Today, Halloween Meltdown – the spooky sister-festival to the beloved Mosswood Meltdown – announces the stacked lineup for their annual Halloween-themed event, taking place on Saturday, October 8th and Sunday, October 9th in Oakland’s Mosswood Park, featuring performances from Amyl & The Sniffers, Shannon & The Clams, Fuzz, Sheer Mag, The Spits, Lydia Lunch and more. Hosted by John Waters, the 2022 Halloween Meltdown will feature a costume contest with a $500 cash prize and a haunted house designed by East Bay musician and horror artist, Rob Fletcher.
Brooklyn band BODEGA shares the new single/video, “The Art of Advertising,” from Xtra Equipment, out today, July 15th, on What’s Your Rupture?. Xtra Equipment boasts eight new bonus tracks from the Broken Equipment sessions, and comes ahead of the band’s summer North American headline tour beginning next week. Much like the songs on Broken Equipment, BODEGA made these tracks extra breezy and hooky as well as more philosophically ambitious than their previous recordings. “Even when in the mode of social critique, I personally tend to think of my songwriting as more literary than analytic but here, the ‘The Art of Advertising’ and ‘Art and Advertising’ diptych functions as a sort of pop rock treatise on the subtle but crucial distinction between art and advertising (’Art creates cosmos’ whereas advertising ‘surface(s) status quo’),” says BODEGA’s Ben Hozie.
For the accompanying video, the band found inspiration from Godard, who, in the 80’s, said he’d fall asleep at the cinema during pre-film and trailer advertisements, later wake up and not be able to tell whether he was watching the feature film or the advertisements. Ben elaborates: “Today you can thumb through any magazine and find it hard to tell what is an ad and what is an article. All music videos (even the extraordinary ones) are essentially advertisements for their respective songs. Here, me and Nikki [Belfiglio] adopted the lyric video genre to playfully illustrate the various ways advertising is always (for better and worse) present in our apartment (and in BODEGA). Dissolves between shots in movies typically signify that time has passed but with screens and advertisements ever-present in our lives, our minds are always experiencing time in hazy ways.”
In some ways every recording on Xtra Equipment is a response to an earlier record; both records were written to expand upon BODEGA’s previous strengths as well as explore terrain outside of the post-punk milieu they found themselves painting in previously. The synth and drum machine led “Post yr Kilimanjaro” is a recent reworking of nu wave jammer “Doers.” BODEGA also recorded two covers very different in timbre from their original source(s): Fugazi’s “Provisional” was originally recorded for a Ripcord Records comp to raise funds for an animal shelter in Scotland. Stretch Arm Strong’s “For the Record” is a loving homage to one of the most important band’s in Ben’s life, who spent most of his youth in Columbia, South Carolina (where Stretch are from). “Everybody’s Sad” (the “Thrown” b-side) highlights and bemoans the connection between the current pop obsession with individuality and the aesthetics of melancholy (“everybody’s sad at the top of the billboard”). “Top Hat No Rabbit” (the “Doers” b-side) was written coming down from a Ulysses induced high, and is a flurry of thoughts attempting to reconcile free will (necessary for any change) with a deep-seated belief (and BODEGA obsession) that all thought is determined (or “thrown”) by external and/or physical stimuli. Conversely, Ben wrote the opening ballad “Memorize w/ yr Heart” (previously only available as a bonus track on the Broken Equipment CD) as a reminder to not get stuck on abstract mind games. Most of all philosophy should be done with the body (or at least with a steady backbeat).
2. Doers 3. Territorial Call of the Female 4. NYC(disambiguation) 5. Statuette on the Console 6. C.I.R.P.
7. Pillar on the Bridge of You 8. How Can I Help Ya? 9. No Blade of Grass 10. All Past Lovers 11. Seneca The Stoic 12. After Jane /// 13. Memorize w/ yr Heart 14. The Art of Advertising 15. Art and Advertising 16. Post yr Kilimanjaro (Doers 2.0) 17. Top Hat No Rabbit 18. Everybody’s Sad 19. For The Record (Stretch Arm Strong cover) 20. Provisional (Fugazi cover)
BODEGA Tour Dates:
Friday, July 29 – Houston, TX @ Wonky Power Saturday, July 30 – Austin, TX @ Antone’s Monday, August 1 – El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace Tuesday, August 2 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress Wednesday, August 3 – Phoenix, AZ @ Trunk Space
Thursday, August 4 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar Friday, August 5 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo Saturday, August 6 – San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord Monday, August 8 – Portland, OR @ Holocene Tuesday, August 9 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Wednesday, August 10 – Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
Friday, August 12 – Boise, ID @ The Shredder Sunday, August 14 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court Monday, August 15 – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive Wednesday, August 17 – Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge Thursday, August 18 – Minneapolis, MN @ Turf Club Friday, August 19 – Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club Saturday, August 20 – Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village Sunday, August 21 – Cleveland, OH @ Mahall’s Tuesday, August 23 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison Wednesday, August 24 – Montreal, QB @ Bar Le Ritz Thursday, August 25 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Friday, August 26 – Boston, MA @ Crystal Ballroom Saturday, August 27 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Made
Louisville, KY’s multi-instrumentalist mainstay Jaye Jayle have reappeared with an unconventional and ultimately “Jaye Jayle-esque” cover of the song “Help!” by The Beatles. Bandleader Evan Patterson discloses the cover’s origin:
“A few months ago, I was riding in the car with my seventy-one year old father while he was listening to The Beatles’ song ‘Help!’ This is not out of the ordinary. My dad is a “Beatles Mania” guy with a ‘LENNON’ personalized license plate and stickers all about his car. Their posters and albums hang on his basement walls and he even has stuffed dolls of the Fab Four. What I’m saying is: The Beatles have been subconsciously a massive influence on my musical mind.”
Patterson continues, “For no particular reason I zoned in on the lyrics to the song ‘Help!’ and laughed about how much of a bummer they are in juxtaposition to the cheerful, childlike melody of the music. A few nights later I had a dream about making a cover of the song with music that is loosely based on the original, yet marries more to the sad cry for companionship and loneliness of the lyrics. My longtime bass collaborator, Todd Cook, and I made a demo with an 808 drum machine and sent it over to our favorite drummer in the entire world, Britt Walford. Two weeks later we recorded the song with such ease and enjoyment. There was a lot of laughter in the making of this song. It’s not meant to be taken as dark. It’s meant to make you smile. Though, I still haven’t let my father hear the cover song. I imagine that he will not dig it.”
Jaye Jayle’s standalone cover single surfaces with the group’s reemergence, playing midwestern shows and shaking off the dust over the course of the last few months. The band is currently preparing a new full-length album with details to be revealed in the near future.
Light in the Attic Records, in cooperation with LaurieAnderson, are thrilled to share Lou Reed’s May 1965 demo of “Heroin,” from Words & Music, May 1965, the inaugural title in their forthcoming Lou Reed Archive Series, out August26th. Released in tandem with the late artist’s 80th birthday celebrations, Words & Music, May 1965 offers an extraordinary, unvarnished, and plainly poignant insight into one of America’s true poet-songwriters. Capturing Reed in his formative years, this previously unreleased collection of songs—penned by a young Lou Reed, recorded to tape with the help of future bandmate John Cale, and mailed to himself as a “poor man’s copyright”—remained sealed in its original envelope and unopened for nearly 50 years. Its contents embody some of the most vital, groundbreaking contributions to American popular music committed to tape in the 20th century. Like the previously shared demo of “I’m Waiting For The Man,” this version of “Heroin” is the earliest known recording of The Velvet Underground’s beloved track, and offers another stunning peak into Reed’s creative process.
Words & Music, May 1965 will be available on August 26th in a variety of formats, including LP, cassette, 8-track, digital, and CD. The centerpiece of the inaugural Lou Reed Archive Series release is the Deluxe 45-RPM Double LP Edition of Words & Music, May 1965. Limited to 7,500 copies worldwide, this collection was designed by multi-GRAMMY®-winning artistMasaki Koike and features a stylized, die-cut gatefold jacket manufactured by Stoughton Printing Co. Housed inside are two 45-RPM 12-inch LPs, pressed on HQ-audiophile-quality 180-gram vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI) featuring the only vinyl release of “I’m Waiting for the Man – May 1965 Alternate Version.” A bonus 7-inch, housed in its own unique die-cut picture sleeve and manufactured at Third Man Record Pressing includes the only vinyl release of six previously-unreleased bonus tracks providing a never-before-seen glimpse into Reed’s formative years, including early demos, a cover ofBob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” and a doo-wop serenade recorded in 1958 when the legendary singer-songwriter was just sixteen years old. An accompanying saddle-stitched, die-cut 28-page book features lyrics, archival photos, and liner notes. Also included is an archival reproduction of a rarely-seen letter, written by Reed to his college professor and poet, Delmore Schwartz, circa 1964. The set includes a CD containing the complete audio from the package, housed in a die-cut jacket.
The 11-track digital release of Words & Music, May 1965 will be available across all platforms, alongside the physical formats, on August 26th. A six-song digital EP, Gee Whiz, 1958-1964, drops on October 7th, offering the above-mentioned bonus content.
To help celebrate the release, Light in the Attic will also invite listeners to intimately experience Words & Music through a podcast hosted by TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe. In partnership with LittleEverywhere and Ruinous Media, this special program will feature exclusive audio, archival materials, and interviews with many of the album’s participants. Available on all podcast platforms on August 26th.
For those seeking an even deeper dive into Reed’s legacy, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (which houses Reed’s recently-unearthed recordings) will be hosting a special exhibit this spring, curated by Don Fleming and Jason Stern. Opening June 9, Lou Reed: Caught Between the Twisted Stars will chronicle the life’s work of the songwriter, musician, performer, photographer, poet, and accomplished tai chi practitioner—as through the voices, images, and music of Reed and his collaborators. For more information, visit nypl.org.
Throughout 2022 and beyond, Light in the Attic will continue to honor the music and influence of Reed through the Lou Reed Archive Series.Visit LightInTheAttic.net or LouReedArchive.com to learn more, and stay tuned for forthcoming releases.
There’s a sick irony to how a country that extols rhetoric of individual freedom, in the same gasp, has no problem commodifying human life as if it were meat to feed the insatiable hunger of capitalism. If this is American nihilism taken to its absolute zenith, then God’s Country, the first full length record from Oklahoma City noise rock quartet Chat Pileis the aural embodiment of such a concept.
Having lived alongside the heaps of toxic refuse that the band derives its name from, the fatalism of daily life in the American Midwest permeates throughout the works of Chat Pile, and especially so on God’s Country. Exasperated by the pandemic, the hopelessness of climate change, the cattle shoot of global capitalism, and fueled by “…lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of THC,” God’s Countryis as much of an acknowledgement of the Earth’s most assured demise as it is a snarling violent act of defiance against it. Within its over 40 minute runtime, God’s Country displays both Chat Pile’s most aggressively unhinged and contemplatively nuanced moments to date, drawing from its preceding two EPs and its score for the 2021 film, Tenkiller. In the band’s own words, the album is, at its heart, “Oklahoma’s specific brand of misery.” A misery intent on taking all down with it and its cacophonous chaos on its own terms as opposed to idly accepting its otherwise assured fall. This is what the end of the world sounds like.
In just a couple of years, Chat Pile have made nothing short of a profound impression on the underground music discourse. Formed in the spring of 2019 by Raygun Busch (vocals), Luther Manhole (Guitar), Stin (Bass), and Captain Ron (Drums), the noise-rock quartet would release two EPs that same year, titled This Dungeon Earth and Remove Your Skin Please. Spurred on by both a hearty run of live performances and a swiftly growing online fanbase, Chat Pile became a staple name among its genre contemporaries thanks to its hellish synthesis of noise rock, sludge, industrial, and mid 90’s nu-metal. In 2020, the band would sign with San Francisco underground music label, The Flenser, to put out its upcoming full length debut. That following year, Chat Pile kept its roll going, with accolades including composing the score for the indie film, Tenkiller, as well as releasing a 7” split with portrayal of guilt in the summer.
Now, the world braces itself for the release of Chat Pile‘s Flenser debut God’s Country on July 29th. The album is available for pre-order here and Chat Pile will play select shows this summer and fall.
Chat Pile, live:
July 29 Oklahoma City, OK @ The Sanctuary (Records Release Show)
July 30 Austin, TX @ Chess Club
September 15 Oklahoma City, OK @ The Sanctuary
October 21 Brooklyn, NY @ St. Vitus *
October 24 Brooklyn, NY @ St. Vitus *
*w/ Scarcity
Keep your mind open.
[Dance on over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
“This place is like the Borg cube of music venues.”
That’s how my friend described the Andrew J. Bird Music Center in downtown Cincinnati. It’s an interesting performance space with good acoustics, but the interior “has no personality,” as she put it. It has a stark industrial feel, and hosting some industrial or goth shows in the place would be ideal. The only fixed seats are in the multiple balconies. The main floor is open, but rows of seats were added for The Psychedelic Furs and X.
This was the second time I’ve seen the Psychedelic Furs. The first was on their “Singles Tour” and this one was promoting their latest record, Made of Rain. First up, however, were L.A. punk legends X. Bassist John Doe mentioned how they’d been playing in a lot of beautiful theaters, but “I keep expecting Tina Turner to come out and tell us we’re in the Thunderdome in this place.” They put on a fun set, with Billy Zoom still shredding both guitar and saxophone, Exene Cervenka blessing the crowd, and D.J. Bonebrake playing both drums and xylophone. People were dancing in the aisles the whole time, and one guy was pogoing front and center for nearly their entire set. Billy Zoom came back out after their set and signed a few autographs.
I knew we were in for a good set from The Psychedelic Furs when they opened their show with “I Wanna Sleep with You” – one of my favorite tracks that I wasn’t sure I’d ever hear live. “Mr. Jones” followed and then the first of many great tracks from Made of Rain, “You’ll Be Mine.”
“Dumb Waiters”
Other sharp new tracks included Made of Rain‘s opener, “The Boy Who Invented Rock and Roll,” “Wrong Train,” “This’ll Never Be Like Love,” “No-One,” and “Ash Wednesday.” “Their new songs are beautiful,” my friend said. She’s right. Guitarist Rich Good puts more emphasis on the psychedelic part of the band’s sound on these new tracks.
They played plenty of classics, of course, with “The Ghost in You” being the loveliest and “Love My Way” being even more popular with the happy crowd than “Pretty in Pink.”
“Imitation of Christ”
The encore included a solid version of “Heartbreak Beat” that had everybody dancing and a stunning, beautifully chaotic (as they’d describe it) version of “India” – the first track on their first album. It was another song I wasn’t sure I’d ever hear live, and it was a killer end to a great show. Saxophonist Mars Williams played so hard and with such frenetic passion that we all thought he was going to pass out on stage at one point.
Another highlight is how Richard Butler‘s voice never seems to age, or perhaps it just gets better. He’s still on top of his game, as is the whole band. His brother, Tim Butler, still has that rockstar style and slight menace about him, and the bottom end of his bass is the band’s secret weapon. Keyboardist Amanda Kramer doesn’t go overboard with her playing, which means she’s secretly doing a lot of stuff you can barely comprehend – and she adds a mystery to the band’s stage presence behind her ever-present shades (as does Tim Butler). The band’s new drummer, Zack Alford, has serious chops and ups the volume with pure rock beats.
Renowned composer, producer and performer Nils Frahm releases a new single, “Lemon Day,” from his forthcoming album, Music For Animals, out September 23rd on LEITER. The track unfolds at an unhurried, meditative pace in a celebration of tone, timbre and texture, before building up itself in a complex atmospheric way of playing. While the beginning reveals a dark and thoughtful mood, the dynamic evolves into a warm and light tone.
Containing ten tracks and clocking in at over three hours long, Music For Animals is an ambitious and compelling set different to anything Frahm’s released to date. In fact, it finds the Piano Day founder declining to use a piano, but at the same time retains many of the qualities that have set the influential musician’s work apart over much of the last two decades. “My constant inspiration,” Frahm explains, “was something as mesmerizing as watching a great waterfall or the leaves on a tree in a storm. It’s good we have symphonies and music where there’s a development, but a waterfall doesn’t need an Act 1, 2, 3, then an outcome, and nor do the leaves on a tree in a storm. Some people like watching the leaves rustle and the branches move. This record is for them.”
As a title, Music For Animals is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the conceptual albums of the 1950s – like Raymond Scott’s Music For Babies – as well as to contemporary playlist habits. “I feel a certain frustration with the functional use of music these days, all these playlists with names like Music for Sleeping, Music for Focus, Music for Masturbation,” Frahm laughs. “Music always seems to need to do something useful. That’s a very client-driven logic: the client needs something, the music should deliver that, otherwise ‘You’re Fired!’ With this album, there was no specific audience in mind, and nor was it adapted to any particular purpose. But in fact, it seemed to please the animals I’ve spent a lot of time with these last months, so, you know: if you can’t beat them, join them…!”
At three hours long, Music For Animals might seem initially intimidating, but the truth is that this substantial collection encourages listeners to bask in its tranquility at their chosen depth, demanding only as much attention as they wish to contribute. As Frahm himself happily points out, “It all comes back to that waterfall. If you want to watch it, watch it. If you don’t, then you don’t have to. It will always be the same, yet never quite the same.” Indeed, that’s Music For Animals’ greatest strength. Instantly recognizable, it’s still like nothing else.
Following a European leg, Frahm will tour across North America in support of Music For Animals. A full list of dates can be found below and tickets for all shows are on sale now.
Los Angeles-based artist Rochelle Jordan announces Play With The Changes Remixed, a reimagination of her acclaimed 2021 album Play With The Changes, out September 16th on Young Art Records. In conjunction, Jordan unveils its lead single, “Love You Good (Remix)” ft. LSDXOXO and announces a fall North American tour supporting Channel Tres. A year after Play With The Changes and her recent sold-out headline tour, which also included select dates opening for Kaytranada, Jordan taps him along with Sango, Byron The Aquarius, Soul Clap, and more to expand on the album’s futuristic sonic landscape. “Love You Good (Remix)” finds Jordan and LSDXOXO’s vocals intertwining atop an irresistible beat, reiterating Jordan’s original thesis for Play With The Changes: without experimentation, innovation is impossible.
Defying categorization to create a project full of slinky, dancefloor-packing burners that channel her U.K. roots, Play With the Changes is reminiscent of Jordan’s childhood nights spent listening to her brother’s 2-step hymns from the other side of the wall. Garnering year end praise from Billboard, Bandcamp, and more, Play With The Changes presents Jordan as a modern heir in a lineage of powerhouse vocalists with style and imagination.
Play With The Changes Remixed Tracklist: 1. Situation (&Me Remix) 2. Dancing Elephants (DJ Minx Remix) 3. Got Em (Sango Remix) 4. Count It (KLSH Remix) 5. All Along (Kaytranada Remix) 6. Nothing Left (Kingdom Remix) 7. Lay (Machinedrum Remix) 8. Love You Good (Remix) ft. LSDXOXO 9. Next 2 You (Sinistarr Remix) 10. Already (Things You Say Remix) 11. Broken Steel (Soul Clap Remix) 12. Something (Byron The Aquarius Remix)
Rochelle Jordan Tour Dates: (all dates supporting Channel Tres) Tue. Sep. 27 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom Wed. Sep. 28 – Albuquerque @ Electric Playhouse Fri. Sep. 30 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s Sat. Oct. 1- Dallas, TX @ The Echo Sun. Oct. 2 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live – Studio Tue. Oct. 4 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse Thu. Oct. 6 – Detroit, MI @ Leland City Park Fri. Oct. 7 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Hall Sat. Oct. 8 – Montreal, QC @ S.A.T Tue. Oct. 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts Thu. Oct. 13 – Washington, DC @ Culture Fri. Oct. 14 – New York, NY @ Brooklyn Steel Tue. Dec. 6 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theater Wed. Dec. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theater Sat. Dec. 10 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ The Fremont Theater Wed. Dec. 14 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom Thu. Dec. 15 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox Fri. Dec. 16 – Vancouver, BC @ Celebrities Nightclub
