As usual, Desert Daze has a killer lineup this year.
Jack White, Fleet Foxes, and The Mars Volta are sure to have packed crowds, but don’t miss Sleep, Thundercat, The Kills, All Them Witches, Temples, Frankie and The Witch Fingers, or Psymon Spine.
There are plenty of great bands on this list, and plenty of cool things to do when you’re not rocking out in the desert. Yoga classes! Messages from David Lynch! Art installations!
I was stunned to discover that blues-punk garage rock and roller Jon Spencer was playing a gig a mere forty-minute drive from my house at South Bend, Indiana’s Stockroom East. It’s a small venue made for intimate shows, and I’d hadn’t been there before July 11, 2024.
My first thought upon entering was, “Spencer’s going to flatten this place.” I hadn’t seen Mr. Spencer perform in many years, last catching him with his fellow members of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in Bloomington, Indiana on their Plastic Fang tour in 2002. They blew the walls off the place then, and I wondered if most of the audience in attendance knew what they were about to hear and feel.
First up were Chicago post-punks The Sueves, who put on a fun set of power trio crushers. A good number of their friends and family members made the drive from Chicago to see them, and the energy among them was great.
The Sueves!
A pleasant surprise with Spencer’s set is that his current rhythm section consists of The Bobby Lees‘ Kendall Wind on drums and Macky Bowman on bass. In case you missed it, The Bobby Lees’ Bellevuealbum was among my top ten albums of 2022.
Sure enough, the trio of Spencer, Bowman, and Wind came out and proceeded to sonically punch everyone in the face from the first note.
Spencer and crew played a wild set, barely taking time for anyone (let alone them) to catch a breath. The set spanned tracks from the JSBX, Pussy Galore, The Hitmakers, and more. They started with “Skunk” from Now I Got Worry and it was off to the races.
“Bellbottoms” was a big hit with the crowd, and so was every damn song they played, really. The crowd was at first stunned by the magnitude of sound they put out and soon absorbing it as fast as Spencer and his bandmates could dish it.
There was no encore. They didn’t need one. They left us all sweaty and wanting more.
Many thanks to Mr. Spencer for signing my copy of Meat and Bone after the show!
Meat and Bone was the first album in eight years by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion when it was released in 2017. The trio (Jon Spencer – guitar and lead vocals, Judah Bauer – guitar, Russell Simins – drums) had worked on various side projects here and there and thankfully returned for another wild ride.
Opener “Black Mold” drops you right back into that solid grove the JSBX can only seem to pull off – chaotic yet tight at the same time. You can tell that they felt like they wanted to make up for “lost” time and unleash plenty of power in just three minutes or so.
“Are you ready for your new career?” Spencer asks at the beginning of “Bag of Bones,” prompting us to wonder if we need to tip over our desks and cubicles and strut around like the rock stars we are instead of the tired, locked-in-the-past worker bees we’ve become. “Boot Cut” has a great, gritty grind all the way through it.
“Get Your Pants Off” is a wild, wicked track about wanton women doing naughty things. The bass tone on “Ice Cream Killer” is as cool as its namesake. “Stranger Baby” has Spencer and his mates screaming the chorus and growling the verses. “Bottle Baby” has some of Simins’ wildest drumming. He seems to switch tempos every thirty seconds and yet he’s in the groove all the time.
“Danger” is a vicious rocker, and “Black Thoughts” has so much guitar fire in it that I’m not sure if Spencer or Bauer is putting out the most volume. “Unclear” is a fast, fuzzy cut, and “Bear Trap” snaps hard and has a heavy, swaggering menace to it. Spencer’s vocals are often distorted almost to the point of becoming just weird sounds, which is often the point.
I love that the album ends with an instrumental, “Zimgar,” showcasing the band’s wild and sometimes weird sounds. The JSBX returned from an eight-year hiatus and showed they hadn’t lost a thing. It’s almost like they went into cryogenic hibernation, shook off the frost, and walked into the studio and proceeded to melt everything around them.
I first learned of the French psych-rock giants The Limiñanas when they teamed up with Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre to form L’Épée and put out an outstanding record, Diabolique, in 2019. I had no idea that the band had been around since at least 2010. I’d been looking for some of their music for a while in physical form, and ended up finding their two-CD collection, Electrified, in a record store in Edinburg, Scotland.
Starting with “Migas 2000,” Lionel Limiñana‘s fuzzy guitar riffs grab your attention right away and have you dancing like you’re an extra on Shindig. Marie Limińana‘s drums on “I’m Dead” pound out a hip-shaking beat you can’t ignore and (former Les Bellas bandmate) Nadége Figueroa‘s playful vocals about death are just delightful. “Je Ne Suis Pas Très Drogue” (“I Am Not Very into Drugs / Very High”) is so trippy that you think they’re probably lying. Lionel’s guitar sounds like a buzzsaw on “Down Underground,” and Mu‘s guest vocals on “Je Suis une Go-Go Girl” hypnotize you straight away.
Lionel sings lead on “La Fille de la Ligne 15” (“The Woman on Line 15”), in which he laments about seeing her each day and wondering who she is and if he has enough bravery to finally speak with her. The looping synths on “Je M’en Vais” (“I Am Leaving”) combine with a bouzouki to transport your brain out of your head.
“Wind is blowing, black cloud approaching. I remember nothing when I think of you,” Figueroa sings on the sultry and slightly snarky “Salvation.” The band poke fun at themselves and one of their biggest genre influences on “Votre Coté Yéyé M’emmerde” (“Your Yéyé Annoys Me”). Marie’s vocals on “Cold Was the Ground” are breathy, sexy, and, of course, sad as she sings about missing her lover as one of them is on the other side of the veil. Lionel’s bass groove on “My Black Sabbath” is super-slick. I love that they have a song (and instrumental, no less) called “Carnival of Souls,” and that it’s full of weird organ riffs by Pascal Comelade – which you know makes perfect sense if you’re a fan of the film of the same name. The slow, quiet groove of “El Beach” will have you playing it every time you come back from a late night swim. “Prisunic” takes us down to the “Dime Store” and encourages us to hang out with all the weirdos there. “Dahlia Rouge” starts off with a low motorcycle rumble and then bounces into a playful yé-yé tune.
The last three tracks on disc one (Yes, all of the above-mentioned songs are just on one CD) are all team-ups. The first, “Garden of Love,” features none other than Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook, whose trademark crisp bass lines are all over the track. “Istanbul Is Sleepy” has The Brian Jonestown Massacre‘s Anton Newcombe on lead vocals and guitar for a powerful psych-track with a great beat from Marie. Mr. Hook returns on the last track of Disc One – “The Gift.” It’s a lovely track with slight goth and shoegaze touches.
The team-ups continue through most of Disc Two, starting with French actress, model, and signer Emmanuelle Seigner (who would later go on to form L’Épée with them and Newcombe) on the groovy and slightly gritty “Shadow People.” “Dimanche” (“Sunday”) with French actor and singer Bertrand Belin is hypnotizing and somewhat sinister. Speaking of French singers and musicians, French 1980s synthpop star Étienne Daho joins them on “Blood Circle,” singing in English about a tale of what appears to be murder or a tragic accident. Spanish siren / vixen Nuria contributes sexy vocals to “Calentita” (“Warm”), which, as far as I can tell, is about getting high and seeing funky phantoms.
French DJ Laurent Garnier adds house beats to Mr. and Mrs. Limiñana’s spooky pych jams to great effect on “Saul.” “USA Motorbike” (with film composer David Menke) is a great psych-instrumental. I’d take a whole record of stuff like that. Areski Belkacem has been making music and comedy since at least the late 1960s, and here he is co-creating trippy psych-jams on “La Musique.”
“Les Hommes et les Ombres” (“The Men and the Shadows”) is a cool Ennio Morricone-influenced instrumental with neat guitar work, and the following instrumental, “Domino,” (with Golden Bug) throbs with synth-bass and industrial hisses for a wild contrast between the two tracks. A third instrumental track, “Pulsing,” reunites The Limiñanas with David Menke for a growling, snarling, guitar-driven instrumental that has fuzz chords mingling with weird synths and sci-fi sounds.
The last seven tracks are all from the first group Mr. and Mrs. Limiñana were in – Les Bellas – a psych-rock group they had along with guitarist Giom Picard and vocalist / trumpeter Figuerola that was active from about 2003 to 2007. The tracks are a great addition here. “Hey I’m Going Down” sounds like it could’ve been a lost Dum Dum Girls track with it’s fierce beats and 60s garage rock guitars. “She’s on My Track” is a perfect slice of 60s girl group vocals and wall of sound fuzz. “A Dream That Sleeps” mixes rock and surf guitar with heavy organ riffs and Figuerola’s trumpet taking on a great solo.
The title track of this collection comes from a Les Bellas song, and it has a snappy post-punk edge to it that punches hard. Marie Limiñana’s beats on “You Got My Soul” roll back and forth between subtle and smashing. “Drown” mixes sexy vocals with psych-guitar riffs, Spanish trumpet blares, and almost Styx-like synths. The collection ends with the title track from Les Bellas’ lone album, “Belladellic,” a playful, fuzzy yé-yé track that reminds me of a cute kitten playing with you one moment and shredding your hand the next,
It’s a fun collection of rock that will instantly make you feel cooler and make people ask, “Where did you find this?” when you play it.
Dummy — the Los Angeles band comprised of Alex Ewell, Emma Maatman, Nathan O’Dell, and Joe Trainor — announces its new album,Free Energy, out September 6th on Trouble In Mind Records, and shares the lead single/video, “Nullspace.” Pop has always been a big part of Dummy’s sound, but it manifests differently on Free Energy. Sometimes it’s quite literal (and funny), such as the bubbly synth sequence made with a Korg EM1 popping all over lead single “Nullspace,” which features a melody written by O’Dell and is the song the band calls the record’s “sonic mission statement and really influenced by Mark Van Hoen, especially the cut-up dreamy dance-pop he was making on the Locust record Morning Light.”
Dummy’s debut full-length Mandatory Enjoyment arrived in late 2021 and quickly became one of the year’s sleeper hits. Pitchfork, Bandcamp Daily, Stereogum, Aquarium Drunkard, and other publications praised Dummy’s mix of ambient and twinkly guitar pop, their deep musical references, and the intentionality with which they patchworked it all together. Fans bought copies of Mandatory so quickly that Trouble in Mind couldn’t keep it in stock. Sub Pop Records also invited the band to contribute to their legendary Singles Club series. Bands loved Dummy, too, and the group were asked to open for Horsegirl,Botch, Black Country, New Road, Luna, Spirit of the Beehive, Dehd, Snooper, Sweeping Promises, Snail Mail, and more.
Where Mandatory Enjoyment was cerebral and lo-fi, the product of a lot of time inside, Free Energy is all movement, presence, and physicality. A creatively restless band, Dummy felt like they had done the best version of motorik pop that they could do, and wanted to get harder, dancier, a little more psychedelic. Ewell and Trainor began experimenting with home recording, using DAW as kind of an instrument for composition rather than simply a tool. O’Dell dug deeper into instrumental/sample composition, in addition to contributing more guitar leads. Maatman also steps into the spotlight in a big way, her vocals noticeably foregrounded and confident, adding to the live performance feel that forms the foundation of Free Energy. The result is a record that celebrates music’s ability to move the body, whether that be through a teeth-rattling wall of MBV-esque noise, a sticky pop chorus, or a joyous drum machine—or, if you’re Dummy, maybe all of them in the same song.
Additionally, Free Energy features guest appearances by friends Dummy has played with on tour, including Oakland-based saxophonist and electroacoustic artist Cole Pulice and Jen Powers of Powers / Rolin Duo, along with a series of field recordings the band made while on tour: the rushing of water, the rumbling of the van, indistinct voices, chirping birds; the sounds of mundanity rising to cacophony before petering out, treated no differently than the ecstatic rhythms, explosive hooks, and blissful ambient stretches that came before. If there is any key to understanding what makes Dummy such a compelling band, perhaps it is this: it’s all music to them.
Free Energy Tracklist: 1. Intro-UB 2. Soonish 3. Unshaped Road 4. Opaline Bubbletear 5. Blue Dada 6. Nullspace 7. Minus World 8. Dip In The Lake 9. Sudden Flutes 10. Psychic Battery 11. Nine Clean Nails 12. Godspin
Dummy Tour Dates: Sat. Sept. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room Wed. Sept. 11 – San Francisco, CA @ Kilowatt Fri. Sept. 13 – Portland, OR @ Lose Yr Mind Fest Sat. Sept. 14 – Vancouver, BC @ The Pearl Sun. Sept. 15 – Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s Wed. Sept. 18 – Reno, NV @ Holland Project Fri. Sept. 20 – Sacramento, CA @ Cafe Colonial Sat. Sept. 21 – Oxnard, CA @ Mrs. Olson’s Thu. Oct. 31 – Breda, NL @ Mezz Fri. Nov. 1 – Utrecht, NL @ ACU Sat. Nov. 2 – Groningen, NL @ Vera Sun. Nov. 3 – Nijmegen, NL @ Merleyn Tue. Nov. 5 – Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen Wed. Nov. 6 – Stockholm, SE @ Hus 7 Thu. Nov. 7 – Oslo, NO @ Blå Fri. Nov. 8 – Malmo, SE @ Plan B Sat. Nov. 9 – Berlin, DE @ Synästhesie Festival Sun. Nov. 10 – Warsaw, PL @ Chmury Mon. Nov. 11 – Vienna, AT @ Arena Tue. Nov. 12 – Salzburg, AT @ Rockhouse Wed. Nov. 13 – Zurich, CH @ Bogen F Thu. Nov. 14 – Annecy, FR @ La Brise Glace Festival Fri. Nov. 15 – Dijon, FR @ Le Consortium Sat. Nov. 16 – Rennes, FR @ Kool Thing Festival Sun. Nov. 17 – Clermont Ferrand, FR @ La Coopérative de Mai Tue. Nov. 19 – Marseille, FR @ L’Intermédiare Wed. Nov. 20 – Lyon, FR @ Sonic Thu. Nov. 21 – Bordeaux, FR @ Iboat Fri. Nov. 22 – Angers, FR @ Joker’s Pub Sun. Nov. 24 – Paris, FR @ La Boule Noire Tue. Nov. 26 – London, UK @ Moth Club Wed. Nov. 27 – Bristol, UK @ The Lanes Thu. Nov. 28 – Coventry, UK @ Just Dropped In Fri. Nov. 29 – Newcastle, UK @ The Lubber Fiend Sun. Dec. 1 – Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast Mon. Dec. 2 – Edinburgh, UK @ Sneaky Pete’s Tue. Dec. 3 – Leeds, UK @ Headrow House Wed. Dec. 4 – Manchester, UK @ Yes Thu. Dec. 5 – Brighton, UK @ Dust
First, how cool is that cover? I could create a full Dungeons and Dragons adventure based on that. I’m thinking it’s the palace of a Storm Giant or a Cloud Giant, possibly protected by a Sphinx and having a portal to the Astral Plane inside it. I mean, what else could that glowing circle inside it be?
Islands in the Sky by Death Valley Girls turns out to be an album about self-healing, ascension to higher states of consciousness (or, perhaps, centering oneself to the present), and preparing for possible future incarnations of ourselves in this reality or another – such as the one on the cover.
Starting with “California Mountain Shake” (which could reference a few different things in its title), the album starts with moaning chants and haunting organ from Bonnie Bloomgarden as Larry Schemel‘s guitar subtly moves around you like a wise old serpent. “Magic Powers” put bassist Sammy Westervelt on lead vocals singing about realizing through enlightenment that she, and all of us, have untapped power waiting to be rediscovered.
The beat of the title track, thanks to Rikki Styxx and guest percussionist Mark Rains, instantly gets your body moving in a happy groove while Bloomgarden encourages us to leave worry behind and pick up joy. “Sunday” is a fun, almost go-go club rocker.
“What are the odds that we live in a simulated world, and I’m a simulated girl?” Bloomgarden asks on “What Are the Odds?” as she and Schemel trade guitar licks and Styxx puts down some of the heaviest beats of the album. The odds, by the way, seem about even, as we all create our own reality.
The second side of the album starts with the transcendent “Journey to Dog Star,” and by this time I’m long overdue to mention the contributions of Gabe Flores on saxophone throughout the album. His psych-jazz honks blend perfectly with Schemel’s trippy guitar work on not only this track, but on all the songs featuring him on the record.
“Say It Too” has some desert rock and even slight surf touches throughout it, and some of Bloomgarden’s loveliest vocals on the album. “Watch the Sky” could be a warning about UFO’s (watch the original The Thing from Another World) or a song about watching clouds go by and using that as inspiration to clear one’s mind. Either way, it’s a lot of good, fuzzy rock.
Bloomgarden tells us that life can be so much more than the drudgery in which we often trap ourselves on “When I’m Free,” and on “All That Is Not of Me,” she encourages us to let go of our trappings, excesses, and self-imposed limits (“All that is not of me washes away from me.”) while Schemel’s guitar work goes into near-shoegaze territory and Westervelt’s bass keeps the song locked into a sweet groove.
Closing with “It’s All Really Kind of Amazing” is a perfect way to end such an uplifting album. Lyrics like “Wake up it’s time to be all the things you dream.” sum up Islands in the Sky with perfect energy.
As good as this album was in 2023, it’s even better and more important now in 2024 as we head toward a Presidential election featuring two choices that most of us aren’t thrilled about and people are unsure and nervous about what’s to come. Don’t worry about what’s to come, focus on now. Don’t worry about now, but be present with it. The future, when it gets here, will be now. We’re already living in the future. We can fix it now. Death Valley Girls have been telling us this before Islands in the Sky, but this album can be a great entry point for their mystical, metaphysical, marvelous sound and message.
