Chicago bands – Page 2 – 7th Level Music

Situation Chicago 2 compilation to benefit Chicago venues, their workers, and local artists.

Chicago-based nonprofit Quiet Pterodactyl announces Situation Chicago 2, a compilation out digitally on May 21st (physical copies will be available in July) benefiting Chicagoland musicians through the CIVL (Chicago Independent Venue League) SAVE Emergency Relief Fund, which provides need-based grants to furloughed staff, local artists and venues in the Chicagoland area. Situation 2 features Chicago bands and artists including Jeff Parker, Umphrey’s McGee feat. Béla Fleck, The Goddamn Gallows, V.V. Lightbody, Neptune’s Core, and more. Today, Quiet Pterodactyl shares two of its tracks, Jeff Parker’s “Slippin’ Into Darkness” (War Cover), and Robust’s “I Don’t Know Why,” with an accompanying video.

Listen to Jeff Parker’s “Slippin’ Into Darkness” (War Cover)

Watch Robust’s “I Don’t Know Why” Video

Annah Garrett of CIVL expands on the relief fund’s goal:

“The CIVL SAVE Emergency Relief Fund was designed specifically for staff and artists to bridge the gap between the closures that have wreaked havoc on Chicago’s live music ecosystem and its eventual resurgence. Local artists are in a unique situation because their touring calendars take months to plan and then travel. They will not bounce back at the same rate as venues. CIVL SAVE strives to support these folks during this precarious time. Situation Chicago 2 shines a spotlight on an array of talented local artists and their work, while raising funds for a large pool of their colleagues, who are still very much at the mercy of this virus.”

This is the second installation of the Situation Series, following last year’s Situation Chicago, which raised $35,000 for 25 local, independent music venues that have been shut down due to the COVID pandemic. With support from Dark Matter Coffee, Jeppson’s Malört, Nature’s Grace & Wellness, Red Bull, and Smashed Plastic, who have also locally pressed the Situation albums.

Pre-order Situation Chicago 2

Situation Chicago 2 Tracklist
Side 1
1. MIIRRORS – “Sinistry” (Live From Definitive Version)
2. Robust – “Don’t Know Why”
3. Fess Grandiose – “Keep The Rhythm Goin”
4. Umphrey’s McGee feat. Béla Fleck – “Great American”
5. The Imperial Boxmen – “Reduxion”
6. Jeff Parker – “Slippin’ Into Darkness”

Side 2
7. Neptune’s Core – “Drowning”
8. The Goddamn Gallows – “The Maker”
9. V.V. Lightbody – “Really Do Care”
10. Erin McDougald – “The Parting Glass”

Digital Bonus Tracks
1.Gramps the Vamp – “A Doomed Star”
2. HON3YBUN – “If And When It Ends”
3. The Avondale Ramblers – “One For The Ditch”
4. Adem Dalipi – “Through Another’s Eyes”

Learn More About The CIVL SAVE Emergency Relief Fund

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe.]

[Thanks to Jim at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Moontype take the “Ferry” on their first single.

Laying down roots at Oberlin College before officially becoming a band in Chicago last year, it has not take Moontype long to start turning heads. Despite having no music online, the three piece (composed of singer/bassist Margaret McCarthy, guitarist Ben Cruz and drummer Emerson Hunton) began playing in their adoptive city in 2019 with only a pair of Bandcamp demos to their name and quickly started appearing on bills with buzzing acts like Strange Ranger, Horsejumper of Love and Paear. This led to them capturing the attention of the rising Chicago label Born Yesterday (helmed by Deeper‘s Kevin Fairbairn and the increasingly ubiquitous engineer Greg Obis), who have recently garnered an expanding national profile with releases from DIY circuit up and comers Landowner and Cafe Racer. Today, Moontype are announcing their signing to the label with their single “Ferry” which is premiering via The FADER.

WATCH: Moontype’s “Ferry” video on YouTube // FADER

The track, described by FADER as “a gauzy Midwest fantasy,” is an arresting example of Moontype’s sound, one that is startlingly fully-realized for a band who have yet to release their first album, and of a songwriter in McCarthy with a rare ability to communicate her perspective with a relatable clarity and a transporting depth. There are suggestions of the intimate songwriterly-ness of Tomberlin or Lomelda, blended with the sweeping, technically-minded indie of Built To Spill, and even hints of the downbeat grandeur of Mazzy Star in a track that sees McCarthy relate the alienating feeling of a gradually dissipating friendship. Immediately engaging and emotionally acute, it’s the kind of sure-handed first offering that provides a tantalizing suggestion of what’s to come from an extremely promising new band.

“‘Ferry’ is a song about the loss of friendship, not when it breaks apart quickly and devastatingly but when it slowly unravels and you watch it go,” McCarthy explains to FADER. “3 or 4 of my friendships made their way into this song. I think about a friend who was about to go on a two-year long tour, and I started to drift away from him months before he actually left – a trick the mind plays to make the break less painful. Your friend leaves and afterwards you’re left with these visceral memories – running around the city at night, drinking whiskey in the alley – and in memory form those experiences gain potency, like ‘ah that was really living, and what I have now is nothing.’ And that vivid memory stands in high contrast to the way their entire personhood is slowly fading from your mind, you forget how they walk, what kind of jokes they made. And then you’re left with only yourself and you realize that you’ve defined yourself through the relationships you’ve been in, and when those people go away you feel like an empty shell (no snail inside!) and that feeling is enough to make a person say ‘I wanna take the ferry to Michigan! Get me out of this place!’”

“Ferry” is available to purchase on Bandcamp.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Tom at Hive Mind PR.]

Review: Hum – Inlet

Everyone knows that 2020 has been a crappy year, but there have been some pleanst surprises this year: Drive-ins made a spectacular comeback, pets adoptions skyrocketed, Dungeons and Dragons became more popular than it has been since the early 1990s, Crayola released crayons with colors that better reflect all the different skin tones in the world, people saved money, read books, and learned how to cook again.

Also, Hum released a new album – Inlet.

For those of you unaware, Hum are a heavy shoegaze / space rock band who released four albums between 1991 and 1998. Their single, “Stars,” from the 1995 album You’d Prefer an Astronaut, was a mainstay of MTV and modern rock radio at the time. They were one of those bands that everyone found intriguing, but who somewhat disappeared after poor sales of their 1998 album, Downward Is Heavenward, and their touring van getting wrecked in 2000. There were occasional reunion shows now and then, but they were few and far between. Then, Inlet was released on June 23, 2020 and floored everyone.

It quickly proved that Hum hadn’t lost any of their power. Opener “Waves” unleashes a wall of sound in the first thirty seconds as lead singer / rhythm guitarist Matt Talbott (whose voice seems to have not aged a day) sings about the power of nature and drummer Bryan St. Pere sounds like he’s beating his snare drum through the floor. The loud, heavy, yet clear sound bassist Jeff Dimpsey gets on “In the Den” is a thing of wonder. It carries the track while Tablott and lead guitarist Tim Lash unleash electric guitar chugging like two growling tugboats pulling a barge loaded with UFO parts.

Dimpsey’s bass somehow gets heavier on “Desert Rambler” – which is over nine minutes of fuzzy, shimmering space rock. “Where is the bottom? I wouldn’t know,” Talbott sings. This seems to be about depression and heartbreak, but it could also be about whatever’s inside a cosmic wormhole. The song reminds me of alien landscapes drawn by Moebius.

“Step into You” is the shortest song on the album at just over four minutes in length, but it’s no less fuzzy. The lads in Hum have this amazing ability to create a sense of gravity being in flux around you with their sound. It’s difficult to describe, but it almost becomes tactile when you hear it. “The Summoning” ups the buzz-saw guitars so they sound like a swarm of super-intelligent bees.

It seems appropriate that they have a song called “Cloud City” on the album since many of the tracks seem to lift you into the upper atmosphere and beyond. “I don’t feel anything,” Talbott sings, perhaps because he’s weightless by this point from the sheer power of he and the rest of Hum are generating to get to escape velocity.

“I want to stay next to you. I don’t remember your name. Do you feel the tremors here?” Talbott asks on “Folding” – a soaring song about love and knowing when to let go of it when it’s gone. The song melts into a psychedelic whale song-like drone for over a minute at the end. Lash really gets to strut his stuff (as if he hasn’t been throughout the entire record) on the closer, “Shapeshifter,” which has him flying like an eagle over a barren desert one moment and then roaring across that same desert in an experimental rocket car the next.

It’s a stunning record and a welcome return from Hum. It’s a wonderful escape from the chaos of 2020. Put on your headphones, sit in a place where you can watch nature, and let it do the rest.

Keep your mind open.

[I’d hum a happy tune if you subscribed.]

Spun Out arise from the ashes of NE-HI and take us to “Another House” with new single.

Spun Out, the new Chicago-based band led by Mikey Wells, James Weir, and Alex Otake, announce their debut album, Touch The Sound, out August 21st via Shuga Records and the band’s Spun Out Productions label. Today, they also present their lead single/video, “Another House.” Spun Out is built from the embers of NE-HI, whose influential half-decade run ended in 2019 as one of Chicago’s foremost indie rock acts. Touch The Sound is an expansive and exciting first offering. Full of mesmerizing grooves, melancholic pop bliss, and thrilling studio experiments, Touch The Sound is a document of a band truly pushing themselves. With songs simultaneously perfect for a packed rock club or a sweaty dance floor, this is an album that instantly grabs you and takes hold with each successive listen.

While NE-HI had spent years making four-piece indie rock, their new material reflects their evolving tastes with more danceable, spacey, and heady textures. Spun Out’’s first few writing sessions were a whirlwind of creativity and soul-searching. They enlisted Josh Wells (Destroyer) as producer and his approach to generating new sounds fit seamlessly with the band’s newfound ethos; to collaborate openly, emotionally and artistically. “Instead of recording everything live and just trying to capture the energy, we were more intentional: tracking as many layers as we wanted to and then peeling it back. There were no limitations in the studio and were able to shape these songs more,” says Otake. That’s not to say their studio experimentation results in a lack of energy. These songs burst with life and color.

Spun Out is an open door for collaborators and over the course of making Touch The Sound, they enlisted a diverse cast of musicians to flesh out these songs including Destroyer’s JP Carter, Caroline Campbell, saxophonist Kevin Jacobi, Patrick Donohoe, now full-time members keyboardist Sean Page and guitarist Jake Gold, Deeper’s Shiraz Bhatti and Nic Gohl and others. “This isn’t just a three person band. We want to keep it a revolving door for our friends to come in and work with us,” says Weir.

Opener “Another House” captures the band’s spark and their daring songwriting. The track builds slowly but surely to a hair-raising peak complete with pulsing synths and a cacophony of drums and guitars. The accompanying video, directed by the bus-dwelling creative duo Noble Savage (Austin LeMoine and Troy Chebuhar), is representative of Spun Out’s vivid and rich sound. It features the band, washed in a hazy, psychedelic filter. Weir elaborates: “‘Another House’ is a musical boiling pot of a band break up, a search for a new artistic voice, mixed with imaginative studio exploration. We all know there are much bigger and more important things to discuss right now, but if this video and this song can transport you into a positive headspace, then the music has achieved its goal.”

While this album investigates the confusing emotional territory of feeling disillusioned and growing up, Spun Out are certain in one thing: each other. Says Weir, “We’ve only gotten closer as friends and bandmates. We’re basically brothers.” It’s not just a love letter to their expanding adventurousness as artists but also to Chicago’s vibrant music community and their evolving bond. Like its title suggests, Touch The Sound is an invitation to do just that.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “ANOTHER HOUSE”

PRE-ORDER TOUCH THE SOUND

TOUCH THE SOUND TRACKLIST
1. Another House
2. Such Are The Lonely
3. Dark Room
4. Running It Backwards
5. Antioch – Easy Detroit
6. Off The Vine
7. Don’t Act Down
8. Pretender
9. Cruel And Unusual
10. Plastic Comet

Spun Out Online:
https://twitter.com/spunoutband?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/spunoutband/
https://spunoutband.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/SPUN-OUT-105109181173378/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/53glqqgSYim0HNqJmVCffs

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Ohmme – Fantasize Your Ghost

Chicago’s Ohmme have released one of the more intriguing albums of 2020 so far – Fantasize Your Ghost. The title brings to mind the idea of planning for the afterlife and settling affairs now while you can. It’s also a bit of a fun idea – thinking about who and / or where you would haunt if you were a ghost (if you had the choice, of course).

The weird, melting guitars of opening track “Flood Your Gut” let you know that the album will be an interesting journey, and the double vocals of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart cement that fact as they sing about someone whose ego won’t let them see the forest for the trees when it comes to a relationship (“The tallest person that I ever met couldn’t even reach your head…Your whole vision’s not enough.”). “Selling Candy” is a sweet tribute to growing up in their Chicago neighborhood, sneaking out of the house, and daring to cross the big street to buy a hot dog from the grumpy hot dog vendor – and the Nirvana-like guitar chords on it are no slouches.

The fat, fuzzy bass of “Ghost” is great, as is the thumping chorus of Cunningham and Stewart singing about being “sick of looking at the stupid look on your face” while the object of their annoyance is preoccupied with bogus metaphysical journeys. The guitar solo on this track is nothing short of wild, and the opening lyric is nothing short of Zen (“You are the product of a happenstance.”). “The Limit” has Ohmme singing about a relationship coming to an end (“If human nature makes you a stranger, I can’t give you time if I can’t afford it.”).

“Spell It Out” has a similar theme as the use the image of dirty dishes in the sink and dust on the shelves as a metaphor for a relationship that has grown dull from lack of attention. “Twitch” tackles the light-hearted topic of existence (“Everything bores me and everything hurts. Is this what it means to be a human machine?”). The song builds to a lovely psychedelic haze before a quick fade-out. The following track, “3 2 4 3,” takes on another light-hearted subject – aging (“Looked in the mirror the other day, caught my reflection. My mouth had moved a different way. The muscles were straining…Different today but I’m the same.”). The sharp bass line under the bubbling vocals brings the song up to another level.

“Some Kind of Calm” is a lovely song about trying to quiet one’s mind amid a world of constant entertainment and noise. The instrumental “Sturgeon Moon” wouldn’t be out of place on some early 1980’s industrial album with its odd timing, boiler room guitars, and “falling down the stairs” percussion. The closer, “After All,” is a pretty track about being okay with getting away from the hustle and bustle of the world, and other people. It’s especially fitting in these times of self-isolation as they sing, “Seek your cocoon” over and over. We’ve all been forced to live in and re-examine our cocoons and lives. Is that necessarily a bad thing?

This album certainly isn’t a bad thing. Give it a spin and get lost in it.

Keep your mind open.

[I fantasize about you subscribing.]

Ohmme takes us to “The Limit” with their newest single.

Ohmme – the Chicago-based duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart – will release their new album, Fantasize Your Ghost, next Friday, June 5th on Joyful Noise Recordings, with the physical retail release date pushed to July 31, 2020. Today, they present a new single/video, “The Limit,” which follows previously released singles “Selling Candy,” “Ghost,” and “3 2 4 3.” “The Limit” is a dystopian dance rocker. With angular, winding guitar and Ohmme’s distinctive intertwining vocals, the track further stretches their already dynamic palette. Its eccentric video was directed by Hannah Welever, edited/VFX by Priscilla Perez, and animated by Connor Reed (Jazz Records Animations). It features Ohmme green screened over trippy clips and stock footage.

“The video for ‘The Limit’ was birthed out of the urge to create and collaborate with friends even while far apart,” says Ohmme. “Hannah Welever made it really exciting to explore the possibilities of creating a video together in isolation – putting new meaning to the song and applying it to the things we are experiencing now. Performing alone in front of a green screen was challenging, but left room for endless possibilities!”

“It was a blast working to adapt to the current climate of ‘making things’ with this new video,” says director Hannah Welever. “We had Sima and Macie film themselves at home on a green screen while I directed via Facetime, and my editor (Priscilla Perez) and I pulled Found Footage that felt like something you would see on an 80’s tube TV. I wanted to transport Ohmme to a nostalgic and colorful dream-scape to distract us from the cloud hanging above our world right now, and bring some lightness to the day-to-day monotony.”
Watch the Video for Ohmme’s “The Limit”
Fantasize Your Ghost is the direct result of the band spending more time on the road than in Chicago. It’s deeply concerned with questions of the self, the future, and what home means when you’re travelling all the time. Early sketches of Fantasize Your Ghost‘s tracklist were demoed at Sam Evian‘s Flying Cloud Studios in upstate New York through intensely collaborative and open sessions. The album was recorded over a six day session in August 2019 at the Post Farm in southern Wisconsin with journeyman producer Chris Cohen.

Though 2018’s Parts showcased their wildly burgeoning influences and talents, Fantasize Your Ghost captures the astounding magnetism and ferocity of their live show. It encapsulates the thrilling and sometimes terrifying joy of moving forward even if you don’t know where you’re going. It’s an album that asks necessary questions: When life demands a crossroads, what version of yourself are you going to pursue? What part of yourself will you feed and let flourish and what do you have to let go of? This is a record of strength, of best friends believing in each other. Unapologetic and brave, Ohmme are ready to figure it all out together.

Following their supporting dates with Waxahatchee in this Fall, Ohmme will play a headlining tour in the new year. A full list of dates can be found below and tickets are on sale now.
Listen to Ohmme’s “Selling Candy”

Watch the Video for “Ghost”

Watch the Video for “3 2 4 3”

Pre-order Fantasize Your Ghost

Ohmme Tour Dates
Sat. Aug. 8 – Ripon, WI @ Avrom Farm Party
Sun. Sept. 27 – Austin, TX @ Scholz Garten %
Mon. Sept. 28 – Houston, TX @ Satellite %
Tue. Sept. 29 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West %
Thu. Oct. 1 – Nashville, TN @ Exit In %
Fri. Oct. 2 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom %
Sun. Oct. 4 – Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre %
Mon. Oct. 5 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer %
Tue. Oct. 6 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere %
Thu. Oct. 8 – Winooski, VT @ Monkey House
Fri. Oct. 9 – Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre %
Sat. Oct. 10 – Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts %
Mon. Oct. 12 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Rex Theater %
Tue. Oct. 13 – Detroit, MI @ MOCAD %
Thu. Oct. 15 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center %
Fri. Oct. 16 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room %
Sat. Oct. 17 – Maquoketa, IA @ Codfish Hollow Barn %
Sun. Oct. 18 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre %
Sat. Jan. 9 – Kansas City, MO @ The Record Bar *
Mon. Jan. 11 – Denver, CO @ Lost Lake *
Tue. Jan. 12 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court *
Wed. Jan. 13 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux *
Thu. Jan. 14 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge *
Fri. Jan. 15 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza *
Sat. Jan. 16 – Vancouver, BC @ The Fox Cabaret *
Mon. Jan. 18 – Reno, NV @ Holland Project *
Tue. Jan. 19 – Bolinas, CA @ Gospel Flat Farmstand *
Wed. Jan. 20 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill *
Thu. Jan. 21 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst Atrium *
Fri. Jan. 22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon *

* = w/ V. V. Lightbody
% = w/ Waxahatchee

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

[Thanks to Brid at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Ohmme announce new tour dates and single – “Selling Candy.”

“Ohmme’s music feels experimental and strange yet still accessible, with an underlying gut-level rumble that keeps its songs from floating into the ether.” – NPR Music

“You might think OHMME is a mantra, but it’s in fact the place to be to hear remarkable music from a Chicago band in rare form” – Chicago Tribune

“Their latest single, ‘Ghost,’ has more narrative shape, yet its acute details are preserved…The instrumentation is minimal at first, but a wheedling guitar solo preserves the static. The two women clear a path through this haze with a final, unambiguous declaration: ‘I’m sick of looking at the stupid look on your face.’” – Pitchfork

Ohmme – the Chicago-based duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart – share a new single, “Selling Candy,” and announce rescheduled tour dates. “Selling Candy” is the third single they’ve released that appears on their new album, Fantasize Your Ghost, out June 5th on Joyful Noise Recordings. Following “Ghost” and “3 2 4 3, “Selling Candy” is riveting. The track, which has only six lines, is filled with Cunningham and Stewart’s harmonies, which soar over heavy, sludgy guitar and pummeling percussion. Eventually, the song ends in a noisy freakout.

“‘Selling Candy’ was pieced together from little snapshots of my childhood growing up on my block in Chicago,” says Cunningham. “It felt like its own tiny world where I could explore my imagination, enjoy independence from my parents, and meet all kinds of people, including the pissed off hot dog vendor from whom I bought a boiled hot dog from as often as I could get my hands on a buck.”

Listen to Ohmme’s “Selling Candy”
https://lnk.to/SellingCandy

Fantasize Your Ghost is the direct result of the band spending more time on the road than in Chicago. It’s deeply concerned with questions of the self, the future, and what home means when you’re travelling all the time. Early sketches of Fantasize Your Ghost‘s tracklist were demoed at Sam Evian‘s Flying Cloud Studios in upstate New York through intensely collaborative and open sessions. The album was recorded over a six day session in August 2019 at the Post Farm in southern Wisconsin with journeyman producer Chris Cohen.

Though 2018’s Parts showcased their wildly burgeoning influences and talents, Fantasize Your Ghost captures the astounding magnetism and ferocity of their live show. It encapsulates the thrilling and sometimes terrifying joy of moving forward even if you don’t know where you’re going. It’s an album that asks necessary questions: When life demands a crossroads, what version of yourself are you going to pursue? What part of yourself will you feed and let flourish and what do you have to let go of? This is a record of strength, of best friends believing in each other. Unapologetic and brave, Ohmme are ready to figure it all out together.

Additionally, Ohmme announce rescheduled North American tour dates for January 2021. Following their supporting dates with Waxahatchee in October, they’ll play a headlining tour in the new year. A full list of dates can be found below and tickets are on sale now.
Watch the Video for “Ghost”
https://youtu.be/hstB_R4pahw

Watch the Video for “3 2 4 3”
https://youtu.be/n9E9ngQ9lVI

Pre-order Fantasize Your Ghost
http://joyfulnoi.se/FantasizeYourGhost

Ohmme Tour Dates
Sat. Aug. 8 – Ripon, WI @ Avrom Farm Party
Sun. Sept. 27 – Austin, TX @ Scholz Garten %
Mon. Sept. 28 – Houston, TX @ Satellite %
Tue. Sept. 29 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West %
Thu. Oct. 1 – Nashville, TN @ Exit In %
Fri. Oct. 2 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom %
Sun. Oct. 4 – Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre %
Mon. Oct. 5 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer %
Tue. Oct. 6 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere %
Thu. Oct. 8 – Winooski, VT @ Monkey House
Fri. Oct. 9 – Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre %
Sat. Oct. 10 – Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts %
Mon. Oct. 12 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Rex Theater %
Tue. Oct. 13 – Detroit, MI @ MOCAD %
Thu. Oct. 15 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center %
Fri. Oct. 16 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room %
Sat. Oct. 17 – Maquoketa, IA @ Codfish Hollow Barn %
Sun. Oct. 18 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre %
Sat. Jan. 9 – Kansas City, MO @ The Record Bar *
Mon. Jan. 11 – Denver, CO @ Lost Lake *
Tue. Jan. 12 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court *
Wed. Jan. 13 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux *
Thu. Jan. 14 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge *
Fri. Jan. 15 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza *
Sat. Jan. 16 – Vancouver, BC @ The Fox Cabaret *
Mon. Jan. 18 – Reno, NV @ Holland Project *
Tue. Jan. 19 – Bolinas, CA @ Gospel Flat Farmstand *
Wed. Jan. 20 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill *
Thu. Jan. 21 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst Atrium *

* = w/ V. V. Lightbody
% = w/ Waxahatchee

Keep your mind open.

[It would be sweet if you subscribed.]

[Thanks to Brid at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Ohmme’s new single, “Ghost,” is perfect for blasting on your stereo during self-isolation .

“Ohmme’s music feels experimental and strange yet still accessible, with an underlying gut-level rumble that keeps its songs from floating into the ether.” – NPR Music

“You might think OHMME is a mantra, but it’s in fact the place to be to hear remarkable music from a Chicago band in rare form” – Chicago Tribune

“Their harmonies teem with nervous energy while riding a sweeping rhythmic undercurrent, building up tension that occasionally explodes into fleeting moments of release.” – Stereogum

Ohmme – the Chicago-based duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart – release a new single/video “Ghost,” from their forthcoming album, Fantasize Your Ghost, out June 5th via Joyful Noise Recordings. Following lead single“3 2 4 3,” “one of their darkest, thickest cuts yet” (Vulture), “Ghost” opens with sparse instrumentation, blooming with layered vocals and heavy, experimental guitar licks. Its colorful accompanying video, directed, shot, and edited by Austin Vesely, features the band and shiny, dancing ghosts.

“We’d been kicking around the idea of doing something like the Pop Musik video by M but darker,” says the band. “There’s a lot of darkness these days but it’s important to keep dancing. Austin said, ‘fancy ghosts’ and ‘can I press order on these California King satin bedsheets’ and we said ‘Yes, and YES!’”

Watch Ohmme’s Video for “Ghost”
https://youtu.be/hstB_R4pahw

Watch the Video for “3 2 4 3”

https://youtu.be/n9E9ngQ9lVI

Pre-order Fantasize Your Ghost
http://joyfulnoi.se/FantasizeYourGhost

Ohmme Tour Dates
Fri. June 5 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon – Record Release Show *
Sat. June 6 – Oakland, CA @ Crystal Cavern *
Sun. June 7 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Atrium at The Catalyst *
Mon. June 8 – Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s *
Tue. June 9 – Sisters, OR @ The Suttle Lodge *
Thu. June 11 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge *
Fri. June 12 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza *
Sat. June 13 – Spokane, WA @ Lucky You (Upstairs) *
Sun. June 14 – Boise, ID @ The Olympic *
Mon. June 15 – Reno, NV @ Holland Project
Tue. June 16 – Bolinas, CA @ Gospel Flat Farmstand *
Sat. Aug. 8 – Ripon, WI @ Avrom Farm Party
Sun. Sept. 27 – Austin, TX @ Scholz Garten %
Mon. Sept. 28 – Houston, TX @ Satellite %
Tue. Sept. 29 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West %
Thu. Oct. 1 – Nashville, TN @ Exit In %
Fri. Oct. 2 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom %
Sun. Oct. 4 – Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre %
Mon. Oct. 5 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer %
Tue. Oct. 6 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere %
Thu. Oct. 8 – Winooski, VT @ Monkey House
Fri. Oct. 9 – Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre %
Sat. Oct. 10 – Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts %
Mon. Oct. 12 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Rex Theater %
Tue. Oct. 13 – Detroit, M @ MOCAD %
Thu. Oct. 15 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center %
Fri. Oct. 16 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room %
Sat. Oct. 17 – Maquoketa, IA @ Codfish Hollow Barn %
Sun. Oct. 18 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre %

* = w/ V. V. Lightbody
% = w/ Waxahatchee

Keep your mind open.

[Slide on over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Pitch Perfect PR for the press release!]

Review: Melkbelly – PITH

Chicago’s Melkbelly have been through a lot since the release of their last album, Nothing Valley (the death of a close friend of the band, for one), but they haven’t succumbed to the pressures of stress, political theatre, or Madison Avenue. They’ve instead channeled that fidgeting anger and restless energy into an excellent new album – PITH.

The album was recorded with a lot of vintage microphones and Moog synths, as well as Melkbelly’s signature fuzz guitars and panicked drumming. Opener “THC” is about trying to make up for past wrongs with a friend, but failing at every turn. The song’s fuzz sways back and forth as James Wetzel‘s drums roll around like a grizzly bear scratching its back. Liam Winters‘ bass on “Sickengly Teeth” is as heavy as a battleship anchor. It’s a song about keeping a smile and speaking nice when you want to be cruel and lash out. Wife-husband duo Bart and Miranda Winters go guitar gonzo on the track.

The first single off the album, “LCR,” follows it, and it’s sort of a response to the previous track. Miranda Winters sings, “Her teeth were coated slick and sweetly, so thick that it was deafening. I cannot hear above the sugar, but I can watch your mouth move.” The opening riffs of “Little Bug” are straight metal and then morph into shoegaze chords. The lyrics are about someone Miranda Winters can’t get off her mind.

“Humid Heart” has Ms. Winters emerging from a hot relationship to find everyone else has left while she was enthralled with her last obsession (“Now nobody I like is left here. No one that I like’s left around.”). Wetzel’s drum fills are particularly impressive on this track. Liam Winters’ bass is the driving force of “Kissing Under Some Bats,” in which Ms. Winters trash talks people who come to shows and not pay attention to the band (among others). The track builds to a wild tidal wave of distortion and hammering beats.

“Season of the Goose” has Wetzel’s snare taking front and center as Ms. Winters sings more lyrics about heat. Heat, humidity, and arid environments are a prominent theme on PITH. Sometimes the heat is so bad that it’s choking (“Now’s the season when it hurts me to breathe. Did I burn you up?”). It’s all allegorical, of course, and we’re left thinking that the heat Melkbelly is feeling is from stress or the oppressive nature of everyone and everything having to be in our faces all the time.

The dangerous guitars of “Mr. Coda” reflect the dangerous nature of the song’s protagonist (“I showed up with a face and a set of walk-myself legs. Damn gams, can you handle this shit?”). “Stone Your Friends” slows down, but just a bit, to tell a tale of feeling uncomfortable around people who are supposed to be your friends.

“Water, water and me. Speak less, but still say a lot,” Ms. Winters sings on “Take H20.” Is she trying to tame the heat she’s been feeling throughout the whole record (and, I’m guessing, the six-month recording process of the album)? She won’t have much luck if that’s the case, because the whole song burns like a bonfire.

The closer, “Flatness,” is perhaps the most enigmatic song on the album. “I don’t have the patience to understand the shape of flatness,” Ms. Winters sings as she wanders through a field high grass and weeds early in the morning. Is she trying to wrap her head around something metaphysical, or a wide open space where a relationship used to be? It reminds me a bit of some of L7‘s slower tracks that bubble with distortion and barely suppressed power.

PITH is an impressive follow-up to Nothing Valley, and that album was already a blast furnace of Chicago garage-punk. PITH is a brick of Black Cat firecrackers thrown into that furnace.

Keep your mind open.

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Melkbelly releases “Sickeningly Teeth” from new album due tomorrow!

Chicago-based band Melkbelly will release PITH, their multidimensional and strikingly textural new album, on April 3rd via Wax Nine / Carpark Records. Today, they offer a new single/video, “Sickeningly Teeth,”which follows previously released singles “Humid Heart” and “LCR.” In conjunction, they share dates for their recently rescheduled North American tour.

“Sickeningly Teeth” is in step with Melkbelly’s unabashed loudness and is “a cough syrup induced self-reflection.” Miranda Winters’ bright vocals are delayed and hazy over raucous instrumentation and periodic tempo shifts.

The accompanying video was directed by Marty Schousboe (Joe Pera Talks With You), who also created the videos for Melkbelly’s “Bathroom at the Beach” and “Kid Kreative.” The “Sickeningly Teeth” video completes the Melkbelly Trilogy and is an obvious homage to the greatest trilogy of all time, “The Matrix”. It stars, among others, John Reynolds (Search Party), and is tastefully laden with delightful gross-outs.
WATCH MELKBELLY’S VIDEO FOR “SICKENINGLY TEETH”
https://youtu.be/ghumw7Ji-P4

PITH was summoned from a place of mourning following the loss of a close friend. Miranda Winters drew from diverse scenes—Grimm-like children’s stories too dark for kids; thorny, mossy forests—to create stories that feel distinctly Melkbellian: philosophically strange, strikingly textural, funny and sad and open-hearted.

Recording in two short sessions six months apart, the band worked with longtime collaborator Dave Vettraino, this time at Bloomington, Indiana’s Russian Recording. Alongside an arsenal of rock gear and airy synth layers coaxed from a Moog Prodigy, PITH’s was refined by the studio’s collection of rare Russian tube mics, which were placed in every corner to capture Melkbelly’s compelling intensity.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “HUMID HEART”
https://youtu.be/4hMYGDBE7sg

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “LCR”
https://youtu.be/sw5IEA8ju88

PRE-ORDER PITH
https://smarturl.it/melkbelly_pith

MELKBELLY TOUR DATES
Sat. Aug. 15 – Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village
Tue. Aug. 18 – Toronto, ON @ Baby G
Wed. Aug. 19 – Montreal, QC @ La Vitrola
Thu. Aug. 20 – Providence, RI @ Columbus Theater
Sun. Aug. 23 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool
Wed. Aug. 26 – Washington, DC @ Comet Ping Pong
Thu. Aug. 27 – Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
Fri. Aug. 28 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Roboto

PRAISE FOR MELKBELLY

“’LCR,’ the album’s lead single, exhibits their chaotic finesse — it’s an intricately put-together tower of noise, filled with bleary moments of relief from leader Miranda Winters” – Stereogum

“‘Humid Heart’ is adrift in a mesh of interlocking bass and guitar. The chords seem to link up and split on a whim, the aural equivalent of that push-pull of normality that comes with sudden loss. It all comes to a head in the final freakout, which ends like an abrupt snap back to reality.” – Consequence of Sound

“As one of the more exciting bands in recent memory, we’ve patiently awaited their new record and ‘Humid Heart’ is a good reason to believe it’s been worth the wait.”
– Post-Trash
Melkbelly Online:
http://melkbelly.net/
https://twitter.com/melkbelly
https://melkbelly.bandcamp.com/
http://pitchperfectpr.com/melkbelly/
https://www.facebook.com/melkbelly/
https://www.instagram.com/melkbelly/

Keep your mind open.

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