News – Page 82 – 7th Level Music

Gustaf release new single – “Design”

Since forming in 2018, Brooklyn art punks Gustaf have been the subject of an unusual amount of buzz for a band who had never released a note of recorded music. Based entirely on the back of their live shows, the band found early champions in luminaries like Beck – who saw them perform at a secret loft party he played around the release of his latest album – the New York no wave legend James Chance, and shared stages with buzzing indie acts like Omni, Tropical Fuck Storm, Dehd and Bodega, while word of mouth led to sell out shows when they played their first LA headline dates in late 2019. Last month the band released their first single, the Chris Coady (Beach House, TV on The Radio, Future Islands)-produced “Mine,” which earned immediate praise from spots like the NME, Paste, DIY, The Needle Drop and Exclaim, and today, Gustaf are sharing their second single, a track called “Design,” another slice of the band’s finely-tuned, off-kilter art-punk that sees them reunite with Coady as their producer.

WATCH: Gustaf’s “Design” video on YouTube

Vocalist Lydia Gammill explains: “Although the title of the song is not the refrain (“desire’”, we named the track “Design” because it is a commentary on how our desires and critiques of others are a product of our design.” Gammill continues, “Like in “Mine”, the narrator addresses an invisible critic, arguing that the ills we believe to be unique to ourselves are the result of an oppressive system. However, in the end we’re just shouting at the back of someone’s head as they leave the room.”

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shame take a “Snow Day” on their new single.

Today, shame present a new single, “Snow Day,” off of their long-anticipated new album, Drunk Tank Pink, out January 15th on Dead Oceans. It follows previously released singles “Water in the Well” and “Alphabet.” Alongside, the band share a visualiser featuring drone footage shot in the Scottish Borders, where the band wrote Drunk Tank Pink. Additionally, shame announce a live broadcast from Rough Trade in London on January 14th.

The rolling, snow-covered hills make a befitting backdrop for the atmospheric build of “Snow Day,” with frontman Charlie Steen’s sombre and introspective opening words making way for the storming twists and turns that arrive throughout. The song is a standout on the record, carried by the rhythmic, unrelenting drumming from Charlie Forbes, with chiming guitars which dictate the mood changes and push and pull the song into different directions. Steen’s lyrics dovetail with the music all the while; from its reflective opening to the snarl of its highest points. Undoubtedly it’s the band’s most musically ambitious release to date; a symphony in a song. Charlie Steen explains: “A lot of this album focuses on the subconscious and dreams, this song being the pivotal moment of these themes. A song about love that is lost and the comfort and displeasure that comes after you close your eyes, fall into sleep, and are forced to confront yourself.”
WATCH SHAME’S VISUALIZER FOR “SNOW DAY”
“Snow Day,” like the rest of the tracks making up Drunk Tank Pink, marks a determined leap forward for shame. The tracks began life as the band readjusted to a new normal back home having spent much of their adult life on tour, with themes spanning disintegrating relationships, the loss of the sense of self and identity crises. The result is an enormous expansion of shame’s sonic arsenal.
WATCH SHAME’S VIDEO FOR “WATER IN THE WELL”

WATCH VIDEO FOR “BiL”

WATCH VIDEO FOR “ALPHABET”

PRE-ORDER DRUNK PINK TANK

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Miss Grit announces new EP for February 2021 and invites us to the “Dark Side of the Party” on her new single.

Miss Grit, moniker of Korean-American musician Margaret Sohn, announces her Impostor EP, out February 5th, and presents its lead single “Dark Side Of The Party.” Sohn makes relatable songs that masterfully dissect the feeling of self-doubt. Her songs can drastically shift from delicate to explosive as they show her technical prowess as a guitarist and melodist, and her evocative lyricism. On the heels of her Talk Talk EP, a “truly awe-inspiring first work” (NME), Impostor is a six song collection that’s more cathartic, resolute, and fully documents the array of talents she brings as a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and producer.

Throughout Impostor, Sohn explores the titular “impostor syndrome” that so often characterizes the insecurities of the early 20s. The songs address her life-long navigation through the racial impostor syndrome she experienced as a half-Korean girl “trying to fit into the white space” of the Michigan suburbs where she grew up. Not even a move to New York City, where she studied music technology at NYU and began to dream of creating effects pedals for a living, could ease her internal conflict. Part of that uneasiness for Sohn was her initial success with Talk Talk and the feeling “she was someone who was impersonating a musician.” Her solution was producing the EP by herself at Brooklyn’s Virtue and Vice Studios so that she had complete creative control.

Throughout Impostor, the sound moves from dirty and aggressive to hypnotic and ethereal. The inventive “Dark Side Of The Party” boasts fuzzed-out riffs and synth theatrics, and is an anthem for feeling out of place at a party full of surface-level conversations and ulterior motives. She sings, “I can’t tell hearts apart from spare parts/I try, I try, I try/Why can’t I?” “I’ve gone my whole life feeling really uncomfortable defining myself,” Sohn says. “I realized that a lot of the time, I’m more comfortable with other people defining me and making up their mind about who I’m supposed to be.” Writing this EP helped her understand that futile pattern. Miss Grit is a project that allows Sohn to break through self-bias, creating a version of herself that doesn’t need to be limited. Expressing herself through her powerful, confident music while still being vulnerable about her insecurities is a dynamic that characterizes her work, with all of its pushes and pulls of emotion. Ultimately, Sohn says, the Impostor EP is about feeling self-doubt, working through it with music, and letting it all subside.
Listen to “Dark Side Of The Party”

Pre-save Impostor EP

Impostor EP Tracklist
1.Don’t Wander
2. Buy The Banter
3. Blonde
4. Grow Up To
5. Dark Side Of The Party
6. Impostor

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Nana Yamato asks “If” on her new single.

Tokyo-based musician Nana Yamato announces her debut album, Before Sunrise, out February 5th on Dull Tools, and presents the lead single/video “If.” 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. 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. 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.

Throughout lead single “If,” a collage of drum machine, grungy guitar and synth are the terrain over which Nana’s voice floats. Singing in Japanese and English, her words are delivered with a cool confidence, as if fearlessly navigating a bizarre dreamscape. On “If,” Nana Yamato defines a new idiom of city music. Much in the way trip-hop articulated the nightlife of Bristol and London, she scores the soundtrack of an imaginative introvert wandering a crowded metropolis, hiding in plain sight in the hazy glow of neon. For the video, Yamato studied patterns of various animals and traced them frame by frame, making nearly 200 drawings. “The video is set up with me as an up-and-coming cartoonist who’s on deadline,” Nana explains. “She falls asleep while thinking about the comic. In her dreams, she meets the characters she created. She gets lost in her own imaginary world. My work is realistic fantasy, or critical fantasy. It’s not about fantasizing to escape reality, but about fighting reality by fantasizing.”

Nana’s debut LP, much like her previous 7” records released under the ANNA moniker, is a strictly DIY affair. Yamato sings and plays guitar, creates beats and MIDI melodies, in addition to creating the drawings and design of the LP itself. Produced by P.E.’sJonathan Schenke, who has worked with Parquet Courts, Liars, and Surfbort, among others, Before Sunrise marks the arrival of an artist who has found her voice. She is not just the pupil of the new arrivals bin, but of a life spent as a defiant dreamer, in the secret world that begins after childhood and before sunrise.
Watch Nana Yamato’s Video for “If”

Pre-order Before Sunrise
Big Cartel
Bandcamp

Before Sunrise Tracklist
1.Do You Wanna
2. If
3. Burning Desire
4. Gaito
5. Dreamwanderer
6. Fantasy
7. Polka Dot Bells
8. Before Sunrise
9. Voyage et Merci
10. Under The Cherry Moon
11. Morning Street
12. The Day Song

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Matt Sweeney and Bonnie “Prince” Billy encourage us to “Make Worry for Me” with their new single.

An apparition you can’t explain is cutting through the viscous mist in your brain. The contents of your pockets are suddenly unfamiliar. That sound again –

This year of super wolf moon brought A Visitation and the message, “You’ll Get Eaten, Too.”Now, in the earthly chaos of total celestial blackout, one body containing two galaxies is once more among us…

This is no miscount – this is the bestial duo, the two headed dawg, the Superwolves: Matt Sweeney and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, talking directly to our face. They know no fear, only curiosity. “Make Worry For Me” is manifesto, and we can only hope to learn from it. To grow from it. For limbs to extend, beneath its blue, electric sky. To become Super, like the Superwolves.

The gauntlet is thrown. You’re dancing with the wolf again. Brooding and grooving upon their prey. Succumb to their ritual. Move your ass. Sing their song. Fight. Or die.

Listen to Matt Sweeney and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s “Make Worry For Me”

“Make Worry For Me” credits:
lyrics and vocals by Will Oldham
music composed by Matt Sweeney
vocal harmonies, electric and bass guitars by Matt Sweeney
drums by Pete Townsend
keys by Mike Rojas
recorded by David Ferguson
mixed by Sean Sullivan

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Dry Cleaning present new single – “Scratchcard Lanyard.”

London-based band Dry Cleaning make their 4AD debut with a new single, “Scratchcard Lanyard,” and an accompanying video. The band first played the track on their KEXP session earlier this year, where they were the last act to record in the actual studios pre-COVID shutdown. “Scratchcard Lanyard” is a treatise on the joy of life’s little pleasures, where air fresheners become mighty oaks and Instagram filters are glamorous holiday destinations. In its companion video, the directorial debut of artist duo Rottingdean Bazaar (James Theseus Buck and Luke Brooks), the concept and set design riffs on the song’s celebration of the humdrum, inserting vocalist Florence Shaw into her own miniature night club.

Dry Cleaning further explain: “In the search for your true calling in life, it’s easy to try so many things that you end up confused. It can lead to an enormous build-up of frustration. You may fantasise about exacting revenge upon your real or imagined enemies. Ephemeral things and small-scale escapist experiences can provide some relief!”
Watch Dry Cleaning’s Video for “Scratchcard Lanyard”

Watch Dry Cleaning’s KEXP Session
Dry Cleaning is Nick Buxton (drums), Tom Dowse (guitar), Lewis Maynard (bass) and Florence Shaw (vocals). Firm friends for years, they only started making music after a karaoke party in 2017 inspired a collaboration. They wrote instrumentally to begin with and six months later Shaw, a university lecturer and picture researcher by day, joined on vocals with no prior musical experience.

Dry Cleaning’s music is simple – direct and uncomplicated. The Feelies, the Necessaries, the B52s and Pylon all served as inspirations when the band first came together. The small and intimate garage / rehearsal space had a huge influence on the sound; both of last year’s EPs “Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks” and “Sweet Princess,” were written here. The quartet have finished work on their debut album, with details to follow soon.

Dry Cleaning Online:
https://drycleaning.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/drycleaningband/
https://www.facebook.com/drycleaningband/
https://pitchperfectpr.com/dry-cleaning/

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

shame tap “Water in the Well” for new single.

Today, shame announce their long-anticipated new album, Drunk Tank Pink, out January 15th on Dead Oceans. In conjunction, they present a new single, “Water in the Well,” with an accompanying video directed by Pedro Takahashi. There are moments on Drunk Tank Pink where you almost have to reach for the sleeve to check this is the same band who made 2018’s Songs Of Praise. Such is the jump shame have made from the riotous post-punk of their debut to the sprawling adventurism laid out in the bigger, bolder James Ford produced follow-up.

This creative leap, in part, was sparked by the band’s recent crash back down to earth, having spent their entire adult life on the road. It stems from their beginnings as wide-eyed teenagers, cutting their teeth in the pubs and small venues of South London, to becoming the most celebrated new band in Britain, catapulted by the success of their breakthrough debut album. Readjusting to a new normal back home with – for the first time since the band’s formation – no live shows on the horizon, frontman Charlie Steen attempted to party his way out of psychosis. An intense bout of waking fever-dreams convinced Steen that self medicating his demons wasn’t a very healthy plan of action and it was probably time to stop and take a look inward. “You become very aware of yourself and when all of the music stops, you’re left with the silence,” reflects Steen. “And that silence is a lot of what this record is about.”

In a small room painted in a shade of pink used to calm down drunk tank inmates, Steen cocooned himself away to reflect and write. In the room dubbed “the womb,” he addressed the psychological toll life in the band had taken on him. The disintegration of his relationship, the loss of a sense of self and the growing identity crisis both the band and an entire generation were feeling.“The common theme when I was catching up with my mates was this identity crisis everyone was having,” reflects Steen. “No one knows what the fuck is going on.” “It didn’t matter that we’d just come back off tour thinking, ‘How do we deal with reality!?’” agrees guitarist Sean Coyle-Smith. “I had mates that were working in a pub and they were also like, ‘How do I deal with reality!?’ Everyone was going through it.”

Coyle-Smith took a different tac to Steen and barricaded himself in his bedroom. Barely leaving the house and instead obsessively deconstructing his very approach to playing and making music, he picked apart the threads of the music he was devouring (Talking Heads, Nigerian High Life, the dry funk of ESG, Talk Talk…) and created work infused with panic and crackling intensity. “For this album I was so bored of playing guitar,” he recalls, “the thought of even playing it was mind-numbing. So I started to write and experiment in all these alternative tunings and not write or play in a conventional ‘rock’ way.”

The genius of Drunk Tank Pink is how Steen’s lyrical themes dovetail with the music. Previously released opener “Alphabet” dissects the premise of performance over a siren call of nervous, jerking guitars, its chorus thrown out like a beer bottle across a mosh pit. Nigel Hitter, meanwhile, turns the mundanity of routine into something spectacular via a disjointed jigsaw of syncopated rhythms and broken wristed punk funk. The result is an enormous expansion of shame’s sonic arsenal.
WATCH SHAME’S VIDEO FOR “WATER IN THE WELL”

WATCH VIDEO FOR “BiL”

WATCH VIDEO FOR “ALPHABET”

PRE-ORDER DRUNK PINK TANK

DRUNK PINK TANK TRACKLIST
1. Alphabet
2. Nigel Hitter
3. Born in Luton
4. March Day
5. Water in the Well
6. Snow Day
7. Human, for a Minute
8. Great Dog
9. 6/1
10. Harsh Degrees
11. Station Wagon

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Liam Kazar is “On a Spanish Dune” with his new single.

Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Liam Kazar presents a new single, “On a Spanish Dune,” with an accompanying video. It’s the follow-up to his charming debut, “Shoes Too Tight,” which gave a first look into Kazar’s joyful and vulnerable world. “On a Spanish Dune” is mellow and tinged with melancholia, undulating with wurlitzer and subtle synths. Mixed by Sam Griffin Owens, it features childhood friend Spencer Tweedy (drums), Chicago musician James Elkington (pedal steel, percussion), David Curtin (synths), plus vocals from Ohmme. The track illustrates Kazar’s aptness for colorful narration: “On a spanish dune // We’ll turn to the moon // So if you wanna go // I won’t leave tonight // While the cicadas sigh // And the river’s mouth is wide.”

The accompanying video, directed by Jesse Morgan Young, features Kazar and friends and is filled with oddities. Young explains the video: “After Kazar hurriedly leaves before dawn he’s thwarted by car trouble. Rescued by an unnervingly cheerful loner, the two make their way to an abandoned farm only to find out it’s not so abandoned. An eccentric survivalist has made the isolated locale his home and they spend the evening enjoying each other’s company and a bit of the stranger’s funky elixir.”
Watch Liam Kazar’s Video for “On a Spanish Dune”

“On a Spanish Dune” continues to champion Kazar’s wide musical range. Throughout the last decade, he has been recognized for his adaptability and deftness in the studio and on stage, leading to tours and collaborations with Jeff Tweedy, Chance the Rapper, Steve Gunn, Daniel Johnston, Kids These Days, amongst others.

Watch the “Shoes Too Tight” Video

Watch “Holding Plans” (Demo) Lyric Video

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[Thanks to Jessica and Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Aaron Frazer releases “If I Got It (Your Love Brought It)” from album due January 08, 2021.

Aaron Frazer (of Durand Jones & The Indications) releases new single, “If I Got It (Your Love Brought It),” from his Dan Auerbach-produced debut album, Introducing…, out January 8th on Dead Oceans/Easy Eye Sound. Following previous singles “Over You” and “Bad News,” “If I Got It (Your Love Brought It)” cheerfully skips with piano, wurlitzer, plucking bass, and a blend of brass instruments – trumpet, saxophone, and trombone.

Frazer elaborates on the song’s origins:

“I was at the DMV in Sacramento and above the commercial vehicles desk I noticed a wall full of toy trucks, and at the top a teamsters slogan from the 1950s: ‘IF YOU GOT IT, A TRUCK BROUGHT IT.’ I thought, damn that’s a hot line. Jotted it down, and when I brought it up with Dan, the song felt like it was writing itself. It’s a song of gratitude for who/whatever it is in your life that brings you happiness, grounding and self improvement.”

Listen To “If I Got It (Your Love Brought It)” by Aaron Frazer

A testament to his wide-ranging influence and deep gratitude for his musical community, Introducing… is both loving and gracious, critical without losing hope, and a showcase of a young artist on a seriously soulful ascent. Working with producer Dan Auerbach (of The Black Keys), Frazer works to combine ‘70s soul with Auerbach’s particular sensibilities. Across Introducing…‘s 12 tracks are songs with a message in the key of Gil Scott-Heron, as well as uplifting tales of love told through a blend of disco, gospel, and doo-wop.

Introducing… was recorded in a week at Auerbach’s antique and ephemera-laden studio in Nashville following a rapid and prolific songwriting session. Auerbach called on a crew of heavy session players — including members of the Memphis Boys (who played on Dusty Springfield’s “Son of A Preacher Man” and Aretha Franklin’s “You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman”), symphony percussionist Sam Bacco, and members of the Daptone–Big Crown Records universe. With a collaborative vision, Introducing… manages to hit the sweet spot between intuition, intentionality, and craft – a love song that’s both personal and universal.

Watch Video for Aaron Frazer’s “Over You”

Watch Video for Aaron Frazer’s “Bad News”

Pre-order Introducing…

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[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Clutch release new version of “Passive Restraints” with guest co-vocals from Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe.

Clutch has released its new single “Passive Restraints” today. “Passive Restraints” originally appeared as the title track to the bands 2nd EP released in 1992. This newly recorded version is part of the Weathermaker Vault Series and features guest vocals by Randy Blythe from Lamb of God. Clutch and Blythe have collaborated on this track live for several years now, the last time at European festival appearances in the summer of 2019. The song can be streamed on Spotify at this location: https://orcd.co/passiverestraints and on the band’s official YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/yy2575t7

The official video for the song was directed by David Brodsky (The Black Dahlia Murder, Papa Roach).

“Passive Restraints’ was one of the first Clutch songs I wrote lyrics to,” states frontman Neil Fallon. “It was a staple of Clutch sets for years but fell by the wayside as we wrote more and more songs over the years. When we toured with Lamb of God a few years back, Randy would often ask us to bring it back into rotation. We dragged our feet, and finally, we caved. And we were glad we did. The last time Clutch played Copenhell, Randy joined us on stage to perform the song. We decided to re-record it for the WM Vault Series and thought it was only fitting to have Randy join us.”

“When Clutch asked if I wanted to sing an older song with them during our 2016 tour together, I knew immediately which one I wanted to do- ‘Passive Restraints‘ adds Blythe. “We performed it in Milwaukee, then again a few years later at Copenhell Fest in Denmark, and I had a blast both times. I think they were a bit surprised I chose a song released in 1992, but I’ve been a fan for a long time. I’ve followed their development as a band since the early days and have enjoyed every album, but as a musician, I know sometimes it’s fun to dust off something you haven’t played in many years and see how it sounds. The song holds up to this day, and I was honored to sing on its re-release.”

The single “Passive Restraints” comes from the upcoming album “WeatherMaker Vault Series Vol. I” out on Friday November 27th.

CLUTCH:Neil Fallon – Vocals/Guitar / Tim Sult – Guitar / Dan Maines – Bass/ Jean-Paul Gaster – Drums/Percussion

For more information, check out the band’s website:www.pro-rock.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/clutchband

Instagram: www.instagram.com/clutchofficial

Twitter: www.twitter.com/clutchofficial

Official: www.pro-rock.com

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/officialclutch

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