Recorded at L’Olympia in Paris, France October 14, 2019, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard‘s Live in Paris ’19 is one of three live albums they released for animal welfare charities during the massive wildfires sweeping Australia (many of which, by the way, are still burning). All proceeds from these albums go to these charities, and all three were released well before KGATLW‘s “official” live album – Chunky Shrapnel (review coming soon).
You can tell right away that the Parisian crowd is ready to go nuts from the opening notes. The show starts with the instrumental “Evil Star” before breaking into a sprint with “Venusian 2” and “Perihelion” from Infest the Rats’ Nest. “Perihelion” hits the hardest of the two. “Crumbling Castle” is the second longest track on the album (at nearly nine minutes), and the crowd never stops cheering for it the entire time. It tears into “The Fourth Colour” so fast it almost makes your head spin.
“Deserted Dunes Welcome Weary Feet” and “The Castle in the Air” are a great pairing to slow things down just a touch before the rocking “Muddy Water.” “People Vultures” is a crowd favorite (as is anything from Nonagon Infinity, really) and sounds like it’s almost at double the normal speed. The swing of “Mr. Beat” is always fun to hear live. Hearing the crowd sing along to Stu Mackenzie‘s opening flute on “Hot Water” is delightful.
They’re grooving ands swinging on “This Thing.” “Billabong Valley” is always a crowd favorite as Ambrose Kenny-Smith takes over on lead vocals to sing a tale of a gunman. “Nuclear Fusion” is a personal favorite because of the cool Middle Eastern microtonal groove of the whole thing. “Anoxia,” the always rocking “All Is Known,” and the always hip-moving “Boogieman Sam” follow, and the show wraps up with a dive back into thrash metal with another personal favorite – “Mars for the Rich” and then over twelve minutes of the wild, swirling, mind-melting “Am I in Heaven?” – which contains bits of “Altered Beast” and “Cyboogie” as well.
You might think that after this whirlwind of an album is finished – just like any show by these wacky fellas.
WATCH: Fusilier’s “Dancing In The Street” video on YouTube
Gothamist once described Blake Fusilier’s sound as “something you’d hear in a nightclub at the end of the world.” Last week that narrative shifted with the release of a meditative, deeply felt drone-ballad “Upstream.” NPR Music praised it as a “slow core revival” and Paste Magazine called it a “sweeping, minimal R&B-pop song led by awe-inspiring strings,” and one of the best songs of May, while The Line of Best Fit in the UK named it “Song of The Day.”
Now the nightclub at the end of the world returns with Fusilier’s re-imagining of the Motown classic “Dancing In the Street.” Fusilier’s version turns the song into a queer indie punk fever dream coincidentally released at the kick off of Pride Month.
Says Fusilier in a blistering critique of what the LGBTQ month of remembrance, Pride Month, had become in the pre-pandemic era: “Pride is so boring. A protest-cum-celebration of marginalized people has become a mirror for the existing hierarchies of society. The people who now need uplift and recognition are the people who ‘Gay’ movements hide. They’re women, they’re queer, they’re trans and non-binary, they’re poor, they’re HIV positive, they’re Black. They’re the ones who aren’t going to bank with Santander because they’re issuing debit cards decorated with rainbows. We should get back to our riotous roots.”
Of the song & accompanying video, Fusilier and his collaborator Kevin Alexander call upon a very different activists and artists who inspire him including Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, Toni Morrison and, least known of these, Black gay minimalist composer and vocalist Julius Eastman and his composition “Gay Guerrilla”. Eastman was a major presence on New York’s ‘downtown’ scene of the 70s & 80s who died tragically before the age of 50. Now experiencing a major revival, Fusilier connects to Eastman’s legacy of pro-Black and pro-gay provocations which did not eschew a potential for radical political violence.
Thirty years after Eastman’s death, Fusilier recalls one of the few times on record where we hear the deceased artist speak—literally transcribing Eastman’s words across his own likeness at the video’s climax. Says Fusilier, “In 1980, Julius Eastman once introduced one of his most popular works, ‘Gay Guerrilla,’ to an audience at Northwestern University on what we now know as the first day of Pride month. This is how he closed his introduction:
“A guerrilla is someone who is, in any case, sacrificing his life for a point of view. And if there is a cause, and if it is a great cause, those who belong to that cause will sacrifice their blood. Because without blood there is no cause. So, therefore, that is the reason that I use ‘Gay Guerrilla,’ in hopes that I might be one if called upon to be one.”
The video for “Dancing In The Street” is an expression of my subconscious. It’s a collection of imagery that I keep in mind when I make music. It’s an acknowledgement that there’s a legacy of Black, trans and queer voices that was largely disappeared to history and a reminder that the people who they opposed are still in power.”
Fusilier’s Upstream EP is out now via Brassland and is available on Bandcamp here.
Chicago’s Ohmme have released one of the more intriguing albums of 2020 so far – Fantasize Your Ghost. The title brings to mind the idea of planning for the afterlife and settling affairs now while you can. It’s also a bit of a fun idea – thinking about who and / or where you would haunt if you were a ghost (if you had the choice, of course).
The weird, melting guitars of opening track “Flood Your Gut” let you know that the album will be an interesting journey, and the double vocals of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart cement that fact as they sing about someone whose ego won’t let them see the forest for the trees when it comes to a relationship (“The tallest person that I ever met couldn’t even reach your head…Your whole vision’s not enough.”). “Selling Candy” is a sweet tribute to growing up in their Chicago neighborhood, sneaking out of the house, and daring to cross the big street to buy a hot dog from the grumpy hot dog vendor – and the Nirvana-like guitar chords on it are no slouches.
The fat, fuzzy bass of “Ghost” is great, as is the thumping chorus of Cunningham and Stewart singing about being “sick of looking at the stupid look on your face” while the object of their annoyance is preoccupied with bogus metaphysical journeys. The guitar solo on this track is nothing short of wild, and the opening lyric is nothing short of Zen (“You are the product of a happenstance.”). “The Limit” has Ohmme singing about a relationship coming to an end (“If human nature makes you a stranger, I can’t give you time if I can’t afford it.”).
“Spell It Out” has a similar theme as the use the image of dirty dishes in the sink and dust on the shelves as a metaphor for a relationship that has grown dull from lack of attention. “Twitch” tackles the light-hearted topic of existence (“Everything bores me and everything hurts. Is this what it means to be a human machine?”). The song builds to a lovely psychedelic haze before a quick fade-out. The following track, “3 2 4 3,” takes on another light-hearted subject – aging (“Looked in the mirror the other day, caught my reflection. My mouth had moved a different way. The muscles were straining…Different today but I’m the same.”). The sharp bass line under the bubbling vocals brings the song up to another level.
“Some Kind of Calm” is a lovely song about trying to quiet one’s mind amid a world of constant entertainment and noise. The instrumental “Sturgeon Moon” wouldn’t be out of place on some early 1980’s industrial album with its odd timing, boiler room guitars, and “falling down the stairs” percussion. The closer, “After All,” is a pretty track about being okay with getting away from the hustle and bustle of the world, and other people. It’s especially fitting in these times of self-isolation as they sing, “Seek your cocoon” over and over. We’ve all been forced to live in and re-examine our cocoons and lives. Is that necessarily a bad thing?
This album certainly isn’t a bad thing. Give it a spin and get lost in it.
Good old Indie Rock, Funk and Soul is what do best. Wow, what a treat they have given us here with their latest release ‘Conquer’.
Formed in 2016 in London, Near Death Experience have taken the best from the greats of yesteryear and induced their own unique style to create something truly unforgettable. Their new single, “Conquer,” boasts an unspoiled psychedelic vibe with heaps of nostalgia, but yet it stays authentic in the modern scene too, which is remarkably refreshing.
Killer guitar hooks and a sublime vocal from Manchester-born frontman Ian Whiteling are all over the track. Taking influence from the likes of The Doors, T-Rex, Bowie and Roxy Music, the group have put together a solid modern rock track with a strong 60’s influence.
Melbourne’s AlexLahey is pleased to share the surprise release of her new EP, Between The Kitchen And The Living Room, out today on Dead Oceans. Contrasting with early 2020’s standalone single, “Sucker For Punishment”, which Billboard describes as Lahey leaning “into her punk tendencies as she laments bad habits of the digital age,” Between The Kitchen And The Living Room is Lahey at her most sonically intimate and vulnerable; a small collection of her most well-known tracks, reimagined. In conjunction with today’s announcement, Lahey also presents an animated lyric video for the EP’s lead single, “Let’s Go Out” (Bedroom Version).
A few weeks ago, I found myself with all my plans taken away from me in exchange for more time than I knew what to do with. Looking forward felt too daunting, which made me flustered and upset. So, I decided to look back.
‘Between the Kitchen and the Living Room’ is a small collection of songs I have already released and played hundreds of times around the world, but through a new lens. In light of having to cancel my US tour, which is supposed to be under way this very moment, I decided to bring these songs home and let them find new parts of themselves. I engineered and produced all of these recordings within a week in a small room in my mother’s house – which is where I have been living since I didn’t continue renting in anticipation of touring for most of the year. Funnily enough, said room also happens to be the exact place many of these songs were written some years ago.
As much as I can’t wait to go back to all the things I love doing under regular circumstances, it has been nice to embrace the boundaries. Really nice. And I hope you like what I made within them.
— Alex Lahey
To help celebrate and usher in the release of Between The Kitchen And The Living Room, Lahey performed last night as part of Vice’s Noisey Night In, a benefit livestream for Sweet Relief, featuring additional performances from Finneas, PhoebeBridgers, Claud, BeachBunny, and FayeWebster.
Between The Kitchen And The Living Room Tracklist: 01. Every Day’s The Weekend (Laundry Version) 02. Let’s Go Out (Bedroom Version) 03. I Haven’t Been Taking Care Of Myself (Hallway Version) 04. Unspoken History (Attic Version) 05. Wes Anderson (Bathroom Version)
I’m going to make a bold statement. The Well‘s debut album, Samsara, came out six years ago and might have changed the course of Texas doom metal, and perhaps doom metal everywhere.
Sure, there have been and still are many fine doom bands putting out excellent records influenced by Black Sabbath, early Pink Floyd, King Diamond, Blue Cheer, and Blue Oyster Cult, but what separates those bands from being great doom bands is that they sometimes forget to ease back a bit on all the “Old Ones from a dark hole in space are going to kill us all” stuff and just groove.
The Well (Lisa Alley – bass and vocals, Ian Graham – guitar and vocals, Jason Sullivan – drums) excel at the former and are off the chain in regards to the latter. Samsara‘s opener, “I Bring the Light,” tells a tale of some sort of magic for about three minutes before it explodes into a jaw-dropping sonic blitz that must’ve made everyone who heard it live for the first time stop dead in their tracks or spit out their Lone Star in disbelief.
“I felt the sun upon my face and began to run,” they sing on “Trespass” – a tale of shamans and encroaching dead things suitable for creating a Dungeons and Dragons game based on its lyrics. Speaking of such lyrics, another quest for your adventuring party could start from the opening ones of “Eternal Well” (“I saw a vision in the swirling mist, the stones are bleeding to the lion’s fist.”). Alley’s bass sounds like the heartbeat of a blood-spattered ogre throughout it. Graham’s riffs on “Refuge” sound simple at first but are deceptively wicked when you pay attention.
“Mortal Bones” begins with a sample of Rod Serling talking about ancient Egyptian temples before Graham’s guitar and Sullivan’s thunderous drum fills hit us like a sandstorm. The groove that kicks in near the three-minute mark is a prime example of what I mentioned in the second paragraph of this review. The Well love to groove and began leading the charge to help doom gets its groove back with this album.
Their cover of Pink Floyd’s “Lucifer Sam” is a fun addition, and is fuzzier than the subject of the song. “Dragon Snort” bellows and roars like some kind of 11 hit dice monster, and the weird breakdown of guitar distortion and feedback is disorienting at first, then hypnotizing, and then shaken by Alley and Sullivan’s anvil-heavy thuds. The closer, “1000 Lies,” dissolves like a melting black candle around the two-minute mark into a smoky trip of Alley’s reverb-heavy vocals, Graham’s oozing guitars, and Sullivan’s hypnotic cymbals and then kicks back into head-banging riffs before you get lost in the fog.
The title of Samsara is fitting for The Well’s first record. “Samsara” is the Sanskrit word for the cycle of death and rebirth. The Well started from the fragments of other bands and was reborn into something new, and it feels like they’re turning doom metal into something new as well.
As the story goes, Laurence Hélie was riding high many years ago after releasing two critically acclaimed folk-country albums. She was a bright star in the Quebec music scene and then she just…stopped.
She went into what she described as a “musical depression” and was done with music. It was so deep that , according a recent press release, “guitar strumming made her skin crawl.”
Then, for reasons even she can’t explained, she began singing and playing, now songs filled with anger and fury. She channeled her love of 1990’s female-led bands like The Cranberries and Mazzy Star into something outside of her folk-country comfort zone. Going there inspired her to change her musical identity to Mirabelle and create Late Bloomer.
The album lets you know right away that this won’t be a folk-country experience (but hints of her former genre are there). The opening synth bass of “One in a Million” flows into Hélie’s breathy vocals about not blaming someone for turning off the light of a relationship. The beat is slow country blues, but the synths are an ambient creek running past her back yard. “Betty” starts with early 90’s bass sludge and mixes in what sounds like harpsichord as Hélie’s vocals bounce along the beat with ease with fuzzy guitars to help her glide along.
The bossa nova groove of “Phénomène” is delightful, as are Hélie’s French vocals. “My head is full of black clouds. I’m done with all the noise in the background,” she sings at the opening of “Wall.” Aren’t we all done with that noise? It’s a lovely jam track with electronic beats and guitar strumming that definitely won’t make your skin crawl. The feel of “Rose White” reminds me of some of Zola Jesus‘ works, and Hélie’s love of Cranberries lead singer Niall Quinn is evident in her vocals on the track.
“Teenage Dreams” would’ve been an alt-rock hit in the mid-90’s. Just listen to that chugging riff and those bright synths and tell me I’m wrong. The opening acoustic guitar and bass of “Daddy Long Legs” sounds inspired by some of Alice in Chains‘ songs. “Cheated” is a soft ode to “going through the motions” in a relationship and how temptation is everywhere, and sometimes great to taste, but the feelings afterward can be “like a car crash.”
By contrast, Hélie sings, “You don’t know how good it is to feel.” at the beginning of “Magic Spell,” letting us know she made it through the heartbreak from the previous track. The closer, “Don’t Forget to Breathe,” is advice we could all use. Being present is always the best choice, but admittedly is often easier said than done. The song is brooding and even a bit spooky (“No amount of scented candles can make it undone.”) with piano chords that almost sound like a funeral dirge.
Late Bloomer is a fine record, and the title is a fine reflection of this moment in Hélie’s career. She’s found her voice again and a new way to express it. We could all be so lucky if we ever enter into a depth that seems insurmountable.
Ohmme – the Chicago-based duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart – will release their new album, Fantasize Your Ghost, next Friday, June 5th on Joyful Noise Recordings, with the physical retail release date pushed to July 31, 2020. Today, they present a new single/video, “The Limit,” which follows previously released singles “Selling Candy,” “Ghost,” and “3 2 4 3.” “The Limit” is a dystopian dance rocker. With angular, winding guitar and Ohmme’s distinctive intertwining vocals, the track further stretches their already dynamic palette. Its eccentric video was directed by Hannah Welever, edited/VFX by Priscilla Perez, and animated by Connor Reed (Jazz Records Animations). It features Ohmme green screened over trippy clips and stock footage.
“The video for ‘The Limit’ was birthed out of the urge to create and collaborate with friends even while far apart,” says Ohmme. “Hannah Welever made it really exciting to explore the possibilities of creating a video together in isolation – putting new meaning to the song and applying it to the things we are experiencing now. Performing alone in front of a green screen was challenging, but left room for endless possibilities!”
“It was a blast working to adapt to the current climate of ‘making things’ with this new video,” says director Hannah Welever. “We had Sima and Macie film themselves at home on a green screen while I directed via Facetime, and my editor (Priscilla Perez) and I pulled Found Footage that felt like something you would see on an 80’s tube TV. I wanted to transport Ohmme to a nostalgic and colorful dream-scape to distract us from the cloud hanging above our world right now, and bring some lightness to the day-to-day monotony.” Watch the Video for Ohmme’s “The Limit” Fantasize Your Ghost is the direct result of the band spending more time on the road than in Chicago. It’s deeply concerned with questions of the self, the future, and what home means when you’re travelling all the time. Early sketches of Fantasize Your Ghost‘s tracklist were demoed at Sam Evian‘s Flying Cloud Studios in upstate New York through intensely collaborative and open sessions. The album was recorded over a six day session in August 2019 at the Post Farm in southern Wisconsin with journeyman producer Chris Cohen.
Though 2018’s Parts showcased their wildly burgeoning influences and talents, Fantasize Your Ghost captures the astounding magnetism and ferocity of their live show. It encapsulates the thrilling and sometimes terrifying joy of moving forward even if you don’t know where you’re going. It’s an album that asks necessary questions: When life demands a crossroads, what version of yourself are you going to pursue? What part of yourself will you feed and let flourish and what do you have to let go of? This is a record of strength, of best friends believing in each other. Unapologetic and brave, Ohmme are ready to figure it all out together.
Following their supporting dates with Waxahatchee in this Fall, Ohmme will play a headlining tour in the new year. A full list of dates can be found below and tickets are on sale now. Listen to Ohmme’s “Selling Candy”
Protomartyr release a new single/video, “Michigan Hammers,” off of their new album, Ultimate Success Today, out July 17th on Domino. Following “Worm in Heaven” and “Processed By The Boys,” “Michigan Hammers” is fierce with staccato guitar and thrashing percussion. Singer Joe Casey’s voice is forceful and insistent: “The Michigan Hammers are on their way // A chant from the end of the bar, not all of them on pills // Break apart the surface lot // What’s been torn down can be rebuilt // What has been rebuilt can be destroyed.”
The accompanying video was directed by Yoonha Park, who was responsible for the band’s “Wheel of Fortune” and “Don’t Go To Anacita” videos, and was built entirely of found stock footage. “This video is a retelling of a well-known Michigan folk tale that describes timeless themes of greed, power, death and rebirth and nothing short of the conflict of good and evil,” says Park.
Joe Casey further explains: “Couldn’t make a ‘proper’ video due to the miasma. So why not make one using what tools remain? That’s sort of what MICHIGAN HAMMERS is about I think – building with rubble. It’s probably about that and mules, syndicates, too many parking lots, camaraderie, the ideal happy hour, failure, and takin’ what they’re givin’ ’cause we’re workin’ for a livin’ until we start takin’ it to the streets. Or something like that.” WATCH PROTOMARTYR’S VIDEO FOR “MICHIGAN HAMMERS”
Protomartyr is Joe Casey (vocals), Greg Ahee (guitars), Alex Leonard (drums), and Scott Davidson (bass guitar). Ultimate Success Today features guest musicians Nandi Rose (vocals) a.k.a. Half Waif, jazz legend Jemeel Moondoc (alto sax), Izaak Mills (bass clarinet, sax, flute), and Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello).
Ultimate Success Today is available to pre-order now on LP, CD and digital formats. A limited blue-in-red colored edition of the LP is available exclusively on the Domino Mart. WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “WORM IN HEAVEN”
“pretty uncharacteristic one for the group, restrained up until its final shuddering moments. Moody and meditative, it’s almost what would pass as a ballad in Protomartyr’s world.” – Stereogum
“relatively low-key and mellow, following a slinky guitar line while singer Joe Casey reflects about how close he is to heaven’s gates.” – Consequence of Sound
PRAISE FOR “PROCESSED BY THE BOYS”
“The seismic first cut off the Detroit band’s fifth LP Ultimate Success Today rattles with “cosmic grief beyond all comprehension.” Its video, a bizarre tribute to the Brazillian meme “Gil da Esfiha vs Galerito,” is equally discombobulating.” – The FADER
“On lead single ‘Processed By The Boys,’ out now, Casey once again casts his drunken-philosopher gaze on the world’s ills, backed by a reverb-laden stomp that builds into the kind of cacophony this band does best.” – Stereogum
Jess Cornelius announces her debut album, Distance, out July 24th on Loantaka Records, and presents a new single/video, “Kitchen Floor.” Cornelius first began writing the songs that would comprise Distance after moving from Melbourne, Australia to Los Angeles. At the time, she was excited to start fresh after several years as the primary songwriter in the band Teeth and Tongue. But the distance she addresses over the album is hardly a geographical one. Instead, Distance finds a deft songwriter analyzing the space between society’s expectations and her own dreams, the illusion of love and the reality of disappointment, and a past she is ready to let go of and a future she could have hardly imagined.
Distance documents a songwriter in the pursuit of living life on her own terms. As Cornelius puts it, “A lot of the record was about me deciding to continue this nomadic lifestyle of being a musician. People would ask me if I was going to have a family and a lot of the songs are about me being ok with not pursuing that path. It was about coming to terms with the choices I had made. . . And then two years later, I’m knocked up and married! I couldn’t have imagined that.”
With the help of producer Tony Buchen, Distance became a roving affair, recorded in a string of Los Angeles studios with delicate and emphatic contributions from the local music scene, including Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint), harpist Mary Lattimore, Emily Elhaj (Angel Olsen), Stephanie Drootin (Bright Eyes), Jesse Quebbeman-Turley (Hand Habits), whistler Molly Lewis, Justin Sullivan (Night Shop, Kevin Morby) and Laura Jean Anderson.
While the sonic tones and textures on the album evoke certain classic staples of Americana, soul and rock and roll, Cornelius’ lyrics anchor the songs to a deeply personal place. She sings of a miscarriage, a messy romantic affair, and the frustrations that come with having a partner. As she says, “I am a fan of classic songwriting but I would hope that the lyrics are not of any time historically but rather this time of my life as a woman.”
Cornelius gave a first taste of Distance with “No Difference,” released last year. On new single “Kitchen Floor,” Cornelius maps the space between the bedroom and the front door over a Roy Orbison tinged rave-up, lamenting the coming pain: “This is gonna be a hard one.” Its accompanying video, the first in a series in which she plays a familiar female character trope, was filmed by Cornelius and her partner on an iPhone at 5am in Los Angeles so they wouldn’t encounter any people. “I have a weird fascination with Hollywood Blvd — it’s such a grotesque place most of the time,” says Cornelius. “But I knew we’d have the chance to experience it deserted and empty, and it was like a different place. I’d been watching a lot of ‘last human on earth’ apocalypse-type films. Mostly, the concept behind the clip was to have this character just owning it. There are so many things pregnant women are not ‘supposed’ be doing, like having casual sex with strangers. There’s a loneliness, too, that I wanted to get across in the clip, but ultimately she’s in a state of friendliness with herself and the world.”
The journey over Distance is a celebration of this newness. New beginnings and new perspectives on endings. From the chaos of a vagabond lifestyle to expecting a child just weeks before the albums’ release and researching the most sustainable ways to tour in the coming years. This is the distance Cornelius covers over the course of the albums’ ten songs. The result is an album where listeners get to hear a songwriter in the midst of a true transformation.
Distance Tracklist 1. Kitchen Floor 2. No Difference 3. Body Memory 4. Easy for No One 5. Here Goes Nothing 6. Born Again 7. Palm trees 8. Banging My Head 9. Street Haunting 10. Love and Low Self Esteem
[Keep your mind open.]
[Walk on over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
