Reviews – Page 24 – 7th Level Music

Review: Lizzie Loveless – You Don’t Know

You Don’t Know, the new album by Lizzie Loveless, is an album that collects memories, stories, possibly a couple tall tales, and love poems and then focuses on them with presence and mindfulness…and lovely vocals and beats. It’s also an album with many homes – New York City, Halifax, Nova Scotia, California forests, or the many stops of a tour she took with her band TEEN.

“You don’t know what it means to be with me,” she sings on the opening title track. Loveless (AKA Lizzie Lieberson) braces herself for heartbreak as a relationship is about to end, but she’s walking out with her chin up and not looking back. It’s a lovely opener, with crushing lyrics like “Maybe we should just forget it. We had out fun playing house. I know it wasn’t always easy.”

“The Joke” is a simple tune consisting of Loveless’ voice, acoustic guitar, electric beats, bright synths, and lyrics about a health crisis (“My body betrays me.”) Loveless overcame. “Memory” has Loveless wondering if she’ll ever forget a lover as 1980s soft ballad synths and beats play behind her. “My thoughts are clean though dirty from dreams,” Loveless sings on the sexy, strong track “Eyes of a Man.” The buzzsaw guitar and Theremin-like synths mix well together to put you a bit on edge.

As if she hasn’t bared her soul enough, Loveless tells us, “I’m stuck in a loveless black hole.” on “Loveless.” You can’t help but think she’s a bit tongue-in-cheek about it, however, as the thumping electro-bass and the funky beats on the track are dance floor-ready. “Hold Me Close,” with its lyrics of being in different places during different seasons, seems to be a song about missing someone while on tour. “Window” is another pretty (listen to those synths and toe-tapping beats) gut punch as Loveless sings about waiting for a lover she knows won’t return.

“New York, Yesterday” is a tale of Loveless wandering the Big Apple hoping to see her lover, even though she knows he’s in Los Angeles. “Underneath” stacks groovy bass atop Loveless’ echoing vocals about burying her emotions, even when she knows that revealing them could take her further in a relationship. The album closes with “Again,” a fun title to end a record, and a track about about Loveless wanting love but a potential lover just wanting to smooch.

You Don’t Know is a lovely record all-around, and will probably be one of the best albums of love songs of the year. It’s soulful, sometimes scorching, and sometimes sweet. It’s all good.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine Label Services.]

Review: Shred Flintstone – Unlimited Power

If your band’s name is Shred Flintstone and your album is titled Unlimited Power, you need to have the chops to back up those things. Otherwise, you’ll be dismissed as a “joke band.” Shred Flintstone need not worry. They have enough chops to power a car-crushing monster truck.

Album opener “All My Friends Are Bread” starts us off with post-punk bass riffs Ed Weisgerber and guitar chords from Dan Barrecchia that sound like frantic radio transmissions from a military base being attacked by a giant monster. The whole thing turns into a wild assault on the senses in just a few moments. Wesigerber’s fury continues on the title track while his rhythm section mate, Joey Giambara, locks in everything with crisp chops. “Shred Durst” shreds harder than anything Fred Durst has released in years.

Barrecchia’s guitar work on “Red Dawn” reminds me of early Nirvana tracks. “Friend of a Friend of the Devil” is, dare I say it, a bit psychedelic as Barrecchia sings about trying to run from his fate / sins and then learning to accept it / them. The three of them go nuts on “Big Gun” – a New Bomb Turks-like punk track with the vocal reverb turned up to eleven. “Escape from New Jersey” (the band’s home state) turns the vocal effects up to twelve and drops riffs and drum fills heavier than a dump truck full of broken concrete. “Dirty Boi” comes at you like Leatherface with its heavy buzz and frantic pounding. The album’s closer, “Always,” wraps things up with surf and even a bit of 1950s love ballad crooning.

So, yes, Shred Flintstone have the chops to back up their name and album’s title, as well as knock the speakers off your shelves or walls. If you’re thinking of installing solar panels to power your house, you could just plug this album into your fuse box and save a ton of money.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Katz at Junkfood PR.]

Review: SUUNS – The Witness

Canadian psych-electro rockers SUUNS were tired in 2019. They had been touring almost non-stop since 2010. They needed to slow down, recharge, and refocus, but they didn’t want to stop making music. So, they stopped, or perhaps were forced to stop due to the pandemic, took a breath, and created The Witness.

Opening track “Third Stream” begins the album with a slow, brooding pace, almost like some of Pink Floyd‘s synth-driven psychedelic cuts. The lyrics tell of checking out from the systemic grind and seeking greater things like peace and love. The drop of the echoing guitar and drum beats on it will grab your attention. The title track, with its bumping electro bass and beats, is a song about watching things fall apart around you and avoiding the temptation to fall into the miasma.

The slow, somewhat creepy beat of “C-Thru” is perfect for late night drinks, meditations, or slow dancing with multiple lovers. “Timebender” mixes birdsong with distant guitar riffs and soft beats for an intriguing track about looking beyond the self.

“Release yourself, remove this shroud. What you see when you look around. Clarity so real, don’t change your mind.” Profound lyrics about in “Clarity,” a nice standout in the middle of the record. According to SUUNS, they’ve been working on “The Fix” for about four years and it finally found a home on The Witness. It’s a strange, quirky track with a beat that seems to shift in about five different directions. In other words, it’s kind of cool. “Go to My Head” combines Bossa nova guitar, subdued electronic beats, and simple lyrics about moving on from a finished romance into a nearly six-minute hypnotic therapy session. The album ends with “The Trilogy” – a song that, the band admits, they just sort of let happen once they got into a groove they all enjoyed. How cool is that?

SUUNS have also admitted that The Witness is a stepping stone of them toward different types of material they want to record and different themes they wish to explore. It’s a good start, and it makes you interested in what they’re planning next – as any good album should.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Patrick from Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Pearl & the Oysters – Flowerland

“Delightful” is the word I’d use to sum up Pearl & The Oysters‘ new album, Flowerland. It’s a bright, lovely electro-pop record and the kid of music we all sorely need as we approach the latter half of 2021 with trepidation. Should we travel? Is the pandemic really over? Is it okay to make out and hug people again? Pearl & The Oysters might not have all the answers, but they do have warm, self-replicating optimism.

“Soft Science,” the album’s opener, is a song about taking time to enjoy life (“Hey, come to the beach. You studied all night long.”) and not being a slave to the self-imposed grind. Poppy, fun synths encourage us to step outside our comfortable homes and feel the sand between our toes again. The up-tempo “Bit Valley” is an ode to staring at a computer for so long that you dream about it later. The synths sound like happy, giddy birds throughout the whole track.

“Treasure Island” is perfect for lounging at the outdoor hotel pool, at the beach, or even on the plane ride back from vacation. It’s lazy, groovy, and lovely electro-lounge. “Radiant Radish” is psychedelic surf as Pearl & The Oysters encourage us to get away from bumper-to-bumper traffic and forget your troubles at the beach. The lazy beats and lazy, warped guitar riffs on “Crocodile” reflect the self-isolation lethargy so many of us faced (“Why am I still inside?”). On its surface, “Candy” is about a love of candy and indulging in one’s sweet tooth, but is actually about love, lust, and, I suspect, oral sex. It’s a sweet, funky jam anyway you cut it.

The title track is a dreamy fantasy of crashing on an alien world and discovering it’s a sunny paradise. “Evening Sun” is about being hungover, both on booze and on Netflix, home cooking, and staying indoors. The beats on it are crisp, and the addition of a flute is a lovely touch. “Baby” is their version of the Bossa nova classic, and it’s a welcome delight on an already delightful album.

“Wizzo” brings in sitar and robot-like vocals about the future coming early, as it always does. “Osteroid Asteroid” is so full of fat synth bass that it should probably have its blood sugar checked. On “Satellite,” Pearl and the Oysters sing about the law of (physical) attraction, to the point where it’s keeping her awake at night for fear of missing something delightful. “Rocket Show” has a bit of minstrel show / circus sound to it, with what I think is a harpsichord prancing throughout it. It’s a song of optimism and seems like it’s congratulating all of us for making it through 2020, but Flowerland was completed pre-pandemic. The album closes with the instrumental, trippy “Flamingo Sketches.”

It’s a lovely record all-around and one you’ll enjoy as you move from summer to autumn, and then listen to again in winter so you can remind yourself that summer will come.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine PR.]

Review: Deathchant – Waste

Imagine Thin Lizzy fronted by a guy who looks like a heftier Frank Zappa but with a voice like Lemmy Kilmister (T.J. Lemieux), and you’ll pretty much have the sound of Deathchant and their second album, Waste.

The seven-track album rips by you faster than a drag strip car, barely coming in over half an hour in length. These guys don’t fool around or waste time. The first track, “Rails,” sounds like the album is about to come off them after the first drum fill by Colin Fahrner. Deathchant’s melodic heavy metal instantly makes you want to customize a Dodge van and hit the road with a foxy lady dressed in bellbottom hip-huggers and an American flag bikini top…while you’re possibly being chased by a wizard. “Black Dirt” has you stomping the gas in that van in order to make it past a haunted mesa before dusk. “Holy Roller” is one of the album’s heaviest cuts. Lemieux and fellow guitarist / vocalist John Belino simply unload twin machine guns on it, and George Camacho‘s bass is like a sledgehammer taking out any survivors.

The whole band’s stunning ability to just jam is apparent on “Gallows.” The title track is over five minutes long, which seems like an epic poem from Deathchant, and it’s suitable for a heroic journey to a dark land to vanquish a monster and return with a mystical orb. The thing starts like squealing race car tires and then bursts from the starting line and never looks back.

“Plague” has neat guitar work balanced well between Lemieux and Belino while Belino sings of bodies lying in the streets. The album ends with “Maker,” a rocking track that features a friendly competition between Camacho and Fahrner – almost like they’re trying to see which of them might stumble first upon the driving rhythm of the track.

Waste is a solid rock record, and Deathchant seem to have had a blast making it – judging by how fun it is to hear.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

Psycho Las Vegas 2021 recap: Day Four

We’d originally planned to start the final day of the 2021 Psycho Music Festival in Las Vegas at noon to see Warish, but they cancelled their performance before the festival started. So, we had nothing to do but lounge at the pool and spa after breakfast until we headed to the House of Blues venue to see Frankie and the Witch Fingers for the first time. I’d been keen on seeing them, as their last album is outstanding, and clips I’ve seen of their shows looked wild.

They didn’t disappoint. They practically flattened the House of Blues in “their first show in about two thousand years.” A lot of people in the crowd seemed to not know who they were, but were ardent fans by the end. Later in the day, I overheard a guy talking about them to friends: “Frankie and the Witch Fingers! I walked in not knowing what to expect! Holy shit!” He was right. They put on one of the best sets of the entire weekend.

Franke and the Witch Fingers casting Audible Glammer.

We had time for lunch and then headed to the beach stage to see Dengue Fever – a band we’d both wanted to see for a while. They play a neat version of Cambodian funk and disco and had a lot of the crowd dancing in the sand and the wave pool. Their saxophonist is top-notch as well.

We headed back inside to catch to the Rock & Rhythm Lounge, where Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears got on stage to bring some funky soul. Lewis is a sharp guitar player, and the crowd quickly picked up on what he was putting down.

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears piling on even more funk.

My wife was exhausted by this point, so she went back to the hotel room while I returned to the beach to see Osees pound out one of the loudest sets I’ve seen them play. Part of the volume could’ve been from their usual power bouncing off the water of the beach and up at everyone standing on the beach, and part of it could be from them playing in front of a live audience again after so long. It was a wild set, with people in the pool kicking and splashing water everywhere and the security guards being somewhat dumbfounded by what was happening. Drummer Paul Quattrone was especially on-point during the whole set.

Osees bowling us over with the power of rock.

I also managed to catch some partial sets from Howling Giant, Sasquatch, Mothership, and Black Sabbitch during the festival – all of whom had large, happy crowds in front of them.

The entire festival had a happy vibe to it. Everyone was happy to be seeing live music again and partying with friends again.

Plus, it was nice to lounge at an outdoor pool for a while.

Tickets for the 2022 festival are already on sa le, and they’ve announced some of the bands already confirmed, including metal giants like Mercyful Fate, Emperor, and Boris, as well as prog-metal heavyweights Year of No Light.

Keep your mind open.

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Psycho Las Vegas 2021 recap: Day Three

We only had four bands on our itinerary for day three of the Psycho Music Festival in Las Vegas. One was a must-see for us (especially for my wife) and another was someone I, for some reason, had never seen before this festival.

First up were shoegazers Flavor Crystals, who played the early afternoon at the Rock & Rhythm Lounge to a small crowd, but a small crowd full of shoegaze fans. They dropped a heavy sound bomb on the place, flooding the casino with fuzz.

Flavor Crystals melting faces and minds.

They also added to my set list collection from the festival.

We took a break for a few hours and then came back for three consecutive shows at the Michelob Ultra Arena, which is connected to Mandalay Bay. Meanwhile, Summer Slam was happening at the stadium across the street, which made for a weird mix of T-shirts seen in the casino. You saw everything from shirts for wrestlers like John Cena and Rey Mysterio, Jr. to bands like Dying Fetus and Cephalic Carnage.

The first band at the Michelob Ultra Arena certainly weren’t the death metal category, but were rather Thievery Corporation, who put on a fun show combining bhangra, reggae, dub, rap, and funk. It was my second time seeing them, and the first time I saw them was also in Las Vegas (at the Cosmopolitan Hotel Casino rooftop pool), so it was an interesting return for me. They put on a fun set.

Sitar, drums, congas, bass, synths, and vocals from Thievery Corporation.

Next were The Flaming Lips, who are one of the best live bands going right now and one of my wife’s favorite bands ever. It was, as always, a delightful, uplifting experience. The usual spray of confetti into the crowd was minimal, and there were no giant, confetti-filled balloons launched into the crowd due to COVID concerns, but there was still plenty of fun to be had. It was fun to stand next to a guy who’d never seen them before then, and he gave me a happy thumbs-up during the show.

My wife went back to the hotel room after the show, and I stayed to see Danzig. I’d somehow gone my entire punk teenage years, college years, and post-college years without seeing Danzig, Samhain, or any variation of The Misfits. Danzig started a little late, but Glenn Danzig and his band came out to an appreciative crowd and played the entire Danzig II: Lucifuge album and then some of their favorite hits. It was an impressive set, and the guitarist was especially talented. Glenn Danzig wasn’t too concerned about possible COVID infection, however, as he tossed multiple used water bottles and face towels into the crowd – half of whom left before his three-song encore, which baffled me.

One funny conversation I overhead as I was leaving the Danzig show was between two guys. One was checking the set times on his phone. His friend asked who was currently playing. “Cannibal Corpse,” said the man with the phone. His friend replied, “Yeah! Let’s fucking get brutal!”

I made it back to the room after wandering the casino a bit and being a bit overwhelmed by all the visual and aural stimulation, not to mention all the smoke of various kinds I’ve been around all day. We had an easy morning planned for the last day, and then a night of wild rock, Cambodian funk, soul funk, and metal lined up for Sunday.

Keep your mind open.

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Psycho Las Vegas 2021 recap: Day Two

We started off the second day of the Las Vegas Psycho Music Festival with what would become our morning ritual over the next three days – lounging by the Luxor Casino Hotel’s pool in the dry heat after picking up a breakfast sandwich at one of the somewhat-overpriced restaurants in the hotel. We’d relax for a couple hours, wash off the sweat, and then go see some bands. It was a great way to save money because we had little time to spend at the gambling tables and slot machines.

Our musical entertainment began with Foie Gras and her industrial-goth set at the Mandalay Bay House of Blues venue. She put on a good set to an early crowd, and my wife loved her combination of a T-shirt and flamenco dancer sleeves.

Foie Gras with her rockin’ sleeves and blood-painted knees.

Up next was something completely different – a set by Deathchant, who I can probably best describe as sounding like a fuzzier Thin Lizzy. The played the “Rock & Rhythm Lounge,” which is in near multiple restaurants in the casino, so you can get your eardrums blasted while enjoying your expensive wine and French cuisine – or while shoving money into video slot machines. Deathchant were loud and rough and a wild afternoon wakeup call.

Deathchant playing like every song was their finale.

We took a five-hour break, more than enough time to get a nap and dinner before coming back to the Lounge to see British stoner metal quartet Psychlona. It was their first gig win Las Vegas and only their second show of their U.S. tour. “We are so fucking stoked,” their lead singer said, and they certainly played like it. Afterward, their singer told me their set was better than the one they’d just played in San Diego the previous night.

Shoegaze quartet Highlands were up next and brought a welcome change of sound to the Lounge and the festival in general. I’m a big shoegaze fan, and they didn’t disappoint. There was a nice, reverb-laden wall of sound coming from the stage for their whole set.

We then zipped across the casino and back to the House of Blues to see one of my most anticipated sets of the festival – a Bossa nova set from Claude Fontaine. The set was lightly attended, and I couldn’t help but think many were there from a previous metal set or waiting for the next metal band to play after her. The crowd wasn’t sure what to make of her at first, as they’d been so used to metal that a soft set of Bossa nova tracks with dub influences seemed alien to them. Ms. Fontaine put on the loveliest set of the festival (her first time playing in Las Vegas) and the small crowd did come around to appreciating the hypnotizing, alluring music she gave.

Our night ended at the Mandalay Beach stage, which sits opposite a man-made beach on a wave pool, where we saw Ty Segall and his band shred the place with their loud psychedelia – their first gig in two years. Segall’s wife even sang lead on one track. They sounded great, and the volume of the band was amplified not only by electronics, but also the water bouncing it all over the place.

Ty Segall and his crew partying at the beach.

It was our busiest day of the festival for bands – six in one day – but there were plenty more to come.

Up next, more shoegaze at the Lounge and three arena shows ranging from dub to goth metal.

Keep your mind open.

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Psycho Las Vegas 2021 recap: Day One

I wasn’t sure what to expect at the 2021 Psycho Las Vegas music festival. I’d bought tickets to the 2020 festival, but that was, like everything else, cancelled due to the pandemic. I kept the tickets in hopes that most, if not all, of the bands would return. Most did, but there were some absences that were bummers (Windhand, Mephistofeles, and Boris in particular). There were also additions that were quite welcome (Osees, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, Thievery Corporation).

I also had no idea what to expect in terms of healthy safety measures and how I, my wife, and people in general were going to react to be at a music festival again, or even in a casino and among large groups of people again. Nonetheless, we took our vaccinated bodies to Sin City and were happy to discover that the airplane, airport, and all businesses in Nevada are under a mask mandate.

My guess is that 70% of festival crowd was masked nearly all the time. The only person I heard complaining about it was Glenn Danzig (more on that later). The biggest health hazard complaint I had was due to the stunning amount of smokers. I’ve been gone from festivals for so long that I’d forgotten how many people smoke at them, let alone in casinos. Plus, marijuana is legal in Nevada, so the stank of the sticky-icky was everywhere. It’s illegal to smoke it in public, but the odds of you getting cited for it are slim to none.

The festival opened on Thursday, August 19th, with the “Psycho Swim” kick-off party. The festival is held at the Mandalay Bay Casino Hotel, and the “Psycho Swim” is at their Daylight Beach Club – where the security didn’t allow you to bring in a wallet chain or even gum. The pool was full of metal fans, psych-weirdos, music nerds, and, yes, some sexy people.

Everyone is sinking in this pool because the festival was so metal-heavy.

No, we didn’t get into the pool. It was too crowded by the time we got there, and we were mainly there to see bands for the first time in almost two years. The first was Here Lies Man, who opened the entire festival with their groovy, Afro-doom riffs.

For the record, I was the only one in the crowd with a Here Lies Man shirt (which I picked up from them at the last Levitation Music Festival in Austin). I got to thank many of the HLM members after the show, and J.P., the bassist, was kind enough to give me his set list.

It was their first show in two years. This would be a repeated theme from nearly every band we saw over the weekend. All of them were excited to be playing a live show in front of a crowd again.

Up next were Blackwater Holylight, who started off their set by saying, “Okay, we’re going to play some depressing songs for you.” Their doom-psych was appreciated by the crowd, and their upcoming album should be pretty good – judging from the songs they played from it.

Blackwater Holylight were perhaps the only band all weekend who appropriately dressed for the desert heat.

We left for a little while to enjoy some air conditioning and lunch at an Irish pub in the shopping center that connects Mandalay Bay and the Luxor (where we stayed for about half the price of a room at Mandalay Bay). I recommend the turkey burger. We returned in time for Death Valley Girls‘ set, which was the best of the night. They played a wild set of mystical psychedelia. Lead singer Bonnie Bloomgarden, seeming to draw power from the moon, wore a red dress that made her look like a ghost from a Dario Argento movie and a belt that looked like she won it in a professional wrestling match with a cyborg from the year 2305 (and, for all I know, she did). There were a few times when I wasn’t sure if she was wiping sweat from her face or tears from being so happy that they were performing their “first show in about three hundred years,” as she put it. Guitarist Larry Schemel was on fire as well, unleashing some heavy riffs throughout the set. I chatted with him afterwards for a moment, and thanked him for coming out to the festival. He thanked me and said, “This feels weird. It’s our first show after so long…It’s bizarre.” He also gave me his set list, which was a surprise gift.

“Look at the moon!” – Bonnie Bloomgarden (in red dress) points out her cosmic guide for the evening.

It was a good start to the weekend. We had good music, good food, everyone was being cool about each other’s health (the resorts had plenty of hand sanitizer stations and free masks), and we had plenty of time to sleep in the next day.

Up next, dirty metal, psych-rock, stoner metal, electro-goth, shoe gaze, and…bossa nova?

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Mano Le Tough – At the Moment

Recorded in Zurich during the pandemic, Mano Le Tough‘s new album, At the Moment, is a chronicle of him dealing with lockdown while raising a family and adjusting to the reality of not touring, not seeing fans, and having to just be in the moment.

The first words on the album are “On stormy nights, if you start to pray…” The sample is from from a documentary on the remote Irish island of Aran – a place that knows and embraces isolation. “Man of Aran” swells with blips and bloops and has a peaceful quality to it, as does “Empty Room” with its lyrics about listening to bees and learning to be present instead of dwelling on how much we missed everyone in 2020.

The sparse “Snow on Bamboo” leads into the thumping, danceable “Aye Aye Mi Mi.” The smooth lyrics of of “Moment to Change” drift into the dance-synths and bright pop of “Fadó Fadó.” “Pompeii” bumps and thumps with dance floor bass and heavenly synths while the gospel handclaps elevate you higher.

I will never turn down good dub music, and “No Road without a Turn” certainly qualifies. The echoing beats, tinny synths, and heady, thick bass are a great combination. “New / Cycles” has goth touches (creepy synths and slightly industrialized beats) and lyrics like “You hollow me out and fill me in.”

“So Many So Silent” reminds me of Art of Noise tracks with its mixture of synths, warped vocals, bells and xylophones, and echoing dance beats. The acoustic guitar “Short Cuts” eventually dissolves into a dial tone, or perhaps the sound of an old modem…which nicely bridges into the futuristic dance track “Together” to close the album.

At the Moment is an interesting record. It’s difficult to categorize, but I think that’s the point. It’s something Mano Le Tough made in the moment and without much thought to fitting everything into one box. It’s an album made in the present for the present.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]