Thursday, December 11, 2014

No Spill Blood share first track from forthcoming Sargent House full length debut


Dublin, Ireland trio No Spill Blood share the first track from their forthcoming full length debut today. Listen to and share the song "White Out" HERE. Photos of the band recording in the studio are also shared today by TheFarmFamily.com. Album art by Samantha Muljat and track listing below. 

No Spill Blood's ferocious dose of synth-laden aggression, Heavy Electricity comes across with all the brutal heft of underground metal but also with the clever intellect of post-punk bands like Killing Joke and Iceage.

 The band's shared love of Devo's smarmy synths, Trans Am's rhythmic soundscapes and the Melvins' unencumbered experimentalism brought them together to create a beastly noise using just vocals, bass, synths and drums. "The album chronicles a journey," explains keyboardist Ruadhan O'Meara. "It's an elemental pilgrimage emerging from the bowels of the earth, only to encounter savage environments, altered states, and the brutal inhumanity of fellow men." In other words, Heavy Electricity is a dark, but transcendent experience.

 Album opener "White Out" kicks things off with a commanding hi-hat to triplet count-in, as bassist/vocalist Matt Hedigan jumps in to the syncopated fray with growling, distortion-soaked bass. It's a moment of syrupy intensity befitting Masters of Reality-era Sabbath until the band suddenly lunges into a driving post-punk riff. "Back To The Earth" sounds like krautrock cranked to 11, with O'Meara's shimmering synth lines warbling over the churning rhythms. The hypnotic and occasionally hallucinogenic 6-1/2 minute "Now II" (featuring guest vocals by Mike Watt) builds subtly open a simple keyboard line into an epic metallic eruption similar to labelmates Russian Circles' awe-inspiring work. Throughout the album's 9-song, 46-minute duration, No Spill Blood never lets up on its intensity and power while still exploring a variety of sounds. 

 No Spill Blood's debut EP Street Meat was released via Sargent House in 2012. Thereafter, the trio quickly grew from side project to a full fledged band. They hit the studio in early 2014 with original drummer Lar Kaye to capture the raw, eviscerating experience of its live show for Heavy Electricity. Powerhouse drummer Ror Conaty replaced Kaye shortly before NSB toured the UK with Sargent House family band Deafheaven in August 2014, their reinvigorated live show receiving considerable praise in the process.

 Heavy Electricity will be available January 27th, 2015 via Sargent House. 

Artist: No Spill Blood
Album: Heavy Electricity
Label: Sargent House
Release date: January 27th, 2015

Track list:
01. White Out (STREAM)
02. Back To The Earth
03. Now II
04. El Duurto
05. Harsh Route
06. Heavy Electricty
07. Thinner
08. Sweet Beans
09. Endless Drift








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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Low City premiere first video, NYC producer & composer duo feat. guests from Dirty Projectors, Bon Iver

click image above to watch video

Brooklyn, NY's Low City premieres the first video from an ongoing series of singles today via Earmilk. The brainchild of music producer Abe Seiferth (Yeasayer, RAC) and composer/musician Jeremy Turner, Low City also features guest performances by members of Dirty Projectors and Bon Iver. The clip for the track "Skyline", directed by Lance Ferguson is a stunning portrayal of a dystopian future (?) mired in virtual/pharmaceutical reality. Watch/share video HERE. (Direct YouTube link HERE.)

Low City is a new collaboration between longtime friends and former bandmates Seiferth and Turner, aiming to combine the former's electronic production background with the latter's classical and film scoring expertise. The band's lyrically and musically cinematic aesthetic is inspired by the retro-futurism of films like Blade Runner, Gattaca and Fritz Lang's Metropolis, to name a few. While Low City's songs were written, performed and recorded by Seiferth and Turner, the duo were joined by several guest performers to flesh out its sound. 

Turner is a film composer who recently wrote a piece for yMusic's Balance Problems and a former cellist with the NY Metropolitan Opera who has also performed with artists such as Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, David Byrne, et al. Seiferth is a Brooklyn based producer currently working on the upcoming Yeasayer album, who has also worked with RAC, Reggie Watts, Bear in Heaven and many more. He also makes electronic music in the duo Tippy Toes with former Hercules and Love Affair member Morgan Wiley.

Low City's first single, "Skyline" is available via iTunes on December 10th via Low City Music.

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Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Qui share new video, launch winter tour dates including shows with Moving Units, Babes In Toyland

Click image above to watch video


"Qui are back at it, dosing their shreddy punk tantrums with arty aplomb and surprising harmony." -- SPIN

L.A. duo Qui premiere a new video and announce more tour dates today via Grimy Goods. The video clip for "Kicked Out of Mime College" is available to watch/share HERE. (Direct YouTube link for sharing HERE.) 

Qui continue their relentless tour schedule this winter with a pair of shows with Moving Units this weekend leading into West Coast dates later this month. Qui also support newly reunited 90s noise rock trio Babes In Toyland in February 2015. Please see current dates below. 

The band recently premiered a new video featuring the band's former lead singer David Yow (The Jesus Lizard) and Kevin Rutmanis (Melvins, Cows) via Noisey. The clip for the song "I Definitely Love You" is culled from the band's new single on Joyful Noise and available to watch/share HERE. (Direct YouTube link HERE.)

Qui & Secret Fun Club released a split 7" single on September 23rd via Three.One.G. Listen to/share Qui's "Feel My Body" HERE. The band's recently released album Life, Water, Living... is available to stream/share HERE.

If the third full length by L.A. duo Qui sounds like a radical departure, you probably were never really listening properly in the first place. Sure, perfectly taut vocal harmonies and precise, sparse instrumentation supplants much of the band's early fume-huffing punk-noise here, but their penchant for challenging, button-pushing ideas is stronger than ever. Qui also employed harmonies and experimental structures on their previous album Love's Miracle (2007) with former vocalist David Yow. But, Life, Water, Living... is clearly the band's most meticulously refined effort at using melody and harmony as subversive weapons. 

Life, Water, Living... was produced by renowned engineer Toshi Kasai and Melvins drummer Dale Crover at Entourage Studios in Los Angeles. The album was released on February 25th, 2014 on LP, CD and download in partnership with Cobraside Distribution.


QUI LIVE:
12/04 Las Vegas, NV @ The Double Down Saloon
12/05 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theater (w/ Moving Units, All Leather)
12/06 San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick (w/ Moving Units, All Leather)
12/07 San Francisco, CA @ The Hemlock
12/09 Boise, ID @ Neurolux 
12/11 Seattle, WA @ Black Lodge 
12/12 Portland, OR @ The Darkplace
12/13 Arcata, CA @ The Alibi 

02/12/15  Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy  (w/ Babes In Toyland)


Artist: Qui
Album:  Life, Water, Living...
Label: Cobraside Distribution
Release Date: February 25th, 2014

01. Kicked Out of Mime College (VIDEO)
02. Life, Water, Living... (VIDEO)
03. Mucho Sex in America (VIDEO)
04. Awkward Human Interest (VIDEO)
05. Boogie Down Disappointment
06. The Kind of Jazz This Is
07. Proof of Bass
08. Songbirds
09. You're a Girl
10. Whateryadoin? (VIDEO)
11. Ham Spray



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Monday, December 1, 2014

Knifight shares lyric video for first track from forthcoming album

Click image above to watch video

Austin heavy post-punk band Knifight shares the first track from their forthcoming album today via PopMatters. The lyric video for "Young Lovers" is dark and rumbling, yet infectious and anthemic at the same time. Watch/share the video HERE. (Direct YouTube link HERE.)

Knifight's sophomore full length, V follows three previous EPs that have established the band throughout the Southwest. The quintet take to the road for a series of tours throughout that region beginning in January 2015 and continuing through March. All dates will be announced soon. 

Knifight is not the type of name you’d associate with a synth-rock group. You’d probably think of a rough-and-tumble bar metal band with a name like that, cargo shorts and Mesa stacks abound. Vocalist John Gable did grow up in the hardcore scene of Tyler, Texas, where he saw bands like Hatebreed and Brutal Truth. Perhaps that’s where the tough name came from. Knifight started as an industrial project of Gable, and later keyboardist/saxophonist Patrick Marshall would also become part of the group’s nucleus. They performed as a noise duo, eventually finding their way into Austin, and formed into a full band, rounded out by guitarist Nick Garrison, bassist John Hetherington, and drummer Nick Cogdill.

Knifight may be the only group that’s played a noise fest and opened for Future Islands and Duran Duran in 2014, and dipping in both of those worlds has worked in their favor. They’re set to release their album, V in 2015, which is their first album with live drums. Last year’s Dark Voices saw them heading in a murkier direction, and while this record is clearer, it ups the darkness in many ways. They’re less focused on pop structures, stretching out so Gable and Marshall’s synths sound more brooding and gorgeous. “A Perfect Day To Die” sounds like it was commissioned for a James Bond film, right down to the title. “Buttons (Slow)” has echo-laden growls from Gable that suggest his metal past isn’t entirely behind him. Knifight haven’t gone completely doom and gloom on us, though. John H dials in some bouncy basslines throughout, especially evident on the brief ray of sunshine in the form of “Broken Feeling.”This still has all the hallmarks to make the goth club go up on a Tuesday; the weekend’s too bright, after all. Dance floors are staging areas for all sorts of desires and danger, and Knifight are reflecting that with this new record.

will be available February 10th, 2015 on LP, CD and download via KnifightMusic. 


KNIFIGHT LIVE:
12/12 Austin, TX @ Holy Mountain (w/ My Education)


Artist: Knifight
Album:  V
Label: KnifightMusic
Release Date: February 10th, 2015

01. Mistakes
02. Everything's Perfect
03. A Perfect Day To Die
04. Broken Feeling
05. Young Lovers (STREAM)
06. Buttons (Slow)
07. Vii

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