Skeleten encourages us to “Let It Grow” with his new single.

Photo By Rudolf Zverina

Today, Eora/Sydney-based artist Skeleten (aka Russell Fitzgibbon) unveils his final single “Let It Grow” from his forthcoming second album, Mentalized, out in one month via 2MR / Astral People Recordings.

Amidst a record absorbed in the ways we’re disconnected from ourselves every day – “mentalized for better or worse” – “Let It Grow” immerses in a dissociative surrender. Over a sensual synth line, Skeleten breathes life into the inexplicable weight of intimate connection. It’s a submission to that feeling of an “it” that cannot be denied. The song hangs heavy in the air, unmoving like the heat of an overpacked club, and the only way out is up.

Skeleten concludes, “‘Let It Grow’ was so natural it just kinda started existing without me even realising it. Which I guess is the whole vibe of the song. Surrender and acceptance??”

Listen / Share / Playlist “Let It Grow”

“Let It Grow” completes a lineup of adored singles “Deep Scene“, “Love Enemy“, “Viagra” and “Bodys Chorus” alongside respective remixes by Axel Boman and Spray, in laying the foundations for Mentalized. The releases have earned tastemaker nods from Pitchfork, Stereogum, Paste, Brooklyn Vegan, KEXP, KCRW, BBC 6Music, FBi Radio, Apple Music’s ‘Best of 2024’ playlists and more.

This month Skeleten will complete a 3-month residency at Sydney’s Pleasure Club, spotlighting local talent across the city’s different scenes, alongside Skeleten and his full live band. Having already united acts like Hugh B and the Modern Pop Ensemble, Dylan Atlantis, Scruffs and Killian, stay tuned via Skeleten’s socials for the final surprise announcement. Skeleten will also perform at Golden Plains Festival in March, alongside esteemed artists PJ Harvey, Fontaines D.C, Kneecap and more.

Pre-Order / Pre-Save / Playlist Mentalized

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[Thanks to Bailey at Another Side.]

Cloakroom tells the tale of “Bad Larry” with their new single.

Photo By Vin Romero

For Cloakroom the world of modernity is in polycrisis and America has lost its soul. Narrative fetishism is all too usual of a literary mechanism for Cloakroom. If you listen closely you can hear the concern; not just for the teetering social structure but for what it means to be human and the high cost of the human experience. 

The Indiana three return next month with their next studio album, Last Leg of the Human Table – the follow up to 2022’s post-apocalyptic space western Dissolution Wave, and label debut for Closed Casket Activities. Each song showcases Cloakroom’s genre-bending capabilities and seemingly vast array of influences; whether it be the sampling of the post-disco Detroit group Was (Not Was) or the lifted NASA recording of the humming of Saturn’s rings. Recorded in December of 2023 at Electrical Audio in Chicago and Rec Room Recording in Des Plaines, Illinois, engineer Zac Montez (Whirr, Turnover) aided in smoothing out the rough and turning up the quiet.

Pop, shoegaze, doom, post-punk, folk only scratch the surface on Cloakroom’s shortest yet most essential release to date. Its title Last Leg of the Human Table may sound sardonic in its nature, but this group has always found some wonder in the scurrying chaos of modern life. In 37 minutes, the album imbues a sense of responsibility to the listener as if one leg were to falter, the whole table will fall. 

Today Cloakroom share lead single and video “Bad Larry”. Lyricist and guitarist Doyle Martin explains, “It was written about a fabled character out of folklore like ‘Diamond Joe’ composed by Baldwin ‘Butch’ Hawes.. if that’s who even wrote that song first. Bad Larry roams free and wants for nothing; living a life of experience and lives by his own rules and dying on his own terms; a life to vilify or envy.” 

Last Leg of the Human Table sees its release February 28 via Closed Casket, pre-order / pre-save it here.

Listen / Share / Playlist “Bad Larry”

Watch Official Music Video Here

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Bailey at Another Side.]

Rewind Review: Windhand – Soma (2013)

I don’t know how I missed Windhand‘s Soma album until now. Shame on me because it’s another heavy, stunning part of their catalogue.

Garrett Morris‘ guitars on the first track, “Orchard,” sound like something is crawling out of the dirt while Dorthia Cottrell‘s vocals sound like they’re coming from a deep hole found under the floorboards of the cabin on the album cover as she contemplates death by gunshot – either hers or someone else’s.

Parker Chandler‘s bass crushes on “Woodbine,” a song about calling out to the devil out of desperation and the danger that comes with such a summoning. Morris’ guitar on “Feral Bones” is the sound of Rodan waking up from deep slumber inside a volcano. The song is about how time catches all of us sooner or later.

The acoustic “Evergreen” is a stunning showcase of Cottrell’s voice in a song about wishing a loved one could stay young, and alive, forever, but knowing that’s impossible. The massive “Cossack,” at over thirteen minutes long, has few lyrics, but no shortage of crushing riffs and spooky, heavy drumming from Ryan Wolfe. Morris’ guitar solo on it will stop you in your tracks.

Is that not enough doom for you? Well, the final track, “Boleskine,” is over a half-hour long. It stars with creepy wind sounds and simple acoustic guitar strumming, and then proceeds to come at you like the Blob or a Creeping Doom spell. You see and feel it coming, but you can’t stop it for about twelve minutes, when it drifts back into howling winds and lonely acoustic riffs. That’s just a fake-out, though, almost like a jump scare out of the shadows, because the massive riffs re-emerge from their sarcophagi and swarm you. It’s the kind of doom song that will overtake you.

The whole album will overtake you, but, as a doom fan, that’s what you wanted, right?

Keep your mind open.

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Top 25 live shows of 2024: #’s 5 – 1

Here they are: My top five concerts of 2024. They were doozies.

#5: Slift – Reggie’s Music Joint, Chicago, IL, October 18, 2024

This was the first time I saw Slift in 2024, and the second time I’d seen them in a small venue. It had been a while since I’d been to a show at Reggie’s, and I’d forgotten how small it is. I figured Slift were going to blow off the back wall with their cosmic rock, and I was right. I don’t know how the building didn’t collapse.

#4: Osees – Thalia Hall, Chicago, IL, October 19, 2024

Yes, I saw Slift one night and then Osees the next. This was the second of two shows at Thalia Hall for Osees (another yearly tradition for them), and seeing them on a bare stage with a fun crowd in one of my favorite venues was outstanding. It was, as always, a blast and the pit crowd is like a reunion of pals you haven’t seen in a year.

#3: LCD Soundsystem – Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL, May 26, 2024

It’s always good to see LCD Soundsystem, and this was night three of a four-night residency at the Aragon for them. It was also my girlfriend’s first time seeing them, and experiencing that with her was delightful. They had a nice tribute to Steve Albini during “Someone Great.”

#2: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Huntington Bank Pavilion, Chicago, IL, September 01, 2024

It had been a couple years since I’d been to a KGATLW show, and this was my first three-hour marathon set by them I was able to attend. Good grief, they slayed this stage, playing everything from Nonagon Infinity cuts to a short techno set. They even went longer than three hours by ending the show with a nearly twenty-minute version of “Head On / Pill.” The massive crowd was in heaven.

#1: Orbital – Radius, Chicago, IL, March 23, 2024

This show was like stepping into a time machine and emerging into a 1995 rave. I wasn’t sure I’d ever see Orbital, and they hadn’t been in Chicago in many years. This was also my girlfriend’s first “rave” of sorts, and the crowd was a mix of Gen Xers like us, new rave kids, goths, and even senior citizens. I hadn’t danced that much in a long while.

I’m looking forward to shows in 2025. I already have tickets to see Viagra Boys this year, and will soon have tickets for King Buffalo‘s current tour. Other bands I hope to catch this year are George Thorogood and The Destroyers, Mdou Moctar, Helmet, Kelly Lee Owens, Soft Play, Gang of Four, Amyl and The Sniffers, A Place to Bury Strangers (again), Diana Krall, Alison Krauss, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard (again), and Osees (again).

Keep your mind open.

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Top 25 albums of 2024: #’s 5 – 1

We’ve reached the top of the peak. Who’s the grand champion? Read on to learn more.

#5: Fake Youth Cult – White Light / Black Noise

This stunning industrial / darkwave album is loud and heavy enough to cause the damage seen on this cover. This album came out of nowhere for me and about knocked me out of my chair.

#4: Maquina – Prata

Speaking of heavy damage, the cover to Maquina’s Prata album appears to feature a piece of steel that’s been shot, pried, scratched, and gouged. It’s a fitting image for a record full of wild noise punk, assaulting post-punk guitars, and grindhouse vocals.

#3: LAIR – Ngélar

This Indonesian funk / psych band was one of my top discoveries of 2024. They blend traditional Indonesian music with psych-rock, South Pacific juke, and other stuff you can’t quite define.

#2: GUM / Kenny Ambrose-Smith – Ill Times

Possibly the best collaboration of the year, this album combines the powers of two excellent Australians to create synth-psych that covers a lot of heavy topics with uplifting beats (i.e., the death of a parent – Kenny-Smith’s father, fear of the future and your place in it). I hope this isn’t just a one-time thing for them.

#1: A Place to Bury Strangers – Synthesizer

I mean, come on. One of my favorite bands creates an album that has a record sleeve that’s also a circuit board that you can turn into a real synthesizer that they also used to make the album. Only APTBS could pull off something like this and make an excellent record to go with it. It’s like a Moebius strip of post-punk psychedelic power that wallops you from the first note.

Onto 2025! Which albums are you anticipating the most?

Keep your mind open.

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Review: NORMANS (self-titled)

I’m not sure that NORMANS‘ self-titled album can be described by one genre. Post-punk? Yes. Noise rock? Sure. Gothic? At times. Intriguing? Definitely.

Lead singer (and bassist) Matthew Reid comes out swinging, and screaming, on “John Hockey,” while drummer Michael Rudes hits his kit so hard that it sounds like he was pissed about being stuck in traffic for an hour on the way to the studio. The guitars, from Kyle Souza and Collin Fish are all over the place, causing absolute chaos the whole time. In other words, they picked a perfect track to open the record.

“Shut Up I’m Shopping” is a great, angry slap at consumerism and the rat race. “Murder Rich” changes gears and drops you into dance-punk while Reid claims, “You’re a secondhand son of a bitch. You’re a car going over a cliff.” to let you know he’s not impressed with your wealth and knows your pursuit of it will only end in misery.

The drums and bass on “Anti-Crusoe” switch it up again, now taking us into Wall of Voodoo-like desert rock as Reid sings about forever being a wanderer (“I’m a beast without no home. I hate everything…So go on and touch me.”). “Firepower” is, interestingly, a bit low key compared to other tracks, although still loud and wild, preferring to subtly work in the back of your brain for most of it.

“Dead Snakes” gets a bit trippy with added vocal effects (mostly echoes) and the guitars sounding like they were recorded in an empty swimming pool on a space station. “Healing an Eyesore” is downright frightening, with Reid’s vocals sounding the most frantic on the whole album.

“Schloss Loss” adds a little krautrock to the mix, thumping with deep synth bass to nudge / shove you to the dance floor. “Bending the Branch” is great dance-punk with its strange guitar riffs, relentless bass, and frenzied drumming. Closing with “Fury on the Island,” NORMANS just go nuts for the finish. Souza and Fish sound like they’re using claw hammers on their guitars, Reid’s bass stomps around like an angry sumo wrestler, and you can practically feel Rudes’ sweat hitting your face as he wails on his kit.

It’s a wild record that will almost leave you breathless. Keep your eyes on these guys. They’re dangerous.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 25 live shows of 2024: #’s 10 – 6

Here we are at the top ten live shows I saw last year. Each one gets more intense. Read on!

#10: Osees – Hotel Vegas, Levitation Austin, November 02, 2024

Osees have been doing a four-night residency at Hotel Vegas during Levitation Music Festival for a couple years now. We caught them on night three, and the crowd was wild, possibly fired up by the spiked humidity and all the booze. I lost count of the number of crowd surfers at this show.

#9: The Damned – Concord Music Hall, Chicago, IL, June 02, 2024

I was not going to miss this tour. This was the lineup of The Damned I discovered in the early 1990s by seeing them on The Young Ones. For lack of a better expression, this is “my” version of The Damned. It was a great show in a packed venue that pretty much moshed non-stop for the last third of the set.

#8: Deap Vally – Thalia Hall, Chicago, IL, February 10, 2024

Speaking of shows I wasn’t going to miss, I sure wasn’t going to miss Deap Vally’s final (?) tour. The VIP meet and greet before their powerful set was also a must. I’d seen them twice before and somehow managed to meet them each time, so going out on the same note for me was a no-brainer. The were only five of us there, and they were gracious and wonderful as always. Their set included playing Sistrionix in its entirety and then a wild run through of other tunes. They left nothing on the table by the end.

#7: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Lincoln Hall, Chicago, IL, February 22, 2024

When I saw Pigsx7 on their first U.S. tour, I knew right away that they were a band I would see at any opportunity. So, I caught their second show ever in Chicago and was again floored by the massive sound they create. It’s difficult to describe the power that hits you at one of their shows, and the crowd was mostly people who hadn’t been at their first show, so it was fun to see a lot of people having their unprepared minds blown.

#6: The Black Angels – Stubb’s BBQ, Levitation Austin, October 31, 2024

I hadn’t seen The Black Angels in too long, and this was my girlfriend’s favorite time seeing them. She’d fallen in love with their sound, so we managed to get up close and listen to them play Phosphene Dream in its entirety and then another long set of stuff from across their catalogue. They never fail to impress me, and they’re the band I’ve seen the most live (over a dozen times now, for certain).

Who’s in the top 5? Two bands I saw twice, another one of my girlfriend’s favorites, a three-hour-plus show, and another band I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 25 albums of 2024: #’s 10 – 6

We’ve reached David Letterman’s favorite spot – the top ten. Let’s see who made the cut this year.

#`10: Dummy – Free Energy

This blast of shoegaze rock is bright in all the right spots and massive in all the others. I hadn’t heard them until 2024 and they ended up being my favorite shoegaze discovery of the year.

#9: New Age Healers – The Spin Out

This is cool psychedelia from the northwest. The album’s cover is indicative of what you experience while listening to it: A swirling mind trip down into strange places, or a mystical wind lifting you up from the ground and into the night sky. It’s your choice.

#8: Aaron Frazer – Into the Blue

Made after he transferred from the east coast to the west coast, Frazer created a second album of great, soulful R&B that’s both honoring and elevating the genre.

#7: Operator Music Band – Four Singles EP

It’s amazing this album even exists when you consider one of the band members nearly died after falling through a skylight before they were ever in the studio. The fact that they made a solid electro post-punk EP afterward is a testament to their commitment to each other.

#6: Meatbodies – Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom

Meatbodies easily are one of the best bands I discovered in 2024. This album is a great mix of psychedelic and garage-punk that immediately left me wanting more from them. I was also lucky enough to see them live twice, and they crushed it each time.

Who’s in the top five? Come back tomorrow to see!

Keep your mind open.

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WSND set list for January 05, 2024: Best of 2024 show

Thanks to all who listened to my “Best of 2024” show on WSND. Here’s the set list:

  1. Canned Heat – Goin’ to Heaven (in a Pontiac) (requested)
  2. Temporal Waves – Warmth of the Winter Sun
  3. Goodbye Meteor – No Signal
  4. Doug Richards – I’m Here for You
  5. Lightnin’ Hopkins – Mister Charlie (requested)
  6. Xmal Deutschland – Allein
  7. Ghost Cop – You Can Never Go Home
  8. Punchlove – Screwdriver
  9. Paperkraft – The Amazing Spaceman
  10. Osees – Tidal Wave (live)
  11. Dion Lunadon – Goodtimes
  12. Tangled Horns – Pig
  13. Brijean – Bang Bang Boom
  14. Tombstones in Their Eyes – In Your Eyes
  15. NORMANS – Schloss Loss
  16. Radondo (feat. Neu-Romancer) – Deluge
  17. Dummy – Soonish
  18. New Age Healers – Radiate
  19. Creeping Jean – Sassy Got Shakes (requested)
  20. Aaron Frazer – Payback
  21. Operator Music Band – 10 Days
  22. Meatbodies – Billow
  23. Fake Youth Cult – Messing
  24. Maquina – Denial
  25. Blushing – Tamagotchi
  26. Lair – Tanah Bertuah
  27. GUM / Ambrose Kenny-Smith – Ill Times
  28. A Place to Bury Strangers – Fear of Transformation

I’m back on air January 09th for another edition of Throwback Thursday! Don’t miss it!

Keep your mind open.

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WSND set list for January 05, 2025: 2024 Memorial

Thanks to all who listened to my 2024 memorial show on WSND. The first three hours were a memorial set to musicians who died last year. Here’s the set list:

  1. David Soul – Don’t Give Up on Us
  2. The Collins Kids – Shortnin’ Bread Rock (Larry Collins)
  3. Kate Bush – This Woman’s Work (Del Palmer)
  4. Bill Hayes – The Ballad of Davey Crockett
  5. Jo-El Sonnier – Tear-Stained Letter
  6. The Soft Moon – Circles (Luis Vasquez)
  7. Gene Deer – Don’t Turn Your Back (on the Blues) (requested)
  8. Marlena Shaw – California Soul
  9. The Shangri-Las – Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand) (Mary Weiss)
  10. Carole King – I Feel the Earth Move (Hank Cicalo)
  11. MC5 – Kick Out the Jams (live) (Wayne Kramer and
  12. Bob Marley and The Wailers – No More Trouble (Aston “Family Man” Barrett)
  13. Peter Tosh – Stepping Razor (Donald Kinsey)
  14. Toby Keith – Don’t Let the Old Man In
  15. The Spinners – I Don’t Want to Lose You (Harry Fambrough)
  16. Mojo Nixon – Elvis Is Everywhere
  17. CAN – Vitamin C (Damo Suzuki)
  18. Steve Lawrence – Footsteps
  19. The Dex Romweber Duo – Jungle Drums
  20. Vanity Fare – Hitchin’ a Ride (Dick Allix)
  21. Ultravox – Saturday Night in the City of the Dead (Chris Cross)
  22. Calvin Keys – Trade Winds
  23. Nortec Collective – Bostitch: Synthakon (Jorge Verdin)
  24. L. Subramaniam – Maha Ganapathim (requested) (Zakir Hussain)
  25. The Allman Brothers Band – Ramblin’ Man (Dickey Betts)
  26. The Moody Blues – The Best Way to Travel (Mike Pinder)
  27. Duane Eddy – Rebel-Rouser
  28. Electric Light Orchestra – Turn to Stone (Richard Tandy)
  29. Helmet – In the Meantime (Steve Albini)
  30. David Bowie – Young Americans (David Sanborn)
  31. François Hardy – Tous Les Garçons et Les Filles
  32. John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers – The Super-Natural
  33. Kris Kristofferson – Sunday Mornin’ Coming Down
  34. Grateful Dead – Dark Star (Phil Lesh)
  35. Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (Quincy Jones)
  36. CHIC – I Want Your Love (Alfa Anderson)
  37. Bee Gees – You Should Be Dancin’ (Dennis Byron)
  38. The Greg Kihn Band – The Break-Up Song (They Don’t Write ‘Em)
  39. World Party – Ship of Fools (Karl Wallinger)
  40. Frank Sinatra – One for My Baby (and One for the Road) (live) (Quincy Jones)

Be sure to tune in on January 09th for Throwback Thursday!

Keep your mind open.

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