Rock – Page 16 – 7th Level Music

The Beths get “Metal” on their new single and announce a new world tour.

The Beths — the New Zealand-based quartet of vocalist Elizabeth Stokes, guitarist Jonathan Pearce, bassist Benjamin Sinclair, and drummer Tristan Deck — announce signing to ANTI- and release the new single/video, “Metal.” “Metal” is the first taste of new music from the band since the release of 2023’s Expert In A Dying Field (Deluxe), the expanded version of their beloved 2022 album.

Following Liz Stokes’s recent, sold–out solo show at Largo in Los Angeles with special guests Courtney Barnett and Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords), The Beths announce a world tour across North America, the UK and Europe this fall. The band returns to the U.S. for the first time since playing Coachella, Bonnaroo and Newport Folk Festival, and supporting The National, Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service in 2023-2024. They’ll headline some of their biggest venues to date including The Wiltern in Los Angeles, The Fillmore in San Francisco, The Salt Shed in Chicago, Brooklyn Paramount in New York City, Union Transfer in Philadelphia, 9:30 Club in Washington, DC and more. Tickets go on sale Fri. May 2 at 10am local and are available here.

Today’s single “Metal” was born out of a time of rigorous touring, mental health struggles, and several diagnoses for Stokes. “In some ways ‘Metal’ is a song about being alive and existing in a human body,” she explains. “That is something I have been acutely aware of in the last few years, where I have been on what one might call a ‘health journey’. For parts of the last few years, I kind of felt like my body was a vehicle that had carried me pretty well thus far but was breaking down, something I had little to no control over. All of the steps in the Rube Goldberg machine of life are so unlikely, and yet here we are in it. I have a hunger and a curiosity for learning about the world around me, and for learning about myself. And despite all the ways that my body feels like a broken machine, I still marvel at the complexity of such a machine.”

“I can hold that knowledge in one hand, and yet with the other hand I can point to my reflection and just be like ‘you are shit’. Or ‘ugly’. Or ‘worthless’. I can reliably respond to any suggestion that I might be able to achieve any small thing with ‘no’. And these are variations of the ‘short word’ referenced in the song.”

Sonically, the track sees The Beths fully embracing jangle rock. Stokes says, “There was a propulsion to the acoustic strumming pattern on the original demo. Tristan’s drums meet that feeling so perfectly, the feeling of a train pushing up the tracks. Jonathan got to play his Burns 12 string guitar as sparkly as he wanted, and Ben as usual can’t be contained to the lower register. I think we ended up with an arrangement that embodies the frenetic intricacy of an engine in action. There’s a lot going on, until there isn’t.”

Watch the Video for “Metal”

2023’s Expert In A Dying Field (Deluxe) expanded upon the brilliance of The Beths’ acclaimed 2022 album, “another collection of tunes that cements their status as one of the great guitar-pop bands of this present moment” (Stereogum). The third studio album from The Beths, Expert In A Dying Field was released to a wealth of critical praise, and was named one of 2022’s best releases by the likes of Pitchfork, The Ringer, Stereogum and more. Surrounding its release, The Beths were profiled by Rolling Stone, made their U.S. television debut on CBS Saturday Morning, and performed a NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert, The Beths are undeniably one of the most exciting indie rock bands to emerge in recent memory.

The Beths Tour Dates:
Thu. Sept. 18 – Dublin, IE @ Button Factory
Sat. Sept. 20 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
Sun. Sept. 21 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 TV Studio
Mon. Sept. 22 – Leeds, UK @ Project House
Wed. Sept. 24 – Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy
Thu. Sept. 25 – Birmingham, UK @ XOYO
Fri. Sept. 26 – London, UK @ Roundhouse
Sat. Sept. 27 – Brighton, UK @ CHALK
Mon. Sept. 29 – Tourcoing, FR @ Le Grand Mix
Tue. Sept. 30 – Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo
Wed. Oct. 1 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique
Fri. Oct. 3 – Cologne, DE @ Kantine
Sat. Oct. 4 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Sun. Oct. 5 – Hamburg, DE @ Krust
Tue. Oct. 7 – Stockholm, SE @ Slaktkyrkan
Wed. Oct. 8 Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret Scene
Thu. Oct. 9 – Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset
Sat. Oct. 11 – Berlin, DE @ Lido
Sun. Oct. 12 – Munich, DE @ Strom
Mon. Oct. 13 – Zurich, CH @ Plaza
Wed. Oct. 15 – Barcelona, ES @ Razzmatazz 2
Thu. Oct. 16 – Madrid, ES @ Nazca
Fri. Oct. 17 – Lisbon, PT @ LAV
Thu. Oct. 30 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel*
Fri. Oct. 31 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse *
Sat. Nov 1 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl *
Mon. Nov. 3 – Dallas, TX @ The Studio At The Bomb Factory *
Tue. Nov. 4 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s *
Thu. Nov. 6 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren *
Fri. Nov. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern * ^
Sat. Nov. 8 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore *
Wed. Nov. 12 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades *
Fri. Nov. 14 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom *
Sat. Nov. 15 – Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theatre *
Sun. Nov. 16 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom *
Tue. Nov. 18 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall *
Wed. Nov. 19 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre *
Fri. Nov. 21 – Kansas City, MO @ The Truman *
Sat. Nov. 22 – St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre *
Sun. Nov. 23 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed (Indoor) * +
Tue. Nov 25 – Cleveland, OH @ Globe Iron *
Wed. Nov. 26 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian Theatre *
Fri. Nov. 28 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall *
Sat. Nov. 29 – Montreal, QC @ Beanfield Theatre *
Tue. Dec. 2 – Boston, MA @ Royale *
Wed. Dec. 3 – Providence, RI @ Fete Music Hall *
Fri. Dec. 5 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount * #
Sat. Dec. 6 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer *
Tue. Dec. 9 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club *

* w/ Phoebe Rings
^ w/ Bret McKenzie
+ w/ Squirrel Flower
# w/ illuminati hotties

Keep your mind open.

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

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: Black Sabbath – self-titled (1970)

I can’t understate how much Black Sabbath‘s self-titled debut from 1970 changed the game. Many words have been written on this fact, so I’m not adding anything new by declaring that no one had heard anything like this before 1970. Sure, there had been heavy psychedelic rock, and some of it downright spooky (Looking at you, 13th Floor Elevators.), but this was spooky and heavy.

The opening title track alone has Ozzy Osbourne singing about some sort of dark…thing, Satan himself, arises out of smoke to point a black finger at him and possibly doom him for all time. Osbourne pleads to God, and us, for help while Tommy Iommi‘s guitar sounds like weird chants, Bill Ward‘s drums are like rolling thunder that rumbles at distance and then overwhelms you moments later, and Geezer Butler‘s bass is like cloven footsteps approaching you from the dark.

Just when you think there’s no light in this pit, along comes “The Wizard,” a song about Gandalf and loaded with enough blues harmonica from Osbourne to power a Howlin’ Wolf track. It’s one of their best early cuts, and just a lot of damn fun. Finishing up Side A is the four-song medley of “Wasp / Behind the Wall of Sleep / Bassically,” and “N.I.B.” Clocking in at nearly eleven minutes, the four tracks have a great swagger to them that keeps you hooked the entire time, even as Osbourne sings about your body turning into a corpse. Don’t worry, though, because the morning sun will break the spell and awaken you from this horrible dreams. Geezer’s solo on “Bassically” leads into the thudding “N.I.B.” (named after Geezer’s “pen nib” goatee) and Osbourne singing a warning about how deceptive the devil can be.

“Wicked World” starts Side B with wicked, almost jazz-chop drums from Ward, who was clearly having a blast in the recording studio that day. Osbourne sings about social injustice with lyrics that, unfortunately, are still relevant (“People got to work just to earn their bread while people just across the sea are counting the dead.”). The second side ends with another medley, this one of “A Bit of Finger” / “Sleeping Village” / and “Warning” that almost four minutes than the medley on Side A. Most of it is a creeping, menacing instrumental (“Sleeping Village”), while the end is a song about staying away from a potentially dangerous (and mystical?) woman.

It’s a classic album, and an important one not just in the history of metal, but of music in general. It flattened people back in 1970 and still hits as hard as a battle axe.

Keep your mind open.

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King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard are set to release yet another album and embark on yet another tour…with a full orchestra.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard announce their 27th album Phantom Island, out June 13th, and share its lead single “Deadstick.” If you’re worried that, 15 years and 26 albums into their epic quest, polymorphous psychedelic voyagers King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard might be running out of new frontiers to traverse, then let their latest opus set your mind to rest. The band’s second release on their own (p)doom records label, Phantom Island sees our intrepid heroes add a new dimension to their ever-evolving songcraft, embracing the symphonic and embroidering their tangles of lysergic riff and melody with strings and horns and woodwind.

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “DEADSTICK”

The roots of the album can be traced back to the group’s legendary show at the Hollywood Bowl in June 2023. Gizz met some members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic backstage who urged them to take part in an annual series where the orchestra plays alongside rock and pop acts. Fast-forward to 2024, and the Gizz are hunkered down in their clubhouse, plugged into tiny practice amps and choogling to their hearts’ content. The results of these sessions yield that year’s Aria-nominated Flight b741. But these sessions yielded ten further songs that didn’t quite fit the Flight b741 vibe, and which, Mackenzie says, “were harder to finish. Musically, they needed a little more time and space and thought.”

Quickly, the group’s collective mind leapt to the LA Philharmonic. “The songs felt like they needed this other energy and colour, that we needed to splash some different paint on the canvas,” Mackenzie says. He reached out to friend, British historical keyboardist, conductor and arranger Chad Kelly. “He brings this wealth of musical awareness to his chameleon-like arrangements,” Mackenzie says. “We come from such different worlds – he plays Mozart and Bach and uses the same harpsichords they did, and tunes them the exact same way. But he’s obsessed with microtonal music, too, and all this nerdy stuff like me. Lead single “Deadstick” puts Kelly’s elaborate orchestrations on display, raising the graceful and complex song to the sublime, transforming it into a giddy jazz-rock riot.

On the song’s accompanying video, director Guy Tyzack says: “I started off wanting to create a frame that looked like a landscape painting with many different people and set pieces dotted about. Deadstick refers to when a plane propeller stops midflight so I decided to have a massive plane made out of cardboard crash land into a beautiful location. The song is big and chaotic so then I went about casting swing dancers and eccentric extras to fill the landscape.”

If Flight b741 was an album of rambunctious adventure stories, Phantom Island picks up that thread, spinning its tales of quests and piracy out into the stars. But it’s a more interior album than its predecessor, more melancholy – more “introverted”, Mackenzie says. Sure, these are tales of high adventure in galaxies far, far away, but the focus is less on the action, and more on the interior lives of those adventurers, reflecting the kind of insight Gizz have gleaned from 15 years of travelling the world and leaving their homes behind to take their music to the people. There’s a wiser, more mature, more sensitive Gizz at play here, questioning their place within the universe, their responsibilities, the ties that bind. “When I was younger, I was just interested in freaking people out,” admits Mackenzie, “but as I get older, I’m much more interested in connecting with people.”

King Gizzard will embark on their 2025 Phantom Island orchestral tour this July. Featuring a different accompanying 29-piece orchestra in each city – and ably led by conductor & music director Sarah Hicks – the tour will see the group perform with some of the country’s most renowned ensembles, before concluding with Field of Vision, the band’s own 3-day residency camping event at Meadow Creek in Buena Vista, CO. This represents the band’s only U.S. tour of 2025, so don’t miss out on your fix for a full calendar year. A full list of dates are below with tickets available here.

PRE-ORDER PHANTOM ISLAND

KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD TOUR DATES
(New dates in bold)
Sun. May 18 – Tue. May 20 – Lisbon, PT @ Coliseu dos Recreios *
Fri. May 23 – Sun. May 25 – Barcelona, ES @ Poble Espanyol *
Thu. May 29 – Sat. May 31 – Vilnius, LT @ Lukiškės Prison 2.0 ^
Wed. June 4 – Fri. June 6 – Athens, GR @ Lycabettus Theatre City of Athens #
Sun. June 8 – Tue. June 10 – Plovdiv, BG @ Ancient Theatre ^

Fri. June 13 – Sun. June 15 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival

Mon. July 28 – Philadelphia, PA @ TD Pavilion At The Mann (w/ Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia) $
Wed. July 30 – New Haven, CT @ Westville Music Bowl (w/ Orchestra of St. Luke’s) $
Fri. August 1 – Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium (w/ Orchestra of St. Luke’s) $
Sat. August 2 – Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium (Rock ‘n Roll Show) $
Mon. August 4 – Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
(w/ National Symphony Orchestra) $
Wed. August 6 – Highland Park, IL @ Ravinia Festival (w/ Chicago Philharmonic) $
Fri. August 8 – Colorado Springs, CO @ Ford Amphitheater (w/ Colorado Symphony) $
Sun. August 10 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl (w/ Hollywood Bowl Orchestra) $
Mon. August 11 – San Diego, CA @ The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park (w/ San Diego Symphony Orchestra) $

Fri. August 15 – Sun. August 17 – Buena Vista, CO @ FIELD OF VISION at Meadow Creek %

Fri. October 31 – Manchester, UK @ Aviva Studios (Rave Set)
Sat. November 1 – London, UK @ Electric Brixton (Rave Set)
Sun. November 2 – London, UK @ Electric Brixton (Rave Set)
Tue. November 4 – London, UK @ Royal Albert Hall (w/ Covent Garden Sinfonia)
Wed. November 5 – Paris, FR @ La Seine Musicale (w/ L’Orchestre Lamoureux)
Thu. November 6 – Tilburg, NL @ 013 (Rave Set)
Fri. November 7 – Den Bosch, NL @ MAINSTAGE ( w/ Sinfonia Rotterdam)
Sun. November 9 – Gdansk, PL @ Inside Seaside Festival
(w/ The Baltic Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra)
Mon. November 10 – Berlin, DE @ Columbiahalle (Rave Set)
Tue. November 11 – Prague, CZ @ SaSaZu (Rave Set)
Wed. November 12 – Vienna, AT @ Gasometer (Rave Set)
Fri. November 14 – Copenhagen, DK @ Poolen (Rave Set)
Sat. November 15 – Gothenburg, SE @ Gothenburg Film Studios (Rave Set)

* w/ Etran De L’Aïr
^ w/ King Stingray
# w/ King Stingray, DJ Crenshaw
$ w/ DJ Crenshaw
% w/ Babe Rainbow, Gaye Su Akyol, King Stingray, Mannequin Pussy, Memo PST, Pearl Charles, The Mystery Lights, The Songs For Kids Band!, White Fence, DJ Crenshaw

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Paddang share wild new single, “Predator,” from their upcoming “Lost in Lizardland” album.

Paddang is a psychedelic rock trio formed in Toulouse (France) in 2020. With Osees and King Crimson all over the radio and a band name inspired by a surf spot in Indonesia, Paddang are speeding through a cosmic epic that sounds like a Herbert prophecy. Far from hiding behind a wall of fuzz or a mountain of reverb, the three voices dictate the tone and invoke an urgent need to do something in a world on the brink of chaos. Their debut album ‘Chasing Ghosts’ was released in March 2023, backed up by a fifty-date tour in France (including festivals such as Ecaussystème, Musicalarue, Montauban en scènes, Guitare en Scène, V&B Fest and support slots with bands such as MADAM, Pogo Car Crash Control, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, and It It Anita).

Their second album will be released on June 6th 2025 on LE CÈPE RECORDS & STOLEN BODY RECORDS. After a first single, ‘‘PRESSURE’‘ released in April, the band will reveal on Friday a second track from the album, “PREDATOR” : youtube.com/watch?v=vudrz5XHbK8

Fierce and visceral, “Predator” explores the fragile boundary between human nature and primal instinct. It’s a raw track about survival, fear, and the predator that lies dormant within each of us. With powerful vocals and a relentless rhythm, it delivers an urgent message—where rock becomes a weapon against apathy. “Predator” is more than just a song; it’s a cry against the loss of our humanity. Shot like the final episode of a thrilling B-movie, the “Predator” music video picks up where Pressure left off. Deep within the belly of a cave, the Lizard Corp industrialists have gone too far, recklessly exploiting Draconite, a stone of mystical energy. Mutated into reptilian creatures, they launch a savage hunt for Moros through the scorched landscapes of a dying planet. Rescued at the last moment by a mysterious guardian inspired by Quetzalcoatl, Moros sets off for Agartha—a legendary city where she hopes to find a glimpse of peace.

Keep your mind open.

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[Merci á Angi á NRV Promotion!]

Review: Fugue State – In the Lurch

The press release I got for Fugue State‘s new album, In the Lurch, described it as sounding like it’s “broadcast through a warped transistor radio from another dimension.” That’s a good way to put it. It’s a wild album that blends punk, jazz, garage rock, and other things I’m still trying to define…but should I bother?

After all, vocalist and guitarist Shane Bruno has said that the lead track (and single), “Moot Point,” is “not meant to be taken entirely seriously” — even though it’s a song about questioning your place in the universe. Perhaps that is the moot point: We’re all floating on a speck of dust in infinite space, so why are we so worried about everything?

Gage O’Brien‘s opening bass on the title track is like the sound of a muscle car engine roaring to life. The rest of the track is that same car tearing through a junkyard wall. “The Pipeline” combines surf and psych along with some weirdo rock and makes a somewhat spooky brew. “Mundane Man” is bonkers, as Bruno shreds his guitar and rolls his eyes at a dude who can’t stop talking about himself.

Drummer Jonathan Hanson goes nuts on the punky-funky “I’ll Keep It in Mind,” making you want to sign him up for your next punk band. “Facts” sounds like Osees making a weird surf album. “Joie de Vivre” is wonderfully warped. Bruno’s guitar sounds like he’s running it through at least three pedals and maybe even an old sewing machine.

“Connecticut Girls” reminds me of Dead Kennedys with its distorted vocals about picking up girls and surf-influenced garage punk sound. “I Don’t Wanna Be Here” could be the theme of the day, week, year, decade, country, and / or planet. O’Brien’s synths (and the horns!) on the closer, “Abscess,” are a neat touch, taking the song back and forth from Hasil Adkins weirdness to Julian Cope-level strangeness.

This is one of the wildest records I’ve heard all year so far. I need to see these guys live. It must be bonkers.

Keep your mind open.

[I’ll be left in the lurch if you don’t subscribe.]

[Thanks to Dan at Discipline PR!]

“Today You Can Learn the Secret” of Punchlove’s new single.

Last March, Brooklyn’s Punchlove released their debut LP Channelson Kanine Records. Composed of multi-instrumentalists Jillian Olesen, Joey Machina, Ian Lange-McPherson, and visual artIst viz_wel, the group’s debut earned praise from outlets like Stereogum, Bandcamp, FLOOD and Paste, who called the album “one of the most compelling shoegaze debuts in recent memory” and included the album on their Best Debut Albums of 2024 list.

The album’s reception has paved the way for a busy start to 2025 for the band, who have already toured across the UK and Europe, and will be heading out in the US later this month. Last month, they also released a new single called “(sublimate)” that teased a promising new direction for the band. The track moved beyond the shoegaze swirl of their debut, introducing layers of glitchy electronics and a heavier sound, a wave of industrial-inflected noise pop that Consequence called “further proof of the Brooklyn-based outfit’s proclivity for tasteful disturbance.“

Today, the band are returning to share another new track, a single called “Today You Can Learn The Secret.”

Where every Punchlove release to date has been self-produced, “Today You Can Learn The Secret” was co-produced with Xav Sinden. As Olesen explains, the track was inspired by an experiment in automatism that led to a revelation about the way her digital life had been impacting her subconciously.

Olesen says of the track:

This release is a surrealist, portal fantasy-inspired encounter with the unconscious mind. This latest song started with just the title itself (“Today You Can Learn the Secret”), and then Ian wrote all the instrumental parts. When it came time to write the lyrics, I had started leaving an open notebook next to my bed each night as a creative exercise in automatism I’d read about somewhere and basically started waking up to find all kinds of scribbles and chicken scratch all over the pages each morning. It was like scary psychological Christmas each morning. At times there was really raw stuff in there. It kinda freaked me out, but it was also exciting and really started to shift my perspective on my own humanity, as well as the world around me. It felt like I had a new window into understanding how certain things were really affecting me, and to start grasping the nuances of how I had been unknowingly absorbing and filtering my (excessively digital) daily stimuli on an unconscious level, from which I could begin to make real changes. So outlining my own experience and some of the recurring themes of these bizarre dream entries, O is the journey of moving from an outward facing, always-on, digital world in towards the deepest, darkest, realms of ourselves, where we are found face-to-face with our own humanity and mortality in new and unexpected ways.

Keep your mind open.

[Today you can subscribe!]

[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media.]

Review: Holy Wave – Studio 22 Singles and B-Sides

Recorded in 2022 while they had some extra days in Los Angeles after the end of a U.S. west coast tour, Holy Wave got together with Osees‘ Tomas Dolas and knocked out a few singles…and then a couple more when they realized they had the makings of a groovy EP on their hands. That became the Studio 22 Singles and B-Sides album.

The opening drum fill by Julian Ruiz on “chaparral” immediately drops you into lovely headspace, and Kyle Hager‘s slightly distant vocals and sunlight-breaking-through-the-clouds synths guide you along a river made of melted ice cream. “time crisis too” is even brighter and lusher, with Hager’s synths sounding like a backing choir and Joey Cook‘s acoustic guitar work feeling like a happy cat prancing around your house as the sun rises.

The acoustic guitars return for “cowprint” — a song about being fascinated by a potential lover and watching them from afar. The song transforms by the second half into a synth and electric piano-driven bit of mellow psych-rock. Speaking of mellow, the delightful “father’s prayer” will be your new favorite 1970s toe-tapper…and it was made in 2022!

“bog song” floats along like cat tail fluff over a bog on a bright day. Cook’s guitar solo on it is never forceful, but centers the whole track, and Ryan Fuson‘s piano takes you by the hand and along all the safe places to walk in the bog. Fuson is subtly and cleverly all over the background of the record, actually, adding details (with multiple instruments) that would cause the songs to sound odd if they were absent.

I love that the albums ends (after the brief, slightly goofy “away here”) with an almost meditative instrumental — “string performer.” It’s just guitars, synths, piano, quiet bass, and little, if any, percussion. It’s lovely.

The whole record is. They captured a neat moment when recording this, and thanks to them for sharing it with us.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Andi at Terrorbird Media.]

Review: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Death Hilarious

I was already onboard for Death Hilarious, the new album by Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, when I heard the first single, “Detroit,” in November 2024. Then, they unveiled this wild album cover and I knew we were in for a(nother) treat from them.

The album begins with a song about a problem lead singer and lyricist Matthew Baty had going into the album – (Writer’s) “Blockage.” “I’m staring straight ahead, infinitely bored,” he sings to begin the track. He’s not sure what he has left to say. Thankfully for all of us, and his shredding / pounding bandmates, he realized a bit of Zen in that the emptiness of the universe (and his brain) contains everything.

The stomping anger of “Detroit” is like the sensation of watching a lit bomb fuse slowly burning toward its deadly payload and Baty tells us, “Everyone leaves. You’re all the same. I’m not the one to blame.” John-Michael Hedley‘s bass hits extra hard on “Collider,” while lead guitarist Adam Ian Sykes pays homage to his British heavy metal idols throughout it and Baty sings about existential dread.

“Stitches” has been compared to some Motörhead tracks, but it hits more like Blue Öyster Cult for me. It’s a ripper either way, with Sykes and producer / fellow guitarist Sam Grant trading killer riffs and Ewan Mackenzie nailing some of his biggest fills and cymbal crashes on it (His subtle ride cymbal hits will make you think, “Damn, dude, that’s not fair.”).

Just when you think you might have them figured out, they bring in El-P for a guest rap on “Glib Tongued” — quite possibly the darkest hip hop track you’ll hear this year. “The Wyrm” is one of the album’s longest track at just over seven minutes (which, compared to when the band was putting out songs three times that length, is a warmup for them) and crushes the entire time. It feels like a truck has hit you when it really kicks in around the 2:15 mark.

“Carousel” has Baty feeling like he’s spinning in circles and trying to get off the titular ride the world has become in the last few years. The guitars on “Coyote Call” rocket into cosmic rock riffs while the drums and bass are practically terraforming a new planet underneath you. As if that wasn’t heavy enough, the final track, “Toecurler,” is like an avalanche you first see at a distance and think is moving like a slow mudslide, but find out, too late, that it’s roaring down at you like a shattered ancient mountain…and the stoner-funk breakdown about seven-and-a-half minutes into it? Genius.

The whole album has this heavy FAFO sound to it. The band has said they wanted the album to be rougher and, no past-album-pun intended, visceral than their psych-doom album Land of Sleeper, and it certainly delivers. You can live, laugh, and love all you like, but the porcine septet are here to remind you that you’re gonna die, and it might be hilarious when you do.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: DITZ – Never Exhale

Have you ever been in a tense situation where you have to remind yourself to breathe? When panic makes you hold your breath for so long that your body locks into place? When the tension is wound up like a jack-in-the-box just short of popping open?

Apparently, that’s what DITZ were experiencing when making their sharp sophomore album Never Exhale. The opening notes of “V70” instantly drop that tension on you, like some kind of rumbling alarm warning you to get back before you get hurt, because the razor-sharp guitar and snarling bass-driven “Taxi Man” might knock you off your feet. It’s an homage to the working class and how often the people you barely notice are holding the world together. “Space / Smile” is almost a manic rant about hatred and division hidden behind friendly faces.

“This house has no place in your future…Wake up and see what you built will never last!” yells lead singer Cal Francis on “Senor Siniestro” – a wild exploration of what’s real (almost nothing) and what’s impermanent (everything). I love Sam Evans‘ beats on “Four,” which start simple and grow into post-punk precision. Anton Mocock and Jack Looker‘s guitars on “God on a Speed Dial” sound like the hulls of ships being torn open by sea mines while Francis wonders how to be heard by something or someone beyond this world.

They take on the weird inevitable nature (Or is it threat?) of aging on “Smells Like Something Died in Here.” The guitars sigh as if they’re settling down for a long rest that might not end. “18 Wheeler” is the sound of madness bubbling under the surface that cracks through the ice now and then. It almost sounds like each band member is playing their own solo and barely paying attention to the others at times, and it still works well.

Caleb Remnant‘s bass leads “The Body As a Structure” – a song about finding comfort in your own skin while the world shakes around you. The album ends with the left-turn slow-down of “Britney” – which is also the longest song on the album at nearly seven-and-a-half minutes. Evans’ hi-hat at first sounds like it’s wrapped in cotton, and the guitar chords merge with dark synths to create something unsettling as Francis chants “We build and we build and we build.” again and again in the song’s second half, pulling us into a head-spinning nightmare.

You don’t get many breaths with this album. It grabs you and holds you in place, sometimes with fascination and other times with paranoia. DITZ wants you to take a breath, but not to relax.

Keep your mind open.

[Keep on drivin’ over to the subscription box.]

Review: Frankie and The Witch Fingers – Live at KEXP

In case you weren’t aware, Seattle’s KEXP is one of the best radio stations out there for music lovers. Part of the reason is that they present so many great live performances from so many artists in different genres. They also host, and broadcast, full live concerts. Some of them are even released for us to consume afterwards, like the newest Live at KEXP record from psychedelic rippers Frankie and The Witch Fingers.

FATW go back to their (near) beginning by opening with the title track from their Brain Telephone album. Nikki Pickle‘s bass is a snarling beast, and it’s easy to lose track of whose guitar sounds like it’s already falling apart – Dylan Sizemore‘s or Josh Menashe‘s. Just when you think the whole song and set is going to be wild noise, they drop into their funk grooves that they do so well. “Futurephobic” starts and stops on a dime, leaving you a bit bewildered by the end.

“Syster System” struts around the stage like an unearthed Thin Lizzy track stretching its muscles and staking a claim on rock and roll. “Cops & Robbers” is almost a psychobilly track with the wild lyrics about bank robbery and Nick Aguilar‘s punk drumming, and then it dissolves / oozes into the slime-punky “Sidewalk.” “Weird Dog” snaps back and forth between garage rock funk and crunchy punk kerplunk that your neck might snap.

Jon Modaff is a welcome addition to the FATWF lineup on synths, and his work on “i-Candy” almost brings the band into spooky rock / haunted house terror music. In other words, more cool stuff the band pulls off with ease. The longest cut, “Empire,” has become a fan favorite of their live shows as it lets each band member shine at different times and always belts you hard in the chest.

The concert, and album, ends with “Bonehead” – a raucous rocker made for pogo-dancing and kicking down doors and, well, boneheads…and good grief, Menashe’s solo is manic. The whole song, and (again) the album, practically has you sweating just from hearing it. It, like seeing them in the flesh, will leave you invigorated.

Keep your mind open.

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