7th Level Music

Review: Miss Grit – Impostor

Margaret Sohn, also known as Miss Grit, confronts impostor syndrome, Midwest living, the benefits and annoyances of technology, and more on her second EP Impostor. Even the cover art shows her unease with being in the spotlight. She’s actually trying to hide behind it.

I’m here to tell her that there’s no need for that, because Impostor is a nice piece of work. Opening track “Don’t Wander” is like something you’d hear while in orbit and has hard-hitting, simple lyrics like “There’s no more reward for winning. There’s a bigger toll for missing.” Sohn’s guitar on “Buy the Banter” is fuzzed and funky while Gregory Tock‘s drums are solid drops like heavy, scattered rainfall. The song is a brutal wake-up call to anyone who seeks power (“If you think you’re somebody, you’ll have to prove you’ve got what they want, and they want.”).

“Blonde” is a sad tale of Sohn confronting identity issues as a half-Korean woman growing up in a majority Caucasian Michigan town. Zoltan Sindhu‘s bass line on the track is a deceptive one, lulling you into a warm groove before the track blooms / bursts into a fuzzed-out fireworks display. Sohn’s guitar prowess is on full display on “Grow Up To,” with plenty of shredding and arena-ready riffs.

“Dark Side of the Party” is a great track, with Sohn mixing guitars and synths well and singing about being stuck at a party full of people who, on the surface, appear to be sure of themselves, but who are actually as frightened as her (or more so) of being discovered as an impostor. The title track ends the album, bubbling with hard rock guitars before simmering with ambient synths to drift us out into the world again, ready to face our own doubts with a little more confidence.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jim and Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Yard Act warn of “Dark Days” with new single.

Emerging Leeds outfit Yard Act have today shared their new single “Dark Days” – out via their own Zen F.C. label. Following their debut 7” Fixer Upper / The Trapper’s Pelts, which sold out its entire 500 copy pressing on the day of release, the band announced the Dark Days / Peanuts double A-side yesterday and sold out 1000 copies in just under 2 hours. In signature Yard Act fashion, “Dark Days” propels frontman James Smith’s striking social observations forward along with steadfast guitar lines and jutting rhythms. Recorded in the same session as “Peanuts” with Ross Orton, “Dark Days” rounds off the opening chapter of Yard Act’s strange lockdown existence before they head off to record their debut album.

LISTEN: to Yard Act’s “Dark Days” on YouTube

Smith explains: “With ‘Dark Days’ I wrote the first verse and chorus hook quite fast but then I didn’t know how to finish it. The demo Ryan sent was ace, real sparse. The drums were really driven but the bassline felt like it was suspended mid air in the verses, like a dub bassline or something. It created the illusion that you have time to stop and look around amidst the ensuing chaos. It’s like in war films when all the noise stops and you just hear the protagonist heavy breathing whilst they survey their surroundings in slow motion. Then the chorus hit with this ‘Captain Caveman’ vibe, it reminded me of that stop-motion cartoon from the 90’s ‘GOGS’ if anyone remembers that? I liked the juxtaposition of the bleak world with the cartoon bass line.”

“Despite all the advances humanity has made, the threat of devolving feels increasingly possible in the modern world, and on my bad days when I’m spiralling I can’t help but get trapped in my own head envisioning this post-apocalyptic future we’re seemingly headed toward, so fuck knows why I decided to watch ‘Children of Men’ when I was feeling like that. If I’d fully remembered what happened in it, I don’t think I would’ve in the middle of a pandemic, but I did, and I actually came away feeling really uplifted by the ending. I saw hope in it, and it helped me finish the story.”

Yard Act formed in Leeds in late 2019 when Ryan Needham found himself temporarily living in James Smith’s spare bedroom. The two had been pub associates for years, but their new living circumstances served as a catalyst for their friendship and creative partnership which saw them fuse James’ interest in spoken word with Ryan’s primitive proto-punk demos using an ancient drum machine and borrowed bass guitar.

Yard Act’s rise since arriving in March 2020 with debut track “The Trapper’s Pelts” has been nothing short of extraordinary, even without the opportunity to showcase their incendiary live set. Their first releases last year proved an instant hit with national newspapers (The Observer, The Times, The Independent, and The Guardian) and radio stations (BBC Radio 6 Music (“Fixer Upper” and “Peanuts” were both daytime playlisted), BBC Radio 1 and Radio X) alike. The band rounded off 2020 with spots on the NME 100, Dork HYPE List, The Daily Star ‘Ones to Watch 2021’, Gigwise ‘21 for 21’, and Selector Radio’s ‘New Wave Artists 2021’. Single ‘Fixer Upper’ landed on Loud & Quiet and So Young Magazine’s ‘Tracks of the Year’, while “Peanuts” earned a place as BBC Introducing West Yorkshire Track of the Week, as well as being playlisted at NME, So Young, and The Independent alongside appearing on the cover of ‘The Punk List’ and ‘Hot New Bands’ at Spotify.

“Dark Days” is out now on Zen F.C. It is available here

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Tom at Hive Mind PR.]

Kalbells paint the world “Purplepink” with single from upcoming EP.

Kalbells—led by Kalmia Traver (of Rubblebucket) with her bandmates Angelica Bess (Body Language), Zoë Brecher (Hushpuppy, Sad13), and Sarah Pedinotti (Okkervil River, LipTalk)—have announced the release of their sophomore album Max Heart, out March 26 on NNA Tapes.

Max Heart explores what happens when we let go of what doesn’t serve us in order to leave space for the blessings that do. The album’s ten vibrant and subtly layered tracks of mesmerizing psychedelic synth pop (co-engineered with Luke Temple) were birthed from the band’s practice of listening and accountability, rejoicing in their queerness, and promoting each other to be their most genuine selves. Max Heart is a portrait of badass women harnessing their improvisational magic.

A prime example of Kalbells furthering their sum energies is the effervescent funk of lead single “Purplepink,” out now. Co-written between Traver, Bess, and Pedinotti, a hyper synth bass darts around elongated keyboard sighs. The video, conceptualized and directed by Lisa Schatz, features 3D animated rocket ships, faceless furry creatures, a 30 foot glittery hologram of Maddie Rice (Jon Batiste’s Stay Human, Saturday Night Live Band) shredding on guitar, and Kalbells as warrior space queens. Read the full bio here.

Max Heart is available to pre-order on standard black & “Salty Pickle” green vinyl, as well as on compact disc and digital formats here. The album will be available on “Red Marker” red vinyl exclusively from local indie record stores.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Cody at Clandestine PR.]

CHAI call us to “Action” on first single from upcoming album – “WINK.”

Japanese quartet CHAI are thrilled to announce their new album, WINK, out May 21st on Sub Pop. Ahead of its release, they present lead single/video “ACTION.” Their third full-length and first for Sub Pop, WINK contains CHAI’s mellowest and most minimal music, and also their most affecting and exciting songwriting by far. WINK is a fitting title then: a subtle but bold gesture. A wink is an unselfconscious act of conviction, or as CHAI puts it: “A person who winks is a person with a pure heart, who lives with flexibility, who does what they want. A person who winks is a person who is free.” YUUKI noted that “With this album, we’re winking at you. We’re living freely and we hope that when you listen, you can wink and live freely, too.”

CHAI is made up of identical twins MANA (lead vocals and keys) and KANA(guitar), drummer YUNA, and bassist-lyricist YUUKI. Following the release of 2019’s PUNK, CHAI’s adventures took them around the world, playing their high-energy and buoyant shows at music festivals like Primavera Sound and Pitchfork Music Festival, and touring with indie-rock mainstays like Whitney and Mac DeMarco. Like all musicians, CHAI spent 2020 forced to rethink the fabric of their work and lives. But CHAI took this as an opportunity to shake up their process and bring their music somewhere thrillingly new. Having previously used their maximalist recordings to capture the exuberance of their live shows, with the audiences’ reactions in mind, CHAI instead focused on crafting the slightly-subtler and more introspective kinds of songs they enjoy listening to at home—where, for the first time, they recorded all of the music. Amidst the global shutdown, CHAI worked on Garageband and traded their song ideas—which they had more time than ever to consider—over Zoom and phone calls, turning their limitations into a strength.

While the band leaned into a more personal sound, WINK is also the first CHAI album to feature contributions from outside producers (Mndsgn, YMCK) as well as a feature from Chicago rapper-singer Ric Wilson. CHAI draw R&B and hip-hop into their mix (Mac Miller, the Internet, and Brockhampton were on their minds) of dance-punk and pop-rock, all while remaining undeniably CHAI. Whether in relation to this newfound sense of openness or their at-home ways of composing, the theme of WINK is to challenge yourself.

Lead single “ACTION” was a response to watching the Black Lives Matter protests unfold across America and the world in June of 2020 while the band was in Japan.
“Seeing how the world came together during the protests really moved me,” said YUUKI. “I wanted to dedicate that song to the year of action.” The band further elaborates: “The world as we know it has changed, but even with that, it’s still a world where nothing really changes. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there more ACTION rooted in happiness? Be the change that you want to see!…I’m going to be the pioneer in seeing the world I want to see, meeting the people I want to meet! We start off by expressing the fun in ACTION with this music video♡ Why don’t you join us?! It’s that type of song♡.”

WATCH CHAI’S VIDEO FOR “ACTION”

CHAI came to see WINK—with its home-y feel—as a collection where each song is like a new friend, something comforting to rely on and reach out to, as the album was for them throughout 2020. This impulse towards connection is in WINK’s title, too. After the “i” of PINK and the “u” of PUNK—which represented the band’s act of introducing themselves, and then of centering their audiences—they have come full circle with the “we” of WINK. It signals CHAI’s relationship with the outside world, an embrace of profound togetherness. Through music, as CHAI said, “we are all coming together.” In that act of opening themselves up, CHAI grew into their best work: “This album showed us, we’re ready to do more.”
WATCH THE “DONUTS MIND IF I DO” VIDEOWATCH THE “PLASTIC LOVE” VIDEO

PRE-ORDER WINK

WINK TRACKLIST
1.Donuts Mind If I Do
2. Maybe Chocolate Chips (feat. Ric Wilson)
3. ACTION
4. END
5. PING PONG! (feat. YMCK)
6. Nobody Knows We Are Fun
7. It’s Vitamin C
8. IN PINK (feat. Mndsgn)
9. KARAAGE
10. Miracle
11. Wish Upon a Star
12. Salty

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jim at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Field Music unveil new single, “Orion from the Streets,” and fall tour dates.

Peter and David Brewis a.k.a. Field Music, are sharing their latest single, “Orion From the Street” (out now via Memphis Industries). The track is a prelude to a new studio album from the beloved UK band that is slated for release later in 2021, following on from 2020’s First World War concept record Making A New World.

LISTEN: Field Music’s “Orion From The Street” HERE

Peter says of “Orion From the Street”, “I wrote it in a daze – it’s full of accidental quotes and allusions – the first couple of lines I overheard in a Cary Grant documentary but they sum up the whole song – how intense impressions of love, hate, grief and guilt can be an almost hallucinatory experience.” Field Music have also announced a string of UK tour dates for October 2021. Full list of dates below. Tickets will go on sale on 15th January at 9am GMT. Tickets are available here.

“Orion From The Street” is out now on Memphis Industries.

Tour Dates
04 April 2021, Cardiff, Wales Goes Pop
02-04 July 2021, Swandlincote, Timber Festival
07 Aug 2021, Summerhall, Edinburgh International Festival
02-05 Sept 2021, Wiltshire, End of the Road Festival
07 Oct 2021, Aberdeen, Tunnels
08 Oct 2021, Glasgow, St Luke’s
09 Oct 2021, Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
14 Oct 2021, Birmingham, Mama Roux’s
15 Oct 2021, Bristol, The Fleece
16 Oct 2021, Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
21 Oct 2021, Brighton, Komedia
22 Oct 2021, London, Electric Ballroom
23 Oct 2021, Manchester, Gorilla

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Tom at Hive Mind PR.]

David Bowie tribute album, “Modern Love,” due May 28th.

BBE Music is thrilled to announce Modern Love, a tribute album to Bowie, out May 28th. In conjunction with the announcement, BBE present We Are KING’s cosmic, open and airy cover of “Space Oddity.”

Featuring an array of artists such as Jeff Parker, We Are KING, Meshell Ndegeocello, Helado Negro, Khruangbin, Matthew Tavares, L’Rain, Nia Andrews and more, Modern Love seeks to champion his lesser known connection to soul, R&B, jazz, funk, and gospel. The prominent jazz influences throughout Bowie’s final album, Blackstar, were a key inspiration for curating this collection of reimagined Bowie songs with these artists. The resulting album is an eclectic tribute featuring a group of artists who not only fit together creatively, but who, like Bowie, straddle different worlds musically, with soul and jazz at their core.

Modern Love offers a fresh look at Bowie’s diverse and transcendent career, aiming to highlight the often overlooked relationship between his back catalogue and musical genres traditionally pioneered by artists of color. The project was curated by music executive and DJ Drew McFadden, alongside BBE Music founder Peter Adarkwah. “I felt that the connection between Bowie and R&B, jazz, funk, gospel and all things soulful, had never really been explored before — at least not so much in covers, which tend to lean more towards rock and pop,” says McFadden. “Certainly, there’s been plenty of Bowie covers over the years, but none that have really tapped into what seems to have been a big part of his core musical style and direction.“

We Are KING’s cover of Bowie’s surprise 1972 hit, “Space Oddity,” is a paean to this wholly singular and somewhat eccentric anthem. Smooth, subtle and assured, their version remains true to the original, while blending in just enough soul to make it their own. “There were so many amazing Bowie compositions to choose from but ‘Space Oddity’ has always been our favourite. It’s so visual; it has always felt like time travel in a song,” explain Amber and Paris Strother, who released their debut album as We Are KING in 2016 and have since worked with the likes of Robert Glasper, Corinne Bailey Rae, Bilal and The Foreign Exchange, among many others. “It tells such a vivid and imaginative story of Major Tom’s trip through space and it was such a cool experience to reimagine what it’d be like on the voyage.”

Pre-orders for Modern Love will begin this month.

Stream/Purchase We Are KING’s cover of “Space Oddity”

Keep your mind open.

[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Top 40 albums of 2016 – 2020: #’s 5 – 1

Here we are at the top of the music mountain. Again, putting this list together wasn’t easy. It went through at least four drafts before it felt “right.”

#5: BODEGA – Endless Scroll (2018)

This post-punk record by the Brooklyn band took a good chunk of the world by storm, receiving a lot of airplay in England and across U.S. alternative radio stations and being played at Paris fashion shows. It’s full of great hooks, scathing lyrics about hipsters, death, perceptions of masculinity, sex, and people willingly enslaving themselves to technology. BODEGA instantly became my favorite band of 2018 when I heard this.

#4: Flat Worms – Antarctica (2020)

This wild psych-punk (and I’m not sure that’s an accurate description) album unleashes raw power from the get-go and doesn’t let up for the entire run. It takes subjects like consumerism, rich elitism, racism, existential angst, and xenophobia head-on with hammering guitars and drums as heavy as a glacier. This album was locked into my #1 spot for Best Albums of 2020 after its release.

#3: The Well – Death and Consolation (2019)

This doom metal album from Austin, Texas’ The Well was my favorite album to send to fellow doom-lovers for Christmas in 2019. It hits hard in all the right ways – chugging bass and guitars, fierce yet in-the-pocket drumming, and lyrics about mortality, horrible things that lie beyond the veil, epic mystical battles, and overcoming fear of such things to transcend this illusionary existence. Heavy stuff? Yes, but The Well carry it with the ease of Hercules.

#2: Kelly Lee Owens – (self-titled) (2017)

This album made me want to create electronic music even more than I already did. I hadn’t touched my digital turntables in months, and then Kelly Lee Owens releases her self-titled debut of house, ambient, and synthwave music and slaps me awake with it. Seeing her live at the 2018 Pitchfork Music Festival only slapped me harder. The problem? She’s so good, and this album is such a strong debut, that it’s tempting to hear it and think, “Damn, why should I even bother?” I’ll be happy if I can create something a fifth as good as this.

#1: David Bowie – Blackstar (2016)

I mean, come on, was there any doubt? David Bowie’s final album is a masterpiece. I can’t say it any better than that. He faced his mortality with introspection, acceptance, and even humor. His backing jazz band is outstanding on this, and every song carries extra weight when viewed with the hindsight of knowing the Thin White Duke was getting ready to head back into the brilliant dimension that spawned him.

Thanks for all the good music, everyone.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 40 albums of 2016 – 2020: #’s 10 – 6

We’ve reached the “David Letterman” moment – the top 10 albums of records I’ve reviewed in the last five years. Shall we begin?

#10: Priests – The Seduction of Kansas (2019)

This post-punk album is as sharp as a straight razor and as sexy as a femme fatale wielding that razor. Priests call out toxic masculinity, the changed political climate that arose from the Trump administration, and rich elitism with a mixture of snark, shredding, and, yes, seduction. Priests amicably split up after this. I hope they’ll put out new material someday, but they went out on a high note if not.

#9: The Besnard Lakes – A Coliseum Complex Museum (2016)

Easily the lushest album on this list, A Coliseum Complex Museum is full of soaring psychedelic riffs and vocals and songs about hope, strength, and the cosmos. It’s an uplifting record that preceded four years in which most people were trying to put each other down. It reminded us that we’re better than that, and always have the potential to move ourselves and others forward.

#8: Automatic – Signal (2020)

Good heavens, this is a stunning debut of post-punk and synthwave gems. Automatic threw down a gauntlet with this record after slapping all of us across the face with it – and looking fabulous while doing it. Signal arrives sounding like these three women have been making albums together for a decade and is perfect for dance floors, bedroom romps, and action scenes filmed in neon-lit nightclubs.

#7: A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service (2016)

The final album with A Tribe Called Quest made with founding member Phife Dawg before his death, We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service is a powerful record that reminded the world of many things: ATCQ still had the hip-hop chops that many still envied, Phife was an amazing MC, and that hip-hop (and music in general) can be a powerful tool of change and resistance.

#6: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Nonagon Infinity (2016)

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard could’ve appeared multiple times on my top 40 list due to their prolific output alone, but Nonagon Infinity was the surefire winner of everything they released in the last five years. The album is masterfully engineered as one long track that, when looped, plays infinitely without any noticeable bumps. This was the album that propelled them to massive popularity and is a wild ride from never-beginning start to never-ending finish.

What albums made the top five? Post-punk makes another appearance, as does more doom metal, powerful rock, electro, and an album by a legend.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 40 albums of 2016 – 2020: #’s 15 – 11

We’re more than halfway through this list now, and we have a welcome comeback album, a live album, an improvised album, a double album, and an EP. What are they? Read on to find out.

#15: Yardsss – Cultus (2020)

You could almost call this an EP, since it’s only three tracks, but two of those tracks are each over twenty minutes long. Cultus is the improvised album I mentioned. It’s a stunning soundscape of shoegaze, psychedelia, synthwave, and jazz that the band created out of thin air with no plan at all. It’s a testament to their talent and an amazing listen.

#14: LCD Soundsystem – American Dream (2017)

Here we have the welcome comeback. LCD Soundsystem returned after a hiatus to bring all of us the dance punk we desperately needed as the country was beginning to tear at each other’s throats in fear and ignorance. Tracks like “Emotional Haircut” skewered hipsters and “Call the Police” addressed xenophobia – all the while making us dance.

#13: Windhand – Levitation Sessions (2020)

My wife and I watched a few live-streamed concerts in 2020, and all of them were good. This one, however, was the only one to give me chills. Windhand always brings power and spooky vibes to their brand of doom metal, and the Reverb Appreciation Society’s sound gurus did a great job of capturing Windhand’s wizardry in this live session. The hairs on my arm stood during “Forest Clouds.” I wanted to run through the streets yelling, “Wear a damn mask and wash your hands!” to everyone in sight to increase the likelihood we could all see Windhand live again soon.

#12: Thee Oh Sees – Facestabber (2019)

It was a bit difficult to choose which Oh Sees record to include in my top 40 list, because they put out a lot of material during the last five years – especially in 2020 when John Dwyer and his crew had nothing else to do but make more music and released multiple albums, EPs, and singles. The double-album of Face Stabber, however, was the album that I kept coming back to and giving to friends as a 2019 Christmas gift. It blends psychedelia with Zappa-like jazzy jams (with the stunning twenty-plus-minute “Henchlock” taking up one side of the double album) and took their music to a different level, which was pretty high already.

#11: WALL – (self-titled EP) (2016)

Holy cow. This post-punk EP from Brooklyn’s WALL burst onto the scene like Kool-Aid Man hitting a brick wall keeping him separated from kids dying of dehydration. “Cuban Cigars” was played all over England’s BBC 6 Music (where I first heard it) and they were the talk of SXSW and the east coast’s post-punk scene. They put together an untitled full album after this, but broke up before it was released. Fortunately, the lead singer and the guitarist went on to form Public Practice. This EP, however, relit my passion for post-punk into a three-alarm fire.

The top 10 begins tomorrow. It includes more post-punk, a rap album, Canadian psychedelia, and an Australian album that never ends.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 40 albums of 2016 – 2020: #’s 20 – 16

We’re halfway through the list, and the decision of what to include gets tougher with each post. This one includes two shoegaze surprises and a legend.

#20: Cosmonauts – A-OK! (2016)

I don’t remember where I first heard Cosmonauts, but I do remember being floored by the sound of this record. The sunny, southern California shoegaze riffs and power these lads put out was nothing short of stunning. The themes of boredom, lost love and youth, and growing tired of hipsters were deftly handled and backed with a trippy sound that’s not easy to make.

#19: Hum – Inlet (2020)

Easily the best surprise of 2020, these Chicagoland shoegaze giants dropped Inlet on an unsuspecting, but wildly grateful, public and immediately became the talk of the music industry – again. It proved that they never lost anything – chops, power, influence, mystery. Let’s hope they get to tour in 2021, because they deserve sell-out shows.

#18: All Them Witches – Sleeping Through the War (2017)

Speaking of power, All Them Witches are brimming with it, and this album was like chugging psychedelic tea mixed with Red Bull. At times blistering with fury and other times a bluesy, swampy mind trip, Sleeping Through the War deals with disconnection, celebrity worship, invasive technology, and, as always with ATW, mysticism.

#17: The Duke Spirit – Kin (2016)

Kin was another surprise release. It wasn’t a surprise that The Duke Spirit put out a new record. The surprise was that, instead of their heavy, sexy, blues-influenced rock, the band put out one of the best shoegaze records of 2016. They metamorphosed like a caterpillar and emerged into something new that somehow thrilled me more than they already had done.

#16: Gary Numan – Savage (Songs from a Broken World) (2017)

The legend I mentioned at the beginning of this post? It’s Gary Numan, and Savage (Songs from a Broken World) was a great return for him. This album brims with power as hard as the post-apocalyptic landscape portrayed on the cover and in the lyrics. Numan wasn’t messing around (nor does he ever) with this record, tackling climate change, fascism, mania, despair, and dread with massive synth riffs, knock-down drums, and pure force. I was lucky to catch him at the Chicago stop on this tour and it was one of the best shows I’d seen in a while.

Next up we have dance-punk, live doom metal, stunning psychedelic jams, an EP from a band that broke up just as they were becoming popular, and an improvised instrumental record.

Keep your mind open.

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