Venamoris, the heavy, brooding noir outfit who blend darkwave and metal, featuring Paula and Dave Lombardo, release their sophomore album, To Cross or To Burn, on Feb. 28 via Ipecac Recordings.
Alongside the album announcement, Venamoris unveil “Animal Magnetism,” a striking cover of Scorpions’ 1980 love song. The haunting rendition features a guest appearance from Dave’s former bandmate, Gary Holt (Exodus, Slayer). The song is accompanied by a Displaced/Replaced created video.
Dave reflects on the personal significance of including “Animal Magnetism” on To Cross or To Burn:
“The first rock concert I ever attended was on May 25, 1980, with Scorpions opening for Ted Nugent’s ‘Scream Dream’ tour. We (Slayer) had covered a couple Scorpions songs in the early years but I never would have thought of re-imagining one of their songs at that time. Now it seems like the most natural thing to do. I could hear Paula’s sultry voice, the song taking on a slightly industrial feel… and I could fully hear Gary Holt play this insane lead. It’s been incredible to see this idea come to life. To release this at the same time this iconic band celebrates 60 years is a perfect way for me to thank them for an inspiring first show in 1980 and for all that they have contributed since.”
The married duo teased To Cross or To Burn’s 2025 arrival with the 2024 singles “In The Shadows” and “Spiderweb,” which were praised for their unique sound – described by Consequence as “trip-hop style” fused with “the dark/folk metal of Emma Ruth Rundle and Chelsea Wolfe,” while Revolver has described the pair as “spellbinding.”
Paula, who wrote the album’s nine-original songs, offers insight into the album:
“To Cross or To Burn has taken us down a darker, very different path than our first album. There’s a confidence in this body of work. An overall vibe of heaviness that was unexpected. Verses of hard truths now bound in acceptance. The soul-searching continues.”
To Cross or To Burn is available for pre-order now with the collection available digitally, on CD and on both white and limited-edition red vinyl: https://venamoris.lnk.to/cross.
Youth Lagoon – the alias of Idaho-based producer and songwriter Trevor Powers – announces his new album, Rarely Do I Dream, out February 21st via Fat Possum, and presents the video for lead single “Speed Freak.” Additionally, Powers announces a 2025 North American tour. Rarely Do I Dream is Youth Lagoon’s most comprehensive and audacious album to date. It’s a treasure trove of home movies, twangy fuzz guitars, sun-bleached synths, classical pianos, blown-out drums, and Powers’ spellbinding melodies, all which feel like an old photograph that’s been reanimated in a strange and distant future.In the fall of 2023, Powers discovered a shoebox filled with home videos in his parents’ basement. “When I took the tapes home and popped in the first one, it was my brother Bobby and I at the state fair. I was 4 years old choking on a corn dog,” he laughs. “If anything’s a summary of life, that is.” Powers spent the following week recording his favorite moments off the TV — Easter egg hunts, backyard baseball, bloody noses, birthday parties, road trips, and all the life in-between. The vivid intimacies of life and boyhood depicted in Powers’ home movies began shaping and infusing with his songs. He started sampling the audio and manipulating it into a kind of musical cinematography, fusing past with future. “What I was really consumed with was how much I could zoom in on my actual history,” says Powers. “I wanted to really make someone feel like they were inside my living room in 1993, but rearrange the furniture a bit. Something about combining that level of hyperreality with fairytales of devils and detectives weirdly felt like the truest way to immortalize these pieces of my family.”
Rooted in love and childhood memoir, Rarely Do I Dream is a triumph of American gothic imagination — where storybook innocence dissolves into a radioactive billow of teenage drifters, drug-addled hustlers, and old-world folklore. Drifting between propulsive electronica and hallucinatory rock songs, Powers’ singular voice always glows front and center as the neon road sign pointing home.“The more I rewind the tapes of my life, the more I can hear the voice of my soul,” Powers says. “This isn’t nostalgia. Life’s much more messy than that. It’s a dedication to all the parts of who I was, who I am, and who I’m going to be.”With a bent toward rural noir, Powers has found a home in a world where his personal journals and poetic confessions are indistinguishable from the twisted mythologies of habitual sinners and devout barflies. Lead single “Speed Freak,” a dark joyride that showcases Youth Lagoon’s glaring metamorphosis, unleashes a grungy beat while synth bass struts and splinters into a technicolor post-punk spectacle. “This song came from a thought I had of giving the angel of death a hug,” Powers says. “We spend our whole lives running from this thing we can’t outrun. This body is temporary, but there is no death. Only transformation. A door opens when you learn to let go of the identity you’ve been building your whole life. Someone told me a couple years ago, ‘I have good news for you and I have bad news. The bad news is Trevor is doomed. There’s no hope for Trevor. The good news is — you’re not Trevor.’ When I heard that, it clicked.”
After taking an eight-year hiatus, Youth Lagoon returned with the acclaimed Heaven Is a Junkyard in early 2023, “a warped but ornate, experimental form of Americana” (The Ringer). “I had ended Youth Lagoon years ago because I lost who I was,” Powers says. “Then life jumped me in an alley and gave me a beating. That suffering changed my frequency. Now my ideas are a river. I can’t keep up.”
Powers’ ability to relentlessly push and evolve the project forward has taken Youth Lagoon into a territory both fiercely original and strikingly expansive. Recorded with co-producer and mixer/engineer Rodaidh McDonald, Rarely Do I Dream marks a seismic transformation, a mammoth leap forward, and an instant, indelible landmark in Youth Lagoon’s revered discography. With a profound love and dedication to family, along with his own brand of genre-bending noir rock, Powers’ has achieved what he set out to do.
“I wanted to make an album that feels like life itself . . . ”
Youth Lagoon tour dates Thu. Mar. 27 – Spokane, WA @ District Bar @ Knitting Factory Fri. Mar. 28 – Missoula, MT @ ZACC Sat. Mar. 29 – Boise, ID @ Treefort Fest Thu. Apr. 3 Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater Fri. Apr. 4 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret Sat. Apr. 5 – Victoria, BC @ Upstairs Sun. Apr. 6 – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Tue. Apr. 8 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall Wed. Apr. 9 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Thu. Apr. 10 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah Fri. Apr. 11 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress Mon. Apr. 14 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger Tue. Apr. 15 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk Wed. Apr. 16 – Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Art Co Fri. Apr. 18 – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In Sat. Apr. 19 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade (Altar) Sun. Apr. 20 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 Mon. Apr. 21 – Washington, DC @ The Atlantis Tue. Apr. 22 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry Thu. Apr. 24 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw Fri. Apr. 25 – Jersey City, NJ @ White Eagle Hall Sat. Apr. 26 – New Haven, CT @ Space Ballroom Sun. Apr. 27 – Boston, MA @ Middle East Downstairs Tue. Apr. 29 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa Thu. May 1 – Toronto, ON @ Axis Fri. May 2 – Detroit, MI @ El Club Sat. May 3 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop Sun. May 4 – Louisville, KY @ Whirling Tiger Mon. May 5 – Indianapolis, IN @ Hi-Fi Wed. May 7 – Chicago, IL @ Outset Thu. May 8 – Milwaukee, WI @ Vivarium Fri May 9 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon Sat. May 10 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club Mon. May 12 – St. Louis, MO @ Atomic Cowboy Tue. May 13 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck Thu. May 15 – Denver, CO @ Marquis Fri. May 16 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Block Party
Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter zzzahara shares the new single/video, “In Your Head,” and announces their first North American tour dates in support of the new album, Spiral Your Way Out, out this Friday, January 10th, on Lex Records. Following recent single “It Didn’t Mean Nothing,” “In Your Head” features slowburn melodies and fuzzy shoegaze guitars with reeling riffs and heartsick lyrics evoking early Title Fight.
“In Your Head” was co-produced and written alongside former Ducktails guitarist Alex Craig (Jelani Aryeh, re6ce). “Alex messaged me on Instagram one day and I ended up meeting up with him,” zzzahara says “I think we talked about a million things before we started working on music. Every time I work with him we just shoot the shit for an hour or so! We were geeking out on old school emo and all our hot takes on current artists. We also were nerding out on our favorite riffs and that’s how ‘In Your Head,’ was made. Alex is definitely one of my favorite guitar players. We worked for like 9-10 hours without eating. I’ll never forget how hungry I was.”
The accompanying video by Bethany Michalski pays homage to mid 2000s emo and punk videos a la Paramore and Fall Out Boy, reflecting zzzahara’s unabashed embrace of their formative emo and punk influences for the first time, revisiting artists like Bright Eyes and Broken Social Scene while going through a newly minted Elliott Smith era.
Made in a three-month burst that let all their pent-up frustrations loose, Spiral Your Way Out is in part a work of self-reclamation. With a broad church of influences, zzzahara’s vocal style and knack for earworm melodies act as a throughline without tying the album to a specific genre. There is a certain ease to zzzahara’s music that’s rooted in the ebb and flow of their life. They pick up the guitar and write every day, clinging to the most memorable riffs and melodies like lights in the dark. After a year of upheaval, zzzahara finally feels “calm.” The musical equivalent to going several rounds on a punching bag, Spiral Your Way Out finds solace between extremes. It licks its wounds in a place where pain and love, healing and abandon, sit side-by-side. If it has a message, it’s one of standing tall in your own shoes – scuffs and all.
zzzahara Tour Dates: Wed. Jan. 15 – New York, New York @ Rough Trade (in-store) Fri. Feb. 14 – Los Angeles, CA @ Roxy Theatre Wed. Feb. 26 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill (Noise Pop) Thu. Feb. 27 – Sacramento, CA @ Cafe Colonial Wed. Mar. 19 – Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall Thu. Mar. 20 – Vancouver, BC @ Wise Hall Fri. Feb. 21 – Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s Sat. Mar. 22 – Bellingham, WA @ Wild Buffalo Thu. Mar. 27 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah Fri. Mar. 28 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room Sat. Mar. 29 – Las Vegas, NV @ Swan Dive Sun. Mar. 30 – Salt Lake City, UT @ International Bar Tue. Apr. 1 – Denver, CO @ Skylark Lounge Thu. Apr. 3 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar Fri. May 2 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry Sat. May 3 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern Sun. May 4 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Bling Pig Mon. May 5 – Toronto, ON @ The Drake Underground Tue . May 6 – Montreal, QC @ L’Escogriffe Wed. May 7 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs Fri. May 9 – Brooklyn, NY @ Sultan Room Sat. May 10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Milkboy Sun. May 11 – Washington, DC @ DC9 Tue. May 13 – Raleigh, NC @ Kings Wed. May 14 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade Fri. May 16 – Miami, FL @ Gramps Sat. May 17 – Orlando, FL @ Will’s Pub Tue. May 20 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall (Upstairs) Wed. May 21 – Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios Thu. May 22 – Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
Today, Eora/Sydney-based artist Skeleten (aka Russell Fitzgibbon) unveils his final single “Let It Grow” from his forthcoming second album, Mentalized, out in one month via 2MR / Astral People Recordings.
Amidst a record absorbed in the ways we’re disconnected from ourselves every day – “mentalized for better or worse” – “Let It Grow” immerses in a dissociative surrender. Over a sensual synth line, Skeleten breathes life into the inexplicable weight of intimate connection. It’s a submission to that feeling of an “it” that cannot be denied. The song hangs heavy in the air, unmoving like the heat of an overpacked club, and the only way out is up.
Skeleten concludes, “‘Let It Grow’ was so natural it just kinda started existing without me even realising it. Which I guess is the whole vibe of the song. Surrender and acceptance??”
“Let It Grow” completes a lineup of adored singles “Deep Scene“, “Love Enemy“, “Viagra” and “Bodys Chorus” alongside respective remixes by Axel Boman and Spray, in laying the foundations for Mentalized. The releases have earned tastemaker nods from Pitchfork, Stereogum, Paste, Brooklyn Vegan, KEXP, KCRW, BBC 6Music, FBi Radio, Apple Music’s ‘Best of 2024’ playlists and more.
This month Skeleten will complete a 3-month residency at Sydney’s Pleasure Club, spotlighting local talent across the city’s different scenes, alongside Skeleten and his full live band. Having already united acts like Hugh B and the Modern Pop Ensemble, Dylan Atlantis, Scruffs and Killian, stay tuned via Skeleten’s socials for the final surprise announcement. Skeleten will also perform at Golden Plains Festival in March, alongside esteemed artists PJ Harvey, Fontaines D.C, Kneecap and more.
For Cloakroom the world of modernity is in polycrisis and America has lost its soul. Narrative fetishism is all too usual of a literary mechanism for Cloakroom. If you listen closely you can hear the concern; not just for the teetering social structure but for what it means to be human and the high cost of the human experience.
The Indiana three return next month with their next studio album, Last Leg of the Human Table – the follow up to 2022’s post-apocalyptic space western Dissolution Wave, and label debut for Closed Casket Activities. Each song showcases Cloakroom’s genre-bending capabilities and seemingly vast array of influences; whether it be the sampling of the post-disco Detroit group Was (Not Was) or the lifted NASA recording of the humming of Saturn’s rings. Recorded in December of 2023 at Electrical Audio in Chicago and Rec Room Recording in Des Plaines, Illinois, engineer Zac Montez(Whirr, Turnover) aided in smoothing out the rough and turning up the quiet.
Pop, shoegaze, doom, post-punk, folk only scratch the surface on Cloakroom’s shortest yet most essential release to date. Its title Last Leg of the Human Table may sound sardonic in its nature, but this group has always found some wonder in the scurrying chaos of modern life. In 37 minutes, the album imbues a sense of responsibility to the listener as if one leg were to falter, the whole table will fall.
Today Cloakroom share lead single and video “Bad Larry”. Lyricist and guitarist Doyle Martin explains, “It was written about a fabled character out of folklore like ‘Diamond Joe’ composed by Baldwin ‘Butch’ Hawes.. if that’s who even wrote that song first. Bad Larry roams free and wants for nothing; living a life of experience and lives by his own rules and dying on his own terms; a life to vilify or envy.”
I don’t know how I missed Windhand‘s Soma album until now. Shame on me because it’s another heavy, stunning part of their catalogue.
Garrett Morris‘ guitars on the first track, “Orchard,” sound like something is crawling out of the dirt while Dorthia Cottrell‘s vocals sound like they’re coming from a deep hole found under the floorboards of the cabin on the album cover as she contemplates death by gunshot – either hers or someone else’s.
Parker Chandler‘s bass crushes on “Woodbine,” a song about calling out to the devil out of desperation and the danger that comes with such a summoning. Morris’ guitar on “Feral Bones” is the sound of Rodan waking up from deep slumber inside a volcano. The song is about how time catches all of us sooner or later.
The acoustic “Evergreen” is a stunning showcase of Cottrell’s voice in a song about wishing a loved one could stay young, and alive, forever, but knowing that’s impossible. The massive “Cossack,” at over thirteen minutes long, has few lyrics, but no shortage of crushing riffs and spooky, heavy drumming from Ryan Wolfe. Morris’ guitar solo on it will stop you in your tracks.
Is that not enough doom for you? Well, the final track, “Boleskine,” is over a half-hour long. It stars with creepy wind sounds and simple acoustic guitar strumming, and then proceeds to come at you like the Blob or a Creeping Doom spell. You see and feel it coming, but you can’t stop it for about twelve minutes, when it drifts back into howling winds and lonely acoustic riffs. That’s just a fake-out, though, almost like a jump scare out of the shadows, because the massive riffs re-emerge from their sarcophagi and swarm you. It’s the kind of doom song that will overtake you.
The whole album will overtake you, but, as a doom fan, that’s what you wanted, right?
Here they are: My top five concerts of 2024. They were doozies.
#5: Slift – Reggie’s Music Joint, Chicago, IL, October 18, 2024
This was the first time I saw Slift in 2024, and the second time I’d seen them in a small venue. It had been a while since I’d been to a show at Reggie’s, and I’d forgotten how small it is. I figured Slift were going to blow off the back wall with their cosmic rock, and I was right. I don’t know how the building didn’t collapse.
#4: Osees – Thalia Hall, Chicago, IL, October 19, 2024
Yes, I saw Slift one night and then Osees the next. This was the second of two shows at Thalia Hall for Osees (another yearly tradition for them), and seeing them on a bare stage with a fun crowd in one of my favorite venues was outstanding. It was, as always, a blast and the pit crowd is like a reunion of pals you haven’t seen in a year.
#3: LCD Soundsystem – Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL, May 26, 2024
It’s always good to see LCD Soundsystem, and this was night three of a four-night residency at the Aragon for them. It was also my girlfriend’s first time seeing them, and experiencing that with her was delightful. They had a nice tribute to Steve Albini during “Someone Great.”
#2: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Huntington Bank Pavilion, Chicago, IL, September 01, 2024
It had been a couple years since I’d been to a KGATLW show, and this was my first three-hour marathon set by them I was able to attend. Good grief, they slayed this stage, playing everything from Nonagon Infinity cuts to a short techno set. They even went longer than three hours by ending the show with a nearly twenty-minute version of “Head On / Pill.” The massive crowd was in heaven.
#1: Orbital – Radius, Chicago, IL, March 23, 2024
This show was like stepping into a time machine and emerging into a 1995 rave. I wasn’t sure I’d ever see Orbital, and they hadn’t been in Chicago in many years. This was also my girlfriend’s first “rave” of sorts, and the crowd was a mix of Gen Xers like us, new rave kids, goths, and even senior citizens. I hadn’t danced that much in a long while.
I’m looking forward to shows in 2025. I already have tickets to see Viagra Boys this year, and will soon have tickets for King Buffalo‘s current tour. Other bands I hope to catch this year are George Thorogood and The Destroyers, Mdou Moctar, Helmet, Kelly Lee Owens, Soft Play, Gang of Four, Amyl and The Sniffers, A Place to Bury Strangers (again), Diana Krall, Alison Krauss, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard (again), and Osees (again).
We’ve reached the top of the peak. Who’s the grand champion? Read on to learn more.
#5: Fake Youth Cult – White Light / Black Noise
This stunning industrial / darkwave album is loud and heavy enough to cause the damage seen on this cover. This album came out of nowhere for me and about knocked me out of my chair.
#4: Maquina – Prata
Speaking of heavy damage, the cover to Maquina’s Prata album appears to feature a piece of steel that’s been shot, pried, scratched, and gouged. It’s a fitting image for a record full of wild noise punk, assaulting post-punk guitars, and grindhouse vocals.
#3: LAIR – Ngélar
This Indonesian funk / psych band was one of my top discoveries of 2024. They blend traditional Indonesian music with psych-rock, South Pacific juke, and other stuff you can’t quite define.
#2: GUM / Kenny Ambrose-Smith – Ill Times
Possibly the best collaboration of the year, this album combines the powers of two excellent Australians to create synth-psych that covers a lot of heavy topics with uplifting beats (i.e., the death of a parent – Kenny-Smith’s father, fear of the future and your place in it). I hope this isn’t just a one-time thing for them.
#1: A Place to Bury Strangers – Synthesizer
I mean, come on. One of my favorite bands creates an album that has a record sleeve that’s also a circuit board that you can turn into a real synthesizer that they also used to make the album. Only APTBS could pull off something like this and make an excellent record to go with it. It’s like a Moebius strip of post-punk psychedelic power that wallops you from the first note.
Onto 2025! Which albums are you anticipating the most?
I’m not sure that NORMANS‘ self-titled album can be described by one genre. Post-punk? Yes. Noise rock? Sure. Gothic? At times. Intriguing? Definitely.
Lead singer (and bassist) Matthew Reid comes out swinging, and screaming, on “John Hockey,” while drummer Michael Rudes hits his kit so hard that it sounds like he was pissed about being stuck in traffic for an hour on the way to the studio. The guitars, from Kyle Souza and Collin Fish are all over the place, causing absolute chaos the whole time. In other words, they picked a perfect track to open the record.
“Shut Up I’m Shopping” is a great, angry slap at consumerism and the rat race. “Murder Rich” changes gears and drops you into dance-punk while Reid claims, “You’re a secondhand son of a bitch. You’re a car going over a cliff.” to let you know he’s not impressed with your wealth and knows your pursuit of it will only end in misery.
The drums and bass on “Anti-Crusoe” switch it up again, now taking us into Wall of Voodoo-like desert rock as Reid sings about forever being a wanderer (“I’m a beast without no home. I hate everything…So go on and touch me.”). “Firepower” is, interestingly, a bit low key compared to other tracks, although still loud and wild, preferring to subtly work in the back of your brain for most of it.
“Dead Snakes” gets a bit trippy with added vocal effects (mostly echoes) and the guitars sounding like they were recorded in an empty swimming pool on a space station. “Healing an Eyesore” is downright frightening, with Reid’s vocals sounding the most frantic on the whole album.
“Schloss Loss” adds a little krautrock to the mix, thumping with deep synth bass to nudge / shove you to the dance floor. “Bending the Branch” is great dance-punk with its strange guitar riffs, relentless bass, and frenzied drumming. Closing with “Fury on the Island,” NORMANS just go nuts for the finish. Souza and Fish sound like they’re using claw hammers on their guitars, Reid’s bass stomps around like an angry sumo wrestler, and you can practically feel Rudes’ sweat hitting your face as he wails on his kit.
It’s a wild record that will almost leave you breathless. Keep your eyes on these guys. They’re dangerous.
