Legendary garage punks The Monsters will tour through Mexico and the US West Coast in late April through May, beginning their trek in Mexico City and concluding up the Pacific Coastline in Seattle. This string of shows is their first-ever tour through western America and marks the band’s return to the New World since their 2014 Midwestern tour anchored by a headlining appearance at the Muddy Roots Festival. In two, with the Swiss quartet, Slovenly Recordings founder Pete Menchetti will DJ punk, garage, and exotica 45s during the pre-show and after-parties.
It’s common to read names like Celtic Frost, LiLiPUT, and The Young Gods as pioneers of Switzerland’s fringe rock movements. However, The Monsters are justifiably well deserving to be included in this category due to their creation of an off-branch rock genre they dub “trash rock, a subgenre that’s influenced a whole new generation of underground punk groups since the band formed in 1986. This genre is a strange mix of rockabilly grooves fused with chainsaw-fury speed punk, and The Monsters have only become faster, funnier, and more furious with age with their proof on their recent album, You’re Class, I’m Trash, which saw release via Voodoo Rhythm Records, Slovenly Recordings, and Sounds of Subterrania.
The Monsters have performed on stages across the continents of North/South America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. Their first run across the West Coast holds special meaning for the quartet, with the band sharing their thoughts below.
The Monsters are a Garage-Trash band out of Switzerland. We’ve played almost everywhere in the world, from Tomsoe, Norway, above the Arctic Circle, down to Buenos Aires, Argentina. From Japan to Mexico and to unusual places like Vietnam, Sicily, and more. But we never played the US West Coast, although that’s where a lot of inspiration for what we do comes from. Time to change that, for good!
The Monsters have a long history with the West Coast of the USA. Jan – the drummer – was born in San Luis Obispo in the summer of love, and Beat-Man – the CEO – even has family in Los Angeles. It’s like coming home, and we wanna show what we do and present to you our Super-1-Riff-Rock’n’Roll-Boogie-Trash.
The Monsters were formed in Berne, Switzerland, and that’s as un-American as a town can be. From the very beginning, we were unsatisfied with the music scene in general, and spezialy the music scene in Switzerland. At first, we were against pop music. Now it’s the copycats, the bands living and celebrating the past. We can’t stand it and hate it today as much as we hated it yesterday.
But instead of complaining, we create new music, a new listening experience for you and your brain, and it will be so loud that we can’t hear you complaining about it.
That’s our goal; you’ve been warned. – Beat-Man, Janosh, Swan Lee, and Pumi.
House and techno music were in a weird spot as the 1990s were ending and a new century was beginning. People had been raving away through the nights and early mornings of the 1990s in anticipation of living in a future that would, of course, never truly arrive. How would techno evolve in this new world / era?
Green Velvet had a pretty good idea how: Mix a bit of industrial music with trance and house, don’t skimp on the partying, and take the new century as it comes, baby. He released the perfectly titled Whatever just as the new millennium launched, summing up everyone’s attitude after the spectre of the Y2K apocalypse turned out to be a Scooby-Doo-style faker.
Opening track “Genedefekt” is almost like the opening theme of a video game with its 16-bit bleeps, but the thumping bass and machine drums elevate to something with a bit of menace – not unlike how a lot of people envisioned the next century as it arrived. That arrival, and not knowing what was coming next, is summed up in GV’s big hit, “La La Land.” The catchy bass and gets in your head and won’t escape as GV sings, “I’ve been the one to party until the end. Looking for the after-party to begin.” Like a lot of us, GV was there dancing until the end of the previous century and hoping the next one would be an even better after-party.
Also like a lot of us, GV was wondering if he should reinvent himself, and even how to do so, in the new millennium. “Stranj” has him singing, “For the first time I’m starting to realize I need to come down from this high, and be that person my family wants me to be – a model citizen of society.” GV calls out people who try to sabotage his dreams, racists, haters, and people living in fear on “When?”, and gives them rapid, energetic beats to shake them out of their brain fog.
“Sleepwalking” is a salute to “the weird ones” (“not the cool kids”) who find solace in the night and self-harm. GV hopes they’ll realize “Hatin’ themselves doesn’t make them happy.” “Stop Lyin'” is, as the kids call it, a banger – and a classic one at that. The near-goth synth-bass is outstanding, and the industrial beats would do Nitzer Ebb proud…as would the following near-instrumental track, “Minimum Rage,” with its alarm clock sounds, throbbing beats, and sampled crowd chants. It instantly brings to mind visions of people in black rubber shirts dancing under strobe lighting.
“GAT (The Great American Tragedy)” has GV screaming “Do what you like if you feel right!” by the end of it. It’s a panicked, wild track boiling with anger at being told what to do from every angle all the time. “Waitin’ 4 the Day2End” is a slice of GV’s life as he goes down to the corner diner and starts his own daily grind…along with everyone else around him from the guy next to him, the “old friend hooked on heroin,” and a party promoter who appears to be in a lot of trouble. The album ends with “Dank” – a snapping, double-dutch beat song about smoking weed that turns into a bumping floor-filler just when you think it’s finished.
That’s how Green Velvet was going into the new millennium – reflective, angry, high, and aching to get the rest of us off our assess to create the future we wanted in the here and now.
Levitation France returns with another fun lineup of pyschedelia, shoegaze, rock, and even rap this year.
Sleaford Mods closes the two-day festival on Friday, May 24th. Upchuck will provide some wild punk rock for you, Sweeping Promises will bring the fuzz, and psych-rock giants Acid Mothers Temple will melt your mind.
Don’t miss Deap Vally on the 25th. This show is part of their final tour before they put up the guitar and drum sticks to be full-time moms. Another good duo, Ghostwoman, will be worth your time. Melts are a hot new band playing a cool mix of post-punk and electro. Lysistrata are a hungry, raw, French rock band that I’m sure will put on a blistering set in front of their countrymen. Hoover III play nice psychedelia, whereas Fat White Family play somewhat dangerous psychedelia. I hope they come tour the U.S. after this.
Tickets are on sale, and Angers is a lovely town. Plus, you’ll be in France before the Olympics, so get there before the rest of the world does!
Fake Youth Cult is actually Dutch artist Richard van Kruysdijk, who created his new EP, White Light / Black Noise, with minimal arrangements. “The concept behind the songs is: create one song a day with a minimal, mainly analogue setup. Just a few synths, some drum samples, a sequencer and GO!” – he says in the press release sent to me. The result is an impressive work that mixes dark techno with some punk, and one track is even meant for a ballet performance.
The trolling synth-bass of “Visitor” grabs your attention right away, and you feel like you’re about to enter a combat arena filled with menacing robots. “Scorched” is probably how the dance floor is left after it’s played, as it’s full of powerful synths and hot, crashing beats.
Then along comes “Messing,” which will become your new favorite industrial dance track. It hits all the right beats and notes, transporting you to dark clubs in places with leaky ceilings and sweaty people who may or may not be undead fiends. “Smear” roars right by you like an out-of-control truck hauling scrap metal.
“Management” starts off side B (if you’re hearing this on vinyl) with pulsing sounds that mimic a lover’s heartbeat in the throes of rapturous sex. The looped, echoing vocals of a woman saying, “I feel…I see…I touch…I need…More…” are alluring and haunting. “Pulsar,” the closing track, is the one made for a ballet performance. van Kruysdijk often collaborates with dance troupes, and this track, with its relentless kick drum and buzzing, ticking motor-like beats, must create quickened heart rates in the dancers and audience.
The whole EP is like that, really. It’s heart-racing. Brace yourself before you play it.
Aaron Metzdorf, the bassist for Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, described the writing process of their new album, Big Dumb Riffs, as “What if we just played two notes the whole song? What if we tuned down to almost unusable string tension? What if we write a record that will make everyone say ‘Wow, that is dumb.’?”
That record would be a fun ride, that’s what would happen.
RBBP are never short on heavy riffs, goofy lyrics, and projecting a raw, fun energy, and this time they’ve gone all-in with that idea. Right away, “Clowntown” unleashes chugging, charging mania and you can’t help but laugh as you’re moshing. “1-800-EAT-SHIT” is just as fun, and I’m sure causes phone number chants whenever it’s played. “Papa Pop It” has early Primus-like bass licks all over it.
Leo Lydon‘s guitar on “Peanut Butter Snack Sticks” sounds like he’s pulled it out of a deep fryer and is playing it with a belt sander. Sean St. Germain‘s drum groove on “Whip It Around” immediately grab you and make you pay attention. The song transitions perfectly into “Body Bag” – which hits harder than a good number of doom metal tracks.
“Brat” stomps along like an angry elephant as Lydon calls out haters who can’t and won’t back up their words. “El Sapo” is a quick roughie, leading into the almost-panicked “Bastard Initiated.” I’m sure the pits during this song are bonkers (and, really, I’m sure their entire shows are just plain nuts). “Blue Collar Man” throbs, growls, and snarls as Lydon sings about a woman in love with a blue collar worker, but the lovely dream seems to turn into a nightmare.
They save the longest track on the record, “In a Jar” (at three minutes and thirty-eight seconds), for last. “I’m going to fucking kill you,” Lydon almost croons as he and his pals slow down the pace, but don’t relent on the fuzz.
Again, Big Dumb Riffs is a crazy ride that’s over in a flash – a bit like a roller coaster that only slows down at the end but your brain is still foggy from the adrenaline rush and your body is a bit sore from banging around in the car.
Keep your mind open.
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Six months after the release of their debut single, London’s test plan unveil their follow up single/music video ‘Walking in a Vacuum’, out on 26th March.
Uniting ferocious guitar-driven havoc and pulsating rhythmic force, ‘Walking in a Vacuum’ delves into repression and avoidance in the face of life’s pressures. Loaded with hypnotic bass lines, resilient drum beats, raw, animated guitar hooks and propelled by manic and captivating vocals, test plan’s follow up single is a blast of existential despair and a love for intense volume.
“There’s a lot to be said for resilience in life, for grinning and bearing it.” says drummer / vocalistMax Mason. “This can become psychotic when you begin to actively deceive yourself. Moving down the wrong path, aware of each step making things worse. ‘[Walking in a] Vacuum’ dances with this notion of pushing your emotions down and letting the world swallow you up. It’s a dance song about over-thinking and surrender, when maybe you should be doing neither.”
Recorded and mixed by Darren Jones (Fat Dog, The Fall, Gorillaz) in the band’s own north-east London practice space, ‘Walking in a Vacuum’ captures test plan’s intense and visceral energy, matching the force seen in their live performances; pumping and scuzzy in equal measures, seamlessly treading between dancing and moshing.
The accompanying music video, filmed, edited, animated and directed in-house by Mason, captures the essence of the song’s themes; propulsion, horror and elation, surfacing the concepts of resilience in a world filled with chaos and uncertainty. Mason muses on the idea of surrendering to overwhelming forces of the world: “It was a deliberate effort to be artistic and wanted it to feel as if it were a performance art in a gallery space. It was an attempt to make something that looked sort of cursed or horrifying without actually doing anything blatantly to make it so. The animated touches were a way to add an extra layer of mysticism; colour and playfulness to our otherwise angsty performances.”
test plan are set for a busy year with their biggest headline show to date, an overseas summer tour starting at Paris’ Supersonic Block Party, a live session and a forthcoming EP. ‘Walking in a Vacuum’ will be released on 26th March with their headline single launch show on 29th March at Paper Dress Vintage with in violet and Brides.
Upcoming Live Dates:
29/03/24: Paper Dress Vintage, London (Single Launch)
18/04/24: Strongroom, London 24/05/24: Sebright Arms, London 01/06/24: Supersonic Black Party, Paris (FR) 06/06/24: Le Ravelin, Toulouse (FR) 07/06/24: Jokers, Angers (FR)
Keep your mind open.
[Why not walk on over to the subscription box while you’re here?]
Today Desire is sharing new single “Darkside” alongside the announcement of new album Games People Play, which will come out later this year via Italians Do It Better. This will be Desire’s third studio album following Escape (2022) & self titled Desire (2009).
“Darkside” is the new slow burning single from Desire. It’s nocturnal synthwave in their classic cinema sound. Megan Louise’s voice levitates over heavy 808 drums pivoting between sultry Dream Pop & spoken word. Our heroine serenades us while the impressionistic haze of Johnny Jewel’s production casts it’s spell. It feels like the opening titles to a Neo-noire film…Games People Play.
“The song is about the invisible line we draw between our outer reality & our inner world. The darkside is a meatphor for the unmasked internal space that we rarely share with strangers. A secret realm that never sees the light of day. On the endless hunt for love, we crave a deeper connection that can only come with truth. The mirror sees you…on the darkside. Crash into the starlight.” – Desire
Desire are embarking on a co-healine tour with Johnny Jewel with upcoming shows in San Francisco, Dublin, Paris, Manchester & Vancouver. In addition to this, Desire will also play Primavera Festival on May 29th and NYC Knowdown Centre on May 31st for a special performance, which will also see Johnny Jewel, Black Marble, Orion, Farah, Joon, Mothermary take the stage.
Tour dates:
Mar 22 – SAN FRANCISCO DNA Lounge (Tickets) May 21 – DUBLIN The Button Factory (Tickets) May 23 – PARIS Le Trabendo (Tickets) May 24 – MANCHESTER YES (The Pink Room) (Tickets) May 29 – BARCELONA Primavera In The City May 31 – NYC Knockdown Center (w/ Johnny Jewel, Black Marble, Orion, Farah, Joon & Mothermary) (Tickets) Jun 28 – VANCOUVER Rickshaw Theater
One of the shining beacons of the UK post-metal scene, Bossk have steadily built up an unrepentantly loyal following since their inception 2005. As they approach 20 years as a band, Bossk are taking this opportunity to take pause and reflect on their past and all the hard graft that has led them to become one of the most lauded bands in the genre. .4, the latest in a series of numbered releases that presents material outside the remit of Bossk’s full-length album output, is a celebration of those 20 years and provides an enticing aperitif for their 3rd album proper, to be released sometime in 2026.
As is tradition with these numbered releases, .4is not a Bossk album in the conventional sense, instead forging a more experimental path by presenting re-worked versions of some old favorites, as well as a smattering of re-recorded songs that only the most obsessed Bossk fan will be familiar with.
The band were keen to re-visit “Truth”, a song they identify as one of the most important in their early repertoire. Plans to record an acoustic version of the track were soon abandoned when the band were tagged in a vocal cover of the song on Instagram by Dubai-based composer Sheenagh Murray.Her rendition galvanized Bossk to re-write the song entirely from the ground up with her vocals in mind, which has resulted in the rendition heard on .4, imaginatively titled “Truth II“, which sounds almost unrecognizable from the original, showing the growth the band have made in the past 14 years.
Bossk comments on the track: “When we heard Sheenagh’s version, it completely changed our idea for ‘Truth II’, and we practically wrote the song around the vocals she had done and just kept adding elements as we went. The original version of ‘Truth’ is a hugely important song to us, it felt like such a progression from the first 2 songs we had released and was in our live set for many shows in the early years. We recorded this new edition of the song with Joe Clayton in Manchester and was such a great experience getting to come up with a completely new version of the song with him. A slightly unknown fact about this song is that it is named in part to the Halo mission titled ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ with the second element already written for the next full-length album we have planned for 2026. Stay tuned for its sequel….”
One deciding factor that emboldened Bossk to celebrate their past is the amicable departure of vocalist Sam Marsh due to his permanent relocation to the United States. The band wanted to give Sam an epic recorded send-off and the colossal 13-minute “Events Occur in Real Timeprovides a fitting farewell for the vocalist, who’s guttural razor-wire screams have provided tectonic shifting textures to the band since their inception in 2005. Acting as the centerpiece of .4, this is the first studio take of the song ever recorded, conceived as it was in 2008, just months before the band went on temporary hiatus. The only version available prior was recorded live and released on a limited edition split 12” with long gone fellow post-metal band Rinoa. .4gives Bossk the opportunity to record the song in a new and reimagined way, replete with mariachi-style trumpet work courtesy of Adam Faires.
In a move that displays the band’s love of collaboration, this collection also presents four classic Bossk tracks re-worked by their contemporaries, giving a new lease of life to songs that have become staples of Bossk’s set. First up is Manchester-based post metal project Pijn’s take on fan favorite “Kobe”, an interpretation that initially suggests a more sedate take on the song that gradually swells into a symphony of swirling strings and percussion that accelerando to an almighty climax. Japanese experimentalists in heavy music Endon previously collaborated for the second full-length album Migration released in 2021. “White Stork”, the song that opened that album, is presented here with the Bossk elements stripped back entirely, so it’s now possible for the listener to immerse themselves in the disquieting noise drone textures the band added to Migration without distraction. Matthew Daly and Robin Southby of British instrumental quintet Maybeshewill contributed a beautiful piano rendition of “The Reverie”for inclusion on .4, which echoes the ambient neo-classical works of Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnaulds and Philip Glass. The last collaboration comes courtesy of Canadian prog-psych duo Crown Lands who add moog synths, Tool-esque percussion and soaring dynamics to their interpretation of “The Reverie II”that completely revitalizes and enhances the epic concluding track to Bossk’s 2016 debut full-length Audio Noir.
Another lost treasure on .4 is Albert, a new song that has only been played once at ArcTanGent festival in 2019. Despite including it in that set, the band were never happy with it, until drummer Nick Corney completely reworked it into the version here, which displays the influence of electronic artists on Bossk such as Boards of Canada, Battles, Nine Inch Nails and DJ Shadow.
The remaining two tracks that make up this compilation were originally only available on 2008 live video .3. A remix of I by Twin Zero guitarist Reuben Gotto is the oldest song on .4, dating back to 2006 shortly after the band’s debut EP release of the same name. The other track is “181 to Beulah”, a song written by Bossk guitarist Alex Hamilton which, like “Events Occur in Real Time“, has only previously been released as a live track. The song, which is played entirely on guitar, ends this 65-minute collection on a sombre note, as gently reverberant chords ring out across a mellow bed of harmonious feedback, recalling the more tranquil, ambient experimentation of bands like This Will Destroy You and Hammock. As a segue-way into whatever the future may hold, it’s about as laid-back and serene as Bossk has ever been.
With .4, Bossk fully intend to put a full stop on one era, before beginning a new chapter in 2026, a year which will see the release of a brand new full-length album of original material, their 3rd in total, and the recorded debut of vocalist Simon Wright, who has been playing with the band for the past 4years and is now fully integrated into the band.
Look for .4 to be available May 10th via Deathwish Inc. Pre-order here and look for more singles to drop in the near future.
Bossk, on tour:
May 15 Bristol, UK @ The Fleece May 16 Nottingham, UK @ Rescue Rooms May 17 Manchester, UK @ Gorilla May 18 Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club May 19 London, UK @ The Garage August 15 Bristol, UK @ Fernhill Farm August 17 Bristol, UK @ Fernhill Farm
If you find yourself near Concourse C at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and need some time to kill, what better place to do it than the Sub Pop Records store?
The place has a little bit of everything, and all of it is related to Sub Pop artists. The book collection is impressive, and I love how it contained stuff for young readers, too.
I was surprised to see the large number of cassettes they had for sale, it seemed to be larger than the number of CDs.
The cassettes wrap around three sides of this pillar.Whereas the CDs were on seven shelves.
As you can tell, there’s plenty of vinyl, and they had “travel friendly” 7″ vinyl, too.
They have a lot of “Loser edition” records here, which are limited edition colored vinyl versions of these albums. They also have cool stuff like this in some bins at the bottom of shelves.
Well, I need this in my life…Not to mention that Sleater-Kinney album.
There’s plenty of Sub Pop gear to buy as well. You can even buy a replica of Kurt Cobain’s famous flannel shirt.
Located at 1524 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia Record Exchange is a crate-diggers dream and a great place for music lovers. I knew I was in the right place when I overheard the owner and a customer having a fun discussion about a rare Taco record.
My friend, Jessica, and I walked in and immediately saw this on the left…
…and this on the right.
Once you get back the initial barrage of sights upon entering the place, you see the back 2/3 of the store has so much vinyl that you could spend days digging through it and not see it all.
These boxes reminded me of being in a comic book store full of back issues. Those are full of 45s. See that white crate on top of the middle stack? This was the record at the front of it…
The place is a gold mine for stuff like this. Need more rarities? How about…?
That was on a wall in the back of the store, which looks like this…
Jessica and I spent close to an hour here and barely touched a handful of things when you consider how much they have. I mean, they even have cool Indian mediation music.
And boxes like this you can’t resist…
They also have two of the best clocks I’ve seen in a while.
I’m not sure if I need that one more in my life, or this one…
Then again, I might need this album in my life more than either of those clocks…
I didn’t walk out with that piece of vinyl, but I did score three cool CDs.
I don’t know how I haven’t owned physical copies of those debut albums by The Damned and The Psychedelic Furs before now, but that copy of the Sitting Target score was a great find and a steal at that price. There are many great bargains here, so bring your wallet.
