Rock – Page 121 – 7th Level Music

Khruangbin and Leon Bridges team up to bring us “Texas Sun” in the winter when we need it most.

Khruangbin & Leon Bridges are pleased to announce Texas Sun, their forthcoming collaborative EP out February 7th on Dead Oceans, in partnership with Columbia Records and Night Time Stories Ltd. In conjunction with today’s announcement, they present its title track. Over a slowly rolling backbeat and strums of flamenco-style guitar, Bridges sings of the pull the unique Texan landscape can have on you, even from miles away. It’s a stunner of an opener, kicking off the EP’s own journey through homesick reminiscences, backseat romances, and late-night contemplations.

Listen to “Texas Sun” —
https://youtu.be/zSWNWWREtsI

Texas Sun is the kind of record made for listening with the windows down and the road humming softly beneath you. Their first time writing with a vocalist, Texas Sun finds Khruangbin—formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald “DJ” Johnson on drums—tailoring their exotic funk to Bridges’ soulful melodies. On the EP, these Texas natives meet up somewhere in the mythical nexus of the state’s past, present, and future—a dreamy badlands where genres blur as seamlessly as the terrain. The state’s music is as varied and wild as its geography, producing Southern rap pioneers Geto Boys and UGK, lysergic trailblazers The 13th Floor Elevators, and genres-unto-themselves like St. Vincent, Gary Clark Jr., and Beyoncé. Texas Sun lives here too, a record that calls equally to the chopped-and-screwed hip-hop fans rattling slabs on the southside of Houston, to those who grew up on listening to both mariachi and post-hardcore out on the Mexican borders of El Paso, to the Austin acid-dropping art school kids. All of these things overlap on Texas Sun in a multicolored melange, purple hues as vivid and unpredictable as one of the state’s rightfully celebrated sunsets.

“We try not to have too much of an intention, because it gets in the way of what the music wants to do,” Lee says. “If you just let the music do what it’s supposed to do, it will reveal itself. We tried to take that same approach with Leon. For us, it was opening up our world to have another person in it. But all of it feels like Texas to me.”

Texas Sun started on the road and wrapped up in the studio. Both Bridges and Khruangbin had been touring nonstop behind their acclaimed sophomore LPs when their paths converged for a joint North American tour in 2018, a run of shows stretching from Los Angeles to New York. Although both of their musical lanes were slightly different, they shared a dusty, laid back vibe. When a Khruangbin session yielded a song that seemed like it might pair well with Bridges’ voice, the band sent it over. Bridges returned the track with his vocals the very next day. They all soon decamped to the studio with engineer Steve Christensen, hoping to make it into a B-side. But everything flowed so naturally, it was obvious this would be something bigger, leading to Texas Sun.

“Big sky country, that’s what they call Texas,” Lee says. Texas Sun effortlessly evokes the feeling of being behind the wheel, nothing but that big sky before you, your mind set free to wander. It’s a sound that should keep you good company on your own winding roads, wherever they may lead, and always back home.

Texas Sun Tracklist:
1. Texas Sun
2. Midnight
3. C-Side
4. Conversion

Pre-order Texas Sun —
https://ffm.to/texassun

Khruangbin online:
khruangbin.com
instagram.com/khruangbin
twitter.com/khruangbin
facebook.com/khruangbin
khruangbin.bandcamp.com
deadoceans.com

Leon Bridges online:
leonbridges.com
instagram.com/leonbridgesofficial
twitter.com/leonbridges
facebook.com/LeonBridgesOfficial
columbiarecords.com

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

Squirrel Flower takes us on a melancholy ride with “Headlights.”

Squirrel Flower – the moniker of Ella O’Connor Williams – recently announced I Was Born Swimming, her debut album, out January 31st on Polyvinyl. Following its lead single/video, “Red Shoulder,” she now releases its follow-up single/video, “Headlights.”

Speaking of the track Squirrel Flower says:

“’Headlights’ takes place in a moment of solitary reflection; a glance back and a glance forward. I wrote it on tour driving through the pioneer valley in Massachusetts in some heavy fog. Suddenly I was aware of the space the car was plummeting through, both physical and temporal.”

Director Bao Ngo explains the inspiration behind the video:

“The video for ‘Headlights’ was inspired by cheesy, classic imagery of actors riding in cars through LA— evoking glamour and sunshine. Here, we ran with the concept and placed it in a Massachusetts suburb on a cold winter day, driving around in circles in a convertible, shooting from morning til night, playing with a slightly warped sense of time so that the video would feel a little cold and a little lonely, and perhaps at times a little jarring, while still aiming to subtly reference the beauty of older Hollywood films.”

Throughout the 12 songs that make up I Was Born Swimming, landscapes change and relationships shift. The lyrics feel like effortless expressions of exactly the way it feels to change — abstract, determined and hopeful.

Squirrel Flower’s music is ethereal and warm, brimming over with emotional depth but with a steely eyed bite and confidence in its destination. The band on I Was Born Swimming plays with delicate intention, keeping the arrangements natural and light while Williams’ lead guitar is often fiercely untethered. The album was tracked live, with few overdubs, at The Rare Book Room Studio in New York City with producer Gabe Wax (Adrienne Lenker, Palehound, Cass McCombs). The musicians were selected by Wax and folded themselves into the songs effortlessly. At the heart of the album lives Williams’ haunting voice and melancholic, soulful guitar.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “HEADLIGHTS”
https://youtu.be/JuMgMoF_vf8

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “RED SHOULDER”
https://youtu.be/pge3R8wbvII

DOWNLOAD / STREAM “RED SHOULDER”
https://smarturl.it/born-swimming

PRE-ORDER I WAS BORN SWIMMING
https://plyvnyl.co/born-swimming

Squirrel Flower Tour Dates:
Tue. Jan. 28 – London, UK @ The Islington
Fri. Jan. 31 – Brighton, UK @ Resident Records
Sat. Feb. 1 – Bristol, UK @ Friendly Records
Sun. Feb. 2 – Leeds, UK @ Jumbo Records
Tue. Feb. 4 – Diksmuide, BE @ 4AD * [Sold Out]
Wed. Feb. 5 – Nijmegen, BL @ Doornroosje *
Thu. Feb. 6 – Brussels, BE @ AB *
Sat. Feb. 8 – Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet * [Sold Out]
Thu. March 5 – Freeport, ME @ Cadenza
Fri. March 6 – Middletown, CT @ Mac 650 Art Gallery &
Sat. March 7 – Boston, MA @ Great Scott &
Wed. March 11 – Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade &
Thu. March 12 – Philadelphia, PA @ Everybody Hits &
Sat. March 13 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd &
Mon. March 23 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge %
Wed. March 25 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo %
Thu. March 26 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill %
Sat. March 28 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza %
Sun. March 29 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge %
Tue. March 31 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court %
Thu. April 2 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge %
Mon. April 6 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry %
Tue. April 7 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas %
Wed. April 8 – Cleveland, OH @ Mahall’s %
Fri. April 10 – Toronto, ON @ Drake Hotel &
Sat. April 11 – Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo &

% = w/ Why Bonnie
& = w/ Cedric Noel
* =w/ Strand of Oaks

SQUIRREL FLOWER ONLINE:
http://www.squirrelflower.net/
https://www.facebook.com/sqrrlflwr/
https://twitter.com/sqrrlflwr
https://squirrelflower.bandcamp.com/
https://pitchperfectpr.com/squirrel-flower
https://www.instagram.com/sqrrlflwr/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7bI1v9NGBBhq8iGfytctni

Keep your mind open.

[Head on over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

Rewind Review: Pink Floyd – The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)

Pink Floyd‘s debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, is one of those classic records that deserves its legendary status. Its influence can be found not only among all the other United Kingdom (and many elsewhere, of course) psychedelic bands of the 1960’s and 1970’s, but also among modern psych-rock bands around the globe. No one could have predicted this, of course, because the album is so damn weird.

The opener, “Astronomy Domine,” moves like a funeral dirge across the cosmos – somehow combining space rock with doom-psych. “Lucifer Sam” has a killer, fuzzy bass groove by Roger Waters while Syd Barrett sings a tribute to his cat (“That cat’s something I can’t explain.”). “Matilda Mother” pours on the echo effects as Barrett and Waters sings about a long-forgotten king and Richard Wright lays down a sweet organ solo. “Flaming” is a trippy, hippy track about “lazing in the foggy dew” and “sitting on a unicorn.”

“Pow R. Toc H.” is an instrumental track that brings in jazz piano and softens Nick Mason‘s beats to sound like they kept him behind a velvet curtain in a dark nightclub. It mixes in maniacal laughter and chaotic guitar riffs now and then to keep you on your toes. “Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk” is the first track on the album written by Waters, so it’s no surprise that bass and drums move to the forefront while Barrett’s guitar and Wright’s keys seem to be having their own, frantic conversation.

The second instrumental, “Interstellar Overdrive,” would help pave the way for doom-psych with its deep bass grooves, haunted house organ, Tell Tale Heart drums, and Psycho guitar. Just to mess with us, the next track on the album is “The Gnome” – which is literally about a gnome (named Grimble Gromble) going on a “big adventure amidst the grass.”

Need a song featuring Barrett’s view of the cosmos? How about “Chapter 24,” in which he sings, “All movement is accomplished in six stages and the seventh brings return. The seven is the number of the young light. It forms when darkness is increased by one.” Sure. Why not? It’s nice to hear Wright’s organ taking the lead among the instruments on it. “The Scarecrow” tick-tocks along like the subject’s arms “when the wind cut up rough.” The closer, “Bike,” is, believe it or not, a love song. Barrett offers to give his girl “anything, everything, if you want things” including his bike, his cloak, his mouse (named Gerald, although Barrett doesn’t know why), his gingerbread men, and, the most precious gift of all – his music. It’s a lot of fun at first, and then descends into some sort of Lovecraftian dream.

The album is fun, fascinating, and baffling. My dog had no idea what to make of it when I played it in the house one day. I’m still not sure what to make of it either, but that’s okay. You’ll find something different about it each time you hear it.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe while you’re here.]

Clutch releases sharp cover of CCR’s “Fortunate Son.”

Clutch‘s release of Creedence Clearwater Revival‘s “Fortunate Son” is the fourth in a series of new studio recordings that comprise the newly launched Weathermaker Vault Series. Available on all digital outlets here: https://orcd.co/dlrxa4p.

“Growing up it was hard not to hear CCR’s ”Fortunate Son’ on the radio, on TV or even at the county fair. The groovy backbeat and sloshy hi hats that introduces John Fogerty’s timeless lyrics written so many years ago could be found everywhere. While it may be true to say that ‘Fortunate Son’ could be seen as a political song we think it’s bigger than that. For us ‘Fortunate Son’ is an inspirational song. For that reason we’d like to dedicate the song to the most inspirational person we’ve ever had in our lives, our late manager Jack Flanagan. Jack Flanagan was no fortunate son. He worked tirelessly and passionately all the while keeping a razor sharp sense of humor until his last days. Thank you Jack for making us better than we ever thought we could be.” Jean-Paul Gaster

“Fortunate Son” was mixed by 6X Grammy Award winner and Clutch collaborator, Vance Powell (Wolfmother, The Raconteurs, Arctic Monkeys). In the video that accompanies this release Tim Sult pays homage to Jack Flanagan by playing Jack’s beloved 90’s Les Paul. The video was shot at J Robbins’ Magpie Cage Recording Studio in Baltimore, MD. J Robbins produced the Clutch albums Robot Hive/Exodus and Strange Cousins from the West and he recorded all of the WM Vault Series singles. The video can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/F1DJFNSideQ.

Clutch has curated their own Spotify playlist “Clutch’s Heavy Rotation” at this location: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3NlZsjNNOoCvwjCv58mcNR

On Monday, December 2nd, Clutch will embark on a European headline tour with Graveyard and Kamchatka as support. Tickets available here.

2 Dec (Mon) – Wiesbaden, GER @ Kulturzentrum Schlachthof 3 Dec (Tue) – Oberhausen, GER @ Turbinenhalle 5 Dec (Thu) – Bremen, GER @ Aladin Music Hall 6 Dec (Fri) – Nuremberg, GER @ Löwensaal* 7 Dec (Sat) – Strasbourg, FRA @ La Laiterie 8 Dec (Sun) – Villeurbanne, FRA @ Transbordeur 10 Dec (Tue) – Barcelona, ESP @ Sala Apolo* 11 Dec (Wed) – Madrid, ESP @ Sala But 13 Dec (Fri) – Madrid, ESP @ Sala But 14 Dec (Sat) – Bilbao, ESP @ Santana 27 15 Dec (Sun) – Bordeaux, FRA @ Le Rocher de Palmer 17 Dec (Tue) – Southampton, GBR @ O2 Guildhall 18 Dec (Wed) – London, GBR @ Roundhouse 19 Dec (Thu) – Leeds, GBR @ O2 Academy* 20 Dec (Fri) – Nottingham, GBR @ Rock City *Sold out

Then, right after the Christmas holidays Clutch will head out one last time in 2019 for the annual run of dates between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. They are supported at each show by The Steel Woods and Damon Johnson. The only exception will be at the Ashville, NC show where Tyler Bryant will have the opening slot instead of Damon Johnson. Tickets available here.

27 Dec (Fri) – Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s* 28 Dec (Sat) – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel 29 Dec (Sun) – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club 30 Dec (Mon) – Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom 31 Dec (Tue) – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer *Sold out

Keep your mind open.

[I’d be fortunate if you subscribed.]

Live: Reverend Horton Heat, Dave Alvin, New Bomb Turks, and Voodoo Glow Skulls – House of Blues – Chicago, IL – November 28, 2019

It had been well over a decade since I’d seen Reverend Horton Heat, New Bomb Turks, or Voodoo Glow Skulls live, so buying a ticket to their show at Chicago’s House of Blues was a no-brainer. New Bomb Turks are one of my favorite punk bands of all time, and Reverend Horton Heat is an unstoppable touring machine. VGS are bonkers ska punks whose blood is probably the formula for Red Bull. The icing on the cake was learning that punk / psychobilly legend Dave Alvin was going to be playing a half-hour set with Reverend Horton Heat during the show (which was called the “Holiday Hayride”).

Voodoo Glow Skulls opened the show, getting the crowd jumping and moshing and bouncing. They played new and older tracks, including a fun cover of “Charlie Brown” and their blistering new song, “Generation Genocide.”

New Bomb Turks were up next and threw down a fiery, raucous set that left a lot of people dumbfounded. Lead singer Eric Davidson did his best to keep the crowd fired up, including trying to pull people onstage. Only four people, me included, took him up on the offer (Me during their classic “Dress Up the Naked Truth,” which resulted in Mr. Davidson violating my mouth with his microphone while I knelt before him). The set was so quick and furious that the crowd seemed stunned into silence by the time they were done.

Reverend Horton Heat opened with an instrumental version of “We Three Kings” and then switched back and forth between fan-favorites like “400 Bucks” and “Bales of Cocaine” and Christmas tunes like “Silver and Gold” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” The whole band are top-notch musicians. A nice addition for the home crowd was the pianist, a Texan by birth, but a Chicago theatre veteran who played Jerry Lee Lewis in the local production of Million Dollar Quartet.

The whipped cream on the holiday pumpkin pie was a half-hour set by Dave Alvin (singer-songwriter, founding member of The Blasters and The Flesh Eaters) with the Reverend Horton Heat band backing him. Alvin commanded the stage as soon as he set foot on it and put on a guitar clinic, often leaving Jim Heath (AKA Rev. Heat) grinning and saying, “Well, I guess we have to follow that.” after Alvin exited stage left.

It’s a fun tour and was a jolly way to start the holiday season. It might be the last show I see in 2019, and it’s a good way to end my year of live music if that’s the case.

Keep your mind open.

Rewind Review: The Donkeys – Sun Damaged Youth (2018)

“It’s the year 2025, California has been banished from the United States for water theft.” That’s the first line of The Donkeys‘ futuristic surf-psych concept album Sun Damaged Youth. It’s about a “pack of teenaged misfits armed with skateboards” doing what they can to survive in a radioactive, yet still lovely, desolate landscape. Not only has California been abandoned, but so has most of Earth. The elite have fled to Mars and left the rest of us amid the toxic slime and tortuous heat they helped create.

The opening cut, “S.D.Y.,” is full of lovely Beach Boys melodies mixed with shoegaze surf guitars. 60’s retro organ sounds dominate “Radiation,” as they sing, “On the beach, you’re never out of reach.” Part of the story of this concept album is that the teenage wastelanders are kept sane by radio transmissions from a DJ known as “Cherry Cheetah” on KTOX Radio broadcast from somewhere deep underground. She presents songs like the dream-poppy “Candy Foam” and fictional bands like the Coffin Nails doing a surf instrumental called “Space Slip,” the Savage Detectives performing “Pier Rat” (a bit of a spooky tune with that vintage organ in it), the Santa Anas playing “Pink Seaweed” (an early 1960’s soul instrumental), and The Divine Invasions playing a dreamwave tune called “Weed Wacker.”

“Kool Kids” is shoegaze bliss with bright vocals that still have that distant sound that only shoegaze bands seem to know how to create. “We Are All So Young” is a salute to the point in life where one realizes youth is ending and adulthood is looming. “It’s time to leave the streets behind. I hear the mountains are doing fine,” they say. “Summer’s Dream” is like a long lost Beck cut with its languid beats and vocals as the SDY remember when summer days were spent playing games and surfing instead of scrounging for food and dealing with, as evidenced in the next track, “Green Gunk” that ruins everything it touches. “Unusual” is a short track that floats by you like a feather on the wind. “Sticky Sand” is an upbeat surf rocker that hides a warning about ocean pollution.

“All In the Eyes” brings in Eastern rhythms and guitar sounds (as well as chirping birds, perhaps the first ones seen by the SDY in years) as they sing about idyllic fields and how there’s “no need for disguise when everything’s real.” This is true. When “all the worth is gone, nothing is real,” as they say. This world is illusion. The world of the SDY is illusion, yet its lessons are important. The characters in the Donkeys’ fiction learn that what others see as a wasteland is truly a beautiful, present reality. We’d all be better off if we could see this.

Keep your mind open.

[You should subscribe. All the kool kids are doing it.]

Mush encourages us to “Eat the Etiquette” ahead of their February album release.

Leeds, England’s Mush, are set to release their 3D Routine, in February on Memphis Industries. It was produced by Andy Savours (who has worked with bands like My Bloody Valentine, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and Dream Wife) and the first single “Eat The Etiquette” is out now.

Mush specialize in playing weirdo, angular, observational guitar pop, both energetic and abrasive while also having a ton of fun. They’ve played shows with bands like Shame, Girl Band, Stereloab and more, and have been supported by sites like DIY and Loud and Quiet, as well as BBC 6Music.

They released a single through the legendary Too Pure Singles Club, and followed that with Induction Party earlier this year, which was a relentless burst of an EP (also released on Memphis Industries). “Eat The Etiquette” continues where the EP left off and is a total earworm of a track with a super catchy chorus that’ll get stuck in your head all day.

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

The Beths announce 2020 spring U.S. tour.

The Beths will tour the U.S. in Spring 2020 to preview new music from their forthcoming album out next year on Carpark Records. After selling out shows at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg, Washington, DC’s Union Stage and Chicago’s Lincoln Hall on previous tours, the band will play more intimate venues on this run. They recently sat down with Paste while in the studio to discuss the forthcoming album and tour. Read the feature here.

The Beths earned praise from critics and fans alike for their debut full length, Future Me Hates Me. In addition to being ranked #42 in Paste’s “50 Best Indie Rock Albums of the 2010s,” the album received glowing reviews from NPR Music, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The A.V. Club, Stereogum, and more. The band recently won Best Alternative Artist and Best Group at the 2019 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards while also being nominated for Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Single of the Year.

Tickets for the band’s Spring 2020 U.S. tour are on sale now.
The Beths Tour Dates:
Sat. March 7 – Auckland, NZ @ Villa Maria*
Thu. March 12 – Marlborough, NZ @ Framingham Harvest Concert
Wed. April 15 – Seattle, WA @ Laserdome
Thu. April 16 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge (tickets)
Fri. April 17 – Bend, OR @ Volcanic Theatre Pub (tickets)
Sat. April 18 – Oakland, CA @ The New Parish (tickets)
Sun. April 19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon (tickets)
Mon. April 20 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar (tickets)
Wed. April 22 – Austin, TX @ The Parish (tickets)
Thu. April 23 – Dallas, TX @ Three Links (tickets)
Fri. April 24 – Houston, TX @ Satellite Bar (tickets)
Sat. April 25 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa (tickets)
Sun. April 26 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement (tickets)
Tue. April 28 – Washington, DC @ Pearl Street Warehouse (tickets)
Wed. April 29 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie (tickets)
Thu. April 30 – Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade NYC (tickets)
Fri. May 1 – Pittsburgh, PA @ The Smiling Moose (tickets)
Tue. May 2 – Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop (tickets)
Wed. May 3 – Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge (tickets)

*w/ A-Ha & Rick Astley

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you split.]

Review: Bleached – Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough?

I love the title of Bleached‘s new record – Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough? Ostensibly, it refers to sisters Jessica and Jennifer Clavin‘s take on bad relationships. Bleached has always excelled at writing songs about love, break-ups, drawing a line in the emotional sand, and embracing female empowerment. The album’s title can also refer to a host of other things, though – the political atmosphere, junk food, money for billionaires, your smartphone, etc. It’s a question we should all often ask ourselves because it keeps us in the now.

The solid rock groove of the opener, “Heartbeat Away,” has the Clavin sisters singing about how dangerously close addiction and heartbreak can be if you’re not careful (“I could go back to the way it was. All it would take is a slip in the mud.”). It’s no secret that Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough? is the first album they’ve written while clean and sober, and this new clarity is all over the record. As evidence of this, look no further than the second track, “Hard to Kill,” which brings in a great disco guitar riff and is one of my favorite singles of the year.

“Daydream” is a garage rock song about longing after someone who might’ve been “the one,” but is now lost to time and vague memories. “I Get What I Need” has a cool swing to it that is difficult to describe (Early Kaiser Chiefs tunes?) but great to hear. “Somebody Dial 911” is easier to describe, because it sounds like a lost 1980’s alternative rock love song that cracked the Billboard Top 40. The guitar riffs resemble Cure riffs and the slightly echoed vocals remind one of Brit-pop from the era.

“Kiss You Goodbye” (also in the running for one of my top 20 singles of the year) is such a great tune that you might miss the fact that it’s a middle finger to a former lover and how Bleached feels “so alive” afterwards. It’s a track that isn’t afraid to explore and embrace the many genres that inspire the Clavin sisters (disco, pop, and post-punk in this track, in particular). “I don’t want what I can’t have,” Jennifer Clavin sings on “Rebound City.” “I just want to make you say, ‘I’m sorry. I never meant to break your heart.’ It’s a one-way boulevard.” Ouch. You’re tempted to feel bad for the dude she’s left, but you quickly realize he was a dickweed and Clavin is better off walking away with her middle finger raised.

“I don’t know if I’m cut out for this,” they sing at the beginning of “Silly Girl” – a song that’s a look-back to their past reliance on drugs and booze. Trust me, Sisters Clavin, you are. The slick production of this toe-tapper is proof. The California sun comes through on “Valley to LA,” which even has a west coast country vibe to it. Jennifer Clavin admits to her faults on “Real Life” (“That one time when I was such a piece of shit and made you sad…”). “Awkward Phase” is a down-tuned, but still lively, track about our teenage years and the attachments we have related to them that are hard to release (Haven’t we had enough of them?). The closer, “Shitty Ballet,” is a sharp take on a bad relationship and heartbreak. So often we dance around the things that make us uncomfortable or get lost in the illusion of comfort that is actually bad for us (again, without realizing we’ve had enough of it).

Bleached keep getting better with each record. Hearing them create art from a place of inner peace is a joy, and I couldn’t be happier for them. Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough? might be the one of the most uplifting albums of 2019.

Keep your mind open.

[It’s not hard to subscribe. Just drop your e-mail address in the box to your left.]

Levitation Austin 2019 recap – Day Four

We began our fourth and final day of Levitation Austin 2019 by attending the downtown record show at the Palmer Event Center. The show was a gold mine for vinyl record collectors. I managed to score three CD’s there – a live Goblin bootleg of a show from 1975, a copy of Husker Du‘s Zen Arcade, and a copy of Duran Duran‘s Arena (the cassette of which I wore out years ago).

We had a nice dinner at one of our yearly stops – Daruma Ramen – and then headed back to Barracuda for the Death by Audio showcase. This was one of the first tickets I bought for the festival when I saw one of my favorite bands, A Place to Bury Strangers, was playing along with The KVB, who I’ve wanted to see live for a while now. APTBS were selling earplugs at their merchandise table for $2.00 a pair. I had brought my own, but in case you’ve never seen them before, this is $2.00 well spent. Trust me on this. First up for us at the DBA showcase was Numb.er, who put on a cool set of shoegaze noise.

Up next, and outside were The KVB, who were excited to finally be playing in Austin and to a welcoming crowd. They sounded great and showed how much evocative music two people can make with the right chemistry, guitar pedals, and synth / drum machine set-up.

We went back inside to catch most of the set by Austin’s own Ringo Deathstarr. They played a mix of new (some played for the first time that night) and older material and filled the inside stage area with fuzzy rock.

I then went back outside for APTBS’ set. My wife stayed inside to wait for Christian Bland and the Revelators and to avoid the sonic assault provided by an APTBS show. This isn’t a crack on my wife. Not everyone can handle their shows. I’ve seen metal heads, screamo fanatics, and hardcore goths wither under their power. Sure enough, they unleashed fury on the outdoor stage, with Oliver Ackermann’s guitar and Dion Lunadon’s bass both being hammered onto the stage within two songs (and multiple times thereafter).

APTBS with members of Ringo Deathstarr and Cryogeyser

Every band from the Death By Audio showcase came out to play with them during the set, which included members of Cryogeyser, the KVB, Numb.er, and Ringo Deathstarr. Their was so much fog machine fog rolling off the stage at one point that the band, bathed in strobe lights as well, took on the appearance of ghosts. I was near the front of the stage and facing Dion Lunadon for most of the set and he went through two bass guitars, and all of the strings on the second were broken by the end. In other words, it was another great APTBS show and a great finish to the festival.

Christian Bland and the Revelators, meanwhile, were putting on a cool show of early Pink Floyd-influenced blues-psych inside Barracuda, and it was a nice way to send our latest Levitation Austin Festival out on a groovy note with one of its curators.

Christian Bland (left) and the Revelators

Levitation weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year. It’s always a good time, the crowds are always cool (I’ve yet to have run-ins with jerks at the festival.), and the music (and food) is always great. Thanks again to the Reverb Appreciation Society for making it happen. See you next year, Austin.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe.]