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Hi-res photos/album art: http://pitchperfectpr.
Oh Sees Online:
http://www.theeohsees.com
https://www.castlefacerecords.
https://www.castlefacerecords.
Category: Psychedelic
The Moonlandingz – Interplanetary Class Classics
Spawned by the folks in Fat White Family, the Eccentronic Research Council, and the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, the Moonlandingz’s debut album, Interplanetary Class Classics, is, according to a quote on the band’s website “…a derogatory slap in the face of good taste and decency, an album synthesized out of pure irresponsibility and sheer self-adoration.”
In other words, it’s one of the most fun records of the year. That shouldn’t be a surprise when it’s something cooked up as a goofy music project by GOASTT’s Sean Lennon and members of Fat White Family. The Moonlandingz were a fictional band in this project, and now that band has come to life.
Opener “Vessels” is a song about sex, possession, and / or addiction. The heavy back beat and 1980’s no wave synths give the whole song a dark, smarmy feel. Lead singer Lias Saoudi’s vocals get louder and more frantic as the song progresses, and the Waitresses-like saxophone cacophony only helps. “Sweet Saturn Mine” was the first single released by the band when they kind of, sort of existed. It has a wicked drum beat and synths Gary Numan would love. Saoudi sings about strange happenings in strange places and, I’m pretty sure, orgasms that don’t necessarily bring relief. The Eccentronic Research Council’s synthesizer work and drumbeats on this are sharp as a knife.
“Black Hanz” is great psychedelia, and one of those songs that is apparently bonkers live (judging from YouTube videos I’ve seen). It’s something you’d hear in a weird curio shop in San Francisco that has a secret disco in the basement. “I.D.S.” begins with spooky female vocals from Charlotte Kemp before Saoudi starts a chant and then a Sigue Sigue Sputnik-like beat rushes at you. “The Strangle of Anna” could be a long lost Raveonettes track with its fuzzed-out guitar, Phil Spector rhythm, and heavy reverbed vocals.
After the brief, creepy circus music instrumental of “Theme from Valhalla Dale,” the Moonlandingz deliver “The Rabies Are Back,” which is just as wild as you hope it will be. “I turned my back on Paris, when I heard their dogs do bite,” Saoudi sings at the beginning before he goes into a bit of a frenzy singing about werewolves. “Neuf Du Pape” is just as weird and funky, combining new wave with industrial.
You can guess the subject of “Glory Hole.” You might not guess that it seems to involve sex across the galaxy or that it has such a wicked beat. “Lufthansa Man” is cool space / lounge / synth rock. It deserves to be on your next playlist (or mixtape if you’re still old school) named “Damn Funky Tunes.”
The album ends with the apocalyptic, epic, and crazy “This Cities Undone.” I’m sure it slays live and inspires crowd chants and spastic dancing as the band sings about the end of the world and puts down killer beats and cuts. If the world is going to end, you might as well party to something like this.
You might as well crank this whole damn record. It’s one of the best, funkiest, and weirdest albums of the year. I hope this fictional band doesn’t disappear into the ether. I hope they stay outside the fourth wall for a while. Break your own fourth wall by letting this album into your head. It will do the rest for you.
Keep your mind open.
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The Black Angels – Death Song
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Black Angels named their newest record Death Song, considering the name of their band comes from the Velvet Underground tune “The Black Angel’s Death Song.” The surprise might be that it took them so long, especially when you consider how many of their songs are about death. I think they were waiting for the right time, and the right time came after the 2016 election.
Death Song opens with the hard-hitting “Currency,” in which lead singer Alex Maas sings lyrics like “You print and print the money that you spend, you spend and spend the money that you print. One day it will all be over.” It’s a scathing takedown of corporate greed and the way it crushes the working class (“You’ll pay with your life, a slave nine to five.”). Meanwhile Christian Bland’s guitar sounds like an alarm klaxon and Stephanie Bailey crushes her kit.
“I’d Kill for Her” continues the theme of death and has the band firmly in dark psychedelia thanks to Kyle Hunt’s soaring synths and plenty of reverb on the guitars. The length of “Half Believing” is 4:20. Coincidence? Perhaps, but perhaps not when you hear its guitars simmering like a brew you might drink in a sweat lodge ceremony. On its face, the song is about Maas being wary of falling in love with a woman who might be treacherous. However, it’s easy to consider the song is subtly about concerns over civil rights and support for the arts over the next couple years (i.e., “I will die for things that mean so much to me. If you take them, you’d better watch out.”)
The guitars on “Comanche Moon” swirl around you like ghosts. Maas sings about the plight of the Comanche nation, and I can’t help but wonder if the Black Angels were inspired to write it when they saw coverage of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. The near-funk bass of “Hunt Me Down” sets the tone for one of the grooviest tunes the Black Angels have released in a long while. Maas can’t escape another potentially dangerous woman (or is it the Grim Reaper?) who dogs him no matter the time of day or the place.
“Grab as Much (as You Can)” is lovely psychedelia, and the additional skewering of corporate greed is inescapable even as Maas sings about an amorous encounter with that mysterious, dangerous lady. The instruments on “Estimate” sound far away (as Bailey taps out a military procession march and Bland strums a simple, yet haunting riff), yet Maas’ vocals are immediate and almost pleading as he pledges to not get caught up in a They Live type of world but admits it’s difficult to avoid (“It’s kind of seductive.”).
“I Dreamt” is appropriately trippy and a bit frightening. The keyboards and guitars come at you from all sorts of angles, and Bailey practically lays down a house music beat. Maas takes on the role of a dreamweaver / wizard / shaman who offers to help us manage reality and the dream world (but which is which?).
“Medicine” has electro-beats behind Bailey’s rock ones, and spaghetti western guitars mixing with Hunt’s groovy keyboards. “Death March” is easily the trippiest song on the record. Maas’ vocals bounce all over the place, and the reverb on the guitars is enough to drop your mind down a rabbit hole to Wonderland. The album ends with “Life Song,” which seems to be from the perspective of a ghost who longs to be reunited with his love in the next world. It’s a lovely, soaring track that’s a fine send-off for an album (with a great, fuzzy solo from Bland) about death and dark times.
Death Song is another strong release from the Black Angels and further establishes them as one of the powerhouses of modern psychedelic rock.
Keep your mind open.
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Oliver Ackermann interview – May 11, 2017
Oliver Ackermann, lead singer and guitarist of A Place to Bury Strangers, was kind enough to chat with me before the band’s performance at Chicago’s Thalia Hall on May 11th opening for the Black Angels. We talked about the tour, the New York music scene, bassist Dion Lunadon’s upcoming album, shoegaze bands, and where to get good tamales.
7th Level Music: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me. I’m really looking forward to the show.
Oliver Ackermann: Cool, man. Thanks so much. We’re psyched to be coming there. We’ve been doing some crazy things at some of these shows. Definitely with the energy of Chicago, I’m sure it’ll be crazy.
7LM: Have you ever played Thalia Hall?
OA: No, is that place cool?
7LM: It is very cool. It’s a converted opera house, so the acoustics in there are great.
OA: That sounds so rad.
7LM: It is a very cool venue. I’ve been told the restaurant there is amazing, but I’ve never eaten there.
OA: Oh, cool. Hopefully they give us a discount or something like that.
7LM: If not, I can recommend a place. A short walk east is this really good tamale restaurant (Dia De Los Tamales – 939 West 18th Street).
OA: Really good tamales? That sounds delicious.
7LM: If you get there early enough, I highly recommend that.
OA: Awesome. Maybe we’ll hit that up.
7LM: The other day I was describing your music to somebody, and I said it’s kind of like a Zen master whacking you with a stick on the head.
OA (chuckling, as he’s clearly never heard that before): Okay.
7LM: The reason I came up with that analogy was because the last time I saw you guys was in Detroit when you played with Grooms and Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor. Rick from the Sisters and I were at the back of the venue chatting, and you guys come on and as soon as your set started it literally knocked the sound out of our mouths.
OA (laughing): Awesome.
7LM: I got to thinking about it, and your music has that effect on people where it shakes people out of things.
OA: Sure. That kind of makes some sense. There are those shows that you go to and have your mind blown and we’re always trying to hark back upon those moments.
7LM: I remember the first time my wife and I saw you was at one of the Levitation shows. You played at the Mohawk. You completely floored us, and I had a similar experience. By the end of it, I was standing there thinking, “I’ve never seen anything like this.” It was great.
OA: That’s awesome. Right on.
7LM: How influenced is your sound from living in New York and being from that area, if at all?
OA: I don’t know. I wonder that, too. Sometimes I feel like we have no influence from that. I’m so busy in New York and we don’t always get to do things, and there’s so much crazy stuff going on, but I guess that must be an influence as well. There are a lot of great creative people that can definitely drive you, but I feel so disconnected from the scene.
7LM: I was watching some of your videos, and I noticed this reoccurring theme in the videos, and some of the lyrics, about how technology separates us from each other. Maybe I’m overreaching here, but it seems like you touch on those themes a lot.
OA: Sure. Definitely. That’s pretty funny you bring that up. That’s definitely a theme of some of our music. Sometimes you want to go a little old school, and you kind of miss some of those days of just being able to wander and go meet your friends if they were there, or having to go knock on their window. I think it brings us together as well, so maybe that’s just part of it.
7LM: Is Lia (Braswell) still drumming with you guys?
OA: Lia is drumming with us, yeah. That has been awesome. That’s definitely been a big influence on where our sound is going.
7LM: How did you two meet Lia?
OA: (Bassist) Dion (Lunadon) had seen her play in a friend’s band, Baby Acid, and said she was a wicked drummer. We were looking for different people to play with, so we invited her over to play drums, and she was amazing.
7LM: I saw her play with Lindsey Troy of Deap Vally and she killed it.
OA: Yeah, she’s incredible.
7LM: Did you and Dion meet when he came on with Exploding Head?
OA: We actually first met in Los Angeles. I was out there doing some sort of job for a friend and I didn’t have a place to stay. He was staying at this house with some friends of his. I spent the night at the house because he offered a place to stay. We met again back in New York when he moved there in 2007 or so. He was in the D4 and a bunch of killer bands.
7LM: A friend of mine wanted me to ask you what your favorite shoegaze bands were, and I know the Jesus and Mary Chain is one.
OA: Yeah, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, of course all those bands. Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, Heaven Piano Company, Alcian Blue was really good, the Cocteau Twins, the Emerald Down, Mallory. There’s a bunch of good shoegaze bands.
7LM: Have you heard the new Slowdive stuff?
OA: I’ve only heard a couple of the songs. It sounded awesome, though. I’m super-psyched to hear the whole thing. What do you think of that record?
7LM: I like it. I’ve heard the first two singles. In some ways it’s like they just stepped right out of a time machine and in other ways it sounds like they’re moving in this cool new direction.
OA: Yeah, for sure. I’m excited to hear the whole record and maybe if they make another record after this what comes out of it.
7LM: I have a few questions I always ask bands I interview. One of them is, do you have any influences that you think would surprise some of your fans?
OA: Oh, for sure. I like a lot of different music. What do you think people would be surprised by?
7LM: Well, the reason I always ask bands this is because I once heard an interview with Rob Halford of Judas Priest and he was asked this question. He said, “You’re never gonna believe this, but I’m a massive Hank Williams, Sr. fan.” Ever since then I’ve been intrigued with hearing about what influences people have that others might not realize they have.
OA: I love Hank Williams, Sr.
7LM: Yeah, me too.
OA: Yeah, totally. That stuff’s awesome. I don’t know, in this day and age is anyone going to be surprised by anything?
7LM: That’s a really good point. Another question I always ask is, do you have any favorite misheard versions of your lyrics?
OA: I wish I could remember, because there sure are some funny ones out there. It’s kind of cool because when you hear them a lot of times they kind of morph into what makes sense for the people. I really like that. It turns personal for them, which is kind of the point of our music.
7LM: That gets back to the thing I believe where your music changes people’s perceptions, especially live.
OA: Totally. That’s the goal for a lot of our music. It’s a state between life and fantasy and to be able to let go of some of your thoughts and troubles.
7LM: When I saw you in Detroit, you came out into the audience with your instruments and I loved how you made this cool moment where you brought this technology into the crowd, but instead of technology pushing people away it was this big communal thing.
OA: Yeah, that’s a great thing. I think that’s pretty awesome. Not everybody will do that to connect with the audience. We always welcome anybody and everybody to jump up on stage or pull us down or whatever to connect and make it a communal event.
7LM: Do you write grooves first or lyrics first? Or does it depend on the song?
OA: It depends on the song. We always try to reinvent writing songs all the time we do it. It depends on what’s inspiring you. Sometimes it starts with an idea and some lyrics, or sometimes the music brings out a whole story or a mood. Even more recently, we’ve kind of been writing all of it at once. It’s kind of a weird, wild thing. I’ve always fantasized about having a band where you didn’t have any songs written before you played the shows, and you would play a whole bunch of songs at that moment. You start to do this thing where you unconsciously tap into a really pure experience and it draws you in a different direction. You’d dig deep and reveal some things maybe you wouldn’t be comfortable revealing in that moment.
7LM: If you ever do that, I hope I can get to one of those shows.
OA: Right on.
7LM: I’m one of those guys where if I go to a show and the band gets up and says, “We’re gonna play a bunch of stuff you’ve never heard before.” I’m the guy in the back saying, “Fantastic!”
OA: Awesome. I always like that, too. At least to hear some sort of challenge. It’s all about the excitement at that type of show. I’m sure there’s band where I’d be disappointed in that, too.
7LM: Well, the opposite of that is that after we see you guys tonight, we’re driving down to St. Louis to see Tom Petty and Joe Walsh.
OA: Oh, wow, that sounds awesome. That should be so cool. I’ve never seen them.
7LM: Speaking of new stuff, Dion’s new album (self-titled) is out next month?
OA: Dion’s new album is out next month. I’ve heard it. It’s fucking awesome.
7LM: I’ve heard the two tracks that he’s released so far, and I thought, “Holy crap! He’s gunning.”
OA: Oh yeah, it’s so powerful.
7LM: I’ve always thought that about him. When I saw you guys in Austin the first time, it was two songs into your set and he body slammed his bass on the stage so damn hard and I thought, “Holy crap, we’re really in for something.”
OA: Yeah, he’s hit himself in the head a couple times, bled all over the place, climbed up on some things that everybody else would be scared to climb on. I’ve seen him do some crazy things.
7LM: Are you your own guitar tech? I’ve seen the way you handle that thing.
OA: Totally. Yeah, we are all our own instrument techs.
7LM: That’s fantastic. It reminds of when I was in a garage band in college, and our guitarist would cut holes in his guitar and take it apart to get different sounds out of it. I see you getting the craziest sounds out of your guitar by mauling it.
OA: Yeah, you gotta play your instrument to the fullest.
7LM: Where are you off to after Chicago?
OA: We’re going to Minneapolis. We’re playing First Avenue. Purple Rain, Prince, it should be awesome.
7LM: Well thanks for all this. Break a leg tonight. Not literally, of course.
OA: For sure. See you tonight.
[Thanks again to Oliver Ackermann, Lia Braswell, Dion Lunadon, Burgers Rana, and Steven Matrick for being so groovy, arranging this interview and my press pass to the Thalia Hall show, and for the lighter.]
Keep your mind open.
Live – The Black Angels and A Place to Bury Strangers – Chicago, IL – May 11, 2017
I will see The Black Angels or A Place to Bury Strangers at any opportunity, so having them both on the same bill is a win-win and a must-see for me. Seeing them in Chicago’s Thalia Hall was an added bonus because the acoustics there are outstanding and there isn’t a bad place to stand or sit in the joint.
A Place to Bury Strangers were prompt, starting the show at 9:00pm sharp (which seems to be a trend in Chicago venues as of late). They came out as they always do – loud and heavy. They opened with “We’ve Come So Far” from Transfixiation and it was off to the races. The addition of Lia Braswell on drums is a great one, as she practically beat her kit into the floor. Her backing vocals bring a new dimension to many APTBS tracks, and I hope this trend continues on some new material. Guitarist and lead singer Oliver Ackermann was on fire for their whole set.
They ended their set with a wild sequencer / synth / bass / light show that I’d seen them do before in Detroit. They moved into the crowd and were soon casting laser lights and weird, warping synths beats and Dion Lunadon’s growling bass licks throughout the whole hall.
As if that weren’t trippy enough, the Black Angels started their set with this image.
“Take your acid now,” said a friend of mine upon seeing this. The Black Angels opened up with “Currency,” the first single off their new album – Death Song (review coming soon). “Bad Vibrations” (always a favorite) followed, and it again wowed the crowd.
This was the sixth time I’ve seen the Black Angels (and the third I’ve seen APTBS), and this might’ve been the heaviest set I’ve seen by them. My wife (who’s seen them five of the six times with me) noticed this, too. The version of “You On the Run” they played was certainly the heaviest I’d heard. It bordered on stoner metal. Christian Bland’s guitar seemed cranked to 11 in terms of volume and distortion for the entire show. Stephanie Bailey further cemented her prowess as one of the best rock drummers of our time. I say this every time I see the Black Angels live: Stephanie Bailey is their secret weapon. I later realized this was the first show I’d seen in a while in which both bands had powerful drummers.
They played many tracks from the new record. “Half Believing,” “Comanche Moon,” “I Dreamt,” “Medicine,” “Grab As Much As You Can,” and “Death March” all sounded great. They closed with “Young Men Dead,” which made one man behind me so happy that he rushed ahead of me to head-bang and share his one-hitter with the strangers to his left and right.
This made six good shows in a row from the Black Angels and three straight for APTBS in my experience. This tour is selling out across the country, so you’d better get your tickets soon if you want to catch it. I also must give a salute to the two men who make up the Mustachio Light Show. They provided all the wild and stunning visuals during the Black Angels’ set. It’s a great addition to this tour.
Thanks to Oliver Ackermann, Steven Matrick, and Burgers Rana for getting me a press pass to this show. I’ll have an interview with Oliver Ackermann posted soon as well.
Keep your mind open.
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Columbus Psych Fest reveals 2017 lineup…and it’s all free.
I don’t know if you’ll be in or near Columbus, Ohio on May 19th, but it would be worth your while to check out the Columbus Psych Fest if you are. It’s a free show featuring at least ten bands at the Park Street Saloon.
Many of the bands are from the central Ohio area, and I can highly recommend Brujas Del Sol. I also recently learned that Austin, Texas’ Ancient River will be playing there, and they are guaranteed to warp your minds.
Get there if you can.
Keep your mind open.
[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]
Beach Fossils deliver new single from upcoming album.
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Levitation France announces dates and first lineup.
While Levitation Austin didn’t happen this year, Levitation France is a go on September 15-16th! This bodes well for the Levitation shows (a small one is being held in Austin the first weekend of May) making a full return next year.
The first wave of band announcements includes the Black Angels, Slowdive, Acid Mothers Temple, and Kikagu Moyo. As usual, the Levitation festivals always have a great lineup, and this will be no exception. Get to Angers, France if you can.
Keep your mind open.
Thee Oh Sees announce new summer U.S. tour dates.
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Toronto psych /surf rockers Yeomans release new single.
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