What’s Your Rupture? Signs BODEGA & Shares Debut Single “How Did This Happen ?!” Watch The Video Here
[Photo by Mert Gafuroglu]
What’s Your Rupture? is pleased to announce the signing of Brooklyn art rock unit BODEGA. With wild minimalism and sharp wit, BODEGA revitalizes the rock and roll vocabulary under the influence of post punk, contemporary pop, hip-hop, kraut rock, and folk-derived narrative songwriting.
With the eyes of filmmakers, Ben Hozie (guitar, vocals) and Nikki Belfiglio (vocals) turn the documentary on themselves, finding the political in the personal. Formerly of prankster rock collective Bodega Bay, known for its outlandish critical stunts, their blend of essay and confession bears witness to the harsh poetry of being human in the digital age.
Joined by Montana Simone (drums), Madison Velding-Vandam (guitar) and Heather Elle (bass), BODEGA are unveiling their debut single, “How Did This Happen ?!,” a standout from their many live shows around New York City. Accompanying the single is a 360-degree interactive video showcasing the band’s unique live performance.
“How Did This Happen ?!” is the first song from BODEGA’s forthcoming debut album due out this summer. It was recorded and produced by Austin Brown (Parquet Courts) on the same Tascam 388 tape machine used for their LP Light Up Gold. It was mixed and mastered by Jonathan Schenke at Dr. Wu’s.
BODEGA live shows: March 10 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool w/ Mind Spiders (tickets) March 13-17 – Austin, TX @ SXSW March 24 – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right w/ High Waisted April 7 – Brooklyn, NY @ Alphaville May 15 – London, UK @ The Social May 16 – London, UK @ The Lock Tavern May 17 – Brighton, UK @ The Great Escape May 19 – Leeds, UK @ The Brudenell Social Club (Gold Sounds Festival)
Australian psych-rockers the Dunes are back with the first single from an upcoming album. The song “(Just Because You’re Not Being Followed Doesn’t Mean You’re Not) Paranoid” is a stinging rebuke about the culture of fear that has swarmed over the United States since the 1950’s and only become worse in the last decade.
Watch for the full album later this year.
Keep your mind open.
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It’s been a little while since we’ve had a full album from power trio Screaming Females, and now they’re back with a double album no less – All at Once. I’m intrigued by the title, as it seems to imply the world at large – especially in First World nations. Everything is available to us any time we want it, yet most of us are dissatisfied with what we have. Thanks to the internet, we can be everywhere all at once, yet many of us are lonely or limit human contact as much as possible.
Screaming Females explore this dichotomy right away on the opening track, “Glass House.” Lead singer and guitarist Marissa Paternoster sings about her desire to break out of a controlling relationship that she willingly entered, but knowing that doing so will shatter both parties (“I’m locked in is this glass house, impossible to get out.”).
Bassist Mike Abbate and drummer Jarrett Dougherty put down a hard groove for Paternoster as she unloads Helmet-like guitar fuzz on “Black Moon.” Another possible meaning to the album’s title is the raw energy of Screaming Females that comes at you all at once during their live shows. The album adeptly catches their turn-on-a-dime precision and angry wolverine power.
“I’ll Make You Sorry” is not only scorching, but also catchy as Paternoster tries to warn a new lover. “I was once in love before you,” she sings. She’s been down a path that didn’t end well, and wants to give it another shot, but perhaps cutting loses now is easier for everyone. Paternoster’s solo on it flies around like a frisky blue jay.
“Dirt” has a bit of a post-punk sound to it that I love, and I’m happy to say that they add this flavor to a couple other tracks, like the excellent, sharp-angled “Fantasy Lens” and the funky bass-laden “Drop by Drop.” “Agnes Martin” could easily be a metal song if they doubled the speed, but they smartly keep it between garage rock and stoner metal as Paternoster sings about seeking companionship, but only away from others (“Take me under your wing, the sun destroys me.”). Dougherty’s chops are slick as axel grease on this, and Paternoster unleashes some of her trademark shredding. Her vocals get distorted (and backed by what sounds like a church organ) on “Deeply” as she sings about how hard she tends to fall in love when the opportunity arises.
I think Abbate and Paternoster might’ve rushed Dougherty to a Ready-Med clinic after they recorded “Soft Domination” because his groove on it is wickedly sick. “Tell me you’ll lift me up, tell me you’ll take me out of this place,” Paternoster pleads, desperate to get away from…what? A specific place? Life in general? “End of My Bloodline” has a bit of a dub feel to it with Abbate’s creeping bass, Dougherty’s nice high-hat work, and Paternoster’s slightly distorted vocals.
“Chamber of Sleep I” and “Chamber of Sleep II” walk into psychedelia, and the world is better for it. In both parts, Paternoster unloads her guitar like a flame thrower on a stack of articles that still refer to her as a “female guitarist.” “Bird in Space” is downright lovely, with Paternoster singing once more of taking flight from the moment / reality and putting on a guitar clinic.
“My Body” has Paternoster singing about disconnection from a lover and the world (“I’m sleeping in this chair, while you sleep in the hallway…When they come to find me, then please burn my body.”). All at Once ends with the fuzzed-out, massive (and abrupt) “Step Outside.” Screaming Females encourage us to get away from the internet, our comfort zones, or even prepare for a fight. The whole band cooks with gas and definitely unleashes in the spirit of the album’s title. All you can do it sit back and let it hit you.
All at Once is a great addition to Screaming Females‘ catalogue. Paternoster writes biting lyrics about love, heartbreak, and the weird complexities of relationships like few others in the rock business. She is like one of those plasma nebula balls, glowing and swirling with a hypnotizing calm until you get too close, and then she arcs lightning at you. She’s the lightning, Abbate is the thunder, and Dougherty is the driving wind and rain. All three come at you all at once, and you can’t stop them.
Keep your mind open.
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I first heard Caroline Rosewhen I got sent a press release about her first single off her album Loner. The song was “Money,” and it ended up being one of my favorite singles of 2017.
Loner, it turns out, is already one of the best releases of the winter. Her deft use of organs, synths, and keyboards turns the record into a blend of psychedelia, power pop, and electro. Plus, she’s one of the wittiest songwriters I’ve heard in a while.
“More of the Same” is a great opener about ennui and people wanting to be individuals just like everyone else. She unleashes impressive vocal chops as she sings about all of her friends having “alternative haircuts,” school being a colossal bore and a haven for crushed dreams, and wanting to get away from the ruts the world at large has created for her. “Cry!” reveals Rose’s love of Devo in the opening synth chords.
“Money” adds spaghetti western guitar and is one of the wildest cuts you’ve heard in a long while. Rose flat-out admits, and calls us out on, how much of her / our day-to-day activity is for the pursuit of cash. The roller rink keyboards of “Jeannie Becomes a Mom” perfectly sum up the fear, joy, and uncertainty of the song’s subject. Plus, the electric beats are wicked.
“Getting to Me” includes what sounds like a plucked violin as Rose sings about the life of a waitress who craves more out of life but yet is a master at her craft. Rose gets a David Lynch-vibe going on “To Die Today” with its echoing guitar, subtle percussion, and her haunting vocals about the feeling and release of death. It’s fitting that the follower is “Soul No. 5,” a song about embracing life (“I ain’t got a job, but I got a lot of time.). The synths during the chorus are exuberant, and they’re laced with surf rock on “Bikini” (a song about the benefits of sex appeal and the objectification of women).
The stabbing synths of “Talk” push the desperate narrative of the lyrics, in which Rose sings of blissful, sexy silence with her lover. The closer, “Animal,” with its synthesized handclaps and trippy keys, is a sexy song about two lovers in the throes of passion.
The whole album is a mix of sex, death, mishaps, and comedy. In other words, it’s about real life. Rose might consider herself a loner, but she’s really all of us.
Keep your mind open.
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Just in time to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of their debut album, Pablo Honey, Radioheadhave announced a 2018 U.S. tour beginning in July and running through August. The dates are as follows:
Sat-Jul-07 – Chicago – United Center
Tue-Jul-10 – New York – Madison Square Garden
Wed-Jul-11 – New York – Madison Square Garden
Fri-Jul-13 – New York – Madison Square Garden
Mon-Jul-16 – Montreal – Bell Centre
Tue-Jul-17 – Montreal – Bell Centre
Thu-Jul-19 – Toronto – Air Canada Centre
Fri-Jul-20 – Toronto – Air Canada Centre
Sun-Jul-22 – Detroit – Little Caesars Arena
Mon-Jul-23 – Columbus – Schottenstein Center
Wed-Jul-25 – Cincinnati – US Bank Arena
Thu-Jul-26 – Pittsburgh- PPG Paints Arena
Sat-Jul-28 – Boston – TD Garden
Sun-Jul-29 – Boston – TD Garden
Tue-Jul-31 – Philadelphia- Wells Fargo Center
Wed-Aug-01 – Philadelphia – Wells Fargo Center
Tickets go on sale tomorrow. Don’t wait to get them. They will sell out, and resale prices will be high enough to enrage you and them (Radiohead have railed against ticket scalpers for years.).
Smashing Pumpkins on 5/10/91 in Chicago, Il. (Photo by Paul Natkin/WireImage)
Smashing Pumpkinshave had a countdown clock on their website for days now, and it finally ended to reveal a 34-city not-quite-a-reunion tour for 2018. It’s not a full reunion because front man Billy Corgan and original bassist D’arcy Wretzky have been involved in a public feud via social media regarding Wretzky not being asked to join the tour.
Regardless, Corgan and guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin are soon criss-crossing the U.S. on the “Shiny and Oh So Bright Tour.” Tickets go on sale February 23rd, and I suggest not waiting too long to get them. I’m sure many venues will sell out fast.
July 12 — Glendale, AZ @ Gila River Arena
July 14 — Oklahoma City, OK @ Chesapeake Energy Arena
July 16 — Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Arena
July 17 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
July 18 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
July 20 — Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
July 21 — Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center
July 22 — Atlanta, GA @ Infinite Energy Arena
July 24 — Miami, FL @ AmericanAirlines Arena
July 25 — Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena
July 27 — Baltimore, MD @ Royal Farms Arena
July 28 — Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
July 29 — Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
July 31 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
August 1 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
August 4 — Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
August 5 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
August 7 — Montreal, QC @ Centre Bell
August 8 — Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
August 11 — Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
August 13 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
August 16 — Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
August 17 – Indianapolis, IN @ Bankers Life Fieldhouse
August 19 — St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
August 20 — Omaha, NE @ CenturyLink Center
August 21 — Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford Premier Center
August 24 — Seattle, WA @ KeyArena
August 25 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center
August 27 — Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena
August 28 — Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
August 30 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum
September 1 — San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena
September 2 — Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
September 4 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Vivint Smart Home Arena
September 5 — Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
September 7 — Boise, ID @ Ford Idaho Center
Keep your mind open.
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L7, as usual, aren’t screwing around. Case in point, their new single, “I Came Back to Bitch.” This will soon be your new favorite song and is already sure to be one of my top ten singles of 2018.
They’ve also announced some spring U.S. tour dates. Don’t miss them. They were great when I saw them in Chicago a couple years ago. They haven’t lost an inch.
04/11 – Boston, MA @ Paradise
04/13 – Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
04/15 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
04/16 – Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles Club
04/18 – Indianapolis, IN @ Vogue
04/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Today, Unknown Mortal Orchestra proudly announce their new record, Sex & Food, which will be released April 6th via Jagjaguwar. The follow-up to their critically acclaimed record Multi-Love, Sex & Food sees UMO mastermind Ruban Nielson tap into both familiar and unexpected territory. The delightfully shape-shifting album filters real-deal serious themes such as “What are we consuming? How is it affecting us, and why does everything feel so bad and weird sometimes?” through a vibrant sonic lens that spans battered drum-machine funk, doomy and thrashing rock, and pink-hued psychedelic disco. It’s not a dark record, per se. Even the album’s title, Sex & Food, focuses on two of the most undeniably pleasurable experiences in life; positivity despite the strangeness of our times. The album was recorded in a variety of locales from Seoul and Hanoi to Reykjavik, Mexico City, and Auckland, not to mention Nielson’s home base studio in Portland. It is a practical musical travelogue, traversing the world as well as a wide spectrum of human experience. Nielson grapples with new, sometimes dismal realities, but succeeds in pulling the epiphanies from the chafe. Watch the video for the first single, “American Guilt,” and pre-order the album below. Additionally, here is some context behind “American Guilt” from Ruban Nielson:
“American Guilt” is an attempt to capture some of the feelings floating around these days. In a perverse way I wanted to embrace this abandoned genre of rock music that I keep reading is “dead” and invite people to hear what this living dead genre sounds like in the UMO universe. It was recorded in Hanoi, Vietnam during monsoon season in a studio built for traditional Vietnamese music. Additional recording was done in Mexico City but our sessions were interrupted by one of the devastating earthquakes that occurred there last year. As we slept in the Parque de Mexico, unable to get back to our Airbnb, we heard a man yell “viva la Mexico!” and I put this in the song out of respect for them.
SEX & FOOD TRACKLISTING 1. A God Called Hubris 2. Major League Chemicals 3. Ministry of Alienation 4. Hunnybee 5. Chronos Feasts on His Children 6. American Guilt 7. The Internet of Love (That Way) 8. Everyone Acts Crazy Nowadays 9. This Doomsday 10. How Many Zeros 11. Not in Love We’re Just High 12. If You’re Going to Break Yourself UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA TOUR DATES: April 22 – Northampton, MA @ Pearl Street w/ Makeness April 23 – Portland, ME @ Port City Music Hall w/ Makeness April 25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel w/ Makeness April 26 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel w/ Makeness April 27 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club w/ Makeness April 28 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer w/ Makeness April 30 – Boston, MA @ Royale w/ Makeness May 1 – Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre w/ Makeness May 2 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall w/ Makeness May 3 – Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre w/ Makeness May 4 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue w/ Makeness May 7 – Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theatre w/ Makeness May 8 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom w/ Makeness May 9 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater w/ Makeness May 10 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater w/ Makeness May 11 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern w/ Makeness May 12 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s w/ Makeness May 18 – Hamburg, Germany @ Uebel & Gefährlich w/ Makeness May 19 – Berlin, Germany @ Kesselhaus w/ Makeness May 20 – Heidelberg, Germany @ Karlstorbahnhof w/ Makeness May 21 – Düsseldorf, Germany @ zakk w/ Makeness May 22 – Paris, France @ La Gaîté Lyrique w/ Makeness May 24 – London, United Kingdom @ Roundhouse w/ Makeness May 25 – Bristol, United Kingdom @ SWX w/ Makeness May 26 – Manchester, United Kingdom @ Strange Waves May 27 – Leeds, United Kingdom @ World Island May 28 – Brussels, Belgium @ Ancienne Belgique w/ Makeness May 31 – Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound June 10 – Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands @ Best Kept Secret Festival July 6 – Richmond, VA @ The National w/ Shamir July 7 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel w/ Shamir July 8 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse w/ Shamir July 9 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre w/ Shamir July 11 – New Orleans, LA @ Republic w/ Shamir July 12 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall w/ Shamir July 13 – Austin, TX @ Stubbs BBQ w/ Shamir July 14 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater w/ Shamir July 16 – Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre w/ Shamir July 17 – Ogden, UT @ Ogden Amphitheater w/ Sylvan Esso, Shamir July 18 – Las Vegas, NV @ Vinyl at Hard Rock July 19 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom August 10-11 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Haven
“So rare that diehard fuzz junkies say you’d have a better chance of winning the lottery than finding a physical 45 rpm single by one of the bands featured on their latest installment.” — Dangerous Minds
“Will do for hard rock, proto-metal and heavy psych what Nuggets did for garage rock, and bring it to a wider audience of collectors and music fans.” — The Guardian
The forthcoming latest edition of the popular compilation series of long-lost vintage 60s-70s proto-metal and stoner rock singles, Brown Acid: The Sixth Trip, is set for release on April 20, 2018. Hear & share the first track, “No Parking” by Gold via Paste Magazine HERE. (Direct YouTube HERE) The series is curated by L.A. label RidingEasy Records and retailer/label Permanent Records.
About Brown Acid: The Sixth Trip:
This time around we have 10 deep cuts from across the continental US of A and one from our neighbors up North. This Trip kicks off with an outrageous number from Gold out of San Francisco circa 1970. The band used to open their sets with this over-the-top frantic jammer which is absolutely mind-blowing and also leads one to believe that the only band that could’ve held a candle to Gold back in the day would’ve been the mighty Blue Cheer.
As we delve deeper into the depths, Canadians continue to prove that they could bang heads with the best of ’em! Heat Exchange from Toronto released the rollicking ripper “Inferno” on the Yorkville label way back in 1968 and it’s still thumping almost 50 years later! Missouri isn’t a state that brought us a lot of heavy 45s, but there are a handful of outstanding tracks from the Show Me State, one of which is the funk-laced anthem “Give Me Time” by Backwood Memory from Kansas City.
The longer we do this, the more we begin to believe that Youngstown, Ohio was the Hard Rock Mecca back in the day. Travis is yet another Youngstown group that aimed to get asses out of seats and out in the streets. “Lovin’ You” is a groovy banger with a sultry riff originally released on the prolific Starshine Productions imprint. Six years prior to his Arcadian synth-funk novelty hit “Space Invaders” from 1980, Victor “Uncle Vic” Blecman took Flight into the studio with a list of relationship requirements. Amongst which are his need for “Luvin’, Huggin’, & More”, with emphasis on the “More” part if we’re to believe the urgency with which he delivers this fist-pumper.
If you don’t immediately recognize the Truth & Janey moniker, you need to get with it and familiarize yourself with their incredible 1976 LP No Rest For The Wicked. It’s a proto-metal masterpiece that’s been reissued on Rockadrome. Released four years earlier than their debut LP, “Midnight Horseman” is a 45-only track backed with a cover of “Under My Thumb”. Another Iowan group, West Minist’r, self-released three 45s between 1969 and 1975. They’re all great in their own way, but “My Life” hit the crunchy sweet spot in ’71 with vocals sounding like a fresh from primal scream therapy John Lennon over a zonked-out Hendrix groove. You can count on hearing more from West Minist’r on future Trips.
It’s nearly impossible that Dayton, Ohio’s Purgatory didn’t seize the “Strange Days” and join “The Soft Parade” while “Waiting for the Sun”. And although “Polar Expedition” wears its influences on its sleeve, 1969 would have been at least a little worse off if the band hadn’t self released this single. Johnny Barnes was definitely “smokin’ that reefer” and “drinkin’ that wine” when he released “Steel Rail Blues” in 1976. The label states that you could order a copy of this 45 for by sending $1 to a PO Box in Boston and it’s the only record on the Brown Acid series that seems to be obtainable currently for about the same amount it was sold for over three decades ago. That said, it’s doubtful that it will remain so cheap for much longer.
With a track as heavy as “Is There No Peace” it’s easy to let the name of the label on this 45 slide. In Chicago in 1970 PSLHRTZ seemed like as good a label name as any for the guys in Zendik to release this insane recording on. Halfway through the track you might be wondering to yourself, “How was this not a hit?”, and then you hear the lyrics to the last bit of the song and understand.
About the Brown Acid series:
Some of the best thrills of the Internet music revolution is the ability to find extremely rare music with great ease. But even with such vast archives to draw from, quite a lot of great songs have gone undiscovered for nearly half a century — particularly in genres that lacked hifalutin arty pretense. Previously, only the most extremely dedicated and passionate record collectors had the stamina and prowess to hunt down long forgotten wonders in dusty record bins — often hoarding them in private collections, or selling at ridiculous collector’s prices. Legendary compilations like Nuggets, Pebbles, ad nauseum, have exhausted the mines of early garage rock and proto-punk, keeping alive a large cross-section of underground ephemera. However, few have delved into and expertly archived the wealth of proto-metal, pre-stoner rock tracks collected on
Brown Acid: The Sixth Trip.
Lance Barresi, co-owner of L.A./Chicago retailer Permanent Records has shown incredible persistence in tracking down a stellar collection of rare singles from the 60s and 70s for the growing compilation series. Partnered with Daniel Hall of RidingEasy Records, the two have assembled a selection of songs that’s hard to believe have remained unheard for so long.
“I essentially go through hell and high water just to find these records,” Barresi says. “Once I find a record worthy of tracking, I begin the (sometimes) extremely arduous process of contacting the band members and encouraging them to take part. Daniel and I agree that licensing all the tracks we’re using for
Brown Acid is best for everyone involved,” rather than simply bootlegging the tracks. When all of the bands and labels haven’t existed for 30-40 years or more, tracking down the creators gives all of these tunes a real second chance at success.
“There’s a long list of songs that we’d love to include,” Barresi says. “But we just can’t track the bands down. I like the idea that Brown Acid is getting so much attention, so people might reach out to us.”
Brown Acid: The Sixth Trip will be available everywhere on LP, CD and download on April 20th, 2018via RidingEasy Records. Pre-orders are available for digital (with immediate download of the first single) at Bandcamp, physical pre-orders at RidingEasy Records.
Weird rock maestros Primus, metal giants Mastodon, psych-rockers Jjuujjuu, and blues-psych heavyweights All Them Witchesare going on tour starting in May. Primus and Mastodon will share the stage with Jjuujjuu and All Them Witches on various spots of the tour, but any of these dates are worth seeing. This will probably be one of the heaviest / trippiest tours of the year, so don’t miss it.
