Rock – Page 110 – 7th Level Music

New Fries announce new album and release a single named after a fish – “Ploce.”

here’s always been something perversely funky about New Fries’ freaky no-wave radiations
NPR

For New Fries, their goal isn’t to create a sound, but a spirit
VICE

The group’s frenzied energy sounds like the source for a mad scientist’s latest and most troubling creation
The FADER

New Fries has never been interested in being a band. Yet, the Toronto-based experimental No-Wave inspired band have become one of the best kept secrets in the city, with New Fries gaining legendary status for their unconventional, ever-changing sound, and their rapturous live show. Is The Idea Of Us, out August 7th on Telephone Explosion is the band’s first new material since 2016’s More, which saw the band team up with Holy Fuck‘s Graham Walsh. Today, to announce their new LP, they are sharing the single “Ploce“, and you can stream the animated video from Amy Lockhart below.

Never afraid of collaboration or change, Is The Idea Of Us is a product of working closely with Carl Didur (Zacht Automaat, formerly U.S. Girls), resulting in a new direction, focusing more on space and repetition, finding the in-between and reflecting on it, examining that transition. The album is anxious in its repetitions and is unsure of genre, so much so that over half of the tracks on the record bear that very name. “Ploce” is more sure of itself and more focused, one of cornerstones in the collage that is the forthcoming new album.

Is the Idea of Us is the situation of musicians and non-musicians making music together, perhaps completely illegible in the music on this record and to the random listener. There are enough bands out there; New Fries insist on do it differently.

WATCH: New Fries’ “Ploce” video on YouTube

On the new track, the band explained, “Ploce is the name of Tim’s fish who passed away—the figure of speech (not the place in Croatia). It refers to words repeated for emphasis. On the internet some examples provided are:

“I am stuck on Band-Aid, and Band-Aid’s stuck on me.”

“First she ruins my life. And then she ruins my life!”.”

Is The Idea Of Us is out on August 7th on Telephone Explosion. It is available for pre-order here.

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[Thanks to Conor at Hive Mind PR!]

Protomartyr have to cancel tour dates, but still release a new single – “Worm in Heaven.”

Today, Protomartyr present a new single/video, “Worm In Heaven,” off of their forthcoming album, Ultimate Success Today, which has had its release date moved to July 17th, out onDomino. Additionally, Protomartyr must sadly cancel their scheduled 2020 tour dates. Ticket buyers should seek refunds at the point of purchase. The band looks forward to bringing these songs on the road as soon as safely possible.

Following lead single “Processed By The Boys,” “Worm In Heaven” winds with meandering guitar, mellow drums, and Joe Casey’s consuming voice: “I am a worm in heaven / so close to grace / could lick it off of the boot heels of the blessed.” Eventually, the track rises with crashing instrumentation and a repeated refrain. The accompanying video, directed by Trevor Naud, is a collection of abstract still images stitched together. It was inspired by the 1962 Chris Marker short film La Jetée and was shot using limited resources, mainly a 35mm film camera, with no film crew. As the video goes on, the images grow stranger and more off-putting.

“The idea is a sort of dream chamber that has lured its creator into a near-constant state of isolation,” says director Trevor Naud. “She lives out her days trapped as the sole subject of her own experiment: the ability to simulate death. It is like a drug to her. Everything takes place in a small, claustrophobic environment. With soft, yet sterile visuals. Perhaps a strange combo to reference, but imagine the cover of the Rolling Stones’ Goat’s Head Soup and the character of Carol White in Todd Haynes’ 1995 film Safe.”

“I’d been experimenting with shooting multiples of still photographs and stitching them together so that there’s subtle movement,” explains Naud, “almost like a 3-D camera effect, but awkward and sort of unsettling–like looking at a photograph under shallow water. I shot upwards of 700 still frames on a Nikon F Photomic camera. I embraced the lines and artifacts from the film scans, which give a sort of Xerox quality to some of the images. All the special effects were done in-camera using mirrors, projectors and magnifying glasses.”
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “WORM IN HEAVEN”
http://smarturl.it/WormInHeaven

Protomartyr is Joe Casey (vocals), Greg Ahee (guitars), Alex Leonard (drums), and Scott Davidson (bass guitar). Following the release of Relatives In Descent, the band’s critically acclaimed headlong dive into the morass of American life in 2017 (featured on myriad “best of” lists, including The New York Times, Esquire, Newsweek, and more), Ultimate Success Today continues to further expand the possibilities of what a Protomartyr album can sound like.

“There is darkness in the poetry of Ultimate Success Today; the theme of things ending, above all human existence, is present,” says Ana da Silva, founding member of The Raincoats and friend of the band. “There are exquisite, subtle gifts from other instruments that always heighten the guitar, instead of fighting with it. They help to create a harmonious wall of sound all of its own. This was intentional. Ahee wanted to use different textures other than pedals, and the drone quality of some of those instruments colours the guitar and the whole sound with a warm, rich in reverb, landscape for Casey’s voice.”

Ultimate Success Today features guest musicians Nandi Rose (vocals) a.k.a. Half Waif, jazz legend Jemeel Moondoc (alto sax), Izaak Mills (bass clarinet, sax, flute), and Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello).

Ultimate Success Today is available to pre-order now on LP, CD and digital formats. A limited blue-in-red colored edition of the LP is available exclusively on the Domino Mart.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “PROCESSED BY THE BOYS”
http://smarturl.it/PBTBYT

LISTEN TO “PROCESSED BY THE BOYS”
http://smarturl.it/PBTBStrm

PRE-ORDER ULTIMATE SUCCESS TODAY
Domino Mart | Digital

PRAISE FOR “PROCESSED BY THE BOYS”

“Casey once again casts his drunken-philosopher gaze on the world’s ills, backed by a reverb-laden stomp that builds into the kind of cacophony this band does best.”
– Stereogum

“A post-punk stomper, the track vibrates with meditations from the guest performers’ reed instruments.” – Consequence of Sound

“”the classic wall-of-noise feel of a Protomartyr track” – Paste

“The seismic first cut off the Detroit band’s fifth LP Ultimate Success Today rattles with ‘cosmic grief beyond all comprehension.’ Its video, a bizarre tribute to the Brazillian meme ‘Gil da Esfiha vs Galerito,’ is equally discombobulating.” – The FADER

“heavy and fierce” – Brooklyn Vegan
Protomartyr Online:
https://www.facebook.com/protomartyr
https://soundcloud.com/protomartyr
http://pitchperfectpr.com/protomartyr
https://protomartyr.bandcamp.com
http://www.dominorecordco.us/artists/protomartyr

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR!]

Khruangbin’s new single, “Time (You and I),” is a stunner.

“Time changes everything.” — Khruangbin

Khruangbin, the Houston-based group comprised of bassist Laura Lee Ochoa, guitarist Mark Speer, and drummer Donald “DJ” Johnson, are pleased to announce their new album, Mordechai, out June 26th on Dead Oceans, in association with Night Time Stories. Mordechai comes two years after the release of their beloved and acclaimed breakthrough, 2018’s Con Todo El Mundo, and was preceded earlier this year by Texas Sun, the group’s collaborative EP with Leon Bridges. Today, they present the vibrant, Felix Heyes & Josh R.R. King-directed video for Mordechai’s lead single, “Time (You and I)”.

Khruangbin has always been multilingual, weaving far-flung musical languages like East Asian surf-rock, Persian funk, and Jamaican dub into mellifluous harmony. As a first for the mostly instrumental band, Mordechai features vocals prominently on nearly every song. It’s a shift that rewards the risk, reorienting Khruangbin’s transportive sound toward a new sense of emotional directness, without losing the spirit of nomadic wandering that’s always defined it. And it all started with them coming home.

By the summer of 2019, Khruangbin had been on tour for nearly three-and-a-half years, playing to ever-expanding audiences across North and South America, Europe, and southeast Asia in support of both Con Todo El Mundo and their 2015 debut, The Universe Smiles Upon You. They returned to their farmhouse studio in Burton, Texas, ready to begin work on Mordechai. But they were also determined to slow down, to take their time and luxuriate in building something together.

It’s a lesson Lee had recently learned with the help of a new friend, a near-stranger who had reached out when she was feeling particularly unmoored, inviting her to come hiking with his family. That day, as they’d all made their way toward the distant promise of a waterfall, Lee had felt a dawning clarity about the importance of appreciating the journey, rather than rushing headlong toward the next destination. When they reached the waterfall at last, Lee’s friend urged her to jump, a leap she likens to a baptism. As she did, he screamed her name—her full name, the one she’d recently taken from her grandfather. In that instant, Laura Lee Ochoa was reborn. She emerged feeling liberated, grateful for what her friend had shown her. His name was Mordechai.

Ochoa’s rejuvenation found its expression in words—hundreds of pages’ worth, which she’d filled over a self-imposed day of silence. As Khruangbin began putting together the songs that would make up Mordechai, discovering in them spaces it seemed like only vocals could fill, they turned to those notebooks. Khruangbin had experimented with lyrics before, but this time Ochoa had found she had something to say. Letting those words ring out gave Khruangbin’s cavernous music a new thematic depth.

Chief among those themes is memory—holding onto it, letting it go, naming it before it disappears. The sun-dappled disco of lead single “Time (You And I)” evinces the feeling of a festival winding down to its final blowout hours. Its accompanying video features comedian Stephen K. Amos and Lunda Anele-Skosana. The duo wander around London, placing singular sandcastles throughout the city’s various scenery.

Musically, the band’s ever-restless ear saw them pulling reference points from Pakistan, Korea, and West Africa, incorporating strains of Indian chanting boxes and Congolese syncopated guitar. But more than anything, Mordechai became a celebration of Houston, the eclectic city that had nurtured them, and a cultural nexus where you can check out country and zydeco, trap rap, or avant-garde opera on any given night. It is a snapshot taken along a larger journey—a moment all the more beautiful for its impermanence. And it’s a memory to revisit again and again, speaking to us now more clearly than ever.

Watch the Video for “Time (You and I)” –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc50wHexbwg

Mordechai Tracklist:
1. First Class
2. Time (You and I)
3. Connaissais de Face
4. Father Bird, Mother Bird
5. If There is No Question
6. Pelota
7. One to Remember
8. Dearest Alfred
9. So We Won’t Forget
10. Shida

Pre-order Mordechai –
https://khruangbin.ffm.to/mordechai

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[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR!]

Rewind Review: The UFO Club – self-titled (2012)

Released just a year after their split EP with Night Beats, The UFO Club (Christian Bland, Danny Lee Blackwell, and Skyler McGlothlin) took the four tracks they had on the EP and added seven more to create a spooky, trippy, solid album.

It starts with “July” – a song I once presented to a woman who described herself as “an original hippie.” She loved it. It’s hard not to love with its opening acoustic guitar chords, Blackwell’s heavily reverbed vocals, McGlothlin’s stumbling drunk beats, and Bland’s warped electric guitar. Their cover of The Ronettes‘ “Be My Baby” follows with its guitars that sound like a swarm of stoned bees. Blackwell is a known Bo Diddley fan (Night Beats often covers Diddley’s “Keep Your Big Mouth Shut” live), so their song “Bo Diddley Was the 7th Son” is a roaring, sweaty tribute to him. It almost sounds like they told McGloghlin to just go nuts on the drums, and he did.

“Wolfman” is another track from the EP that’s wild, crazy fun with Blackwell taking on the role of a werewolf and Bland and McGloghlin howling behind him. “Doubts” slows things down before we totally lose our minds. The sad organ and sorrowful drumming highlight Blackwell’s pleading vocals for love. “John the Cat” has such a swagger to it that it might topple your speakers and puts Bland’s love of early Pink Floyd on full display.

“Fuck shit up!” the band yells at the beginning of “Surf Shitty,” a dangerous track best suited for 1960’s juvenile delinquency film soundtracks. “Chapel” follows it. It’s a stand-out track on the EP as well as here. It’s fuzzed-out psychedelic bliss about inward meditation. “Up in Her Room” is over seven minutes of psychedelic garage rock with Blackwell singing about gettin’ his freak on in his girlfriend’s apartment. “Natalie” might be that girl up in the room. She’s a weird one if that’s the case because the song is a wild, organ-heavy freak-out that sounds like someone slipped something funky into the band’s tea at the recording studio. The closer, “Last Time,” is a short, warped version of the Rolling Stones‘ classic track.

It’s a cool, weird record, and a must-have gem for fans of The Black Angels and Night Beats.

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Liam Kazar’s debut single, “Shoes Too Tight,” is a home run in his first at-bat.

Liam Kazar, a Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, releases his debut single/video, “Shoes Too Tight.” Throughout the last decade, Kazar has been recognized for his adaptability and deftness in the studio and on stage, leading to tours and collaborations with Jeff Tweedy, Chance the Rapper, Steve Gunn, Daniel Johnston, Kids These Days, amongst others. His first offering, “Shoes Too Tight,” presents Kazar’s joyful and vulnerable world.

“Shoes Too Tight” is born from the strange and quick combination of the well-worn sound of a clavinet, blended with whatever noise you get when you turn on that weird synth sitting in the corner of the studio. The track features childhood friends Lane Beckstom (bass) and Spencer Tweedy (drums), who have shared stages with Kazar since they were young, plus vocals from Ohmme. It follows a single theme through all its nooks and crannies to a warm, tender end; a collage of lyrics that deal with lost time, lost chance, and the reconciliation of the two. In the accompanying video, directed by Austin Vesely and shot at Chicago’s Constellation, he and his background dancers channel 60s crooners, Lindsay Kemp, and Kazar’s own contemporary groove, daring you not to join them.

Since filming “Shoes Too Tight,” Kazar has spent the last many weeks staying at home in Kansas City, where he sometimes lives. He’s recorded a new song, “Holding Plans,” and created an accompanying lyric video. Additionally, Kazar is raising money via his Bandcamp for Constellation and the Hungry Brain, a treasure and hub for Chicago’s music community.

Watch Liam Kazar’s “Shoes Too Tight” Video –
https://youtu.be/sqAWtd-nBpA

Watch “Holding Plans” (Demo) Lyric Video –
https://youtu.be/x4jOR9pmqwg

Download hi-res images & jpegs of Liam Kazar
pitchperfectpr.com/liam-kazar/

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[Thanks to Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: Cosmonauts – Lazerbeam (2012)

The EP Lazerbeam from Los Angeles, California shoegaze rockers Cosmonauts is a great introduction to their forceful and hypnotizing sound if you haven’t heard it before now.

The title track opens the EP, sounding a bit like a Hanni El Khatib track at first with its echoing vocals and early 1960’s garage rock beats, but then that fuzz comes in and takes you to another dimension. The song’s about realizing a relationship is coming to an end and not being able to do much about it (“Please don’t leave me, man. You’re the only one I can stand. Begging you not to leave me, babe. You’re the only thing that is sane…”).

“Cut Your Hair” gets off to a heavy start with guitars set to maximum growl and the dual vocals about embracing “the dark side of pain” set to heavy reverb. “Crocodile Teeth” keeps the fuzzed-out shoegaze sound going as the dual vocals of Alexander Ahmadi and Derek Cowart bounce off each other so much (and so well) that you’re not sure where one ends and the other begins. Oh yeah, their dual guitar work does the same thing, producing a mind-altering effect that’s hard to describe.

You might think a song called “Slower” would be a mellow way to end an EP, but Cosmonauts flip the script a bit and end the album with a rocker instead. The drums are like a chugging freight train while Ahmadi and Cowart’s vocals boom off the back walls of your house and the guitar riffs hit you in brisk waves.

Lazerbeam is short, but loud and bold. It takes you by surprise and immediately makes you wonder what else these cats can do. Check out any of their full albums for more great shoegaze.

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The Beths release “Dying to Believe” ahead of new album coming in July.

“[The Beths are] brilliant at bright guitar frenzy, instantly memorable melodies and tune-mad group sing-alongs with the joy of Sixties bubblegum rock; there’s a love of pop formula here… but they never lose the sense of discovery at heart of rock and roll.” — Rolling Stone

The Beths announce their new album, Jump Rope Gazers, out July 10th via Carpark Records, and share its lead single/video, “Dying to Believe.” 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.

After touring non-stop for a year and a half, playing to crowds of devoted fans and opening for acts like Pixies and Death Cab for Cutie, The Beths regrouped to write and record Jump Rope Gazers. The band – composed of Elizabeth Stokes (vocals/guitar), Jonathan Pearce (guitar), Benjamin Sinclair (bass), and Tristan Deck (drums) – settled down at Pearce’s Auckland studio, where he recorded and produced the album.

Stokes’s writing on Jump Rope Gazers grapples with the uneasy proposition of leaving everything and everyone you know behind on another continent, chasing your dreams while struggling to stay close with loved ones back home. Rambunctious lead single “Dying to Believe” reckons with the distance that life necessarily drives between people over time: “I’m sorry for the way that I can’t hold conversations // They’re such a fragile thing to try to support the weight of,” Stokes sings. The accompanying visual is an eccentric four-step “How to be the Beths” instructional video featuring the band.

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.

Acoustic versions of “Dying to Believe” and Future Me Hates Me favorites “Great No One” and “Little Death” as well as a Q&A with The Beths can be viewed from their recent livestream here.

Watch “Dying to Believe” Video:
https://youtu.be/CkzI93Aqztk

Pre-Order Jump Rope Gazers:
https://smarturl.it/thebeths_jrg

Jump Rope Gazers Tracklist:
1. I’m Not Getting Excited
2. Dying to Believe
3. Jump Rope Gazers
4. Acrid
5. Do You Want Me Now
6. Out of Sight
7. Don’t Go Away
8. Mars, the God of War
9. You Are a Beam of Light
10. Just Shy of Sure

The Beths Tour Dates:
Sun. Nov 8 – Perth, WA @ HBF Park*
Wed. Nov. 11 – Melbourne, VIC @ Marvel Stadium*
Sat. Nov. 14 – Sydney, NSW @ Bankwest Stadium*
Tue. Nov. 17 – Brisbane, QLD @ QSAC Stadium*
Fri. Nov. 20 – Dunedin, NZ @ Forsyth Barr Stadium*
Sun. Nov. 22 – Auckland, NZ @ Mt Smart Stadium*

*w/ Green Day, Weezer and Fall Out Boy

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[Thanks to Pitch Perfect PR!]

Review: Blue Canopy – Mild Anxiety

Mild Anxiety, the new EP from Blue Canopy starts off sounding like a warped record of a 16-bit video game and then beautifully transforms into a psych-synth treat that seemed tailor-made to ease the anxiety mentioned in the title.

That first track is “Keys to the Garden,” which floats along with funky guitars, smooth drumming, and synths that sound like sunlight bouncing off a garden pond. It’s a song about opening yourself to new possibilities, maybe even enlightenment (“I can’t believe you’ve never been to the garden. You’ve got the keys so come on through.”)

“656” was the first single off the EP, and it reminds me of New Pornographers tracks in its instrumentation and back-and-forth male-female vocals about coming to the realization that a relationship is at an end (“There’s nothing left for you in this. Your wings are barely fluttering. Now that you are over it, what’s the point of bickering? I know it’s not enough.”).

“St. Albans” has lead singer / keyboardist Alex Schiff lamenting a relationship, possibly the one that just ended or one that he knew was a lost cause from the start, along a jaunty Randy Newman-like beat while he sings, “I was overwhelmed by you. Had we gone for a walk, you’d bum a cigarette. We would never survive, in my self-defense.” “Always” is drenched in psychedelic guitars that embolden Schiff to face the end (“I know what this is, and I know what to do. I will not run.”). The end of a relationship? Life? The EP? I don’t know. It’s probably all of that and more.

This is a lovely EP that tackles some heavy stuff without bludgeoning you over the head with symbolism and angst. Take a few moments to lounge with it.

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Blue Canopy release second single from new EP due April 17th.

“Filled with childlike wonder and bright-eyed instrumentation that could just as easily be a symphony as a rock band, ‘656’ sets the stage, suggesting that Schiff’s future as Blue Canopy is as bright as he could hope for.” — PopMatters

“A psychedelic pop sound that blends contemporary indie psychedelia in the vein of Tame Impala with ’60s-era aesthetics similar to those of Zombies or early Pink Floyd. It takes you somewhere distant yet familiar, lush yet accessible.” — Treble

Portland band Blue Canopy share a new single from their forthcoming debut today via Treble. The band is led by former Modern Rivals keyboardist/singer and co-songwriter Alex Schiff (Pitchfork‘s accolades HERE.) Hear & share “Keys To The Garden” HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)

PopMatters previously launched the animated video for lead single “656” HERE. (Direct YouTube.)

Blue Canopy‘s Mild Anxiety is the debut EP from Portland-based multi-instrumentalist, Alex Schiff. Under the Blue Canopy moniker, Alex combines versatile songwriting chops and timeless, exuberant melodies to comprise four distinct pieces that utilize nostalgia as a force to move forward.

Formerly the keyboardist and co-writer for indie band, Modern Rivals, Alex has shared the stage with bands such as Ra Ra Riot, Stars, and The Black Keys. The EP’s lead single, “656” enlists the four other members of Modern Rivals (performing drums, guitar, bass, synth and backup vocals) as an official send-off to a relationship that was a formative part of Alex’s youth and time living in New York City.
Mild Anxiety was co-produced by Patrick J Smith (A Beacon School/Modern Rivals). The EP will be released April 17th on Fat Possum label offshoot Grind Select. Pre-orders are available HERE.

On The Web: bluecanopy.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/blue.canopy
facebook.com/bluecanopymusic
www.grindselect.com

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Rewind Review: The UFO Club & Night Beats – Split (2011)

This eight-song EP is split between bands hailing from Austin, Texas and Seattle, Washington. Side A is four tracks by Austin’s The UFO Club (who would go on to release a full album a year later – review coming soon). Side B is one of the first official recordings of Seattle’s Night Beats – even before their first full album was released by Austin’s Reverberation Appreciation Society label.

The UFO Club melds Austin and Seattle together by combining the powers of The Black Angels‘ Christian Bland and Danny Lee Blackwell of Night Beats (both sharing duties on guitar, vocals, farfisa, drums, bass) and producer / bassist / organist Skyler McGlothlin to create a heady brew of Pink Floyd, 13th Floor Elevators, Phil Spector, and Howlin‘ Wolf.

“(My Love Is) Waiting” is a pleading love song with Blackwell’s distinctive voice calling out in soulful wails while crystalline guitars surround him. “Chapel (in My Mind)” is an instant stand-out with creeping fuzz bass, spooky drums, and haunted house guitars as Bland sings about engaging in self-introspection and not caring what others think of the idea. You’ll want “Wolfman” on every Halloween-themed playlist you create from now on, as it’s a fun, rocking track with Blackwell trying to keep his lover calm as he transforms into a monster and Bland and McGlothlin howl and bay in the background. Side A ends with their power drill-fuzzy cover of The Ronettes‘ “Be My Baby.”

Side B is all Night Beats, consisting of the original lineup (Blackwell on vocals and guitar, Tarek Wegner on bass, James Traeger on drums). It opens with one of my favorite Night Beats tracks, “Hex,” a trippy psychedelic cut that has Blackwell’s opening guitar riffs hitting you like black helicopters coming over the horizon. “A Night with Nefertiti” brings Wegner’s bass to the forefront and makes the vocals a bit sleepy (in a good way). The Egyptian theme continues on the funky “Drowning in the Nile” (which includes some wild harmonica work by Blackwell). The closer is “18 Glowing Phantoms.” Blackwell’s acoustic guitar takes on a tribal sound as he sings about being taken to an otherworldly dark forest to learn he has no soul. Creepy? Yes. Good? Absolutely (especially at the break-down).

This split 10″ EP was a good warm-up for both The UFO Club’s self-titled album a year later and Night Beats’ first full record. It’s a fine addition to any collection of net-psychedelic music.

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