Today, Fat Dog unveil “Pray To That,” their second new single since the release of their brilliantly frenzied, “trippy, whiplash-inducing” (Variety) debut album, WOOF., last year. Following the “extra-dimensional pop song,” (Clash) “Peace Song,” and its accompanying remix, “Pray To That” is propelled at breakneck speed by an urgent four-to-the-floor beat and sees frontman Joe Love question the Fat Dog lifestyle with his deadpan humour: “Seven shits left to give / Yeah I’ll pray to that / I’m only 25 / Well it’s the same every night / She thought I’m 39.”
Recorded at Dan Carey’s studio, “Pray To That” was co-produced by Love and Carey. The equally unhinged video comes courtesy of Dylan Coates with Love starring as a wayward preacher.
Fresh off their triumphant Glastonbury set, Fat Dog continue their live assault this summer. Earlier in the summer, the band played five UK cities in just three days. The band will play a string of UK and European festivals before embarking on a September North American Tour, making stops in many cities they have yet to play in support of WOOF. A complete list of dates is available below, and tickets are now available here.
Fat Dog Tour Dates Fri. Aug. 8 – Cornwall, UK @ Boardmasters Wed. Aug. 6 -Sun. Aug. 10 – Winchester, UK @ Boomtown Sun. Aug. 10 – Budapest, HU @ Sziget Festival Thu. Aug. 14 – Paredes De Coura, PT @ Vodafone Paredes de Coura Fri. Aug. 15 – Charleville-Mézières, FR @Cabaret Vert Sat. Aug. 16 – Crickhowell, UK @ Green Man Fri. Aug. 22 – Northampton, UK @ Shambala Sat. Aug. 23 – Málaga, ES @ Canela Party Sun. Aug. 24 – Paris, FR @ Rock En Seine Wed. Aug. 27 – Sheffield, UK @ Utilita Arena % Sun. Aug. 31 – Seattle, WA @ Bumbershoot Festival Tue. Sept. 2 – Sacramento, CA @ Starlet Room Wed. Sept. 3 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop Thu. Sept. 4 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room Fri. Sept. 5 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy + Harriet’s Sat. Sept. 6 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah Sun. Sept. 7 – Las Vegas, NV @ Swan Dive Sat. Sept. 20 – Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Mon. Sept. 22 – Raleigh, NC @ Kings Tue. Sept. 23 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery Wed. Sept. 24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Warehouse on Watts Thu. Sept. 25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Market Hotel Fri. Sept. 26 – Somerville, MA @ Warehouse XI Sat. Sept. 27 – Montreal, QC @ Toscadura Mon. Sept. 29 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison Sat. Nov. 1 – Manchester, UK @ Day of the Dog Halloween Special @ Aviva Studios Thu. Nov. 6 – Reykjavik, IS @ Iceland Airwaves Sat. Nov. 8 – Kortrijk, BE @ Sonic City
Today, noise-punk explorers Sunflowers announce their first release through Fuzz Club Records. A jagged, blown-out descent into psychological free-fall, ‘You Have Fallen… Congratulations!’ will be released on November 7th and finds the band refining their chaotic signature while letting go of structure altogether. It’s a record that refuses to look away from the madness of modern existence — choosing instead to laugh, scream, and contort itself into something stranger, louder, and far more unstable.
Sunflowers make noise like it’s a language of survival. Their sound blends blistering punk energy with layers of distortion, experimental chaos, and existential release — always teetering between catharsis and collapse. They are not here to comfort you. They are here to rip the floor out from under you. Their music is a living organism—loud, messy, and mutating in real time. Nevermore-so on this latest outing.
Today they share a first look at the album with the track “Chameleon Kid”. It sets the tone with a high-voltage rejection of social camouflage: a breakneck garage punk anthem for the misfits, channelling the chaos of identity in a world that demands conformity. It’s raw, noisy, and unapologetically wired, a middle-finger to social norms.
The accompanying video, directed by the band’s longtime collaborator Carolina Bonzinho, brings the track’s themes of identity and adaptation to life through experimental, and surreal animated visuals. Described by Bonzinho as “a wandering of camouflages”, the video expands on the shapeshifting energy of the song.
Sunflowers is a band from Porto, Portugal, that’s never afraid to evolve. Formed in 2014 by the duo of Carlos de Jesus and Carolina Brandão, the lineup expanded when Frederico Ferreira joined in 2018, further solidifying the unique chemistry that has become a hallmark of their sound. Just ask anyone who’s seen them live.
Their electrifying stage presence and primal intensity quickly caught the attention of the Portuguese underground, and before long, they were on a relentless tour, spreading their chaos across Europe like the plague in 1346. Their blend of punk, noise, and experimental rock has always pushed the boundaries of conventional genres—combining ferocious energy with introspective, often existential themes. “There’s always something to evolve within our sound,” says Carlos. “We’ve never been the kind of band to cosplay ourselves. We’re always reaching for what’s next.”
Their fifth full-length album, ‘You Have Fallen… Congratulations!’began as a collection of demos — raw, impulsive recordings laid down without any pressure or overthinking. But when the band listened back, they realized something was already there: something vivid, imperfect, and very much alive. “There was a tension and looseness in those early takes that we couldn’t — and didn’t want to — recreate in a ‘proper’ session,” says guitarist and vocalist Carlos de Jesus. “So we followed it, rather than trying to control it.”
That instinct led to a process that was both intuitive and relentless. There was no roadmap, no template — only a commitment to capturing the noise and nerve of the moment. Drummer and vocalist Carolina Brandão adds: “We were just reacting to life — to stress, to joy, to absurdity. All of that made it in.”
Across eight tracks, ‘You Have Fallen… Congratulations!’ pinballs between noise rock, punk, warped psych, and a sort of mangled pop sensibility. It’s loud and sharp-edged, but with moments of eerie restraint — like falling through a trapdoor into calm, then being hurled back into chaos. Feedback wails like sirens, drums slam, and the bass throbs like a pulse trying to keep steady. It’s a sound that’s constantly falling apart and reassembling in real time.
The title isn’t just tongue-in-cheek — it’s an existential shrug with teeth. A sarcastic trophy for surviving the disintegration. It’s the voice in your head that says, “Congrats, you made it… now what?” And while the album drips with anxiety and tension, it never gives in to despair. There’s a sardonic, almost playful undercurrent running through the whole thing — like dancing in the wreckage just to prove you’re still alive.
Lyrically, the record leans into the absurdity of trying to function in a collapsing world. It’s about burnout and performance, about identity and dissociation, about watching your reflection glitch in real time. But it’s also about the ecstatic joy that sometimes erupts through the cracks — the unfiltered scream, the moment of surrender that becomes its own liberation. “Sometimes the only sane reaction is to scream,” says Carolina. “But screaming can be joyful too. It’s a release.”
‘You Have Fallen… Congratulations! ‘is both a culmination and a reset: the sound of a band doing what they do best while completely reimagining what that even means. It’s raw, it’s restless, and it doesn’t sit still for a second. Sunflowers have never played it safe — and on this album, they don’t even pretend to. It’s music for the overwhelmed, the overcooked, and the perpetually undone. It’s a celebration of the fall. And if you’re going down, you might as well go down loud.
‘You Have Fallen… Congratulations!’, will be out on Fuzz Club Records on November 7th, 2025. Pre-order HERE.
Vacation‘s self-titled album is a wild one and chock-full of wild guitar, crazy drumming, roaring bass, punk attitude, and gritty garage-rock chaos.
“Fake It” is a ripper about imposter syndrome (“Well, you’d better be straight if you’re calling the shots, or you better fake it when you get to the top.”). Evan Wolff‘s bass on “Better Days” is so heavy that it feels like it’s going to knock down the walls. “Pile Up” seems to be about getting satisfaction when long-overdue karma catches up with someone. It’s as wild as a car crash, whereas “Try Harder” is almost an acoustic blues track with its subject matter and pace.
Don’t worry if that track puzzles you, because “Bleach Buzz” picks up the mania again and we’re bouncing around the dingy club and crashing into people and things in the process. If that track doesn’t induce a mosh pit, then “Co-Workers” certainly will. Peyton Copes goes bonkers with his guitar on it, practically causing an electrical overload. “People Watching” is almost an area rock anthem about regret and one of the biggest tracks on the record.
“Cop Knock” is about bullies and the disguises they barely keep up (if at all) to hide their inadequacies. “Golden Handcuffs” is a salute to blue collar workers breaking their backs and ankles to provide for their families. “Christopher Columbus Was Not a Hero” takes a hard look at the miseries of suburbia. “Sun and Moon (Wasted)” is, believe it or not, a love song, as is “Talk with Yer Hands” – which seems to be about craving a human connection instead of a cyber one (“You know we’ve got the infection when we’re dying to stay connected. You know we show no affection when we dwell in other dimensions.”).
“Cellophane” is a short one about adapting to change in a relationship (or about prescription meds…or both), and the closer, “Misbehavin'” is a call to a lover to engage in some fun trouble so as to create lifelong memories together. It’s a sweet way to end a loud, raucous record.
Vacation were recommended to me by Screaming Females, and I can see why. Both bands write and play loud, wild songs about the strange maze of relationships across the board. The band has been through a couple lineup changes since 2011, but this is a good ground-level entry point for them.
Cass McCombs announces his new album, Interior Live Oak, out August15th via Domino, and releases a new single/video, “Peace.” Interior Live Oak is Cass’s most personal album to date, and, more than any previous record, shows Cass’ vast range as a lyricist and musician. It draws from everything Cass has created over two decades of experimentation to cut through with a direct and clarifying light. Throughout, his attitude is hopeful, which may sound odd for someone who often sings about the more extreme aspects of modern life. Interior Live Oak, however, is the resolve of someone who has lived those extremes.
In creating Interior Live Oak, McCombs was inspired by the return to Domino and the revisitation of his early material in last year’s reissue campaign and the archival release, Seed Cake on Leap Year. This led him to work with some of his earliest collaborators in the Bay Area, including JasonQuever (Papercuts) and ChrisCohen, among others. Additional recording in New York City brought contributions from other perennial collaborators, including MattSweeney and MikeBones, whose guitar work has always been a favorable complement to Cass’ own distinctive style. Interior Live Oak simultaneously expands upon his vision and is a return to a more economical form.
Following Interior Live Oak’s “Priestess,” released earlier this year alongside a Tiny Desk Concert, today’s single, “Peace,” is a straightforward rocker with serpentine riffs. “Peace is what we say when we say goodbye,” Cass sings, bidding a melancholy farewell.
In a time of temporal anxieties, Cass’ music seeks an alternate route to break through the noise and discover a moment of presence— of beauty. As NPRMusic puts it, his songs “are slow, languid and beautiful, which feels like the right counterbalance to our fast-paced times.”
Coinciding with the release of InteriorLiveOak, Cass will tour Europe with a mix of headline, festival, and support dates with Father John Misty. He’ll then return to the US for two headline dates in California and a show with MJ Lenderman. All dates are below, and tickets for the UK and California headline shows will be available on Wednesday, June 18th here.
Cass McCombs Tour Dates (New Dates in Bold) Wed. Aug. 13 – Porto, PT @ Paredes de Coura ^ Sat. Aug. 17 – Crickhowell, UK @ Green Man Festival ^ Tue. Aug. 19 – Bristol, UK @Lantern Hall ^ Wed. Aug. 20 – London, UK @Bush Hall ^ Thu. Aug. 21 – Manchester, UK @ YES ^ Sat. Aug. 23 – Galway, IE @ Leisureland * % Sun. Aug. 24 – Dublin, IE @ Wider Than Pictures Festival * % Mon. Aug. 25 – Belfast, IE @ Ulster Hall * % Tue. Aug. 26 – Cork, IE @ City Hall * % Thu. Aug. 28 – Glasgow, SCT @ Barrowland * % Fri. Aug. 29 – Glasgow, SCT @ Barrowland * % Wed. Sept. 10 – San Diego, CA @The Casbah ^ Thu. Sept. 11 – Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Expo Hall & ^ Fri. Sept. 12 – Riverside, CA @Farmhouse ^
* with Father John Misty & with MJ Lenderman, Nap Eyes % Solo ^ Full Band Performance
For the past decade, the New Orleans band Lawn has thrived on the palpable chemistry between co-lead singers and songwriters Mac Folger and Rui De Magalhaes. Though each boasts distinct sensibilities—Folger’s songs are breezy, jangly, and personal while De Magalhaes’ are biting and propulsive post-punk—they’ve seamlessly blended their idiosyncratic styles over three unassailable indie rock full-lengths, while becoming a fixture in a thriving New Orleans scene, and sharing stages with artists like Momma, Hovvdy and Omni.
De Magalhaes had moved to Chicago following the release of the 2022 Bigger Sprout, and released an acclaimed solo LP under the name Rui Gabriel via Carpark Records, which earned praise from folks like Pitchfork, Stereogum and Paste, but Lawn, despite recently uniting in New Orleans, have been quiet.
Today, following the announce of a recent run of tour dates with Momma, the band are announcing their return, signing to Exploding In Sound and sharing their first new music since their 2022 LP, a single called “Sports Gun.”
Engineered by Greg Obis (of Stuck) at Chicago’s Palisades Studio and mixed by Dave Vettraino (Dehd, Deeper), “Sports Gun” simmers with intensity thanks to its pummeling bass riff, layers of feedback-laden guitars. It’s galvanizing, loud, and unrelenting.
De Magalhaes says of the track:
“Sports Gun is supposed to be written from the point of view of a coach/parental figure who
pushes the subject to their absolute limit without regard for them otherwise. It came from a shortstory I wrote pre-pandemic. The idea was that any trauma – long or short term notwithstanding -would only be implied, if that, and that we only get to experience the narrative through a very thin, biased lens. It’s a frail attempt at writing something inspired by Julio Cortazar, but I still thought it fit the drive of the song. It is supposed to be more about the lengths some people go to accomplish something, conflating happiness with ambition, and overall being inept at being content.
I knew that we were going to an actual studio this time around, so we built the song around the idea that it would sound “heavier” for us. We had wanted to record with Greg [Obis] and really loved the sound he was getting from his own music, so we were open to the notion of layering as much noise as we could. The original demo had a slightly different beat and I sort of rapped the lyrics. Once we got into the studio and everyone started adding their own take, I just went for the yell instead.”
It’s odd that I haven’t seen a full concert in almost five months, so opening my 2025 concert season with one of my rock heroes seemed appropriate. The Bob Mould Band was playing an easy drive from my house, so seeing them for the third time, and in a small venue, was an easy decision.
First up were Winged Wheel, who described themselves as being “from multiple cities” and thus rarely getting opportunities to play and tour together. They played an interesting brand of psychedelia that mixed synthwave with trippy guitars, a violin, and even lap steel guitar.
Winged Wheel
They had a great sunset to provide a light show, and I thought, “They could play Levitation.” Their sound is unique and they all look like someone you know.
After about a twenty-minute gear switch, The Bob Mould band came out and got straight to business. It was the last show of their current tour, and they emptied the gas tank on the Bell’s outdoor stage.
They tore through the first group of tracks so fast that you could barely breathe. The crowd, mostly aging hipsters like yours truly, seemed a bit low key. The trio of Mr. Mould, Jason Narducy (bass), and Jon Wurster (drums) were roaring and few people were dancing at first. I think some were just overwhelmed by the tidal wave of sound coming at them. There were a couple songs when it felt like a mosh pit could, and should, have broken out. Three guys tried to start one for a moment, but one of the trio soon stopped it and calmed his pals down before it could form.
The Bob Mould Band was undeterred by this, thank heavens, and ripped through a lot of good stuff from their catalogue, both new (from their Here We Go Crazy album) and even a short set of tracks from 2020. Wurster was dropping some killer fills the whole night, and Narducy’s bass grooves were locked in the whole set.
Mould, go figure, shredded the entire evening with both his guitar and his voice. It’s wild to see and hear him create that much sound.
A highlight for me was them playing the theme from The Mary Tyler Moore Show near the end of the night. If you’re a fan of Hüsker Dü, then you know that cover was a staple of their early shows so it was a blast to hear that gem brought out to shine.
It’s great that these guys are still crushing it and that Mould is still putting out great music and showing youngsters how it’s done.
Keep your mind open.
Thanks to the chap who let me snap a photo of this set list he scored.
[Thanks to Jim and Mia at Big Hassle for the press pass!]
The Beths — the New Zealand-based quartet of vocalist Elizabeth Stokes, guitarist Jonathan Pearce, bassist Benjamin Sinclair, and drummer Tristan Deck — announce signing to ANTI- and release the new single/video, “Metal.” “Metal” is the first taste of new music from the band since the release of 2023’s Expert In A Dying Field (Deluxe), the expanded version of their beloved 2022 album.
Following Liz Stokes’s recent, sold–out solo show at Largo in Los Angeles with special guests Courtney Barnett and Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords), The Beths announce a world tour across North America, the UK and Europe this fall. The band returns to the U.S. for the first time since playing Coachella, Bonnaroo and Newport Folk Festival, and supporting The National, Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service in 2023-2024. They’ll headline some of their biggest venues to date including The Wiltern in Los Angeles, The Fillmore in San Francisco, The Salt Shed in Chicago, Brooklyn Paramount in New York City, Union Transfer in Philadelphia, 9:30 Club in Washington, DC and more. Tickets go on sale Fri. May 2 at 10am local and are available here.
Today’s single “Metal” was born out of a time of rigorous touring, mental health struggles, and several diagnoses for Stokes. “In some ways ‘Metal’ is a song about being alive and existing in a human body,” she explains. “That is something I have been acutely aware of in the last few years, where I have been on what one might call a ‘health journey’. For parts of the last few years, I kind of felt like my body was a vehicle that had carried me pretty well thus far but was breaking down, something I had little to no control over. All of the steps in the Rube Goldberg machine of life are so unlikely, and yet here we are in it. I have a hunger and a curiosity for learning about the world around me, and for learning about myself. And despite all the ways that my body feels like a broken machine, I still marvel at the complexity of such a machine.”
“I can hold that knowledge in one hand, and yet with the other hand I can point to my reflection and just be like ‘you are shit’. Or ‘ugly’. Or ‘worthless’. I can reliably respond to any suggestion that I might be able to achieve any small thing with ‘no’. And these are variations of the ‘short word’ referenced in the song.”
Sonically, the track sees The Beths fully embracing jangle rock. Stokes says, “There was a propulsion to the acoustic strumming pattern on the original demo. Tristan’s drums meet that feeling so perfectly, the feeling of a train pushing up the tracks. Jonathan got to play his Burns 12 string guitar as sparkly as he wanted, and Ben as usual can’t be contained to the lower register. I think we ended up with an arrangement that embodies the frenetic intricacy of an engine in action. There’s a lot going on, until there isn’t.”
2023’s Expert In A Dying Field (Deluxe) expanded upon the brilliance of The Beths’ acclaimed 2022 album, “another collection of tunes that cements their status as one of the great guitar-pop bands of this present moment” (Stereogum). The third studio album from The Beths, Expert In A Dying Field was released to a wealth of critical praise, and was named one of 2022’s best releases by the likes of Pitchfork, The Ringer, Stereogum and more. Surrounding its release, The Beths were profiled by Rolling Stone, made their U.S. television debut on CBS Saturday Morning, and performed a NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert, The Beths are undeniably one of the most exciting indie rock bands to emerge in recent memory.
The Beths Tour Dates: Thu. Sept. 18 – Dublin, IE @ Button Factory Sat. Sept. 20 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall Sun. Sept. 21 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 TV Studio Mon. Sept. 22 – Leeds, UK @ Project House Wed. Sept. 24 – Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy Thu. Sept. 25 – Birmingham, UK @ XOYO Fri. Sept. 26 – London, UK @ Roundhouse Sat. Sept. 27 – Brighton, UK @ CHALK Mon. Sept. 29 – Tourcoing, FR @ Le Grand Mix Tue. Sept. 30 – Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo Wed. Oct. 1 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique Fri. Oct. 3 – Cologne, DE @ Kantine Sat. Oct. 4 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Sun. Oct. 5 – Hamburg, DE @ Krust Tue. Oct. 7 – Stockholm, SE @ Slaktkyrkan Wed. Oct. 8 Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret Scene Thu. Oct. 9 – Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset Sat. Oct. 11 – Berlin, DE @ Lido Sun. Oct. 12 – Munich, DE @ Strom Mon. Oct. 13 – Zurich, CH @ Plaza Wed. Oct. 15 – Barcelona, ES @ Razzmatazz 2 Thu. Oct. 16 – Madrid, ES @ Nazca Fri. Oct. 17 – Lisbon, PT @ LAV Thu. Oct. 30 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel* Fri. Oct. 31 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse * Sat. Nov 1 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl * Mon. Nov. 3 – Dallas, TX @ The Studio At The Bomb Factory * Tue. Nov. 4 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s * Thu. Nov. 6 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren * Fri. Nov. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern * ^ Sat. Nov. 8 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore * Wed. Nov. 12 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades * Fri. Nov. 14 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom * Sat. Nov. 15 – Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theatre * Sun. Nov. 16 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom * Tue. Nov. 18 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall * Wed. Nov. 19 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre * Fri. Nov. 21 – Kansas City, MO @ The Truman * Sat. Nov. 22 – St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre * Sun. Nov. 23 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed (Indoor) * + Tue. Nov 25 – Cleveland, OH @ Globe Iron * Wed. Nov. 26 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian Theatre * Fri. Nov. 28 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall * Sat. Nov. 29 – Montreal, QC @ Beanfield Theatre * Tue. Dec. 2 – Boston, MA @ Royale * Wed. Dec. 3 – Providence, RI @ Fete Music Hall * Fri. Dec. 5 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount * # Sat. Dec. 6 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer * Tue. Dec. 9 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club *
Hotline TNT — the New York-based band fronted by Will Anderson — announce their third album Raspberry Moon, out June 20th via Third Man Records and share its lead single, “Julia’s War.” The follow up to Cartwheel, the band’s “exquisite” (Billboard) 2023 breakthrough, Raspberry Moon is the most sweeping and compelling Hotline TNT album to date and, crucially, the first built by a full band. Funneled into the album are moments of vulnerability and romance, creating a generationally great statement of youthful wistfulness and very adult growth that also happens to be very charming and sometimes funny.
While in the studio of modern D.I.Y. hero Amos Pitsch (Tenement), Anderson found himself in an unusual position. This time, and for the first time, the quartet that had toured for the last 10 months as Hotline TNT had come with Anderson, somewhat unexpectedly. He had intended to make one more album his way—holing up with a producer and building songs piece by piece, as he’d done for Cartwheel—before making Hotline TNT a full-band affair in the future. But there was no avoiding it. Guitarist Lucky Hunter, bassist Haylen Trammel, and drummer Mike Ralston wanted in. Anderson relented.
In making Raspberry Moon, Anderson confronted a burgeoning if occasionally difficult belief: Hotline TNT was now a band, and this was the band. The benefits are self-evident— it is the most texturally rich and energetically nuanced album Hotline TNT has ever made—from start to middle to finish. Some of these 11 songs deal with the sting of regret, of being left or leaving, as Hotline TNT always has. But this is a record animated by a sense of newness and possibility, of pushing back against the global sense that curtains are closing to make room in your own life for new friends. It is perfect music for looking forward, no matter how fucked the past may feel.
Lead single “Julia’s War” is an anthem of nascent affection where a simple and wordless chorus of “na na na nah” paints a horizon of possibility. The guitars are perfectly warm and sharp, cutting into you but simultaneously pulling you into the song. Of the track, whose title is a hat tip to regional contemporary They Are Gutting A Body of Water’s sprawling imprint, Anderson says: “In a world of half-hearted hooks, and buried-in-the-mix vocals, we had to muster the courage to do what the rest of the shoegaze community could not… We looked out to the stadium and reassured the audience: Our voices, together, will be heard. You’ve never heard a TNT chorus this straightforward – when we stress-tested it during the writing process, the ‘try not to sing along challenge’ came back with a 100% fail rate.”
Of the song’s accompanying video directed by Johnny Frohman, Anderson says: “When it came time to cook up the music video, Johnny Frohman created a Full-Metal-Jacket-style shoegaze bootcamp… It’s not the Marine Corps, it’s Slow Corps. Edy Monica, Dan Licata, Peter Mills Weiss, and an ensemble cast of NYC comedy underworld alts rounded out the platoon and drafted us into a world where we could enlist in a strict regimen of pedalboard assembly and underwater vocal lessons.”
Musical auteurs have been a feature of rock ’n’ roll since its very early days—folks who could imagine a sound and the path to it, largely alone. Something akin to Moore’s Law has made it easier to become exactly that during the subsequent decades, since studios with solid gear are now as accessible as a bedroom. It is increasingly convenient to be solo. The real work, though, is to abandon the ego and singular devotion to your absolute vision and make something better with the people you trust. Hotline TNT has done exactly that on Raspberry Moon, an album where Will Anderson gives himself space to fall in love with the world around him and sing as much in songs so loaded with hooks you’ll need to choose which ones to hum at any given moment.
Hotline TNT will play a series of headline shows in early May and will then embark on a North American Tour supporting Hippo Campus with stops in Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Austin, Chicago, and more. A full list of dates can be found below.
Hotline TNT Tour Dates Thu. May 1 – Louisville, KY @ Mag Bar Fri. May 2 – Urbana, IL @ Rose Bowl Tavern Sat. May 3 – St Louis, MO @ Sinkhole Sun. May 4 – Columbia, MO @ Rose Music Hall Tue. May 6 – Colorado Springs, CO @ Vultures Thu. May 8 – Boise, ID @ The Shredder Fri. May 9 – Sat. May 10 – Portland, OR @ Roseland* Mon. May 12 – Tue. May 13 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox* Wed. May 14 – Vancouver, BC @ Vogue* Fri. May 16 – Sacramento, CA @ Channel 24* Sat. May 17 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl* Sun. May 18 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren* Tue. May 20 – San Antonio, TX @ Aztec* Wed. May 21 – Austin, TX @ Moody Theater* Thu. May 22 – Dallas, TX @ Bomb Factory* Sat. May 24 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Jones Assembly* Sun. May 25 – Bentonville, AR @ The Momentary* Tue. May 27 – Columbus, OH @ Kemba Live* Thu. May 29 – Grand Rapids, MI @ GLC Live at 20 Monroe* Fri. May 30 – Chicago, IL @ Salt Shed* Sat. May 31 – Minneapolis, MN @ Surly Brewing* Sun. June 1 – Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club % (early & late shows) Tue. June 3 – Buffalo, NY @ Rec Room
Anika is fed up and, frankly, bored with the world right now. It can be a soulless place sometimes…and a soulless time in some places. It can feel like everything is teetering on the edge of the album’s title, Abyss. Recorded in just ten days with a live band, Anika pulls no punches and channels her confusion, frustration, and distrust into a powerful record.
“I’m tired of all this game-playing,” she sings on the opening track, “Hearsay” – a wicked track about media manipulation, romantic manipulation (“You’re telling me tales to get your own way.”), and the vicious divides a rumor mill can cause. The title track roars with Lawrence Goodwin‘s metal-cutting guitars and then Tomas Nochteff drops sexy, heavy bass on you. “Honey” is a tale of Anika walking away from a lover who has become too much like her. Is it a coincidence, then, that the next track is the Velvet Underground-like “Walk Away,” in which Anika admits, “The truth is that I’d rather be alone, than with you.” Don’t feel bad, though. Anika doesn’t have much feeling for anyone in this glossy fake world. It’s not just you. It’s everyone. She doesn’t even trust herself or believe that she wants to spend lonely nights in her house, or if she wants the world to burn up or not.
“Into the Fire” is another hypnotizing track that Anika does so well as she longs for someone to take her off this planet we’re destroying and to somewhere quiet for a change. On “Oxygen,” Anika lets us know that she’s interested in trying something new, in exploring dark places, in finding breath amid the choking clouds of noise and limitations being put on our methods of expression and even our own bodies. “Out of the Shadows” is a rocker, with Anika putting divisive politicians in their place using fierce words (“Full of opinions, full of hot air. Am I supposed to fall before you?”) and fiercer riffs.
“It’s a one-way ticket, and I’m not on it,” she sings on “One-Way Ticket” — a song about the growth of fascism (“This city didn’t learn the lessons from its past, making deals with the snakes and the sharks.”). She tries to warn us about the growth of idiocracy and screen addiction on “Last Song” with lyrics like, “The robots are ruling, the logic is drooling, dripping out your open mouth.” By the time we get to the last track, “Buttercups,” Anika is “thinking of the simpler days” and wishing she (and we) could escape from the unrelenting pressures of this age of constant stimulation. Wouldn’t it be nicer to just lounge in a field of flowers for a while?
Abyss is a powerful record with multiple layers, each one getting darker as you go deeper into it. Anika is mad right now, righteously mad, and she’s trying to pull us out of the darkness, even if only for a little while.
