7th Level Music

Live – Partner, Faux Furrs, So Pretty – Chicago, IL – January 22, 2017

I was happy to learn just a couple weeks ago that Canadian pop-punk band Partner were playing at Schuba’s. I wanted to see Partner at Chicago’s Riot Fest last year, but my plans (and theirs) to attend fell through and I couldn’t make the festival.

I was still able to catch them on only the third show they’ve played in the U.S., however, and shame on you if you weren’t there.

First up were local post-punks So Pretty, who were like a combination of X-Ray Spex, Witch Mountain, and Bikini Kill. Guitarist / co-lead vocalist Rachel Manter unleashed vocal fury at our new President on “Progress,” lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist Ashley Holman screamed about wanting to be “punk rock royalty” on “Blueberry Blues,” and they got funky on “Limbo” (with bassist James Seminara on vocals).

Next up was another local band – Faux Furrs. They played a neat mix of shoegaze, surf, Americana, and dream pop. There were songs about everything from robots falling in love to building a colony on the moon. They had a clean, crisp sound that’s hard to pull off live.

Partner closed the show, and told me before their set that they hoped everyone would like it. Kevin, their bassist for the tour, said they were very happy about the number of people there. The people there were happy they showed up because Partner knocked their first Chicago show out of the park. Seriously. You will be upset that you missed this show when Partner become the Next Big Thing out of Canada.

Opening with “Born to Rock,” and proceeding to blast Schuba’s harder than a New Brunswick blizzard, Partner ripped through soon-to-be big hits like “Personal Weekend” and “Hot Knives.” “The ‘Ellen’ Page” is better live than you can imagine. Other fun moments were “Gross Secret,” “Everybody Knows You’re High,” and “Sex Thing.”

A typical day at the office for Josee Caron and Lucy Niles.

One of the best parts of Partner’s set was their reaction when it was finished. They were humbled at the outpouring of praise from everyone afterwards and elated that their first foray into the States had been full of great audiences.

“That wasn’t even the full album (which, hopefully, is coming this fall),” Josee Caron told me after their set. “We’ve got about fifty songs.”

Let’s hope for more stuff soon. They’ve whet our appetites and left us craving more. Again, you’re going to regret missing this show.

There are enough power chords in this photo to jump start a Ford F250 pick-up.

Keep your mind open.

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The Flaming Lips – Oczy Mlody

Recorded over the course of four years, Oczy Mlody by the Flaming Lips is a great way to kick off 2017. It tells a tale of sadness and regrets that turns into a story of resilience, love, and hope by the end.

The title track is a keyboard and synth-driven instrumental that would be at home in the opening credits of a movie set in the not-too-distant future. “How??” has lead singer Wayne Coyne issuing a call to action. “Legalize it. Every drug right now. Are you with us or are you burnin’ out? Kill your rock n roll motherfuckin’ hip-hop sound.” The lyrics might be angry, but the birdsong and distant, warped vocals make one think the rally cries are actually riddles.

“There Should Be Unicorns,” with its heavy synth bass (and guest vocals by Reggie Watts), asks where the bright, enlightened future promised to us by various leaders is. The Flaming Lips demand we enact this future if possible. One suggestion? “…if the police show up, we’ll bribe them into helping us steal the light of love from the rainbow sluts that live next door.”

“Sunrise (Eyes of the Young)” has Coyne wishing he could go back in time to hear a message he ignored. It’s mostly his vocals and Steven Drozd’s slightly echoed piano until some sad, falling synths ooze into the song. “Nigdy Nie (Never No)” starts to turn the album away from painful memories. The lyrics are mostly the word “No” until the second half when they become “Yeah.” The poppy synths are also a bit happier than the last track, almost like the band has realized things are going to be okay.

“Galaxy I Sink” has Coyne questioning his mortality and wondering if we will return to the stardust of which we are made. The desert guitar in it (backed with the sound of frogs chirping, no less) is perfect for such a cosmic conundrum. “One Night While Hunting for Fairies and Witches and Wizards to Kill” is probably the closest you’ll get to being in one of Wayne Coyne’s dreams. He describes going into a tree, trying to kill a wizard, being mortally wounded, and then healed by magical beings. I don’t know what it all means, but it’s one of the best tracks on the record. It’s dark wave filtered through an opium vision. “Do Glowy” continues this trip with even trippier synths and lyrics about getting “glowy and drippy.”

The frogs return in “Listening to the Frogs with the Demon Eyes.” Strange industrial sounds mix with shaky synths and dream-pop guitars. The song is mostly about death, but it’s also about faith: “I can’t see the moon, but I know it’s there. I can’t see the end, but I know it’s there. I can’t see the sun, but I feel it’s there. I can’t see your love, but I know it’s there.”

It flows well into “The Castle,” a song about a woman who’s lost her mind after, I think, being heartbroken (or from suffering a massive head wound, I’m not sure which). “Almost Home (Blisko Domu)” is a reminder that actions have consequences, so wisely choose your path. Coyne sings (as some cool, almost hip-hop bass and grooves kick in), “The thought soon becomes the word, the word then becomes the deed. If the deed is evil, blame the thought it is the seed.”

“We A Family” (with guest vocals by Miley Cyrus) is a tale of Coyne missing his love as he drives “somewhere south of Wichita” and she’s somewhere else under the moon. They’re apart but still connected. Cyrus’ voice mixes well with Coyne’s. They’ve worked together in the past, so hearing them together again to finish the album is a nice touch.

This is already one of the best records of the year. The Flaming Lips can mix dark wave, psychedelia, and electro in ways few bands can. Oczy Mlody ends with laughter. It reminds us to remember joy and have faith. We need that advice in these times.

Keep your mind open.

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Stratus Nimbus – self-titled

Hailing from Arizona, Stratus Nimbus play a furious type of stoner and psychedelic rock with heavy metal influences. “Equality,” the opening track on their self-titled six-song EP, is loaded with guitars that would be right at home on Nirvana’s Bleach album as much as they would on a Black Sabbath record. The vocals, by Doug Dowd, are so full of reverb that they almost sound like they were recorded underwater.

The guitars on “Can’t Break Free” by Tom Goddard and Dan Dowd roll over you like waves breaking on rocky shores and threatening to drag you under or smash you to pieces. “A Walk in the Dark” is a great, creepy track that is a cool mix of Alice in Chains, Dio, and I think something from an unpublished Lovecraft story. Linda Rydelius’ vocals on it are like a dire warning to travelers on a bleak mountain pass.

“Galaxy Girl” is fine spacey psych. I love the way the guitars roar and whisper at the same time throughout it. “You Take” clearly shows the band’s love of heavy metal, as it sounds like a late 70’s track you’d hear blasting from your brother’s van as he cruised Main Street. The EP ends with “Rain Jam,” which is crunchy-punchy stoner rock that probably knocks you back on your heels live.

These cats have good things ahead of them if this EP is any indication. It’s loud, distorted, and weird, as good rock from the desert should be.

Keep your mind open.

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True Widow – Avvolgere

I had to research what the title of True Widow’s album Avvolgere means. It’s an Italian term that means to wrap up or wind around something. It’s appropriate, because this album wraps around your mind with a lot of good, dark shoegaze that changes the feel of the air around you.

“Back Shredder” starts the album, and I wonder if the song is about self-flagellation or being under the whip of a demanding boss, Dom / Domme, or both. The guitar is as heavy as the steps of a high-heeled boot into a dungeon, and the vocals sound like they were recorded in such a place. It’s a solid start. “Theurgist” refers to someone who practices theurgy (ritualistic magic with the intent of invoking gods to improve oneself). The bass is something that would make Peter Hook proud, and the vocals seem to indicate that the singer is trying to bring back an ex-lover more than invoke a god (or are they one and the same?).

Next is the cryptically titled “F.W.T.S.: L.T.M.” It’s pure shoegaze, with slow cymbal-driven beats and distorted riffs that carry the vocals like a leaf on a river that might turn into raging rapids at any moment. I’ve read that True Widow refers to their music as “stonergaze,” and that description is apt for “The Trapper and the Trapped.” Male and female vocals bounce off each other as the bass hits like a blunt axe and the drums pound out a funeral dirge.

“O.O.T.P.V.” is another cryptic title, but don’t worry about it because good heavens is this song fantastic. The way the guitars chug along and then break open the chorus (“I try to run away, but I can’t seem to run. There’s something in the way, and I’m too scared to look.” – An anthem for all of us trying to escape reality at one time or another.) will make you stop and pay attention. “Entheogen” is a term for any plant-based chemical substance you ingest to induce an altered state of consciousness for religious purposes. The title explains the sweat lodge-like sound of the guitar (which isn’t much different from some spaghetti western scores) and the mysterious lyrics. The sweat lodge drums come out in “To All That He Elong,” which is nothing but drums, acoustic guitar, and sad vocals. “Sante” (French for “health”) is has more heavy guitar and bass that reminds me of Hum tracks if Hum had a female lead singer. “Grey Erasure” reminds me of early Jesus and Mary Chain, and the closer, “What Finds Me,” is six minutes of heavy shoegaze mixed with a bit of doom rock sludge.

“Stonergaze” might be my new favorite musical genre, and I have True Widow to thank for introducing me to it. If you’re in the right mood, this is the album for you. If you’re not in the right mood, this album might put you there.

Keep your mind open.

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Dayluta Means Kindness – When You’re Young You’re Invincible

Texas psych / prog-rockers Dayluta Means Kindness have returned with another album of mind-altering instrumental cosmic rock – When You’re Young You’re Invincible.

After a brief, feedback-looped “Intro,” the band bursts forward with “Warzawa.” It’s loud, bright, and shimmering with layers upon layers of guitars before it drifts into a bass solo that reminds me of light rain before the whole thing launches like an eagle launching itself off a mountain peak.

The title track starts off with dreamy guitars that are the sounds your brain thinks it’s hearing when you see the sun reflected off a rippling lake. It blooms at about the 4:00 mark into a song that evokes the bravery of a kid jumping off a tire swing into that rippling lake for the first time.

After a brief “Segue,” DMK treats us to over ten minutes of dreamscape music on “Fort Lebanon.” It grows into something like a rolling thunderstorm across a meadow on a summer day. “Young Savagery and General Debauchery” could be, thematically, a companion piece to the title track. It doesn’t have a savage or debauched opening. It’s almost idyllic. Perhaps DMK is trying to tell the generation coming up behind them that cockiness, base pleasures, and ego are all fleeting things that hold us back from tranquility. The song transforms into a stunning piece of heavy prog-rock that never loses its shoegaze influences.

There’s an “Outro” that leaves us with a bit of a somber note, like we’re waking up from a cryptic dream. The whole record brings dreams to mind – dreams of the future and the past, mainly. It’s a dream worth having and worth exploring.

Keep your mind open.

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Slowdive release first single in more than two decades.

SLOWDIVE RETURN WITH FIRST NEW SONG IN 22 YEARS

LISTEN TO “STAR ROVING” HERE
https://youtu.be/ogCih4OavoY

(above image by Ingrid Pop)

After 22 years, Slowdive return with “Star Roving,” their first new material since 1995’s Pygmalion. Featuring Neil Halstead (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Christian Savill (guitar), Nick Chaplin (bass), Rachel Goswell (vocals) and Simon Scott (drums, electronics), “Star Roving” embodies the effortlessness for which Slowdive is known — as the song progresses, it expands and contracts in ways that feel infinite.
Slowdive released their debut album, Just For A Day, in 1991 via Creation Records. The highly revered Souvlaki followed in 1993 and Pygmalion in 1995, and then the band disbanded. In the 22 years of their virtual disappearance, compilation albums have been released and the core members of the group have gone on to join other musical endeavors. In 2014, Slowdive announced that they had reunited and more new music would follow. Upon today’s release of new single, “Star Roving,” the band has also announced signing to Dead Oceans.

Halstead says, “When the band decided to get back together in 2014, we really wanted to make new music. It’s taken us a whole load of shows and a few false starts to get to that point, but it’s with pride and a certain trepidation we unleash ‘Star Roving.’ It’s part of a bunch of new tracks we’ve been working on and it feels as fun, and as relevant playing together now as it did when we first started. We hope folks enjoy it.”

Dead Oceans’s Phil Waldorf comments on the signing, “We are elated to work with Slowdive on their new album. I saw Slowdive for the first time, as a teenager, in 1991 at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC. I remember it being a revelation – the way the band used texture and tone was something I’d never heard before, and it stuck with me for a long time. It was one of those gigs that was a gateway drug of sorts — not only was it amazing to see Slowdive, but it was the first taste of a whole sound that made me go exploring into all kinds of music. More than two decades later, their music sounds just as relevant and vital, and we cannot wait for old fans and new listeners to hear the band’s new recordings.”
Listen to Slowdive’s “Star Roving” –
https://youtu.be/ogCih4OavoY

Purchase “Star Roving” –
https://slowdive.lnk.to/star-roving

VIVA PHX 2017 festival announces initial lineup.

Good grief! Check out this first round lineup announcement from the VIVA PHX festival on March 11th. It’s one night in downtown Phoenix with 75 bands playing in 18 venues.

At first glance, my must-see bands are (reading from top to bottom on the list above) Girl Talk, Temples, the Reverend Horton Heat, X, Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Yacht, Blackalicious, Deap Vally, Night Beats, Froth, and Death Valley Girls.

There will be many local area bands there I’m sure I’ll want to see by then. I already have my airfare and will be getting my tickets soon. Don’t wait too long. Tickets are only $25 bucks right now and will go up as the date gets closer.

Keep your mind open.

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Elephant Stone announce Canada and U.K. tour dates.

Psych-rockers Elephant Stone have released a big batch of tour dates across their home country and in the United Kingdom. Catch them if you can. You won’t regret it.

Feb. 08 – Grad Club – Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Feb. 09 – Starlight – Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Feb. 10 – Adelaide Hall – Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Feb. 14 – Casbah – Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Feb. 15 – E-Bar – Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Feb. 16 – Red Dog – Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

Feb. 17 – Zaphods – Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Feb. 18 – Theatre Fairmount – Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Mar. 24 – Trou de Diables – Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada

Mar. 31 – Petite Boite Noire – Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

Apr. 01 – La Sainte Paix – Drummondville, Quebec, Canada

May 26 – The Moth Club – London, UK

May 27 – The Moon Club – Cardiff, UK

May 28 – Eiger Studios – Leeds, UK

May 29 – Mono – Glasgow, UK

May 30 – Picture House Social – Sheffield, UK

May 31 – Hope & Ruin – Brighton, UK
BTW check out this live in-studio performance they did of Ship of Fools sitar track “Silence Can Say So Much”. Listen to Ship of Fools HERE.

Keep your mind open.

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U2 announces 30th anniversary tour of “The Joshua Tree.”

I guess it was thirty years ago when I saw U2 on their Joshua Tree tour in Indianapolis at Market Square Arena (which no longer exists). The band recently announced they will be playing the album in full during an upcoming anniversary tour that will stretch from Vancouver to Brussels. There are plenty of U.S. dates, but you’ll have to get your tickets from the resale market if you missed the sale. The tour sold out in minutes.

Keep your mind open.

A Perfect Circle to tour North America this year.

A Perfect Circle had announced earlier this year that they’d perform four tour days, but lo and behold they confirmed everyone’s hopes by announcing a full North American tour for 2017. Catch them if you can if you’re in the west or south (or Missouri). They don’t tour often.

April 7 – Las Vegas, Nevada @ The Pearl
April 8 – Las Vegas, Nevada @ The Pearl
April 10 – Phoenix, Arizona @ Comerica Theatre
April 11 – San Diego, California @ Open Air Theatre
April 13 – San Francisco, California @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
April 14 – Reno, Nevada @ Reno Event Center
April 15 – Sal Lake City, Utah @ Maverik Center
April 17 – Denver, Colorado @ 1st Bank Center
April 19 – Kansas City, Missouri @ Starlight Amphitheatre
April 20 – St. Louis, Missouri @ Chafietz Arena
April 22 – Tusla, Oklahoma @ BOK Center
April 23 – Grand Prairie, Texas @ Verizon Theatre
April 25 – Austin, Texas @ HEB Center at Cedar Park
April 26 – San Antonio, Texas @ Freeman Coliseum
April 27 – Houston, Texas @ Smart Financial Center
April 29 – Jacksonville, Florida @ Welcome to Rockville
April 30 – Fort Meyers, Florida @ Fort Rock Festival
May 2 – Atlanta, Georgia @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
May 3 – Nashville, Tennessee @ Bridgestone Arena
May 5 – Concord, North Carolina @ Carolina Rebellion
May 7 – Los Angeles, California @ Hollywood Bowl

Keep your mind open.