Shoegaze – Page 16 – 7th Level Music

Spotlights get “Algorithmic” ahead of the release of their new album due April 28, 2023.

Spotlights, the hypnotic trio featuring married couple Mario and Sarah Quintero with Chris Enriquez, release their new album, Alchemy For The Dead, on April 28 via Ipecac Recordings.

The album, written and recorded following the band’s move to Pittsburgh, finds the trio once again balancing the tightrope of light and dark, toying with sonic texture, and as Invisible Oranges described Spotlights’ unique “magic” that’s “flickering with unnamable emotionality.” Mario Quintero shares the band’s mindset while writing and recording Alchemy For The Dead: “Our focus when making this record was to not repeat ourselves. I think we achieved our goal. Though we’re proud of all our releases, making just another ‘Spotlights’ album wasn’t an option. Pushing our own boundaries while creating something cathartic, yet strangely suffocating, with new sounds and textures as well as more personal and self-reflective themes, this album feels like a new fork in the path for us. Hopefully the listeners will follow.”

A preview of the nine-song collection arrives today with the release of the Oleg Rooz- created video for “Algorithmic” (https://youtu.be/19TqHZBUOgY). “For me, the song has a religious theme to it,” Mario adds. “It touches on the story of resurrection and afterlife in this one narrative, while wondering, does any of it really matter?” That narrative, one of death, the resistance and acceptance to one of life’s most secretive aspects, is a lyrical theme throughout Alchemy For The Dead.

Album pre-orders, which include two 2LP vinyl variants: a standard black version and a limited-edition gold edition available exclusively via Ipecac.com and on the band’s upcoming Alchemy For The Dead tour, can be found here: https://spotlights.lnk.to/AFTD. Vinyl is slated for an Aug. 4 release.

Alchemy For The Dead tour:

April 26 Pittsburgh, PA Club Café

April 27 Grand Rapids, MI Pyramid Scheme

April 28 Chicago, IL Subterranean Downstairs

April 29 Tolono, IL Loose Cobra

April 30 St. Louis, MO Red Flag

May 1 Kansas City, MO Mini Bar

May 3 Denver, CO Hi Dive

May 4 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court

May 6 Sacramento, CA Club Colonial

May 7 San Francisco, CA Winters Tavern

May 11 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium*

May 12 San Diego, CA Tower Bar

May 14 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues*

May 16 Denver, CO Mission Ballroom*

May 17 Salt Lake City, UT Union Event Center*

May 19 Seattle, WA Showbox*

May 20 Seattle, WA Showbox*

May 21 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom*

May 23 Oakland, CA Fox Theater*

May 24 Oakland, CA Fox Theater*

May 27 Denton, TX Dan’s Silverleaf

May 28 Austin, TX Hotel Vegas

May 30 Tulsa, OK Whittier Bar

May 31 Shreveport, LA Bear’s

June 1 Little Rock, AR Mutants Fest

June 2 Nashville, TN Drkmttr

June 3 Atlanta, GA The Earl

June 4 Gainesville, FL The Backyard

June 9 Miami, FL Gramp’s

June 10 Tampa, FL The Orpheum

June 11 Orlando, FL TBA

June 13 Columbia, SC TBA

June 14 Charlotte, NC Snug Harbor

June 15 Asheville, NC The Odd

June 16 Knoxville, TN The Pilot Light

June 17 Louisville, KY Kaiju Bar

June 18 Columbus, OH Big Room Bar

June 21 Harrisonburg, VA The Golden Pony

June 22 Baltimore, MD Metro Gallery

June 23 Philadelphia, PA Ortlieb’s

June 24 Brooklyn, NY Saint Vitus

*-Ipecac Geek Show performances

Birdhands open on dates between April 27 to May 1. Rile open from May 3 to May 6. Dates between May 11 and 24 are the Ipecac Geek Show with labelmates Mr. Bungle and the Melvins.

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[Thanks to Monica at Speakeasy PR.]

Tanukichan teams up with Enumclaw on “Thin Air.”

In November, Tanukichan announced their sophomore LP GIZMO (out March 3rd via Company Records). A project led by Hannah van Loon, in collaboration with the Grammy-nominated chillwave pioneer Chaz Bear of Toro y Moi, their album is the follow up to their debut LP, Sundays, arelease that saw an enthusiastic response when it was released in 2018, earning praise from outlets like Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, FADER, Stereogum, Loud & Quiet and The AV Club.

The album’s lead single “Don’t Give Up“ was greeted with excitement upon its release, earning best of the week nods from outlets like MTV and Pitchfork, and today Tanukichan are sharing a second single from the album, a track called “Thin Air” that features Aramis Johnson of the Tacoma, Washington band Enumclaw. To coincide with the single’s release van Loon has spoken to Stereogum about the new album.

LISTEN
to Tanukichan’s “Thin Air” feat. Enumclaw
HERE

READ
Stereogum’s Interview w/ Tanukichan
HERE

“This song is about exes, some people that I really cared about but ultimately didn’t want to be with,” van Loon explains. “The sadness I feel when I’m hurting someone, and missing them and knowing you won’t ever have that closeness again. It’s about how important they are and how much they’ve taught me, or helped me, but how I also know that people come and go. The chorus has a double meaning for me where I feel like I can’t prioritize relationships because I need to keep on focusing on myself. The other is feeling like I’m broken and keep ending up with the wrong people, and hurting them.”

——–

GIZMO is named after van Loon’s, who became a much-needed companion while the Bay Area musician wrote her second album as the pandemic began. The album is an exercise in release, whether from situational hindrances — a forced lockdown, for one — or from self-imposed hedonistic coping mechanisms. “A theme I always had floating around was escape,” van Loon explains of her follow-up to 2018’s Sundays. “Escaping from myself, my problems, sadness and cycles.”

To channel the more uplifting spirit she wanted for GIZMO, van Loon turned to the radio pop-rock of her childhood: “I was struck by the in-your-face positivity of the lyrics,” she adds, referencing artists like 311, The Cranberries, and Tom Petty. “I wanted to bring that positivity while writing about the sad and helpless emotions I’d been grappling with.”

This new found positivity and interesting blend of influences are in evidence on “Don’t Give Up,” a nu metal-meets-Cocteau Twins groove that deals with the experience of trying to overcome imposter syndrome, as van Loon explains:

“This song is about feeling I haven’t done anything with my life, but also knowing that I’ve accomplished a lot and it’s only getting better. I started writing the lyrics when I was on tour opening for the Drums after my first album came out. We were playing sold out shows in front of hundreds of people, but I knew it could change in an instant. I felt like I hit rock bottom emotionally, I wasn’t ready for the road and it killed me. I felt so disconnected from the band even though they were my backbone and were making it happen. The only thing that really helps me at that point is feeling like I can just let everything go, and we all die. Just accepting the fact that I can’t control anything and that in the end it doesn’t matter. We will all disappear. I wrote the chorus years later when I was finishing a bunch of the songs. I didn’t want it to be depressing, even though that’s where it came from. It came from giving up but I wanted to keep going. I wanted it to mean something moving on from the negative and I came up with a ridiculously positive chorus. Don’t give up now you know there’s another day, just know you’re going to get to a better place, a better place meaning a better place in life, or “heaven,” just nothingness where all your worries are gone.”

GIZMO will be released on Company Records on March 3rd. It is available for preorder/presave here.

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[Thanks to Tom at Hive Mind PR.]

Bodywash release “Massif Central” from upcoming album, “I Held the Shape While I Could.”

Bodywash — the Montreal duo of Chris Steward and Rosie Long Decter — announces its new album,
I Held the Shape While I Could, out April 14th on Light Organ Records, and shares the lead single/video, “Massif Central.” Over I Held the Shape While I Could’s twelve tracks, Steward and Long Decter reflect on their separate and shared experiences of losing a sense of place, the way something once solid can slip between your fingers, and their attempts to build something new from the fallout. On lead single “Massif Central,” stark guitars and relentless drums accompany Steward’s whispered vocals as he recounts an experience of bureaucratic purgatory: a typo in a government letter caused Steward to lose his legal work status in Canada.

“After eight years living in Canada, in the Spring of 2021, a government clerical error caused me to lose my legal status here,” Steward explains. “As a UK national, I lost my right to work. My savings trickled away during months where I could do little but pace the corners of my apartment. I was prepared to pack my bags and leave as the life I’d hoped to construct for myself seemed to vanish into a bureaucratic abyss.”

“‘Massif’ is the sound of wailing into a cliff and not knowing if you’ll hear an echo,” continued Steward. “The spoken word is inspired by a squirrel that was trapped in the wall behind my bed, clawing its way to salvation. With the help of friends, family, music, and a few immigration lawyers (and the rest of my savings), I’m now a permanent resident here. But this song remains as testament to my experience with an exploitative institution.”

The accompanying video by Jordan Allen is a stunning collage of live footage, distorted visuals, and eerie graphics. “With ‘Massif Central,’ we wanted to encapsulate the panic and urgency that Chris experienced, and have the abstracts portray the anxiety and hopelessness one can feel at the hands of bureaucracy,” Allen adds. “I chose graphics that heavily leaned into feelings of being lost in a maze, with towering structures and horizon lines pulling you into them. The idea was that the camera would be both a CCTV view of the band, but also glitching to reveal the more emotionally internal visual aspects.”

Watch “Massif Central”
Steward and Long Decter met in college in 2014, but didn’t immediately share a musical language. Chris grew up in London listening to British dream pop and classic shoegaze; Rosie was raised in Toronto on folk and Canadiana. Working toward their own blend of airy vocals, intricate guitar work and atmospheric synths, they released their debut EP as Bodywash in 2016 and their first full-length, Comforter, in 2019.

As they prepared to release Comforter, Long Decter and Steward both experienced alienating shifts in their personal lives, leading to a mutual sense of dislocation. They began writing new material that was darker, more experimental, and at the same time more invigorating than the soothing dream pop on Comforter. In 2021 they took these songs into the studio, sharing them with longtime drummer RyanWhite and recording/mixing engineer Jace Lasek (Besnard Lakes). The resulting I Held the Shape While I Could is a record that lives in the sonics of decay and renewal: breaks that burst forth from a squall of fuzz guitars, drones that glitch and stutter like ice willing itself to thaw.

There are many places like home, and on I Held the Shape While I Could, home is a mutable thing; a location that is fixed until it isn’t. Across the record, Steward’s abstract guitars and Long Decter’s cascading vocals act as ambient throughlines, blurring the digital and organic, gesturing toward something intangible, just out of reach. Home is a process — the back and forth of guitar riffs and vocal hums, of files sent and received across the ocean. A world imagined and sculpted together.

Pre-order I Held the Shape While I Could

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: Failure – In the Future Your Body Will Be the Furthest Thing from Your Mind (2018)

If Failure‘s 2015 album, The Heart Is a Monster, picked up where 1996’s Fantastic Planet left off, then their 2018 album, In the Future Your Body Will Be the Furthest Thing from Your Mind, doesn’t pick up where THIAM left off. It lifts off the ground and takes the band even further into the cosmos.

“Dark Speed” gets things off to a groovy start with Greg Edwards‘ funky bass line that will have you tapping your fingers on the steering wheel or your hot rod or your space cruiser. The bass gets heavier on “Paralytic Flow,” as do Ken Andrews‘ vocals about lust, desire, and passion. “Pennies” is one of those mellow tracks that Failure does so well: Simple, soft vocals, almost orchestral arrangements, and floating-in-space sound throughout the whole thing.

The album includes three “Segues” (numbers 10, 11, and 12), which begun with Fantastic Planet and have continued onto multiple albums since then. These tracks are all instrumentals either linking one song to the next or standing on their own as meditations. “Segue 10” is one of the meditative tracks, which clears your head before the somewhat menacing “No One Left.” Kellii Scott pounds out a lot of excess energy he had in the studio that day on it.

The drums and bass on “Solar Eyes” come to kick ass and take names. Andrews encourages us all to rest on “What Makes It Easy,” which is almost a soft love song. “Segue 11” sounds like it combines whale song with a thunderstorm. The slow build of “Found a Way” is like the sensation of watching an approaching comet. It’s a song about a break-up (“I finally found a way to release you and I don’t need anything you left me.””) wrapped in a power-rock track.

Scott’s drumming on “Distorted Fields” is wild and full of what almost sound like random drum fills, but then you realize he’s playing in advanced time signatures that will make your head spin. The groove of “Heavy and Blind” is wicked. “Another Post Human Dream” is a ballad for a prom at Phillip K. Dick High School. “Apocalypse Blooms” is the song you play in the car as you’re leaving that prom and heading for the make-out spot overlooking a neon-lit city with the knowledge it might be the last night of planet Earth.

“Come meet me in the silence,” Andrews sings on “Force Fed Rainbow” – a song great for leaving the comfort of a space station for the unknown, endless silence of space. “The Pineal Electorate” (with Edwards on lead vocals) reveals the band’s love of The Beatles‘ psychedelic era.

It’s another solid, cosmic entry in Failure‘s discography, and an album that will thinking of big-picture science and even bigger picture thoughts on humanity, technology, and the relationships between both.

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Rewind Review: Failure – Tree of Stars (2014)

Taken from recordings of live shows from their reunion tour around 2014, Failure‘s Tree of Stars is a strong and tight capture of the band flattening crowds in Houston and Phoenix with their wall of cosmic shoegaze sound.

“Let It Drip” is the first track on the EP and the first one recorded in Phoenix. Ken Andrews distorted vocals go well with his roaring guitar, and Kellii Scott pretty much puts on a drumming clinic through the whole track. It’s over before you have time to catch your breath.

Greg Edwards‘ bass on “Frogs” (live from Houston) brings to mind a giant version of the titular creature rumbling under the surface of a dark pond upon which a meteor storm (Scott’s drumming) is reflected. The live version of “Sergeant Politeness” (the second Phoenix track) hits with aggressive thuds and extra vigor in Andrews’ vocals. The second track record in Houston is “Heliotropic,” which always has a roaring guitar solo from Andrews, and this version is no exception.

The download version of Tree of Stars comes with a new 2014 version of “Solaris” that is somehow even more deep-space than the original as a result of a slower beat, reverb-drenched vocals, and guitars that sound like they’re being played in Atlantis. The tour-only version had “Come Crashing” on it, which was Failure’s first new music since 1996’s Fantastic Planet and would end up on their 2015 album The Heart Is a Monster.

It’s a great tease of hopefully a full live album in the future.

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Object of Affection release “Half Life” ahead of debut album due March 03, 2023.

LA’s Object of Affection tap into the primitivism of said members’ diverse projects while elevating their capacity for atmosphere and melody. Hints of gloomy punk, forlorn new wave, and down-and-out Regan-era alternative rock reverberate in their sound, not as pastiche but in sonic kinship to the austerity and fatalism embedded in the previous generation’s desperate and dejected anthems.

Since the release of their 2020 S/T, self released EP and most recent single “Through and Through” (Suicide Squeeze), the band have already shared the stage with accomplished peers Ceremony, Fiddlehead, Special Interest, Gulch, so on.

Today they’re pleased to announce they’ve joined the Profound Lore fam for their debut full-length, Field of Appearances. Its melting lead single and album opener “Half Life”, which touches on themes of the passage of time and the aching effects of hopelessness, is available now. Watch its accompanying video, directed by Miwah Lee below.

Watch / Share “Half Life” via YouTube
Listen / Playlist: Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music

With the inclusion of drum machines, synthesizers, acoustic guitars, and auxiliary percussion, Field of Appearances highlights the band’s sophisticated evolution and experimentation. The debut’s ten songs explode in character, contrast, and excitement.

Exploring themes of reflection, insufficiency, and Déjà vu as well as additional contributions from Bre Morell (Temple of Angels, Crushed) and Brittney Beppu, each track on Field of Appearances simultaneously plays a role in making it a more significant sum than its parts while also standing out individually. The album was meticulously crafted with Grammy-nominated producer Alex Newport (Bloc Party, At The Drive-In) and emerging engineer Phillip Odom and is an exceedingly memorable, precisely cohesive, and refreshing addition to the alternative music landscape.

Object of Affection’s Field of Appearances sees its release March 3 via Profound Lore; Pre-order / Pre-save the album here.

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[Thanks to Bailey at Another Side.]

Review: Skull Practitioners – Negative Stars

The first full album from shoegaze / post-punk rockers Skull Practitioners, Negative Stars, is as wild and mind-bending as the cover image suggests.

“Dedication” opens the record with thundering drums from Alex Baker and guitar work from Jason Victor that sounds like he set his instrument on fire. Kenneth Levine, not be to outdone, growls the lead vocals on the track and pumps out enough fuzz on his bass to potentially blow out your speakers. Victor takes over the vocals on “Exit Wounds” (something he and Levine will trade back and forth throughout the record, with Victor singing the majority of the tracks) – the album’s first single that has a heavy garage-surf influence to its riffs and beats.

Levine’s bass rolls all over “Leap.” The chorus has a bit of a pub rock feel to it, which I like. The long (over seven minutes) and fuzzy “Intruder” is a great track for the middle of the record (or end of side A, if you prefer), combining shoegaze, goth rock, and dark punk. Post-punk Gang of Four-style bass and guitar riffs rip through “What Now” – which seems to be an angry rant against people who take, take, take. This song makes me want to see them and Protomartyr on the same bill.

“Fire Drill” is one of two instrumentals on the record, the other being the album’s closer, “Nelson D.” Both are sharp. “Fire Drill” has some Joy Division vibes to it with its sparse and haunting bass, precision drumming, and predatory guitar licks. Victor’s guitar work on “Nelson D” sounds like it has a bit of a Johnny Marr influence, and Levine’s bass is like a lion’s roar throughout it. “Ventilation” amps up the band’s appreciation for Joy Division even more.

It’s great to finally get a full album from these guys. I’m sure all of these sounds are even louder and wilder live, so I hope they get on the road soon to promote an album this well-crafted.

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Top 25 live shows of 2022: #’s 5 – 1

It was a great year for live music for me, and the top shows were all stunners.

#5: Weird Al Yankovic – Lerner Theatre / Elkhart – July 26^th

It’s kind of amazing that it took me so long to see Weird Al and his band in concert. The level of musicianship on display was jaw-dropping. I lost count of how many styles and genres they played, and Yankovic’s ability to remember so many complex lyrics was stunning.

#4: Frankie and the Witch Fingers – Levitation France – June 05^th

“They play like their hair is on fire.” is how my friend described this set from Frankie and the Witch Fingers, which blew the minds of everyone at the Levitation France festival that night. People were absolutely bonkers by the end of it.

#3: Elton John – Soldier Field – August 05^th

Easily the best sound quality I heard all year, especially in such a large open-air venue, this stop on Elton John’s farewell was humid, but still an amazing performance that cover classic hits and newer tracks. The set was impressive, as was John’s energy as he revved up the crowd the entire time.

#2: Midnight Oil – Riviera / Chicago – June 10^th

Speaking of farewell tours, this one from Midnight Oil was a barn-burner. The place was packed, which only gave the band more energy to unleash in what would be their final Chicago performance. They raged harder against every machine than most bands half their age.

#1: Failure – Bottom Lounge / Chicago – July 01^st

A powerful performance on all levels, plus those of us who bought VIP tickets got to attend their sound check and meet Failure before the main show. It was like two concerts in one from one of my favorite bands whose music can be life-changing. I don’t use that term lightly. Getting to tell them face-to-face how “Another Space Song” has become even more meaningful to me since my wife’s death was an honor I’ll never forget.

I’ve already started seeing bands this year (Dry Cleaning), so 2023 is off to a good start. Who are you excited to see this year?

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Top 20 albums of 2022: #’s 5 – 1

Here we are at the top five albums I reviewed in 2022. It was a great year for music, and these are what stood out for me among all the good stuff out there.

#5: Jacques Greene – Fantasy

As I’ve mentioned before, 2022 was a great year for electronic music, and this EP from Jacques Greene topped my list of that kind of music. It mixes house, drum and bass, ambient, and a bit of synth wave into a luscious brew.

#4: The Staples Jr. Singers – When Do We Get Paid

This reissue of classic gospel funk tracks by The Staples Jr. Singers is stunning. The amount of groove and friskiness in these songs is almost overwhelming. The instrumentation and harmonizing are outstanding, and there’s enough soul for two churches.

#3: Yard Act – The Overload

This is the best post-punk album I heard all year. Everything on it is razor sharp: the wit, the guitar angles, the grooves, the drum sounds, and the slightly snarled tongue-in-cheek vocals.

#2: The Black Angels – Wilderness of Mirrors

The Black Angels‘ new album was a great return for them. It explores the stress of modern times through walls of distorted guitars, reverb-laden vocals, powerful drums, and mind-warping sound. The Black Angels have yet to put out a bad record, but this one somehow set the bar even higher for psych-bands to follow.

#1: A Place to Bury Strangers – See Through You

A Place to Bury Strangers came back with a new lineup and some of Oliver Ackermann‘s most revealing lyrics about the end of friendships, loneliness, grief, over-reliance on technology, and the overall anxiety everyone’s been feeling since 2019. Ackermann put it all out there and walloped us with more honesty and distortion that you can almost stand.

Let’s look forward to a great 2023!

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Top 25 live shows of 2022: #’s 10 – 6

It’s time for the top ten live shows I saw in 2022. These shows were mind-bending in multiple ways.

#10: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Levitation Austin / Stubb’s – October 29th

This was the second of two sold-out shows from KGATLW at Stubb’s. The line to get into this show stretched for almost three blocks. The crowd was fired up and the prolific psych-rock Aussies played everything from thrash metal to electro. It’s amazing that they can keep so many different types of songs in their heads.

#9: A Place to Bury Strangers – Chicago / Empty Bottle – May 30th

It’s always good to see APTBS. Their shows are like endurance workouts that push you into a runner’s high. This was the first time I saw them with the new lineup and they seemed even louder than they’d ever been. The Empty Bottle could barely contain them.

#8: Moon Duo – Levitation Austin / Feels So Good Records – October 30th

This was the loveliest show of the year, and the most hypnotizing. Playing in their “Lightship” projection box stage, Moon Duo would become lost in the light show that beamed from behind them, onto the screen around them, and into the audience. I’m not joking when I tell you it was trance-inducing. You had to be careful not to zone out and fall onto the floor.

#7: Osees – Levitation Austin / Hotel Vegas – October 28th

I’ve never seen Osees put on a bad show, and this one, albeit a shorter set than normal, was another solid performance. It was the second of their four-night residency at Austin’s Hotel Vegas, and the crowd was the perfect size – not so big you couldn’t stretch your arms, and not so small that you felt bad for the band. The weather was also about perfect. All you needed was a light coat, a hat, and a drink and you were ready for the mosh pit.

#6: Slift – Levitation Austin / Elysium – October 27th

This was the best set of the entire Levitation Austin festival last year. It was also the last show of Slift’s U.S. tour, and they unloaded everything they had left in the tank, and then borrowed from the audience’s tank, and then somehow still had enough to leave orbit. I was surprised Elysium was still standing afterwards. It spoiled us a bit for the rest of the weekend, because no one could top it.

Up next, the best five shows I saw last year, which include some legends.

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