Click image above to watch video
Long-running Sacramento genre-benders Tera Melos have released the first of several videos created to accompany the trio's forthcoming album Patagonian Rats. The video for the song "The Skin Surf" -- directed by Behn Fannin (The Melvins, Nurses) -- shows the band at its quirky, clever finest. Watch it HERE.
The wily melodies and scurrying rhythms of Patagonian Rats will be released this fall via Sargent House. Check out the first MP3 "Frozen Zoo" taken from the album HERE. Alternately, fans can download the song in any file format HERE.
Have Tera Melos gone… pop? Well, no….but yes. Much like the trio's intricate and complex song structures, it's not quite that simple. Tera Melos' songs have traditionally been densely packed with so many wild shifts of time signature and chord structures that guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Nick Reinhart jokes they were sounds that, "only wizards could decipher."
Patagonian Rats is packed with melodic hooks and jabs that on paper might seem to defy the band's experimental edge. There's even clear and distinct vocals throughout -- a first for the band, where vocals, if any, were previously awash with distortion and layered in the mix. But, particulars aside, Patagonian Rats is the type of album that sticks with you.
Occasionally, "pop" music has really meant daring music. Like the Beach Boys in the late 60s, The Clash in the 70s, Devo in the 80s, Flaming Lips in the 90s -- the greatest artists have dared to make music that is hooky while also being groundbreaking. Patagonian Rats evokes images of bizarre and fantastic alternate realities. Think about the first time you heard "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys; jarring collisions of a cappella harmonies, tremolo-washed bass and chirping theremin. The key is not to understand it, but to let the music transform everyday reality into something new. And, that is the essence of Patagonian Rats.
Tera Melos formed in 2004 as a quartet, releasing their first self-titled disc in 2005 (later re-released by Sargent House in 2008). The band became a trio in late 2006, releasing the Drugs to the Dear Youth EP early the following year. A split disc with By The End of Tonight (2007) on Temporary Residence and an EP of cover songs, Idioms, Vol 1 followed in 2009. In the meantime, Reinhart collaborated with prolific drummer Zach Hill under the band name bygones, releasing the by- album in 2009 and Spiritual Bankruptcy EP in 2010, both on Sargent House. Clardy has also recently spent downtime as the touring drummer with guitar goddess Marnie Stern.
Patagonian Rats will be available everywhere via Sargent House on September 7th, 2010.
Tera Melos on tour:
09/09 Sacramento, CA @ Sol Collective
09/10 Seattle, WA @ The Vera Project
09/11 Portland, OR @ The Artistery
09/12 Reno, NV @ HSS Rainshadow
09/14 Englewood, CO @ Moe’s
09/15 Omaha, NE @ The Slowdown
09/16 St. Louis, MO @ The Firebird
09/17 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
09/18 Kalamazoo, MI @ The Strutt
09/20 Toronto, ON @ The Shop at Parts and Labour
09/21 Montreal, QC @ Bar St. Laurent II
09/22 Binghamton, NY @ Bazooka/Bazooka
09/23 Brooklyn, NY @ Death By Audio
09/24 Richmond, VA @ Exit 76
09/25 Durham, NC @ Duke University
09/26 Columbus, SC @ The Whig
09/27 Atlanta, GA @ Wonderroot
09/28 Mobile, AL @ Alabama Music Box
09/29 New Orleans, LA @ The Big Top
09/30 Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s
10/01 Dallas, TX @ The Nightmare
10/02 San Antonio, TX @ The Korova
10/03 Austin, TX @ Mohawk
10/05 Phoenix, AZ @ Trunk Space
10/07 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
10/11 Okayama, JP @ Pepperland
10/12 Fukuoka, JP @ Graf
10/13 Kyoto, JP @ Metro
10/17 Rappongi, JP @ Superdeluxe *
10/18 Yamagata, JP @ Sandinista *
10/19 Aomori, JP @ Sublime *
10/20 Morioka, JP @ Club Change *
10/21 Sendai, JP @ Park Square *
10/22 Toyama, JP @ Club Mairo *
* with LITE and Mike Watt and the Missing Men
Artist: Tera Melos
Album: Patagonian Rats
Label: Sargent House
Release Date: September 7th, 2010
01. So Occult
02. Kelly
03. The Skin Surf (VIDEO)
03. The Skin Surf (VIDEO)
04. Aped
05. Trident Tail
06. Frozen Zoo (MP3) (any file format)
07. In Citrus Heights
08. Skywatch
09. Party With Gina
10. Another Surf
11. Westham United
12. A New Uniform/Patagonia
Hi-Res photos, cover art and bio:
On the Web:
Tera Melos are available for interviews. For more information, please contact Dave Clifford at dave@usthemgroup.com
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