Leeds, England’s Mush, are set to release their 3D Routine, in February on Memphis Industries. It was produced by Andy Savours (who has worked with bands like My Bloody Valentine, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and Dream Wife) and the first single “Eat The Etiquette” is out now.
Mush specialize in playing weirdo, angular, observational guitar pop, both energetic and abrasive while also having a ton of fun. They’ve played shows with bands like Shame, Girl Band, Stereloab and more, and have been supported by sites like DIY and Loud and Quiet, as well as BBC 6Music.
They released a single through the legendary Too Pure Singles Club, and followed that with Induction Party earlier this year, which was a relentless burst of an EP (also released on Memphis Industries). “Eat The Etiquette” continues where the EP left off and is a total earworm of a track with a super catchy chorus that’ll get stuck in your head all day.
The Beths will tour the U.S. in Spring 2020 to preview new music from their forthcoming album out next year on Carpark Records. After selling out shows at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg, Washington, DC’s Union Stage and Chicago’s Lincoln Hall on previous tours, the band will play more intimate venues on this run. They recently sat down with Paste while in the studio to discuss the forthcoming album and tour. Read the feature here.
The Beths earned praise from critics and fans alike for their debut full length, Future Me Hates Me. In addition to being ranked #42 in Paste’s “50 Best Indie Rock Albums of the 2010s,” the album received glowing reviews from NPR Music, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The A.V. Club, Stereogum, and more. The band recently won Best Alternative Artist and Best Group at the 2019 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards while also being nominated for Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Single of the Year.
Tickets for the band’s Spring 2020 U.S. tour are on salenow. The Beths Tour Dates: Sat. March 7 – Auckland, NZ @ Villa Maria* Thu. March 12 – Marlborough, NZ @ Framingham Harvest Concert Wed. April 15 – Seattle, WA @ Laserdome Thu. April 16 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge (tickets) Fri. April 17 – Bend, OR @ Volcanic Theatre Pub (tickets) Sat. April 18 – Oakland, CA @ The New Parish (tickets) Sun. April 19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon (tickets) Mon. April 20 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar (tickets) Wed. April 22 – Austin, TX @ The Parish (tickets) Thu. April 23 – Dallas, TX @ Three Links (tickets) Fri. April 24 – Houston, TX @ Satellite Bar (tickets) Sat. April 25 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa (tickets) Sun. April 26 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement (tickets) Tue. April 28 – Washington, DC @ Pearl Street Warehouse (tickets) Wed. April 29 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie (tickets) Thu. April 30 – Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade NYC (tickets) Fri. May 1 – Pittsburgh, PA @ The Smiling Moose (tickets) Tue. May 2 – Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop (tickets) Wed. May 3 – Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge (tickets)
Elephant Stone has announced a new concept album, Hollow, about people fleeing the Earth after destroying it only to find the beliefs, biases, and illusions that drove them to ruin their first home have followed them to the new one. As frontman Rishi Dhir explains:
“This is a straight-up concept album. If social media has taught us anything, it’s that there are a lot of unhappy people out there who are trying to find a way out. They are looking for meaning and something to believe in… or nothing to believe in. We all want the same thing but are trying to achieve it in different ways. With this in mind, we wrote and recorded our 6th full-length, Hollow. I set forth writing a song-suite telling of a world of unhappy souls who have lost connection with each other.” The result is an ambitious, dystopian sci-fi concept album inspired by The Who’s ‘Tommy’, Pretty Things’ ‘S.F, Sorrow’ and Abbey Road side 2.
“From Side A (‘The Beginning) through to Side B (‘The Ending’), the story takes place immediately after mankind’s catastrophic destruction of the Earth and what happens when the same elite responsible for the first world-destroying climate disaster touch down on New Earth, a recently-discover planet sold with the same life of prosperity as the one they’d just destroyed. As soon as the chosen few step off the Harmonia ship built for the journey, it’s clear that all is not what it seems and humanity appears destined to make the same mistakes: the storyline touches upon the plundering/poisoning of their home, the elite, demagogues, false idols, the truth as seen by children, and, ultimately, the fight for the survival of their species.”
The album is available for pre-order with lots of neat bundles for your enjoyment (T-shirts, buttons, hot pink vinyl, and more). “Hollow World,” a new single from the album, can be heard here. The band has also announced a tour through Europe this winter, dates are below.
Keep your mind open.
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Nashvilly psych-rockers All Them Witcheshave released a new single, “1×1,” ahead of a European tour with Ghost and Tribulation and well as three shows to finish the year at Nashville’s Exit/In. Tour dates are below.
The new single is almost doom metal in its weight and is available on most streaming services. Give it a listen. It’s great.
NOV 16 – Motorpoint Arena – Nottingham, United Kingdom NOV 17 – Motorpoint Arena – Cardiff, United Kingdom NOV 18 – SSE Hydro – Glasgow, United Kingdom NOV 20 – 3Arena – Dublin, Ireland NOV 22 – The SSE Arena, Wembley – London, United Kingdom NOV 23 – First Direct Arena – Leeds, United Kingdom NOV 25 – Black Box Pangea – Kobenhavn, Denmark NOV 28 – Hartwall Arena – Helsinki, Finland NOV 30 – Spodek – Katowice, Poland DEC 1 – Universum – Prague, Czech Republic DEC 3 – BSA – Budapest, Hungary DEC 4 – Močvara – Zagreb, Croatia DEC 5 – Palabam – Mantova, Italy DEC 6 – Halle 622 – Zürich, Switzerland DEC 8 – Palau Sant Jordi – Barcelona, Spain DEC 10 – Altice Arena – Lisboa, Portugal DEC 11 – WiZink Center – Madrid, Spain DEC 13 – Zenith Of Strasbourg – Strasbourg, France DEC 14 – Stattbahnhof – Schweinfurt, Germany DEC 15 – Zenith – München, Germany DEC 17 – Rockhal – Esch Sur Alzette, Luxembourg DEC 18 – Zenith Nantes Metropole – Saint-herblain, France DEC 19 – Zénith de Toulouse – Toulouse, France DEC 27 – Exit/In – Nashville, TN DEC 28 – Exit/In – Nashville, TN DEC 29 – Exit/In – Nashville, TN
“You get the sense that exploring unfamiliar equipment in new spaces has helped him find new possibilities in his own work—that by plunging himself into guitar pedals and classic French-house compression modules, he’s ushered in a new era for Jacques Greene without losing sight of his unique sentimentality.” — Pitchfork
“The dozen tracks on ‘Dawn Chorus’ capture the hazy, ambient feeling of joyful exhaustion. It’s an elegant soundtrack to a real moment in many ravers’ lives, and rather than create the music you might listen to then, he scores the scene as if it were a movie.” — Billboard
“‘Dawn Chorus’ hangs together as a cohesive work, even when Greene is pushing genre omnivorousness to giddy new extremes.” — Bandcamp
“Coagulating in the form of a sprawling 12-track collection of diversified cuts, the project maintains the producer’s idiosyncratic arsenal of club-heavy textures, albeit repurposed for listening outside of the normative dancefloor atmosphere.” — Hypebeast
Fresh off the release of his “intimate and immense” (Pitchfork) new album, DawnChorus, via LuckyMe, JacquesGreene is pleased to announce a slew of 2020 European and North American tour dates. Last week he debuted a sold out run of launch parties in Berlin, London, Manchester, New York, LA and Montreal. In early 2020 he returns to Europe and North America (Boston, Brooklyn, Detroit, Portland, Vancouver, and Oakland). A full list of dates is below.
In conjunction with this announcement, Greene also released the video for “Stars” – the second part of a narrative which started outside a warehouse party in his “Do It Without You” video. The track features spoken word from Canadian artist SandrineSomé – who reconciles memories from her childhood over understated kik drums and synths. An evocative closer to the album, Mathieu Fortin’s piece of impressionistic cinema seeks to express early AM euphoria as we settle back into reality after a night out. It’s an apt conclusion for an album which has been applauded for his cinematic atmosphere.
Canadian garage rockers Dead Ghosts have released the first single off their recently announced upcoming album Automatic Changer. The track,“Drugstore Supplies”, is available to stream on all major platforms. Automatic Changercomes out April 24, 2020 and is available to preorder now on vinyl, cassette, CD. The album will be Dead Ghosts’ third release with southern California independent label, Burger Records.
“Drugstore Supplies” is an uptempo garage track with psychedelic undertones. A perfect blend of 60’s and 90’s wobbly garage power-pop. Fans can check out the new single, plus several other tracks from the upcoming album Automatic Changer, live during the band’s Pacific Coast tour happening right now. Tour dates are below.
Oct 31 – LA – Minty Boi Presents Halloween @ El CID
Nov 1 – Phoenix – Psyko Steve Presents @ Lunchbox
Nov 3 – SF – Folk YEAH Presents @ The Chapel
Nov 4 – Portland @ Star Theatre
Nov 5 – Seattle – The Crocodile presents @The Sunset
Nov 6 – Vancouver – MRG Presents @ The Biltmore
Keep your mind open.
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Founded in Athens, Georgia by twin brothers Reid and Blaze Bateh, and bassist William Brookshire, Bambara have been steadily attracting attention since the release of their 2013 debut. Earning praise from Pitchfork, NPR, VICE, Bandcamp, Spin, DIY, BrooklynVegan and The Quietus, and touring non-stop in the US and Europe with like-minded artists like IDLES, METZ, Girl Band and Daughters, the band released their most celebrated album to date in 2018 with Shadow On Everything, a release that NPR dubbed a “mesmerizing western, gothic opus.” Today, Bambara are announcing their follow up Stray(due out via Wharf Cat on February 14th, 2020), with the premiere of the album’s first single “Serafina” on the FADER.
WATCH: to Bambara’s “Serafina” lyric video on The FADER // YouTube
A thunderous squall of a song, “Serafina” provides an arresting introduction to the album. Channelling the anarchic energy of The Birthday Party and Gun Club, in combination with Reid Blateh’s dramatic lyrical style the track imbues the story of a pair suburban misfits with apocalyptic weight. Bambara’s rhythm section rattles and bursts behind a frantic descending guitar lead as Reid, in a fraying baritone, weaves a tale set in his home state of Georgia that acknowledges the history of the place with subtle Civil War allusions, while conjuring an immediate atmosphere of backwoods unease. As Reid tells to FADER, it’s a song built to communicate an unhinged energy.
“Stray is a death-obsessed album,” says Reid. “Most of the songs are about different characters’ futile attempts at living meaningful lives under the weight of imminent annihilation. I wanted “Serafina” to feel different. I wanted the song to radiate a sort of wild-eyed hope. A youthful disregard for death itself. Serafina and Sadie live exactly how they want to live, exploring their love for one another before a backdrop of flames. The knowledge of their own mortality takes nothing from their enthusiasm for life. If anything, they see it as a challenge they might one day overcome together. When they say, “We’ll never die” I want it to feel like they might actually have a shot.”
Bambara have announced a Brooklyn show at St. Vitus on November 8th and a full US tour in support of the album to take place in 2020. Full details can be found below.
10/25/2019 – Record Junkie – Sheffield, UK 10/26/2019 – The Poetry Club – Glasgow, UK 10/28/2019 – Green Door Store – Brighton, UK 10/29/2019 – Sebright Arms – London, UK 11/8/2019 – St. Vitus – Brooklyn, NY 2/19/2020 – Union Stage – Washington, DC 2/20/2020 – Boot & Saddle – Philadelphia, PA 2/21/2020 – Space Ballroom – Hamden, CT 2/22/2020 – Great Scott – Boston, MA 2/24/2020 – Bar Le Ritz – Montreal, QC 2/25/2020 – The Garrison – Toronto, ON 2/26/2020 – Beachland Tavern – Cleveland, OH 2/27/2020 – PJ’s Lager House – Detroit, MI 2/28/2020 – Sleeping Village – Chicago, IL 2/29/2020 – 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN 3/3/2020 – The Sunset – Seattle, WA 3/4/2020 – Fox Cabaret – Vancouver, BC 3/5/2020 – Doug Fir Lounge – Portland, OR 3/6/2020 – Cafe Du Nord – San Francisco, CA 3/7/2020 – The Echo – Los Angeles, CA 3/9/2020 – The Rebel Lounge – Phoenix, AZ 3/10/2020 – Lowbrow Palace – El Paso, TX 3/11/2020 – Barracuda – Austin, TX 3/12/2020 – Ruins – Dallas, TX 3/13/2020 – Hi Tone (Small Room) – Memphis, TN 3/14/2020 – The High Watt – Nashville, TN 3/15/2020 – The Earl – Atlanta, GA 3/17/2020 – Cat’s Cradle Back Room – Carrboro, NC
Toronto’s Bike Thiefs have premiered their new single, “Hockey Dad” through New Noise. Produced by Josh Korody (The Dirty Nil, Dilly Dally), it is pissed-off and abrasive, chatty and hook-laden, and follows the band’s previous releases: 2017’s Lean Into It and 2015’s These Things Happen All The Time.
Vocalist Marko Woloshyn explained the meaning behind the new single, ““Hockey Dad” is about a friend dealing with drug addiction. It’s heartbreaking to see how polarizing, and frankly exhausting the experience for them (and the people that surround them) can be. They vacillate between feeling like they’re king shit of asshole mountain or a has-been hockey dad trying to hold on to any semblance of past success. You watch as the drugs at times gives them the confidence to spin plates and hold court in crowds of strangers. At other times you watch the crippling anxiety start to dig paranoid foxholes into the middle of their box-spring.“
He continues, “It feels like a tired topic, but there’s an opioid crisis in North America, an inordinate amount of high functioning alcoholics and people being hand-fed pharmaceuticals as a band-aid solution to an incomprehensible depression. Maybe not a new idea, but maybe that’s why it’s still important.“
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Bike Thiefs absorb music as quickly as one would expect from a group of millennial audiophiles. Comprised of bassist Kris Pandierada, drummer Andrew Fasken and guitarist/vocalist Marko Woloshyn, they celebrates their fandom for early indie rock as well as 90s avant-pop and acid jazz. Pandeirada cut his teeth producing hip hop beats in his basement, Woloshyn holed up in his room wringing the ink out of Leonard Cohen sheet music and Fasken immersed himself in the world of 2000s punk rock; booking shows and playing in a handful of hardcore bands.
Now a chatty post-punk band, they have drawn comparisons to rock stalwarts Fugazi and Canadian-compatriots Constantines, as well as more contemporary acts like Parquet Courts and Car Seat Headrest. The band has been featured in several international publications including Exclaim!, New Noise and Impose, and have toured across Canada and the United States, opening for acts like Antarctigo Vespucci, The Dirty Nil and Moneen.
Canadian garage rockers Dead Ghosts have announced that their new album Automatic Changer, will be available on vinyl, cassette, CD, and streaming on April 24, 2020. The album will be Dead Ghosts 3rd release with southern California independent label, Burger Records.
Automatic Changer is a record that formed over the past half-decade, and serves as a sort of collage of the band’s experience and changing songwriting over that period. Vocalist/guitarist Bryan Nicol said of the writing/recording process and the resulting album, ”parts have been recorded in a studio, our basement, and a barn. Some songs are abstract, lyrically built around words we like the sounds of and others are more personal.”
Formed nearly a decade ago in Vancouver, Canada, Dead Ghosts grew out of founders Byran Nicol (vocals/guitar), Drew Wilky (guitar), and Mike Wilky’s (drums) desire to hang out, listen to records and play music. After the trio uploaded a few demos to Myspace, this was 2008, after all, the group were offered the opportunity to release a single via a small Iowa-based punk label. The single quickly led to the group’s first full-length self-titled album. By 2015 the group had joined the Burger Records roster and released two more albums, Can’t Get No and Love and Death and All the Rest. With time the band added two members, bass player Mauricio “Moe” Chiumento and organist Craig Pettman. Playing a distinctive brand of swaggering, blues- infused lo-fi rock, the five-piece quickly won over transatlantic fans and scored fresh fodder for their lyrics with their punk-rock antics.
In preparation for their upcoming release, the group has decided to embark on a short West Coast tour starting in late October. The show set will include several songs from Automatic Changer. Oct 26 – Olympia – Cap City presents @ Le Voyeur Oct 28 – Reno – HP presents @ The Holland Project Oct 29 – Costa Mesa – Live Nation Presents @ Constellation Room Oct 31 – LA – Minty Boi Presents Halloween @ El CID Nov 1 – Phoenix – Psyko Steve Presents @ Lunchbox Nov 3 – SF – Folk YEAH Presents @ The Chapel Nov 4 – Portland @ Star Theatre Nov 5 – Seattle – The Crocodile presents @The Sunset Nov 6 – Vancouver – MRG Presents @ The Biltmore
Keep your mind open.
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Australian quartet Holy Serpent share a new track from their forthcoming third album Endless on RidingEasy Records today via CvltNation. Hear and share “For No One” HERE. (Direct YouTube.)
Brooklyn Vegan recently hosted lead single “Lord Deceptor”HERE.(Direct YouTube.)
The forthcoming third album by Melbourne, Australia’s Holy Serpent could likely be its defining moment. Seemingly bottomless in its relentless heft, with billowing and suffocating riffs leading glistening melodies, it’s the sound of a band that has locked on to something unique. Endless is fully conceptualized throughout, encapsulating an oceanic theme from the lyrics and art, even to the very structure of the sounds themselves.
“Lyrically, it’s heavily influenced by the ocean,” explains vocalist/guitarist Scott Penberthy. “Lots of ocean metaphors and imagery was used. Also the title of the album Endless, is an homage to the ocean: Its mystery, power and its ability to give and take life.” The album loosely follows the lyrical theme of two lovers, oceans apart, waiting for each other on the shores of eternity. Their love is so strong, they eventually walk into the water, ending their lives to be together in the afterlife.
Fitting to these themes, the band experiments with sound throughout the album, such as layering in a wobbly synth sound reminiscent of tape push and pull, mixed just loud enough to blend with the instruments. “It’s sort of a haunting sound which gives the album an ebb and flow, much like an ocean’s current or tide,” Penberthy says.
The 6-song, 40-minute album finds Penberthy, guitarist Nick Donoughue, bassist Dave Bartlett and drummer Lance Leembruggen expanding their melodic hooks while simultaneously taking listeners on a rigorous journey. It was written over the course of 2 months, then recorded in seclusion at Beveridge Road Recording Studios near Australia’s beautiful Dandenong Ranges with head engineer Marc Russo and mixed by Mike Deslandes. Surrounding themselves with nature and no distractions allowed the band to focus on every detail of the album as a coherent whole.
In the time since their self-titled RidingEasy debut in mid-2015, Melbourne, Australia’s Holy Serpent have gained a lot of attention for their rather punk version of heavy psych and metal. Their 2016 skate-metal leaning album Temples further defined their more experimental blend of early Soundgarden, Saint Vitus and Kyuss that eschews simplistic 70s-worship in favor of shimmering sonics and uncommon production techniques. Nonetheless, Endless is like all of the band’s earliest visions fully realized and honed into an album beyond easy classification.
Starting with the slow, exaggeratedly compressed 4/4 drum lead in to “Lord Deceptor” — something of a hi-dive anticipation before we plunge headlong into the ensuing depths — crushing and crackling guitars burst in as Penberthy sings in low baritone, “ocean grave, carry me upon a wave / I’m hypnotized in prophecy, what Is left for you and me?” Harmonies drift in and out of the main motif as it sways along into the tempest of “Into The Fire.” Here, a churning riff gathers intensity as the rhythm section builds to a lurching 3/4 time. Reverb-soaked vocals sing, “where the ocean meets the sand, I’ll be waiting, I’ll be waiting there.” Elsewhere, on “For No One,” impossibly low droptuned guitars slink along as the music swells with space rock abandon. Album closer, “Marijuana Trench” is a play on the Mariana trench, the deepest place on earth. Appropriately, the song plunges from gently strummed acoustic guitar into a tsunami crest that pulls the listener under the dark and enveloping weight of sound as Penberthy’s soothing vocals seem to ease us into the end, subsumed in the album’s powerful allure.
Endless will be available everywhere on LP, CD and download on October 18th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records. Preorders are available HERE.
