Buffalo Daughter‘s 2021 album, We Are the Times, is a good time capsule of what was happening in the band’s lives, and all our lives, in the middle of a pandemic. The band declared that we had had adapt to the times we were in or be stuck in them forever.
“Music is the vitamin to live under. Too much pressure in quarantine,” they say at the beginning of the album on “Music.” Synth-bloops and heavy electro-bass pep us up for the times to come. In fact, “Times” is the next track, and it’s bumping dance track about adapting to circumstances beyond your control – so why worry about them? They state the obvious on “Global Warming Kills Us All,” and they state it with robotic voices, possibly to emulate our eventual A.I. overlords that take over the planet to save it from us.
“Life is long, life is short. I’m not sure what time we’re in. Should I stay, or should I go?” Whatever you do, “Don’t Punk Out,” they warn on this cool post-punk jam with sharp guitars and bright synths. “Loop” lands somewhere between electro and industrial. “ET (Densha)” brings in dubstep bass, but plays it slow to create a sense of dread and danger. On “Jazz,” they encourage us to open our hearts and minds in these weird times. People might need us as much as we need them. The album ends with the quirky “Everything Valley,” which encourages us to hold onto hope
It’s another good album from Buffalo Daughter that, like a lot of their stuff, is hard to classify, but that’s okay. It’s meant to lift your spirits a bit, so let it.
Rattlesnake Venom Trip premieres “Dead Empire” video today atMetal Injection. The song and debut album were recorded by Micah Carli of Hawthorne Heights and mixed by Adam Dutkiewicz of Killswitch Engage.
Kevin Schindel, vocalist and guitarist for RVT shares “Dead Empire is about getting older and seeing that life has passed you by. Pouring all your time and effort into your work and realizing you don’t have anything to show for it at the end. The video is capturing you looking back at yourself with heavy judgment and wishing to change your outcome. If only you could warn yourself somehow.”
The song is catchy as much as it is windmilling worthy, and comes alongside a music video directed by Kyle Moore.”– Greg Kennelty, Metal Injection
Based out of Dayton, Ohio, the band formed in September of 2019. Rattlesnake Venom Trip is a heavy rock/metal band with a lot of variety, saluting to classic bands like early Metallica, Black Sabbath, Alice in Chains, to more modern bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Mastodon, and Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. RVT‘s collective love of classic rock, heavy metal, and psychedelic music has helped craft a compilation of songs with a wide array of musical dynamics. With each track the band ventures into new territory, creating a unique landscape for listeners to explore.
Although Rattlesnake Venom Trip is a new band, its members are certainly not strangers to the road, the stage, or the recording studio. They each have a long history of playing in bands and releasing music over the years. Featuring members of the metalcore act Twelve Tribes, post metal outfit Mouth of the Architect, and stoner rock band Neon Warship, the band plans on continuing from where their previous projects left off and making their own mark in time. “We cannot wait to see where this new music takes us”, shares RVT.
Full length album Dead Empire iscoming tostreaming services on October 19, 2022!
Recorded at Popside Studio with Micah Carli of Hawthorne Heights
Mixed at Wicked Good Productions by Adam Dutkiewicz of Killswitch Engage
Combining the talents of Sunny Faris from Blackwater Holylight and Carn Spies from Night Heron, Whimz‘s debut EP, PM226, is an intriguing stroll through a darkwave garden.
The titles of the EP’s tracks are as intriguing as their sound. “AM1” starts off the EP and your day with sort of a dread-lined gearing up for battle. You know you’ll come out victorious in the end, but you also know the battle might be a slog. Faris’ vocals sound like they’re coming from an old jukebox in the back of a dark bar patronized by ghosts. “AM2” is, somehow, even spookier. It might be due to Spies’ funeral dirge synths and the strange hand percussion instruments that might be made of human bones for all I know.
“I Wanna” sits in the middle of the EP, making you wonder, “You wanna what?” The answer, judging from the Stranger Things-theme-like synth bass and Romanian-like guitar chords, might be “I wanna dance on a rain-drenched street under a full moon and forget about my troubles for a while.” It’s the lone instrumental, setting the table for “PM1” and Faris’ vocals taking us into a crumbling mansion’s drawing room designed with dark hardwoods and lined with old books. It slides into “PM2” as easy as slipping into a dream after a warm bath. The guitars buzz around you and Faris’ vocals slide in and out of the shadows cast by your bedside lamp.
It’s dark, it’s spooky, it’s perfect for Halloween.
Written over the course of two years of turmoil, during which, among other things, she experienced the deaths of her father and of a friend, and the end of a relationship, Ruth Radelet‘s The Other Side EP has her emerging from shadows cast by bright southern California suns and the weight of grief to step forward into whatever the next moment will bring.
“Stranger” is a love letter / confession to Los Angeles, and how, according to Radelet’s liner notes, “…[it’s] about the feeling of always being on the outside looking in, of the city never fully opening its doors for me.” It brings to mind lonely midnight drives through brightly lit places jammed with people that still feel empty and hollow. Radelet’s lovely, haunting voice is perfect for a track like this, as are the soft, melancholy string instruments throughout it.
“Sometimes” is about the death of Radelet’s friend, and how she wishes she could go back in time, have a proper send-off for her or just wish the day away altogether. I’ve been there, Ms. Radelet. I’m still there in some ways. I hope this song doesn’t affect you, as that probably means you haven’t yet experienced a serious loss, but you’ll come back to this song when you need it.
“Is it easy to start over?” Radelet asks on “Crimes” – a song about how achieving success sometimes causes you to forget who you were before you were a success – and how sometimes that life was better and easier. It shimmers with synths and shoegaze guitar around Radelet’s hypnotizing vocals.
“Be Careful” is a song about treading carefully when it comes to finding new love after loss. The electro-percussion and bass in it almost sound backwards, like the rhythms propelling the song forward are taking two steps forward and one step back…much like Radelet in her lyrics (“I’m afraid of your touch. I might need you too much. What will it cost? Have I already lost?”).
The closer, “Youth,” is about Radelet looking back on her life after she meets a lover younger than her. She’s envious over how life hasn’t yet jaded him, and wonders about that time in her life. This is a bit difficult for me to fathom, as Radelet seems ageless in every photo I’ve seen of her or when I saw her live with her former band, The Chromatics. She’s susceptible to the same nostalgia and regret as all of us are, however, and her vocals are a soft ode to simpler times.
It’s a lovely EP from one of the loveliest voices in music for the last couple decades. It sticks with you after it’s done and one that you’ll float back to whenever you need it.
According to the liner notes of The Beths‘ new album, Expert in a Dying Field, the theme of the album can be summed up in one question: “What do you do with how intimately versed you’ve become in a person, once they’re gone from your life?”
As a widower of nearly a year, I can relate to that. We all can at some point or another, be it a spouse, a lover, a friend, a child who leaves for college, a pet, a coworker, or even a trusted neighbor. The album is a lovely, and rocking, story crafted lyrically by Elizabeth Stokes (guitar and lead vocals) and her bandmates, Tristan Deck (drums), Jonathan Pierce (lead guitar and keyboards), and Benjamin Sinclair (bass).
“Can we erase our history? It isn’t as easy as this,” Stokes sings on the opening title track. It’s not. Letting go of that history is hard, but the risk of holding onto it is being dragged to death. The song has a slight melancholy to it, but also a lot of hope. “Knees Deep” is, after all, about jumping into something new with both feet and braving the risks of adventure (and love). Pierce’s guitar fuzzes out on “Silence Is Golden” – a nice, ironic touch.
“Don’t cry. I’m driving all night to be by your side,” Stokes sings on the lovely “Your Side.” To feel this kind of love, where you’re willing to drive cross-state or even cross-country for even just a few hours with someone, is a gift to be treasured. “It’s been quite a year,” The Beths sing on “I Want to Listen.” That’s a mild way of putting it for certain, but they encourage us to reach out to each other to help us all heal.
“Head in the Clouds” is a great rocker, with Deck’s drums hitting hard for the seats in the back of the auditorium. “Best Left” continues the rocking, even as Stokes sings about her being miserable and feeling she’s “best left to rot.” “Change in the Weather” has her feeling better, and “When You Know You Know” has her thinking that love might still be in the cards for her, and for all of us.
Stokes and the rest of the band have a bit of an angry edge on “A Passing Rain” – in which Stokes calls out someone for sticking around to seemingly just make her like worse. I love the way they jump back and forth between silence and breakneck rhythms on “I Told You That I Was Afraid.” “2am” has Stokes wondering if she could return to a simpler time with a lover, but knowing that moment, like all moments in time, is already gone…and yet it still exists in the present.
The whole album is like this – a look back at the past through the lens of the present, which is truly the only way to see it since the past took place in the present. Expert in a Dying Field is a bit of a Zen koan, a lesson on letting go or being dragged.
As if Rochelle Jordan‘s excellent album, Play with the Changes, wasn’t cool enough, now she’s released Play with the Changes Remixed, which is just what the title implies – a full remix of the album by some of the top producers and DJs in today’s music scenes.
&ME‘s remix of “Situation” ups the synth-bass to levels that make you go, “Oh, damn…That’s hot.” DJ Minx turns “Dancing Elephants” into an after-party house jam. Sango somehow turns “Got Em” into a sexier track. KLSH speeds up “Count It” into a playful cut that borders on industrial music. Kaytranada bumps up the funk on “All Along.”
Kingdom softens “Nothing Left,” almost putting us into a happy dream so Machinedrum can wake us with wicked beats and happy thoughts to start our day on the remix of “Lay.” LSDXOXO remixes “Love U Good” into a bit of a dancehall bumper that will have your hips moving. Sinistarr, meanwhile, turns “Next 2 U” into a full-on mid-1990s rave track that is only missing a strobe light and whistles blown by scantily clad, somewhat dehydrated people.
The Things You Say remix of “Already” is sure to fill dance floors just from the bouncy bass and bartender-shaking-a-cocktail percussion. Soul Clap brings in popcorn popper drum and bass on the remix of “Broken Steel.” Byron the Aquarius sends us out on a somewhat trippy vibe with his remix of “Something” at the end of the album.
There isn’t a bad mix on here. You can slip any of these cuts into a DJ set and everyone will love you for it.
One of the many things I love about The Schizophonics and their new album, Hoof It, is how they’re not afraid to show their love for MC5. The whole album bursts at the seams with a raucous energy reminiscent of the Detroit powerhouses, always feeling dangerous and thrilling.
I mean, “Desert Girl,” pretty much walks into the room and punches you in the face. Pat Beers‘ guitar riffs on “Creature” shove the gas pedal to the floor for you in case you happen to be running moonshine and the state police are on your trail. The title track has a swinging 1960s garage rock shag to it that’s just great. “Won Your Love” will have you jumping out of your seat to dance wherever you happen to be at the moment. Pat Beers’ solo on it shreds with vibrant passion.
Beers and his wife, Lety Beers (drums), get psychedelic on “Pendulum” and then swinging and scorching on “The Alchemist Twist.” It’s a fuzzed-out burner that I’m sure tears down the house live. You’re barely able to keep up by the time they reach “Turn to Glass” and “Underneath the Moonlight” (which has some of Lety Beers’ best precision drumming, cleverly hidden among the guitar fuzz). They add some sexy swagger on “I’m Ready,” and ending your record with a cosmic garage rock trak called “Dance at the End of Time” is a fun way to do it.
This album is nothing but fun, fuzz, and funk. Don’t miss it.
Keep your mind open.
[Hoof it on over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
Dry Cleaning share a new single/video, “No Decent Shoes for Rain,” off their upcoming album Stumpwork, out October 21st on 4AD. Following the recently released “Gary Ashby,” the group takes a more somber turn on “No Decent Shoes for Rain.” It begins with Florence Shaw’s vocals coiled tightly over woozy guitar and minimal percussion: “my poor heart is breaking.” Shaw says about the track; “’No Decent Shoes for Rain’ is inspired by grief, grief over past relationships, grief for loved ones who have died, and all the things that come with that; loneliness, numbness, yearning, ruminating about the past.” It shows Dry Cleaning in a more pared back state, not seen in their previous discography. The video is made of footage of the band in the studio at Rockfield and on tour.
Stumpwork was made in the aftermath of the death of two very important people to the band; bassist Lewis Maynard’s mother, and guitarist Tom Dowse’s grandfather. Both were instrumental in the band’s development, both in encouragement and, in the case of Maynard’s mother, literally providing the band with a place to rehearse. Shaw’s lyrics explore not only loss and detachment but all the twists and turns, simple joys and minor gripes of human experience too. Ultimately, what emerges from it all is a subtle but assertive optimism, and a lesson in the value of curiosity. Stumpwork is a heady mix that is entirely the band’s own, distinguishing it from anything produced by their contemporaries.
This fall, Dry Cleaning will tour across Europe. Following, they’ll play in Australia, and then embark on a lengthy run in the US. Then, they’ll return to Europe. Tickets for all shows are on sale now and a full list of dates can be found below.
Today Porto-based harpist Angélica Salvi has announced details of her forthcoming album ‘Habitat’ for release on November 4th via Lovers & Lollypops.
Since releasing her debut record ‘Phantone’ in 2019, Salvi has worked across multiple projects, both solo and in collaborations in the fields of cinema, dance, theatre, photography and music, working with names such as Valentina Magaletti, Lafawndah, The Pyramids, Natural Information Society,Evan Parker and more.
On ‘Habitat’ she continues to deepen her sonic exploration across eight songs with the harp at the centre, supported by the use of real-time audio signal processing tools to create complex textural works – each one evoking a specific sensory memory.
Today she shares the brisk, breathlessly racing first single and accompanying video, “Crina”. “Crina” means mane or horsehair in Portuguese, and Salvi describes the song as “The feeling of riding a horse… A journey into the unknown.”
The accompanying video, directed by award-winning Portuguese filmmaker André Gil Mata, was inspired by the album’s cover. “He said he really enjoys to look at my hands when I play. He says it is like a dance” Salvi explains. “He imagined my hands mimetized with a natural habitat. I told him I was imagining a mimetic atmosphere in the whole album: with water, plants, sand… so he chose plants, moss and water.”
On ‘Habitat’, Angélica is inspired by the habitat of her own, and the way in which she relates to it in her daily life. Each of the songs is a sensory memory that can be relived over and over again, with changing nuances and subtleties. It’s a set of moments of interaction with the elements that are, or have been, part of her routine and are transformed or modified with her actions. Memories captured and reproduced infinitely through labyrinthine patterns and sound textures, ambiguous melodies and flourishing harmonies that fluctuate, coexist and interact with other beings or elements in their universe of minimal language.
The album was created and recorded in her home studio with the aim of being fully possible to reproduce and process the sound in real time, in the context of live music. On the album there is almost no post-production. All sounds that appear on it come out of the harp and the affiliated pedals.
This was my second time seeing Chicago queercore punk band Bev Rage and the Drinks, and it was, so far, the loudest set I’ve seen them play.
First up in the small Brass Rail dive bar in downtown Fort Wayne, were The Namby Pamby, who I hadn’t seen before now. Their stuff reminded me of some of Nirvana‘s mellower tracks with harder-edged R.E.M. thrown in for good measure. It’s an interesting sound that feels familiar and yet kind of exotic.
The Namby Pamby
As I mentioned before, Bev Rage and the Drinks came out and proceeded to blast the Brass Rail’s bar out onto Broadway. I don’t know how much of it was the place’s acoustics, how much was their amps turned up to eleven, and how much of it was Ms. Rage and her band’s blazing fury, but the power of their set was palpable. They ripped through tracks from their last two albums, ending with a hard-hitting version of “Permanent Receptionist.”
Bev Rage and The Drinks
Necromoon played after them, but I was exhausted after a long work day and had to leave to make it home safe that night. It was a fun night, however, and Bev Rage always puts on a great show.
