Australian psych-rock workhorses King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have pledged to release five albums in 2017. The band is already prolific and this feat, if they can do it, will make them legendary.
The first album is Flying Microtonal Banana. It’s named after a guitar made for lead singer / guitarist Stu Mackenzie by a friend. The guitar has extra frets on it so he and the other band members (who also have customized guitars) can play 24 notes per octave rather than 12. Sounds crazy? Wait until you hear it on the first single – “Rattlesnake.”
Born from late night jam sessions in singer/guitarist Fran Keaney’s bedroom and honed in the thrumming confines of Melbourne’s live music venues, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever began to take shape as audiences got moving. Sharing tastes and songwriting duties, cousins Joe White and Fran Keaney, brothers Tom and Joe Russo, and drummer Marcel Tussie started out with softer, melody-focused songs. The more shows they played, the more those driving rhythms that now trademark their songs emerged. Since then, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever rode that wave from strength to strength. Touring around the country on headline bills and festival slots, they entrenched themselves with their thrilling live shows.
In early 2016, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever released Talk Tight, their first EP. That effort put the group on the map with glowing support from SPIN, Stereogum, and Pitchfork, praising them as standouts even among the fertile landscape of Melbourne music. Chock full of snappy riffs, spritely drumming and quick-witted wordplay, Talk Tight was praised by Pitchfork “for the precision of their melodies, the streamlined sophistication of their arrangements, and the undercurrent of melancholy that motivates every note.”
“Julie’s Place,” the first single off Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s forthcoming EP for Sub Pop (due in 2017), levels up on everything that made Talk Tight such an immediate draw. It’s about being young and dumb but full of bravado. Sprinting guitars mimic singer Keaney’s pangs of heartache, his awkwardly sensual lyrics calling to mind the chaos and confusion of being around someone you can’t get off your mind.
Wolf People have shared the next single, “Night Witch,” from their forthcoming album, Ruins, out November 11th on Jagjaguwar. The single is accompanied by an eerie visual with direction from Marsha Balaeva and drone footage from Ivan Makarov which premieres today via CLRVYNT.
On the video, Balaeva explains, “I was born in the Soviet Union, and growing up, one of the streets in our neighbourhood was named after one of the pilots from the all-female 558th Night Bomber Regiment that operated during WWII. These women flew old biplanes under the cover of darkness and bombed the invading Germans. The planes were too slow and would have been easy targets in daylight, but at night they could cut out their engines and glide silently to their target and drop their cargo. Germans gave them the name of Nachthexen (Night Witches).”
She continues, “For this video I wanted to use stop-motion animation to depict the time when eerie shadows and flashes of light in the night brought fear into the hearts of those on the ground. The time when the setting dusk spelt the beginning of a night of terrors and vulnerability. Much of the video was filmed at night in the Lake District in the UK, but the drone footage was made in Russia, where the Night Witches flew all these years ago.”
Recorded in Devon, Isle Of Wight and London, Ruins is Wolf People’s most direct and instinctive work yet, simultaneously reaching back into a fecund past to tell us who we are today, while harnessing the power of modern technology and ideas to ponder unknown futures. Lyrically Ruins imagines how the planet might appear when society has finally fallen to dust and ash, and the creeping vines and nettles have reclaimed the land. It is the product of letting go of conceit, contrivance and, indeed, a career plan.
Influences upon Ruins come in all shapes, size, contours and hues: the discovery of proto Sabbath/Zeppelin Scottish band Iron Claw, the lesser known landscapes of rural Bedfordshire, backstage Taekwondo stretches, Scandinavian psychedelia, fleeting rural epiphanies, Dungen, Trees, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, a group holiday on a remote Finnish island, and Jagjaguwar flipping out after seeing them play in Bloomington, Indiana and insisting it was time they made their Back In Black…
WOLF PEOPLE TOUR DATES (new dates in bold): Thu. Nov. 17 – Bedford, UK @ Esquires Fri. Nov. 18 – Leeds, UK @ Headrow House Sat. Nov. 19 – Glasgow, UK @ Sleazys Sun. Nov. 20 – Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute Tue. Nov. 22 – London, UK @ Oslo Thu. Nov. 24 – Birmingham, UK @ The Sunflower Fri. Nov. 25 – Sheffield, UK @ Picture House Social Sun. Nov. 27 – Bristol, UK @ Louisiana Sat. Feb. 14 – Hamburg, DE @ Hafenklang Sun. Feb. 15 – Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz Mon. Feb. 16 – Berlin, DE @ Cassiopeia Tue. Feb. 17 – Koln, DE @ King Georg
Temples — James Bagshaw (vocals, guitar), Tom Warmsley (bass, backing vocals), Sam Toms (drums) and Adam Smith (keys) — are set to release their new album, Volcano, on March 3rd via Fat Possum. The band’s announcement comes on the heels of a sold out North American tour and a performance last week on Last Call with Carson Daly, where the English four-piece presented debut single, “Certainty,” to viewers across the nation. Today, they also share the single’s video, directed by Alden Volney. He describes it below.
“This is based on a recurring dream I have been having since childhood about getting into a sea of plastic. So when the band approached me about doing something inspired by those JPOP videos that ooze quirkiness and eccentricity, I thought injecting the color palettes and aesthetics of Japan into this idea could be a good fit. It’s designed to feel like a fever dream you’d have after spending too much time in a Japanese dollar store.”
All the elements people loved with Temples’ debut, Sun Structures, remain intact, but with Volcano, there is a noticeable evolution presented from the outset. It’s clear Volcano is the sound of Temples squaring up to their potential, immediately evident with “Certainty.” Its beefed-up beats reveal an expanded sonic firmament, one in which bright synth hooks and insistent choruses circle around each other over chord sequences that strike just the right balance between nice and queasy. “If there’s a sense of scale,” says frontman James Bagshaw, “It was really just a result of implementing a load of things that we didn’t know about the first time around. We didn’t even have a subwoofer to listen back to things that we did on Sun Structures, so there was nothing below 50Hz on that record. We didn’t even know those frequencies were there!”
Entirely self-produced and written by all four members of the band, Temples’ melodies seem to come effortlessly. There are sun-dazed numbers and lysergic dream-pop songs and those where synth and mellotron interweave to beguiling effect. One thing is certain; it’s harder to spot the influences this time around. Mystical language has been supplanted by something more direct. They’ve been broken down and blended together – fossilized into a single source of creative fuel, resulting in a sound that is undoubtedly Temples. As described by co-founding member Warmsley, “we discovered a lot as we went along, and the excitement at having done so radiates outwards.”
Temples Tour Dates: Sat. Dec. 3 – Paris, FR @ Point Ephémère, Rough Trade 40th Anniversary Weekend Sun. Jan. 22 – Hebden Bridge, UK @ The Trades Club, Heavenly Weekend Thu. March 30 – London, UK @ The Electric
The Flaming Lips‘ new album, Oczy Mlody, will be released January 13, 2017 (the same day as lead singer Wayne Coyne’s birthday, no less), but you can pre-order it and a lot of cool stuff on the PledgeMusic page they’ve created for the album.
Some of the perks, like signed double-colored vinyl pressings, are already sold out. You can still get signed CDs (like I ordered), signed album art posters, handwritten lyric sheets, and even a DJ set by members of the band at your party!
Don’t miss out, as most if not all of these perks will sell out. The Flaming Lips have a huge, active fanbase (and rightly so) and they’ll snatch up all of this.
We made the 5-hour drive to Pittsburgh through the rain and got in a nice romantic dinner before settling in at Howlers – a local rock / dive bar in Pittsburgh to see Elephant Stone. My wife and I have been fans of theirs since we first saw them at Levitation Austin in 2013, and I was eager to hear tracks from their new album, Ship of Fools, live.
We had to wait a little while, however, because we were surprised to learn there were three bands playing before them. The first was a local hero – Paul Labrise – who played in a rock three-piece that laid down a good mix of surf, rockabilly, and garage rock.
Paul Labrise (on guitar) and crew.
Following them were One Day Steady – who were only on the second date of their current tour. They played loud, enthusiastic that reminded us of Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and a little bit of Red Hot Chili Peppers for good measure.
One Day Steady
The Tilt Room were another three-piece, but this one played Americana / acoustic jams and didn’t mess around. They got on stage, blasted through a short set, and sounded good.
The Tilt Room
Elephant Stone got on stage after 11:00pm and ended up played a shorter than normal set due to the late start time. It was, nonetheless, impressive as always. This is the smallest venue in which we’ve seen them, and hearing tracks like “Andromeda,” “Manipulator,” and “The Devil’s Shelter” in such a space was uplifting. Many of the members of the other bands stuck around for their set and were impressed by their sound and efficiency.
Elephant Stone
We got to chat with Elephant Stone frontman Rishi Dhir, and it was great to finally meet him in person after a couple years of seeing them in Texas and swapping Tweets. He gave us a hug before and after their set, which was (unbeknownst to him) the best birthday gift he could’ve given my wife – as it was officially her birthday by the post-midnight end of their set.It was a fine set at that, and shame on you if you missed it. Catch them on this tour if you can.
Set list, albeit there wasn’t time for them to play every song on it.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famehas released its list of candidates for the class of 2017. As usual, this list causes arguing and controversy, so I’d better throw in my two cents.
It’s an impressive list, and you can only vote for five. It also highlights what the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has become – a hall of fame for rock and other genres. Country is, for the most part, left out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (and definitely in this voting class), but hip hop, R&B, soul, rap, and electro now make the cut (and there’s nothing wrong with that).
Picking five from this class is difficult, but some are easy to weed out. Let’s go through the list, shall we?
Joan Baez: She gets the first “Why isn’t she already in there?” nod. I don’t own any of her records and would be hard-pressed to name or sing any of her songs, but I do know her impact on the 1960’s folk / Americana movement was massive and second only to Nobel Prize Winner Bob Dylan’s.
Bad Brains: These punk legends broke ground for a lot of bands to come and influenced a lot of punk kids to cross racial boundaries and embrace one another (and help each other protest wrongs done to all sides).
The Cars: These (at the start of their career) oddballs showed that post-punk could be danceable and appeal to weirdos and the popular kids at the same time. They were one of the first post-punk bands to get significant airplay and bring keyboards and synths into the mainstream.
Chic: They’ve been nominated eleven times now. Why? Because they were one of the greatest disco bands of all time and pretty much laid the groundwork for hip hop. Their grooves have been sampled more times than anyone can count, and leader Nile Rogers is one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
Depeche Mode: One of the greatest electro acts of the 1980’s and 1990’s. They have filled stadiums and inspired more people to buy a keyboard and a drum machine than many other bands of their ilk.
Electric Light Orchestra: The second “They’re not already in there?” nod goes to them. Their albums are lush, somewhat psychedelic masterpieces, and their live shows were legendary. Plus, Jeff Lynne is an amazing songwriter.
Janet Jackson: I’m not much into her newer material, but you can’t deny her early records produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are funky classics.
Jane’s Addiction: They deserve a nomination for being ballsy enough to make their first album a live record – and it’s still my favorite album of theirs. Plus, you have to give Perry Ferrell some credit for keeping the music festival culture alive through the lean years and helping create the large landscape of festivals today.
The J. Geils Band: They were nuts live, had impressive chops and blues swagger, and quit just as they had begun to rule the world.
Journey: I was never much into these guys, but I know a lot of people who were and still are. I can remember how a release by them was an event. Everyone I knew who was into them during their heyday went nuts with anticipation in the days before their new album hit the stores. Plus, “Don’t Stop Believin'” has become a theme for seemingly everyone on the planet by now.
Chaka Khan: I didn’t follow her much either, but her cover of Prince’s “I Feel for You” is, without question, one of my favorite songs of all time and introduced me to sampling and beat mixing when I was in middle school. I will always love her for that.
Kraftwerk: Simply put, you wouldn’t have hundreds, perhaps thousands, of bands without them, not to mention EDM.
MC5: One of Detroit’s greatest exports and one of the greatest rock bands ever, MC5 flattened audiences that were coming out of the hippie daze and ready to get raw.
Pearl Jam: You heard Ten all over the place if you were anywhere near a college campus in the early 1990’s. They’ve hung around longer than almost every other grunge band (Mudhoney might have them beat) and still pack stadiums today.
Tupac Shakur: Admittedly, I was never into Tupac Shakur or gangsta rap much, but I do acknowledge his impact on the genre, pop culture, and Hollywood, and his mic skills were off the charts.
Steppenwolf: Look at those guys. Those guys would fit in at any Levitation festival today. “Magic Carpet Ride” and “Born to Be Wild” are iconic rock classics, and so are they.
Joe Tex: A soul and disco legend. I love it when the Hall gives a nod to funky performers like Joe Tex, and especially when they give a nod to disco. Look up some of his Soul Train performances if you want to see how cool he was.
Yes: The third “Wait…What? They’re not in the Hall?” nod goes to one of the greatest prog-rock bands of all time. Their cosmic grooves still amaze today. Just listen to “Roundabout” and try to imagine writing and playing that.
The Zombies: The fourth and final “Shouldn’t they already be in there?” nod goes to these psych-rockers who have influenced everyone from Dave Grohl to the Black Angels. “Time of the Season” is one of the greatest psych-rock tracks of all time.
So, who gets my vote? Here are my choices (once again in alphabetical order):
Chic. Again, Nile Rogers has crafted so many hits that you and I can’t keep track of them. “Le Freak” is probably their biggest hit and was secretly a slam on the band getting shut out of Studio 54 one night. The original chorus was “Aaaah…fuck off!” No joke. It laid the foundation for hip hop. Just listen to the rhythm section and you’ll hear samples from dozens of rap hits.
2. Electric Light Orchestra: My wife would probably strangle me if I didn’t vote for them because they’re one of her favorite bands, but she has no reason to worry. Jeff Lynne deserves to be in the Hall for crafting lush rockers like this.
3. Kraftwerk: You wouldn’t have another nominee, Depeche Mode, without Kraftwerk. DM would, in their right minds, walk out of the building if they were inducted before Kraftwerk. You wouldn’t have Daft Punk, Panda Bear, Caribou, and most EDM without these guys.
4. MC5: My reason for voting for the MC5 can be summed up in one question, “Have you ever heard them live?” They’re one of the first bands I’d see if I could build a time machine.
5. The Zombies: I love psych-rock, so it’s so surprise that I voted for them. I saw them at Levitation Austin in 2014 and they still sounded incredible and the whole crowd loved them.
I knew this was a triple bill I couldn’t miss. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Death from Above 1979, and Deap Vallywere playing the Chicago House of Blues all in the same night. That’s a killer lineup. Any of the three are worth seeing alone, but all three on the same night. It’s a no-brainer.
First up were Deap Vally, who I’ve wanted to see since I missed their set at Levitation Austin in 2013. They came out to a large crowd and, no exaggeration, stole the show.
Deap Vally killing it.
They opened with “Make My Own Money” and powered through prime cuts like “Gonnawanna,” “Walk of Shame,” and “Royal Jelly.” Guitarist Lindsey Troy and fill-in drummer Lia Simone (formerly of A Place to Bury Strangers and Les Bucherettes) rocked so hard that I felt bad for DFA 1979 who were to follow them. Ms. Simone played like she’d been playing the tracks for years. It turns out she’s longtime friends with Ms. Troy and full-time drummer Julie Edwards, so Ms. Simone practically knew the chops already when she jumped behind the kit. Everyone within earshot of me was talking about their set even after the end of BRMC’s, proclaiming Ms. Troy’s “bad ass” attitude and Ms. Simone’s excellent kit work.
Lia Simone, yours truly, Lindsey Troy
Death from Above 1979 were no slouches, mind you. Their crazy light show was perfect for their loud fuzz-rock. How drummer Sebastien Granger can sing lead vocals while playing those insane drum licks is a mystery to me, but he makes it look easy. Jesse Keeler wanders the stage like an enraged Rasputin and plays as heavy as the mad monk’s legend. A crazy, aggressive mosh pit broke out during their set. I got in for one song, still happy to mix it up with the youngsters.
Death from Above 1979 going bonkers.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club closed out the night and, as usual, put on a great show. “Let the Day Begin,” “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo,” “Conscience Killer,” “Red Eyes and Tears,” “Cold Wind” (a personal favorite) and “Ain’t No Easy Way” were all crowd-favorites. Any worries anyone might’ve had about drummer Leah Shapiro’s health (who underwent brain surgery in 2014 for Chiari malformations) were dashed because she unloaded on her kit like a machine gunner.
The only bummer of the set was some sort of equipment malfunction on Peter Hayes’ side of the stage. The band had to alter some of their song selection, and the broken thing (my guess is a bad monitor) apparently was never properly fixed. They closed with a winner – “Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll” – and had no encore due to the faulty gear.
BRMC’s appropriate lighting for “Red Eyes and Tears.”
It was a good rock show despite the early exit from BRMC – one of the best rock bills I’ve seen in a long while, in fact.
Keep your mind open.
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Sweden’s voodoo-psych weirdos Goat have returned with a record that steers a bit away from their usual blend of frenetic, world music freak-outs and slows the pace. Whereas their first two records, World Music and Commune, were cosmic journeys around and sometimes into a wormhole, Requiem is a leisurely drift down the Nile in ancient times.
“Djorolen / Union of Sun and Moon” starts with birdsong as Goat’s two female lead singers give a lovely send-off to your catamaran as it pulls away from the Egyptian shore. Then, the drums, guitar, and a playful flute burst through your speakers like a bunch of minstrels running around the deck of the catamaran in a celebration of what will be a blessed journey. The lyrics speak of rejecting negativity and traveling through space and time.
“I Sing in Silence” is an instant chill-out song, with flute, guitar, and hand percussion that is perfect for our journey down the Nile as the sun warms us and an ibis glides alongside the catamaran. “Brother, I am your sister, you are my brother, we have each other,” they sing. It’s a song of inclusion desperately needed here in the U.S. this election year.
“Temple Rhythms” is appropriately named because the drums beats and handclaps at the outset will get you moving like you’re offering up a dance to appease whatever deity you worship. The song is spearheaded by flute and piano. It’s a wild track that sounds like something from a cool late 1960’s European jazz festival.
Speaking of the 1960’s, “Alarm” is 60’s psych – as evidenced by the acoustic guitar work and tripped-out percussion throughout it. “Trouble in the Streets” brings in Caribbean beats and guitar styling (and even bright, bash keyboards), again perfect for a lazy ride down an endless river. They go back to psychedelia on (no surprise) “Psychedelic Lover,” which includes Middle Eastern chants / calls to prayer.
“Goatband” is nearly eight minutes of instrumental psychedelia that reminds me of early Love and Rockets tracks with its free jazz saxophone in the background. “Try My Robe” is a great example of the “Goat sound” (if there is such a thing) – hand percussion, wicked drumbeats, female vocals, mantra bass, and crisp guitar. It flows straight into “It’s Not Me,” which sounds like something Jane’s Addiction wish they’d written (dub bass, reverbed vocals, slick drumming). It’s one of the loveliest tracks on Requiem.
“All-Seeing Eye” is probably a reference to the Illuminati or the sixth chakra. Either way, it’s a good psych instrumental and lead-in to the rocking “Goatfuzz” that hits hard for almost seven minutes and has some of the fuzziest guitar on the record. Another epic psych track is “Goodbye,” which starts with guitar that would belong in a Euro-western from the 1960’s and ends with those hypnotic beats Goat does so well, backed with body-moving bass.
“Goodbye” isn’t the last song on the record. That distinction belongs to “Ubuntu,” which ends with samples from “Dirabi,” Goat’s first track off World Music. The three albums become an ouroboros – the snake that eats itself, the wheel of reincarnation. The end is the beginning. The journey along the Nile ends with the ocean. The end opens into a new world. Requiem isn’t about death and doom. It is about exploration and embracing what lies ahead.
One night only! Detroit’s Echo Fest has announced another great lineup for the psychedelic rock festival. Returning to the newly renovated Magic Stick, Echo Fest boasts Nik Turner’s Hawkwind, Holy Wave, Wolf Eyes, Rogue Satellites, Heaven’s Gateway Drugs, Nest Egg, festival curators Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor, and many more cool bands.
It’s a great way to spend the day, so get your tickets now.
