The EP Lazerbeam from Los Angeles, California shoegaze rockers Cosmonautsis a great introduction to their forceful and hypnotizing sound if you haven’t heard it before now.
The title track opens the EP, sounding a bit like a Hanni El Khatib track at first with its echoing vocals and early 1960’s garage rock beats, but then that fuzz comes in and takes you to another dimension. The song’s about realizing a relationship is coming to an end and not being able to do much about it (“Please don’t leave me, man. You’re the only one I can stand. Begging you not to leave me, babe. You’re the only thing that is sane…”).
“Cut Your Hair” gets off to a heavy start with guitars set to maximum growl and the dual vocals about embracing “the dark side of pain” set to heavy reverb. “Crocodile Teeth” keeps the fuzzed-out shoegaze sound going as the dual vocals of Alexander Ahmadi and Derek Cowart bounce off each other so much (and so well) that you’re not sure where one ends and the other begins. Oh yeah, their dual guitar work does the same thing, producing a mind-altering effect that’s hard to describe.
You might think a song called “Slower” would be a mellow way to end an EP, but Cosmonauts flip the script a bit and end the album with a rocker instead. The drums are like a chugging freight train while Ahmadi and Cowart’s vocals boom off the back walls of your house and the guitar riffs hit you in brisk waves.
Lazerbeam is short, but loud and bold. It takes you by surprise and immediately makes you wonder what else these cats can do. Check out any of their full albums for more great shoegaze.
“[The Beths are] brilliant at bright guitar frenzy, instantly memorable melodies and tune-mad group sing-alongs with the joy of Sixties bubblegum rock; there’s a love of pop formula here… but they never lose the sense of discovery at heart of rock and roll.” — Rolling Stone
The Beths announce their new album, Jump Rope Gazers, out July 10th via Carpark Records, and share its lead single/video, “Dying to Believe.” Jump Rope Gazers is the follow-up to Future Me Hates Me, “one of the most impressive indie-rock debuts of the year” (Pitchfork). The album received glowing praise and appeared on many year-end lists including Rolling Stone, NPR, Stereogum, and more. Jump Rope Gazers tackles themes of anxiety and self-doubt with effervescent power pop choruses and rousing backup vocals, zeroing in on the communality and catharsis that can come from sharing stressful situations with some of your best friends.
After touring non-stop for a year and a half, playing to crowds of devoted fans and opening for acts like Pixies and Death Cab for Cutie, The Beths regrouped to write and record Jump Rope Gazers. The band – composed of Elizabeth Stokes (vocals/guitar), Jonathan Pearce (guitar), Benjamin Sinclair (bass), and Tristan Deck (drums) – settled down at Pearce’s Auckland studio, where he recorded and produced the album.
Stokes’s writing on Jump Rope Gazers grapples with the uneasy proposition of leaving everything and everyone you know behind on another continent, chasing your dreams while struggling to stay close with loved ones back home. Rambunctious lead single “Dying to Believe” reckons with the distance that life necessarily drives between people over time: “I’m sorry for the way that I can’t hold conversations // They’re such a fragile thing to try to support the weight of,” Stokes sings. The accompanying visual is an eccentric four-step “How to be the Beths” instructional video featuring the band.
Touring far from home, The Beths committed to taking care of each other while simultaneously trying to take care of friends living thousands of miles away. That care and attention shines through on Jump Rope Gazers, where the quartet sounds more locked in than ever. Jump Rope Gazers stares down all the hard parts of living in communion with other people, even at a distance, while celebrating the ferocious joy that makes it all worth it.
Acoustic versions of “Dying to Believe” and Future Me Hates Me favorites “Great No One” and “Little Death” as well as a Q&A with The Beths can be viewed from their recent livestream here.
Jump Rope Gazers Tracklist: 1. I’m Not Getting Excited 2. Dying to Believe 3. Jump Rope Gazers 4. Acrid 5. Do You Want Me Now 6. Out of Sight 7. Don’t Go Away 8. Mars, the God of War 9. You Are a Beam of Light 10. Just Shy of Sure
Mild Anxiety, the new EP from Blue Canopy starts off sounding like a warped record of a 16-bit video game and then beautifully transforms into a psych-synth treat that seemed tailor-made to ease the anxiety mentioned in the title.
That first track is “Keys to the Garden,” which floats along with funky guitars, smooth drumming, and synths that sound like sunlight bouncing off a garden pond. It’s a song about opening yourself to new possibilities, maybe even enlightenment (“I can’t believe you’ve never been to the garden. You’ve got the keys so come on through.”)
“656” was the first single off the EP, and it reminds me of New Pornographers tracks in its instrumentation and back-and-forth male-female vocals about coming to the realization that a relationship is at an end (“There’s nothing left for you in this. Your wings are barely fluttering. Now that you are over it, what’s the point of bickering? I know it’s not enough.”).
“St. Albans” has lead singer/ keyboardist Alex Schiff lamenting a relationship, possibly the one that just ended or one that he knew was a lost cause from the start, along a jaunty Randy Newman-like beat while he sings, “I was overwhelmed by you. Had we gone for a walk, you’d bum a cigarette. We would never survive, in my self-defense.” “Always” is drenched in psychedelic guitars that embolden Schiff to face the end (“I know what this is, and I know what to do. I will not run.”). The end of a relationship? Life? The EP? I don’t know. It’s probably all of that and more.
This is a lovely EP that tackles some heavy stuff without bludgeoning you over the head with symbolism and angst. Take a few moments to lounge with it.
“A virus may scare the punk rock world out of Oakland in July but we’ll scare it right back on Halloween weekend! Trick or treat, we can’t be beat! Burger Boogaloo 2020: a Monster Mash to top them all!” – John Waters
Given the unprecedented circumstances facing our city, state, and country, Burger Boogaloo is officially moving to Halloween weekend: Saturday, October 31st & Sunday, November 1st in Oakland’s Mosswood Park. The festival’s lineup will remain the same and even include additional artists: Shannon Shaw, Hammered Satin, and The Rubinoos. All previously purchased tickets will be honored for the new dates.
The safety of our attendees, performing artists, and staff is of the utmost priority. That sentiment extends beyond the Boogaloo’s festival grounds, which is why we want to stress the importance of staying home, refraining from unnecessary socializing, and maintaining thorough cleanliness during these trying times.
Outside of Halloween being the most fitting holiday for Burger Boogaloo to fall on, we chose these new dates because they were the best option for accommodating our performing artists, many of whom have had to cancel or reschedule upcoming tours. For the same reasons, we ask that you continue to support the artists you cherish and the members of your community who have been hit hardest by current events whenever possible. This includes abiding by social distancing practices that can help keep others healthy in the present while ensuring that a safer future comes sooner than later.
We look forward to the day that live music returns and to a Burger Boogaloo Halloween celebration that will be unlike any other. Until then, keep safe and keep listening.
BIKINI KILL (1st Bay Area show in 25 years) CIRCLE JERKS (1st Bay Area show in 10 years) PLASTIC BERTRAND (1st Bay Area show ever) CARBONAS (1st Bay Area show in 10 years) BLEACHED SHANNON SHAW ALICE BAG (of the Bags) FLIPPER THE FEVERS PANSY DIVISION THE YOUNGER LOVERS PANTY RAID MIDNITE SNAXXX HAMMERED SATIN THE RUBINOOS
TICKET PRICES Day 1 – $99 Day 2 – $69 Weekend Pass – $129 VIP day 1 – $149 VIP day 2 – $109 VIP weekend Pass – $199
Keep your mind open.
[Boogie on over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
“Filled with childlike wonder and bright-eyed instrumentation that could just as easily be a symphony as a rock band, ‘656’ sets the stage, suggesting that Schiff’s future as Blue Canopy is as bright as he could hope for.” — PopMatters
“A psychedelic pop sound that blends contemporary indie psychedelia in the vein of Tame Impala with ’60s-era aesthetics similar to those of Zombies or early Pink Floyd. It takes you somewhere distant yet familiar, lush yet accessible.” — Treble
Portland band Blue Canopy share a new single from their forthcoming debut today via Treble. The band is led by former Modern Rivals keyboardist/singer and co-songwriter Alex Schiff (Pitchfork‘s accolades HERE.) Hear & share “Keys To The Garden” HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)
PopMatters previously launched the animated video for lead single “656” HERE. (Direct YouTube.)
Blue Canopy‘s Mild Anxiety is the debut EP from Portland-based multi-instrumentalist, Alex Schiff. Under the Blue Canopy moniker, Alex combines versatile songwriting chops and timeless, exuberant melodies to comprise four distinct pieces that utilize nostalgia as a force to move forward.
Formerly the keyboardist and co-writer for indie band, Modern Rivals, Alex has shared the stage with bands such as Ra Ra Riot, Stars, and The Black Keys. The EP’s lead single, “656” enlists the four other members of Modern Rivals (performing drums, guitar, bass, synth and backup vocals) as an official send-off to a relationship that was a formative part of Alex’s youth and time living in New York City. Mild Anxiety was co-produced by Patrick J Smith (A Beacon School/Modern Rivals). The EP will be released April 17th on Fat Possum label offshoot Grind Select. Pre-orders are available HERE.
This eight-song EP is split between bands hailing from Austin, Texas and Seattle, Washington. Side A is four tracks by Austin’s The UFO Club (who would go on to release a full album a year later – review coming soon). Side B is one of the first official recordings of Seattle’s Night Beats – even before their first full album was released by Austin’s Reverberation Appreciation Society label.
The UFO Club melds Austin and Seattle together by combining the powers of The Black Angels‘ Christian Bland and Danny Lee Blackwell of Night Beats (both sharing duties on guitar, vocals, farfisa, drums, bass) and producer / bassist / organist Skyler McGlothlin to create a heady brew of Pink Floyd, 13th Floor Elevators, Phil Spector, and Howlin‘ Wolf.
“(My Love Is) Waiting” is a pleading love song with Blackwell’s distinctive voice calling out in soulful wails while crystalline guitars surround him. “Chapel (in My Mind)” is an instant stand-out with creeping fuzz bass, spooky drums, and haunted house guitars as Bland sings about engaging in self-introspection and not caring what others think of the idea. You’ll want “Wolfman” on every Halloween-themed playlist you create from now on, as it’s a fun, rocking track with Blackwell trying to keep his lover calm as he transforms into a monster and Bland and McGlothlin howl and bay in the background. Side A ends with their power drill-fuzzy cover of The Ronettes‘ “Be My Baby.”
Side B is all Night Beats, consisting of the original lineup (Blackwell on vocals and guitar, Tarek Wegner on bass, James Traeger on drums). It opens with one of my favorite Night Beats tracks, “Hex,” a trippy psychedelic cut that has Blackwell’s opening guitar riffs hitting you like black helicopters coming over the horizon. “A Night with Nefertiti” brings Wegner’s bass to the forefront and makes the vocals a bit sleepy (in a good way). The Egyptian theme continues on the funky “Drowning in the Nile” (which includes some wild harmonica work by Blackwell). The closer is “18 Glowing Phantoms.” Blackwell’s acoustic guitar takes on a tribal sound as he sings about being taken to an otherworldly dark forest to learn he has no soul. Creepy? Yes. Good? Absolutely (especially at the break-down).
This split 10″ EP was a good warm-up for both The UFO Club’s self-titled album a year later and Night Beats’ first full record. It’s a fine addition to any collection of net-psychedelic music.
Keep your mind open.
[Why not float over to the subscription box while you’re here?]
“Their journey still occasions wonder and awe. For so many years, it was hardly told. Here it is, in pictures and words. This is the way, step inside.” – Jon Savage
13th Floor Elevators: A Visual History, written and curated by Paul Drummond and published by Anthology Editions, will be released April 21st, and is available for preorder now. Direct orders of the book through the Anthology website will be shipped immediately. 13th Floor Elevators: A Visual History tells the complete and unvarnished story of a band, which, until now, has been thought of as tragically underdocumented. Drummond has spent years amassing an unprecedented archive of primary materials, including scores of previously-unseen band photographs, rare and iconic psychedelic artworks, and more. A full list of visual assets can be found below.
Born out of a union of club bands on the burgeoning Austin bohemian scene and a pronounced taste for hallucinogens, the 13th Floor Elevators formed in late 1965 when lyricist Tommy Hall asked a local singer named Roky Erickson to join up with his new rock outfit. Four years, three official albums, and countless acid trips later, it was over: the Elevators’ pioneering first run ended in a dizzying jumble of professional mismanagement, internal arguments, drug busts, and forced psychiatric imprisonments.
In their short existence, however, the group succeeded in blowing the lid off the budding musical underground, logging early salvos in the countercultural struggle against state authorities, and turning their deeply hallucinatory take on jug-band garage rock into a new American institution called psychedelic music. Before the hippies, before the punks, there were the 13th Floor Elevators: an unlikely crew of outcast weirdo geniuses who changed culture. 13th Floor Elevators: A Visual History places the band finally and undeniably in the pantheon of innovators of American rock music to which they have always belonged.
13th Floor Elevators: A Visual History Visual Assets: ● Rare photos, including many newly-discovered color shots ● Family scrapbook photos and clippings ● Photography and ephemera from the band’s friends, a who’s-who of the 1960s Austin arts scene ● Stills from the band’s television appearances ● Contemporary newspaper and underground press clippings covering the band’s rise (and fall) ● Materials from the books that inspired the band’s unique iconography ● Internal documents from the band’s label International Artists documenting the disastrous business side of the Elevators’ career in detail ● Materials relating to the band’s legal troubles, from handwritten drug deal letters to Austin Police Department surveillance photos to mugshots and draft cards ● The most complete collection of show flyers and handbills ever assembled, including many rare alternate printings of iconic psychedelic posters
About the Author: Paul Drummond is a renowned antiquarian bookseller based in London. He has spent years documenting every aspect of the history of the 13th Floor Elevators, and is the author of Eye Mind (2007), the exhaustive and definitive biography of the band.
Today, the Japanese quartet and champions of NEO-Kawaii CHAI are proud to present their newest single and video, “NO MORE CAKE.” As with many of their other songs, the fun veneer is always a bit of a red herring for a deeper, more self-reflective message. The song is “a sarcastic poke about wearing make-up,” says singer MANA. “We feel like that you should wear make-up that you feel suits you. Wearing make-up shouldn’t be based on the orders of someone else.”
The video representation is explained, in part, by bassist & lyricist YUUKI. “Doing your make-up to look like another person is the same as applying cake to your face.” “We wanted the theme for this music video to be ‘make-up meets art,’” adds guitarist KANA. “That’s why at times we had our faces looking like cake and then expressed as art.” WATCH “NO MORE CAKE” VIDEO https://youtu.be/ZeiOihSnYCw
CHAI’s most recent album, PUNK was met with resounding praise, being named Best New Music by Pitchfork and receiving glowing reviews from NPR Music, Stereogum, Exclaim, and more. Following its release, the band brought their “undeniable pop energy” (NPR Music) stateside to SXSW. There, the band played several showcases to much fanfare, their vivacious sets deemed one to see by Paste, Stereogum, NPR Music, Austin Monthly, Austin American-Statesman, plus others.
PRAISE FOR CHAI AND PUNK
“PUNK leans hard into CHAI’s gift for spiky, wiry aggression, but the group never abandons its sense of playfulness and light” – NPR Music
“terrifically over the top.” – Pitchfork, Best New Music
“Their songs shapeshift, ping-ponging from one idea to the next with dizzying speed, leaving you no choice but to hang on for dear life and go along for the ride.” – Stereogum, Album Of The Week
“they’re determined to redefine your idea of ‘kawaii,’ and, in the process, there’s no way you won’t become addicted.” – Nylon
“Punk is a huge step forward for CHAI, and easily one of the best albums of the year.” – Exclaim!
“Packed with gum-snapping cheerleader attitude and space disco grooves, it’s a potent distillation of serotonin that offers countless surprises across its thirty-minute runtime.” – The FADER
“Bursting with fun, expanded musicianship, and boundless energy, this is one sophomore record that couldn’t exist more in the now.” – The 405
37d03d is pleased to announce new signing, Baltimore-born/Los Angeles-based artist Naeem (full name NaeemJuwan), alongside new single: a gorgeous cover of the SilverApples classic, “You and I”. Restlessly creative in his artistic pursuit, Naeem creates impressionistic, genre-bending music. Having spent much of the last decade stretching his creative legs in a variety of ways, he’s hit the road with artists ranging from The Avalanches and Bon Iver to Big Red Machine and Mouse on Mars, took part in a 37d03dresidencyinBerlin, and was selected as the music resident in 2019 for New York’s Pioneer Works space. Through it all, he’s been building and creating, pulling from creative circles all across the U.S. to craft a truly unique sound of his own.
Reinterpreted for today’s fraught times, Naeem’s cover of “You and I” is deeply textured, emotional, and daring. “It sounds like a James Brown song to me,” says Naeem, “but if he sang it, he’d sing it as a slow song, and then I imagined myself crooning it. It’s an important song for people to hear right now, especially in terms of the ideas of self-care and the attention economy. The song’s about how we don’t have time for the little things, which feels really heavy and makes so much sense right now.”
Recorded in just six days, Flat Worms‘ fourth album, Antarctica, is a loud, wild, angry, and yet hopeful record about where we’re going as a species. Are we heading for a barren wasteland of a future, a world of people who don’t want to come back out after COVID-19 is gone, or a world where people still have hope and work toward building a better tomorrow?
Those are the questions Flat Worms (Tim Hellman – bass, Will Ivy – guitar and vocals, and Justin Sullivan – drums) ask themselves and us, beginning with “The Aughts.” Remember them? The years 2000 – 2009 seem like more than a decade ago, don’t they? We’ve already forgotten the lessons learned during those years, which might explain why Ivy’s guitar sounds like its growling for the entire song and Sullivan sounds like he’s beating his snare drum to death at some points. “The aughts, the teens, the tens, only a means to an end,” Ivy sings.
Hellman’s bass is like facing a blitz of punches from a boxer on “Plaster Casts.” Up next is the dangerous “Market Forces,” which is currently my top single of 2020. It absolutely flattens anything that comes into contact with it. The lyrics skewer self-isolation via our phones and addicting entertainment long before a different kind of self-isolation became necessary. “I’m like a piece of the puzzle that’s lost in the living room. I’m looking for a catapult to escape the situation, but every time I thought I got out, I’m just stepping in quicksand again,” Ivy sings. Good grief, haven’t we all been there?
The title track starts with what almost sounds like hip hop beats from Sullivan, but then Hellman’s prowling panther bass enters the room and Ivy’s guitar flits around like a vampire bat. “Via” builds with a solid chug and then warps into post-punk madness. Ivy’s guitar on “The Mine” plunges into psychedelia while Hellman’s bass is the jagged rocks below and Sullivan’s drums move back and forth between garage rock and near-metal rolls.
“Ripper One” does indeed rip, reminding me of a high-powered engine that’s pushed to its limits. “There’s nothing to lose, nothing to offer,” they sing amid heavy cymbal crashes and power chords. A lot of us are stuck in that mode of being nowadays and we’re unsure of how to break the cycle. We know that moving into a “Condo Colony” (which sounds like an early Public Image Ltd. cut) won’t bring us much relief, if any. A gated community not only keeps people out, it tries to convince you that you shouldn’t leave. Ivy implores us with warnings like, “And as the towers grow, see the traffic swell. A phantom opera glove is behind the controls. It’s a condo colony! A condo colony! Step out.” and “If I could somehow escape outside of the wall, then I look over my shoulder and everywhere I go it just follows me.” Hot damn. He’s not playing.
“Signals” could refer back to those traffic jams controlled by unseen phantoms. It’s a short instrumental before “Wet Concrete,” which has bass that’s as thick as its namesake. The album ends with “Terms of Visitation,” which sounds like something you might run into on the Home Owners Association agreement you signed to moved into that condo colony. It’s a wild, chaotic tune about the delicate dances we do in romantic relationships. “These are the terms of visitation, fit for prisoners, fit for lovers just the same. It’s just the same.”
This is one of the best albums of 2020 so far. Flat Worms are bringing their A-game right now, and in this time of no professional sports we need serious players for serious times.
