News – Page 80 – 7th Level Music

Yoshinori Hayashi gets you moving with new single – “Touch.”

Tokyo-based producer Yoshinori Hayashi announces his new album, Pulse of Defiance, out April 9th on Smalltown Supersound. The album is an outstanding statement, expanding Hayashi’s ever-growing world of sound and showcasing his musical versatility in the process. Spanning ecstatic jungle breaks, club-ready techno, and free jazz’s unpredictable gait, Pulse of Defiance is a sonic journey through Hayashi’s marvelous mind that provides new surprises at every turn, and with every successive listen. Jockeying lead single “Touch” oscillates with floating synth and a danceable beat, presenting a first taste of his expansive and addicting sound.

Stream/Purchase “Touch” by Yoshinori Hayashi

Pulse of Defiance is the latest and most fascinating step in Hayashi’s still-blooming career—a half-decade of fantastically quixotic output that’s established him as one of electronic music’s most fascinating aural conjurers. After a string of releases on esteemed labels like Lovers Rock, Going Good, and JINN, Hayashi made his Smalltown Supersound debut with 2019’s Ambivalence, his first full-length album. An immersive and fascinating work, Ambivalence submerged Hayashi’s sound in distant, underwater textures that added layers of allure to its loose, jazzy confines; it was followed up by last year’s Y, a four-tracker that splayed drum-machine freakouts and wobbly low-frequency textures across techno’s brittle framework.

In 2020, space disco masterminds Prins Thomas and Bjørn Torske offered lush remixes of Ambivalence cuts that emphasized just how musically fluid Hayashi’s style is—and Pulse of Defiance is more concrete proof that he’s working without limitations. Within the opening third of the album’s enticing sprawl, the listener’s treated to gorgeous jazzy hip-hop breaks, upward-scaling piano drama, and cavernous techno reminiscent of rave-era greats like Orbital and Underworld. From noise-bursted drum’n’bass to rapid-fire club music, there simply is nothing Hayashi can’t do.

Indeed, such virtuosic and diverse-sounding music collected in a single statement brings to mind myriad reference points; but Pulse of Defiance is also a work that could only come from him at this point, the latest delightfully surprising release from a musician that continues to chart his own path.

Pre-order Pulse of Defiance

Pulse of Defiance Tracklist:
01. Callapse
02. Make Up One’s Mind
03. Luminescence
04. Touch
05. Twilight
06. Go With Us
07. Morning Haze
08. Frequency
09. Flow
10. Shut Up
11. Gallop
12. I Believe In You

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[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Brijean says “Hey Boy” on new single from upcoming album – “Feelings.”

Brijean – the Oakland-based duo of Brijean Murphy and Doug Stuart – presents the new single/video, “Hey Boy,” from their forthcoming album, Feelings, out February 26th on Ghostly International. Following “Ocean,” “Day Dreaming,” and “Moody,” “Hey Boy” radiates with a percussive, atmospheric energy. Murphy calls the charming track a “psychedelic guide — the exploration of finding what feels good — through sorrow, anxiety, apathy.” This mentality applies to Feelings on the whole: in these nebulous and verdant worlds of hazy melodies, feathery hooks, and percussive details, the songs simply want us to feel alive. Murphy, also an accomplished visual artist, illustrated and directed the video in collaboration with motion graphics artist Rose Biehl and producer Samantha Sartor. Throughout, Murphy’s vibrant animations of the duo dance and play across the screen.

Murphy explains the video process: “My visual art style really developed when I began making hand-drawn flyers for a nightclub in Oakland. I hosted a recurring jazz night every Tuesday for a few years. The bands were always amorphous and always centered around percussion. That left a lot of elasticity in the genre — the musicians were often rooted in different cultural and musical backgrounds (Salsa, Gospel, Blues, Hip Hop, etc.) — and in turn, that attracted a wide range of dancers and drinkers to fill the space. This music video is a homage to that club and its people, infused with some psychedelic and cheeky moments.

The idea of shared experience, though a virtual reality, had shifted my perspective of shared space, which informs the visuals. Seemingly isolated dancers move within the compartmentalized windows and grids of a surreal technicolor world. We’ve all found ourselves here in this time, sorting through complicated information and synthesizing our inherited and undulating present. For me, I’ve found comfort and inspiration in tethering to the playful stuff.”

Watch “Hey Boy” Video

Murphy – one of indie’s most in-demand percussionists (Poolside, Toro Y Moi, U.S. Girls) – and Stuart, who share backgrounds in jazz, Latin and soul music and were both fixtures in Oakland’s diverse music scene, began collaborating in 2018. Following the duo’s first sessions, which resulted in the mini-album Walkie Talkie (released in 2019 on Native Cat Recordings), Brijean continued collaborating in Oakland, inviting friends Chaz Bear, Tony Peppers, and Hamir Atwal, who all would end up contributing to the album. “We improvised on different feels for hours,” says Murphy. “Nothing quite developed at first but we had seeds. We re-opened the sessions a couple months later, after returning from tours, and spent a month developing the songs in a little 400 square foot cottage.”

The leap from 2019’s Walkie Talkie to Feelings is marked by a notable expanse in range and energy. Brijean’s signature sound — a golden-hued dream pop tropicalia of dazzling beats and honeyed vocals — elevates with the addition of live drummers, strings, and synths. The album also finds Murphy fully trusting in her strengths, not just as a percussionist, but as a songwriter and collaborator. “Valuing myself as elemental instead of an ‘aux’ percussionist, and the undoubted support and talents of Doug, encouraged me to both make this project and collaborate with many different people.”

Brijean wants you to move, physically, mentally, dimensionally; this is dance music for the mind, body, and soul. With Feelings, they’ve manifested a gentle collective space for respite, for self-reflection, for self-care, for uninhibited imagination and new possibilities.
Watch “Hey Boy” Video

Watch “Ocean” Video

Watch “Day Dreaming” Video

Stream “Moody”

Pre-order Feelings

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[Thanks to Patrick from Pitch Perfect PR.]

Dry Cleaning’s new single elicits “Strong Feelings” ahead of debut album due April 02, 2021.

London-based band Dry Cleaning – Nick Buxton (drums), Tom Dowse (guitar), Lewis Maynard (bass) and Florence Shaw (vocals) – announce their debut album, New Long Leg, out April 2nd on 4AD, and present a new single/video, “Strong Feelings.” Buoyed by the universal acclaim they received for 2019 EPs Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks and Sweet Princess, the foursome spent more and more of their lives on tour, refining their craft even further. The intensive time they spent together meant they developed a near-psychic knowledge of how to leave the right amount of space for each other in their songs. The resulting New Long Leg is more ambitious and complex, with Shaw’s spoken vocals tightly intertwined with the band’s restless instrumentals. With lyrics preoccupied by themes like dissociation, escapism, daydreaming, complicated feelings of love, anger, revenge, anxiety, the kitchen, lethargy, forgetfulness, and survival, Shaw says, “the title is ambiguous; a new long leg could be an expensive present or a growth or a table repair.”

When the coronavirus pandemic hit in March, forcing a swift end to their US tour, Dry Cleaning had their new songs demoed, but had to bide their time before they could enter the studio. They contributed a few new recordings – one being last year’s “Scratchcard Lanyard” – passing a Tascam four-track cassette recorder to one another from the window of Maynard’s car, cleaning it with antibacterial wipes before recording their parts one by one. Facilitated by the unexpected time apart and the introspection of lockdown, Buxton started experimenting with drum machines, Dowse with a noisier, more deconstructed guitar sound, Maynard with subtler and more flexible basslines.

By June John Parish had emerged as the perfect producer and was keen to explore these creative developments. The band holed up with him at Rockfield Studios in rural Wales for two weeks, finding this isolation from the outside world “liberating,” as Buxton puts it. They got on well with Parish, buoyed by his enthusiasm, directness, and full-bodied commitment, and he was unafraid to push them when he sensed a song could be refined or taken in a different direction. “It’s not just sheer pent-up energy all the time in the way that the first two EPs were,” adds Shaw of the resultant album. “I feel more confident with leaving gaps.”

There’s tension when they duel with one another, satisfaction when they move in snaking tandem, and breathless anticipation when she steps back for a moment to let the music build. She’s constantly speeding up and slowing down, alliterating, repeating, rhyming, umming, erring and stuttering with pinpoint accuracy. These methods are prevalent in new single “Strong Feelings.” A love song of sorts, Shaw says, “it’s about secretly being in love with someone who doesn’t know it, and Brexit’s disruptive role in romantic relationships.” Its accompanying visuals, directed by guitarist Dowse, came about after Google searches brought together an informational video on road building basics from New Zealand and Massachusetts-based glitch artist, Sabato Visconti.

Watch Dry Cleaning’s Video for “Strong Feelings”

Firm friends for years, Dry Cleaning only started making music after a karaoke party in 2017 inspired a collaboration. They wrote instrumentally to begin with until six months later Florence Shaw, a visual artist, university lecturer and picture researcher by day – with no prior musical experience – turned up to a band rehearsal with a copy of Michael Bernard Loggins’ Fears Of Your Life to read out over the music. Before long she was the group’s frontperson, contributing words of her own, and serving as the perfect foil to the band’s music. Shaw extracts the most immense meaning from the most trivial things; she peppers the songs with a thousand tiny details, little witty asides about supermarkets, cupboards, beauty products and body parts add up to sonic landscapes that teem with the strange magic of ordinary life.

Watch the “Scratchcard Lanyard” Video

Pre-order New Long Leg

New Long Leg Tracklist
1. Scratchcard Lanyard
2. Unsmart Lady
3. Strong Feelings
4. Leafy
5. Her Hippo
6. New Long Leg
7. John Wick
8. More Big Birds
9. A.L.C
10. Every Day Carry

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[I’ll have strong feelings if you subscribe.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Blanck Mass releases “Starstuff” from upcoming “In Ferneaux” album.

Blanck Mass – the project of musician Benjamin John Power – presents a new video for “Starstuff” (Single Edit) from his forthcoming album, In Ferneaux, out February 26th on Sacred Bones. The video, created by Danny Perez, visualizes the track’s vibrant, erratic sound. “I have been a fan of Danny’s for years, I feel a strong connection to his use of texture and colour in an emotional sense,” says Power. “I felt that because the music of In Ferneaux is highly expressive, emotive and insular; by giving Danny free creative control of the video for Starstuff, it would only add to the experience. I always find it exciting to see how others interpret my music visually.”

Watch “Starstuff” (Single Edit) Video

The follow-up to 2019’s Animated Violence Mild, In Ferneaux explores pain in motion, building audio-spatial chambers of experience and memory. Using an archive of field recordings from a decade of global travels, isolation gave Blanck Mass an opportunity to make connections in a moment when being together is impossible. The record is divided into two long-form journeys that gather the memories of being with now-distant others through the composition of a nostalgic travelogue. The journeys are haunted with the vestiges of voices, places, and sensations. These scenes alternate with the building up and releasing of great aural tension, intensities that emerge from the trauma of a personal grieving process which has perhaps embraced its rage moment.

A blessing is often thought of as a future reward, above and beyond the material plane. With In Ferneaux, Blanck Mass wrangles the immanent materials of the here-and-now to build a sense of transcendence. Here, the uncanny angelic hymn sits comfortably beside the dirge. The misery and blessing are one.

Watch “Starstuff” (Single Edit) Video

Pre-order In Ferneaux

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Psycho Las Vegas announces 2021 lineup.

Las Vegas, Nevada’s Psycho Las Vegas music festival has announced its dates and lineups for 2021. Keep your fingers crossed, everyone.

Most of the lineup from the cancelled 2020 festival has returned, with heavy hitters like Danzig, Mercyful Fate, Emperor, and The Flaming Lips being big draws for the festival. As you can tell from the lineup, this festival is heavy on heavy. Bands HEALTH, Boris, Windhand, Warish, Mephistofeles, and TSOL bring serious power – and there’s a lot of death metal and hardcore in the lineup as well.

It’s not all doom and shredding, however. There’s plenty of psychedelia (the aforementioned Flaming Lips, as well as Frankie and the Witch Fingers, Death Valley Girls, Blackwater Holylight, and Here Lies Man), funk (Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, Dengue Fever), shoegaze (Flavor Crystals), and even bossa nova (Claude Fontaine).

It’s going to be a fun time, and a much-needed escape from, well, everything. Tickets are available now.

Keep your mind open.

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Nana Yamato releases “Gaito” from new album – “Before Sunrise.”

Tokyo-based musician Nana Yamato‘s debut album, Before Sunrise, is out now on Dull Tools. NYLON premiered her new single/video, “Gaito,” alongside a profile (read it here). Like the first two singles “Do You Wanna” and “If,” Yamato sings in both English and Japanese on “Gaito.” Her vocals are backed by dreamy keyboard notes that tiptoe over a trancing beat. A minimalist guitar line reverberates through the chorus. The accompanying self-directed video features Yamato, dancing on a black and white screen.

“I’ve never been a fan of J-Pop or K-pop idols since I was a kid, so I didn’t understand why my classmates were so fascinated with them,” says Yamato. “Then I heard a rumor that a female idol group that debuted at the covid pandemic was very popular all over Japan, and I thought that the reason was that they had charms that I didn’t understand. I decided to write a song inspired by them, imagining their song, and this is what I came up with. For the music video, I watched their dancing on Youtube and tried to copy them. I haven’t listened to the song yet because I had it on mute.”

Watch Nana Yamato’s Video for “Gaito”

By day, Yamato is an ordinary girl who marches anonymously between her flat, her school and her job. But by night, she becomes something else — a young artist and record collector whose urge for connection and expression has created one of the best underground pop records to come out of Japan, and elsewhere for that matter. Her calling was found when one day she entered Big Love Records in Harajuku, Tokyo to buy an Iceage album. She then began going there everyday after school, where her studies shifted to the week’s latest indie rock releases. “Everything in my life started there.”

Yamato’s brilliance lies in a profound imagination that confronts the isolation and claustrophobia of Tokyo life, without losing grasp of the whimsy and romance of girlhood. It’s hard to ignore the romance the artist has with the streets that she walks; Japanese and English vocals sing about the lights and sounds of the city, as if there’s no place else she could exist. Yamato describes her style as “critical fantasy,” a fitting label for a sound that exists as much in a carefree daydream as they do in a crowded subway.

Each song on Before Sunrise is a secret hidden in the late-night glow of a young girl’s bedroom, created in the precious witching hours of the teenage heart, before dawn returns with the tedious demands of adulthood. Dreams, and the language of living inside one’s imagination, are the prevailing theme of Before Sunrise.
Watch the “If” Video

Watch “Do You Wanna” Video

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[Thanks to Jim at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Psymon Spine release “Channels” from upcoming new album.

Today, Psymon Spine are sharing their new single “Channels,” a cathartic foray into punk for the dance/psych outfit and final preview from their sophomore full-length, Charismatic Megafauna, releasing February 19th on Northern Spy.

“Channels” premiered with FLOOD Magazine who praised the track as “boisterous, colorful” and shared further insight from member Noah Prebish: “We spend the majority of our time in Brooklyn, NY absorbing energy, stress, and excitement, then go into the middle of nowhere to process all of those feelings through writing/recording. The lyrics came from this analogy of the creative mind being a map with various bodies of water scattered throughout (each body of water representing some area of interest, skill, or trait), and how as an artist our job is to daily cultivate and irrigate this land, making sure every part is getting enough water and that no part is getting flooded. I had initially planned on delivering the lyrics in a more laidback/spoken manner, but as we kept tracking everyone kept telling me to push it further each time, and when we finally got the best take I was screaming my guts out — I literally could taste blood. It ended up working out just how it was supposed to and gave the song this totally different energy that I had initially expected, and I’m so glad for that.”

Fusing psychedelic pop and the deep grooves of dance music, Psymon Spine’s music oozes with melodic hugeness—but the places this Brooklyn electronic pop outfit takes their songs is truly out there, exploring complicated feelings through a singular approach to left-of-center dance sounds. Only a year ago, band members Noah and Sabine were playing in the dream-pop group Barrie, who broke out following a string of buzz-making singles, but Charismatic Megafauna proves that Psymon Spine are on a different journey, exploring sounds ranging from disco to early techno and motorik’s incessant pulse. Psymon Spine put their own addictive stamp on the sounds of the past, with surprises at every turn and the type of lush synth work that could only come from brilliant students of dance music. Reflecting optimism and catharsis, Charismatic Megafauna is a heady trip through left-field pop that packs its own emotional wallop. Read the full bio here.

Charismatic Megafauna is available to preorder from Northern Spy, and a special EU/UK edition of the LP is available via Dinked Edition.

Upcoming Shows
Feb 19: The Lot Radio
(DJ Set) 2PM ET/11AM PT

Feb 25: Baby’s All Right’s Baby TV
(Album Release Show w/ Hypoluxo) 8PM ET/5PM PT

Mar 01: Dublab
(DJ Set) 3PM ET/12PM PT

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[Thanks to Cody at Clandestine PR.]

Squid announce debut album and release its first single – “Narrator.”

Over the last eighteen months, Squid has become one of the most exciting bands to emerge from the UK. Today, they announce their eagerly awaited debut album, Bright Green Field, out May 7th on Warp Records, and lead single/video, “Narrator” feat. Martha Skye Murphy. Produced by Dan Carey, Bright Green Field is an album of towering scope and ambition that endlessly twists down unpredictable avenues. Each member – Louis Borlase (guitars/vocals), Oliver Judge (drums/vocals), Arthur Leadbetter (keyboards/strings/ percussion), Laurie Nankivell (bass/brass) and Anton Pearson(guitars/vocals) – played an equal, vital role in the album’s creation.

Leading into their debut full-length, Squid have been A-listed by BBC Radio 6Music, garnered praise fromPitchfork, Stereogum, The Guardian, NME, The Quietus, FADER, Paste and more. Following the release of singles “Houseplants,” “Sludge,” “The Cleaner,” “Broadcaster,” and the Town Centre EP, Bright Green Field is completely new, a nod to the band’s emphasis on perpetual forward motion.

Bright Green Field was initially written in Judge’s old local pub and recorded in Carey’s London basement studio. It features field recordings of ringing church bells, tooting bees, microphones swinging from the ceiling orbiting a room of guitar amps, a distorted choir of 30 voices as well as a horn and string ensemble featuring the likes of Emma-Jean Thackray and Lewis Evans from Black Country, New Road.

Squid’s music – be it agitated and discordant or groove-locked and flowing – has often been a reflection of the tumultuous world we live in. As an album title, Bright Green Field conjures an almost tangible imagery of pastoral England. However, it’s something of a decoy that captures the band’s fondness for paradox and juxtaposition. There’s a push-pull element to this album, present sonically in its tension and release approach, as well as thematically and lyrically. Within the geography of Bright Green Fieldlies monolithic concrete buildings and dystopian visions plucked from imagined cities. “This album has created an imaginary cityscape,” says Judge, who writes the majority of the lyrics. “The tracks illustrate the places, events and architecture that exist within it. Previous releases were playful and concerned with characters, whereas this album is darker and more concerned with place – the emotional depth of the music has deepened.”

Lead single “Narrator” ricochets from funk strut to screeching chaos via the melodic touch of guest vocalist Martha Skye Murphy. As described by the band, “‘Narrator’ was inspired by the 2019 film A Long Day’s Journey Into Night. The song follows a man who is losing the distinction between memory, dream and reality and how you can often mold your memories of people to fit a narrative that benefits your ego. Martha Skye-Murphy made the point that the unreliable narrator is, more often than not, a male who wishes to portray women as submissive characters in their story. After some discussions with Martha she thought it’d be a good idea that she play the part of the woman wanting to break free from the dominating story the male has set.”

Squid’s first ever official video, directed by Felix Green, shows the micro-components of a 3D design. “I had wanted to make a video about the virtual creation process for some time. I often think this ‘behind the digital curtain’ part of 3D design looks more interesting than the final finished product since it conveys a process and an authorship,” says Green. “When I was approached to pitch on ‘Narrator’ I immediately thought it could be the perfect match for this very visual idea.”
Watch Squid’s Video for “Narrator” feat. Martha Skye Murphy
For all the innovative recording techniques, evolutionary leaps, lyrical themes and ideas underpinning Bright Green Field, the album is also a joyous and emphatic record that marries the uncertainties of the world with a curious sense of exploration.
Pre-order Bright Green Field

Bright Green Field Tracklist
1. Resolution Square
2. G.S.K
3. Narrator feat. Martha Skye Murphy
4. Boy Racers
5. Paddling
6. Documentary Filmmaker
7. 2010
8. The Flyover
9. Peel St
10. Global Groove
11. Pamphlets

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[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Yard Act warn of “Dark Days” with new single.

Emerging Leeds outfit Yard Act have today shared their new single “Dark Days” – out via their own Zen F.C. label. Following their debut 7” Fixer Upper / The Trapper’s Pelts, which sold out its entire 500 copy pressing on the day of release, the band announced the Dark Days / Peanuts double A-side yesterday and sold out 1000 copies in just under 2 hours. In signature Yard Act fashion, “Dark Days” propels frontman James Smith’s striking social observations forward along with steadfast guitar lines and jutting rhythms. Recorded in the same session as “Peanuts” with Ross Orton, “Dark Days” rounds off the opening chapter of Yard Act’s strange lockdown existence before they head off to record their debut album.

LISTEN: to Yard Act’s “Dark Days” on YouTube

Smith explains: “With ‘Dark Days’ I wrote the first verse and chorus hook quite fast but then I didn’t know how to finish it. The demo Ryan sent was ace, real sparse. The drums were really driven but the bassline felt like it was suspended mid air in the verses, like a dub bassline or something. It created the illusion that you have time to stop and look around amidst the ensuing chaos. It’s like in war films when all the noise stops and you just hear the protagonist heavy breathing whilst they survey their surroundings in slow motion. Then the chorus hit with this ‘Captain Caveman’ vibe, it reminded me of that stop-motion cartoon from the 90’s ‘GOGS’ if anyone remembers that? I liked the juxtaposition of the bleak world with the cartoon bass line.”

“Despite all the advances humanity has made, the threat of devolving feels increasingly possible in the modern world, and on my bad days when I’m spiralling I can’t help but get trapped in my own head envisioning this post-apocalyptic future we’re seemingly headed toward, so fuck knows why I decided to watch ‘Children of Men’ when I was feeling like that. If I’d fully remembered what happened in it, I don’t think I would’ve in the middle of a pandemic, but I did, and I actually came away feeling really uplifted by the ending. I saw hope in it, and it helped me finish the story.”

Yard Act formed in Leeds in late 2019 when Ryan Needham found himself temporarily living in James Smith’s spare bedroom. The two had been pub associates for years, but their new living circumstances served as a catalyst for their friendship and creative partnership which saw them fuse James’ interest in spoken word with Ryan’s primitive proto-punk demos using an ancient drum machine and borrowed bass guitar.

Yard Act’s rise since arriving in March 2020 with debut track “The Trapper’s Pelts” has been nothing short of extraordinary, even without the opportunity to showcase their incendiary live set. Their first releases last year proved an instant hit with national newspapers (The Observer, The Times, The Independent, and The Guardian) and radio stations (BBC Radio 6 Music (“Fixer Upper” and “Peanuts” were both daytime playlisted), BBC Radio 1 and Radio X) alike. The band rounded off 2020 with spots on the NME 100, Dork HYPE List, The Daily Star ‘Ones to Watch 2021’, Gigwise ‘21 for 21’, and Selector Radio’s ‘New Wave Artists 2021’. Single ‘Fixer Upper’ landed on Loud & Quiet and So Young Magazine’s ‘Tracks of the Year’, while “Peanuts” earned a place as BBC Introducing West Yorkshire Track of the Week, as well as being playlisted at NME, So Young, and The Independent alongside appearing on the cover of ‘The Punk List’ and ‘Hot New Bands’ at Spotify.

“Dark Days” is out now on Zen F.C. It is available here

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[Thanks to Tom at Hive Mind PR.]

Kalbells paint the world “Purplepink” with single from upcoming EP.

Kalbells—led by Kalmia Traver (of Rubblebucket) with her bandmates Angelica Bess (Body Language), Zoë Brecher (Hushpuppy, Sad13), and Sarah Pedinotti (Okkervil River, LipTalk)—have announced the release of their sophomore album Max Heart, out March 26 on NNA Tapes.

Max Heart explores what happens when we let go of what doesn’t serve us in order to leave space for the blessings that do. The album’s ten vibrant and subtly layered tracks of mesmerizing psychedelic synth pop (co-engineered with Luke Temple) were birthed from the band’s practice of listening and accountability, rejoicing in their queerness, and promoting each other to be their most genuine selves. Max Heart is a portrait of badass women harnessing their improvisational magic.

A prime example of Kalbells furthering their sum energies is the effervescent funk of lead single “Purplepink,” out now. Co-written between Traver, Bess, and Pedinotti, a hyper synth bass darts around elongated keyboard sighs. The video, conceptualized and directed by Lisa Schatz, features 3D animated rocket ships, faceless furry creatures, a 30 foot glittery hologram of Maddie Rice (Jon Batiste’s Stay Human, Saturday Night Live Band) shredding on guitar, and Kalbells as warrior space queens. Read the full bio here.

Max Heart is available to pre-order on standard black & “Salty Pickle” green vinyl, as well as on compact disc and digital formats here. The album will be available on “Red Marker” red vinyl exclusively from local indie record stores.

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[Thanks to Cody at Clandestine PR.]