theatre
Wed. Feb. 1, 2023 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Thu. Feb. 2, 2023 – Brooklyn, NY @ Pioneers Works
Tue. Feb. 14, 2023 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street
Wed. Feb. 15, 2023 – Belfast, UK @ Mandela Hall
Fri. Feb. 17, 2023 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowlands
Sat. Feb. 18, 2023 – Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy
Mon. Feb. 20, 2023 – Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory
Tue. Feb. 21, 2023 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City
Wed Feb. 22, 2023 – Sheffield, UK @ O2 Academy
Fri. Feb. 24, 2023 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
Sat. Feb. 25, 2023 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute
Sun. Feb. 26, 2023 – Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy
Tue. Feb. 28, 2023 – Cardiff, UK @ Tramshed
Wed. March 1, 2023 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk
Fri. March 3, 2023 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton
Mon. Mar. 13, 2023 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA
Wed. Mar. 15, 2023 – Stockholm, SE @ Debaser Strand
Thu. Mar. 16, 2023 – Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret
Sat. Mar. 18, 2023 – Hamburg, DE @ Knust
Sun. Mar. 19, 2023 – Groningen, NL @ Vera
Mon. Mar. 20, 2023 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Tue. March 22, 2023 – Offenbach, DE @ Hafen2
Thu. Mar. 23, 2023 – Munich, DE @ Strom
Fri. Mar. 24, 2023 – Vienna, AT @ Flex
Sat. Mar. 25, 2023 – Prague, CZ @ Futurum
Mon. Mar. 27, 2023 – Warsaw, PL @ Hybrydy
Tue. Mar. 28, 2023 – Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz
Wed. Mar. 29, 2023 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
Fri. Mar. 31, 2023 – Rotterdam, NL @ Maassilo
Sat. Apr. 1, 2023 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix

Keep your mind open.

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

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Angélica Salvi releases “Crina” ahead of her upcoming harp-based album, “Habitat.”

Today Porto-based harpist Angélica Salvi has announced details of her forthcoming album ‘Habitat’ for release on November 4th via Lovers & Lollypops.

Since releasing her debut record ‘Phantone’ in 2019, Salvi has worked across multiple projects, both solo and in collaborations in the fields of cinema, dance, theatre, photography and music, working with names such as Valentina Magaletti, Lafawndah, The Pyramids, Natural Information Society,Evan Parker and more.

On ‘Habitat’ she continues to deepen her sonic exploration across eight songs with the harp at the centre, supported by the use of real-time audio signal processing tools to create complex textural works – each one evoking a specific sensory memory.

Today she shares the brisk, breathlessly racing first single and accompanying video, “Crina”. “Crina” means mane or horsehair in Portuguese, and Salvi describes the song as “The feeling of riding a horse… A journey into the unknown.”

The accompanying video, directed by award-winning Portuguese filmmaker André Gil Mata, was inspired by the album’s cover. “He said he really enjoys to look at my hands when I play. He says it is like a dance” Salvi explains. “He imagined my hands mimetized with a natural habitat. I told him I was imagining a mimetic atmosphere in the whole album: with water, plants, sand… so he chose plants, moss and water.”

“Crina” on YouTube: https://youtu.be/rj5T-CvCJsU

On ‘Habitat’, Angélica is inspired by the habitat of her own, and the way in which she relates to it in her daily life. Each of the songs is a sensory memory that can be relived over and over again, with changing nuances and subtleties. It’s a set of moments of interaction with the elements that are, or have been, part of her routine and are transformed or modified with her actions. Memories captured and reproduced infinitely through labyrinthine patterns and sound textures, ambiguous melodies and flourishing harmonies that fluctuate, coexist and interact with other beings or elements in their universe of minimal language.

The album was created and recorded in her home studio with the aim of being fully possible to reproduce and process the sound in real time, in the context of live music. On the album there is almost no post-production. All sounds that appear on it come out of the harp and the affiliated pedals.

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

Live: Bev Rage and the Drinks and The Namby Pamby – Brass Rail – Ft. Wayne, IN – September 22, 2022

This was my second time seeing Chicago queercore punk band Bev Rage and the Drinks, and it was, so far, the loudest set I’ve seen them play.

First up in the small Brass Rail dive bar in downtown Fort Wayne, were The Namby Pamby, who I hadn’t seen before now. Their stuff reminded me of some of Nirvana‘s mellower tracks with harder-edged R.E.M. thrown in for good measure. It’s an interesting sound that feels familiar and yet kind of exotic.

As I mentioned before, Bev Rage and the Drinks came out and proceeded to blast the Brass Rail’s bar out onto Broadway. I don’t know how much of it was the place’s acoustics, how much was their amps turned up to eleven, and how much of it was Ms. Rage and her band’s blazing fury, but the power of their set was palpable. They ripped through tracks from their last two albums, ending with a hard-hitting version of “Permanent Receptionist.”

Necromoon played after them, but I was exhausted after a long work day and had to leave to make it home safe that night. It was a fun night, however, and Bev Rage always puts on a great show.

Keep your mind open.

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

Live: The Joy Formidable and Mobley – Piere’s – Ft. Wayne, IN – September 20, 2022

There was a guy wearing a TV set on his head when I walked into Piere’s Entertainment Center in Ft. Wayne, Indiana on September 20, 2022.

That guy was Mobley – a one-man show who played a wild mix of electro and soul on everything from guitar, drum kit, keyboards, and a sequencer. His video clips displayed behind him were perfectly synchronized with his fun set, showing lyrics and images from his tracks.

I was mainly there to see The Joy Formidable, who were opening for The Front Bottoms. The crowd was heavy with Front Bottoms fans, judging by the number of band shirts I saw in the crowd, and hardly anyone knew who The Joy Formidable were. It was also, according to lead singer and guitarist Rhiannon “Ritzy” Bryan, the band’s first time playing in Fort Wayne.

They proceeded to shred the entire stage, almost demolishing it and leaving nothing for The Front Bottoms to use afterwards. They were fired up to play, with Bryan sometimes so energetic that she head-butted bassist / co-vocalist Rhydian Dafydd in the chest – twice.

They opened with “The Greatest Light Is the Greatest Shade” and rarely let up to take a breath. They would retune, and then rip into another track, ending their too short set with a stunning, long, blazing edition of “Whirring.”

I left after their set. The Front Bottoms’ style of music isn’t my thing, and I felt bad for them having to follow The Joy Formidable, because, as one guy in the crowd who’d never heard them before said after their set, “That was some hard shit.”

Keep your mind open.

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

Rewind Review: Frankie and The Witch Fingers – Brain Telephone (2021 remaster)

Starting with bright, jangly guitar and weird filter effects, Frankie and The Witch Fingers‘ 2017 album, Brain Telephone, plunges you straight into their weird, wonderful world of psychedelic garage rock with the opening title track and barely lets up on the rabbit hole plunge for the album’s entire length.

The harmonica on “Learnings of the Light” brings early Rolling Stones to mind, if the Stones got even trippier in their first decade. The heavy fuzz of “Primitive Delight” is perfect for rolling down the windows and blasting it as you pull into the Tasty Freeze drive-thru for a strawberry milkshake and some onion rings. “Sunshine Earthquake” and “Microscope” have a neat “soaring” energy to them that seems to lift both tracks, and you, off the ground.

“Doomed” embraces the band’s love of The Doors and southern California (where the band relocated after starting in Bloomington, Indiana) rock. “Sinister Poison” has a fun, slightly spooky keyboard riff throughout that it might make it your new favorite addition to your Halloween playlists. “Owsley” takes Beatles-era psychedelia and injects it with about a liter of straight fuzz and cosmic rock riffs. I’m not sure if the guitars or the drums are bigger in it.

You might think “Let Love Be Love” is going to be a full-blown “hippy” track with its title and opening guitar strums and ballad vocals from Dylan Sizemore, but the track doesn’t devolve into navel-gazing jams and instead remains a straight-up Summer of Love pop-rock cut. They save the epic jamming for “Mother’s Mirror,” which is over eight minutes of ripping solos, tight chops, and warped vocals. It starts as a mind-trip jam (with flute!) and slowly builds into a fast blast through space.

It’s a cool album because you can hear the band’s sound evolving into what would become their harder-edged garage rock face-melting style.

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

Review: The Bobby Lees – Bellevue

The first thing you learn about The Bobby Lees upon playing their new album, Bellevue, is that they don’t waste time. The title track, which opens the album, explodes like ambush machine gun fire. It’s hard to determine who is going fastest. Is it Sam Quartin with her frantic vocals, Macky Bowman with his raging drums, Nick Casa with his blazing guitar, or Kendall Wind with her bonkers bass?

They only stop to breathe for the beginning of “Hollywood Junkyard,” which soon grows into a savage beast of a track that has Quartin ripping apart fame and all the trappings and expectations that come with it. “Ma Likes to Drink” ups the punk (and the funk on Wind’s bass). “Death Train” brings in monster surf elements and Quartin tells us to “shut up and dance.”

“Strange Days” takes a strange left turn, reminding me of some early tracks by Yeah Yeah Yeahs with its haunted house piano, rock star swagger, and air of mystery. “Dig Your Hips” lights a new fuse under your feet with some of Bowman’s hardest snare slaps on the record. I love how the whole band sings on the chorus of “Have You Seen a Girl.” Casa’s guitar solo on “In Low” is jaw-dropping. It sounds like the rest of the band told him, “Just go nuts.”, and he took them up on the offer.

“Little Table” might be a song about human furniture fetish, or a song about the interdependency of relationships. It could be both. “Monkey Mind” has Quartin protesting her inability to stay present. We can all relate to this, and to Wind’s dance bass groove. “Greta Van Fake” is, as you’d expect and hope, a brutal takedown of Greta Van Fleet (“I watch you from the crowd as you fake it, now watch us from the ground as we make it.”). The album closes with “Be My Enemy,” which has Quartin telling her detractors that she’s biding her time as they push her down so she can grow in strength and then smash them to pieces.

Bellevue is named after the upstate New York mental hospital, and Quartin has mentioned that she wrote many of the album’s lyrics while undergoing great stress during the pandemic. The album is manic, for sure, but there’s a tightness to it like a straitjacket that’s tearing at the seams.

Keep your mind open.

[I’d dig it if you subscribed.]

[Thanks to Monica at Speakeasy PR.]

Review: Partner – Time Is a Car

Partner‘s newest EP, Time Is a Car, is both a throwback to their love of fellow Canadians Rush and a drive into the future of their careers as rock icons of their own.

The title track, with its danceable bass from Lucy Niles, brings in post-punk guitars by Joseé Caron and existentialist vocals from both of them such as, “If you’re part of the fabric, do you know you’re a thread?” “Boundaries (No Offense)” has a country twang to it that accentuates the theme of leaving a relationship and putting up a metaphorical fence so you won’t return because you know it would be bad for both of you.

After the lovely, almost ambient “Rest Stop Interlude,” we floor it with “Fear That Closes the Heart” – a track in which Partner happily wear their Rush influence on their sleeves. On it, Caron and Niles sing that they’re “Scared to let go of the fear, scared of what might take its place.” The ego is a tough bastard, and it will go all it can to keep its hold on you.

Partner encourages us to finish the race on the closer, “Not Today,” with powerful lyrics like “Not today, but one day, the world won’t be the same…The things that we believe in will evolve and they will change…When illusions turn to dust and institutions rust, maybe that’ll be the day truth will light the way.” It’s a strong example of how Partner have grown as songwriters, and it has Caron’s fiercest solo on the record.

It’s more good stuff from Partner, who seem to get a hit every time they’re at the plate.

Keep your mind open.

[It’s time for you to subscribe.]

[Thanks to Mar at Mar on 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.

[Subscribe now in the present. The future time when you’re planning to do it will never arrive.]

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: The Stooges – self-titled (1969)

The Stooges, who would become known for their fierce punk garage rock, could’ve been one of the greatest psychedelic rock bands of all time if they had chosen to go down that road.

Take the opening track (“1969”) of their debut album, for example. It’s loaded with psych-fuzz guitar from Ron Asheton that sounds like he just walked in from San Francisco instead of Detroit, and Iggy Pop‘s vocals are almost spoken word poetry rambled from a dingy coffee house. “I Wanna Be Your Dog” almost induces bad acid trip panic.

The third track, “We Will Fall,” is over ten minutes of floating down a lazy river while monks wearing saffron-colored robes chant and play hand percussion instruments along the banks. “No Fun” brings back the grungy fuzz with Dave Alexander‘s distorted bass leading the romp. “Real Cool Time” has Asheton jamming like a damn sawmill of sound tearing through your house.

Pop’s vocals on “Ann” blend right into Asheton’s guitar squalls while Alexander and Scott Asheton lay down a hypnotic rhythm to further trip you out of your headspace. “Not Right” has Pop feeling frisky, but his lady friend isn’t “feeling right,” so he’s stuck again frustrated, and then even more so when she’s finally in the mood and he isn’t. “It’s always this way,” he moans while the rest of the Stooges proceed to melt our faces. The album closes with “Little Doll” and its swirling, scratchy, savage guitars fading the album, and us, into oblivion.

Everyone knows how important The Stooges are to music, but their debut album is a forgotten psychedelic rock classic.

Keep your mind open.

[I just want you to subscribe.]

Review: Motörhead – Iron Fist (40th anniversary edition)

Forty years after its release Motörhead classic Iron Fist album is given a stunning reissue that includes enough bonus tracks for two full albums.

The album sounds harder than ever with the new remastering. The title track opens the record with furious drumming from Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor, and the album rarely, if ever, lets up. “Heart of Stone” is just as angry as it’s always been, as is the raw “Go to Hell” – a song you’ll want to send to your boss at that job you hate as you walk out the door. “Speedfreak” sums up Motörhead’s lifestyle, really.

After the send-off of “Bang to Rights,” we’re treated to six demo tracks from 1981: “Remember Me, I’m Gone,” “The Doctor,” “Young & Crazy,” “Loser,” “Iron Fist,” and “Go to Hell.” Seven more bonus tracks follow on the CD and digital versions of the album: The wonderfully grungy “Lemmy Goes to the Pub,” “Same Old Song, I’m Gone,” a crushing alternate version of “(Don’t Let ’em) Grind Ya Down,” “Shut It Down,” and three instrumentals – “Sponge Cake,” “Ripsaw Teardown,” and a barely recognizable cover of the “Peter Gunn” theme.

As if all this wasn’t enough, there’s also a previously unreleased live album recorded at the Apollo in Glasgow, Scotland on March 18, 1982. It’s a stunning, fuzzy, eardrum-blasting recording that opens with a version of “Iron Fist” that sounds like they’re playing it while the Apollo is on fire. Lemmy Kilmister barely takes a breath until they get to “The Hammer” and he encourages the Glasgow crowd to shout throughout it.

The live version of “White Line Fever” sounds like getting punched in the face by an ogre – multiple times. Kilmister’s raspy growl on “Go to Hell” is the match and Fast Eddie Clarke‘s guitar is the gasoline on the track. Kilmister chastises Glasgow again before “(We Are) The Road Crew,” saying their cheering is so lame that they “sound like Leo Sayer,” which only gets the Scots to go crazier. Of course, this live version of “Ace of Spades” is liable to set fire to your face. They close the main set with venue-shattering versions of “Overkill,” “Bomber,” and “Motörhead.”

It’s a stunning reissue of an already stunning record. Don’t miss this if you’re a fan of Motörhead of NWOBHM.

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

[Thanks to Maria at Adrenaline PR.]