7th Level Music

October and the Eyes profess “All My Love” on first single from upcoming EP.

New Zealand-born, London-based singer, songwriter and producer October and the Eyes announces her debut EP, Dogs and Gods, out November 20th on KRO Records. October recently signed to the label following an introduction by fellow musician and friend Yves Tumor. Today, she shares the lead single and video “All My Love,” a track that lures you into a warm embrace of October’s coy and breathy sweet-nothings.

“’All My Love’ is unfortunately a love song – something I told myself I would never write, yet here I am,” says October. “But it’s not all sweet. In fact, I would call it more of a lust song. It’s about being in love but lusting for something more. It’s about desire, greed, and infatuation with a stranger. The song became strangely prophetic in recent months as I watched the one I once loved self destruct from afar ‘in tin cans and other crumbs of temporary self satisfaction’ – a line I wrote before I could even comprehend that it would become remotely true. Because of this, the song is now tainted with a strange sadness that I’ll carry with me every time I perform it.”

Watch “All My Love” Video

October is no newcomer to music – despite only being 23, the New Zealand born musician has been involved in musical pursuits since she was a child. Heralding from a musical family, the prospect of pursuing music in one form or another was almost inescapable: A classical pianist mother, fanatic music fan father, and two older multi-instrumentalist brothers who were always holding their band practices in the family playroom. Having grown up in a small rural town in New Zealand’s wine country, she turned to songwriting as a means to stave off boredom, teaching herself how to record and produce her own music.

After moving to East London, October wrote and produced the Dogs and Gods EP, a dizzying, darkly kaleidoscopic, and dauntless collection of music. Thematically, the EP explores the complex dynamics of love, lust and infidelity in the 21st century.

Self-describing her music as “collage-rock,” October pulls musical inspiration from the likes of Bauhaus, Bowie, Siouxsie Sioux and Suicide, then squeezing her influences through the gauze of modernity and electronics. With nods to acid rock, psychobilly and post-punk, October and The Eyes’ music is equal parts nostalgia-drenched as it is future forward, employing layers of ambient synth drones, crunched guitar, jagged organ parts, and October’s theatrical voice, creating something entirely her own.

Watch “All My Love” Video:
https://orcd.co/octoberallmylove

Pre-order/pre-save Dogs and Gods:
https://orcd.co/octoberandtheeyes

Dogs and Godstracklist:
1. Playing God
2. All My Love
3. Wander Girl
4. You Deserve It
5. The Unraveling
6. Dark Dog

Keep your mind open.

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

CHAI sign to Sub Pop and release a song praising donuts. What’s not to like?

Watch CHAI’s Video for “Donuts Mind If I Do”
Japanese quartet CHAI are thrilled to announce their signing to Sub Pop. In celebration, they announce a new digital single and official video for “Donuts Mind If I Do” which is available digitally today.

“Donuts Mind If I Do” is lush with layered vocals and dreamy, laidback instrumentation. The track is mellow until the twins’ voices join together and its synth swells as they proclaim “Keep going on!” CHAI says: “When you’re feeling vigorous, when you’re feeling sick, You like what you like! No changing that! Even if what I like is as simple as a donut <3. It’s this type of song!”

The accompanying video, directed by Hideto Hotta, shows CHAI sitting on a grassy hill, enjoying colorful donuts. Later, they appear as older versions of themselves. “In order for various concepts of society, societal structures to have been built up and exist today, there had to be changes to those concepts, to those structures in every era to continue to lead to the next society…with that said, in this music video we explore the CHAI you know today, and then CHAI as elderly women,” explains Hotta. “On an all-white table cloth, eating donuts, sits CHAI. They can even sip on the tea in the teapot if they’d like! Ultimately time passes, and the elderly CHAI is still there, enjoying their last supper in the middle of the meadow, white-table cloth and all eating their donuts. CHAI changes physically, but one thing that does stand still is them living in their truth. If finding true happiness is one of the goals the human race is constantly in search of, then conveying this in this visual, spreading what happiness means to CHAI, to me, is something I feel is important in us living in our truths.”

The song is from CHAI’s forthcoming “Donuts Mind If I Do” b/w “Plastic Love” double A-side single. The second track, “Plastic Love,” will be available on all DSPs from Sub Pop on November 6th. Both songs will also be released together as a limited edition 7”, which is available to pre-order now from Bandcamp (on either orange or turquoise colored vinyl), and Sub Pop Mega Mart (on lime green vinyl). All three options will be available while supplies last. The “Donuts Mind If I Do” b/w “Plastic Love” 7” single will be available worldwide (excl. Japan and Asia) with an estimated ship date in late November.

CHAI is a revolutionary four-piece, made up of miracle twins Mana and Kana, and the impeccable rhythm section of Yuuki and Yuna. Combining their powerhouse musical prowess with “pinkish punk” sensibilities, CHAI has managed to create a huge splash in the music scene in their homeland, Japan, and abroad. Now ready to build on their infectious sound and musical accolades, CHAI is gearing up with their new label to release even more new music into the world.

Pre-order “Donuts Mind If I Do” b/w “Plastic Love”

Keep your mind open.

[I don’t mind if you subscribe.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Alpha Hopper deliver “The Goods” with new single.

Buffalo, NY quartet Alpha Hopper announce their forthcoming third album Alpha Hex Index will be released via Portland, OR label Hex Records on November 6th, 2020. Today the band shares the first single, “The Goods” via Echoes & Dust HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)

“A bartender, a personal trainer, a graphic designer, and an immigration attorney walk into a practice space…”

Formed in Buffalo, New York in 2014, Alpha Hopper creates a frenetic stew of guitar-driven rock’n’roll with ingredients from punk, hardcore, noise rock, and no-wave. Their 3rd LP Alpha Hex Index shows them deeper than ever down their rabbit hole. Sassy, snotty vocals punctuating the ever growing wall of catchy, bizarre riffs and prison break drum beats. Dummy math, noise-rock for art-punk drop outs.
For this album the band decided to record the effort themselves in their homes. Pandemic-related shelter in place recommendations caused some hiccups in being able to track the entire effort in a single block, and instead recording sessions were conducted in intervals when the members could safely get together and hash out their respective parts. Once they were satisfied with the mix they handed things over to engineer John Angelo (Gwar, Every Time I Die, Gas Chamber) to handle mastering duties.

Alpha Hex Index will be available on LP, CD and digital on November 20th, 2020.

Keep your mind open.

[Thanks to Dave as US / THEM Group.]

Review: Ela Minus – Acts of Rebellion

Gabriela Jimeno, otherwise known as Ela Minus, doesn’t allow herself to make music using computers. Everything has to be made with analog gear to give it a human touch. Her sharp new record, Acts of Rebellion, is no exception. Despite its political and personal shouts, the album is intertwined with themes of love. Club beats and ambient waves mix like a two-colored cocktail served in a high-end club that’s located in an abandoned warehouse with sawdust all over the floor.

Opening track “N19 5NF” builds its synths like a Jon Hopkins track and then drops win Vangelis-like touches to immediately take you from the moment into a bright future you can’t quite make out but know is within reach. Her lyrics on “They Told Us It Was Hard, but They Were Wrong” encourage us to embrace compassion (“When you love, you love it all, and nothing seems impossible.” Her vocal stylings on it remind me of early Ladytron tracks.

The deep house bass of “El Cielo No Es de Nadie” instantly gets you grooving, and Minus’ native Spanish vocals move around you like a sexy spectre. “You don’t want to understand, you’re choosing to lead us apart. But against all odds, you still won’t make us stop,” she sings on the anthem-like “Megapunk.” Minus was formerly a drummer in a Colombian punk band, so standing up to The Man is par for the course for her. She now does it with analog synths instead of a drum kit.

“Dominique” is a bouncy, lovely track that has beats James Murphy would love to have written, but don’t let the peppy synths fool you. The song is about dark depression that can come after a lover leaves for good. On “Tony,” Minus gets out of the house and into the dance club to dance until dawn and break out of her funk. The closer, “Close,” features Helado Negro, and has Minus singing about keeping her lover closer, even when they’re apart. It’s a fun track that has some lullaby-like synths mixing with soft electronic beats that seem to come from a dream.

The album also has three instrumental tracks, which I always appreciate. Minus knows that sometimes lyrics get in the way of grooves, and it’s best to let the grooves stretch without them.

Love is an act of rebellion in this day and age. Acts of Rebellion is a delightful reminder of this.

Keep your mind open.

[You can spread the love by subscribing.]

[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Bleached call out “Stupid Boys” on new single.

Bleached – the Los Angeles-based duo of sisters Jessica and Jennifer Clavin – release an anthemic new single, “Stupid Boys.” It’s their first new material since Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough?, “one of the year’s best rock albums, and far more than a survival tale” (Billboard), released last year on Dead Oceans. “Stupid Boys” is pertinent to today’s female empowerment movement, as the Clavin sisters directly call out harmful behavior. Jennifer’s voice buzzes over Jessica’s bright guitar, as they both chant all too familiar tropes: “Try to rebound with my best friend // I saw you slide into her DM’s // Get a tattoo of my first name // cross it out and tell me I’m lame.”

“Making light of a dark situation has been a tool I’ve used to get through challenging times,” says Jennifer Clavin “Specifically, a way I’ve often honored my recovery is to tell my story through my lyrics – this time the subject is crazy ex-boyfriends. This started out as a jokey song, something light-hearted, meant to be danced to…or so I thought. After the most recent flood of ‘me too’ call outs around men in the music scene, I returned to this song and felt somewhat surprised, because the lyrics actually aren’t so light-hearted, and they directly refer back to experiences related to the reckoning we just saw go down. I don’t wanna keep dwelling on the past and all its fucked up-ness, but I also don’t wanna ignore it and brush it under the rug like it never happened. What I do believe is that life is about finding a balance between the dark and light, and if I want inner peace I have to allow the light in to absorb the dark. So maybe this song has changed shape, just like our understanding of things change over time, with perspective, and now it is both a vessel for some painful memories and a testament to growth and healing, and to me, that’s what music is for. I’m proud of this song for so many reasons, but most especially because it strikes that balance for me, and I hope for you too.”

Listen to Bleached’s “Stupid Boys”

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

FUZZ unleash new single, “Spit,” from upcoming album.

FUZZ, the raw power trio comprised of Los Angeles-based Ty Segall (drums, vocals), Charles Moothart (guitar, vocals), and Chad Ubovich (bass, vocals), will release their new album and first in five years, III, on October 23rd via In The Red. Today, FUZZ release a new single, “Spit,” and its mind-bending stop motion video. Following lead single “Returning,” an auditory meditation on the power of one and the different perspectives of one, “Spit” is fierce with buzzing guitar licks and pummeling percussion. Its video, made by Moothart, reflects this intensity, with nightmarish characters spun from wire and trippy collages.

“‘Spit’ was written early in the process of working on III. When Ty and I first started working on this song, we didn’t know if it was even going to be a FUZZ song or not,” says Moothart. “We wanted to make a song that felt straight forward, but had a subtle tweak that over time gets more obvious. The verse riff almost feels like you’re falling asleep at the wheel then the chorus opens up with a melodic, but sharp riff that adds to the punch-drunk feeling of the verse.”

Moothart elaborates on the video: “I started doing stop motion as a quarantine experiment. I wanted to make experimental animation that I could try to make sound design for, and I ended up just making a FUZZ video. It was an extremely fun project to take on in this time. It was especially fun to open up for feedback and ask for direction so that I had to challenge myself to complete something that felt cohesive. I was honored when it became more clear that I had actually created something that the band wanted to stand behind from an aesthetic standpoint.”

Watch FUZZ’s Video for “Spit”

The follow-up to 2015’s II, “an impressive double album made for headbanging and the cultivation of bad vibes” (NPR Music), III keeps the focus on the live sounds of the band. It was recorded and mixed at United Recording under the sonic lordship of Steve Albini, with minimal use of overdubs and studio tricks. Albini’s mastery in capturing sound gave FUZZ the ability to focus entirely on the playing while knowing the natural sounds would land. It takes the essential ingredients of “guitar based music” and “rock and roll power trio” and puts them right out on the chopping block. It was a much more honest approach for FUZZ — three humans getting primitive, staying primitive.

A pyramid of sonic destruction and psychic creation, all shades of color, truth and lies. III is the pillar of unity and singularity. Log out, drop thought, turn up.
Listen to “Returning”

Pre-order III

FUZZ Tour Dates:
Thu. Dec. 3 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Fri. Dec. 4 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Sat. Dec. 5 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Fri. Jan. 22 – Sat. Jan. 23 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Mon. Jan. 25 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
Tue. Jan. 26 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
Wed. Jan. 27 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
Fri. Jan. 29 – Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s
Sat. Jan. 30 – Felton, CA @ Felton Music Hall
Thu. Feb. 4 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Fri. Feb. 5 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
Sat. Feb. 6 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
Sun. Feb. 7 – Montreal, QC @ La Tulipe
Mon. Feb. 8 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Wed. Feb. 10 – New York, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Thu. Feb. 11 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Fri. Feb. 12 – Baltimore, MD @ OttoBar
Sat. Feb. 13 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Sun. Feb. 14 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
Sat. March 13 – Istanbul, TR @ Zorlu Art Center
Tue. March 16 – Nimes, FR @ Paloma
Wed. March 17 – Barcelona, ES @ Upload
Thu. March 18 – Madrid, ES @ BUT
Sat. March 20 – Bilbao, ES @ Santana 27
Mon. March 22 – Biarritz, FR @ Atabal
Wed. March 24 – Paris, FR @ Trabendo
Thu. March 25 – Lille, FR @ Aeronef
Fri. March 26 – Köln, DE @ Gebaude 9
Sat. March 27 – Berlin, DE @ Columbian Theater
Tue. March 30 – Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
Wed. March 31 – London, UK @ Electric Ballroom

Keep your mind open.

[Head on over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Jim at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Jessie Kivel takes a trip to the “Northside” on his new single.

Jesse Kivel shares a new single, “Northside,” from the forthcoming album, Infinite Jess, out November 13th on his own New Feelings label. Following “woozy and widescreen” (Brooklyn Vegan) lead single “William,” “Northside” pulses with a beat that echoes My Bloody Valentine’s “Soon,” minus the gauze. It builds worlds of melody, injected with love, depth and spirit, so much so that you need to sing that chorus back as loud as you can. ‘The Northside’ Jesse refers to is the neighborhood in Santa Monica locals know as ‘North of Montana.’ It’s an enclave for rich screenwriters, directors, actors and business folks, where they can build mini Xanadus for their families and live out an impossible West Coast fantasy that probably died in 1969, but carries on in the capitalistic glory of their Teslas, manicured lawns and renovated three story minimalist box homes.

“This song is a love letter to a time when music was brand new and limitless in my mind,” says Kivel. “As a kid, my brother and I would walk from our high school to Barnes and Noble and spend hours reading Q, NME, MOJO and all the other British music magazines. Our favorite group was Oasis, and we just wanted to be the Gallaghers. This song also nods to The Smashing Pumpkins, Primal Scream and Polaris who I also deeply connected with at the time.“

Stream “Northside”

Infinite Jess puts more of him — the real Jesse, as man, father, son, brother — into the open world than ever seen, or heard, before. The whole album reads like an autobiography. So evocative. So instantly transportive. The music and pitch perfect arrangements — moody, playful, atmospheric, and unpredictable — are the vehicle for time travel and producer Joey Genetti, along with an immensely talented cast of some of the most dynamic technicians and stylists in LA’s contemporary music scene — Sam Wilkes, Jeff Brodsky, and Michael David — help infuse a rich, deeply felt sense of purpose and shape to every moment.

Stream “Northside,” “William” & Pre-Order ‘Infinite Jess’

Keep your mind open.

[Take a trip to the subscription box while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Wolfmanhattan Project declare it will be “Summer Forever.”

An anti-supergroup like no other! Wolfmanhattan Project, featuring Mick Collins (The Gories, The Dirtbombs), Kid Congo Powers (Gun Club, The Cramps, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) and Bob Bert (Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, Lydia Lunch) bring you a healthy dose of dark swampy voodoo with a uniqueness and immediacy that only a combination of this magnitude could deliver.

The new video for ‘Summer Forever’, taken from their forthcoming second album Summer Forever And Ever (coming in 2021) on In The Red Records was filmed in isolation and edited and directed by filmmaker Dylan Mars Greenberg, who, among her many films and music videos, won Best Animated Film at this year’s LA Punk Film Festival for the short film, ‘The Bathtub‘, (starring Bob Bert).

Keep your mind open.

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

[Thanks to Jo Murray!]

Review: Tim Heidecker – Fear of Death

I’m not sure if Tim Heidecker is best known as a stand-up comic or a musician. I first heard of him when I heard his new record, Fear of Death. I then learned he’s also a stand-up comic, and I wasn’t surprised. The album’s themes of death, existential dread, ennui, and, yes, light found in darkness, are all prime subjects for comedians and Heidecker’s perceptive wit is on every track. Collaborating with members of Weyes Blood, The Lemon Twigs, and Spacebomb on the record doesn’t hurt either.

A classic country / Americana sound permeates the entire record. “Prelude to Feeling” opens the album with the instruction (or is it a warning) that “You’re about to feel.” It’s true. The record is one to make you think. “Come Away with Me” is a tale of Heidecker pleading to his lover (voiced by Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering, who provides dual and backing vocals throughout the record) to leave the hot and smelly city to live in the country with him. It’s a fun little rocker.

“Grass is gettin’ browner, trees are fallin’ in the heat…We’re movin’ backwards,” they sing on “Backwards” – a song about devolution and how we should be helping each other instead of leaving the planet a dried-out husk for those to come after us. Despite this grim outlook, the song is upbeat and full of great slide guitar.

The title track has the great line of “Fear of death is keeping me alive.” as garage-rock guitar bounces around in the background and Heidecker proclaims he’s done partying and growing. “I’m moving on, I’m getting out. I can’t take any more lies,” he sings on “Someone Who Can Handle You,” a heartbreaker in which Heidecker finally gives up on a relationship that has worn him down to the bone.

“Nothing” might be the most gothic song you hear this year as Heidecker and Mering sing about there being nothing but a black void after we shuffle off this mortal coil. Heidecker tries to juggle Hollywood bullcrap while thinking all the time that none of it matters in the end. “Say Yes” opens with a CCR-like groove and then melts into a psychedelic bit of great bedroom rock as Heidecker pleads with his lover to stay the night with him.

The big and bold, and funny, “Property” is a tale of how cemeteries will eventually be turned into rental properties, shopping malls, and golf courses, because the dead won’t mind and by then we, the living, won’t care about the dead anymore. “Little Lamb” is almost a lullaby over Heidecker claiming he’s moving on from a lover because he’s tired of being fawned over and needs the time alone.

His cover of “Let It Be” is an alt-country delight and a moment of calm introspection for Heidecker as he muses on his mortality. “Don’t want money, don’t want fame, don’t want to be a household name,” Heidecker claims, but quickly makes the disclaimer that he truly doesn’t want those things without love in a Jackson Browne-like toe-tapping rocker. Mering takes lead vocals on “Oh How We Drift Away,” a haunting. lush song about how even good friends can drift apart over time.

It’s a lovely record that shows how accomplished a performer Heidecker is and embraces not only mortality, but also the mortality of institutions. It’s an album about impermanence, which everyone needs to embrace sooner or later. Why not do it sooner and enjoy life in the present? Heidecker’s on board.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t be afraid to subscribe.]

[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Martin Thulin – Into the Light

Martin Thulin is part of the psychedelic / shoegaze band Exploded View, and his new solo album, Into the Light, is full of psychedelic and dreamy ruminations on death, life, impermanence, and presence.

Opening track “Not Afraid to Die” blends Velvet Underground guitars with 1980s synth wave keys to send you floating into whatever version of the afterlife you prefer – or at least out of your current troubled reality. “Here in My Room” adds some disco horns to create a cool lounge-rock track. The bass on “Amazonian Smoke” is post-punk, the synths are goth, and the drums are industrial. It all works. “Thin White Duchess” is, of course, a play on David Bowie‘s “Thin White Duke,” and Bowie touches are sprinkled throughout the track. I like the way Thulin filters his vocals to the low end when you think they’re going to come in at full volume and then slowly brings them back into the front.

The thick keys on “New Dawn Coming” start off side two of the record, and soft electro-beats slide into the room like a sultry lover. The smoky bass of “Day Out Day In” and Thulin’s echoing vocals bring Peter Murphy to mind, and I love the simple, clear piano compliments throughout it. They’re almost like drops of ice water falling onto you during a humid day.

The guitars on “Upstairs Room” sound like they have strings of taffy as Thulin sings about listening to the radio on a quiet, lonely night – even though he’s with his lover (who is mourning their mother’s death) in the same place. Church organ-like keys usher in “Silence You Forever” while Thulin’s vocals take on a raspy spoken word quality. “Your anger makes you so blind, you can’t see you’re being fooled. And when they finally take it over, you’ll have no voice at all,” he sings / chants. Good heavens, those are some prescient lyrics in 2020, aren’t they? The closer, “Amalgam,” sounds like a film noir score and brings to mind images of rain-coated alleys, shady business deals, femme fatales, and suitcases of money that needs laundered as soon as possible.

It’s a haunting record, a cool record, a smooth record, and an uplifting record. That’s a rare combination in any year.

Keep your mind open.

[Step into the subscription box while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Mr. Thulin!]