This was my first time seeing psych-rockers Acid Dad live, and even hearing a lot of their material, and my third time seeing Frankie and the Witch Fingersin as many months. Acid Dad were just in the first few dates of their tour, and Frankie and the Witch Fingers were nearing the end of theirs. Both bands came to play and to play hard at Ft. Wayne’s Brass Rail – a great dive bar venue downtown where any band playing there is practically in your lap.
Acid Dad
Acid Dad had the crowd jumping, and even moshing, before they were even halfway through their set. I liked their mix of psychedelic rock and post-punk and picked up their newest album afterwards.
Frankie and the Witch Fingers put on a killer performance as well, the best of the three I’ve seen. They upped the punk riffs in this one, and I’m starting to think it’s not an official show by them until their drummer is shirtless. They were also having a blast. They’re one of the most fun bands to see right now.
An official gig by Frankie and the Witch Fingers
Both bands will be playing at the Levitation Music Festivalin Austin, Texas on Halloween weekend, and both sets will be well worth your time. Check them out.
Orion, the first album from Rochester, New York’s psych-space-doom trio King Buffalo is a stunning debut. The album covers a lot of ground…in outer space, along misty mountain paths, and across desert plains.
The title track opens the album with David Gilmour-like guitar from Sean McVay and builds to a thundering echo rolling down from a lost Greek temple high on a hilltop. McVay’s guitar becomes the Silver Surfer racing across the cosmos while Dan Reynolds‘ bass and Scott Donaldson‘s drums are the engines of Galactus’ ship behind him.
“Monolith” adds some Velvet Underground guitar styling to their repertoire while McVay sings about cosmic things that cause more fascination than fear. It drifts (melts?) right into “Sleeps on a Vine,” a song about a mysterious woman who may or may not be real. Donaldson’s beats almost take the forefront through the whole track, becoming the heartbeat of the man intrigued by the woman (mirage?). It becomes a heavy jam not unlike some All Them Witches tracks, which is no surprise as the bands are friends and ATW is even thanked in the liner notes of the album.
Reynolds’ bass gets “Kerosene” off to a groovy start, and McVay’s guitar sounds like a distant calling vulture at some points in it. Other times, it sounds like a nest of yellowjackets. “Down from Sky” has a countrified sound, complete with slide guitar, setting up the mammoth sounds of the next two tracks – “Goliath” (parts one, the instrumental track, and two, the mind-blowing rocker that opens your eyes and melts your face).
Reynolds and Donaldson hit their instruments so fiercely in spots during “Orion Subsiding” that it sounds like they might break. The album ends with the mind-expanding “Drinking from the River Rising.”
It’s a powerful debut, making you want to track down everything else they have out there. Cosmic rock like this is always fascinating, and King Buffalo do it well.
Keep your mind open.
[Float on over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
It’s always good to see Clutch. They never disappoint and always sound great live, so seeing them at a small venue just over an hour’s drive from my house was an easy decision. They’re on their thirtieth year as a band, which is quite impressive.
Opening for them were two other bands I was keen on catching, and the first was King Buffalo, who opened the night with a fine set of space / psych doom rock that was just what I needed after a weird day at work. There weren’t many in the crowd who’d heard of them before, but their merch table was packed immediately after their set. They won over a lot of fans. It would be great to see them on their own.
King Buffalo wowing the crowd.
Up next were desert / stoner rock power trio Stöner, who were equally impressive with heavy bass, garage-psych drums, and cosmic fuzz guitar work. My wife was happy to hear them and understand their lyrics (topics ranging from ghosts to Evel Knievel). They also won over many fans in Ft. Wayne.
Stöner pummeling the crowd with heavy rock.
Clutch came out to a crowd that was, by now, fired up from seeing two bands that were alone worth the price of admission. They launched into a wild set, showing no rust at thirty years of age as a band. Among the highlights of the set were them playing “Far Country” from their first 7″ single back in 1991 and “Passive Restraints” (another early track). Another treat was a new single, the name of which I still can’t find, that has lyrics involving witchcraft, the Mayflower, and Nosferatu.
Clutch hitting it hard after almost two years off.
We overheard a guy on the way out telling his friend that he’d seen Clutch “twenty times” and “that’s probably in the top five” of shows he’d seen. It was a good one. All three bands were hungry for the stage and the energy gained from a live crowd. I certainly needed it, and I got it in spades.
Today, Parquet Courts share a new single/video, “Black Widow Spider,” from their forthcoming album, Sympathy For Life, out October 22nd on Rough Trade Records. In conjunction, they announce extensive touring plans for 2022, starting with a run of North American shows in the spring. Following their highly-praised lead single “Walking at a Downtown Pace,” “Black Widow Spider” kicks off with scorching guitar. In A Savage’s words, “I told [producer] Rodaidh McDonald that I wanted to find a sound that was equal parts Can, Canned Heat and This Heat. He was really into that and probably took some glee in having such a bizarre challenge.” It’s one of the many songs on the new album that began with the band improvising onto tape, after which they started editing and cutting up, leading to the verse.
The accompanying video, directed and animated by Shayne Ehman, is simply great. “We were inspired by the claymation master Art Clokey,” says Ehmman. “I wanted the video to feel like it was shot in the 1950’s and so I used very old lenses. One was a brass projection lens from the 1860’s and another was radioactive.”
Alongside the release of their first single last month, the band also announced the Power of Eleven – eleven global happenings that will occur around the release of the album. The first of these took place in Manhattan with the Gay & Lesbian Big Apple Corp marching band debuting “Walking At A Downtown Pace”. The second of these is happening in Tokyo in conjunction with Big Love Records, with an extremely limited “Black Widow Spider” 7” and t-shirt. More info for this event and the others has been revealed on the band’s website. Sign up to their mailing list for updates.
Sympathy For Life was built largely from improvised jams and produced in league with Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, Hot Chip, David Byrne) and John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding, Dry Cleaning). Unlike its globally adored predecessor, 2018’s Wide Awake!, the focus fell on grooves rather than rhythm.
“Most of the songs were created by taking long improvisations and moulding them through our own editing,” explains Austin Brown. “The biggest asset we have as artists is the band. After 10 years together, our greatest instrument is each other. The purest expression of Parquet Courts is when we are improvising.” In a very real sense, the band sampled themselves, molding and chopping their rhythmic and melodic jams to create these songs, to manifest something new.
On Sympathy For Life, Parquet Courts’ thought-provoking rock is dancing to a new tune. The album finds the Brooklyn band at both their most instinctive and electronic, spinning their bewitching, psychedelic storytelling into fresh territory, yet maintaining their unique identity.
Thu. Oct. 28 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom ^ Fri. Oct. 29 – Richmond, VA @ The National ^ Sat. Oct. 30 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar ^ Sun. Oct. 31 – Lancaster, PA @ Tellus360 ^ Wed. Nov. 03 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground ! Thu. Nov. 04 – Portland, ME @ State Theatre ! Fri. Nov. 05 – Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts ! Sat. Nov. 06 – Asbury Park, NJ @ The Stone Pony ! Mon. Nov. 15 – Dallas, TX @ Studio at the Factory Wed. Nov. 17 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall Fri. Nov. 19 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre Sun. Nov. 21 – Mexico City, MX @ Corona Capital Music Festival Sun. Feb. 27 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel * Mon. Feb. 28 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre * Wed. March 2 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse * Thu. March 3 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn * Fri. March 4 – Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom * Sat. March 5 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant * Mon. March 7 – Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall * Tue. March 8 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room * Thu. March 10 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue * Fri. March 11 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall * Sat. March 12 – Chicago, IL @ The Riviera Theatre * Sun. March 13 – Detroit, MI @ MOCAD * Tue. Mar. 15, 2022 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre * Wed. Mar. 16, 2022 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre * Thu. March 17 – Toronto, ON @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre * Fri. March 18 – Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre * Thu. March 31 – Boston, MA @ Royale # Fri. April 1 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel $ Sat. April 2 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel # Mon. April 4 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club # Tue. April 5 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore % Fri. April 22 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox at the Market Sat. April 23 – Vancouver, BC @ The Imperial Mon. April 25 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom Wed. April 27 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater Thu. April 28 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern Theatre Fri. April 29 – Pomona, CA @ The Glass House Sat. April 30 – San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park Sat. May 21 – Paris, FR @ La Trianon Sun. May 22 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix Tue. May 24 – Cologne, DE @ Stollwerck Wed. May 25 – Berlin, DE @ Heimathafen Neukölln Fri. May 27 – Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefährlich Sat. May 28 – Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje Mon. May 30 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Tue. May 31 – Lille, FR @ Le Grand Mix Wed. June 1 – Lyon, FR @ Epicerie Moderne Fri. June 3 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound Wed. June 8 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk Thu. June 9 – London, UK @ Brixton O2 Academy Sat. June 11 – Dublin, IE @ Helix Sun. June 12 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall Mon. June 13 – Leeds, UK @ Stylus Wed. June 15 – Glasgow, UK @ The Barrowland Ballroom Thu. June 16 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute
& supporting Portugal. The Man ^ w/ P.E. ! w/ Public Practice * w/ Mdou Moctar # w/ Hailu Mergia % w/ Sun Ra Arkestra$ w/ Yu Su
Keep your mind open.
[Creep on over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
No, you didn’t miss three posts. I only attended day four of Chicago’s annual Riot Fest this year, and it was the first Riot Fest I’d attended. A friend scored some free tickets, and far be it from me to pass up a chance to see Devo and The Flaming Lipson the same bill.
This was the hottest music festival I’ve attended in a long while. There was little shade to be had, but sunscreen and taking frequent breaks between sets meant not suffering too much. A freshly made fruit smoothie from a vegan food vendor did me wonders.
The first set we caught was by The Gories, who opened one of the main stages. They sounded loud and dirty, and I’d love to see them in a small venue, but I’m glad I finally got to see these Detroit punk legends.
The Gories!
We walked around Douglas Park and discovered the festival was widely spread out. Food vendors were in one far corner, while a smaller fifth stage was seemingly a half-mile away in the opposite corner. You’d think they’d wheel out some portable light posts with all that room, but no.
Up next were HEALTH, and one of my friends fell in love with them upon hearing their industrial set under sun so bright that their bassist / synth player had to cover his keyboards with trash bags so he could read the digital displays on them.
The sun wasn’t healthy if you weren’t wearing sunscreen that day.
After a nice break under a tree, we trotted over to the smallest stage to see Chicago noise rockers Melkbelly, who played a fun set that included a cover of Pixies‘ “Gigantic” in an attempt to make up for Pixies cancelling their tour this summer. They were so out of practice with performing live shows due to the pandemic that they forgot their merchandise in their van.
Melkbelly playing to a lot of local fans.
I scored some chicken tenders that were average at best while my friends scored an elephant ear. Riot Fest has carnival rides on site, and I can only imagine how many drunk attendees regret getting on them over the course of the weekend.
We returned to the Rebel Stage to see Bleached perform their first set in two years (according to them, and a running theme for live shows everywhere this year), right after a guy walked by us peddling mushrooms to anyone who wanted them. They sounded great, and I would’ve liked to have stayed for the whole set, but Devo was calling…
Bleached having a fun time in the sun.
The stage was packed for Devo, complete with a mosh pit and crowd surfers. It was a fun set in which they played nearly the entire Freedom of Choice album. The whole crowd was happy and still buzzing afterwards. One guy was high-fiving people and telling them, “You just saw Devo!” It was the first time my friend, Amy, had seen them. She said she smiled so much during the set that her cheeks hurt afterwards. A delight for me and my friend (and Amy’s cousin), Brian, was getting to hear Devo’s cover of “Secret Agent Man” live for the first time. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to hear it.
De-evolution is real!
Brian and I stuck around for the Flaming Lips‘ set. Brian hadn’t seen them before, and we couldn’t get close to the stage by they started – mainly due to them starting right after Devo’s set. It was still a good set, and nearly the same as when I saw them at Psycho Music Festival. Wayne Coyne encouraged everyone to take care of each other and stay healthy so live music can continue. Amen to that.
The Flaming Lips blowing sun-baked minds.
It was a good time (and Brian’s first music festival, no less), but would I go back? The short answer is, “I don’t know.” There were a lot of bad bands on the bill on day four, and I don’t think the other three days were much better. A lot of the bands playing the various stages sounded like Rage Against the Machine rip-offs, screamo nonsense, or pop-garbage. We got the hell out of there before Slipknot and Machine Gun Kelly started their sets and laughed as we passed a guy selling nitrous oxide balloons outside the park. I might return if the lineup gets better, and they’ve already announced another Misfits reunion for 2022, but Douglas Park-area residents won’t be happy about it…
Musician and producer Sam Evian releases “Time to Melt,” the title track from his forthcoming album, out October 29th on Fat Possum, alongside an accompanying video. Carried by its noodly guitar line and Sam’s honeyed vocals, “Time to Melt” emanates a fun darkness with an almost alien jazz feel. The song originally came together when Spencer Tweedy was interviewing Sam for Mirror Sound, a book that delves into the people and processes behind self-recorded music. He asked to see an example of Sam’s writing process, and after firing up a drum machine, Sam wrote the first bars of “Time to Melt.” Of the song, Sam explains “If you’re familiar with tarot, I think of it as pulling the death card in a positive way. It’s like facing the idea of death, which I think everyone thought about a lot this past year, maybe more than usual collectively.”
“It’s time to melt it’s what we do // If anything will comfort me // It’s knowing that we’ll be free”
The peculiar “Time to Melt” video, directed by John TerEick and filmed in the woods surrounding Sam’s home, elevates the song’s otherworldly vibe and offers a peek into Sam’s charm. Sam comments on the video: “I met a lonely alien in the woods and they taught me a jig. As the night went on they convinced me to try huffing some special kind of bug spray, which opened a wormhole vortex to another dimension.”
Time to Melt is a glowing set of soulfully psychedelic pop gems and a testimonial to the life and wisdom to be found when you give yourself the mercy of space. Following a brief decampment to upstate New York to create his last album, You, Forever, Sam realized he could no longer resist the urge to escape the anxious city life. So he and his partner split from New York City to build their refuge and Sam’s studio, Flying Cloud Recordings, in the Catskills. That reflective, relaxing environment shaped Time to Melt, an album of sounds so pleasant and compelling that you put it on and follow the slipstream. There are songs of celebrations, like “Easy to Love,” and tracks that reckon with the weight of our time, even when it sounds largely weightless, like “Knock Knock.”
Next month, Sam will kick off his North American tour with a full band of Brian Betancourt (bass), Michael Coleman (keys), Sean Mullins (drums), and Liam Kazar(guitar, synths), who will also open each show. Tickets are on sale now.
Sam Evian Tour Dates Fri. Oct. 29 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom * Sat. Oct. 30 – Woodstock, NY @ The Colony * Wed. Nov. 3 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom * Thu. Nov. 4 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair * Fri. Nov. 5 – Asbury Park, NJ @ The Saint * Sat. Nov. 6 – Washington, DC @ DC9 * Wed. Nov. 10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brendas * Thu. Nov. 11 – Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts * Fri. Nov. 12 – Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre * Sat. Nov. 13 – Portland, ME @ Space Gallery * Fri. Nov. 19 – Amagansett, NY @ Stephen Talkhouse Sat. Nov. 20 – Troy, NY @ The Hangar *
My wife and I took a long weekend trip to Nashville, Tennessee a couple weeks ago. We got into town on September 10th and were looking for something to do that night. Lo and behold, I discovered a psychedelic rock show at a dive bar called The 5 Spot, and the lineup was irresistible: local act Mouth Reader, California psych-shoegazers Levitation Room, and, fresh from Psycho Music Festival, Frankie and the Witch Fingers.
Mouth Reader were up first, putting on a good and loud show to their hometown crowd that impressed some other local musicians who were seated near us.
Mouth Reader making our minds drip.
Levitation Room sound like Elephant Stonemixed with Beatles and Pink Floyd. They have a song about a polydactyl cat (“Mr. Polydactyl Cat”) that delighted my wife to no end.
Levitation Room lifting us off the floor.
I need to mention that the psychedelic light and projection effects were done by the Flooded Sun Liquid Light Show, who also have their own doom / stoner metal band called Red Feather. They did a great job, although they didn’t do projections for Frankie and the Witch Fingers for reasons unknown to us.
Frankie and the Witch Fingers played much of the same set that they threw down at the Psycho Music Festival, but hearing it in a smaller venue than the Mandalay Bay House of Blues was a treat. They were just as tight as when we saw them a month earlier and were delighted to be hitting the road after such a long hiatus.
You can tell it’s early in the set because the drummer, Shaughnessy Starr, is still wearing a shirt.
It was a good start to a fun weekend, and The 5 Spot is a cool venue far away from the downtown Nashville honky tonk tourist traps full of annoying drunks and bachelor / bachelorette parties.
Portland, OR band Blackwater Holylightannounce their forthcoming third album Silence/Motion on RidingEasy Records today, sharing the lead single “Around You.” Hear & share “Around You” via YouTube, Spotify and Bandcamp.)
The band also announce tour dates with former RidingEasy labelmates Monolord in Europe in November-December, followed by North American shows with All Them Witches. Please see all dates below.
Empty surrounds all of me. It’s a poignant line from the third album by Blackwater Holylight that encapsulates the search for self when suddenly everything has changed. There’s a theme of processing vast personal trauma throughout Silence/Motion that eloquently — both lyrically and musically — and simultaneously embodies the crushing emptiness, sorrow, strength and rebuilding of recovering from personal devastation.
“There was so much grief both in the world and interpersonally during the process of creating Silence/Motion,” says vocalist/bassist Allison “Sunny” Faris. “The four of us gave one another more space to be ourselves, to experiment with each other’s ideas and to be gentle with one another more than we ever have before.So, we knew this tenderness would manifest in extremely honest arrangements, and I think that you can hear that throughout the record.”
Curiously, considering the dark times in which it was created, this is the band’s most melodic and catchy music so far. Blackwater Holylight, as the name suggests, is all about contrasts: It’s a fluid convergence of sound that’s heavy, psychedelic, melodic, terrifying and beautiful all at once. And, Silence/Motion finds the band honing those contrasts, letting ideas and moods fully develop from song to song, rather than filling every song with a full range of their capabilities. It allows the band to go fully prog-rock here, and simply stay hushed and intimate there. There’s a new confidence to the band in how seamlessly they wield their stylistic amalgam.
“Writing this album was extraordinarily difficult emotionally, however it did come to fruition fairly quickly,” Faris says. “In the past, the theme of vulnerability has always been a big player and it definitely showed up full force while writing this album.” Blackwater Holylight recorded the album as a four piece: Faris on vocals and guitar (on “Silence/Motion”, “MDIII”, “Around You” and “Every Corner”) and bass for the remainder, Sarah McKenna on synths, Mikayla Mayhew on guitar (and bass when Faris plays guitar) and drummer Eliese Dorsay. New second guitarist Erika Osterhout will perform the songs with them live. For Silence/Motion the band chose to work with a producer for the first time, bringing in A.L.N. (of Mizmor, Hell) to produce, along with recording engineer Dylan White — who also helmed their previous album Veils of Winter (2019) — at Odessa Recording Studio in Portland, OR. Guest vocals on album opener “Delusional” are by Bryan Funck (Thou.) Mike Paparo (Inter Arma) and A.LN. (Mizmor, Hell) lend guest vocals to album closer “Every Corner.”
Silence/Motion opens softly with interwoven folky single note guitars over an ominous sounding drone for the first minute, akin to moments from Pink Floyd’s Echoes. Suddenly an irresistibly head-nodding, groovy droptuned riff kicks in with the drums and it’s a full on blackened rocker with soaring synths and Funck’s witchy whispers over the top. “Who The Hell,” the track quoted above, takes proceedings into a Krautrock direction, centered around McKenna’s arpeggiated synth loop and Dorsay’s tom-tom triplets, while 16-note guitar strums add tension as Faris wearily sings, “So tell me who the hell would want to live this way — so afraid/ To feel this void, to dwell in it… I can’t describe this pain I wear/ It suffocates and you left it here.” It’s an incredibly powerful 6 minutes. The title track delivers the 1-2-3 punch of the album’s brilliant opening trilogy. It starts with lightly plucked acoustic guitar, plaintive piano chords and Faris’ voice gliding so softly it sounds more like a Mellotron. The song builds slowly toward crescendo, led by a swinging tom pattern, that abruptly switches back to a heavier version of the opening melody.“Silence/Motion” is about digesting and healing from sexual assault. As Faris explains, “It is an ode to the juxtaposition of feeling paralyzingly blank and and like your entire life is moving through you simultaneously.” Elsewhere, Black Metal guitars collide with dreamlike melodies. “Around You” brandishes a hopeful, hummable synth melody and shimmering shoegaze guitars like throwing down a gauntlet. In the end, it becomes undeniably clear just how completely into their own Blackwater Holylight has come.
“The analogy is that with our first record (Blackwater Holylight, 2018) we were getting into to the car and buckling up,” Faris says. “The second (Veils of Winter, 2019) we were turning the car on, and with this third we have kicked into drive toward our destination. Our destination is a bit mysterious and has the ability to change from day to day, but we’re on our way.”
Silence/Motion will be available on LP, CD and download on October 22nd, 2021 via RidingEasy Records.
BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT LIVE 2021 – 2022: 11.18 – Oberhausen (DE) – Kulttempel / *11.19 – Utrecht (NL) – DB’s / *11.20 – Nijmegen (NL) – Doornroosje / *11.21 – Antwerp (BE) – Zappa / *11.22 – Bristol (UK) – Exchange / *11.23 – Glasgow (UK) – Stereo / *11.24 – London (UK) – Underworld / *11.25 – Manchester (UK) – The Bread Shed / *11.26 – Dunkerque (FR) – 4 Ecluses / *11.27 – Paris (FR) – Petit Bain / *11.28 – Toulouse (FR) – Rex/ *11.30 – Madrid (SP) – Caracol / *12.01 – Barcelona (SP) – Boveda / *12.02 – Annecy (FR) – Brise Glace / *12.03 – Aarau (CH) – Kiff / *12.04 – Vienna (AT) – Arena / *12.05 – Dresden (DE) – Chemiefabrik / *12.06 – Berlin (DE) – Zukunft am Ostkreuz / *12.07 – Hamburg (DE) – Bahnhof St. Pauli / *12.08 – Copenhagen (DK) – Stengade / *12.09 – Gothenburg (SE) – Pustervik / *12.10 – Stockholm (SE) – Debaser Strand / *12.11 – Malmö (SE) – Babel / *12.12 – Oslo (NO) – Youngs * * w/ Monolord 01.21 – Dallas, TX – Trees # / 01.22 – Austin, TX – Mohawk # / 01.23 – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger # / 01.24 – Phoenix, NV – Crescent Ballroom # / 01.27 – San Diego, CA – Belly Up Tavern # / 01.28 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent Theater # / 01.29 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore # / 01.31 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom # / 02.01 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom # / 02.02 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox # / 02.04 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court / 02.05 – Denver, CO – Gothic Theater # / 02.06 – Fort Collins, CO – Aggie Theater # # w/ All Them Witches
Keep your mind open.
[Make a silent motion toward the subscription box while you’re here.]
A Place To Bury Strangers announce a 2022 North American headline tour, and share the new video for single “In My Hive,” from their new EP, Hologram, out now on Dedstrange. The new dates follow a headline show at Bowery Ballroom in New York City on September 15th, a run with Future Islands, and a stop at Levitation Festival in Austin, TX. Tickets for 2022 are on-sale here.
The “In My Hive” video, directed by and starring Manon Aulon Elphick, Niicolé and Dedstrange labelmates Data Animal, is a ghoulish grindhouse tale of revenge served raw. Filmed in gritty wide-angle closeups, this claustrophobic tale of murder, magic, and mayhem is a gothic five-finger-filet deathmatch for the senses. Preparing for a fight, pondering the potential in the sharpness of a knife, glazed over eyes, molten metal poured into the mouths of to-be zombie bandmates, overwhelming flashing lights, all seen through a close-up psychedelic lense.
“‘In My Hive’ is about how I’ve let myself get taken advantage of by other people because I just didn’t care at the time, but it definitely has come back to haunt me,” says A Place To Bury Strangers’ Oliver Ackermann. “It can be tiring to deal with these emotions but it’s best to think about what is going on and work through it.” Watch: “In My Hive” video “I Might Have” video “End Of The Night” video
Tour Dates: Wed. September 15 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom $ Mon. October 11 – New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre * Tue. October 12 – Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre * Wed. October 13 – Raleigh, NC @ Ritz * Thur. October 14 – Washington, DC @ Anthem * Fri. October 29 – Austin, TX @ Levitation Festival Tue. February 1 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s # Wed. February 2 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz #Fri. February 4 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace # Sat. February 5 – Detroit, MI @ El Club # Sun. February 6 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle Mon. February 7 – Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club # Tue. February 8 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave. 7th Street Entry # Fri. February 11 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos % Sat. February 12 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios %Sun. February 13 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre % Tue. February 15 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel % Wed. February 16 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom % Fri. February 18 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar % Sat. February 19 – Tucson, AZ @ Hotel Congress % Tue. February 22 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge % Wed. February 23 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck % Fri. February 25 – Nashville, TN @ The High Watt % Wed. March 9 – Hamburg, DE @ HafenklangThu. March 10 – Dresden, DE @ Beatpol Fri. March 11 – Warsaw, PL @ Klub Poglos Sat. March 12 – Prague, CZ @ Futurum Sun. March 13 – Bratislava, SK @ Randal Club Mon. March 14 – Budapest, HU @ Durer Kert Wed. March 16 – Bucharest, RO @ Control Club Thu. March 17 – Sofia, BG @ Mixtape5 Fri. March 18 – Thessaloniki, GR @ Eightball Sat. March 19 – Athens, GR @ Temple Mon. March 21 – Skopje, MK @ 25th of May Hall Tue. March 22 – Belgrade, RS @ Club Drugstore Thu. March 24 – Zagreb, HR @ Mochvara Fri. March 25 – Bologna, IT @ Freakout Club Sat. March 26 – Rome, IT @ Largo Sun. March 27 – Milan, IT @ Legend Club Tue. March 29 – Zurich, CH @ Bogen F Wed. March 30 – Munich, DE @ Backstage Thu. March 31 – Martigny, CH @ Caves Du MemoirFri. April 1 – Paris, FR @ La Trabendo Sat. April 2 – London, UK @ Lafayette Mon. April 4 – Antwerp, BE @ Kavka Tue. April 5 – Munster, DE @ Gleis 22 Wed. April 6 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg Thu. April 7 – Groningen, NL @ Vera Sat. April 9 – Stockholm, SE @ Hus 7Sun. April 10 – Oslo, NO @ John Dee Mon. April 11 – Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset Tue. April 12 – Berlin, DE @ Hole 44 Wed. April 13 – Cologne, DE @ MTC
* with Future Islands $ with Maxband & Wah Together # with Glove % with TV Priest
If your band’s name is Shred Flintstone and your album is titled Unlimited Power, you need to have the chops to back up those things. Otherwise, you’ll be dismissed as a “joke band.” Shred Flintstone need not worry. They have enough chops to power a car-crushing monster truck.
Album opener “All My Friends Are Bread” starts us off with post-punk bass riffs Ed Weisgerber and guitar chords from Dan Barrecchia that sound like frantic radio transmissions from a military base being attacked by a giant monster. The whole thing turns into a wild assault on the senses in just a few moments. Wesigerber’s fury continues on the title track while his rhythm section mate, Joey Giambara, locks in everything with crisp chops. “Shred Durst” shreds harder than anything Fred Durst has released in years.
Barrecchia’s guitar work on “Red Dawn” reminds me of early Nirvana tracks. “Friend of a Friend of the Devil” is, dare I say it, a bit psychedelic as Barrecchia sings about trying to run from his fate / sins and then learning to accept it / them. The three of them go nuts on “Big Gun” – a New Bomb Turks-like punk track with the vocal reverb turned up to eleven. “Escape from New Jersey” (the band’s home state) turns the vocal effects up to twelve and drops riffs and drum fills heavier than a dump truck full of broken concrete. “Dirty Boi” comes at you like Leatherface with its heavy buzz and frantic pounding. The album’s closer, “Always,” wraps things up with surf and even a bit of 1950s love ballad crooning.
So, yes, Shred Flintstone have the chops to back up their name and album’s title, as well as knock the speakers off your shelves or walls. If you’re thinking of installing solar panels to power your house, you could just plug this album into your fuse box and save a ton of money.
Keep your mind open.
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