News – Page 39 – 7th Level Music

Mort Garson takes us to “Zoos of the World” from an upcoming release of some of his classical material.

A master of playful sonic whimsy, electronic pioneer Mort Garson spent a lifetime quietly pushing the boundaries of synthesis. The latest track to his name, “Zoos of The World,” is baroque and unpredictable. Centered on warm keyboard patches that come together to replicate the tonalities of a retro-futuristic orchestra, the springy cut was taken from a 1970 National Geographic special. The track follows “Moon Journey,”the soundtrack to the live broadcast of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, as first heard on CBS News. Nearly in tandem with the release date, July 20th will mark Garson’s 99th birthday, and the anniversary of the moon landing. Both taken from the forthcoming archival release Journey to the Moon and Beyond, out July 21 via Sacred Bones.

Journey to the Moon and Beyond advanced listening parties have been announced at the following locations for July 20, 2023:

Amoeba, San Francisco, US

Balades Sonores, Paris, FR

End Of An Ear, Austin, US

Family Store, Brighton, UK

Monorail, Glasgow, UK

Newbury Comics, Boston, US

Rough Trade, New York, US

Seasick Records, Birmingham, US

Stranger Than Paradise, London, UK

It’s hard not to use plant terminology when discussing the long, strange career –and subsequent renaissance– of Mort Garson. Like a seed buried deep and left to germinate for months (or in this instance, decades), his great body of work was scattered in record bins and tape closets and all but forgotten in pop culture. A classically trained musician and electronic researcher with a tireless work ethos that led to nearly over a thousand writing and arranging credits, Mort Garson’s music got buried in the topsoil of time.

When Sacred Bones first began their Mort Garson reissue project in 2019 with a proper reissue of Plantasia, the Garson-naissance began in earnest. Soon after, you could hear Mort Garson and his Moogs bubbling up on TV shows, documentaries, podcasts, hip-hop tracks, or anywhere else, the man a cultural phenomenon once more. (And naturally, just playing the vinyl reissue of Plantasia at home made every single plant in your house thrive.)
Like a perennial that returns with each new spring, the Mort Garson archives have brought to bear yet another awe-inspiring bloom. Journey to the Moon and Beyond finds even more new facets to the man’s sound. There’s the soundtrack to the 1974 blaxploitation film Black Eye (starring Fred Williamson), some previously unreleased and newly unearthed music for advertising. Just as regal is “Zoos of the World,” where Garson soundtracks the wild, preening, slumbering animals from a 1970 National Geographic special of the same name. The mind reels at just what project would have yielded a scintillating title like “Western Dragon,” but these three selections were found on tapes in the archive with no further information.

The crown jewel of the set is no doubt Garson’s soundtrack to the live broadcast of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, as first heard on CBS News. That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for Moogkind. But for decades, this audio was presumed lost, the only trace of it appearing to be from an old YouTube clip. Thankfully, diligent audio archivist Andy Zax came across a copy of the master tape while going through the massive Rod McKuen archive. So now we get to hear it in all its glory. Across six minutes, Garson conjures broad fantasias, whirring mooncraft sounds, zero-gravity squelches, and twinkling études. It showcases Mort’s many moods: sweet, exploratory, whimsical, a little bit corny, weaving it all together in a glorious whole.

Maybe at the time it scanned as crass and opportunistic for Garson to apply his keyboards to subjects like astrological signs, the occult, hippiedom, houseplants, or the moon landing. But more than most other electronic music pioneers of his ilk, Garson foresaw the integration of such electronics into our daily lives, how they would allow us to engage with the world –in small daily things, popular trends, and big historical events– with our tweets, posts, reaction videos, and the like. In that way, Garson lived such history and then added his own little spin on things.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Alex and Andi at Terrorbird Media.]

Tantrum Zentrum have simple advice for us all – “Don’t Be a Fascist.”

British / North American post-punk outfit Tantrum Zentrum present their new single ‘Don’t Be A Fascist‘, which is both well-timed and thematic given the crazy state of affairs in the world at the moment. The most unlikely love story ever – this song is about falling head over heals… with a fascist!

Based in London, Tantrum Zentrum’s members draw from the UK, Canada and the USA, music having brought them together like a magnet while living in London. Inspired by early 70s krautrock and late 70s New York no-wave bands, they deliver sonic dissonance and poppy hooks with great energy and style… imagine Killing Joke on happy pills.

This is the second of three songs recently recorded with renowned producer Steve Evans (Robert Plant, Siousxie Sioux, Goldfrapp). The earlier-released single ‘Der Leiermann’ is performed in German. And while the new single is performed in English, it contains a few Bosnian and corrupted German words for emphasis.

Made up of Vaat Dafuq (vocals, guitar), Sabine de Rousseau (guitar, vocals), Valhalla Schimmer (bass guitar) and Kur Putchnik (drums). Tantrum Zentrum makes hi-energy post punk interlaced with funk, goth and krautrock influences.

“‘Don’t Be A Fascist’ is a wartime love story. Inspired by the 80s Yugoslavian pop hit ‘Fa Fa Fašista’ (performed by Sarajevo’s Plavi Orkestar), the song tells a story as old as time itself: boy meets girl, and they fall in love. Then their country gets occupied by the German forces of the Third Reich, and the girl falls for the tall, handsome enemy soldier in a magnificent uniform. Needless to say, the boy is furious!” says Vaat Dafuq.

“We chose a bombastic title that may resonate with many even now. The release is accompanied by a humorous ‘explainer’-style video that shouldn’t be taken too seriously.”

With analogue synths, distortion and hypnotic drums played with Devo-esque precision, the band’s music shares elements of Krautrock pioneers Neu! and Faust, along with goth and no-wave experimentalists such as Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca and Theoretical Girls.

Tantrum Zentrum creates memorable live performances loaded with good energy, humour, excellent musicianship and in several languages. Always happy to play for their audience, they aim to get people moving, while fostering genuine connections and a sense of community. The band will be playing a number of club shows in the UK in support of this release.

“Don’t Be a Fascist” is available from fine music platforms, including Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Shauna at Shameless Promotion.]

Holy Wave release “Bog Song” ahead of their new album due August 04, 2023.

Today, Austin, Texas band Holy Wave continue to push their historically psychedelic sound in an airy, ‘90s-indebted direction on the single “Bog Song”. The dream-poppy track is accompanied by a retro futuristic visual, put together by band member Ryan Fuson and animator Joshua Kirk Ryan. It follows psych-tinged single “Happier” which features Mint Field’s Estrella del Sol. Both songs taken from their upcoming new album Five of Cups, out August 4, 2023 on Suicide Squeeze Records. The band also have select upcoming US tour dates this summer.

On the track, Fuson offers: “Bog Song is a recounting of a trip I took with my dad in Idaho while he was guiding some elk hunters. I was both in awe of the landscape and wildlife while also feeling conflicted about our reasons for being in the mountains. I would sit in the dark, before the sun would come up, and look into the mountains and hills for elk. Sometimes seeing headlights cruising along some mountain road and I would wonder what their drivers intentions were and if the animals in those mountains ever watched headlights like those and wondered the same.”

In Tarot readings, the Five of Cups card signifies loss and grief. Depicting a cloaked figure with a bowed head looming over three spilled chalices while ignoring two remaining vessels, the Five of Cups is generally interpreted as representing a forlorn dwelling on the past and an inability to appreciate the positive things in the present. It was this card that struck a chord with vocalist/guitarist Ryan Fuson, member of the Austin TX subversive subterranean pop outfit Holy Wave, during a Tarot reading at the height of the pandemic. “I was really sure that the music world was finished and it seemed like internet aggression and, well, aggression in general was at an all-time high, so I was ready to stop playing music,” Fuson says. “It could be so easy to become jaded and pessimistic and I had to really decide what perspective I was going to take.”Rather than abandon music, Fuson and his compatriots chose to immerse themselves in their work. Fittingly, the Tarot card became the muse for Holy Wave’s sixth full-length album—Five of Cups.

Back at the beginning of their fifteen-year career, Holy Wave leaned into a tranquil realm of psychedelia, eschewing long-form jams and guitar heroics for a dreamy pop-oriented approach. As the band evolved, the early Sgt. Peppers-meets-the-Velvets sound yielded to more sophisticated melodies and tripped-out instrumentation, effectively steering their music away from sun-bleached nostalgia to a color-saturated dimension where sounds of the past, present, and future intermingled.

The childhood friends of Fuson, Joey Cook, Kyle Hager, and Julian Ruiz grew up in El Paso, where they cut their teeth in the local DIY scene. Hungry for more music and broader perspectives, the members made frequent road trips across the Southwest to catch touring bands who opted to skip West Texas markets. That wanderlust eventually prompted their relocation to Austin, but it also permeated in their adventurous songwriting and love for touring. No small surprise then that these aural explorers felt that a whole way of life was taken from them with the onset of the pandemic. But on Five of Cups, it sounds as if the physical limitations of quarantine life prompted Holy Wave to wander even deeper into new sonic territories.

Five of Cups opens with the title track, establishing the album’s auditory and thematic modus operandi from the get-go. Holy Wave’s lysergic textural palette is immediately apparent in the song’s woozy synth lead and anti-gravity guitar jangle, but the atypical chord progressions and vocal melody steers the music away from anodyne escapism into a pensive grappling between self-determination and defeatism. Holy Wave continue to ride the wistful and phantasmic train on “Bog Song,” where the members vacillate between swells of austere minor chords and layered electric orchestration. From there, the previously released digital single “Chaparral” plays with the band’s own sense of nostalgia, weaving references of their El Paso past into a tapestry of transcendental triumph.

Like so much classic album-oriented rock music, the real magic begins to unfold in the latter half of Five of Cups. On “The Darkest Timeline,” Holy Wave recruits their friends Lorena Quintanilla and Alberto Gonzalez from the Baja California, Mexico psych duo Lorelle Meets the Obsolete to add additional ethereal layers to their intoxicating after-midnight grooves. “Nothing in the Dark” functions on a similar principle, using a steady propulsive drum pattern as the bedrock to tape-warbled synths, arpeggiated guitar chords, jet streams of fuzz, and serene vocals. Five of Cups’ ruminations on combating defeat and disappointment are directly confronted on album closer “Happier.” Once again straddling the melodic line between melancholy and breezy sophistication, Holy Wave examines the synthetic construct of happiness in our modern age and how so often the attainment of comfort lacks any true sense of joy. Yet this isn’t some nihilistic dirge. Rather, it translates as a buoyant reminder that the bandwidth of human experience inherently requires peaks and valleys, and that euphoria is often found in the search outside of the familiar.

As with the Tarot card from which it got its name, Five of Cups is an acknowledgement of hardship and a reminder to embrace the joys available to us. And like early ‘70s Pink Floyd, Holy Wave have figured out how to conjure a sense of profound exhilaration out of pathos, filtering dark elements through a lens and bending them into a kaleidoscope of light.

Suicide Squeeze is proud to present Holy Wave’s Five of Cups on CD/LP/DSP on August 4, 2023.

Live Dates
Aug 8 – Andy’s – Denton, TX
Aug 9 – Opolis – Norman, OK
Aug 11 – Back Alley Ballyhoo – Indianapolis, IN
Aug 12 – JJs Bohemia – Chattanooga, TN
Aug 13 – Upstairs at Avondale – Birmingham, AL
Aug 15 – Alabama Music Box – Mobile, AL
Aug 16 – Continental Club – Houston, TX
Aug 17 – Paper Tiger – San Antonio, TX

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Andi at Terrorbird Media.]

Kali Horse embrace warmer weather with “New Spring.”

“The ice melts and reveals the New Spring. The neon forest comes alive, a lush environment with a mind of its own. This bubbly psych-bop has hypnotic layers of acoustic and electric guitars that guide you deeper into the dense atmosphere. Instruments like bugs, scatter and shimmer panning through your sonic spectrum. Harp sparkles with whimsy while crystal singing bowls+tongue drum is the moss. Explorative and playful drums+auxiliary percussion have you skipping deeper into the mind-mending journey, while saxophone wails in the distance. Only a few words are understood, like overgrown ideologies that you run into the ground. The Few who walk here are explorers of the known and unknown.” – Kali Horse

YouTube || Streaming

Kali Horse (formerly Kaleidoscope Horse) is a psychedelic art-rock band from Toronto, ON. Their sound is theatrical and dreamy – bouncing between highly melodic and rhythmic, groovy sections. Driven both by strong song-writing and abstract sound-play, the band creates dimensions that are often jarring in comparison to one another, playing on tension and release. The contrast between Desiree Das Gupta’s (*Das Gupta all one last name) powerful alto, and Sam Maloney’s feathery vocal timbre creates a balance of light and heavy, backed by full band harmonies.

Kali Horse’s world is an immersive world that they invite the audience into. Kali Horse are storytellers, their music is about telling a story with sound rather than a specific genre. The band are queer, multi-instrumentalist performers whose friendship is the bond of the band.

Sam and Des have been best friends for a decade and have been making music together for 7 years under different names, they are a huge part of the Toronto music community. In the live band, Sam and Des are joined by Cassandra Ellen (Synth/ Vocals/Percussion), Cameron Kirk (bass) and Brandon Bak (drums).

Guest players on New Spring include Luna Li (Hannah Bussiere-Kim) on harp.

TOUR DATES 2023
June 30 – Maud’s Variety, Sarnia ON
July 01 – Cole’s Bar, Chicago IL
July 03 – Raccoon Motel, Davenport IW
July 14 – Entrepot 77, Montreal QC
July 21 – Pinball House, Guelph ON

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Mar Sellars!]

Skeleten celebrates “Territory Day” with his new single.

Sydney producer / vocalist Skeleten has unveiled “Territory Day”, the latest preview of his long-awaited debut full-length album, Under Utopia, coming July 28 via 2MR (NA) / Astral People Recordings (ROW).

A sprawling, vibe-heavy track that unfurls with truncated beats, gently insistent congas, hypnotic pleading and twinkling, Four Tet-esque chimes, Russell Fitzgibbon shares the origins of “Territory Day”: “I made the main idea one night back before I was even thinking of Skeleten as a real project. It was Territory Day, a holiday in the Northern Territory where everyone lets off fireworks for one night, and I was distinctly thousands of kms away from there. I always wanted to revisit the idea and after a few years and a pandemic I came back to it and felt it all new. Felt that expression of simple longing travelling through time and space, and thought about the power of all the desire and struggles crossing the globe like radio waves. I wanted to shout out to everyone trying at anything.”

Pieced together using fan-shot footage from a recent studio party, edited and processed through the album’s distinctive cover art, the visuals for ‘Territory Day’ tap into the ideals of connectivity and community at heart of Under Utopia – a homage to Skeleten’s ethos of finding transcendence in the everyday.

WATCH / SHARE “TERRITORY DAY” HERE
LISTEN / PLAYLIST HERE

On his thrilling and immersive debut album, Skeleten dares to imagine new ways of being that are not characterised by doom or despair – a challenge in an era defined more by feelings of futility, isolation and precarity. Across eleven tracks of free-flowing, transcendent, and often euphoric electronic music, he plays spiritual guide to a musical journey which is wonderfully in touch with realms beyond our own. Praising the power of comradery and community, dreaming of a future that is joyously boundless, Skeleten’s singular debut LP is, to borrow from one of his own lines, music for dancing “any way your body turns.”

Threading together previous singles “Walking On Your Name”, “Mirrored”, “No Drones In The Afterlife” and the recently released “Sharing The Fire”, Under Utopia is a record that prioritises immediate pleasures without forgoing intimacy, reaching outward with inviting choruses and mantra-like melodies. “I think the album came out of the experience of feeling this great desire to reconnect and dreaming of the power of community,” says the musician. Tied together by Fitzgibbon’s spacious, airy production, the record finds an antidote for the ever-pervasive gloom of contemporary life in the transformative power of love, community and an enduring, determined optimism that gestures toward a better and brighter future just over the horizon.

PRE-ORDER / PRE-SAVE UNDER UTOPIA HERE

Russell Fitzgibbon cut his teeth in Sydney’s tight-knit electronic community just as the city itself was forging its own identity. Debuting under his solo moniker in late 2020, Skeleten is Fitzgibbon’s most personal project to date, the sound of him unfiltered for the first time as both a vocalist and producer. At once intimate and otherworldly, at the core of the project lies a strong sense of uncomplicated openness and a deeply rhythmic, meditative ambience. Strikingly unplaceable, the result is a curious yet alluring amalgam of far-flung influences and emotive atmospheres that invites you to get repeatedly lost in. In between his debut and the long-awaited release of Under Utopia, Skeleten’s consistent output has seen him accrue rotation and early praise from Double J, XLR8R, NME, Dummy Magazine, BBC Radio 6 Music’s Recommends Spotlight Artist and receive the official remix treatment from the likes of Logic1000, Moktar, Jennifer Loveless and Rings Around Saturn.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Bailey at Another Side.]

Ratboys announce new album, “The Window,” with a new single – “It’s Alive!”

Chicago’s beloved Ratboys announce their fourth studio album, The Window, out August 25th via Topshelf Records with lead single/video “It’s Alive!” and a North American tour. After more than ten years and four studio albums, The Window finally captures Ratboys as they were always meant to be heard—expansive while still intimate, audacious while still tender—the sound of four friends operating as a single, cohesive unit. The album is sonically diverse, shifting wildly from track to track and flexing everything from fuzzy power pop choruses to warm country twang to mournful folk.

Lyrically, The Window sees Julia Steiner at her most personal, reflecting on love and grief with occasional humor and levity. She frequently leans on windows as a theme—the idea of an interrupted connection, the feeling of being near someone without being fully present—like on the pounding lead single, “It’s Alive!” Opening with Steiner’s honeyed vocals, “Outside my window the birds dance alone // I sit back and take it in // Like some sort of medicine,” it’s a bright and vivacious track that, in Steiner’s words, captures “the overarching feeling of the world spinning on beneath you while you’re stuck in one place.” In the video, directed by John TerEick, Ratboys play in an empty house, as its owners slowly start to move in.

Pre-order The Window from Ratboys & Topshelf Records

The Window marks a number of firsts for the band. Throughout the last few years, Sean Neumann (bass) and Marcus Nuccio (drums) became full-time members alongside Julia Steiner (vocals, guitar) and Dave Sagan (guitars), making The Window the first album Ratboys have written collaboratively from start to finish. It was also the first time they’d ever traveled outside their home base of Chicago to record an album, journeying to Seattle to work with producer Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara, Foxing) for three weeks. The group worked on the arrangements together over the course of a year and half, so by the time the band showed up to the Hall of Justice Recording Studio in February 2022, The Window’s songs were well rehearsed and airtight. “We spent 2020 demoing the songs, and spent 2021 practicing them,” says Steiner. “We practiced twice a week for six months, exploring the songs and developing them. We’d send early versions to Chris and he’d give us notes. It went like that for weeks. It was such a dedicated and intentional process.”

But while The Window was nearly fully formed going into the studio, the band also left some space for experimentation with Walla. The sessions struck the perfect balance between preparation and experimentation. Walla’s studio sensibilities pushed Ratboys to stretch and expand their vision, adding unexpected elements and instruments like rototoms, talkboxes, and fiddles. Hunting for sonic inspiration, Walla and the band sometimes spent hours just listening to their favorite albums, spinning everything from Sloan to Brainiac to The Roches. “The language Chris uses when speaking about music comes from a very emotionally centered place, and that’s something that resonated with us. He would say things like, ‘This cymbal hurts my feelings,’ or ‘This song is like a cat,’” says Nuccio. “It was such a disarming thing,” adds Neumann. “We didn’t get bogged down in technical terms, and he never placed pressure on us in that way. With Chris steering the ship, we were free to go off on little creative expeditions and come up with parts and ideas we’d never imagined.”

As Paste lauds, “Ratboys has had all of our hearts for 10 years…[and] a live chemistry that remains unparalleled and irreplaceable.” This fall, they’ll bring their incredible live show across North America. A list of dates can be found below and tickets will be on sale this Friday, June 9th at 10am local at the band’s website.

Pre-order The Window

Watch the “Black Earth, WI” Video

Ratboys Tour Dates
Fri. Aug. 25 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern
Thu. Sep. 21 – Champaign-Urbana, IL @ Pygmalion Festival
Fri. Sep. 22 – Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe
Sat. Sep. 23 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
Tue. Sep. 26 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
Wed. Sep. 27 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Thu. Sep. 28 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
Fri. Sep. 29 – Montreal, QC @ POP Montreal
Sat. Sep. 30 – Toronto, ON @ Monarch Tavern
Mon. Oct. 2 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Bottlerocket Social Hall
Tue. Oct. 3 – Cleveland, OH @ No Class
Wed. Oct. 4 – Ferndale, MI @ Magic Bag
Fri. Oct. 6 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
Sat. Oct. 7 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Back Room at Colectivo Coffee
Thu. Oct. 19 – Omaha, NE @ Reverb
Sat. Oct. 21 – Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
Sun. Oct. 22 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
Tue. Oct. 24 – Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s
Wed. Oct. 25 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
Fri. Oct. 27 – San Francisco, CA @ Cafe du Nord
Sat. Oct. 28 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room Highland Park
Sun. Oct. 29 – San Diego, CA @ The Loft at UC San Diego
Mon. Oct. 30 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room
Tue. Oct. 31 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
Thu. Nov. 2 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger
Fri. Nov. 3 – Austin, TX @ Empire Control Room & Garage
Sat. Nov. 4 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]

The Clientle release “Dying in May” at the end of May and ahead of their “I’m Not There Anymore” album due in July.

The Clientele — the cherished UK outfit composed of vocalist/lyricist/guitarist Alasdair MacLean, bassist James Hornsey, and drummer Mark Keen — presents “Dying in May,” the new single from their forthcoming album, I Am Not There Anymore, out July 28th on Merge. On “Dying in May,” Keen’s live drums weave around programmed drum and bass samples, creating something polyrhythmic and avant-garde. Following the serene lead single “Blue Over Blue,” “Dying in May” elucidates the range of genres The Clientele explore on I Am Not There Anymore, a 19-track journey that extends from light bossa nova beats to the band’s classic chamber pop.

Of the track, MacLean says: “I think ‘Dying in May’ is the first Clientele song with no guitar. It also has no chords, as such — it’s a drone, with french horn, cello and Mellotron. So the rhythm does a lot of the work — the drums and percussion are in 9/8, but the singing and instruments are in 4/4, so as each bar goes past, there’s a slightly different rhythmic emphasis. This was a complete accident, but I loved it when I heard it — the patterns are a bit disorientating, but there’s a pulse that goes through it. I almost feel I could dance to this, but not quite. It’s based on an Arabic flamenco rhythm.

“The words are all fragmented too — simple images repeating, like someone in a high fever. I took some inspiration from cante jondo, Spanish flamenco — there tend to be two or three very focused, repetitive images in the words. There was no way in hell I could play guitar along with these rhythms, so I scored out a simple melody which would leave space for the drums, and be something the bass could latch on to. By the end, the words go over and over, like someone beside themselves with grief. Hence the title. It’s a harrowing subject, but I think it’s presented with love — the song hopefully opens it out and lets some air in. It feels like an exorcism for me.”

Listen to The Clientele’s “Dying in May”
I Am Not There Anymore regularly evokes what MacLean calls “the feeling of not being real.” A lot of the lyrics were inspired by MacLean’s memories of the early summer in 1997, when his mother died. Though the album functions as MacLean’s way of mourning, he notes that he’s not the kind of songwriter who ever sits down with a theme in mind. It’s more that “the music will bring images and then those images link of their own accord.” It’s a general mood he’s chasing with these loosely connected recollections.

The previous Clientele album, 2017’s Music for the Age of Miracles, arrived after a seven-year hiatus and featured the band’s familiar wistful melodies and haunting echo. Recording for I Am Not There Anymorebegan in 2019 and continued piecemeal until 2022 — in part because of the pandemic, but also because the band wanted to experiment. “We’d always been interested in music other than guitar music, like for donkey’s years,” MacLean says. This time out, the trio incorporated elements of post-bop jazz, contemporary classical and electronic music. According to MacLean, “None of those things had been able to find their way into our sound other than in the most passing way, in the faintest imprint.”

Over The Clientele’s 32-year career, critics and fans have often described their songs with words like “ethereal,” “shimmering,” “hazy,” “pretty” and “fragile.” MacLean, though, has his own interpretation of the effect his music creates. “It’s that feeling of not being there,” he says. “What’s really been in all the Clientele records is a sense of not actually inhabiting the moment that your body is in.” I Am Not There Anymore, as MacLean says, is all about “the memory of childhood but at the same time the impossibility of truly remembering childhood… or even knowing who or what you are.”

This August, The Clientele will embark on a U.S. tour, featuring stops at Bowery Ballroom in New York City, Lodge Room in Los Angeles, Lincoln Hall in Chicago, and more. All dates are listed below and tickets are on sale now.

Watch The Clientele’s “Blue Over Blue” video

Pre-order I Am Not There Anymore

The Clientele Tour Dates:
Fri. July 28 – London, UK @ Rough Trade East
Wed. Aug. 9 – Somerville, MA @ Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theatre
Thu. Aug. 10 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Fri. Aug. 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Sat. Aug. 12 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
Sun. Aug. 13 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall
Tue. Aug. 15 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
Thu. Aug. 17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
Fri. Aug. 18 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s
Sat. Aug. 19 – Big Sur, CA @ Fernwood Tavern (inside)
Sun. Aug. 20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
Tue. Aug. 22 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
Wed. Aug. 23 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Debauch-a-Reno 2023 announces lineup schedule.

Both weekends of DEBAUCH-a-ReNO are set in stone and nearly sold out as of this announcement. Here’s a summary of expectations, and scroll down to see the official schedule.

The first weekend kicks off on the night of June 16th over at Cypress with four powerhouse local groups demonstrating there’s still a burgeoning DIY scene happening throughout the Biggest Little City In The World. The bands scheduled to grace the stage that evening include the contemporary post-punk neanderthal-ism of Clarko, the jangling garage beat-meets-jugular slash punk attack and sarcasm of The Juvinals, the trashcan glam n’ roll of Pussy Velour, and the urgent, mudslide sound of Rotary Club.

The following day’s event begins in the afternoon at Wingfield Park Amphitheatre. It culminates with a co-headlining bill with notorious Belgium punks, The Kids, playing their first US show in seven years alongside San Bruno’s anchormen of the trash rock netherworld, The Mummies, and Sacramento garage rock titans, The Troublemakers, who mark three decades together this year. Playing in support is Tucson’s own Farfisa a-go-go power quartet, The Okmoniks, making a return to DEBAUCH-a-ReNO, and local quartet Thee Saturday Knights opening the afternoon. However, the budget rock n’ roll onslaught doesn’t end upon the final chord ring out from Kids frontman Ludo Meriman’s guitar; the after-party returns to Cypress, where Holland blues-punk trio, Lo-Lite makes their long-awaited US return alongside the unhinged antagonism of Jamie Paul Lamb’s sardonic alter ego, Puppy and The Hand Jobs, and the Bay Area’s own Just Head, in addition to A SPECIAL SURPRISE GUEST!!!!

Closing out the weekend is another pair of co-headliners hailing from San Diego county as revered Chula Vista punks The Zeroes will make a return to Reno to headline June 18th’s performance at Wingfield Park alongside the twang guitar and power tools action of fellow San Diegans, Deadbolt. Support will be provided by a band that L7 helped push into the masses with their “American Society” cover on Smell The Magic as Eddie & The Subtitles will perform alongside Reno psych-punks, Spitting Image, and Los Angeles rockers, Tube Alloys.

The second weekend’s one-night stand soiree will occur south of Reno in the time-stamped silver mining town of Virginia City on July 14th and anchored by a man whose work crosses music, publishing, and painting AND whom Kurt Cobain, Jack White, Graham Coxon, and Kylie Minogue have paid tribute to in their own right with Wild Billy Childish & CTMF, making their exclusive US performance for 2023 at Piper’s Opera House (est. 1863) alongside Sacramento’s garage-mod screamers, Th’ Losin Streaks. A goodclosing lineup, right? Well, those two weren’t enough because we’ve got one of America’s more criminally underrated bands flying in from one sweatbox to another, with the gutter minimalist bump n’ grind of Subsonics making a rare and special appearance from Atlanta.

DEBAUCH-a-ReNo 2023 June Weekend Schedule
*Headliners
Non-Headliner schedule subject to change
DJs include Jello Biafra, Vivi Martian, Tony The Tyger, Bazooka Joe, and Slovenly Pete
Friday, June 16th (8:00 p.m. – 4:00 a,m.) – OPENING PARTY with bands / DJs**
Venue: Cypress Reno (directions + info here).
Lineup: The Juvinals, Clarko, Pussy Velour, Rotary Club

Saturday, June 17th (2:00 p.m. -10:00 p.m.) – MAIN EVENT with bands, DJs, and record fair
Venue: Wingfield Park Amphitheater (directions + info here).
Lineup: The Kids*, The Mummies*, The Troublemakers*, Okmoniks, Thee Saturday Knights

Saturday, June 17th (10:00 p.m. – 4:00 a.m.) – AFTERPARTY with bands / DJs
Venue: Cypress Reno
Lineup: Lo-Life, Puppy and The Hand Jobs, Just Head + SURPRISE SPECIAL GUEST!

Sunday, June 18th (2:00 p.m. -10:00 p.m.) – MAIN EVENT with bands & DJs**
Venue: Wingfield Park Amphitheater
Lineup: The Zeros*, Deadbolt*, Eddie & The Subtitles, Spitting Image, Tube Alloys

DEBAUCH-a-ReNO 2023 July One-Nighter Schedule
Friday, July 14th (7:00 p.m – Midnight) – MAIN EVENT with bands & DJ Bazooka Joe
Venue: Piper’s Opera House (directions + info here)
Lineup: Wild Billy Childish & CTMF*, Subsonics, Th’ Losin Streaks

CLICK HERE TO HEAR THE DEBAUCH-a-ReNO MIXTAPE FOR KWNK RADIO!

Tickets
Full passes (access to both Wingfield & Cypress shows), Park (Wingfield only), and Virginia City tickets are available through Eventsmart. That’s a good thing; they’re the kind of company who don’t blindside customers with the insane hidden fees the larger ticket companies are notorious for.

GET YOUR DEBAUCH-a-ReNO PASSES HERE
Room Deals
Hotel deals for DEBAUCH-a-ReNO are available through RENO SUITES in Downtown Reno (a 10-minute walk from Wingfield Park) for $109/nightly (that price includes taxes and fees). The reviews at this place are solid, and to get this rate, you’ll need to book through the link below.

BOOK YOUR DISCOUNTED HOTEL ROOM HERE

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to Matthew at Shattered Platter PR.]

The Mary Onettes return with a new double single – “Forever Before Love / Future Grief.”

Swedish indie-pop masterminds The Mary Onettes return with a new double single, “Forever Before Love” b/w “Future Grief” on Welfare Sounds. These songs mark a return to the dreamy, overcast pop that has been The Mary Onettes’ trademark since first forming over 20 years ago, reiterating the signature craft that has put their music in the hearts of indie-pop connoisseurs around the world.

“‘Forever Before Love” is about finding the way back to yourself after a very long relationship. The process of trying to connect with the person you were before that,” explains The Mary Onettes’ main song writer Philip Ekström.

While “Future Grief” contains a guest appearance from Adnes Aldén, a close friend of brothers Philip and his brother Henri Ekström, an addition that gives the song an extra vocal dimension. “This track has been around for quite some time. We recorded the vocals with Agnes in 2016 and we have been waiting eagerly to share this one. Agnes wrote the lyrics for the verse and I wrote the words for the choruses, which gives the story a nice two angel perspective.”

Following the release of “Forever Before Love” b/w “Future Grief”, The Mary Onettes will embark on a headlining tour of Sweden, and perform a homecoming festival show in Huskvarna, before starting to work on their upcoming album.

The Mary Onettes formed in 2000 and quickly gained a devoted following with their unique brand of indie-pop, drawing comparisons to bands like The Smiths and Echo & the Bunnymen. Over the years, they’ve released a string of critically acclaimed albums and singles, earning praise from publications like Pitchfork and NME. Although development is crucial for a band, one thing has remained the same — the songs. The band revolves around Philip’s songwriting and although some songs have been stripped down, rebuilt or even thrown away throughout the years, they have kept coming.

With the recent release of the singles “What I Feel in Some Places” and “Easy Hands,” as well as the long-awaited vinyl treatment of their 2018 smash hit Cola Falls EP, The Mary Onettes have gained both creative momentum and international praise.

Keep your mind open.

[I’ll be in future grief if you don’t subscribe.]

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Charm School release “Simulacra” ahead of new “Finite Jest” EP due July 21, 2023.

Today, post punk band Charm School share their fire-y new track, “Simulacra” from their forthcoming debut EP Finite Jest out July 21 via sonaBLAST! Records.

“Simulacra” was tracked and mixed by Nick Roeder, and features drum programming by Matia Simovich “INHALT” who worked on MIA’s “Paper Planes” as well as on several Boy Harsher tracks. Both Simovich and famed Chicago engineer Steve Albini did alternate mixes of “Simulacra” which will come out later this year.

Andrew of Charm School says, “‘Simulacra’ is our attempt at skewering the politics of now over a good dance beat. By way of Jean Baudrillard the song addresses our society’s profound sense of disconnection resulting from our constant interaction with fabricated representations of reality. Aka the disquieting fact that these counterfeit depictions of life are increasingly valued over reality itself, and the even more troubling reality that social media companies are profiting handsomely from this exploitative situation.”

Charm School is Andrew Sellers’ (aka Andrew Rinehart) new music project with longtime collaborators Matt Filip and Drew English and drummer and multi-instrumentalist Jason Bemis Lawrence. The name change signals a move away from Sellers’ folk and pop-based songwriting (as evidenced by his recent duet with Bonnie “Prince” Billy) toward a much darker and more aggressive sound. Think 70s post-punk mixed with 90s post-rock and you’ll be close. Originally from Louisville, KY, Sellers has paid his dues in both the NYC and LA DIY music scenes, co-founding The Body Actualized Center in Bushwick and booking shows at Basic Flowers in Downtown LA. Charm School represents a return to his punk and hardcore roots, to the kind of music that shaped his musical consciousness as a teenager (bands like Slint, The Jesus Lizard, Nation of Ulysses, Fugazi, etc.).

Keep your mind open.

[I’d be charmed if you subscribed.]

[Thanks to Alex at Terrorbird Media.]