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Category: News
Suuns’ new album, “Felt,” is due March 2nd, but the first single is out now.
Suuns Announce New Album, Felt, Out March 2nd On Secretly Canadian
Watch Video For Lead Single “Watch You, Watch Me”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
[Photo by Joseph Yarmush]
Suuns are pleased to announce their new album, Felt, coming out March 2nd on Secretly Canadian. Singer/guitarist Ben Shemie says, “This record is definitely looser than our last one [2016’s Hold/Still]. It’s not as clinical. There’s more swagger.” You can hear this freedom flowing through the 11 tracks on Felt. It’s both a continuation and rebirth, the Montreal quartet returning to beloved local facility Breakglass Studios (where they cut their first two albums [Zeroes QC and Images Du Futur] with Jace Lasek of The Besnard Lakes) but this time recording themselves at their own pace, over five fertile sessions spanning several months. A simultaneous stretching out and honing in, mixed to audiophile perfection by St Vincent producer John Congleton (helmer of Hold/Still), who flew up especially from Dallas to deploy his award-winning skills in situ.
Felt lead single “Watch You, Watch Me” debuts today via NPR Music. The song showcases an organic/synthetic rush that builds and builds atop drummer Liam O’Neill’s elevatory rhythm. O’Neill exclaims, “It was different and exciting. In the past, there was a more concerted effort on my part to drum in a controlled and genre-specific way. Self-consciously approaching things stylistically. Us doing it ourselves, that process was like a very receptive, limitless workshop to just try out ideas.”
Complementing O’Neill are the ecstatic, Harmonia-meets-Game Boy patterns unleashed by electronics mastermind Max Henry. Eschewing presets, Henry devised fresh sounds for each song on Felt while also becoming a default musical director, orchestrating patches and oscillations. Quietly enthusing about “freaky post-techno” and Frank Ocean’s use of space, he’s among your more modest studio desk jockeys: “Yeah, I sat in the control room while the others played – hitting ‘record’ and ‘stop’. It also gave me the flexibility to move parts around and play with effects. I do have a sweet tooth for pop music.”
Accompanying “Watch You, Watch Me” is a video directed by Russ Murphy. “Often we think we know peoples’ faces well, especially casual acquaintances but when we stop and really stare at them they start to look different to us,” says Murphy. “I wanted the video to give you that slightly odd feeling and also the uncomfortable feeling of being watched. Mainly I wanted it to be a crazy, frenetic & unsettling like the track itself.”
Suuns are proud of their roots in Canada’s most socialist province, whilst not sounding quite like anything else the city has produced. Quebecois natives Shemie and Joseph Yarmush founded the group just over a decade ago, the latter having moved to Montreal from a nearby village. The only member not to be formally schooled in jazz, guitarist Yarmush studied photography and utilized his visual training to help realize Shemie’s novel concept for the eye-catching album artwork.
“I was at a barbecue last summer and there were balloons everywhere,” recalls the singer. “I like this idea of pressure, resistance, and pushing against something just before it brakes. And there is something strangely subversive about a finger pushing into a balloon. It seemed to fit the vibe of the record we were making. We made plaster casts of our hands, going for a non-denominational statue vibe. Joe came up with the colour scheme, the sickly green background, and shot the whole cover in an hour.”
It’s a suitably outré image for Felt, which breaks with Suuns’ earlier darkness for a more optimistic ambience. The record’s playful atmosphere is echoed by its double meaning title. “Some people might think of the material,” muses Ben. “I like that that could be misconstrued. Also it’s to have felt and not to feel – a little introspective, but that feeling’s in the past.”
Watch Suuns’ “Watch You, Watch Me” Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Felt Tracklist:
1. Look No Further
2. X-ALT
3. Watch You, Watch Me
4. Baseline
5. After the Fall
6. Control
6. Make It Real
8. Daydream
9. Peace and Love
10. Moonbeams
11. Materials
1. Look No Further
2. X-ALT
3. Watch You, Watch Me
4. Baseline
5. After the Fall
6. Control
6. Make It Real
8. Daydream
9. Peace and Love
10. Moonbeams
11. Materials
Tour Dates:
Fri. Feb. 9 – St-Casimir, Canada @ La Taverne
Fri. Feb. 16 – Trois-Rivieres, Canada @ Le Zenob
Sat. Feb. 17 – Gatineau, Canada @ Le Minotaure
Sat. Mar. 3 – Guadalajara, Mexico @ Festin de Los Munecos
Wed. Mar. 7 – St-Hyacinthe, Canada @ Le Zaricot
Sun. Mar. 25 – Knoxville, Tennessee @ BIG EARS FESTIVAL
Thu. Mar. 29 – Rome, Italy @ Monk Club
Fri. Mar. 30 – Milan, Italy @ Magnolia
Sat. Mar. 31 – Winterthur, Switzerland @ Salzhaus
Sun. Apr. 1 – Marseille, France @ Espace Julien
Tue. Apr. 3 – Saint-Malo, France @ Nouvelle Vague
Wed. Apr. 4 – Paris, France @ Elysee Montmarte
Fri. Feb. 9 – St-Casimir, Canada @ La Taverne
Fri. Feb. 16 – Trois-Rivieres, Canada @ Le Zenob
Sat. Feb. 17 – Gatineau, Canada @ Le Minotaure
Sat. Mar. 3 – Guadalajara, Mexico @ Festin de Los Munecos
Wed. Mar. 7 – St-Hyacinthe, Canada @ Le Zaricot
Sun. Mar. 25 – Knoxville, Tennessee @ BIG EARS FESTIVAL
Thu. Mar. 29 – Rome, Italy @ Monk Club
Fri. Mar. 30 – Milan, Italy @ Magnolia
Sat. Mar. 31 – Winterthur, Switzerland @ Salzhaus
Sun. Apr. 1 – Marseille, France @ Espace Julien
Tue. Apr. 3 – Saint-Malo, France @ Nouvelle Vague
Wed. Apr. 4 – Paris, France @ Elysee Montmarte
Thu. Apr. 5 – London, United Kingdom @ Scala
Fri. Apr. 6 – Brussels, Belgium @ Le Botanique
Sat. Apr. 7 – The Hague, Netherlands @ Rewire Festival
Sun. Apr. 8 – Koln, Germany @ Gebaude 9
Mon. Apr. 9 – Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow Musikclub
Tue. Apr. 10 – Berlin, Germany @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
Wed. Apr. 11 – Istanbul, Turkey @ Babylon
Sat. Apr. 7 – The Hague, Netherlands @ Rewire Festival
Sun. Apr. 8 – Koln, Germany @ Gebaude 9
Mon. Apr. 9 – Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow Musikclub
Tue. Apr. 10 – Berlin, Germany @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
Wed. Apr. 11 – Istanbul, Turkey @ Babylon
Felt artwork
Pre-order Felt – suuns.lnk.to/felt
Caroline Rose releases “Soul No. 5” from album due out next month.
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RIDE release “Catch You Dreaming” from upcoming EP.
Shoegaze rock legends RIDE, fresh off the success of their excellent return album The Weather Diaries, are already preparing a new EP, Tomorrow’s Shore, due out this February 16th. The newest single from it, “Catch You Dreaming,” is out now and mixes dreamy riffs with their uplifting lyrics. 2018 is already setting up to be a good year for shoegaze.
Keep your mind open.
[I often catch myself dreaming of you subscribing.]
Shaky Knees 2018 Festival announces lineup.
Atlanta, Georgia’s Shaky Knees Music Festival has announced its lineup for 2018. There are some great acts to see over the course of three days in May. Jack White will probably be playing a lot of material from his upcoming album, as will David Byrne, Franz Ferdinand, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Bully, and Marlon Williams. The Black Angels, Parquet Courts, and the Brian Jonestown Massacre will be fresh off their shows at Levitation 2018. I’d also be sure to check out L.A. Witch if I were there.
Three-day tickets start at $179.00, so don’t wait too long to score yours. They also offer layaway plans starting with a 40% down payment.
Keep your mind open.
[My knees are shaking until you subscribe.]
Austin punk legends Terminal Mind release first single from upcoming retrospective album “Recordings.”
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Terminal Mind premiere track from forthcoming retrospective Recordings
Extremely rare collectors’ fave 7″, Live at Raul’s compilation cuts and unreleased studio & live tracks from Austin first wave punk trio
Hear & share “Refugee” (Soundcloud) (Austin Chronicle)
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“Grayscale art-rock with punk desperation channeled through instrumental and songwriting legitimacy…Terminal Mind remains an act locals still celebrate despite a short lifespan and being under-recorded.” — Austin Chronicle
First-wave Austin, TX punk trio Terminal Mind premiere the first track from their forthcoming retrospective album today via Austin Chronicle. Recordings collects the short lived band’s 4-song 7″ (which fetches upwards of $100 on eBay), Live At Raul‘s compilation cuts and outstanding unreleased studio and live recordings. Hear and share “Refugee” HERE. (Direct Soundcloud.)
Terminal Mind, formed in 1978, was one of the early first-wave punk acts in Austin, TX. Based far from the urban roots of a genre in its earliest stages, the band absorbed influences as disparate as Pere Ubu, Roxy Music, John Cale, and Wire. The life span was short, but their influence touched many of the next generation of Texas noise and hardcore acts as they shared bills with fellow proto-punks The Huns and Standing Waves at Raul’s, The Big Boys on the UT campus, and even opened for Iggy Pop at the Armadillo World Headquarters.
Founding members Steve Marsh and the Murray Brothers, Doug and Greg, started as a trio before adding synthesizer player Jack Crow. Steve Marsh moved to New York with his experimental noise band Miracle Room (before eventually returning to Austin and forming space/psychedelic rock band Evil Triplet and beginning an experimental solo project dubbed Radarcave), while Doug Murary joined the Skunks and Greg Murray played in a later version of The Big Boys. Jack Crow passed away in 1994.
This collection of songs is a journey back to the ‘anything goes’ first steps of American punk as it left the dirty streets of New York and Los Angeles and made its way into the heartland. Like the Austin of 1978, Recordings is a small outpost of musical individualism that planted seeds for the alternative music explosion familiar to later generations.
Recordings will be available on LP, CD and download on January 19th, 2018 via Sonic Surgery Records.
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 Artist: Terminal Mind
Album: Recordings
Label: Sonic Surgery Records Release Date: January 19, 2018
01. I Want to Die Young
02. Refugee
03. Sense of Rhythm
04. Zombieland
05. Obsessed With Crime
06. Fear In the Future
07. Radioactive
08. Bridges Are For Burning
09. (I Give Up On) Human Rights
10. Black
11. Missing Pieces
12. Bureaucracy
On The Web: |
Celebrate David Bowie’s birthday with a demo of “Let’s Dance.”
Today is David Bowie‘s birthday. He would’ve been 71. There are many ways to celebrate this day, but one of the best comes from Neil Rodgers of Chic, who produced Bowie’s big comeback single, “Let’s Dance.” Rodgers has released a demo version of the track, with himself on guitar and Bowie having a fun time with the lyrics. It’s the skeleton of what would become a powerhouse single and the rest of the Let’s Dance album.
Keep your mind open.
[You can dance all week when you subscribe.]
Moon Duo releases 12″ single of Stooges and Alan Vega covers.
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Houston psych / prog legends Spiny Normen’s unreleased album to arrive 40 years after it was recorded.
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Spiny Normen premiere lead track from unreleased album 40-years after recording via Paste Magazine
1978 outsider psych-rock from Brown Acid compilation faves’ long-lost unreleased album coming soon from RidingEasy Records
Hear & share “Arrowhead” (YouTube) (Paste Magazine)
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“A dark masterpiece.” — Paste Magazine
Spiny Normen premiere the first track from their forthcoming posthumous album — 40 years in the making — today via Paste Magazine. Hear and share album opener “Arrowhead” HERE. (Direct YouTube.)
Spiny Normen is an incredible mid-70’s Houston hard rock, progressive, psychedelic rock band (yes, all that and more) that featured mellotron, vox jaguar, crunchy, heavy guitars, flute with echo effects, and lots more. A totally lost relic this album is, recorded at the community college and never released. This band has a very English, dark, mysterious and proggy but very acid drenched feeling to it.
Vocalist/guitarist Steve Brudniak dishes on the band’s founding and this exceptional recording:
Circa 1976, Gerry and I would skip class, smoke whatever scrap of contraband we could scrape together and meet in the high school auditorium where there was a piano and bang out crunchy rhythms…. At home I shoved a mic into the family upright piano and overdrove a cheap recorder and home made echo-plex to get an impressive cacophony. Gerry was playing guitar, listening to Alice Cooper, hair down to his back and about the only Mexican American in a white bread school. He was cool! So when he said one day, “Hey man we should jam some time!” I was stoked. We did, man it was fun! I was soon on the lookout for a keyboard to become legit with. I found the already ancient Vox Jaguar in the Houston paper that had belonged to Fever Tree, one of the original psychedelic bands of the late 60s. I didn’t know how famous they were at the time but I bought it for $160 and a Kustom blue sparkle vinyl amp with a speaker that I blew out just right, that made the most beautiful distortion, accompanied by a beloved phase shifter.
We began torturing our parents in various suburban garages and bedrooms after adding Norman Davis on drums and Steve Koch on bass. Back then it was a Black Sabbath sounding, blues based crunch. Songs like “Carry Your Water” and “Space Age Flyer” were early comps.
We made a 4-track recording in a local studio around then that our drummer didn’t show up to the session for. All of us being Monty Python fans, and the Norman-no-show gave us the name Spiny Normen (with an E) which two more bands have since taken.
Over the next three years we began to experiment, waaaay off into the beaten path, spending months penning intense, bizarre, surreal and mind affecting pieces influenced by King Crimson, Pink Floyd, film soundtracks, Vandergraaf Generator, and the like along with some bad bad acid trips on my part. I was collecting keyboards …a melotron (hell yes!) a single key play moog. Gerry was adding echoes, early guitar synth and tons of pedals. I learned the flute. New bass player Bruce Salmon and a try at another vocalist Bob Riley and various drummers, my favorite being Robert Winters, were in and out. In we went with a hired stand up bass player and a little Gerry Diaz engineering knowledge to the Alvin community college 8-track recording studio and just played like psychedelic Mozarts. Timpani, live effects, sound effect records, backward echo, violin bow on guitar and plenty of echo. Gerry and I on vocals now. What came out was still, to this day, in my humble opinion, some very complex, untouched territory, holy-what-the-? stuff. We were all about 19.
It didn’t last long and we were way behind and way ahead of our time. I’m so ffffn thrilled though at 54 to see what this world of open-ended listeners will think of Spiny Normen now. The 19 year old Steve is getting his dream fulfilled. Gerry and I still experiment here and again with guitar and theremin in an effort called Psylobison. Just as touched, but its not going to give you such bad dreams.
Spiny Normen will be available on LP, CD and download on March 2nd, 2018 via RidingEasy Records. Pre-orders are available at RidingEasyRecs.com.
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 Artist: Spiny Normen
Album: Spiny Normen
Label: RidingEasy Records Release Date: March 2nd, 2018
01. Arrowhead
02. Wrecko Wild Man Ride
03. Carry Your Water
04. The Monkeyweasel
05. To Meet the Mad Hatter
06. The Bell Park Loon
07. In The Darkness of Night
08. The Sound of Younger Times
On The Web: Keep your mind open.
[Don’t wait forty years to subscribe. Do it today.]
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Shopping announces 2018 North American tour dates.
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