Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actress, and sculptor P.J. Harvey will be playing Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival on July 15th. Ms. Harvey is an alt-rock, feminist giant who has crafted complex songs she insists aren’t about her, but many suspect otherwise. She is bold and beautiful, serious and sexy, charming and chaotic. Her set will surely be packed and one of the highlights of the festival.
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Thurston Moore doesn’t need much introduction. The former lead singer and guitarist of Sonic Youth has influenced more bands and musicians than we can probably count and is a guitar hero to many (much to his chagrin, I’ve heard). His new band puts out great “wall of sound” fuzz rock, and I’d hoped to catch them at Levitation Austin in 2016, but that was cancelled due to bad weather. He’ll be performing at the Pitchfork Music Festival on July 14th, so it will be good to catch up with him.
“they pack both a purist intent and an inescapable weirdness into songs
as adventurous as they are catchy.” – NPR Music
“a wonderful retro-futuristic mess” – Los Angeles Times
“spacey, proggy, psych detour.” – Rolling Stone “Artist You Need To Know”
“Theirs is a fuzz-shrouded kind of rock ‘n roll displaying an imaginative urge to re-smear the already kaleidoscopic boundaries of the inventive modern crop of modern psychedelic music.”
– Paste “Best of What’s Next”
Los Angeles-based Wand announce the release of Plum, out September 22ndvia Drag City Records, as well as lead single, “Plum,” and its accompanying video, and a tour that embarks on the heels of the album’s release. Plum is Wand’s fourth LP since the band formed in late 2013, but their first new album since 2015. After a whirlwind first two years of writing, recording, and touring, their newest document focuses teeming, dense, at times wildly multichromatic sounds into Wand’s most deliberate statement to date, with a long evening’s shadow of loss and longing hovering above the proceedings.
In late winter of 2016, the band — Cory Hanson (guitar, vocals), Lee Landey (bass) and Evan Burrows (drums) — expanded their core membership to include two new members — Robbie Cody (guitar) and Sofia Arreguin (keyboards, vocals). The change in lineup naturally led to a shift in working method. The songwriting process was relocated to the practice space, where for several months on and off the band improvised, while recording and archiving as much as they could manage. And while previously Wand songs had often been brought to the group substantially formed by Hanson, now seedling songs were harvested from a growing cloudbank of improvised material, then fleshed out and negotiated collectively. This new process demanded more honest communication, more vulnerability, better boundaries, more mercy and persistence during a year that meanwhile delivered a heaping serving of romantic, familial and political heartbreak for everyone involved. The resulting Plum delicately locates the band’s tangent of escape from the comfortable shallows of genre anachronism.
Watch the video for “Plum” below. As Hanson describes it, “The song transpires between our collective harmony and individual dissent. It felt like we were each trying to obstruct a clear path in order to discover new space. As a total accident, ‘Plum’ wound up being a miniature blueprint to the musical language we developed together over months of dedicated writing.”
The New Pornographers returned in 2014 after a far too long absence to bring us another masterfully crafted album of power pop. The Canadian supergroup’s Brill Bruisers sounds like a long-lost ELO record and is a fine piece of work desperately needed in this world of pop divas, TV show idols, bro’ rock, country-rap, and booty call music.
The opener (and title track) starts with blaring guitars, powerful drums, vocals that swirl with great melodies, and a touch of psychedelic synths. Vocalist / guitarist A.C. Newman and his crew seem to channel the stadium-filling power of early ELO records on it. “Champions of Red Wine” doesn’t refer to my wife and one of her best friends, but is rather a fun song from outer space (judging by the poppy space lounge keyboards) sung by the always mesmerizing Neko Case. The band knocks this one out of the park.
“Fantasy Fools” will have you jumping and dancing, as it’s nothing but joyful. The keyboards on it are the hidden key to the song’s power. Those same keyboards are front and center during “War on the East Coast,” in which Dan Bejar worries more about potentially botching a relationship than about world chaos and bad news. “Backstairs” brings back the ELO influence and is big, booming, and wonderful. I can’t wait to hear this one live. It swirls into mind trip material and is all the better for it. “Marching Orders” is peppy with happy keyboards and Neko Case’s happy vocals. You can visualize her dancing in the recording booth as she sings. I love the way “Born with a Sound” dabbles in electro. The New Pornographers have the luxury of being able to do whatever the hell they want, so an electro-rock cut doesn’t jar the flow of the album at all (and Kathryn Calder’s backing vocals on it are excellent).
If you’re worried the New Pornographers are turning into an electro band, have no fear. “Dancehall Domine” sounds like something off The Electric Version with its big guitars, great Newman and Case vocal trades, and straight-up rock drums, and “Spidyr” sounds like it could’ve been a track from Mass Romantic. “Hi-Rise” and the closer, “You Tell Me Where,” dive back into the synth-heavy sounds, but it all works. “You Tell Me Where” is a nice grand finale and I’m sure is a big set-ender at their live shows.
We needed this record. It’s refreshing and lovely – the best kind of porn, really.
Keep your mind open.
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Australia’s Cut Copywill bring their electro-pop to Chicago’s Mamby on the Beachfestival June 25th. What started as a home recording project in 2001 has bloomed into a four-man band within the last sixteen years. I’m hoping they’ll play a lot of tracks off their upcoming (and as yet unnamed) album. It would be a delight to hear them before a good chunk of the world.
Keep your mind open.
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Portland, Oregon’s STRFKRstrives to make danceable pop music, and they’re succeeding. Their stuff combines electro, disco, rock, new wave, and a little funk. They don’t take themselves too seriously, which is a rare delight in the music industry nowadays. They’ll be playing Mamby on the BeachJune 25th, so check out their set if you want to party with a bunch of people who don’t really care about labels, your hang-ups, or mainstream music.
Keep your mind open.
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QUOTES “Featuring a slight stoner vibe — a perfect companion to the laid-back guitar jangling of the tune.”
– The 405
Toronto’s Goodbye Honolulu may fall into the “slacker rock” category, but they’re hard workers when it comes to churning out new tunes.
– Exclaim!
Announcing No Honey EP out September 01, 2017 via Fried Records, produced by Mike Turner (Our Lady Peace).
RIYL – The Black Lips, Ty Segall, New Swears, Cage the Elephant, Beck
We all know how these band biographies go, right? Friends meet in high school, start jamming, form band in parents’ garage and everyone lives happily ever after.
Well Goodbye Honolulu DID meet in high school but they didn’t just form one band. They formed 5 individual projects and started their own record label while still in school, the 100% local Toronto label Fried Records. While other kids were cramming for exams or wasting away playing video games, the Goodbye Honolulu boys were busy playing in bars (attempting to sneak their underage friends in), honing their live skills, writing songs and self releasing multiple albums a year.
These teenage years were laying the foundations and as they hit their 20s Emmett, Jacob, Fox and Max decided to join forces and focus their song-writing and energy to one project, say “hello” to Goodbye Honolulu.
Goodbye Honolulu, evoke a 90s slacker vibe mixing vintage garage rock n roll history with modern elements, it’s not exactly pop and it’s not exactly punk.
Goodbye Honolulu is best known for their live shows and in best form when every member is screaming their heads off with shout along choruses. Whether it’s Emmett’s fuzz-layered guitar, Jacob’s gnarly vocals, Fox’s Bowie-inspired vocal inflections or Max beating his drum kit to death, Goodbye Honolulu make their audience the VIP guests to their rock n roll party.
Highlights of Goodbye Honolulu’s ride so far include a USA tour supporting their pals Hinds and releasing their debut album Heavy Gold in 2016.
Goodbye Honolulu
Emmett Webb (Guitar/Bass/Vocals)
Fox Martindale (Guitar/Vocals)
Jacob Switzer (Guitar/Bass/Vocals)
Max Bornstein (Drums)
Tour Dates: June 21 – Divan Orange, Montreal QC July 15 – Lee’s Palace, Toronto ON w/ New Swears
“Kids rock” legends Feltworthwere kind enough to let me interview them recently about their inevitable foray into serious rock music. I learned a lot about their influences, how they met, and what kind of barbecue Cozy prefers.
7th Level Music: I’ll start with one for Manny and Dezi. How did you two decide to start a band and how did you meet Morris and Cozy?
Dezi (left) and Manny with their new single – “You Turn Me On”
DEZI: Manny and I have been playing together for as long as we can remember. Cozy answered an ad we put out in a music paper. We thought he was too crazy to be in our band but he brought Morris with him and when we heard Morris play we begged him to join. He didn’t want to but we said we would take Cozy if he joined so he agreed.
7LM: Cozy, I know you played some saxophone on Feltworth’s “Super Duper” album, so do you plan on bringing it back with the new rock-oriented material?
DEZI: That was just for the photo shoot. That whole album is predominantly MIDI sounds. If you think you hear a sax on the first record, it’s a fake.
7LM: Your agent has stated that you guys are performing and putting your music out there for free. Is this right? I think it’s great to see people making art for the sake of art. How did this decision come about, and was it a difficult one?
DEZI: I was initially defiant when we were being booed by kids and moms but I did have a bit of a freak out when it hit me that we had closed the doors on a lot of our money making opportunities. I think I have arrived at a place of acceptance. COZY: Wait, I’m not being paid for this? MANNY: I like to think we’re in our “investment period.”
MORRIS: It could be argued that we have been releasing children’s music under duress. Lately we’ve been composing and recording our music freely. “Freely” is not quite the same as gratis, if you catch my drift.
Cozy (left) and Morris
7LM: How has the crowd response been so far? Was it difficult to make the transition from playing to crowds of children and their parents to crowds of hipsters, old school rockers, and music bloggers like yours truly?
DEZI: As I said, there was an excitement in the chaos of the bad press and poor reaction. I guess we are hoping to reach music bloggers like you. We are currently at 230 Instagram followers so go tell your nerd friends.
COZY: It’s weird. The moms still come backstage after the shows to meet (and greet!) us it’s just this time around they get a little more dolled up – no more worries about baby barf!
MORRIS: If I never have to play to another whinging three-year-old again, I certainly won’t complain.
7LM: A follow-up to that: Are you surprised that people are surprised you guys decided to make a rock record? It seems like you guys have been hinting at this all along with your cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Monkey Man” and how the cover of your self-titled album was a parody of Boston’s self-titled debut.
DEZI: The Boston parody was for our 4th album, Beanbagtown, which I think is musically the best of our records. We had the most freedom to produce it the way we wanted. It wasn’t as big a seller as the first few, but it did get some good critical reaction. Maybe that gave us the confidence to take the step. MANNY: Right, I guess there have been hints through our children’s records that we appreciate rock and pop history, so perhaps some parents may have caught on. I attempted to do a more kid-centric version of an early Velvet Underground track by renaming it “All Tomorrow’s Birthday Parties” for Beanbagtown, but that was left in the can.
7LM: Do you tend to write grooves first or lyrics first? Or does it depend on the song?
DEZI: Who says “grooves”? Ew! Anyway, music first most of the time although songs where you start with the lyrics often tend to be the best. It’s just harder to do. I have more musical ideas. I don’t often find myself in a coffee shop with a journal. MANNY: I sometimes see Morris in a coffee shop with a journal. Or maybe that’s the wine list. But yes, usually music first for me as well.
MORRIS: Understandably, most of my lyrical contribution has been cloistered within the bound confines of my diary. With that in mind, even the most untrained ear can hear the inherent tension as I express myself on the keyboards.
7LM: Morris, is it just me or do I hear touches of Jerry Lee Lewis in some of your playing on “Forget This Feeling?” I also wondered if you were influenced by some of the great French jazz pianists like Martial Solal or Jacques Loussier since you grew up in France?
DEZI: I think Morris is more influenced by Jerry Lewis than Jerry Lee. He is originally from France after all.
MORRIS: I will always have a soft spot for the music I grew up on, but I will not lean back on the fundamentals of greats like Solal and Loussier. America in all of it’s youthful bravado and naïve innocence has unveiled its charms clumsily. “He shook my nerves and he rattled my brain…” Does that make sense when I express it in English?
7LM: I know you’ve done some gigs with Animal Eyes, Situation Bad, and a few other indie acts. Are there other bands you’re hoping to jam with soon?
DEZI: We share a rehearsal space with those bands. I wouldn’t say we are fans per se. Most of our favourite bands have human beings in them.
COZY: Quite frankly I’m hoping to take over for Gregg Allman in the Allman Brothers Band. Rest easy, MidnightRider. MANNY: Hmmm…I’m not big on jamming. I guess it’s fun though. Animal Eyes are a half-decent KISS cover band. Not alot of room for jamming with those guys. The only brothers I’m interested in are the Hudson Brothers…kids music to rock cross-over geniuses.
7LM: You guys have a wide variety of influences ranging from the Beach Boys and Beatles to the Clash and Joy Division, so I’m wondering what range of material we might hear on a future full-length album?
DEZI: I like those groups. I don’t know much about Joy Division, but I know about them and I know a few songs. I would say we are less nihilistic. Cheap Trick is a good example of a band I wouldn’t mind being confused with. If you ask me, Robin Zander is the best singer in the world. COZY: Cheap Trick YEAH! Anybody that has a drummer named after bread (Bun E. Carlos) is okay in my book! I would also like to write more songs that are closer in style to the band Bread. They are so mellow it’s HEAVY. Heavy mellow! MANNY: I think the material on our album will kinda bridge the gap between pop/rock and rock/pop. I prefer New Order to be honest.
MORRIS: I think that we shall have to strike a happy balance between “agreeing to disagree” and “having our cake and eating it, too.”
7LM: Speaking of influences, Cozy you mentioned barbeque is a major influence on you. Do you prefer Kansas City style, Texas style, Memphis dry rub, or another type?
COZY: Texas all the way! I mean, you’d be a fool to think otherwise. My idea of heaven on earth is the family special at Salt Lick BBQ, Driftwood, Texas. ALL YOU CAN EAT for $24.95!!!! I have an endorsement deal with those guys. Twice a year they slather me up in their Whiskey Barrel BBQ Sauce and all I have to do in return is mention them in interviews. Mission accomplished?
7LM: Which Indiana Jones film is the best?
DEZI: I saw the second one but not the third one. So, the first one – Raiders of the Lost Ark. Karen Allen is the shit!
COZY: Who? MANNY: When I was a kid, my friends were all going to see Poltergeist, but I was nervous to see such a scary film so I tried instead to convince them to see Raiders of the Lost Ark… for the third time. No luck. But yes, the first is the best.
MORRIS: Am I the only one who finds the late River Phoenix captivating in “The Last Crusade?”
7LM: Lastly, is everything okay between you guys and Tame Impala?
DEZI: They are one band we can agree on on the tour bus. Except when we saw them play live, the dude had bare feet.
COZY: We plan on getting our manager Skip to drop the hammer on ’em. See you in court guys, may the best lawyer win!
MORRIS: Okay!? We’ve already got two domesticated rabbits, a monkey (?), and a cat. I think there’s plenty of room for Impala in the Feltworth camp.
7LM: Thanks for your time. I wish you all the best.
FELTWORTH –“Forget This Feeling” / “You Turn Me On”7-inch (out June 02, 2017)
Share new video “Forget This Feeling” YouTube // Brooklyn Vegan “Both songs are super-catchy pop, reminiscent of The Beatles or The Sweet, or Canadian bands who like The Beatles and The Sweet.” – Brooklyn Vegan
“There’s no Juno category for Best Musical Performance By a Puppet — but if there were, Feltworth would likely have it locked down.” – CBC “Forget This Feeling” is a rollicking slice of pure power-pop built on an insistent piano part from Morris and stellar brotherly harmonies, all loving smothered in appropriately fuzzy guitars. For Feltworth the near future is bright…orange.”
– The Line Of Best Fit Feltworth is a 4-piece rock band consisting of Dezi Feltworth (bass, vocals), his brother Manny Feltworth (guitar, vocals), Morris Katzenburd (piano, keyboards) and Cozy Balboa (drums, tambourine). You may, of course, know of them already if you have children at arm’s length. Feltworth has been an outrageously successful act on the children’s music scene for many years. They burst into the limelight early in their career with their first album of music for youngsters called Super Duper. They followed that smash record with both Felty, Felty Places and We’re Feltworth, a pair of multi-platinum releases that saw the “fabric four” begin to add more original material to their repertoire of tried and true children’s classics. Their game changing fourth album, Beanbag Town, was their first album of all original songs for kids. It’s still considered a high water mark on the spectrum of adolescent entertainment.
Though regarded as financially and commercially successful, the fellows of Feltworth didn’t feel creatively satisfied by being pigeon-holed as children’s act. So, against their manager’s wishes, they’ve embarked on making a real pop/rock record that reflects their own personality and their influences – be it The Sweet, Paul McCartney, Brian Eno or Rupert Holmes. With the change in direction, they are challenging their core audience and seeking new listeners. It’s been a tough-sell to their manager and label, so the band has decided to self-finance the new recordings that will be released via their own Dezman Productions label. The first release from this brand new batch of activity is a limited edition orange coloured 7” single featuring the rocking “Forget This Feeling” (lead vocals by Manny) and the longing romanticism of “You Turn Me On” (lead vocals by Dezi). There’s more music to come. The past is behind them. The future awaits-ish.
The Districts Share New Single, “If Before I Wake” Listen HerePopular Manipulations Out August 11th On Fat Possum
Photo by Pooneh Ghana
“‘Ordinary Day’ is the first chapter of a new book in the band’s creative growth.” – NPR Music
“The album’s chock-full of emotional anthems.” – Noisey
Last month, The Districts announced their new album, Popular Manipulations, and shared the video for lead single “Ordinary Day.” Today, they’re back with another anthem, “If Before I Wake,” premiering via NME.
Rob Grote from the band says, “The lyrics were written the morning after actually waking up during a storm that felt like it was right over my room. It was refreshing to work on as a band because we had been talking about ideas of restraint and contrast, removing chord changes and toying with droning notes, and this one felt like we synthesized some of those ideas more by second nature as we had been exploring those ideas for a while at this point.”
The distinctly intense sound of Popular Manipulations—charging guitars, thunderous drumming, and Grote’s searing vocals—was brought on by a few cited influences, from shoegaze’s aggressive swirl to the Velvet Underground’s impeccable drone-rock sound. But don’t mistake easy comparisons for a lack of originality: on Popular Manipulations, the Districts are in a lane entirely their own, exploring lyrical themes of isolation and abandonment in a way that ups the music’s already highly charged emotional quotient.
For such weighty thematic material, though, Popular Manipulations is purely life-affirming rock music, bursting with energy that cuts through the darkness of the world that surrounds us. “We’re a much better distillation of who we wish to be as a band,” Grote reflects on the journey that has led the Districts to this point. “We’ve figured out how to distill the things we’ve been trying to accomplish as a band, musically and lyrically. We’ve always viewed making music as something we’re trying to do better the whole time.”
The Districts tour throughout the coming year in support of Popular Manipulations including dates with My Morning Jacket. They’ll make stops at Lollapalooza, Osheaga, Reading and Leeds Festivals, and more. Their live show is not to be missed. Every song is epic and heart-stopping. A full list of dates is below.
The Districts Tour Dates:
5/22 – Paris, FR – La Maroquinerie
5/23 – London, UK – The Dome
5/25 – Berlin, DE – Badehaus Szimpla
5/26 – Amsterdam, NL – London Calling @ Paradiso
6/4 – Lancaster, PA – Long’s Park Amphitheater
6/21 – Charlotte, NC – Visualite
6/22 – Charleston, SC – Royal American
6/23 – Orlando, FL – The Social
6/24 – Athens, GA – Georgia Theatre
6/26 – Houston, TX – Raven Tower
6/27 – Austin, TX – Sidewinder
6/29 – Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf
6/30 – Tucson, AZ – Club Congress
7/01 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
7/03 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent
7/06 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir
7/07 – Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern
7/08 – Vancouver, BC – Cobalt
7/10 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
7/11 – Denver, CO – Globe Music Hall
7/13 – Kansas City – Record Bar
7/14 – St. Louis, MO – Off Broadway
7/15 – Indianapolis, IN – The Hi-Fi
8/04 – Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza
8/04-06 – Montreal, QC – Osheaga
8/07 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
8/08 – Hamden, CT – The Ballroom at The Outer Space
8/10 – Columbus, OH – Express Live *
8/11 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
8/12 – North Adams, MA – Mass MoCA *
8/16 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
8/18 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
8/25 – Reading , UK – Reading Festival
8/26 – Leeds, UK – Leeds Festival
8/27 – Hull, UK – Fruit
8/29 – Newcastle, UK – Cluny
8/30 – Edinburgh, UK – Caves
8/31 – Glasgow, UK – King Tuts
9/3 – Cambridge, UK – Portland Arms
9/5 – Nottingham, UK – Bodega
9/6 – Manchester, UK – Gorilla
9/7 – Cardiff, UK – Clwb Ifor Bach
9/11 – Brighton, UK – Haunt
9/14 – Monthey, CH – Pont Rouge
9/15 – Milan, IT – Serraglio
9/17 – Darmstadt, DE – Golden Leaves Festival
9/18 – Zurich, CH – Werk 21
9/19 – Munich, DE – Strom
9/20 – Vienna, AT – Flex
9/25 – Brussels, BE – Rotonde
