Since March, Cold Cave have released a new song on the 15th of each month, culminating in the announcement of their forthcoming album, Passion Depression, on July 15th (album incoming October 15th). Today, Cold Cave have released another album track “Siren Song,” a synth driven dance track of mystery and desire.
Formed in 2007 by Wesley Eisold, Cold Cave jump started and popularized the resurgence in modern synth and darkwave genres after releasing seminal and influential albums, Love Comes Close and Cherish The Light Years (Matador Records) and were subsequently invited to tour with Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, The Cult and The Jesus and Mary Chain along with collaborations and performances with legends Genesis P-Orridge and Mark Lanegan. Eisold and his partner Amy Lee’s mix of celebrated poetry and urgent romantic new wave grants Cold Cave the rare 100% DIY approach to all aspects of their universe, producing and releasing their own music, involved directly with their fans and curating by their own rules. Spiritual depth and consistency in a media manipulated world. Love enchained and the polarity of truth. Passion Depression is protest music against the war within and without.
Passion Depression will be available on Rainbow Ice vinyl with a Hologram Sleeve or Glitter vinyl October 15th, 2024 (pre-order here).
September 5 Santiago, Chile @ Blondie September 6 Sao Paolo, Brasil @ Carioca September 7 Lima, Peru @ C Festiva September 8 San Jose, Costa Rica @ Amon Solar September 20 Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory September 22 San Diego, CA @ The Observatory September 27 San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel September 28 Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s October 4 Brooklyn, NY @ The Monarch October 5 Amityville, NY @ Amityville Music Hall October 6 Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall October 11 Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom October 27 London, UK @ 02 Forum November 2 Los Angeles, CA @ Substance Festival
Today, Empty Bottle Presents announces WARM LOVE COOL DREAMS, a newmulti-genre festival taking place September 28th and 29th at The Salt Shed. Featuring the triumphant return of The Jesus Lizard (their first Chicago show in over 6 years), as well as Kelela, Floating Points, Sister Nancy, Shabaka, Sextile, King Woman, and more, WARM LOVE COOL DREAMS is a two day, thoughtfully curated festival with no overlapping sets, each day feeling like a progression through a mixtape. Inspired by a line from Nelson Algren’s novel The Man With The Golden Arm, the criteria for the curation was to have each day of the festival occupy a side of a spectrum, from the fervid and energetic WARM LOVE to the calm and misty COOL DREAMS.
Each day’s programming will move through a carefully crafted sonic spectrum, defining WARM LOVE and COOL DREAMS as their own micro-genres. Artists falling into the WARM LOVE category speak to the more experimental, fiery, and untamed, the likes of which you’d hear from Jesus Lizard, Sextile, and King Woman. Meanwhile, COOL DREAMS leans into the more inviting or chill tones, the likes of which you’d hear from Kelela, Floating Points, and Sister Nancy.
WARM LOVE COOL DREAMS continues Empty Bottle Presents’ legacy of deeply adventurous and thematic programming, building off their Beyond The Gate shows at Bohemian National Cemetery, immersive Plantasia events at Garfield Park Conservatory, and annual Music Frozen Dancing winter block party outside of Empty Bottle.
“The simplicity and beauty of the ideas of warm love and cool dreams was something that occupied my mind for many years,” explains WARM LOVE COOL DREAMS curator Brent Heyl. “ We wanted to build a festival framework that creates an opportunity to showcase the artists we love in a way that is concise, unique, and also rips. Playing into these two concepts feels like the way to do just that.”
Tickets are on sale now, with general admission tickets for the weekend set at $90 and premium tickets at $200. Single day tickets will be $49 and $115, respectively. All tickets will be available at www.emptybottle.com. The full daily lineups can be found below, with more auxiliary programming to be announced soon.
WARM LOVE LINEUP (Saturday, September 28th) The Jesus Lizard Sextile Provoker King Woman Bendik Giske Aitis Band Stress Positions
COOL DREAMS LINEUP (Sunday, September 29th) Kelela Floating Points Sister Nancy Shabaka 454 John Glacier SML
Tim Heidecker announces his new album, Slipping Away, out October 18th via Bloodshot Records, and releases its lead single/video “Well’s Running Dry.” After the breakthroughs of 2020’s wistfully lush Fear of Death, and 2022’s High School, whose tales of nostalgia were never quite as distant as they seemed, the multi-hyphenate comedian and songwriter Heidecker has reached a new peak with Slipping Away, his warmest and fullest record to date. While all of his albums are concept records to some degree, this one tells a story on a larger scale, offering an imagistic framework that allows for some of his brightest melodies, heaviest themes (the feeling of before the fall and after), and most direct and vulnerable lyrics.
While on his first combined comedy and music tour in 2022, and his first time performing his own material with a full band every night, Heidecker noticed a recurring response to his lyrics among his devoted fanbase. “Especially people my age, maybe a little younger,” he recalls, “They would come up to me and say, ‘That is how I feel. And it’s nice to know you feel that way, too.’” Where his celebrated work in film and television is often an act of complex, surrealist worldbuilding, the increasingly tender and expertly crafted singer-songwriter material Heidecker releases under his own name is built to encourage these person-to-person connections.
Working with The Very Good Band — Eliana Athayde on bass, vocals and additional production; Josh Adams on drums; Vic Berger on keys; and Connor “Catfish” Gallaher on guitar and pedal steel; alongside a contribution from Tim’s daughter Amelia — Heidecker wrote a series of songs that tap into universal anxieties, familiar settings, and, occasionally, a blast of apocalyptic unease. If he were to perform them solo acoustic, they might sound like folk songs, with their instantly hummable melodies, singalong choruses, and unexpected ability to zoom out far beyond their initial premises. Even the simple act of making music, as portrayed in the cleverly constructed writer’s block anthem “Well’s Running Dry,” can lead to an earnest reflection on insecurity and aging. “As soon as I wrote that, I worried that it’s not cool to talk about,” Heidecker says. “But a second later, I thought—well that’s challenging and exciting. Let’s push past that.”
Slipping Away is crafted like a killer live set, building in emotional impact and intensity. Heidecker refers to the album as a true group project, a euphoric experience that helped turn his songs into living, breathing things. “My favorite records are the ones that were just recorded in a room with a band playing,” he says, citing classic-rock landmarks from Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and The Band. “And that’s what we did.” Across the album, Heidecker and Athayde often take the roles of duet partners, occasionally assuming a Gram-and-Emmylou dynamic with her quavering, empathetic harmony.
Heidecker describes working with the band on Slipping Away as a personal breakthrough in his career. “Having been doing quote-unquote ‘entertainment’ for 20 years now in different forms, it was a revitalizing experience to be out of my comfort zone a little bit. It was a learning opportunity.” After working with indie luminaries like Mac DeMarco, Weyes Blood, and Father John Misty, Heidecker is in a rarefied field of artists who refuse to grow complacent, and creative leaps like Slipping Away exemplify his devotion to the craft. Quoting Paul McCartney, Heidecker ascribes to the idea that “work begets inspiration” and each new project helps lead to the one just beyond it. “People ask me a lot about the difference between making music and comedy,” he says. “I finally got to a point where I was like, ‘Let’s stop thinking about these things as genres.’ It comes out in different formats but hopefully it all becomes one big thing that I’m making. I think it’s fairly united.”
This August and September, Tim Heidecker & The Very Good Band will support Waxahatchee with Snail Mail on a run of east coast dates, including a co-headlining show with Snail Mail at SummerStage in New York. A full list of shows can be found below, and tickets can be purchased here.
Slipping Away Tracklist 1. Well’s Running Dry 2. Trippin’ (Slippin’) 3. Like I Do 4. Dad Of The Year 5. Bottom of the 8th 6. Something Somewhere 7. Bows and Arrows 8. Hey, Would You Call My Mom For Me? 9. I Went Into Town 10. Bells Are Ringing
Tim Heidecker & The Very Good Band Tour Dates Sun. Aug. 11 – Carnation, WA @ THING Tue. Aug. 27 – New York, NY @ Central Park Summerstage ∞ Thu. Aug. 29 – South Deerfield, MA @ Tree House Summer Stage % Fri. Aug. 30 – Portland, ME @ State Theater % Sat. Aug. 31 – Accord, NY @ Arrowood Farms % Sun. Sept. 1 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony Summerstage % Wed. Sept. 4 – Charlottesville, VA @ Ting Pavillion % Thu. Sept. 5 – Raleigh, NC @ Hopscotch Music Festival Fri. Sept. 6 – Vienna, VA @ Filene Center – Wolf Trap % Sat. Sept 7 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore ^
∞ w/ Snail Mail & Fenne Lily % w/ Waxahatchee & Snail Mail ^ w/ Waxahatchee & Gladie
Earlier this month, the ever restless King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard announced their 26th album, Flight b741, out August 9th via their own p(doom) records. Today the group share their new single, “Hog Calling Contest,” and announce a mini-documentary about the making of the album,“Oink Oink Flight b741: The Making of…”
Directed by Guy Tyzack, the mini-documentary captures the band’s creative process on 16mm film, which restricted Tyzack to shooting about five minutes of film per day, waiting for the right moment while sitting discreetly in the corner. “We were tasked with capturing the band make an album from scratch in two weeks, they purposefully didn’t prepare much for the recordings so it was very difficult for me to plan what to film,” Tyzack says. “I just knew they’d be in one room and three of them might drop out at any moment because they were expecting babies. The room looked brown and boring so I painted it like the sky to match the theme of the album in one 17hr stretch with three friends and a slab of mids.”
On the inspiration for “Hog Calling Contest,” the band explains: “While recording Flight b741, we occasionally had these ultra inspired tune-up/warm-up jams. Of course, we were never actually recording during these moments though. Lost to time. Except one time; This time. We learnt to record these moments; ‘Daily Blues’ came together this way too. But ‘Hog Calling Contest’ retains a unique unhinged-ness that only comes when you’re fooling around with your mates and you don’t think you’re being recorded. Happy in mud!”
As the band’s first release on their own newly minted p(doom) records imprint, Flight b741 showcases a remarkable change-of-pace, swapping the big picture ambition for the intimacy of six good friends enjoying each other’s company and collaborating on perhaps the warmest, most bonhomie-laden set the group have yet committed to wax.
With a recent run of expansive and conceptual albums behind them, which have spanned from a thrash-metal epic dealing with the current climate crisis to a Moroder-esque pre-digital synth album of proto-Kraftwerk bangers, Flight b741 sees King Gizzard ditch all the high-falutin’ scheming in favor of irresistible country-fried rock’n’roll and the kind of effortless songwriting that comes as second language when you’ve been playing music together 24/7 for almost a decade-and-a-half. The concept this time is ‘no concept’.
All hopped-up on early Steve Miller Band and the infinite wonderfulness of The Band, King Gizzard laid down the riffs, the grooves, the choogle. Once it was time for the vocals, however, they took a brand new tack – passing the mic, leading to what has become the most collaborative record in the group’s expansive discography.
King Gizzard will be undertaking a massive U.S. tour this coming fall, which includes 3 hour marathon sets in New York, Chicago, Austin, and Quincy, WA, 3 headlining sets at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and a performance at The Forum in Los Angeles. Tickets to all dates are available here.
KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD TOUR DATES Thu. Aug. 15- Washington, DC @ The Anthem % [SOLD OUT] Fri. Aug. 16- Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium * % Sat. Aug. 17 – Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium * % [SOLD OUT] Mon. Aug. 19 – Boston, MA @ The Stage at Suffolk Downs % Tue. Aug. 20 – Portland, ME @ Thompson’s Point % [SOLD OUT] Wed. Aug. 21 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage & Fri. Aug. 23 – Detroit, MI @ Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre ^ & Sat. Aug. 24 – Cleveland, OH @ Jacobs Pavilion & [SOLD OUT] Sun. Aug. 25 – Newport, KY @ MegaCorp Pavilion Outdoor & Tue. Aug. 27 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Dell Music Center & [SOLD OUT] Wed. Aug. 28 – Richmond, VA @ Brown’s Island & Fri. Aug. 30 – Asheville, NC @ ExploreAsheville.com Arena & [SOLD OUT] Sat. Aug. 31 – Nashville, TN @ Ascend Amphitheater & Sun. Sept. 1 – Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island * & [SOLD OUT] Tue. Sept. 3 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory & Wed. Sept. 4 – Milwaukee, WI @ Miller High Life Theatre & Thu. Sept. 5 – St. Louis, MO @ The Factory & [SOLD OUT] Fri. Sept. 6 – Omaha, NE @ The Astro Amphitheater & Sun. Sept. 8 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre & [SOLD OUT] Mon. Sept. 9 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre [EARLY SHOW] & Mon. Sept. 9 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre [LATE SHOW] & Wed. Sept. 11 – Troutdale, OR @ Edgefield Amphitheater & [SOLD OUT] Thu. Sept. 12 – Vancouver, BC @ Pacific Coliseum & Sat. Sept. 14 – Quincy, WA @ The Gorge Amphitheatre * % Fri. Nov. 1 – Inglewood, CA @ The Forum @ Sat. Nov. 2 – San Diego, CA @ The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park ^ @ Sun. Nov. 3 – Paso Robles, CA @ Vina Robles Amphitheatre @ [SOLD OUT] Mon. Nov. 4 – Stanford, CA @ Frost Amphitheater at Stanford @ Fri. Nov. 8 – Las Vegas, NV @ Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood @ Sat. Nov. 9 – Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Financial Theatre # Sun. Nov. 10 – Albuquerque, NM @ Revel Entertainment # Tue. Nov. 12 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion # Wed. Nov. 13 – Fayetteville, AR @ JJ’s Live # [SOLD OUT] Fri. Nov. 15 – Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater *# Sat. Nov. 16 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall # Sun. Nov. 17 – New Orleans, LA @ Mardi Gras World # Tue. Nov. 19 – Atlanta, GA @ Fox Theatre Atlanta # [SOLD OUT] Wed. Nov. 20 – St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre # Thu. Nov. 21 – Miami, FL @ Factory Town # Sun. May 18 – Tue. May 20, 2025 – Lisbon, PT @ Coliseu do Recreios Fri. May 23 – Sun. May 25, 2025 – Barcelona, ES @ Poble Espanyol Thu. May 29 – Sat. May 31, 2025 – Vilnius, LT @ Lukiškės Prison 2.0 Wed. June 4 – Fri. June 6, 2025 – Athens, GR @ Lycabettus Theatre City of Athens Sun. June 8 – Tue. June 10, 2025 – Plovdiv, BG @ Ancient Theatre
* 3-HOUR MARATHON SET ^ ACOUSTIC SET % w/ GEESE, DJ Crenshaw & w/ GEESE @ w/ KING STINGRAY, DJ Crenshaw # w/ KING STINGRAY
Keep your mind open.
[Fly over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
Slowdive announce a fall North American tour in support of everything is alive, their “hypnotically gorgeous” (Vulture) album released last year via Dead Oceans. Following an appearance at Austin’s Levitation Festival, they’ll return to New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, plus visit cities throughout the Southeast where the band hasn’t played in many years. On their last US runs, Slowdive routinely sold out shows, filling rooms with longtime listeners and younger fans alike. As the Chicago Tribune praised, “experimental and shimmery, [everything is alive] packs a lush and enigmatic punch. Don’t take their latest releases and live shows for granted.” Tickets for all shows will be on sale this Friday at 10am local time and a full list of dates can be found below.
Slowdive Tour Dates (New Dates in Bold) Sat. Nov. 2 – Mexico City, MX @ Hipnosis Festival Sun. Nov. 3 – Austin, TX @ The Far Out Lounge (Levitation Festival) Wed. Nov. 6 – Queretaro, MX @ Cerveceria Hercules Fri. Nov. 8 – Guadalajara, MX @ C4 Concert House Sun. Nov. 10 – St. Augustine, FL @ St Augustine Amphitheatre Mon. Nov. 11 – Charleston, SC @ The Refinery Tue. Nov. 12 – Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz Thu. Nov. 14 – Richmond, VA @ The National Fri. Nov. 15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall Sun. Nov. 17 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem Mon. Nov. 18 -Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount Thu. Nov 21 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE Fri. Nov. 22 – Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live! Indoor Stage Sat. Nov. 23 – Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
As usual, Desert Daze has a killer lineup this year.
Jack White, Fleet Foxes, and The Mars Volta are sure to have packed crowds, but don’t miss Sleep, Thundercat, The Kills, All Them Witches, Temples, Frankie and The Witch Fingers, or Psymon Spine.
There are plenty of great bands on this list, and plenty of cool things to do when you’re not rocking out in the desert. Yoga classes! Messages from David Lynch! Art installations!
Dummy — the Los Angeles band comprised of Alex Ewell, Emma Maatman, Nathan O’Dell, and Joe Trainor — announces its new album,Free Energy, out September 6th on Trouble In Mind Records, and shares the lead single/video, “Nullspace.” Pop has always been a big part of Dummy’s sound, but it manifests differently on Free Energy. Sometimes it’s quite literal (and funny), such as the bubbly synth sequence made with a Korg EM1 popping all over lead single “Nullspace,” which features a melody written by O’Dell and is the song the band calls the record’s “sonic mission statement and really influenced by Mark Van Hoen, especially the cut-up dreamy dance-pop he was making on the Locust record Morning Light.”
Dummy’s debut full-length Mandatory Enjoyment arrived in late 2021 and quickly became one of the year’s sleeper hits. Pitchfork, Bandcamp Daily, Stereogum, Aquarium Drunkard, and other publications praised Dummy’s mix of ambient and twinkly guitar pop, their deep musical references, and the intentionality with which they patchworked it all together. Fans bought copies of Mandatory so quickly that Trouble in Mind couldn’t keep it in stock. Sub Pop Records also invited the band to contribute to their legendary Singles Club series. Bands loved Dummy, too, and the group were asked to open for Horsegirl,Botch, Black Country, New Road, Luna, Spirit of the Beehive, Dehd, Snooper, Sweeping Promises, Snail Mail, and more.
Where Mandatory Enjoyment was cerebral and lo-fi, the product of a lot of time inside, Free Energy is all movement, presence, and physicality. A creatively restless band, Dummy felt like they had done the best version of motorik pop that they could do, and wanted to get harder, dancier, a little more psychedelic. Ewell and Trainor began experimenting with home recording, using DAW as kind of an instrument for composition rather than simply a tool. O’Dell dug deeper into instrumental/sample composition, in addition to contributing more guitar leads. Maatman also steps into the spotlight in a big way, her vocals noticeably foregrounded and confident, adding to the live performance feel that forms the foundation of Free Energy. The result is a record that celebrates music’s ability to move the body, whether that be through a teeth-rattling wall of MBV-esque noise, a sticky pop chorus, or a joyous drum machine—or, if you’re Dummy, maybe all of them in the same song.
Additionally, Free Energy features guest appearances by friends Dummy has played with on tour, including Oakland-based saxophonist and electroacoustic artist Cole Pulice and Jen Powers of Powers / Rolin Duo, along with a series of field recordings the band made while on tour: the rushing of water, the rumbling of the van, indistinct voices, chirping birds; the sounds of mundanity rising to cacophony before petering out, treated no differently than the ecstatic rhythms, explosive hooks, and blissful ambient stretches that came before. If there is any key to understanding what makes Dummy such a compelling band, perhaps it is this: it’s all music to them.
Free Energy Tracklist: 1. Intro-UB 2. Soonish 3. Unshaped Road 4. Opaline Bubbletear 5. Blue Dada 6. Nullspace 7. Minus World 8. Dip In The Lake 9. Sudden Flutes 10. Psychic Battery 11. Nine Clean Nails 12. Godspin
Dummy Tour Dates: Sat. Sept. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room Wed. Sept. 11 – San Francisco, CA @ Kilowatt Fri. Sept. 13 – Portland, OR @ Lose Yr Mind Fest Sat. Sept. 14 – Vancouver, BC @ The Pearl Sun. Sept. 15 – Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s Wed. Sept. 18 – Reno, NV @ Holland Project Fri. Sept. 20 – Sacramento, CA @ Cafe Colonial Sat. Sept. 21 – Oxnard, CA @ Mrs. Olson’s Thu. Oct. 31 – Breda, NL @ Mezz Fri. Nov. 1 – Utrecht, NL @ ACU Sat. Nov. 2 – Groningen, NL @ Vera Sun. Nov. 3 – Nijmegen, NL @ Merleyn Tue. Nov. 5 – Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen Wed. Nov. 6 – Stockholm, SE @ Hus 7 Thu. Nov. 7 – Oslo, NO @ Blå Fri. Nov. 8 – Malmo, SE @ Plan B Sat. Nov. 9 – Berlin, DE @ Synästhesie Festival Sun. Nov. 10 – Warsaw, PL @ Chmury Mon. Nov. 11 – Vienna, AT @ Arena Tue. Nov. 12 – Salzburg, AT @ Rockhouse Wed. Nov. 13 – Zurich, CH @ Bogen F Thu. Nov. 14 – Annecy, FR @ La Brise Glace Festival Fri. Nov. 15 – Dijon, FR @ Le Consortium Sat. Nov. 16 – Rennes, FR @ Kool Thing Festival Sun. Nov. 17 – Clermont Ferrand, FR @ La Coopérative de Mai Tue. Nov. 19 – Marseille, FR @ L’Intermédiare Wed. Nov. 20 – Lyon, FR @ Sonic Thu. Nov. 21 – Bordeaux, FR @ Iboat Fri. Nov. 22 – Angers, FR @ Joker’s Pub Sun. Nov. 24 – Paris, FR @ La Boule Noire Tue. Nov. 26 – London, UK @ Moth Club Wed. Nov. 27 – Bristol, UK @ The Lanes Thu. Nov. 28 – Coventry, UK @ Just Dropped In Fri. Nov. 29 – Newcastle, UK @ The Lubber Fiend Sun. Dec. 1 – Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast Mon. Dec. 2 – Edinburgh, UK @ Sneaky Pete’s Tue. Dec. 3 – Leeds, UK @ Headrow House Wed. Dec. 4 – Manchester, UK @ Yes Thu. Dec. 5 – Brighton, UK @ Dust
LEVITATION returns this Halloween weekend, taking over Austin, Texas music venues with an eclectic and expanded menu of music and art October 31 – November 3, 2024!
4 Day Passes and Single Show Tickets are available now, here.
For over a decade, LEVITATION has delivered lineups that span psych, dream pop, punk, indie, metal, darkwave and electronic music. It’s a beloved record collection manifested into a 4 day weekend, with lineups that span continents and generations: a heady amalgamation of vintage gear, immersive light shows and visuals, buzzing amps, moody synths, and good times in Austin, Texas.
This year’s festival brings a full platter of psychedelia, shoegaze, punk, metal, and electronica – a collection of underground legends, music vanguards and pillars of modern music and indie music culture.
The multi-venue format encourages fans to choose their own adventure through the weekend – you can buy single show tickets for over 30 different shows, or go all in with a 4 Day Pass and indulge in the entire 4 day Halloween weekend.
Many of the shows are mini-festivals in their own right. Slowdive, Drop Nineteens, Airiel, Ringo Deathstarr and Glare close out the weekend, topping off a 4 day shoegazer’s dream across 4 venues, including lineup highlights Panchiko, Swirlies, Julie, and Wisp. Punk legends the Jesus Lizard top off a stacked bill with Gang Of Four, Dry Cleaning, Special Interest, Pissed Jeans, Fat Dog and more – all on one ticket on Friday at The Far Out Lounge. Jazz Is Dead brings a 3 night residency with French greats Cortex and Adrian Younge. Psych punk titans OSEES make a 4 night stand at Hotel Vegas, an Austin tradition that’s seen them play nearly as many Levitation events as festival founders The Black Angels – who top off a Halloween night show brimming with international talent: Niger’s Mdou Moctar, and Brazil’s Boogarins. Local heavies The Sword ride high at Stubb’s on Sunday, with highly influential proto-metal outfit Pentagram, local rippers Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, and The Well. Saturday night brings Texas thrash giants Fugitive with hardcore heroes Integrity, plus more across a two stage lineup. Indie dream team Soccer Mommy and The Drums pair up to crush Stubb’s on Friday night, while Tycho, Washed Out, Hania Rani, Wu Lu, Arushi Jain and more bring bliss across a two stage lineup at The Far Out Lounge on Saturday night. LEVITATION 2024 adds a new downtown venue, Kingdom, which will host late-night sets from the likes of genre-defining and expanding DJs and producers such as The Dare, Axel Boman, and Patrick Holland with more to be announced.
More highlights include French heavy space-rock masters Slift who headline Mohawk, London’s Nilüfer Yanya, and Japan’s Boris bringing their album ‘Amplifier Worship’ on a two stage lineup with A Place To Bury Strangers. Australia’s Mildlife team up with UK chill auteur Arc De Soleil. The UK makes a strong showing with EMB pioneers Nitzer Ebb, Manchester stalwarts The Chameleons performing their 1986 classic ‘Strange Times’, and first wave post-punks The March Violets, all performing headline sets at Elysium.
Today Kiasmos, the duo of Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds and Faroese musician Janus Rasmussen, share a new single from their long-awaited second album, ‘II’, which is set for release on July 5 via Erased Tapes. The single drops ahead of a sold out show at London’s Outernet tomorrow night, with an Autumn show at Troxy already announced for later this year, as well as international headline and festival appearances – dates below.
Following the recently dropped EP “Flown“ and previous single “Burst“, today they share the crisp, delicate atmospherics of “Sailed“, which Arnalds describes as “one of the more playful processes during the making of this record was the creation of Sailed. A no rules kind of affair that resulted in us putting a breakbeat, synthesisers, 808’s, a choir, piano and strings all in the same song. A personal favourite of mine from the record and one I’ve been looking forward to sharing with the world.”
Rasmussen adds: “This song indicated that we had an album ready. It serves as a summary of the work we’ve dedicated to this project over the years. It’s like the essence of Kiasmos in 2024, which excites me. This song has a slightly broken beat, synths, strings, and a lot of tension—to me, it has it all.” Listen to “Sailed”:https://idol-io.ffm.to/sailed Pre-order/pre-save ‘II’: https://idol-io.ffm.to/Kiasmos-II
When Kiasmos started out in the late 2000s, little did they know that their part-time supergroup would go stratospheric. It was the sound of two old friends from neighbouring islands striking out against the stark piano and electropop music that they were individually celebrated for and effusively sharing their love of Berlin-inspired beats. But their pairing blew up into a world-dominating live act whose music went on to define the decade. So what does one of the most dynamic duos in electronic music do next, after all this time? There are clues in their new artwork: Kiasmos’s distinctive diamond motif, up in flames, so it can rise again from the ashes.
Kiasmos are returning, renewed and restored, with ‘II’. It’s the triumphant followup to their universally acclaimed self-titled debut in 2014, which re-envisioned minimal techno with orchestral flourishes and weightless production. They’d made most of that album in just two weeks; this time it’s been 10 years. The making of ‘II’ was a test of their friendship, but also testament to how great musical chemistry can always go the distance and be just the same as it ever was. “In the beginning, we hadn’t established any sound, so it was easy to write,” says Janus.
On ‘II’ you can clearly hear how Kiasmos have evolved as sonic architects, in the album’s deeper acoustic textures, atmospheric ambience, restless grooves and ambitious string arrangements. Each song on the album is a mini epic, effortlessly moving between electronic, classical and rave, and then pulling back before you’ve had a chance to take a breath. This is Kiasmos – but more widescreen. “It’s bigger, both in sound and production,” says Janus. “The music has matured yet there’s a playfulness to it.”
They worked on a lot of ‘II’ during the lost year of 2020-2021, including a trip to Ólafur’s studio in Bali. “We spent a month there and wrote a few songs that ended up on the record,” says Janus. The pair sampled traditional Balinese percussion like the gamelan and incorporated Janus’s field recordings of their natural surroundings – the sound of birds, crickets and echoing the sunrise over the lush landscape.
Kiasmos have an enviable knack for conveying complex emotions and evocative visuals with instrumental music. But this time they’ve got more experience as producers to draw on. The album’s expansiveness can be linked to Ólafur’s intervening years as a Grammy-nominated composer and prominent soundtracker in film and TV. And they’ve subtly shifted from four-to-the-floor to the frenetic broken beats of UK dance music, experimenting more with BPMs, echoing Janus’s time spent DJing in major venues worldwide.
“It’s emotional rave!” laughs Ólafur. The magic of Kiasmos is also in the cathartic release that can happen at their live shows. “We often talk about the idea of crying on the dance floor,” Ólafur continues. “That’s become our unofficial slogan.” But they also want to keep everyone, including themselves, on their toes. “II is livelier,” says Janus, “but it still retains the signature Kiasmos style of transitioning from a whisper-quiet ambience to an explosive dance beat that can blow your socks off.” Their phoenix is rising from the ashes, and ready to take flight.
‘II’ will be released on July 5th via Erased Tapes. Pre-order here.
Kiasmos live dates: 12.07. Audioriver Festival PL Lodz 13.07. BBK Festival ES Bilbao 26.07. Popmesse CZ Brno 02.08. All Together Now IE Waterfront 10.08. Grape Festival SK Trencin 11.08. Sziget Festival HU Budapest
14.09. Spring Attitude Festival IT Rome 15.09. Milan IT Magnolia 18.09. London UK Troxy 19.09. Paris FR Salle Pleyel 20.09. Cologne DE Stadthalle 21.09. Hamburg DE Reeperbahn Festival 22.09. Copenhagen DK Poolen 24.09. Luxembourg LU den Atelier 25.09. Amsterdam NL Melkweg 26.09. Berlin DE Columbiahalle
12.11. New York US Elsewhere Hall 13.11. Montreal CA SAT 15.11. San Francisco US 1015 Folsom 16.11. Los Angeles US The Regent 17.11. Seattle US Crododile 20.11. Mexico City MX BlackBerry Auditorio Ticket links: http://ffm.link/tour-dates
Bizhiki — a made-in-Wisconsin collaboration between Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings, Joe Rainey Sr., and multi-instrumentalist S. Carey (Bon Iver) — shares the new single/video, “Unbound,” from their new album Unbound, out July 19th via Jagjaguwar. Following lead single “Gigawaabamin (Come Through)” featuring Mike Sullivan, the title track of the album is exemplary of Bizhiki’s unique cultural and musical intersection.
The song begins with an electronically modified hand drum accentuated by a plaintive piano chord, leading into a somber warning sung by Carey: “Be calm when she speaks/she speaks the truth, unbound.” The words were pulled by Carey from Rainey’s notebook, right in the studio. “I wrote those lines around a string of tornadoes and hurricanes — this wrath of mother nature that was hitting everybody,” Rainey says. “There was so much relief needed for people who were displaced, so many people out there hurting.” Carey’s warning is joined to an urgent topline sung by Bizhikiins Jennings, as arresting as it is beautiful.
The video for “Unbound” was directed by Finn Ryan and features dancer Indaanis Demain alongside the group. “Gichigami and Anishinaabeg have long been intertwined in a relationship rooted in reciprocity and respect, which continues to this day,” Ryan explains. “On her shores we continue to sing and make offerings, carrying out ancient responsibilities tied to culture and place. Be calm when she speaks, she speaks the truth out loud.”
Bizhiki has also announced their album release show at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis, MN on Wednesday, July 24th, and will be joined by special guest Dosh. Tickets are on-sale now and are available here.
Unbound opens with a single, trembling chord that rises and descends before meeting a warm, beguiling voice, a voice singing in a tradition that’s been heard in Northern Wisconsin river country for millennia. The music that follows is a soulful dialogue between the ancient tradition of powwow singing and a contemporary musical palette. Unbound sees the powwow style entwined with synthesized voice modulation, and hand drumming accented with electronic samples and beats. The harmonies and resonances on this album are equal parts cultural and musical.
Many of the songs on this album go back to when the spirit of the Bizhiki was forged, nearly a decade ago, on the banks of Wisconsin’s Chippewa River at Eaux Claires festival in 2015, and came together over the course of years in between several projects from Bizhiki members, including two solo album releases. Both Joe Rainey’s Niineta and S. Carey’s Break Me Open were released in 2022, and the artists have been busy touring their projects. Bizhikiins Jennings has also been committed to a robust schedule of speaking and teaching engagements —he’s in the final stage of his pursuit of a PhD at UW-Madison’s Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies — in addition to his singing in powwow groups, both locally and internationally.
Bizhiki: Unbound is the recipient of an inaugural Wisconsin Special Projects Grant from Ruth Foundation for the Arts. The project is one of ten selected from a pool of over 80 applicants; selections were made by a national panel of jurors. Project collaborators will develop and tour a multidisciplinary music and video performance, engaging audiences throughout Wisconsin about contemporary Ojibwe culture at live shows in 2024 and 2025. The project will make great efforts to both support revitalization within Tribal communities and enhance understanding in non-Tribal communities.
