Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Bambi Lee Savage (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Daniel Lanois collaborator) posts new video from album produced by Mick Harvey

Click image above to watch video


"Savage's strengths lie in her ability to mix sugary sweet melodies with dark undertones. Her hushed, half-spoken musings are often what make her songs resonate, ultimately transforming Darkness Overshadowed into a beautiful, shadowy, twisted picture of Savage's psyche and talent." -- Exclaim!


Bambi Lee Savage shares a new video from her third solo album, Darkness Overshadowed today. The clip, "Oh Loneliness" is available to watch/share HERE. The album is available on CD and download via Bandcamp.

American Songwriter recently premiered another clip, "Nearly Gone" which is available to watch/share video HERE.

Darkness Overshadowed is produced by Mick Harvey (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey), who also plays most of the backing instrumentation. Check out the sultry Twin Peaks-esque pop of the track, "Oh Loneliness" available to stream/share HERE and download HERE courtesy of MAGNET Magazine.

As with most things in existence, it's the secrets in music that speak truest. The fact that Bambi Lee Savage has remained a secret for so long is testament to that. Over the past 25 years, the world-wandering singer-songwriter has worked with Daniel Lanois as well as members of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Einstürzende Neubauten. She counts among her patrons Billy Bob Thornton and Bono. Her timeless ballads and haunted anthems are stark, lush, elemental, and ethereal as smoke. And like smoke, they conceal -- even as they signal deeper mysteries well worth the effort of unveiling.

Savage began life in Florida, but following the death of her father -- a stunt pilot tragically killed during the filming of the Pearl Harbor drama Tora! Tora! Tora! -- her family relocated to Colorado. In Denver, she played in various punk bands, including the Pagan Cowboys, as the '80s raged around her. It was upon moving to England in 1985 that her secrets began to weave themselves. After fronting the post-punk outfit Horseland, she moved to Berlin, drawn by the industrial allure of Einstürzende Neubauten. In Berlin she began working as an assistant engineer at the famous Hansa Tonstudio. There she wound up scoring credits on two definitive albums of the era: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' The Good Son and U2's Achtung Baby.

Behind the scenes, though, Savage was working on her own songs. In 1992, Bono funded a recording session in Berlin that included the Bad Seeds' Mick Harvey and Hugo Race as backing musicians. Shadowy and steeped in a shivering mystique, the four-song recording went unreleased, although Harvey would later cover one of Savage's other songs, "Demon Alcohol," on his 2005 album One Man's Treasure. From there, Savage appeared on the German music documentary Lost in Music: Out of Country, playing two of her songs with Neubauten's Alex Hacke.

By then, Savage's music had taken a turn toward the dark end of the Americana street, driven partly by a homesickness for her native country. Back in the States, she captured another handful of songs with Daniel Lanois, with whom she'd worked on Achtung Baby. One of those songs, the ghostly folk threnody "Darlin'," caught the ear of Billy Bob Thornton, who used the song on the soundtrack to his breakthrough film Sling Blade.

In 2003, she released her first album, Matter of Time, a collection of the various sessions she'd done to date. Although a patchwork, the disc is stunning in its quiet force and sublimated passion. In it, Savage explores illicit substances, spirituality, tenderness, and terror, always with a thrilling tension between myth and confession. In the years that followed, she toured Australia (accompanied by Harvey on some dates) and played a triumphant set as the handpicked opener for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in Denver. She moved to Los Angeles soon after and, with Josh Klinghoffer on guitar (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dot Hacker) she completed work on the daring GJ and the PimpKillers, a conceptual and synthetically textured album that delved into the underworld of sex trafficking. As always, though, Savage's rich, hypnotic, full-blooded voice lends both humanity and otherworldliness to her songs.

Savage's new album, Darkness Overshadowed, is both a culmination of all she's done before-and a brave move beyond it. From the guttural punk undertow of "Easy Way" to the atmospheric dread of "Elsinore" to the whispery twang of "Waiting," the disc is based around hopes, fears, memories, regrets, and scraps of confessions written on Berlin bar napkins. Produced by Mick Harvey, who also provides most of the backing instrumentation, it's by far the most vivid and chilling of Savage's work to date. Above all, though, Darkness Overshadowed reads as a secret history of the pre-apocalypse, a gnostic gospel decrypted and given human form. Or in Savage's case, something slightly beyond human.

Darkness Overshadowed was released on CD and download on November 13th, 2012.


Artist: Bambi Lee Savage
Album: Darkness Overshadowed
Label: Bambi Lee Savage Music
Release Date: November 13th, 2012

01. Easy Way
02. Nearly Gone (MP3) (VIDEO)
03. Speed of Life
04. Nicht Mehr
05. Oh Loneliness (MP3) (VIDEO)
06. Elsinore
07. Take Me Down
08. Good Advice
09. No Stranger to Sorrow
10. Waiting (VIDEO)


On the Web:

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Dark synth-pop band Night Club release 'Love Casualty' today, share full EP stream



"Brooks and Kavanaugh wisely decide to focus on catchiness above all else, which pays huge dividends. These are monster hooks that are designed to invade brains and stay inside for a long time." -- Pop Matters  

"Singer Emily Kavanaugh sounds quite like Kylie Minogue, and she definitely has that same kind of breathy-but-edgy sex appeal in her delivery. All these tracks are carnally charged paeans to lustful encounters in the dark corners of the club, where all the best action happens." -- Frontiers L.A.


L.A.'s sinful synth-pop band Night Club issue their sophomore release Love Casualty today. The entire 5-song set is available for streaming/sharing via Soundcloud HERE and Bandcamp HERE. Night Club make their east coast live debut this week, performing at New York City's legendary dance bacchanal The Pyramid Club this Thursday, June 27th.

Night Club recently premiered a racy video via Buzzbands.LA from the band's self-titled debut. The clip for the song "Control" is available to watch/share HERE.

Night Club is the brainchild of DJ/Producer Mark Brooks, former guitarist for notorious 90s noise rockers Warlock Pinchers and current director of TV's "Metalocalypse" as well as videos for Slayer, Melvins, Danzig and more. The band is vocalist Emily Kavanaugh's first foray into performing, following in the footsteps of her father, keyboardist for legendary New Jersey band Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

Night Club's self-titled 5-song debut EP is available now via iTunes and CD via Gato Blanco. Love Casualty is available on CD and download via Gato Blanco as of June 25th.

NIGHT CLUB LIVE:
06/27  New York, NY @ Pyramid Club (9pm)


Artist: Night Club
Album: Love Casualty
Label: Gato Blanco
Release Date: June 25th, 2013

01. Don't Wanna Love You Forever
02. Poisonous (MP3)
03. Give Yourself Up
04. Precious Thing
05. Strobe Light


Artist: Night Club
Album: Night Club
Label: Gato Blanco
Release Date: March 19, 2013

01. Control (VIDEO)
02. Another One
03. Lovestruck (VIDEO)
04. Medicine
05. Do It Again






On The Web:

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Native announce sophomore album & share first track, tour dates with O'Brother launch in August


Northwest Indiana's Native announce the forthcoming release of their sophomore album Orthodox today, sharing the first track. The song, "Kissing Bridge" is streaming HERE

Native take to the road beginning in August with O'Brother, both groups supporting new albums released on the same day, August 20th. See complete dates below. Particular show details are HERE.

Check out live video of the band playing "Kissing Bridge" in Paris, from their recent European headlining tour. Watch video HERE.

The thing about progress is that sometimes we never recognize it until we've arrived at the end goal and reflected. That's what's so telling about the title of Native's sophomore album, Orthodox: inasmuch as it dispenses with the quartet's prior musical conventions as it tackles weighty social issues often left unchallenged by today's bands. It's an album filled with subtle intricacies for obsessives to hone in on for years to come, while equally menacing and destructive in its incisive power. 

In just a handful of years, Northwestern Indiana's Native have quietly built themselves a large word-of-mouth following in the underground as an incendiary live act. The iconoclast group's impeccable musicianship, ominous chords, apocalyptic vocals and innovative rhythms hit with an intensity that can only be described as akin to a white-knuckle thrill ride. 

There's as much suffocating darkness as there is thoughtful focus to Native's intricate song structures and pensive lyrics. There's a dark foreboding in the guitar lines simultaneously pushing and pulling, the whole band embracing and tearing apart musical convention with the unpredictability of a protest gone awry. 

Album opener "Word City" starts off deceptively restrained with slowly strummed, clean guitar chords that give way to a molten flow of cataclysmic urgency as vocalist/bassist Bobby Markos' howls like a death knell, dual guitarists Dan Evans and Ed O'Neill weave chiming single notes among pummeling power chords and powerhouse drummer Nick Glassen slices the rhythm into jagged shards. Elsewhere, "Coin Toss" opens with Glassen's impeccable kick drum led charge as the band follows suit with a syncopated rush of guitars spinning into a quasi-Middle Eastern sounding melody as Markos yelps furiously over group chant vocals. "Kissing Bridge" kicks off with aggressive, ringing guitar interplay that spills into a somehow frantic, yet ethereal splay as the song ruptures itself beneath half-time drums and bass. There is a masterful control of dynamics throughout the album's many dramatic shifts. These are songs writ largely of emotional outpouring, seeming to challenge all that's come before it. And, it isn't until the soaring, abrupt climax of the 8-song album closer, "Sixty Seven" that we have a moment to reflect upon the album's propulsive destruction and sound of a band reinvented.

"We set out to make it a departure from what Native used to be," Markos explains. "We wanted this to address societal flaws, not just selfish parts of our personal lives." O'Neill elaborates, "we'd burned out on that math-rock term, and lyrically too we wanted to take ourselves out of the equation. The music is calculated, but raw." Far from screaming about the big bad government, Orthodox is constructed in somewhat cryptic lyrics depicting various themes, all of them aimed at answering the album's many questions. "We hate the presentation of problems with no solution," Markos says. "It takes it one step further to offer your hand at how to solve it." 

Orthodox was recorded by Greg Norman (Russian Circles, Pelican) in Tolono, IL and in Chicago throughout 2012 and 2013. The album's taut 8 songs were eventually chosen out of nearly 20 tracks written over a grueling couple of years of writing and reworking ideas in near seclusion. Listeners "will hear every bad night we had," Markos says. "The anguish that went into it. It was a brutal undertaking." Native's critically-acclaimed 2010 debut full length Wrestling Moves was also issued by Sargent House. The band's self-released EP We Delete: Erase in 2008 got the attention of Sargent House, who then signed the band to management and label. 

Orthodox will be available everywhere on LP, CD and download via Sargent House on August 20th, 2013. 

NATIVE 2013
Aug 14th, 2013 - Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree *
Aug 15th, 2013 - Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon *
Aug 16th, 2013 - Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live *
Aug 17th, 2013 - Dallas, TX @ Club Dada *
Aug 18th, 2013 - Austin, TX @ Red 7 *
Aug 20th, 2013 - Scottsdale, AZ @ Pub Rock *
Aug 21st, 2013 - San Diego, CA @ House of Blues 5th Avenue *
Aug 22nd, 2013 - Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room *
Aug 23rd, 2013 - Canoga Park, CA @ Cobalt Cafe *
Aug 24th, 2013 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of The Hill *
Aug 26th, 2013 - Portland, OR @ Backspace *
Aug 27th, 2013 - Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret *
Aug 28th, 2013 - Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey *
Aug 30th, 2013 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court *
Aug 31st, 2013 - Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive *
Sept 1st, 2013 - Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar *
Sept 3rd, 2013 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry *
Sept 4th, 2013 - Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews *
Sept 5th, 2013 - Chicago, IL @ The Bottom Lounge *
Sept 6th, 2013 - Akron, OH @ Musica *
Sept 7th, 2013 - Howell, MI @ Pike Room @ The Crofoot *
Sept 8th, 2013 - Toronto, ON @ Hard Luck Bar *
Sept 10th, 2013 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE *
Sept 11th, 2013 - Syracuse, NY @ Lost Horizon *
Sept 12th, 2013 - New York, NY @ Santos Party House *
Sept 13th, 2013 - Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall *
Sept 14th, 2013 - Hamden, CT @ The Space *
Sept 15th, 2013 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbary *
Sept 17th, 2013 - Washington, DC @ The Rock And Roll Hotel *
Sept 18th, 2013 - Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 *
Sept 20th, 2013 - Columbus, OH @ The Basement *
Sept 21st, 2013 - Nashville, TN @ The End *
Sept 22nd, 2013 - Charlotte, NC @ Casbah @ Tremont Music Hall *

* w/ O'Brother


Artist: Native
Album: Orthodox
Label: Sargent House
Release Date: August 20, 2013

01. Word City
02. Monday Night
03. Brass
04. Fundraiser
05. Coin Toss
06. Books On Tape
07. Kissing Bridge (STREAM)
08. Sixty Seven


Follow Native on Twitter: @Nativeband

On the Web:



Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Italian artpop duo M+A announce second album with first single and video teaser, perfect summertime soundtrack

Click image above to watch video

"No matter the tempo, atmosphere, or style, the duo has the musical abilities, bright ideas, and ear for a lovely melody to make everything sound good." -- All Music Guide

"Nimble and inventive, the pair’s naivety makes for a refreshing take on pop." -- RCRD LBL


Italian artpop duo M+A announce the followup to their critically praised debut today, sharing the first single along with a video teaser. The track, "When" is available as a  free download/stream via Soundcloud HERE. M+A also offer song snippets from the entire hook-laden album in this video teaser.

The playful, sophisticated dance pop of M+A's second album These Days is so seamlessly hooky and compelling that upon listening it's hard to imagine a world without it. It's a perfect distillation of a yearning for endless summer.

M+A's 2011 debut Things.Yes was an inventive and spirited exploration of an organic, heartfelt variety of genre-hopping electro-acoustic pop that promised many good things to come from the young artists. But, perhaps nothing could've prepared us for These Days

M+A is Michele Ducci, 22, (vocals, instruments) and Alessandro Degli Angioli, 25, (instruments) of Forli, Italy. Much like their French neighbors to the northwest, M+A explore dance music as a medium for emotional expression much more than a conduit for cold, cut 'n' pasted samples and beats. M+A's euphoric electronic pop is clever, but not for cleverness' sake. Ducci's earnest and delicate vocals, which hearken to the warmth of Phoenix's Thomas Mars, pair the bittersweet edge found in the best classic pop songs with the buttoned-up retro dance grooves of Beck and Daft Punk's Random Access Memories

These Days is the result of meticulous collaboration begun in spring 2012, often from great distances with both members frequently on the go. "In this album we tried to experiment mainly with the song form, freeing ourselves of any bias towards any genre," the pair explain. "We haven't tried to remain faithful to anything." Rather than relying on samples, M+A played all of the instruments, apart from the impressive acoustic drumming of Marco Frattini. 

From the very first seconds of These Days, the album is off and running with lush hooks driven by the propulsive beats, pizzicato strings and syncopated electric piano of dancefloor-filler "When." The hooks never stop throughout the 11-song, 42-minute album. "B Song" evokes the blue-eyed retro-funk of late 90's era Beck. "Down The West Side" is a masterful slice of sun-drenched pop perfection sure to soundtrack many a summer BBQ or banish those rainy day blues, while songs like "New York There", "Game", "Practical Friday" and "Midnight Radio" easily pair up alongside recent 80s-reminiscent efforts by artists like Daft Punk, The Strokes and Phoenix. With These Days, M+A effectively prove themselves worthy of a place among their more celebrated contemporaries. 

The album will be available on CD, download and deluxe 180-gram vinyl (300 copies on white vinyl with color printed inner sleeve and a free album CD included inside) via Monotreme Records. Pre-orders of all physical albums from the Monotreme web shop will include free M+A pins and stickers while supplies last, plus one free previously unreleased bonus track download. Digital-only pre-orders will also receive the bonus track.

M+A LIVE:
06/19  Padova, IT @ Sherwood Festival
07/20  Ravenna, IT @ Hanabi
07/24  Modena, IT @ Sun Agostino
08/12  Lecce, IT @ Contronatura Festival
08/21  Brescia, IT @ Tutte Cose Nuove


Artist: M+A
Album: These Days
Label: Monotreme Records
Release Date: September 30, 2013

01. When (MP3)
02. B-Song
03. Down The West Side
04. Freetown Solo
05. Game
06. New York There
07. L.E.M.O.N.
08. Practical Friday
09. De-Light
10. Slow
11. Midnight Radio






On The Web:


Niagara premiere dramatic, poignant video via Exclaim!

Click image above to watch video


Singer/producer duo Niagara premiere an emotionally powerful new video today culled from their debut album Otto courtesy of Exclaim! The clip, for album track "Superbe" tells the story of a young woman who returns to the home she left 15 years earlier to revisit the scene of a tragic event. Watch/share video HERE. (YouTube) (VIMEO)

Niagara's recently released full length debut is streaming in its entirety HERE (approved for re-posting).

The band also recently premiered the album's first video via Consequence of Sound. The charming, cleverly executed clip is for "Seal" the lead single from the album on Monotreme Records. Watch/share video HERE.

Niagara is the collaborative project of Turin-based singers/producers Davide Tomat (TOMAT / N.A.M.B.) and Gabriele Ottino (N.A.M.B. / Milena Lovesick), who like to take a less conventional approach to composition. Much of their music is developed by continuous experimentation with sounds during improvised sessions, in which vocals are often used as just another instrumental layer. However, they also have a great ear for a killer pop tune and the vocal chops to deliver it.

On Otto, Niagara blend together a heady mixture of experimental pop, electronica and psychedelia to create their own brand of 'avant-psych-tronica'.

The album title -- the Italian word for "eight" -- represents a number of things, from the Law of Octaves to the symbol of infinity when rotated 90 degrees. Otto will be available in North America on CD and download on March 26th, 2013 via Monotreme Records

Artist: Niagara
Album: Otto
Label: Monotreme Records
Release Date: March 26, 2013

01. Eight
02. Superbe (VIDEO)
03. Seal (VIDEO)
04. Watershipdown
05. Etacarinae
06. E.V.A.
07. Galaxy Glacier
08. Love Me Love Me



On The Web:

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Boyfrndz premiere debauched new video via PrefixMag, 'Natures' EP out in July

Click image above to watch video

"Reminiscent of early Jane’s Addiction with a spacey twist, Martin’s chugging guitars break into swirling solos while Perez keeps the percussion energetic and unpredictable." -- Consequence of Sound




Austin trio Boyfrndz premiere the first video off of their forthcoming Natures EP today via PrefixMag.com. The eerie clip for the song "Moving Parts" was directed by Sean Stout of Terroreyes.tv and is available to watch/share HERE.

The Natures EP was co-produced by the band and keyboardist Ikey Owens (Jack White, Mars Volta), who also once again lends his skills on organ for a few tracks. Boyfrndz recently released the first track from Natures, "Water Weight" which is available to listen/download HERE

Natures is a dark and powerful culmination of the band's uniquely soaring sound that traverses everything from Drive Like Jehu's wiry guitars, Sigur Ros' ethereal beauty, early Jane's Addiction's outer-space hard rock and myriad others. 

Boyfrndz also premiered two songs from their recent sophomore album via Pitchfork and Consequence of Sound last fall. The tracks, "Surf's Up" (listen here) and "Hear Say" (stream here) are from the band's All Day Pass full length. 

Boyfrndz began in 2010, shortly after the collapse of We The Granada, a band in which guitarist/vocalist Scott Martin and bassist/vocalist Joseph Raines had cut their teeth. Martin's roommate and sought-after drummer/vocalist Aaron Perez (at the time already playing in three other bands) signed on and Boyfrndz quickly became a priority. The lineup expanded to a four piece with guitarist Kelvin Baron for their self-titled full length debut in 2011. The group enlisted Grammy award winning keyboardist Ikey Owens to co-produce and he also played keys on a couple of tracks. Boyfrndz pared down to a three piece following a summer tour in 2011 and soon thereafter recorded their expansive 2012 album, All Day Pass (Spora Records/Boyfrndz Records).

Natures was engineered and mixed by Erik Wofford at Cacophony Recorders in Austin, with Grammy-nominee Dan Millice mastering at Engine Room Audio in NYC (A$AP Rocky, Hella's Tripper, et al). 

Natures will be available July 16th on LP, CD and download via Boyfrndz Records. 

BOYFRNDZ LIVE:
06/21  Houston, TX @ Walter's
07/13  Austin, TX @ 29th St. Ballroom

Artist: Boyfrndz
Album: Natures
Label: Boyfrndz Records
Release Date: July 16th, 2013

01. All Get Out
02. Moving Parts (VIDEO)
03. Daughter
04. Take The Arm
05. Water Weight (MP3)


Artist: Boyfrndz
Album: All Day Pass
Label: Boyfrndz Records
Release Date: September 11th, 2012

01. Colts
02. On Point
03. Hear Say (MP3)
04. All Day Pass
05. New New
06. Not That Sensitive
07. Moses Jones
08. Surf's Up (MP3)
09. Polite In Public
10. When It's Raining
11. Closer
12. Sooner Or Later

On the Web:

Thursday, June 6, 2013

UK ambient EDM artist Sorrow premieres video & posts full album stream via Exclaim!

British producer Sorrow premieres the first video from his forthcoming debut album via Canadian music publication Exclaim! The clip for the title track, "Dreamstone" features guest vocalist CoMa is available to watch/share HERE.  

The entire album is also available for streaming a week ahead of release via Exclaim! HERE and/or Soundcloud HERE

Sorrow's electronic, beats-driven music floats above the furthest reaches of ambient dubstep, propelled aloft by a dubbed out, sonorous garage hybrid of his own invention. A series of self-released tracks, remixes and EPs over the last two years, as well as collaborations with other artists (including Stumbleine, Asa and Submerse) have rapidly earned him a profile as one of the UK's rising producers.

True to his moniker, Sorrow's music has an underlying current of melancholy, with mournful strings and piano and ghostly vocals, but he balances the mood artfully with head-bobbing beats and a wonky sense of humour that emerges unexpectedly here and there.

Throughout the album, the lush strings and languid zig-zag beats of "Embrace" flow into the Bossa Nova lounge of "Maelys", which in turn yields to the darker, more experimental tones of "Supernova".
From the chilled out ambience of "Dalliance", featuring the sultry guest vocals of CoMa, to the restless, more aggressive beats of "Intruder", Dreamstone works equally well for late night sonic explorations or laid-back Sunday mornings. 

Dreamstone will be available in North America on deluxe 180-gram LP (free CD included), CD and download on June 11th, 2013 via Monotreme Records



Artist: Sorrow
Album: Dreamstone
Label: Monotreme Records
Release Date: June 11, 2013

01. Elixir
02. Moodswing
03. Dreamstone (ft. CoMa) (MP3) (VIDEO)
04. Dalliance (ft. CoMa)
05. Embrace
06. Maelys
07. Supernova
08. Flowerchild
09. Shadowed Doubt
10. Gallows Hill
11. Intruder




On The Web:

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Zorch share new track from forthcoming debut album via Consequence of Sound

Photo by Ben Aqua

"Zorch demonstrate how good 'weird' can be." -- SPIN


Austin, TX hyper-kinetic duo Zorch premiere a new song today via Consequence of Sound culled from their forthcoming full length. The track, "This Is The Way It Goes" is available to stream/share HERE

Zorch previously offered up the song "We All Die Young" courtesy of SPIN HERE. Stream/share the song via Soundcloud HERE

These days, our lives seem like a creative work in progress on public display, scattered in bits and pieces across multiple social media. What if you were to compile the past several years' worth of your posts into one? Would it make any sense at all? Not likely. 

The debut full length by Austin duo Zorch, however, is the end result of nearly 5-years worth of material similarly collected, then shredded, condensed and completely remolded into a solid whole. It sounds like two hyperactively creative minds finding ways to cleverly merge together effervescent synth blips, blue-eyed soul vocals, gang-chant backups, blurting EDM bass lines, frenetic drums, hazy psych-drone and even the proverbial kitchen sink taking leads here and there. Each song sounds like it could've been crafted out of samples from several different decades of pop culture history, though it's entirely the work of two exceptional musicians. 

If Zzoorrcchh sounds like a photomosaic looks, it's because there is similarly a meticulously organized logic to it all. When Zac Traeger (keyboards, omnichord, vocals) and Shmu (drums, omnichord, vocals) first started playing together in 2008 while studying music in college in Boston, the pair would improvise and record many hours worth of ideas. Some of these songs are direct descendants of those jams; the duo picking out pieces of those recordings, re-organizing and reworking them multiple times and in various studio settings while also adding on and creating new ideas. Demo versions of some of the songs on this album were previously released, only to again be redone a couple of times over for the album. And, Zorch even previously offered up all of the basic audio tracks from early EPs for fans to remix their own versions. Not quite like George Lucas endlessly tinkering with Star Wars, but there's a similar conviction that the work of art is never necessarily finished. 

"Every song is different, there are no rules," Shmu explains. "We are very involved in not just writing parts for our own instruments but writing for each other's instruments as well. It's a boundary-less approach." Likewise, Zac elaborates, "the whole process was very time consuming and intense, there are lots of things on this record that I'm sure only .01% of the world will notice, but Sam and I would get into very heated debates about." The band is also just as intensive about its live shows, often playing upwards of 20 shows during the 4 days of SXSW. They're also known for writing unsolicited personalized jingles for music biz luminaries and local businesses as well as myriad high-concept side projects.

Zzoorrcchh kicks off fittingly by easing listeners into their world with a slow fade-in to whirling synths, a stately piano loop and countless layers of sounds comprising "My Joy is Explosion." The minute-long tune immediately segues into the blissfully hyper celebration of life, "We All Die Young." Here, Shmu's rollicking drum pattern that might make Neil Peart's head spin drives Zac's frantic synth arpeggios while several layers of voices sing, "what a day, let's celebrate it/ I want to feel elated." Elsewhere, on "This Is The Way It Goes" neo-rave staccato chords sounding like computer error tones, marimbas and pounding toms meet cheerful vocals singing the song title's seeming lament. "Inopportune Sailing" starts off like a repetitive, perky chiptune from an imaginary 80s video game that morphs into a full-fledged living pop-soul jam. It sounds like Zorch actually beat Daft Punk to the punch at making their own organic recordings sound like vintage song samples. "Zut Alors", a longtime fan live favorite lyrically pokes fun at conspiracy theories of reptilian overlords with the refrain, "giant surprise/ We are lizards disguised/ And we're controlling your lives/ With trilateral spies." The album is a wild auditory amusement park that gets more and more exciting with each visit. 

In July of 2009, Zorch recorded their self-titled 4-track EP at Cacophony Studios in Austin, TX. It was the duo's first attempt to capture their sound and demonstrate their wide palette of musical colors, ranging from tribal to pop. Choosing to self-release the EP and offering it up as a free download through their website, Zorch also gave fans the opportunity to design and create their own CD cases at live shows. The "Cosmic Gloss" / "E.M.F." single followed in 2011. 

Zzoorrcchh will be available everywhere on CD, LP and download via Sargent House on July 23rd, 2013. 


Artist: Zorch
Album: Zzoorrcchh
Label: Sargent House
Release Date: July 23, 2013

01. My Joy is Explosion
02. We All Die Young (STREAM)
03. It's Kind of a Deal Where...
04. This is the Way it Goes (STREAM)
05. Mutwa
06. Zut Alors
07. Inopportune Sailing
08. Cosmic Gloss
09. Oceans Dawn

Follow Zorch on Twitter: @Zzoorrcchh

On the Web:

Monday, June 3, 2013

Big Black Cloud premiere new track via Brooklyn Vegan, new album out in July via Eolian Empire

Portland, OR noise rock trio Big Black Cloud announce their forthcoming new album today, sharing the first track via Brooklyn Vegan. The song "Cities of the Red Night" is available to stream/share HERE

The album, Black Friday will be available July 2nd via purveyors of "heavy vibrations" Eolian Empire. Big Black Cloud take to the road shortly thereafter in support of the album. Please see complete dates below. 

Since fleeing the swampy south for the dank Pacific Northwest almost a decade ago, the furious avant punks have been honing their peerless amalgam of garage, noise rock, psych and genuine weirdness into an ever-sharper set of sticky shivs to get under your skin and turn your brains all inside out. Black Friday is a slithery sci-fi nightmare, all twists and turns and bunsen burns, fuzzed-out unhinged fun.

Big Black Cloud began in 2005 as a four-piece (with the longer moniker Here Comes a Big Black Cloud) that over time grew larger and freakier, but in 2010 turned power trio, their experimentation and extravangances distilled into a crack-shot, whip-smart combo. Their full-length debut, Dark Age, was "an absolutely thrilling listen" (Built On A Weak Spot), "a fantastically frenetic, dark, psychedelic garage rock record" (Permanent Records), "a huge, swirling mess of garage, punk, noise, psych, howls, and yelps" (Maximum Rocknroll), followed in 2011 by the Shitty Vibrations cassette EP, "a real game changer" (Terminal Boredom).

But it seems Big Black Cloud moved out of the garage and into a secret cavern laboratory for Black Friday, their two-year labor of loathe. Clearly not content to let everyone catch up, they've pushed further out into the uncharted wild: more primal, more visceral, and a whole lot more menacing. Guitars clang, buzz, and slide, gooey bass relentlessly lopes and bombs, with drums all over the place yet somehow right where they need to be. Everything taken together gives the distinct sense that these three may go completely off the rails at any time, a feeling reinforced by the traded howls and wails of a man and woman who are quite fed up with all the bullshit but just can't seem to let it go, even as it drags them over the edge. Ah, but don't think that lets you off the hook... because they will get their hooks in you and drag you with them.

Big Black Cloud is from Portland, Oregon, and comprises guitarist/vocalist Nick Capello, bassist/vocalist Soo Koelbli, and drummer Travis Wainwright. Big Black Cloud has released two 7-inches, a 10-inch, a 12-inch LP (Dark Age), and the Shitty Vibrations cassette prior to Black Friday, their first release for Portland outsider label Eolian Empire. We think Big Black Cloud sounds a bit like Circus Lupus and Pere Ubu, or maybe a Royal Trux more speed-freaked than junked-out, sprinkled with some Brainiac-ish moments and a big ol' dose of Cows-like abandon, but it seems they've never heard-or even heard of-those bands. Go figure.

Black Friday kicks off with what sounds like a flying saucer landing and shouts of "No future!" and ends in a cacophony of scrambled surf leads, portents of the insanity to follow. The whacked-out ditty "Bomb My Brain" will bomb yours with its discordant hooks and "Won't you bomb my brain?" call to arms. Then there's the bouncing, insistent, noise-rocker "Wastoids" ("Tell me why?!"), the high-speed joyride gone scary sour "Pile of Shit", and the creature-feature operetta "Human Host" (and many more!). It all adds up to one hell of a fucked-up journey through a fantastic land filled with scrum, scree, squawks, and very strange things that go bump in the night. But you'll be happy you got dragged along-even if you're a bit worse for wear-because you'll have made it through and lived to tell about it.

BIG BLACK CLOUD LIVE:
07/03  Seattle, WA @ The Comet
07/05  Missoula, MT @ The Ole Beck
07/06  Boise, ID @ Sammie's
07/07  Salt Lake City, UT @ Burt's Tiki Lounge
07/08  Denver, CO @ Lost Lake
07/11  San Diego, CA @ Til Two Club
07/12  Los Angeles, CA @ The Smell
07/13  San Francisco, CA @ The Knockout
07/14  Oakland, CA @ The Night Light
07/15  Davis, CA @ Davis Bike Collective

Artist: Big Black Cloud
Album:  Black Friday
Label: Eolian Empire
Release Date: July 2nd, 2013

01) Cities of the Red Night (MP3)
02) Terror of Cosmic Loneliness
03) Bomb My Brain
04) Barbaric, Mystical, Bored
05) Wastoids
06) Black Friday
07) Pile of Shit
08) Hate Myself
09) Gettin' Heavy In the Jungle
10) Human Host
11) Medusa







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Feuding Fathers premiere first song from forthcoming album via Consequence of Sound


Austin, TX duo Feuding Fathers announce their forthcoming full-length debut album today, sharing the first track via Consequence of Sound. The song "Brass Knucks" is available to stream/share HERE

The album, Kid Tested, Father Approved will be available August 13th on LP and download. 

Everyone knows that math rock typically doesn't gather the attention of girls. This is a harsh truth, however it's a crucial realization in the nature of all things. Math rock is a relentless and lonesome road appreciated solely by societies' "unawarely exclusive." Techies, instrumentalists and sound nerds alike, whose sole ambition in life is to discuss rad gear and odd time signatures, are considered kin to drummer Mason Macias and vocalist/guitarist Dustin Coffman, the power duo known simply as Feuding Fathers.

Feuding Fathers formed in July 2011. One month later came the swift digital release of their first self-titled EP, and six months later saw a left hook of an album rightfully labeled, Trust Me, I'm A Father. Both releases were completely self-recorded and convened enough street credibility to usher them into the top tread of a blossoming Texas math rock scene (which is still a hilarious and drastic cry from the top of the totem pole). Rather than cling to their adolescence, the duo went on a full scale west coast tour with their accomplices in the group Boyfrndz. Once home, their prompt return to the workshop had them departing from their home studio in the process. Their latest album, titled Kid Tested, Father Approved is an isolated look at an extremely technical and fast paced form of music; delivering far more than just confusion to listeners unfamiliar with the genre. 

Kid Tested, Father Approved yields an internal feeling that soars in absolutely every aspect while still allowing them to maintain a firm attachment to their roots. In doing so, they have exceeded the perimeters confining pop sensibility and technical rock entirely.

FEUDING FATHERS LIVE:
07/10  Austin, TX @ Holy Mountain
08/17  Austin, TX @ TBA (album release party)

Artist: Feuding Fathers
Album:  Kid Tested, Father Approved
Label: Feuding Fathers Records
Release Date: August 13th, 2013

01) Brass Knucks (MP3)
02) Girl Pushups
03) Pre Med
04) Banging Out
05) Don't Bro Me If You Don't Know Me





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