Portland, OR band Yardsss — ethereal music brainchild of Southerly and Sndtrkr leader Krist Krueger — share the first track from their forthcoming new album Cultus today via TrebleZine. Hear and share “Cultus II” HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)
The album is performed in the full trio lineup of the band, Paul Schaefer, Robin Levy, and Krist Krueger.
The first two Yardsss releases, the Foma EP (2013) and Granfalloons EP (2016) were masterpieces of sonic effluvium, walking the fine line between abrasive noise and gorgeous, sometimes cacophonous melody inviting comparisons to Swans, Glenn Branca, White Suns and Godspeed Y!BE. Later efforts like the collaborative 333 (2016) and musical stream-of-consciousness Epithets (2017) explore conceptual themes of text as well as lineup. With the newly solidified delineation of Yardsss’ varying entities, Krueger and interlopers are free to expand upon ideas as they arise without fear of confusing fans.
Krueger is best known for his work with Southerly, whose 2007 debut Storyteller and the Gossip Columnist was met to national critical acclaim. His collective-run label, SELF Group, began a major relaunching in late 2015, with new releases from like-minded outfits Southerly, Mothertapes, King Who, C^VES, Swansea, Scriptures, and more.
Cultus will be available on September 11, 2020 via SELF Group. Pre-orders are available HERE.
I don’t know why Seattle punk legends Zeke took fourteen years off between albums, but their last album, Hellbender, shows that they didn’t slow down during that time. If anything, they came back faster (the longest song on the album lasts one minute and fifty-one seconds), louder, and rowdier than when they took a break.
The opener, “All the Way,” has drums that pop like the SKS rifle on the album’s cover, snapping you awake no matter where you are. “Two Lane Blacktop” covers one of Zeke’s favorite topics – racing – and will make you stomp your gas pedal to the floor, even if you’re sitting at a desk, with it’s sizzling guitar solo and pursuit driving beats. “On the Road” (the aforementioned “long” song) covers similar ground and could be the score to a 1970’s car chase scene in which competing muscle cars plow through an empty brewery.
“Working Man” is so frantic that you imagine the title subject is hopped up on Red Bull and Mini-Thins as he speeds down a country road in his pickup so as not to be late, again, to his job at the mobile home factory. The title track is, somehow, even faster. Zeke excel at blistering pace tracks, and this album is full of them. “Hellbender” and “County Jail” each last under a minute.
The vocals on “Burn” sound like they’re yelled out of a sore throat, and I mean that in the best possible way. The drums on “Goin’ Down” hit so hard that you imagine at least five snare drum heads were broken during the record session. “White Wolf” is, I think, about some ghost wolf or the spirit of rock and roll or some cool art Zeke saw on the side of a customized Chevy van. It shreds, that’s for sure.
Speaking of unknown song meanings, I don’t know if “AR-15” is a salute to the firearm or a punk raging against gun violence. I’m fairly certain, however, that “Cougar Rock,” is about shagging older women. The guitar and drums breakdown on it is outstanding. “Devil’s Night” will get your body moving with its heart attack beats.
The last three songs on the album are more tracks about driving fast cars and blaring your horn so everyone else gets the hell out of the way. “Ride On” is a song perfect for that fire-shooting guitar guy from the last Mad Max movie. “Red Line” moves into the red on your speedometer within seconds of its opening and doesn’t let up for a full minute. “Big Rig” is suitable for smashing everything in sight harder than Kool-Aid Man breaking through a brick wall.
Zeke albums are so fast and wild that reviewing them is difficult. They’re more experiences than albums. You’re not the same once you hear one, and Hellbender will shake you up and leave you in the dust.
Keep your mind open.
[Race over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
Dead Oceans’ newest signing, Bristol, UK-based Fenne Lily, presents a new single/video, “Solipsism,” from her forthcoming album, BREACH, out September 18th on Dead Oceans. It follows a string of previously released songs and videos – BREACH’s “Berlin” and “Alapathy” and standalone singles “To Be a Woman Pt. 2” and “Hypochondriac.” “Solipsism” is a hazy lo-fi rock number, written in an attempt to create “something that sounded cheerful, about something really not cheerful.” The song deals with the anxieties of a social media driven generation, “because everyone is sharing everything, and everyone’s comparing their lives to other people’s.” Fenne sighs her age of 21 (“one and twentyyyyy… ohhh”) over the strident surge of guitar fuzz, as she sings about the pressure to have more fun in her 20s, and the solipsism that keeps her awake. The accompanying video, directed by Tom Clover in partnership with the nonprofit organization Film Co, playfully points out some of these anxieties.
“A lot of situations make me uncomfortable — some parties, most dates, every time I’m stoned in the supermarket,” says Fenne. “‘Solipsism’ is a song about being comfortable with being uncomfortable and the freedom that comes with that. If you feel weird for long enough it becomes normal, and feeling anything is better than feeling nothing. I wanted this video to be a reflection of the scary thought that I’ll have to live with myself forever. It’s surreal to realise you’ll never live apart from someone you sometimes hate. Dad, if you’re reading this you killed it as shopper number 2.”
Clover comments, ““I asked Fenne what products she wanted to be and then worked backwards from there with the illustrators. Most of the references came from Asian Supermarket packaging – they are way more interesting. The most important thing was making sure that it reflected upon Fenne’s personality – there’s a bunch of details you might miss on the first watch!” Watch Fenne Lily’s Video for “Solipsism”
BREACH is a diaristic, frequently sardonic record that deals with the mess and the catharsis of entering your 20s and finding peace while being alone. Although its subject matter is solitude, it sounds bigger and more intricate than Fenne’s debut, On Hold, and presents a newly upbeat and urgent streak to her songwriting. Throughout, Fenne “pitches her honeyed voice low amid martial drums, pellucid guitar, driving melody. Like Laura Marling covering The War On Drugs” (MOJO).
Fenne kicked off her Wednesday evening IG Live interview series, “The Bathtime Show,” last month. Guests thus far have included Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, Christian Lee Hutson, Matthew Maltese and SOAK. Keep an eye here for future guests joining Fenne in the tub (from afar). Watch/Listen/Share: “Alapathy” Video “Berlin” Video “Hypochondriac” Stream “To Be A Woman Pt. 2” Stream
Fenne Lily Tour Dates: Fri. April 30 – Brussels, BE @ Grand Salon Sat. May 1 – Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet Mon. May 3 – Hamburg, DE @ Nochtspeicher Tue. May 4 – Copenhagen, DK @ Ideal Bar Thu. May 6 – Berlin, DE @ Frannz Fri. May 7 – Munich, DE @ Mila Sat. May 8 – Zurich, SE @ Exil Sun. May 9 – Milan, IT @ Magnolia Tue. May 11 – Frankfurt, DE @ Das Bett Wed. May 12 – Paris, FR @ Le Pop Up Mon. May 17 – Leicester, UK @ The Cookie Tue. May 18 – Liverpool, UK @ Phase One Wed. May 19 – Dublin, IE @ The Workman’s Club Fri. May 21 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club Sat. May 22 – Glasgow, UK @ King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut Sun. May 23 – Birmingham, UK @ Dead Wax Tue. May 25 – Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute Wed. May 26 – London, UK @ Omeara Thu. May 27 – Cambridge, UK @ The Portland Arms Fri. May 28 – Bristol, UK @ Thekla
Keep your mind open.
[Why not wander over to the subscription box while you’re here?]
Lamps, LA’s notoriously unprolific noise-merchant trio, are ready to release their spectacular fourth album called People With Faces on In The Red Records and share the first track today.
Recorded and mixed by Ty Segall at Val’s, Lamps’ first recorded output since 2012’s landmark LP Under The Water, Under The Ground finds them breaking adventurous new terrain.
Stalwarts Monty Buckles (guitar, voice, keyboards) and Josh Erkman (drums, voice) double down on Lamps’ trademark cloak of effects-laden guitars and hammering drums, and new(ish) member Denée Segall jumps into the fray with her Poly Styrene wail and monolithic bass, adding depth both sonically and lyrically. Their trademark abrasiveness is still present, but it’s burnished it into something richer, more layered. Don’t worry, it still kicks your head in.
First indication that things have changed comes in the opener, “Confirmed Frenchman.” With its serpentne rhythm and Denée’s muted vocals, it sounds kinda like The Au Pairs, if the Au Pairs listened to a lot of Throbbing Gristle. From that point onwards, People With Faces careens maniacally and majestically between alt-fantasy screamers and boot-bottom dirt-rock scummery.
“Horse Cow Goat Pig Dog” slams like a feminist peak-form Black Sabbath (if only), and “Comedian” is a jaunty, chilling serial killer rave up. “G.N.A.T.S.” updates the Lamps sound into something punishing and darkly humorous, with Erkman screaming that women’s magazines saved his life.
Worth noting is the inclusion of two covers that have been part of Lamps’ live show since Segall joined in 2015. The straightforward and sinister take on Sexual Harassment’s “I Need a Freak” is skin-crawling background music for the worst date ever. And “I Owe It to the Girls,” by Floridian proto-no-wavers Teddy & The Frat Girls, twists the raw desperation of the original into a razor-sharp militant anthem.
Huggy Bear’s Chris Rowley, Male Bonding’s John Arthur Webb and Kevin Hendrick, and drummer Sonny Barrett announce their new collaboration, Adulkt Life. In conjunction, they announce their signing to What’s Your Rupture? and present their debut single, “County Pride.”
Huggy Bear led the UK’s answer to riot grrrl, inspired by the “seismic shock” of witnessing a Nation of Ulysses performance together and galvanized by Bikini Kill drummer Tobi Vail’s germinal riot grrrl zine “Jigsaw.” In the 25 years since Chris Rowley played with iconic Huggy Bear, starting a new band hasn’t felt right. But after John Arthur Webb (Male Bonding), who Rowley met while picking up records at a Rough Trade shop, asked if he wanted to play music together it “suddenly it felt super exciting.” Years later, Webb and Rowley befriended a then-teenage drummer, Sonny Barrett, now 23, who worked at a different Rough Trade location. After a mysterious letter from Rowley arrived for Sonny at the shop, Sonny finally decided to check out Huggy Bear, promptly offering to drum in Adulkt Life. The Adulkt Life lineup was finalized when Webb enlisted his best friend and longtime collaborator, Kevin Hendrick—who has in recent years turned towards solo industrial noise poetry as Middex—on bass.
Now, working with these musicians and their combined perspectives, Rowley makes a striking return. The need for change that Huggy Bear sought is no less relevant today – Adulkt Life inquires but offers no easy answers, instead instigating punk’s eternal invitation to see: “Wow, I should do something—make something, start a political party, just do something rather than not do something.” Their debut single, “County Pride,” offers a first taste of their frenetic sound. It brings together three generations of punk energy, creating a timeless sense of urgency.
“Early in Adulkt Life songwriting we wanted to make a song like Devo – something herky jerky with a future disco swing for a party crowd – but we were all too angry,” says Rowley. “The song is about the need to escape from hostile small town awfulness and the weird ways you choose to get out. It’s a dark ride with sparky edges through small town/new town bid for blood… Adulkt life haven’t learnt to be flippant yet just flipped out ….Ricochet and rockblast vs racism.” ADULKT LIFE’S “COUNTY PRIDE” ON YOUTUBE
ADULKT LIFE’S “COUNTY PRIDE” ON BANDCAMP Those who download “County Pride” from Bandcamp will also receive the first of three fanzines, which the band intend to “try and recapture the feelings not just in rediscovering music but all the other crucial elements that go alongside it, the passion to share and scrutinise and play poetically with brut force and argue.” More info HERE.
The follow up to their break out debut album, In Search of Lost Time, is out November 20th on You’ve Changed Records and the band has released a DOUBLE single “Hello and Welcome // Rock Is My Rock”, with two incredible videos:
Never Give Up is Partner’s second full-length album, following 2017’s In Search of Lost Time. In the years since their first release, the band has developed their “post classic rock” sound, leaving behind 90s rock comparisons. The new album retains elements that will be familiar to Partner fans, such as guitar solos and humorous subject matter, but with more structurally adventurous songs and abstract lyrics. They have spent the last several years on tour with drummer Simone TB, and this is evident in the looser and more confident performances captured on the album. Never Give Up was recorded by Steve Chaley at Palace Sound in the summer of 2019.
The band described the process of making the album. “In October of 2018 we found ourselves in a dark and quiet rehearsal space. We were practicing for a two person show, the first one we had played in many years. We were at a crossroads as a band, and we had no idea what the future held. All we knew was that we were going to be making music together. We weren’t sure what this music would sound like or who would be playing it with us. And then the songs started to arrive. Some of them fully formed, like the first songs we wrote. It was as much a surprise to us as anyone else when we realized we had the beginnings of our second album.”
Not all the songs came so easily. Some took over a year to complete. Some taunted the band with their elusivity. Some forced Partner to rip them apart and build them back together more than once. Never Give Up was written in rehearsal spaces, in the band’s bedrooms, in a condo, in friends’ and strangers’ houses, Air BnBs, in a cafe and on Josee’s couch and in the studio, and in the booth. “We talked. We were honest with each other and honest with ourselves. Sometimes it was a lot. And when it got to be almost too much we would repeat to each other, first as a joke and then not as a joke at all, ‘never give up’.”
Toronto’s DIY scene purveyors, Teenanger have today shared their blistering new single, “Trillium Song“, the second to be lifted from the new record, Good Time – out October 2 via Telephone Explosion Records – which has so far earned praise from outlets like Paste, The Line of Best Fit, Exclaim, BBC 6 Music, So Young and more. The new record, which comes mixed by renowned Toronto musician, Sandro Perri, follows previous releases that have found the band share stages across North America and Europe with the likes of METZ, Ty Segall, Death From Above, Dilly Dally, Dish Pit and more.
“Trillium Song” presents another agile take from Good Time, drawing once again on striking melodies and a wiry new wave sound palette, this time utilizing a two-pronged vocal foray with both Melissa Ball and Chris Swimmings lending their voices. Whereas previous releases from the group have suggested a more abrasive post-punk approach, Good Time demonstrates a pop-leaning slant on the sound of Teenanger without removing their ear for social commentary.
Speaking about the new track, Swimmings says: “This song is about the province of Ontario where we all reside. Mainly about the current provincial government’s way of dealing with the education system and the environment. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Premier Doug Ford (the song’s primary subject) was making good headway at polishing his public image by being hands-on. He made promises of people not losing their jobs and tenants not being evicted. They were timely promises in the beginning as we are now seeing many tenants in Ontario face eviction due to not being able to make end’s meet in the pandemic.”
——
Good Time arrives off the back of a turbulent few years for the group, a period filled with self-reflection, a restless search for creativity and more than anything, a need to rewire the very essence of the band. The four-piece had tied up the rinse and repeat promotional run for their 2017 self-titled record in the spring of 2018; their fifth album, which had started to find them some acclaim, also marked their first decade together as a group, quite an achievement by anyone’s measures in the current climate. The line-up was unchanged since Teenanger’s inception, and the members had become somewhat inseparable over their time together; whilst the album release and the corresponding tour was somewhat celebratory, it also brought with it a severe bout of writer’s block that unexpectedly placed their existence in jeopardy.
A testament to the rigorous DIY ethos of Teenanger that forges its core values, the band was rooted in the same rehearsal room that they had used since their early days together – a revolving door of local acts shared the space and it took fracturing this routine to find inspiration for Good Time. One Craigslist advertisement offered an apartment for rent with the words: “Music OK”, Teenanger seized the opportunity and thus “Studio Z” was coined, a basement flat that previously worked as a reggae studio/after-hours club was converted by the four-piece into a live practice room and adjacent fully-functional recording studio. The band went on to battle two major floods, a CO2 leak, vermin infestation and constant mould to record the new album.
Good Time is out on October 2nd on Telephone Explosion. It is available for pre-order here.
If I had to pick one word to describe Spun Out‘s debut album, Touch the Sound, it might be “lush.”
Formed by former members of Chicago indie rockers NE-HI, Spun Out (the main trio being Alex Otake, James Weir, and Mikey Wells) are more of a musical community than a band. Spun Out is all about collaboration with friends and colleagues, or, as they describe it, “…a revolving door for our friends to come in and work with us.”
It produces great results. Opener “Another House” builds to a great mix of shoegaze and psych. “Such Are the Lonely” has power pop bounce but doesn’t lose its shoegaze roots, and that brief saxophone solo by Kevin Jacobi is a cool way to end it and leave you wanting more. Thankfully, Sean Page‘s keyboard work on “Dark Room,” backed with a wicked beat that Chicago hip hop DJ’s are probably sampling even now, more than satisfies.
The acoustic guitar chords of “Running It Backwards” bring early tracks by The Fall and The Church to mind. “Antioch” walks along the edge of synthwave at the beginning and then takes the plunge into a pool of lovely dream pop that instantly mellows you. “Off the Vine” brings in funky bass and keyboards to produce dance-psych (Did Spun Out just create a new genre?). “Don’t Act Down” implores us to rise above chaos and drama and not succumb to such distractions from the journey inward amid its groovy beats.
Speaking of groovy beats (full drum kit and plenty of hand percussion, I think I even heard a triangle in there), the opening ones on “Pretender” will get your toes tapping. “Cruel and Unusual” is as lovely as a warm breeze drifting across a Chicago balcony in late summer when either baseball team in town is doing well in their division’s standing. The closer, “Plastic Comet,” starts out with a tribute to Bob Dylan and “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” with its lyrics and then it melts into lava lamp psychedelia.
It’s a lush record that is suitable for lounging on the couch, the balcony, the beach, or the park…or the dance floor. A surprising number of songs on Touch the Sound will get you moving. It’s a good debut and a successful experiment that bodes well for future records.
Keep your mind open.
[Why not touch the subscription box while you’re here?]
London punks Dream Nails have been buzzing in the UK for some time and last month announced their signing to Dine Alone for the release of their debut self-titled full length, which will be out August 28th on Dine Alone in North America and UK indie Alcopop! in the rest of World. Today, the band are sharing a new single from the LP entitled “Vagina Police,” along with it accompanying video.
Dream Nails’ drummer Lucy Katz describes the track as “our battle-cry against the persistent and pathetic-yet-insidious obsession of the state to police our bodies at any cost. It’s a song about reproductive rights and (in)justice in all its forms.” Bassist Mimi Jassson elaborates on the ways the establishment tries to police our bodies across the world: “From abortions being illegal, to forced sterilization of trans people. We stand in solidarity with our trans siblings in the face of the UK’s repression of trans rights.”
The track was originally released by London-based indie Everything Sucks Music but the new version, as will feature on Dream Nails’ forthcoming self-titled debut album, produced by Tarek Musa of Spring King, breathes new vigour into its intent. For the next month, 100% of Dream Nails’ Bandcamp proceeds will be split between Abortion Support Network and Mermaids.
Dream Nails self-titled LP is due out August 28th via Dine Alone and Alcopop! Pre-orders for ‘Dream Nails’ are live today and can be found HERE. Physical vinyl bundle includes a 40-page signed zine. In true punk DIY fashion, the zine is handmade by the band, featuring lyrics, articles and background to the songs on the album.
“I had gone through this breakup, but it was so much bigger than that—I’d lost friendships, too. When you get out of a relationship, you have to examine who you are or were in all the relationships. I wanted to record when I was still processing these feelings. These are the personal takes, encapsulated in a moment.” — Angel Olsen
Angel Olsen will release Whole New Mess, her first solo album since her 2012 debut, on August 28th via Jagjaguwar. A super intimate and vulnerable emotional portrait that shows her grappling with a period of personal tumult, Whole New Mess presents Olsen working through her open wounds and raw nerves with just a few guitars and some microphones, isolated in a century-old church in the Pacific Northwest. In conjunction, Olsen presents the lead single, “Whole New Mess,” with a video directed by longtime collaborator Ashley Connor. Additionally, she announces Cosmic Stream 3, the third in her livestream series, which will air on the album’s release date and stream from the Hazel Robinson Amphitheater in Asheville, NC.
Whole New Mess follows All Mirrors, Olsen’s grand 2019 masterpiece (and a top 10 critically acclaimed record). At least nine of the eleven songs on Whole New Mess should sound familiar to anyone who has heard All Mirrors. “Lark,” “Summer,” “Chance”—they are all here, at least in some skeletal form and with slightly different titles. But these are not the demos for All Mirrors. Instead, Whole New Mess is its own record with its own immovable mood. If the lavish orchestral arrangements and cinematic scope of All Mirrors are the sound of Olsen preparing her scars for the wider world to see, Whole New Mess is the sound of her first figuring out their shape, making sense for herself of these injuries.
To record Whole New Mess, Olsen asked for a studio recommendation from Electro-Vox head engineer and a deep kindred spirit Michael Harris. She wanted to find a space where, as she puts it, “vulnerability exists.” They settled on The Unknown, the Catholic church that Mount Eerie’s Phil Elverum and producer Nicholas Wilbur converted into a recording studio in the small town of Anacortes, Washington. Anacortes would act as a kind of harbor for Olsen, limiting distractions as she tried to burrow inside of these songs. “I hadn’t been to The Unknown, but I knew about its energy. I wanted to go sit with the material and be with it in a way that felt like a residency,” Olsen says. “I didn’t need a lot, since it was just me and a guitar. But I wanted someone else there to hold me accountable for trying different things.” In late October 2018 prior to recording All Mirrors, Olsen and Harris lived for 10 days in a rental and built a daily ritual of getting coffee each morning in a nearby bookstore. They hiked Mount Erie, visited state parks, and strolled the empty streets of Anacortes beneath a full moon. But mostly, the sessions were casual, relaxed, and quiet, allowing Olsen the space to fully explore these feelings.
The results are staggering, somehow disarmingly candid and dauntingly personal at once. The opener and title track—one of two songs here that did not appear on All Mirrors—is a blunt appraisal of how low Olsen got and how hard the process of pulling herself back upright was, especially when being an artist can mean turning your emotions into someone else’s entertainment. “Oh, I’ll really do the change,” she repeats at the start and finish, her voice wavering as she tries to buy the mantra she’s selling. “The reality is that artists are often never home so health, clear mindedness and grounding is hard to come by,” says Olsen. “The song is a mental note to try and stay sane, keep healthy, remember to breathe wherever I happen to be, because there is no saving it for back home.”
Considered alongside All Mirrors, Whole New Mess is a poignant and pointed reminder that songs are more than mere collections of words, chords, and even melodies. They are webs of moods and moments and ideas, qualities that can change from one month to the next and can say just as much as the perfect progression or an exquisite chord. In that sense, these 11 songs—solitary, frank, and unflinching examinations of what it’s like to love, lose, and survive—are entirely new. This is the sound of Angel Olsen, sorting through the kind of trouble we’ve all known, as if just for herself and whoever else needs it. Watch Angel Olsen’s “Whole New Mess” Video
Whole New Mess Tracklist 1. Whole New Mess 2. Too Easy (Bigger Than Us) 3. (New Love) Cassette 4. (We Are All Mirrors) 5. (Summer Song) 6. Waving, Smiling 7. Tonight (Without You) 8. Lark Song 9. Impasse (Workin’ For The Name) 10. Chance (Forever Love) 11. What It Is (What It Is)
