Berlin based hard rock band Maggot Heart shares the title track to their forthcoming sophomore album Mercy Machine today on all DSPs. Yesterday, the track premiered via Brooklyn Vegan HERE. Hear & share “Mercy Machine” via Bandcamp, Spotify and Apple Music.
Linnéa Olsson‘s Maggot Heart is back with their sophomore album, which will be released on Linnéa’s brand new record label Rapid Eye Records. The Swedish guitarist and songwriter, based in Berlin since 2012, has made her band a much talked about force in the underground with their extensive touring (alongside Earthless and Voivod among others), cross-over hard rock sound, and punk ethos. The city as a throbbing organism is one of the fundamental themes of Maggot Heart, explored in several songs on City Girls (2017) and Dusk to Dusk (2018). On Mercy Machine (2020), the machinery of night runs on the steam of many bodies. Locked inside a prison of flesh the spirit will not soar, only in unity with the body can divine alchemy be achieved. Mercy Machine is a rock album about sex, death and the pursuit of freedom.
This album was put together by Linnéa, long-time drumming partner Uno Bruniusson and bassist Olivia Airey (as well as on-and-off collaborator Gottfrid Åhman) at the end of 2019, and once again recorded in Stockholm, Sweden with award-winning producer Martin “Konie” Ehrencrona (Viagra Boys, In Solitude) in February 2020. It highlights Olsson’s catchy, but strangely jarring songwriting in ten cutting tracks, swerving back and forth on the rock genre-spectrum. These songs contain a highly entertaining blend of urgency, bleakness and undeniable attitude which may or may not appeal to fans of Voivod, The Stooges, and The Jesus Lizard. The incredible cover artwork is by Kristian Valbo, known to metal fans as the drummer for Obliteration.
Mercy Machine will be available on LP and download on July 10th, 2020 via Rapid Eye Records. Pre-orders are available HERE.
Having first made his mark as a songwriter and guitarist for Los Angeles’ Allah-Las, Pedrum Siadatian has etched out a place of his own with his solo work as PAINT. After an eponymous debut in 2018, PAINT has now returned with the ambitious Spiritual Vegas – due July 10, 2020.
On Spiritual Vegas, Siadatian’s singular touch is unmistakable. Here we find an emboldened artist coloring outside the lines, unleashing an opus both idiosyncratic and focused – cohesion through diversity. The first single from the album is “Ta Fardah.”
“The song is an ode to 70s/80s Iranian melodrama, with a video depicting a man falling in love with a TSA agent,” Pedrum explains. “Quarantine resulted in a homemade metal detector and security screening room”.
Pre-order ‘Spiritual Vegas’ now to immediately receive 2 bonus tracks “A Short While” + “Ta Fardah (Instrumental)”
Spiritual Vegas Tracklist
01. Intro (Phor Phaedra) 02. Strange World 03. Grape St. 04. Lanolin 05. Flying Fox 06. Ta Fardah 07. Why Not, Tick Tock? 08. Meet Me (In St. Lucia) 09. Land Man 10. Tongue Tied 11. Ballad of Adelaide 12. Well Of Memory/ODAAT 13. Impressions 13. Outro (The Lines I Drew)
The Beths share a fervent new single/video, “I’m Not Getting Excited,” from their second album, Jump Rope Gazers, out July 10th on Carpark Records. Following the rambunctious lead single, “Dying to Believe,” “I’m Not Getting Excited” is an urgent track about imposter syndrome. The track opens with driving guitar and a jockeying melody before bursting with a crashing rhythm section. The band performed the single on their “Live From House 2” live stream earlier this morning.
“People always ask ‘are you excited!?’ and it’s a fair question, because exciting things do happen to us sometimes,” says Elizabeth Stokes. “Support slots, overseas tours, music releases. Stuff we’ve dreamed about for years. So the correct answer is always ‘yes.’ But the truth is that deep down there’s a tiny Liz saying, ‘don’t get excited.’ She is certain that anything good that could happen will most likely not happen, because of a freak accident. Or because somebody finally realises that we aren’t worthy, shouts ‘phony!’ and takes everything away. I wrote ‘I’m Not Getting Excited’ last year, well before everything really did get taken away. From everyone. It feels like the song has a new context, but we don’t know what it is yet. And now we all share a blurry, uncertain future.”
The official video was filmed during the first month of lockdown in New Zealand. It’s a spooky more-is-more collage of animated night terrors. The directors Sports Team “turned our laundry into a film studio and spent our inside time mastering the art of stop-motion animation. We animated old towels, all the cardboard in the house and The Beths themselves… frame by bloody frame. There’s a lot of scary imagery in the song that we wanted to play on. There’s a madness too, in the contradiction between what the song is about and its frenetic energy. It has defined the lockdown for us—being locked indoors but furiously busy.”
The Beths are Elizabeth Stokes (vocals/guitar), Jonathan Pearce (guitar), Benjamin Sinclair (bass), and Tristan Deck (drums). Jump Rope Gazers is the follow-up to Future Me Hates Me, “one of the most impressive indie-rock debuts of the year” (Pitchfork). The album received glowing praise and appeared on many year-end lists including Rolling Stone, NPR, Stereogum, and more.
Jump Rope Gazers tackles themes of anxiety and self-doubt with effervescent power pop choruses and rousing backup vocals, zeroing in on the communality and catharsis that can come from sharing stressful situations with some of your best friends. Touring far from home, The Beths committed to taking care of each other while simultaneously trying to take care of friends living thousands of miles away. That care and attention shines through on Jump Rope Gazers, where the quartet sounds more locked in than ever. Jump Rope Gazers stares down all the hard parts of living in communion with other people, even at a distance, while celebrating the ferocious joy that makes it all worth it. Watch “I’m Not Getting Excited” Video: https://youtu.be/lvYrJxNwW5I
The Japanese quartet and advocates of NEO-Kawaii CHAI release a new single, the self-championing “Ready Cheeky Pretty,” and an accompanying video. Following the recently-released “NO MORE CAKE,” “a weird, bafflingly catchy interrogation of beauty standards” (Stereogum), “Ready Cheeky Pretty” promotes self-love and finding motivation and confidence from within. Over jubilant synth and a steady snare, CHAI sing: “we are the upbeat cheeky monkeys ! // look up the mirror // oh! It’s pretty monkey! // we are good already // keep it real.” The band elaborates on the track: “KEEP IT REAL Go back to the real you! It’s all about moving forward and living by instinct! To go forward with the voice of your heart! Nothing symbolizes this more for us than the carefree nature, strength, and purity of a monkey. We pay homage to this in Ready Cheeky Pretty because we feel that animals have the ability to be REAL more than humans. It’s this type of song! Take a listen!
Its accompanying video, co-directed by Hideto Hotta and by bassist YUUKI, is largely made of colorful, animated drawings (all illustrated by YUUKI). It also features famous paintings and video clips and images of the band intertwined throughout. It was shot entirely at YUUKI’s home and is centered in a world where CHAI is getting back to their real selves. As YUUKI describes, “it isn’t so much about shooting CHAI with a specific vision like any other MV, but more so about ‘putting CHAI into’ a vision that WE have.”
Throughout quarantine, the band has started live streaming three times a week – YUNA on Monday’s, YUUKI on Wednesday’s, and MANA and KANA on Friday’s. These livestreams can be viewed on the band’s Instagram at 11pm ET / 8pm PT. Yuna has also created her own Youtube / IGTV series called “HELLO, I’M YUNA!,” which covers all of YUNA’s interests from interviewing her fellow band members, to cooking, to giving an inside look at song and music video releases. Her “journalist alter-ego,” YUNA-jana, is featured as the main interviewer. It’s adorable and we suggest you tune in.
Additionally, CHAI has covered Kyu Sakamoto’s “Ue o Muite Arukō” or “Sukiyaki Song,” the unofficial anthem of Japan that is often sung to uplift during hard times. The lyrics “Ue o Muite Arukō” translate to “I Look Up As I Walk” and tells the story of a man who looks up and whistles while he is walking to avoid his tears from falling down. Everyone has been affected in different ways by COVID-19, some more than others. CHAI made this video using only what they could find within their homes to bring positivity, fun, and keep the music going.
“Ohmme’s music feels experimental and strange yet still accessible, with an underlying gut-level rumble that keeps its songs from floating into the ether.” – NPR Music
“You might think OHMME is a mantra, but it’s in fact the place to be to hear remarkable music from a Chicago band in rare form” – Chicago Tribune
“Their latest single, ‘Ghost,’ has more narrative shape, yet its acute details are preserved…The instrumentation is minimal at first, but a wheedling guitar solo preserves the static. The two women clear a path through this haze with a final, unambiguous declaration: ‘I’m sick of looking at the stupid look on your face.’” – Pitchfork
Ohmme – the Chicago-based duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart – share a new single, “Selling Candy,” and announce rescheduled tour dates. “Selling Candy” is the third single they’ve released that appears on their new album, Fantasize Your Ghost, out June 5th on Joyful Noise Recordings. Following “Ghost” and “3 2 4 3, “Selling Candy” is riveting. The track, which has only six lines, is filled with Cunningham and Stewart’s harmonies, which soar over heavy, sludgy guitar and pummeling percussion. Eventually, the song ends in a noisy freakout.
“‘Selling Candy’ was pieced together from little snapshots of my childhood growing up on my block in Chicago,” says Cunningham. “It felt like its own tiny world where I could explore my imagination, enjoy independence from my parents, and meet all kinds of people, including the pissed off hot dog vendor from whom I bought a boiled hot dog from as often as I could get my hands on a buck.”
Fantasize Your Ghost is the direct result of the band spending more time on the road than in Chicago. It’s deeply concerned with questions of the self, the future, and what home means when you’re travelling all the time. Early sketches of Fantasize Your Ghost‘s tracklist were demoed at Sam Evian‘s Flying Cloud Studios in upstate New York through intensely collaborative and open sessions. The album was recorded over a six day session in August 2019 at the Post Farm in southern Wisconsin with journeyman producer Chris Cohen.
Though 2018’s Parts showcased their wildly burgeoning influences and talents, Fantasize Your Ghost captures the astounding magnetism and ferocity of their live show. It encapsulates the thrilling and sometimes terrifying joy of moving forward even if you don’t know where you’re going. It’s an album that asks necessary questions: When life demands a crossroads, what version of yourself are you going to pursue? What part of yourself will you feed and let flourish and what do you have to let go of? This is a record of strength, of best friends believing in each other. Unapologetic and brave, Ohmme are ready to figure it all out together.
Additionally, Ohmme announce rescheduled North American tour dates for January 2021. Following their supporting dates with Waxahatchee in October, they’ll play a headlining tour in the new year. A full list of dates can be found below and tickets are on sale now. Watch the Video for “Ghost” https://youtu.be/hstB_R4pahw
Pagan Science, the second album by Austin, Texas’ doom rock trio The Well (Lisa Alley – bass and vocals, Ian Graham – guitar and lead vocals, Jason Sullivan – drums), has an interesting cover. The image at first appears to be a veiled angel (complete with halo), but closer inspection shows the halo is dim and crude, the silk veil is either a clear plastic tarp or a shower curtain, and the angel is either a store mannequin or a sweaty woman who is either exhausted or euphoric, or both – which is probably how you’ll feel by the time you’ve finished listening to it.
“Black Eyed Gods” (Maybe the ones who drew that crude halo?) opens with fiery riffs from Graham and Alley and Sullivan being in lockstep from the first beat drop. Graham sings about crimson skies and literal and metaphysical fires burning everywhere. A brief interlude called “Forecast” (“I think the golden age is ahead…Pagan science.”) proceeds “Skybound” – a song that chugs along like some sort of blood-fueled war tank.
The band’s love of Cream (and, to be sure, Black Sabbath) is on display in “A Pilgrimage” with its tuning and rhythm and Graham singing about his deep hate: “Can you feel the hate inside me? Hate that drags me on? Only happy with my sword beside me, keeping me strong.” To be blunt, how fucking metal is that? The back and forth vocals between he and Alley on the track are outstanding, as is the addition of Alley’s moans / cries to those black eyed gods mentioned earlier.
“The children of the forest didn’t know if they should dance or run,” Graham and Alley sing on “Drug from the Banks” – a song about something found in a creepy forest. I love how The Well doesn’t rush this song, they let it bubble like a witches’ brew until they’re ready to serve it hot and pungent.
“No mercy for the sinners, we’ve drawn a line in blood,” Graham and Alley sing at the opening of “Byzantine” while Sullivan hammers out a beat that sounds like chanting orcs. One could argue that this drawn line was done in challenge to other doom metal bands who might try to ape The Well‘s power. “One Nation” is a tale of war and what, if anything, is left behind after it.
The instrumental “Choir of the Stars” follows and drifts like a smoky haze into the fuzzy, heady “Brambles.” “Serpents on the land crossing paranoid sands,” Graham sings, perhaps reflecting a state of constant worry so many of us find ourselves in each day when we are faced with things beyond our control (or even comprehension). The groove of “I Don’t Believe” rocks with not a little bit of swagger, and Graham and Alley’s vocals have that same swagger…and a touch of menace as they face harsh reality (“I don’t believe in anything anymore.”) and “Sacrifice illusions to the sun.”
“I Don’t Believe” closes the album, but picking up the digital version of Pagan Science will score you the bonus track “Guinevere” – which is well worth it. It sounds like a dark(er) Alice in Chains cut and Alley’s vocals are prominent throughout it.
The sorcery / science of this album is powerful stuff, indeed. You should experience it head-on, lest it creep up on you from the shadows.
Keep your mind open.
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Dead Ghostsdon’t waste time on their latest record – Automatic Changer. The Canadian psychedelic outfit gets freaky right away with opening track “Freak,” which is heavy on trippy guitars and most of the vocals are heavily reverberated shouts.
The first single from the record, “Drugstore Supplies,” has a fun, fast buzz to it that sounds more San Francisco than Vancouver. “Swiping Hubcabs” seems to bend back upon itself as swingin’ 60’s organ sounds swell around you. The beats, harmonies, and guitars of “Holdin’ Me Down” are positively Beach Boys, but with a lot more fuzz – which is not a bad thing.
“Blackout” packs a loud punch and brings in garage rock elements to great effect, and the breakdown on it (complete, I think, with coughing from someone smoking too much…something) is outstanding. “You Got Away” keeps the garage rock coming, and “Turn It Around” brings in some psych-country to the mix. Check out that lead guitar if you don’t believe me. “Merle” keeps this flavor, but also adds some groovy hippy road music to the mix. It brings to mind images of driving down a sunny road in your shaggin’ wagon with all the windows down and the 8-track blaring.
The weird, warped guitars on “Jerry’s Dead” are as liquid and thick as lava lamp goo, and that addition of distant saxophone squawks is a great touch. The chugging riffs of “It’s Been Too Long” push that shaggin’ wagon’s pedal to the metal as they sing about missing a girl (“It’s been too long since I saw you…”). Is it coincidence that the next song is called “In and Out” (a euphemism for sex in A Clockwork Orange), or that the song lasts under two minutes?
The opening drum fill on “Tell Me How” is worthy of a disco track and then the song becomes a booming psych-surf track. The title track moves along like a rickety but dependable truck hauling a bunch of surfers to the beach or hippies to a love-in. “Bad Vibes” is surprisingly upbeat with surf riffs hopping around the forefront of it. It flows (or perhaps, “oozes” is a better way to describe it) into the aptly named final track, “Say Goodbye” – a short, spaced-out fuzzy jam.
It’s a fun record filled with groovy guitars, indiscernible lyrics, garage rock drums, and solid bass that will automatically change your mood when you hear it.
Rare Earth‘s third album, Ecology, picks up where Get Ready left off a year before it – with even more fuzzy funk that brings to mind the pinnacle of the hippie and psychedelic era.
“Born to Wander” is a great theme for the idea of chucking your day job, sticking it to the Man, and becoming a free spirit. Gil Bridges‘ flute solo on it is also a great touch. “Long Time Leavin'” was a big radio hit for the band, and it’s easy to see why. It’s both a nod toward young men being drafted in the military and going to Vietnam, possibly to never return (“I tried so yard, but we’re just livin’ in a grave.”), and toward youth culture at the time looking for something meaningful (“I’m been a long time gone searchin’ for my dreams.”). Kenny James‘ organ solo on the track is sharp, and the breakdown of the song into a brief, fuzzy psychedelic jam is groovy indeed.
Their cover of The Temptations‘ “(I Know) I’m Losing You” is legendary and elevates the original to places that blew people’s minds in 1970 and still does today. Bridges saxophone stabs during “Satisfaction Guaranteed” will get you moving, as will Pete Rivera‘s slick chops – which might be the best on the whole record.
Rod Richards turns up the fuzz on his guitar on “Nice Place to Visit” (written by bassist John Persh) and the band’s addition of Eddie Guzman on conga on this (and the entire album, really) is sharp. They go blend psychedelia and garage rock on “No. 1 Man,” with Richards playing to the moon and the band singing about winning a woman’s love. The album ends with their somewhat operatic cover of The Beatles‘ “Eleanor Rigby.” Rivera’s groove throughout it is rock solid and the additional lyrics of “Take a good look around. Tell me, what do you see? Everybody is lonely. Why must there be lonely people?” reflect the counter-culture movement of the time. The words still hold resonance today.
Like Get Ready, this is essential listening for lovers of psychedelic soul music and the last album with the band’s original lineup.
Keep your mind open.
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Austin’s Why Bonniehave put out an EP that sounds like it could’ve been recorded this year or in the early 1990’s when bands were still experimenting with different ways to produce loud yet atmospheric sound instead of just blasting guitars and yelling lyrics about being angry at their fathers. Why Bonnie’s Voice Box is lush, a bit smoky, and intriguing, and the influence of Austin’s psychedelic music scene is evident at the edges.
The opening guitars of “Bury Me” reflect that Austin sound as singer / guitarist Blair Howerton sings about wishing her ex could bury her (metaphorically, that is) and the past and move on from something that was never going to work out in the first place. My favorite line in the song is “I based too much of my happiness on the site of your face.” Not “sight of your face,” but rather “site of your face” according to the EP’s lyric sheet. Howerton realizes se wasn’t so much dependent on her lover’s looks, but rather on her lover just being there – as normal a sight as a lamp or the refrigerator.
The title track has Howerton singing a lovely song about controlling her rage (“I don’t wanna yell. Take my voice box out. I can’t control myself.”). The growling bass of “Athlete” begins the great swagger of the tune pushed along by the drum beat. Howerton admits she can’t keep up with her lover, who doesn’t even want her on their team.
The guitars of “Jet Plane” sound a bit like a music box as Howerton sings about wishing her lover would stay behind but also knowing she can’t hold them in place forever. The rhythm of “No Caves” is intoxicating, and its lyrics about Howerton thinking of a lost lover while she performs at a gig are revealing and witty.
Howerton is a skilled songwriter and singer, and her band pack a strong punch behind her. Voice Box is one of the more intriguing EP’s of 2020 so far.
Rare Earth‘s Get Ready is their second album, but many consider it their first since it launched them into the stratosphere of popularity in the late 1960’s. The all-white psychedelic soul group signed to Motown was the first (and pretty much only) rock group to bring Motown hit records – to the point that Motown named it’s rock sub-label “Rare Earth” after the band (Gil Bridges – vocals, saxophone, and tambourine, Kenny James – vocals, organ, and piano, John Persh – vocals and bass, Rod Richards – vocals and guitar, and Pete Rivera – vocals and drums).
There are only six tracks on Get Ready, and all of them are good. I mean, the album did do Platinum-level sales, after all. It opens with “Magic Key” and Richards fuzzed-out guitar and Rivera’s wicked grooves and vocals about equality and mutual respect being the magic key to a better world. Their great cover of “Tobacco Road” is full of sweet solos: James’ great organ riffs, Bridges’ sax work, Rivera’s vocals that bring out the blues and don’t try too hard, and Richards’ quick, trippy solo is top-notch.
Rivera’s groove on their cover of Traffic‘s “Feelin’ Alright” is so tight that it could perform in a military parade. The funky, trippy “In Bed” is both a tribute to shagging and to life and death. Persh’s bass on “Train to Nowhere” is deceptively wicked.
The standout track is, of course, the title track / cover of The Temptations‘ “Get Ready” – all twenty minutes of it. It begins with a spaced-out instrumental jazz-rock solo with Bridges’ saxophone taking front and center stage while Persh slowly builds up to the groove of the track and you realize you’re listening to a live recording that proceeds to race off at eight miles per hour. The bass and drum breakdown around the six-minute mark is killer. Richards gets to stretch his muscles as well for a wild space rock solo that flows perfectly into Bridges’ sax solo. All these solos last about thirteen minutes before blasting back into the chorus.
Get Ready is a fine mix of funk, soul, and psychedelia and essential listening for fans of those genres.
