I've been a music fan since my parents gave me a record player for Christmas when I was still in grade school. The first record I remember owning was "Sesame Street Disco." I've been a professional writer since 2004, but writing long before that. My first published work was in a middle school literary magazine and was a story about a zoo in which the animals could talk.
D-Tension is an award winning musician/vocalist/producer from Lowell, MA. He first made a name for himself as a hip hop artist, touring North America and Europe regularly for two decades. However, like most sample based hip hop producers, D’s love of music was not limited to hip hop. Always a multi instrumentalist, D began to write and record rock and roll songs and took a greater interest in playing the guitar. This passion lead to two “Secret Rock and Roll Projects” that featured D’s songs with collaborations with a team of musicians including guitarists Frank Pino (Watham/Andrew WK) and Craig Silverman (Agnostic Front) and drummer Brian Viglione (Dresden Dolls/Violent Femmes). The Secret Project featured the 2021 single “Kenmore Square,” an ode to the glory days of the Boston rock scene. The song was well received and the video was viewed 125,000 times on Youtube, Facebook and Instagram.
Always up for a challenge, D-Tension is poised to release his first all-solo rock record, Tales from the Pub. D wrote and performed the record in its entirety and the record is set for a spring 2023 release on Boston record label Red On Red Records. His first single, released independently in January 2023 “The No Name Song” was featured on radio, blogs and newspapers nationwide. The first single with Red On Red, “Charlie” manages to be upbeat and catchy despite its dark subject matter; the mysterious deaths of three Lowell women who all happened to disappear while dating the same guy. Known for his use of humor, the song is a bit of a departure for D but showcases his ability to be a multidimensional artist.
Tinariwen—the Grammy-winning Tuareg band composed of founding members Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Touhami Ag Alhassane and Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, plus bassist Eyadou Ag Leche, percussionist Said Ag Ayad and guitarist Elaga Ag Hamid—announce their new album, Amatssou, out May19thonWedge, and a UStour, marking the first time they will play stateside since 2019. In conjunction, Tinariwen share Amatssou’s lead single, “Tenere Den,” which pays homage to the Tuareg revolution in the Kel Adagh region of Mali. It’s accompanying video, directed by AlexisJamet, features bright, textured animation to articulate the poignant lyrics.
Throughout Amatssou, the legendary collective’s ninth studio album, Tinariwen set out to explore the shared sensibilities between their trademark desert blues and the vibrant country music of rural America. Amatssou is Tamashek for “Beyond The Fear,” and it fits. Tinariwen have always been characterized by their fearlessness, single-handedly inventing a guitar style that has captured the world’s imagination. They call it ishumar or assouf (“nostalgia” in Tamashek). The rest of the world has come to know it as the Tuareg blues. It is music that is imbued with sorrow and longing but it’s also music to dance to, to forget our cares.
Including additional production by DanielLanois (Brian Eno, U2, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Peter Gabriel, Willie Nelson), Amatssou finds the band’s signature snaking guitar lines and hypnotic grooves seamlessly co-existing alongside banjos, fiddles and pedal steel. Thousands of miles of ocean may divide these two landscapes, but the links are as palpable as they are romantic. Lead single “Tenere Den” is a thrilling expansion on the classic sound Tinariwen invented.
The story of Amatssou began in 2021 when Jack White, a long-time fan of the group, invited Tinariwen to record at his private recording studio in Nashville. The band had initially planned to record with Lanois alongside a group of local country musicians, including Wes Corbett and Fats Kaplin, a regular collaborator of White’s. However, following a series of COVID and travel-related delays, Tinariwen found themselves unable to make the trip from Mali to the States. New plans were hastily drawn for Lanois to travel to Africa, but after further delays dealt by the pandemic, Tinariwen, Lanois, Corbett, and Kaplin were ultimately forced to work remotely.
With final plans eventually in place, Tinariwen made the decision to lay the groundwork for Amatssou in Djanet, an oasis in the desert of southern Algeria located in Tassili N’Ajjer National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its prehistoric cave art. Among the jagged rock outcrops and dramatic sandstone vistas, Tinariwen set up a makeshift studio inside a tent using borrowed equipment from the fellow Tuareg band, Imarhan.
Fortunately for Tinariwen, the integrity of Amatssou remained completely intact through its remote recording processes, with Lanois adding deft touches from his studio in Los Angeles, Corbett and Kaplin recording their parts from Nashville, and Kabyle percussionist Amar Chaoui recording his parts in Paris. Lanois’ haunting pedal steel and crystalline production add a soaring ambience to Tinariwen’s trance-like desert blues, with Kalpin contributing pedal steel, violin and banjo to six of the ten tracks.
For decades, Tinariwen have remained ambassadors for their people, a way of life in tune with the natural world that is under threat as never before. Though Tuareg culture is as old as that of ancient Greece or Rome, the songs of Amatssou speak to the current and often tough reality of Tuareg life today. Unsurprisingly, there are impassioned references to Mali’s ongoing political and social turmoil. Full of poetic allegory, the lyrics call for unity and freedom. There are songs of struggle and resistance with oblique references to the recent desperate political upheavals in Mali and the increasing power of the Salafists. Tinariwen’s message has never sounded more urgent and compelling than it does on Amatssou.
Beginning May 27th at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, Tinariwen’s US tour will see them bringing their cherished songs to cities including New York, Los Angeles, and more before they head overseas for a run of EU/UK dates. All shows are on-sale now with tickets available here.
Tinariwen Tour Dates Sat. May 27 – Chicago, IL @ Old Town School of Folk Music Tue. May 30 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom Wed. May 31 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox Fri. June 2 – Berkeley, CA @ UC Theater Sat. June 3 – Los Angeles, CA @ Fonda Theater Mon. June 5 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall Tue. June 6 – Boston, MA @ Sinclair Wed. June 7 – Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre Sat. June 10 – Hilvarenbeek, NL @ Best Kept Secret Festival Mon. June 12 – Rubigen, CH @ Muhle Hunziken Wed. June 14 – Florence, IT @Ultravox Thu. June 15 – Milan, IT @ Triennale Garden Fri. June 16 – Turin, IT @ Hiroshima Mon Amour Sun. June 18 – Dublin, IE @ Body & Soul Festival Thu. June 22 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg Sat. June 24 – Glastonbury, UK @ Glastonbury Festival Mon. 26 – Lille, FR @ Splendid Wed. June 28 – Paris, FR @ Salle Pleyel Thu. June 29 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique Sat. July 1 – Roskilde, DK @ Roskilde Festival Sun. July 2 – Stockholm, SE @ Slaktkyran Tue. July 4 – Oslo, NO @ Rockefeller Fri. July 7 – Bilbao, ES @ BBK Live Festival Tue. July 11 – Arles, FR @ Les Suds Arles Sat. July 15 – Bristol, UK @ SWX Mon. July 17 – Glasgow, UK @ St Lukes Wed. July 19 – Bermingham, UK @ Institute 2 Sat. July 22 – Cheshire, UK @ Bluedot Festival Tue. 25 – Vigo, SP @ Terraceo Festival Sat. July 29 – Luxey, FR @ Musicalarue Festival
Poison Ruin have released their latest single “Resurrection II” – a cathartic tale of the undead rising to take revenge upon those who have unknowingly wronged them. It’s full revenge fantasy with melodic rocking, equally split between surf motifs and new wave of British Heavy heavy metal riffing.
Evoking a rich tapestry of ice-caked forests, metaphoric peasant revolts and silent knights, Poison Ruin stab at the pulsing heart of what it means to live under the permanent midnight of contemporary life. Their forthcoming album Harvest gazes at the world with a sense of grave seriousness, its stare softened only by the alluring seduction of a dream world’s open-ended possibility. These songs move with a type of uncanny confidence, assembling an array of references to past styles and sensibilities that collapse in on one another, congealing into a truly unique sonic landscape.
With Harvest, Poison Ruin aligns their sonic palette to their godless, medieval-inflected aesthetic symbolism, creating a record which strikes with an assured sense of blackened harmony.
“I’ve always found fantasy tropes to be incredibly evocative,” vocalist/guitarist Mac Kennedy notes, “that said, even though they are a set of symbols that seem to speak to most people of our generation, they are often either apolitical or co-opted for incredibly backwards politics.”
With Harvest’s lyrics and imagery, Kennedy reworks fantasy imagery as a series of totems for the downtrodden, stripping it of its escapist tendencies and retooling it as a rich metaphor for the collective struggle over our shared reality: “Instead of knights in shining armor and dragons, it’s a peasant revolt,” he explains, “I’m all for protest songs, but with this band I’ve found that sometimes your message can reach a greater audience if you imbue it with a certain interactive, almost magical realist element.”
These are not superficial or self-aggrandizing political statements. Rather, Poison Ruin stares into the abyss of present-day life with a sober and empathetic outlook, portraying our cracked reality as a complex and difficult to parse miasma of competing desires.
Philadelphia’s Poison Ruin first emerged in April of 2020 with their eponymous EP, which was followed shortly by a second eponymous EP the following February, both self-released. While they share a certain affinity for rough-around-the-edges, lo-fidelity stones with their compatriots Devil Master and Sheer Mag, Poison Ruin wants things bleaker. The up-tempo guitar heroics of their first two EPs (which were collectively released as a S/T LP in February of 2021) have been dragged through the trenches, emerging as a heavy morass of breathless gloom. With Harvest, Poison Ruin have constructed a richly chilling fable out of modern living. Their tale is as lurid as it is seductive, as much a promising fantasy as it is a dreary portrait of reality itself.
Poison Ruin’s Relapse debut, Harvest was mastered by Arthur Rizk. It sees its release on April 14 alongside the reissue of their eponymous 2021 LP which has established the band as one of punk and the underground’s newest beloved treasures. Poison Ruin will tour extensively this year. They’re currently touring across the Southwest and hit SXSW next week, plus NYC and a hometown PHL release show. In April they head overseas for a full EU / UK run including a performance at Roadburn. See below for a full list of dates.
Thanks to all who listened to my Deep Dive of Chess Records during the University of Notre Dame’s spring break. It was a fun show. Here’s the playlist:
Muddy Waters – She Moves Me
Muddy Waters – I Can’t Be Satisfied
Gene Ammons – My Foolish Heart
B.B. King – Questionnaire Blues / A New Way of Driving
Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats – Rocket 88
Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm – You’ve Got to Lose
Howlin’ Wolf – How Many More Years
Howlin’ Wolf – Mr. Highway Man (Cadillac Daddy)
Buddy Guy – First Time I Met the Blues
Sax Mallard and His Orchestra – Slow Caboose
Little Walter – Juke
Sonny Boy Williamson – Don’t Start Me Talkin’
Bo Diddley – The Story of Bo Diddley (request)
Bo Diddley – Hey Bo Diddley
Dale Hawkins – Susie Q
Savannah Churchill – They Call Me a Fool
Clarence Frogman Henry – Troubles Troubles
Etta James – Fool That I Am
The Rotary Connection – Memory Band
Muddy Waters – Mannish Boy (“Electric Mud” version)
Muddy Waters – Let’s Spend the Night Together (request)
You might look at the track listing of Black Helium‘s new album, UM, and initially think, “Five tracks? Why isn’t this considered an EP?” It’s because it’s five tracks of wild London psych-rock with two tracks that are over ten minutes long…and one of those is over fifteen minutes long.
The first of the double-digit tracks is the album’s opener, “Another Heaven,” which unloads on you like cosmic cannon fire and then settles down into a groove as trippy as the album’s cover. Their love of Black Sabbath is evident in the second half of the track when it goes from weird psychedelia into bass-heavy (thanks to Beck Harvey) doom sludge (which I love).
“I Saw God” (at only eight minutes and nine seconds in length) brings in some garage rock and, dare I say it, some pop-like beats for a good blend of genres resulting in a toe-tapping rocker. “Dungeon Head,” at under three minutes, is a mantra-like appetizer for “Summer of Hair” – which is a great name for a track that harkens back to the swinging 1960s of London with its trippy sound and the 1990s of London with its electro-bass thumps and beats.
Ending with the fifteen-plus-minute “The Keys to Red Skeleton’s House (Open the Door),” Black Helium go for broke and unleash everything from cosmic guitar roars from Stuart Gray and Rush-like rhythms from Diogo Gomes to more of that heavy sludge that brings with it slow head-banging and a sense of menace.
The menace doesn’t overpower UM, leaving you with lots of cool grooves and powerful vibes. They could’ve named this album OM just from the way it vibrates in your chest, but instead named it UM, possibly to make you contemplate it and the rest of the cosmos.
Keep your mind open.
[Float on over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
Today, Beach Fossils announce Bunny, their first studio album since 2017, out June 2nd on Bayonet. In conjunction with today’s announcement, they present its lead single/video, “Don’t Fade Away.”Throughout the last fifteen years, Beach Fossils have steadily earned their stature as one of the most definitive and enduring bands of the 2010s New York underground, consistently reaching new listeners as their sound has grown from the DIY solo project of Dustin Payseur to an influential four-piece dream pop band, self-produced, self-managed and self-released. Bunny represents strength through vulnerability.
“Sharpening their fidelity and dream-pop instincts on every successive release” (INTERVIEW), Bunny continues the stunning evolution of Beach Fossils’ sound, pulling elements from the jangly melancholy of What a Pleasure EP (2011), the gritty, post-punk inspired tracks from Clash the Truth (2013), and the lush arrangements of Somersault(2017).Inspired by the psych-pop of early Verve and Spiritualized albums and perennial influences like the Cure, Wire, the Byrds, and the Velvet Underground, Bunny was produced and recorded by Payseur himself, with Lars Stalfors (St. Vincent, Soccer Mommy, Lil Peep) mixing. Payseur remarks that in creating this album, a bigger emphasis was made for stronger attunement to pop structure. “When I wrote the first record, there were no choruses; it was instrumental guitar parts in between verses. This is the first record where I’ve consciously thought about writing a chorus.” Throughout, he’s joined by core band members Tommy Davidson (guitar), Jack Doyle Smith (bass), and Anton Hochheim (drums).
From poignant words about a family member’s cancer battle and the joy of being a father, to small, but meaningful moments with friends, Bunny is the band’s most vivid, grounded and personal work to date. The songs reflect on depression, love, adventure, loss, mistakes, New York City, friendships coming and going — a mélange of granular pieces in the process of continuing to find yourself. Payseur’s collage-like lyrics communicate through tone and mood as much as narrative; New York poets like Frank O’Hara, Ted Berrigan, and Anne Waldman were on his desk, as was the Tao Te Ching.
Today’s single, “Don’t Fade Away,” is an instant earworm.The video, directed by Kevin Clark (Finneas, Flatbush Zombies), sees Payseur crooning across a beautiful array of late night backdrops, from elevator cabs to Los Angeles’ El Capitan Theater. Of the track, Payseur adds: “‘Don’t Fade Away’ is about missing old friends, being on tour, self-medicating, longing, anxiety, love, being an idiot, having fun, embracing your mistakes and keeping your spark.”
Beach Fossils have sold-out concerts at venues including Brooklyn Steel in New York, The Wiltern in Los Angeles, Thalia Hall in Chicago, and beyond, and played Coachella, Bonnaroo, Primavera, and Post Malone’s Posty Fest. The band’s latest release, 2021’s The Other Side of Life: Piano Ballads, hit No. 3 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Albums chart and the band recently cracked seven million monthly listeners total across all platforms. Bayonet Records is a genre-expansive independent label Payseur co-founded in 2014; it continues to serve as an incubator for a diverse roster of developing artists.
Today, Detroit post-punk band Protomartyr announce their new album, Formal Growth In The Desert, out June 2nd on Domino, and present its lead single/video, “Make Way.” Additionally, they announce 2023 North American and EU tour dates. Composed of vocalist Joe Casey, guitarist Greg Ahee, drummer Alex Leonard, and bassist Scott Davidson, Protomartyr have become synonymous with caustic, impressionistic assemblages of politics and poetry, the literal and oblique. Casey describes the underlying theme of Formal Growth In The Desert as a 12-song testament to “getting on with life,” even when it feels impossibly hard.
The moody lead single/video, “Make Way,” doubles as Formal Growth In The Desert’s opening track, with Casey beginning the record by facing tragedy head-on: “Welcome to the haunted earth // The living after life // Where we chose to forget // the years of the Hungry Knife.” The accompanying video, directed by Trevor Naud, is a striking cinematic feat. Of the video, Naud says: “There’s a deliberate through-line between the videos for ‘Make Way’ and 2020’s ‘Worm In Heaven.’ The two songs feel partnered with each other, so I wanted the videos to feel like they exist in the same world. There are layers of experiments happening–all within a closed environment. We don’t know what’s happened to the world outside, but there’s an undertone that things maybe aren’t quite right.”
Since their 2012 debut, No Passion All Technique, Protomartyr have mastered the art of evoking place: the grinding Midwest humility of their hometown, as well as the x-rayed elucidation of America that comes with their vantage. Though Casey did have a humbling experience staring at awe-inspiring Sonoran rock formations and reckoning with his own smallness in the scheme of things, the group’s sixth album is not necessarily a nod to the sandy expanses of the Southwest. Formal Growth In The Desert, recorded at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, proves Detroit, too, is like a desert. “The desert is more of a metaphor or symbol” Casey says, “of emotional deserts, or a place or time that seems to lack life.”
On Formal Growth In The Desert, the desert brings an existential awareness that is ultimately internal. The “growth”came from a period of colossal transition for Casey, including the death of his mother, who struggled with Alzheimer’s for a decade and a half. Now 45, Casey had lived in the family home in northwest Detroit all his life. Immortalized in Protomartyr’s essential SPIN cover story, the neighborhood informed many of Protomartyr’s acclaimed albums, serving as a base through the band’s growth from scrappy punks to ones capable of touring the globe or bringing in the Breeder’s Kelley Deal as a touring member in 2020. In 2021, though, a rash of repeated break-ins signaled that it was time to finally move out.
Protomartyr’s music — more spacious and dynamic than ever — helped pull Casey up. “The band still being viable was very important to me,” Casey adds, “and it definitely lifted my spirits.” Having long served as Protomartyr’s unofficial musical director, guitarist Greg Ahee co-produced Formal Growth In The Desert alongside Jake Aron (Snail Mail, L’Rain). Ahee knew what Casey was going through and the challenges he’d been processing, and as Ahee was conceptualizing the music, he thought about how to make it all “like a narrative film.” Ahee explains, “I started to write at home on a piano and on a keyboard and then play along to short films, and watch how you can affect and heighten moods as you play.” The filmic sensibility is manifest in Casey’s storytelling, too, whether he’s critiquing ominous techno-capitalism or processing aging, the future, and the possibility of love.
In some sense, Formal Growth In The Desert is a testament to conflicting realities — the inevitability of loss, the necessity of finding joy through it and persisting — that come with living longer and continuing to create. It begins with pain but endures through it, cracking itself open into a gently-sweeping torrent of sound that is, for Protomartyr, totally new.
PROTOMARTYR TOUR DATES (new dates in bold) Sat. Mar. 11 – Columbus, OH @ Soupfest Sun. Mar. 12 – Chattanooga, TN @ JJ’s Bohemia Mon. Mar. 13 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa Wed. Mar. 15 – Austin, TX @ SXSW- Laneway Official Showcase – Lucille Thu. Mar. 16 – Austin, TX @ SXSW – Levitation Showcase – Hotel Vegas Thu. Mar. 16 – Austin, TX @ SXSW – Brooklyn Vegan Showcase – Empire Fri. Mar. 17 – Austin, TX @ SXSW – Third Man Showcase – 13th Floor Sat. Mar. 18 – Dallas, TX @ Texas Theater Mon. Mar. 20 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Tue. Mar. 21 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah Wed. Mar. 22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Fri. Mar. 24 – Bakersfield, CA @ Temblor Brewing Sat. Mar. 25 – Reno, NV @ Holland Project Sun. Mar. 26 – Boise, ID @ Treefort Tue. Mar. 28 – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive Wed. Mar. 29 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown Thu. Mar. 30 – Davenport, IA @ Raccoon Motel Fri. Mar. 31 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme Tue. June 13 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern Wed. June 14 – Montreal, QC @ Fairmount Fri. June 16 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom Sat. June 17 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s Tue. June 20 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat Wed. June 21 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle Thu. June 22 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West Fri. June 23 – Nashville, TN @ Blue Room Sat. June 24 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway Mon. June 26 – Oklahoma City, OK @ 89th Street Tue. June 28 – Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole Wed. June 29 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room Sat. July 1 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel Sun. July 2 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe’s Alley Wed. July 5 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom Thu. July 6 – Vancouver, BC @ Cobalt Fri. July 7 – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Sat. July 8 – Spokane, WA @ Lucky You Tue. July 11 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club Wed. July 12 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Thu. July 13 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall Sun. Aug. 6 – Frankfurt, DE @ Zoom Mon. Aug. 7 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Wed. Aug. 9 – Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2 Thu. Aug. 10 – Nottingham, UK @ Rescue Rooms Fri. Aug. 11 – Cardiff, UK @ Clwb lfor Bach Sat. Aug. 12 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club Mon. Aug. 14 – Eindhoven, NL @ Effenaar Tue. Aug. 15 – Hannover, DE @ Indiego Glocksee Thu. Aug. 17 – Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen Fri. Aug. 18 – Bodo, NO @ Parkenfestivalen Sat. Aug. 19 – Trondheim, NE @ Pstereo Thu. Oct. 26 – London, UK @ Electric Ballroom
Today, Eddie Chacon presents his new single/video, “Sundown,” from his forthcoming record Sundown, out March 31st via Stones Throw. The “Sundown” video, which documents the process of recording the album, was shot at 64 Sound Studios in Northeast LA by Brandon Bloom. Appearing in the video is John Carroll Kirby — who produced, co-wrote, and played keys on Sundown — as well as Logan Hone (flute and saxophones), Elizabeth Lea (trombone), Will Logan (drums), and David Leach (percussion). Following a string of previously shared singles — “Holy Hell,” “Step By Step” and “Comes And Goes” — “Sundown” is a song about “being humbled by how little time we have on this earth.” Only now, Chacon says, at his age (59) does he have the life experience and quiet confidence to sing about such a subject.
As one half of the duo Charles & Eddie, whose hit single “Would I Lie To You” was a chart-topper heard around the world, Eddie was a bona fide pop star. He deserted the music business following the band’s stratospheric success. Meeting John Carroll Kirby in 2019 was the catalyst for Eddie’s return to music, and together they made 2020’s Pleasure, Joy and Happiness. The album was intended as a swan song, but eddie felt reinvigorated by its word-of-mouth success. He says, “Sundown is the follow-up I never thought I would get to make.”
This month, Eddie Chacon heads out to Australia and New Zealand, followed by a headline show with John Carroll Kirby at Los Angeles’ Lodge Room and a series of shows in the UK and Europe. Full dates are listed below.
EDDIE CHACON TOUR DATES Sat. Mar. 18 – Auckland, NZ @ Beacon Festival * Sat. Mar. 25 – Melbourne, AU @ Collingwood Yards * Wed. Mar. 29 – Melbourne, AU @ Music Room (DJ Set) Fri. Mar. 31 – Melbourne, AU @ The Night Cat (LP Launch) * Sat. Apr. 1 – Sydney, AU @ The Ace Hotel * Tue. Apr. 4 – Sydney, AU @ Phoenix Park * Fri. Apr. 7 – Bali, ID @ Potato Head Beach Club * Wed. Apr. 19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room * Tue. May 16 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique Wed. May 17 – London, UK @ KOKO Thu. May 18 – Manchester, UK @ Band on the Wall Sun. May 21 – Berlin, DE @ Frannz Thu. May 25 – Dublin, IE @ Sugar Club Sun. May 28 – London, UK @ Gala Festival *
Today, Chicago-based band Ratboys return with “Black Earth, WI,” a new single/video out today via Topshelf Records. This is their first new piece of music since 2021’s Happy Birthday, Ratboy and 2020’s beloved Printer’s Devil. Clocking in at eight-and-a-half minutes, “Black Earth, WI” is their most expansive and adventurous track to date. It opens with a country-tinged sound, and as the instrumentation swells, so does Julia Steiner’s voice: “Singin’ hey now // What was that sound // Lighting a match // Just to freak you out // Then on the other side // I saw fifty yellow lines // Pushing up against the window // And with one almighty lightning strike // The Great Lake rose up behind // Said, ‘Baby, you best turn around.’” The self-produced video is made of manipulated, found VHS storm chaser footage.
“We recorded ‘Black Earth, WI’ live off the floor in Seattle last year at the amazing Hall of Justice and it was our first time recording straight to tape,” says vocalist/guitarist Julia Steiner “We had to be conscious of how many takes we could fit onto a reel, but lucky for us, take two was the one.”
Ratboys is made of Julia Steiner (vocals/guitar), Dave Sagan (guitar), Marcus Nuccio (drums), and Sean Neumann (bass). The band will bring their vivacious live show to SXSW later this month. A list of all shows and confirmed showcases can be found below.
Ratboys Tour Dates Sun. March 12 – St. Louis, MO @ Central Stage Tue. March 14 – Austin, TX @ Cheer Up Charlie’s Indoors (High Road Touring Showcase) – 12:30AM Wed. March 15 – Austin, TX @ Hotel San Jose (South by San Jose) – 3:00PM Thu. March 16 – Austin, TX @ Cheer Up Charlie’s Outdoors (Topshelf Records Showcase) – 12:00AM Fri. March 17 – Austin, TX @ The Ballroom (SmartPunk Showcase) – TBD Thu. March 30 – Notre Dame, IN @ University of Notre Dame – Stepan Center Sat. April 22 – Iowa City, IA @ Strauss Hall at Hancher
