7th Level Music

Review: Ty Segall – Possession

Here’s an interesting one. Ty Segall‘s sixteenth album, Possession, taps into Americana, 1970s groove rock, and some psychedelia to tell tales of people dealing with economic disparity, injustice, and finding meaning in the minuscule and simple.

“Shoplifter” is about Segall, working in a store, falling for and refusing to turn in a woman for stealing from the place because he knows she’s broke. The title track is a tribute to women tried and punished as witches and a skewering of those who did so. “Buildings” has a great bass groove and a great message about holding your head up during the daily grind (“Don’t stop tonight. You can make it all right. They say get up. You got what it takes to ride.”). The slightly off-key electric piano on this is a cool touch.

Remember me mentioning 1970s groove rock? You’ll hear it on “Shining” — a song about cruising in your convertible. “Skirts of Heaven” seems to be a tribute to hard-working moms (all of them). “Fantastic Tomb” is the story of a man who agrees to help with a burglary and ends up trapped in the house they hit…but he’s happy about it because he realizes he, like the rich man, doesn’t need “crystal, lace, vulgar paintings, too,” “a silver horse that looked right at you,” or “a big, empty bed covered in fur.” Segall’s guitars mix with slightly warped saxophone to good effect. Those guitars turn just the fuzz on “The Big Day,” a song encouraging everyone to stay strong in these strange times (“Love is here to stay. Don’t let them break us now.”).

“Hotel” might be a song about a prostitute who’s trying to find a way out of the business or one half of an illicit love affair looking to end something that’s become a an addiction. It mixes piano and drums to create a slightly panicked rhythm while string instruments portray the confused thoughts of the song’s main character. “Alive” pushes acoustic guitars to the front and blends them with slightly frantic string instruments to give you a sense of the anticipation / apprehension of the song’s main character.

Segall wraps up the album, and perhaps a vision of his career’s future, on “Another California Song.” He mentions, with the help of thick bass and fuzzy guitars, how, perhaps down the road no one will be calling him to record new music or tour (“Waiting on the studio. Hell, the landlord says I go to go. A star I was supposed to be. Now nobody’s calling me.”). It’s a fun, self-deprecating track Segall probably had fun writing.

The same goes for the whole record. Segall is enjoying his newfound role as a storyteller, and Possession is a fun story.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR!]

Tombstones in Their Eyes are “Under a Dark Sky” with their new single.

LA-based psychedelic rock outfit Tombstones In Their Eyes presents their brooding single ‘Under Dark Skies’, previewing their ‘Under Dark Skies’ album, to be released via Little Cloud Records (for North America) and Shore Dive Records (for the UK and EU). Without wallowing in self-pity and emotional upheaval, this song leans hopefully toward a new beginning in the understanding that sometimes the bottom is the best place to start.

The video was created by Italian multi-arts visionary Francesca Bonci, known for her work with Federale (BJM’s Collin Hegna), British bard Philip Parfitt, The Dandy Warhols’ Peter G. Holmström a.k.a. Pete International Airport and Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell.

Tombstones In Their Eyes is made up of John Treanor (vocals & guitar), Stephen Striegel (drums), Courtney Davies (vocals), Phil Cobb (guitar), Paul Boutin (guitar), Nic Nifoussi (bass) and Clea Cullen (vocals). What began casually a decade ago has evolved into a powerhouse band known for their expansive psychedelic soundscapes. For Treanor, these sonic explorations are like a cosmic therapy session – an immersive subliminal journey, as well as a way to grapple with anxiety.

This record was created during a year of intense personal change, followed by a clearing of the decks and a move forward into a place light and gratitude. Recorded and engineered by Paul Roessler (Josie Cotton, Nina Hagen, Hayley and the Crushers, Gitane Demone) at Kitten Robot Studios, this album was co-produced by John Treanor and mastered by multi-platinum engineer Alex DeYoung at DeYoung Masters (Michael Jackson, BTS, Macy Gray, The Linda Lindas, TSOL).

“’Under Dark Skies’ is essentially a prayer sent for a path forward from the darkness of the spirit into the light. When the spirit is crushed, a rebirth is possible but the way forward is not always obvious. I feel fortunate to have a creative outlet like music to deal with the chaos in my head. Having said that, fighting the urges for self destruction by self-soothing in harmful ways is still not easy,” says John Treanor.

“We live in a tough and harsh world that is also filled with beauty and joy. Finding beauty and joy is the goal. I’m aware that I have many privileges and do not discount that, but mental health challenges do not seem to discriminate. Finding strength and hope is a daily practice that I must undertake and writing these songs is one of the many ways that I cope. By expressing and sharing these feelings, I let go of the poison and seek connection with others.”

This album arrives a year on from their latest ‘Asylum Harbour’ album (and standout audio-visual trips for ‘I Am Cold’, ‘By My Side’, ‘Gimme Some Pain’, ‘I Like to Feel Good’ and ‘Mirror’), released via Kitten Robot Records.

The single is now out everywhere, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp, where the ‘Asylum Harbour‘ album can also be found on CD and on snazzy red vinyl. On December 5, the full ‘Under Dark Skies’ album will be released via Little Cloud Records (US) and Shore Dive Records (UK and EU).

Keep your mind open.

[I might feel like I’m under dark skies if you don’t subscribe.]

[Thanks to Shauna at Shameless Promotion PR.]

Dry Cleaning announce new album due January 09, 2026 with lead single – “Hit My Head All Day.”

Dry Cleaning announce their new album, Secret Love, out January 9th on 4AD and release the lead single, “Hit My Head All Day.” Secret Love is the finest expression yet of the profound friendships between frontperson Florence Shaw, guitarist Tom Dowse, drummer Nick Buxton and bassist Lewis Maynard. Here, the south London four-piece take their place in rock’s avant-garde, catalyzing the Reaganite paranoia of early 80s US punk and hardcore with the dry strut of Keith Richards, stoner rock, dystopian degradation, playful no wave and pastoral fingerpicking, while Florence’s delivery, meticulously calibrated to her bandmates’ soundscapes, asserts her in a lineage of spoken-word artists stretching from Laurie Anderson to Life Without Buildings’ Sue Tompkins.

Watch the Visualizer for “Hit My Head All Day”

The follow-up to Stumpwork, one of 2023’s most beloved records, Secret Love started life in Peckham rehearsal spaces, all four members writing, playing and responding to each other in the room: in Dry Cleaning, music and lyrics form an inseparable, generative whole. Secret Love evolved through affirming sessions at Jeff Tweedy’s Chicago studio, The Loft, and explosive ones with Gilla Band’s Alan Duggan and Daniel Fox at Sonic Studios in Dublin, taking advantage of the sensory particulars of each space, and finally, with Cate Le Bon at Black Box in the Loire Valley. After interviewing various potential producers, they picked Cate—an esteemed solo artist who has also produced albums for Deerhunter, Devendra Banhart, Wilco and Horsegirl—for her unabashed positivity and openness. “Being in a room with them and hearing that vitality and life force that exists between them all, it’s such a unique expression,” Le Bon says.

Trust is Secret Love’s guiding theme, as signified by today’s compulsively catchy single and album opener, “Hit My Head All Day.” Powered by pistons of breathy synths and cresting arcs of guitar, Florence’s signature mix of absurdism and sensitivity shines through. “The song is about manipulation of the body and mind,” Florence explains. “The lyrics were initially inspired by the use of misinformation on social media by the far right. There are powerful people that seek to influence our behavior for their own gain; to buy certain things, to vote a certain way. I find it hard to read people’s intentions and decide who to trust, even in everyday life. It’s easy to fall under the influence of a sinister stranger who seems like a friend. We took a playful approach to the song. At one point it had harmonica on it instead of a vocal. At the demo stage we were inspired by There’s a Riot Goin’ On by Sly and the Family Stone.” The song arrives with an accompanying visualizer featuring movement by choreographer dance duo BULLYACHE.

Secret Love will be available digitally, on CD, cassette, black vinyl, limited edition Apricot vinyl (4AD store & indie retail) and Pearl/Arctic vinyl (Rough Trade exclusive). An exclusive run of white labels of Secret Love will be available to order for 48 hours only from today via the 4AD store, and a small quantity of JCD’s will be available exclusively on Bandcamp. A limited number of signed photo prints will also be available via 4AD and select indie stores.

Pre-Order Secret Love

Dry Cleaning Tour Dates
Thu. Oct. 23 – Madrid, ES @ Barceló Theatre
Fri. Oct. 24 – Valencia, ES @ Loco Club
Sat. Oct. 25 – Barcelona, ES @ Paral.lel 62
Fri. Nov. 7 – Brighton, UK @ Mutations Festival
Sat. Nov. 8 – Bristol, UK @ Simple Things Festival
Sat. Jan. 3 – Bognor Regis, UK @ Rockaway Beach Festival
Wed. Apr. 22 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton

Keep your mind open.

[I might hit my head all day if you don’t subscribe.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: The Curtom Story: Curtis Mayfield’s School of 20th Century Soul (2003)

Good heavens, this compilation is outstanding.

The Curtom Story is a two-disc set of solid 1960s and 1970s soul and funk curated and created by the too-often overlooked Curtom label founded by none other than Curtis Mayfield. He’d been inspired by Sam Cooke, a producer of his own stuff, and knew that he could tell the stories he wanted to tell in the midst of the Vietnam War era Chicago. His label went through a couple iterations, “Windy C” and “Mayfield” before teaming up with Eddie Thomas to create “Curtom.” Mayfield was also about to leave his band, The Impressions, and launch a mega-solo career singing about stuff happening in his neighborhoods and black neighborhoods around the nation.

That started with his stunning soundtrack to 1972’s Superfly, so it’s appropriate that the compilation opens with the title track. Following it is the bad ass “Superpeople” by The Notations, from Curtom’s sublabel Gemigo. Following it are three more Mayfield cuts from the Superfly soundtrack, the sublimely groovy and starkly real “Pusherman,” the lush string section-led “Eddie Should Know Better,” and the bass-bombing “Freddie’s Dead.”

Jesse Anderson‘s “Readings in Astrology” speaks right to the hippie and New Age movements emerging in the 1960s, and his instrumental “Mighty Mighty” gets your attention right away. The Five Stairsteps were a band Mayfield discovered back in the Windy C days. They were wildly popular in the Chicago music scene, and it’s easy to hear why with tracks like “Don’t Change Your Love” (that bass line!), “Danger! She’s a Stranger,” and “Stay Close to Me.” The Fascinations warn, in soul-pop fashion, that “Girls Are out to Get You.” Where is happening? Inquiring minds want to know. Brooks Brothers‘ instrumental “Come See” is followed by Jamo Thomas & His Party Orchestra taking a fun jab at J. Edgar Hoover with “I Spy (for the FBI).”

The Fascinations, The Five Stairsteps, and Mayfield then return. First comes the gorgeous “Can’t Stay Away from You,” then the science fiction-flavored “Love’s Happening, and then the smooth “Give Me Your Love.” The 12″ single version of Linda Clifford‘s “Runaway Love” will be on your house music mixes from now on (and clearly inspired Jamiroquai). Leroy Hutson‘s “Never Know What You Can Do (Give It a Try)” sounds like a great blend of Earth, Wind & Fire, Parliament, and Chicago. Arnold Blair‘s “Trying to Get Next to You” is a foot-tapping soul jam. Hutson returns for the somewhat lounge “Lucky Fellow,” and Clifford comes back to finish the first disc with “I Can’t Let This Good Thing Get Away.”

Disc two starts off (and ends) with more Curtis Mayfield tracks. First up we have the gooey, groovy “Billy Jack” and then the bad-ass “Do Do Wap Is Strong in Here.” Leroy Hutson’s “Blackberry Jam” is a tasty jam indeed that you’ll want to spread on everything. Two great cuts from the legendary Mavis Staples are next – “Chocolate City” and “Koochie, Koochie, Koochie.” The 12″ version of Fred Wesley‘s “House Party” is a fun cut, and Linda Clifford comes back to encourage her sisters to set men straight (“‘Cause as long as you let them get away with it, they’re gonna do it.”) and “Don’t Give It Up.” Hutson’s “So Nice” is a cool jam for walking on rain-wet Chicago streets on an autumn night. Natural Four‘s “Free” asks “Why can’t we live in harmony?” through great harmonies by the band.

The Five Stairsteps return with the lovely “World of Fantasy,” and, speaking of lovely, June Conquest‘s “All I Need” is just that with lyrics like “There’s nothing that I couldn’t do with a love inspired by you.” Marvin Smith‘s “Who Will Do Your Running Now?”, meanwhile, is a takedown of a lover who’s done him wrong. The horn section on Major Lance‘s “Little Young Lover” is top-notch. The Five Stairsteps’ “Your Love Has Changed Me” is a story of how our idea of love changes as we age.

Jesse Anderson comes back for the hopeful “Let Me Back In,” The Impressions return for the snappy beat-filled “First Impressions,” and Mayfield ends with compilation with “Tripping Out” – a song that oozes funk and groove.

There isn’t a bad track on this. Don’t hesitate to get it if you can find it.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Portishead – Third (2008)

It’s easy to forget that the gap between Portishead‘s second album and their literal Third album was eleven years long. They’d put out two perfect trip-hop records and then faded out after drummer and songwriter Geoff Barrow became uninspired with music, underwent a divorce, and moved to Australia.

He started tinkering with music again in 2003, eventually landing on one of the tracks that would be on Third. That led him to link back up with keyboardist and guitarist Adrian Utley in 2005 and things blossomed from there.

They, along with singer Beth Gibbons, started collaborating on more tracks and Third emerged seemingly out of nowhere, surprising fans and critics alike. The surprise came from not only Portishead releasing an unexpected album, but also from the unexpected sound of it. Gone were the trip-hop elements, replaced with krautrock, synthwave, and dark wave.

“Silence” opens the record with industrial percussive beats while Charlotte Nicholls‘ cello haunts the entire track and its abrupt ending pulls the rug from under you. “Hunter” sounds like something you’d hear in a Twin Peaks episode if the show were scored by Can instead of Angelo Badalamenti. “Nylon Smile” has Gibbons singing about how she’s trying so hard to accept love and give more in a relationship that’s already boring her. “The Rip” almost becomes a sea shanty with Utley’s simple guitar picking, but then it transforms into a synthwave hypnosis session.

“Plastic” is jagged and weird (in a good way), reminding me of giallo film music at times. “We Carry On” goes almost full krautrock with its throbbing beats and unsettling synths as Gibbons sings about tastes she can’t describe and putting one foot forward to get to the next moment. The shoegaze guitar power chords from Utley are sharp on this track. “Deep Water” is an acoustic track that’s almost a lullaby.

“Machine Gun” is an immediate contrast with industrial thumps and hisses while Gibbons sends out siren song to hypnotize the sailors working deep in the hold of a passing ship. “Small” gets close to trip-hop, but keeps a darker edge to it that gets under your skin and into the back of your skull.

“Magic Doors” is the no wave song Barrow started writing in 2003 that eventually led to Third‘s creation. Vintage synthesizers are all over the album, with the final track, “Threads,” being no exception. The band used a detuned sound of a VCS 3 to create a spooky effect that resembles a clarinet played by a wraith. Jim Barr‘s guest bass is like a slowly boiling contents of a cauldron found simmering in a dark woods.

People are still unraveling Third, myself included, all these years later. It’s worth the effort.

Keep your mind open.

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Guard your eardrums. Numero Group is releasing a four album set of live Hüsker Dü music on November 07, 2025.

Numero Group announces the release of Hüsker Dü’s 1985: The Miracle Year, a live 4 LP box set, out November 7th. Witness the transcendent Minneapolis punk trio tearing into the most incendiary year of its existence, captured live on stage at First Avenue in perhaps the highest fidelity recordings of the band’s lauded SST era. 1985: The Miracle Year includes Beau Sorenson’s restoration of an entire January 30, 1985 set, plus 20 extra live tracks from the year’s touring schedule, and a deluxe booklet detailing twelve months of history-making Hüsker Dü. Along with today’s announcement, four songs from the box set are available to stream now. Titled Jan. 30, First Ave Pt. 2, the collection features “The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill,” “I Apologize,” “If I Told You” and “Folklore.” What is the sound of a legend being written?

Stream Jan. 30, First Ave Pt. 2

Looking at 1985 through the dynamic lens of independent DIY music, mid-decade, there was a year-long succession of leaps by Hüsker Dü, each building on the powerful and undeniable sprint from the scrappy punk institution SST to the artistic empathy of Warner Bros. As observers began to catch on, testimonials came from many quarters, including the New York Times, which recognized the band as “the best to have emerged from the hardcore scene.” Consistent with such praise, Hüsker Dü revealed a heightened creative pace rarely, if ever, seen in any musical era. Before or since. After blowing the doors off the burgeoning alt-rock movement with Zen Arcadethe previous July, the band dropped New Day Rising just six months later on January 14, 1985, and then never stopped chasing the Hidden Beach sunrise that adorned that album’s cover.

On January 30, 1985, Minneapolis reached -11° at show time, marking 19 points of mercilessly dropped mercury from the day’s 8° apex. The 1500 attendees inside First Avenue, however, wouldn’t be needing so much as a T-shirt, let alone the nearest fiberfill parka: from the first blinding moments of “New Day Rising,” it was clear that Bob Mould, Grant Hart, and Greg Nortonhad arrived intent on setting every molecule in the room alight. Their setlist displayed a night-long cascade of fireballs chosen from Everything Falls Apart, Metal Circus, Zen Arcade, and New Day Rising, and five new songs that would reappear later on Flip Your Wig. They also made several nods to the band’s rock forbears, with a ballistic take on The Byrds’ “Eight Miles High,” a turbulent spin on The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” featuring Soul Asylum’s Dave Pirner, a pop-punk remake of “Ticket To Ride, ” and closing with their signature cover of Sonny Curtis’s Mary Tyler Moore theme “Love Is All Around.”

Considering the late-January 2011 house fire that consumed a precious portion of the Hüsker Dü archive, it has to be reckoned as a kind of subordinate miracle that the 1985 First Avenue tapes survived at all. They deliver peak Dü at full gallop through already beloved material, still years shy of fully cementing their status as a blueprint for the alternative rock skyscraper to come. This box set celebrates these tapes, strikingly perhaps the highest fidelity Hüsker Dü recordings ever produced during the band’s lauded SST years. “When I think of that time,” Greg comments, “it was three guys doing what they loved, having fun, and basically showing other people that you can be true to yourself, true to your music, and not have to bow down to fashion or expectations to make something really great.”

Pre-order/Pre-save 1985: The Miracle Year

1985: The Miracle Year Tracklist:
Minnesota Miracle
SIDE A
1. New Day Rising
2. It’s Not Funny Anymore
3. Everything Falls Apart
4. The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill
5. I Apologize
6. If I Told You
7. Folklore

SIDE B
1. Every Everything
2. Makes No Sense At All
3. Terms Of Psychic Warfare
4. Powerline
5. Books About UFOs
6. Broken Home, Broken Heart
7. Diane

SIDE C
1. Hate Paper Doll
2. Green Eyes
3. Divide And Conquer
4. Pink Turns To Blue
5. Eight Miles High

SIDE D
1. Out On A Limb
2. Helter Skelter
3. Ticket To Ride
4. Love Is All Around

More Miracles
SIDE E
1. Don’t Want To Know If You’re Lonely
2. I Don’t Know For Sure
3. Hardly Getting Over It
4. Sorry Somehow
5. Eiffel Tower High

SIDE F
1. What’s Going On
2. Private Plane
3. Celebrated Summer
4. All Work And No Play

SIDE G
1. Keep Hanging On
2. Find Me
3. Flexible Flyer
4. Sunshine Superman
5. In A Free Land
6. Somewhere

SIDE H
1. Flip Your Wig
2. Never Talking To You Again
3. Chartered Trips
4. The Wit And The Wisdom
5. Misty Modern Days

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR!]

Review: John Also Bennett – Ston Elaióna

Take some flute, add synthesizers, mix them with early morning sun bouncing off the Partheon in Athens, Greece, and have it served up by a former noise rocker. What do you get? Ston Elaióna, a beautiful ambient album from John Also Bennett.

I’m not sure how to describe this album, or even if I should. It’s something best experienced. The opening title track is like falling into a dream. “Gecko Pads” is inspired by a lizard Bennett saw on the wall of his apartment studio. “Hailstorm” mixes soft synths and flute with the quiet ticks of the titular storm Bennett recorded in Athens.

“A Handful of Olives” almost ventures into drone music with its long synth notes, but Bennett’s flute turns the song into a lovely stroll through a grove. “Sacred House” refers to the home of the Oracle of Dodoni (as does the mist-like track “Oracle” later on the record) and sounds like a record played by a ghost. Heck, “Seikilos Epitaph” is a composition found carved on an ancient pillar (the oldest known complete musical composition to exist).

“First Lament” is a song Bennett has been performing for years in different forms. Here it’s like something you’d hear drifting over a mountain path as you approach a temple you’ve been climbing toward for days. “Easter Daydream” is, I think, the only song on the album with percussion…and that is a field recording of a church bell across the street from Bennett’s apartment during Holy Week. Finally, if you buy a physical copy of the record, you also get “Lonely Melody.” Remember that ghost playing a record earlier? Well, now he’s doing spectral tidying of the haunted house to keep his mind off the fact that no one comes around to listen to his spooky records.

Again, it’s better to experience all of this than to read about it. Grab a copy of it, sit with it, and let it drift around and through you.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to Cody at Terrorbird Media.]

Review: Birds of Nazca – Pangaea

I don’t know how two people – Guillaume – guitar and Romauld – drums of Birds of Nazca can make so much sound, but they do it on their new album Pangaea…which is somehow heavier than their last (Héliolite).

As you can guess by the album’s cover, it blends desert and cosmic rock and has gravity-defying and / or crushing riffs throughout it. The theme of the album is that each track refers to and is inspired by a different place, landscape, or (I suspect) energy vortex of the Earth.

Beginning with “Batagaïka” (the name of the infamous melting permafrost crater in Siberia), BON explore a place on Earth and in our minds that is withering away to expose things we’ve long buried or have been hidden. Guillaume’s multi-layered guitar chords are like a giant stretching after a long slumber while Romauld harness the sound of cracking firmament.

“Gang Rinpoché,” also known as Mount Kailash” in China, is one of the tallest mountains in the world and perhaps the one with the most spiritual significance to at least three different religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. The mountain is believed to be the connection between heaven and earth and no one has ever reached its summit. Climbing it is strictly forbidden by the Chinese government and anyone who has tried has failed. That doesn’t stop BON from creating a mountain-heavy track dedicated to it and its mystery, however.

“Racetrack Playa” is in Death Valley, California. It’s a dry lake bed where rocks can move during the winter (thanks to ice and wind) for several, if not dozens, of meters and leave “racetracks” in the land. Appropriately, BON stomps the gas pedal and takes off across the salty flats while it sounds like they’re being chased by a post-apocalyptic biker gang armed with chainsaws.

We next travel to Russia and near the Ural Mountains to see “Man Pupu Nyor” (“Little Mountain of the Gods”) – the weird and somewhat spooky rock formations that might be warriors frozen in time. BON makes it feel like those huge warriors are breaking free of their rocky tombs and knocking the rust off their axes in preparation for battle.

The birds fly over to South America and the Andes Mountains for a visit to “Incahuasi” – a mountain that borders Argentina and Chile. I don’t recommend playing this if you’re ascending it. You might cause an avalanche because Romauld’s drums alone sometimes sound like tons of ice roaring toward you.

The album ends with the title track (which itself ends in birdsong) – a reference to the “supercontinent” that existed over 200 million years ago and consisted of most of the land masses we know today. It’s mind-blowing to consider how (relatively) close all the places BON have named on this album used to be to each other until great cataclysms divided them.

It’s the same with people, and I think that’s the underlying message of the album. We all used to be neighbors. We all had sacred connections to spaces and knew Mother Nature could crush us in an instant, so we had to take care of her. We still do. We still can. Put on this album and get to work.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Merci á Birds of Nazca!]

Just Mustard’s release powerful new single – “Endless Deathless.”

Ireland’s Just Mustard release “ENDLESS DEATHLESS,” the third single/video from their new album, WE WERE JUST HERE, out October 24th via Partisan Records. “ENDLESS DEATHLESS” arrives on the heels of a sold out September tour and release of the album’s title track, “WE WERE JUST HERE,” which “takes Just Mustard’s minimalist noise rock into a dreamier, goth-like arena” (Consequence). One of the most explosive tracks on the album, “ENDLESS DEATHLESS” captures the band at their most urgent and cathartic. It’s immediate and visceral, built on a foundation of warped guitar textures, clattering percussion, and thudding sub-bass. Katie Ball’s vocals rise above the chaos; a break in the clouds cutting through the noise. It’s a high point of the record’s embrace of physicality and directness, designed to hit with the impact of a packed club running at full tilt. The song’s accompanying video was directed by band member David Noonan.

Watch the Video for “ENDLESS DEATHLESS”

Just Mustard is Katie Ball, David Noonan, Mete Kalyoncuoğlu, Rob Clarke, and Shane Maguire. WE WERE JUST HERE was recorded at Black Mountain studio just outside of the band’s hometown, produced by Noonan and the band, and mixed by David Wrench (Frank Ocean, FKA twigs). The strange and distinct universe the band creates on record is reinforced with haunting interludes of speech and noise, snippets of voice memos, and elements from various demos. While their approach to composition had previously been inspired by their love of electronic music, starting with instrumental loops and textures and later weaving vocal ideas around them, the band made a conscious decision to reverse engineer this process on WE WERE JUST HERE. This meant adopting a more traditional method, looking to the swirling rock and dynamic song structures of Nirvana and My Bloody Valentine and striving for big, bold, fully encompassing songs.

“The vocal structure was the most important thing,” Noonan comments. With choruses bursting with melody and brightness, Ball’s vocals rise higher in the mix throughout the album. Her lyrics can be ingested as a conflicted and toxic grasp at positivity, or a cathartic breakthrough into bliss. “I was trying to write more optimistically, and feeling like a fraud sometimes. I was trying to put myself in places of physical joy to try and get that euphoric feeling,” Ball explains.

WE WERE JUST HERE signals a pivotal moment for the band. Across their first two albums—2018’s Wednesday and their 2022 Partisan debut Heart Under—the band “rode a wave of noise to the front of the shoegaze pack, breaking from the distorted yearning of the genre’s softer acolytes” (Pitchfork). While Just Mustard’s signature elements are still intact on WE WERE JUST HERE, it’s all been channeled into a warmer and more anthemic path. For Heart Under, a core concept of the album was to make listeners feel like they were traveling through a tunnel. With WE WERE JUST HERE, they explode out into the blinding light.

Pre-order WE WERE JUST HERE

Watch the Video for “WE WERE JUST HERE”

Watch the Video for “POLLYANNA”

Just Mustard Tour Dates
Fri. Oct. 24 – London, UK @ Rough Trade East
Sun. Oct. 26 – Kingston Upon Thames, UK @ The Fighting Cocks
Mon. Oct. 27 – Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade Bristol
Tue. Oct. 28 – Brighton, UK @ Resident Music
Wed. Oct. 29 – Liverpool, UK @ Rough Trade Liverpool
Thu. Oct. 30 – Dublin, IE @ Spindizzy Records
Fri. May 1 – Dublin, IE @ Olympia Theatre
Fri. June 26 – Dublin, IE @ Marlay Park *
Sun. June 28 – Belfast, IE @ Belsonic ^
Sun. Aug. 23 – Edinburgh, SF @ Royal Highland Showgrounds, Edinburgh Summer Sessions #

* with The Cure & Stella and the Dreaming
^ with The Cure & The Twilight Sad
# with The Cure, Slowdive, & Mogwai

Keep your mind open.

[Just subscribe.]

[Thanks to Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Levitation 2025: Day Three recap

You can always recognize faces by the final day of Austin, Texas’ Levitation Music Festival. You see the same people who’ve been sweating and rocking with you all weekend and can tell who hasn’t had enough sleep, who’s been in the sun too long, who’s hungover, who’s dehydrated, and who’s an old pro.

The crowd was light when I arrived to see Daiistar open the final day of the festival. This isn’t because Daiistar is a bad band, quite the contrary, but the people who show up early on Sunday are either the die-hards who are getting every cent of their money’s worth for the weekend pass, the people who can only make it on Sunday and have the same logic, the fans of the first band, and those who are so deep in the festival zone that showing up when the gates open has become as automatic as breathing. All of those people got to see a good set of early-90’s vibe psychedelia from Daiistar that was a good warm-up to a hot, humid Sunday.

Afterwards, shade spots were prime real estate at the outdoor stage for Population II, who brought their fiery cosmic psych all the way from Quebec and wowed the audience. They cracked jokes about touring, their own merch, and lack of English in between songs about everything from pizza to panic.

Population II gathering a large population of new fans.

Two friends, Wes and Chelsea, met me at the festival on this day, and I took them to see A Place to Bury Strangers. This was their first time seeing APTBS. “I envy your innocence,” I said. We walked into the indoor stage area within moments of the opening notes of the set and, of course, were greeted by what sounded like a saw mill on fire. As is now custom at an APTBS show, they came into the middle of crowd, near us, to perform a wild, weird set of hammering rhythms and distorted synth…something. Chelsea said, “It felt like they’d summoned us to be sacrificed and then put a hex on us.” We later told frontman Oliver Ackermann this and he said, “Yes! That’s it.” Chelsea said she was still thinking about their set by the end of the night.

A Place to Bury Strangers casting spells.

As if that wasn’t enough face-melting for you, along came Frankie and The Witch Fingers afterwards with a ton of groovy garage-punk chaos for which I joined the mosh pit and rocked out with the sweaty crowd for a bit (which you could easily have done outside as well since it was so hot and humid that day). FATWF always play well and are a ton of fun.

Frankie and The Witch Fingers casting spells.

We had some time for food at some point. It’s difficult to remember when you eat and which set is at which time when you’re on Day Three. We did remember that The Black Angels were up next for us. The festival’s hosts and curators always play and put on a set of some rare tracks I hadn’t heard in a while, possibly ever, which was a treat.

The final two bands of the night on the indoor stage were indie rock giants -— both of whom drew big crowds. First was Built to Spill, whose lead singer and guitarist Doug Martsch had some of the best guitar tones of the entire festival.

Spilling thrills for the appreciative crowd.

Next, and closing the day and the festival, was Pavement. They had a great time on stage, laughing a lot, poking fun at each other, and getting a lot of cheers from the crowd.

There’s always an odd feeling when Levitation ends. You’ve been there for multiple days and nights. You’ve made some new friends, seen the same groups of weirdos, ate some spicy food, drank too much caffeine, and your ears are sore from wearing earplugs for three straight days or not wearing them at all. You’ve experienced something…and now it’s finished. You don’t feel empty or sad, but you do wish you could squeeze another day or night out of it…and you also feel renewed and ready for next year.

See you in 2026, God willing and the creek don’t rise.

Keep your mind open.

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