Electro – Page 38 – 7th Level Music

Beauty Pill tell us “You Need a Better Mind” on their new single.

Washington, D.C.-based band Beauty Pill today announced their new EP Instant Night out December 3, releasing on limited edition vinyl, CD and digitally via Northern Spy Records and available to preorder here. Alongside the announcement the band is sharing the official video for “You Need A Better Mind“. On the track, Beauty Pill’s Chad Clark says:

“The Roland TB-303 is an old Japanese synthesizer that was designed to convincingly mimic the sound of a bass guitar. It was introduced in 1981, it sounded like a toy and failed miserably, and it was ultimately discontinued in 1984. It makes freaky, wiggly, cartoony sounds. It sounds fuck-all like a bass guitar. Why am I telling you this? One ended up in my hands for a week. I did a lot of silly stuff with it. I did come up with this one worthwhile riff, which I built a song around. The song is called “You Need A Better Mind.”

“It was recorded with my band in a single take at the end of a recording session for another song. We were tired. None of us cared that much if we failed. The fun spirit you hear in this song is mostly exhaustion… that kind of punchy exhaustion you get late at night when you’ll laugh at anything. The lyrics were inspired by the spooky/funny 10-minute movie “Rachel”. “The song is about the scourge of American loneliness. It is by far the fastest, easiest song Beauty Pill has ever created. We hope you like it.”

The EP’s title track “Instant Night” was originally written by Beauty Pill bandleader Chad Clark in 2015 after he watched Ann Coulter, as a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher, predict that Donald Trump would win the 2016 US presidential election. The Washington, D.C. based artist recorded and surprise-released the single in October 2020 out of urgency to inspire people to vote in the presidential election. Because the song was being recorded during the pandemic, and because Clark has an artificial heart that puts him at high risk for COVID-19, it was recorded on a rooftop, with meticulously planned social distancing.

“Instant Night” is Beauty Pill’s first single without drums, and it is also the first Beauty Pill song to conspicuously highlight the band’s woodwind quartet. The single was released alongside a music video featuring time-lapse footage of Trump, Lindsey Graham, and Mitch McConnell being drawn and depicted as monsters. The video was created and directed by the artist [ex-Beauty Pill member] Ryan Nelson.

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[Thanks to Cody at Clandestine PR.]

Debby Friday’s new single will help you “Focus.”

Audiovisual artist, vocalist and experimental producer DEBBY FRIDAY is back with a new single & video, “FOCUS“. The track originally premiered on Adult Swim on their latest Digitalis compilation.

Speaking about the meaning behind the song, FRIDAY said “I wrote this song in 2019, when I first started thinking about writing an album and the possibility of pursuing my creative passions as my career was making itself known to me. I kept debating with myself, ‘do I want this? or do I not want this?’ It’s a heavy question. The video also speaks to this. The whole process was like undergoing some sort of fire baptism. It was difficult and chaotic and supernatural. I felt like I was the mountain, cracking open and spilling forth.”

The video for “FOCUS“, filmed on 35mm, opens on the astonishing scene of a live avalanche – a torrent of snow flying across a frozen mountain range. The vision behind it was created by FRIDAY herself and director Ryan Ermacora.

Watch & listen to “FOCUS” here: https://youtu.be/nPs-vbGKW0E

“The shoot took a few days, spread out over a week. First, Ryan and Jeremy went to film the avalanche in Kaslo. The avalanche crew had to take them up in a tiny helicopter with all the gear to an adjacent mountain so that they could set up the dynamite and then we could get the shot. Once that was done, myself and a skeleton crew drove out to Cache Creek to shoot in the mountains there,” said FRIDAY. Shot across various locations in British Columbia, we watch as FRIDAY runs through a deserted forest and icy woods, glitching between daytime and nighttime. The desolate frigid landscape is juxtaposed with the striking imagery of her bullwhip choreography. The blazing whip cracks in the twilight air as she stands fierce and unrelenting, decked out in futuristic winter gear. Paired together, the trumpeting bass and spellbinding images make for a vision of an apocalyptic future where FRIDAY has become the last woman on Earth.

On making the video, FRIDAY stated, “Getting the logistics of everything together was the most stressful part. It’s not everyday that you have to figure out how to make an avalanche and take fire bullwhip cracking lessons. Thankfully, I had a really supportive crew the whole way through. It took a lot but I feel like this song and video marks a turning point for me that I can’t exactly name yet.”

After finishing her Master of Fine Arts degree earlier this year, FRIDAY has set her laser focus on her forthcoming LP. With a secret title and rumoured accompanying short film, DEBBY FRIDAY is not slowing down anytime soon.

Born in Nigeria, raised in Montreal and now based in Vancouver, FRIDAY released her debut self-produced, rap adjacent EP, BITCHPUNK in 2018. In 2019, Deathbomb Arc ushered in her second, critically acclaimed EP, DEATH DRIVE, which throbbed with eroticised electropunk fervour and cleared a path for self-actualisation. FRIDAY also created and directed her “FATAL” video, which was subsequently nominated for the 2020 Prism Prize Award, as well as her first short film, “BARE BONES“. Earlier this year, FRIDAY released the video for her single, “RUNNIN“, and also shared “LINK SICK” – an audio-play written, directed and scored by FRIDAY herself. She is currently working on her debut full length, and will be appearing at Substance Fest in Los Angeles on November 28.

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[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]

Review: John Carpenter – Lost Themes III: Alive After Death

Recorded and composed with his son, Cody Carpenter, and his godson, Daniel Davies, after releasing the first two Lost Themes albums, touring the country, and re-recording many of his classic movie themes, John Carpenter‘s Lost Themes III: Alive After Death sees the trio exploring more dark themes as well as futuristic ones as they run with full, confident strides.

The title track opens the album with trademark Carpenter synth beats and adds a sharp guitar solo as well. “Weeping Ghost,” the album’s first single, is as creepy as you hope it will be. The bass in it hits like a racing pulse you feel in your neck. “Dripping Blood,” meanwhile, isn’t as creepy as you initially imagine and is quite lovely. “Dead Eyes” is another slow, brooding track, and “Vampire’s Eyes” is appropriately hypnotizing. It starts with brooding synths and then opens its red satin-lined cape to throw out a sinister guitar solo from Davies.

“Cemetery” and “Skeleton” are sharp dark wave cuts blended with krautrock rhythms. “Turning the Bones” is perfect for exploring either a dark catacombs or a dimly lit science laboratory. I’m sure film makers everywhere are clamoring to be the first to buy the rights to use “The Dead Walk” in their upcoming zombie movie. It would also work in a science fiction film, a post-apocalyptic action movie, or the next anime craze. The closing track is “Carpathian Darkness,” which could be the name of a death metal band (and probably is somewhere), and it blends sad piano with even sadder synths and growling guitars that sound like a horrible beast awakening in that darkness.

I love how John Carpenter’s career path has led him to create these albums. Fans of his film work and of dark wave will find much to love here.

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Review: Ty Segall – Harmonizer

Released as a surprise to his fans and the world in general, Ty Segall‘s newest album, Harmonizer, has him embracing and exploring synthwave and krautrock after a forced-upon two-year hiatus (Screw you, pandemic!) from releasing new material – which, to the prolific Segall, must have felt like two decades.

Opening track “Learning” throws bright synths, processed beats, and 1980s keyboard blips together as an introduction to his new obsession. “Whisper” adds funky bass and scorching guitars to the mix as he sings about loss of identity through circumstances beyond one’s control (“Look into the mirror and see it. Who is it?”). The deep synths on “Erased” add even more menace to the dark lyrics about being drowned out in a sea of anger, rage, noise, and psycho-babble.

The title track blends the industrial synths and chainsaw guitars well and is another song about the complexities of language, communication, and the desire to be heard. It’s not hard to imagine this was how Segall was feeling during two years of not being able to tour or meet with his bandmates, let alone how a lot of us felt during the last election when fringe voices were given the forefront.

“Pictures” gets all sorts of synth-crazy for a while and then makes a right turn into synth-funk suitable for slow dances in a goth nightclub. Plus, the guitar solo on it is pretty damn cool. “Ride” introduces us to the character of Waxman, who is the subject of the following track and might be a frightening vision Segall had of his possible older years. It’s a heavy bass thumper that would probably melt wax if played at the right volume.

“All I want to do is play,” Segall sings at the beginning of “Play.” That probably sums up how he felt during self-isolation. It’s a neat cut to boot, flashing wild guitar and synth bass over a beat that hip hop DJs are probably stealing even now. “Feel Good” might be the most erotic track Segall’s ever written, and his wife Denée’s vocals on it are sexy yet distant. It’s a great post-punk track that sings of desire and lust but also tells you through its delivery that you might deserve neither. The album closes with the hopeful “Changing Contours” as Segall realizes that things might be turning around for him and the world (“And now it’s finally changing contours, and when I’m being, I am free. New perspectives seen. Now I’m breathing in all I see.”).

We shouldn’t be surprised that Segall recorded an album during lockdown, nor should we be surprised at how good Harmonizer is. The guy doesn’t seem to miss.

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[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Robin Hatch releases “Mockingbird” from her upcoming album made with a legendary synthesizer.

Toronto-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Robin Hatch has released the new single “Mockingbird” today, a sublime peace floating on spacious synths featuring Nick Thorburn of indie rock staple Islands and The Unicorn on synth and drum machines. The track comes from the upcoming album T.O.N.T.O., out October 29th on Robin Records, which was written and recorded during a 4-day residency on the behemoth synth that the album takes its title from.

Robin describes the equipment used to make the recording, working with Thorburn, and where the track’s title comes from.

“Mockingbird features the Maestro drum machine built into the TONTO synthesizer. I improvised this song on the second day of my residency. The bass line is a study in triggering the envelope filter of its Moog Modular 3 system as the arpeggiator runs to create a wah-pedal type sound reminiscent of Jan Hammer Group or Penguin Cafe Orchestra. The outro has the Yamaha CS80 and features Randy Bachman’s Space Echo pedal. I threw in a VST of a CMI Fairlight to give it an Enya touch in the chorus.”

Besides his prodigal output as an indie frontman, Nick is also a real deal composer and he helped me flesh out this song with an Atari chiptune synth, Roland Jupiter 4, Korg M1, and Compurhythm drum machine.

The title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the duet by James Taylor and Carly Simon.”

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[Thanks to Jake at Ramp Global.]

Jacques Greene to release a treasure trove of early and out-of-print stuff on October 22nd.

Jacques Greene announces ANTH01, a collection of tracks and out-of-print 12”’s spanning the earliest years of his career. Arriving ten years after his groundbreaking single, “Another Girl,” ANTH01 features classics that introduced Greene to the world, such as “The Look,” and also includes collaborations with Koreless and How To Dress Well, plus tracks from Greene’s releases on 3024, Night Slugs and his own Vase imprint. In conjunction with today’s announcement, Greene shares “I Won’t,” a certified live favorite and highly requested unreleased gem; one of two exclusive, previously unreleased tracks to appear on ANTH01.

Stream Jacques Greene’s “I Won’t” (Previously Unreleased)

Greene has been making music “about the club” for over a decade. Over the course of multiple EPs, singles, and two full-length albums – 2017’s Feel Infinite and 2019’s Dawn Chorus – his sound has developed into an emotional haze. Outside of his own releases, Greene has explored his relationship with the club in a variety of contexts, from remixing Radiohead to producing for Katy B, Tinashe and touring with The xx.

“Time became quite slippery in the past year and a half,” says Greene. “As the years go it’s strange how some things feel like just yesterday while others are seemingly lifetimes away. It was equal parts challenging and fun to revisit some of this material that laid the foundation for this Jacques Greene project. ‘ANTH01’ is a form of anthology: a collection of songs meant to tell the first few chapters of that story. From bedroom studios in the Mile End in Montreal at the start of the 2010s to now. Thank you for listening.”

ANTH01 Tracklist:
01. I Won’t
02. (Baby I Don’t Know) What you Want
03. The Look
04. Tell Me
05. These Days
06. Arrow (feat. Koreless)
07. Ready
08. Faded
09. On Your Side (feat. How To Dress Well)
10. Faithful
11. Quicksand
12. Another Girl

Pre-order ANTH01

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[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Riot Fest 2021 – Day Four

No, you didn’t miss three posts. I only attended day four of Chicago’s annual Riot Fest this year, and it was the first Riot Fest I’d attended. A friend scored some free tickets, and far be it from me to pass up a chance to see Devo and The Flaming Lips on the same bill.

This was the hottest music festival I’ve attended in a long while. There was little shade to be had, but sunscreen and taking frequent breaks between sets meant not suffering too much. A freshly made fruit smoothie from a vegan food vendor did me wonders.

The first set we caught was by The Gories, who opened one of the main stages. They sounded loud and dirty, and I’d love to see them in a small venue, but I’m glad I finally got to see these Detroit punk legends.

We walked around Douglas Park and discovered the festival was widely spread out. Food vendors were in one far corner, while a smaller fifth stage was seemingly a half-mile away in the opposite corner. You’d think they’d wheel out some portable light posts with all that room, but no.

Up next were HEALTH, and one of my friends fell in love with them upon hearing their industrial set under sun so bright that their bassist / synth player had to cover his keyboards with trash bags so he could read the digital displays on them.

The sun wasn’t healthy if you weren’t wearing sunscreen that day.

After a nice break under a tree, we trotted over to the smallest stage to see Chicago noise rockers Melkbelly, who played a fun set that included a cover of Pixies‘ “Gigantic” in an attempt to make up for Pixies cancelling their tour this summer. They were so out of practice with performing live shows due to the pandemic that they forgot their merchandise in their van.

Melkbelly playing to a lot of local fans.

I scored some chicken tenders that were average at best while my friends scored an elephant ear. Riot Fest has carnival rides on site, and I can only imagine how many drunk attendees regret getting on them over the course of the weekend.

We returned to the Rebel Stage to see Bleached perform their first set in two years (according to them, and a running theme for live shows everywhere this year), right after a guy walked by us peddling mushrooms to anyone who wanted them. They sounded great, and I would’ve liked to have stayed for the whole set, but Devo was calling…

The stage was packed for Devo, complete with a mosh pit and crowd surfers. It was a fun set in which they played nearly the entire Freedom of Choice album. The whole crowd was happy and still buzzing afterwards. One guy was high-fiving people and telling them, “You just saw Devo!” It was the first time my friend, Amy, had seen them. She said she smiled so much during the set that her cheeks hurt afterwards. A delight for me and my friend (and Amy’s cousin), Brian, was getting to hear Devo’s cover of “Secret Agent Man” live for the first time. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to hear it.

Brian and I stuck around for the Flaming Lips‘ set. Brian hadn’t seen them before, and we couldn’t get close to the stage by they started – mainly due to them starting right after Devo’s set. It was still a good set, and nearly the same as when I saw them at Psycho Music Festival. Wayne Coyne encouraged everyone to take care of each other and stay healthy so live music can continue. Amen to that.

The Flaming Lips blowing sun-baked minds.

It was a good time (and Brian’s first music festival, no less), but would I go back? The short answer is, “I don’t know.” There were a lot of bad bands on the bill on day four, and I don’t think the other three days were much better. A lot of the bands playing the various stages sounded like Rage Against the Machine rip-offs, screamo nonsense, or pop-garbage. We got the hell out of there before Slipknot and Machine Gun Kelly started their sets and laughed as we passed a guy selling nitrous oxide balloons outside the park. I might return if the lineup gets better, and they’ve already announced another Misfits reunion for 2022, but Douglas Park-area residents won’t be happy about it…

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Lizzie Loveless – You Don’t Know

You Don’t Know, the new album by Lizzie Loveless, is an album that collects memories, stories, possibly a couple tall tales, and love poems and then focuses on them with presence and mindfulness…and lovely vocals and beats. It’s also an album with many homes – New York City, Halifax, Nova Scotia, California forests, or the many stops of a tour she took with her band TEEN.

“You don’t know what it means to be with me,” she sings on the opening title track. Loveless (AKA Lizzie Lieberson) braces herself for heartbreak as a relationship is about to end, but she’s walking out with her chin up and not looking back. It’s a lovely opener, with crushing lyrics like “Maybe we should just forget it. We had out fun playing house. I know it wasn’t always easy.”

“The Joke” is a simple tune consisting of Loveless’ voice, acoustic guitar, electric beats, bright synths, and lyrics about a health crisis (“My body betrays me.”) Loveless overcame. “Memory” has Loveless wondering if she’ll ever forget a lover as 1980s soft ballad synths and beats play behind her. “My thoughts are clean though dirty from dreams,” Loveless sings on the sexy, strong track “Eyes of a Man.” The buzzsaw guitar and Theremin-like synths mix well together to put you a bit on edge.

As if she hasn’t bared her soul enough, Loveless tells us, “I’m stuck in a loveless black hole.” on “Loveless.” You can’t help but think she’s a bit tongue-in-cheek about it, however, as the thumping electro-bass and the funky beats on the track are dance floor-ready. “Hold Me Close,” with its lyrics of being in different places during different seasons, seems to be a song about missing someone while on tour. “Window” is another pretty (listen to those synths and toe-tapping beats) gut punch as Loveless sings about waiting for a lover she knows won’t return.

“New York, Yesterday” is a tale of Loveless wandering the Big Apple hoping to see her lover, even though she knows he’s in Los Angeles. “Underneath” stacks groovy bass atop Loveless’ echoing vocals about burying her emotions, even when she knows that revealing them could take her further in a relationship. The album closes with “Again,” a fun title to end a record, and a track about about Loveless wanting love but a potential lover just wanting to smooch.

You Don’t Know is a lovely record all-around, and will probably be one of the best albums of love songs of the year. It’s soulful, sometimes scorching, and sometimes sweet. It’s all good.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine Label Services.]

E.VAX releases “Karst” ahead of new album due tomorrow.

E.VAX – the project of Ratatat’s Evan Mast – announces his new, self-titled album, out September 17th via Because Music, and today presents a new single/video, “Karst.” Performing as half of Ratatat for more than the last decade, Mast’s music has reached an enormous audience with its bombastic merge of rock and electronic music, as well as through his parallel work as a hip-hop producer for artists such as Kanye West, Kid Cudi, and Jay-Z . His new solo album, E.VAX, is a collection of instrumental songs, dolloped with moments of exploratory dialogue, disembodied moments that are equally disorienting and moving. The throughline between the songs on his new album is not a certain signature sound, but Mast’s feel as a producer. Though one song may lean heavier on snappy drums and another on the coo of an organ, they all share a similar sensibility. The songs are sincere, playful, inviting, curious, and contemplative—all characteristics of Mast himself.

For this album, Mast loosened his attitude towards production, looking to capture some of the excitement of creation. He recorded at home, and then midway through the pandemic he spent time in Montana, recording in a friend’s art gallery. The blank space and isolation after so much studio time in close quarters allowed for a new looseness. He’d play songs at the wrong speed to see how it changed what he heard, or deliberately leave a melody untouched for months and then improvise over it after playing it anew for the first time. Unable to get lost in real life, he got lost in music. “I used to be way more precious,” Mast says about his songwriting. “A lot of this stuff on the record is about trying to skip the brain processes that can get in the way of making something that really feels sincere.”

Following his first offering, “Rabindra,” “Karst” features harp and a vintage drum machine. The accompanying video is made of footage that Mast took in China. “One of my favorite moments over the past few years was riding on a scooter with my brother through a landscape of karst mountains in southern China,” says Mast. “I wanted this track to sound the way that felt. I started recording it in Brooklyn during the most intense part of lockdown last spring, and finished it a few months later in a barn at a friend’s place in Montana.”

The “Karst” video is the second installment in a series of music videos he made for all 12 tracks on the album, shot all around the globe. Made up largely of videos Mast shot while walking around and sewn together so they pan slowly, there is simultaneously a feeling of stillness and motion, which is amplified when you encounter strangers looking at the camera.
Watch E.VAX’s Video for “Karst”

Watch the “Rabindra” Video

Pre-order E.VAX

E.VAX Tracklist
1. Rabindra
2. Karst
3. Always
4. What About You
5. Manila
6. Anything At All
7. Kolkata
8. Pretty Good
9. New Words
10. Little Lung
11. Koko
12. Actual Air

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Bremer/McCoy release new single, “Natten,” ahead of full album due this October.

Bremer/McCoy, the duo of pianist Morten McCoy and bassist Jonathan Bremer, announce their new album, Natten, out October 29th on Luaka Bop, and share its lead single, the album’s title track. For Natten, Bremer/McCoy recorded straight to tape so that they had as little time as possible to think about it. They just laid it down. They couldn’t really explain it. “When it works for me,” says pianist MortenMcCoy, “it’s pure meditation, pure prayer. Pure gratitude for simply being, without all kinds of jibber-jabber filling my thoughts.”

McCoy and Bremer started making music together back in 2012 when they were still in school. At 17 years old, Bremer was awarded with the Young Jazz Award from Jazz Denmark and for three years he was a solid part of the acclaimed Niels Lan Doky trio. McCoy started his musical journey by digging deep into the Jamaican music-culture both as a musician, composer, concert-organizer and DJ. Since then, he’s worked as a co-composer on the award-winning soundtrack for the Danish movie Underverden. Upon the duo’s creation, they at first played dub. It’s hard to imagine that that’s how they started when you listen to the ethereal sounds they make now, but the influence becomes clearer when you see them live.

Bremer/McCoy insist on traveling with their own sound system. That might seem like a lot of effort for a quiet Danish duo, but for Bremer/McCoy, making music is all about what happens in the room. That’s why they go through the trouble of carrying their own equipment, and it’s why they record analog. When they write music, they aim for direct transmission—idea straight to composition. Natten is the follow-up to a string of albums – their debut Enhed (2013), Ordet (2015), Forsvinder (2016), and Utopia (2019). “We felt a greater freedom this time around because we now have a much deeper understanding and grounding in what we’re doing,” says Bremer. “This allows us to venture further out than ever before, because we know that things typically fall into place.”

Natten, which means “The Night” in Danish, draws inspiration from the end of day, that regenerative time under the constellations when our lives look different. Listeners might be quick to call it escapist—the music might be a reprieve from our busy lives. And while that’s one way to experience Natten, there’s also another, which has more to do with immersion. It offers us the chance to see what’s around us as beautiful. McCoy wrote the title track, “Natten,” while watching the sun set in Sweden. And although the track doesn’t have lyrics, it carries a message, directly from McCoy to you: You won’t find the meaning of life by chasing answers. You’ll find it by waiting and staying open to the world. That’s the message of the title track, and it might as well be the message of the whole album because that’s clearly the state of mind McCoy and Bremer were in when they were recording: Open.

Listen to “Natten” by Bremer/McCoy

“The well is far from empty,” says Bremer. “Listening to great works is like having a deep conversation with somebody, a type of communication that can evolve and continue opening doors to new perspectives.”There’s a hint in what Bremer says of how he hopes his own listeners will experience his music. As a key to something. A key to life, or possibly a key to appreciating new sounds. This is the feeling Bremer/McCoy’s music transmits that you won’t be able to shake. They’re trying to tell you something; you’ll hear it if you listen.

Luaka Bop was founded by David Byrne in 1989. The label represents artists such as Floating Points and William Onyeabor, and is known for introducing the music of Tim Maia and Shuggie Otis, as well as the spiritual music of Alice Coltrane, to the world at large. Earlier this year, Luaka Bop released Promises by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and The London Symphony Orchestra. The album has received worldwide acclaim.

Pre-order Natten

Natten Tracklist:
01. Natten
02. Mit Hjerte
03. Gratitude
04. Hjertebarn
05. Nu Og Altid
06. April
07. Aurora
08. Nova
09. Måneskin
10. Natten (part 2)
11. Lalibela

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[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]