Swiss proto-punk band Torpedo streaming forthcoming album early via Punk News

 

"An epic symphony combining noise rock; industrial; ’70’s influences; and elements of sludge, drones waves, psychedelia, and spoken word...A palpable darkness dominated by raw riffs." -- New Noise Magazine

"Seven tracks full of noisy, punky, poetic goodness." -- Punk News

Lausanne, Switzerland trio Torpedo are streaming their forthcoming album Orpheo_Nebula today ahead of release via Punk News. Hear & share Orpheo_Nebula HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)

The band recently launched the video for "HELL" via Echoes & Dust HERE. (Direct YouTube.)

Founded in 2016 in the Swiss city of Lausanne, Torpedo was then made up of Carole Obère, on vocals and guitar, Jérôme Diserens on bass and keyboard, and machines as only companions. The group draws its energy from its beginnings in an industrial, post-apocalyptic and rough universe approaching no-wave and kraut with a touch of punk, while clinging to the force of wild nature carrier of hope.

Thus, in 2018, when conceiving their first album in remote collaboration with Antoine Pfammatter on drums, the duo escaped from their urban and oppressive environment, to hide in a small house on the Irish west coast. It was there, facing the Atlantic Ocean, to the sounds of the crashing waves and the wind whistling through the windows of a house haunted by - undoubtedly - tortured spirits, that Torpedo recorded their first album Sphynx. Self-produced, it was released in April 2019. We

hear echoes of Sonic Youth, Siouxsie & the Banshees and hints of grunge.

Two months earlier, on February 14th, 2019, the duo met Andries Hannaart. Between the Dutch drummer and the duo, it's love at first sight. A lightning that falls on the drums, perfectly complementing a voice that chants, murmurs and spits, noisy guitar riffs, bordering on punk, powerful and bewitching bass lines and deep cosmic sound atmospheres.

Having become a trio, Torpedo has found the perfect balance. This is perhaps what prompted the

group to record their second LP live (vocals, guitar, bass and drums) in early 2020. taking refuge in

their premises, in a newly confined world. This absurd external environment becomes fertile

ground for the development of a powerful and saving work. Entitled Orpheo_ Nebula, the

rock'n'roll, noise and industrial piece built around six poetic texts comes to crown an ultra coherent

artistic path. A sincere approach that grips the guts with each listen, transforming the listening

experience into a shamanic, introspective and overwhelming adventure.

Orpheo_Nebula will be available on LP and download on Broken Clover Records. Pre-orders are available HERE. 

Artist: Torpedo

Album: Orpeheo_Nebula

Record Label:  Broken Clover Records 

Release Date: September 16th, 2022

01. The Fall

02. HELL

03. Part III La Mort

04. Désert

05. Interlude

06. Part V Interstices

07. POEM

On The Web:

torpedo-cyclope.bandcamp.com

instagram.com/torpedo_band

facebook.com/torpedo.cyclope

Pink Frost share new single "Feed The Hungry Bee" from forthcoming album

"Crunchy alt rock and just a bit of shoegaze." -- Brooklyn Vegan

"Off-kilter, yearning rock music that strives for a populism that's considered a bit declassé by most of their peers and, as such, badly missed." -- Pitchfork

Chicago band Pink Frost share the third single today from their first new album in 5 years, Until The Summer Comes. Hear and share "Feed The Hungry Bee" via Spotify, Bandcamp and Apple Music. Pre-order/pre-save album via Linktree.

Brooklyn Vegan recently premiered the video for album title track "Until The Summer Comes" HERE. (Direct YouTube.) New Noise Magazine shared the raging single "Two Faces" HERE. 

“It was a new torture, the waiting,” says Pink Frost vocalist/guitarist Adam Lukas. 

When life suddenly froze for all of us, it wasn’t the downtime that was unbearable, it was the growing uncertainty as time dragged on that all of our loose threads would ever be connected. 

The Chicago band had just completed recording their fourth album — splitting the studio time with sister band Touched By Ghoul (whose 2020 Cancel The World album title proved prophetic) — when plans to reconvene in France with longtime engineer Gregoire Yeche to mix in April 2020 became impossible. 

When Gregoire eventually returned to Chicago in 2021, life in limbo seemed the new normal. Yet, the band felt somehow liberated. “We were like ‘F**k it, let's make our dream record,’” Lukas says. “We went in depth in a way we never have before. There are no compromises on this album. No cringeworthy oversights. We almost lost our minds doing it, but I'm happy we did.”

Indeed, the 9-song album is a feast of hooks and subtle transformations that shows both a slight return to the band’s previous indie-punk take on Smashing Pumpkins style oversized alt-rock, and their ever-growing palette of shoegaze, drone and anthemic rock. There’s even an almost peak NIN, Wax Trax industrial vibe to some tracks that underscores how the band continues to wield new ideas. 

“We lost (guitarist) Paige Sandlin during the pandemic,” Lukas says. “But gained Angela from Touched By Ghoul, who now plays guitar and contributed some vocals on the LP, and brings a whole new excitement to the live show.” 

Until The Summer Comes was recorded in Chicago at Steve Albini’s legendary Electrical Audio with longtime engineer Gregoire Yeche, just as the band has done on New Minds (2017), Sundowning (2013) and the Traitors EP (2014). “Electrical Audio is almost like another member of the band at this point,” Lukas says. “There is a purity to their method that captures the essence of the performance and preserves it in this magical 3-D way.”

The album opens with the title track’s thumping toms in a marching rhythm, soon joined by buzzing fuzz guitars before the whole song erupts in a huge chorus with chunky guitars reminiscent of peak Downward Spiral era NIN. “Two Faces” is an explosive diatribe driven home by bassist Alex Shumard’s lunging 4-string. “On A Clear Day (You Can See The End of The World)” sets a Beatles-esque acoustic guitar led melody atop psychedelic haze and rollicking drums. “Halo” serves up a lush shoegaze ballad in which drummer Nate Furstenau nods to My Bloody Valentine’s hybrid of drum machines and live drums for powerful effect. “Feed The Hungry Bee” closes the album with a repetitively building tension that leads into a dramatic finish that’s certain to be a live favorite. 

Pink Frost’s previous albums received an onslaught of praise from such revered outlets as Pitchfork, SPIN, Noisey, Brooklyn Vegan, Magnet Magazine and Chicago Reader, as well as song placements in a feature film ("The Lookalike"), TV's Shameless, The Rookie, The Vampire Diaries, CSI: Miami and more. In December 2015, Pink Frost released a completely remixed, rethought and remastered version of their debut album Gargoyle Days, originally issued under the band’s former name Apteka. 

Until The Summer Comes will be available on LP, CD and download on September 16th, 2022 via Under Road Records. Pre-orders are available HERE.

PINK FROST LIVE 2022:

Midwest dates in October, East Coast to follow in November. Dates TBA.

Artist: Pink Frost

Album: Until The Summer Comes

Record Label: Under Road Records

Release date: September 16th, 2022

01. Until The Summer Comes

02. Two Faces

03. Halo

04. On The Way Down

05. The Skink

06. Ask The Dust

07. Detroit Mercy

08. On A Clear Day (You Can See The End of The World)

09. Feed The Hungry Bee

On The Web:

pinkfrost.bandcamp.com

underroad.com

instagram.com/thepinkfrost

Aquarius Records documentary announces L.A., NYC and more screenings with Q&A after film

"An in-depth look at the heartbreak of shuttering the beloved store amid the Mission District's wave of gentrification and traces its long history of influencing music and culture in the city." -- CBS News SF

"It Came From Aquarius Records" the feature length documentary about the beloved, esoteric San Francisco record store announces upcoming screenings in Los Angeles, New York City, Tucson and St. George, Utah. The director, Kenneth Thomas will hold a Q&A after the film in L.A., NYC and Tucson. For more information, please see below. 

Watch/share the "Bittersweet Sex Pistols extravaganza" clip on YouTube. Watch the film trailer on YouTube.

"It Came From Aquarius Records" is a feature-length documentary about the SF-based independent record store, Aquarius Records. Having closed in 2016 after 47 years, this small apartment-sized store championed local, underground, independent, and challenging music to the masses - most memorably with their infamous bi-weekly, college essay-length, new-release lists.

This doc has interviews with the aQ owners dating back to 1970, other record store owners from around the world, musicians, label heads, music journalists, and INTENSE music collectors. Interviewees include Matt Groening (The Simpsons), Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips), Bruce Ackley, John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats), Ty Segall, and Liz Harris (Grouper). About 65 (!!) total!

Aquarius Records influenced and enriched countless peoples’ musical tastes with their curated selections - but this film also shows the realities of an indie record store trying to survive in an increasingly difficult market of brick-and-mortar music shops, especially in the ever-changing and price-gouging Mission District of SF.

Six years in the making, the film has a very personal angle, with lots of behind-the-scenes footage (and drama) that shows both the joy and excruciating stress that comes with running — and closing — a store like this.

Los Angeles premiere:

Date:

Tuesday, October 4th, 6pm

Location:

Herb Alpert Music Center

Los Angeles City College

855 N. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

Enter the campus from either the Vermont Ave or Heliotrope Drive entrances

Q+A with the film director, along with former president of Reprise Records, Howie Klein, after the film.

Free to the public

Tucson, AZ premiere:

Tucson Film and Music Festival, which runs from October 6-9. More TBA.

St. George, UT premiere:

Doc Utah Film Festival, in St. George, Utah.

Screening on Thursday, November 3, and Saturday, November 5. No Q&A.

New York, NY premiere:

Nitehawk Cinema, in Williamsburg, in early November. More info TBA. 

LINKS:

Website: thescourge.com

FB: facebook.com/aqdoc

IG: instagram.com/aquariusdoc

High Heavens (ex-New Wet Kojak, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Edsel) share new single "100 Bullets"

 

“A moodier sound indicative of Angelo Badalamenti’s soundtrack work and the style of the late Julee Cruise.” — Rock and Roll Globe

Austin band High Heavens debut a new single today via Spill Magazine. Hear and share the track "100 Bullets" HERE. (Direct via Bandcamp HERE.)

The band's superb full length album Springtime Don't Call is available to stream HERE.

The High Heavens story begins in 1996 when Austin, TX emo-punk troubadours Glorium were invited to do a southern US tour with Washington, DC legends Fugazi. This is where Glorium guitarist Ernest Salaz (and later of the moody dark pop band I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness) met Fugazi’s Front of House engineer Nick Pellicciotto (from DC’s Edsel and New Wet Kojak). 

Fast-forward to Austin in 2017, and the two friends formed the beginnings of High Heavens, a band built on their same musical interests of the last 10 years. The band’s lineup was complete with keyboardist Jeremy Erwin, bassist Jonathan Skaggs (from San Francisco’s Crime in Choir), and the engaging, effervescent vocals from one of Austin’s favorite sons, John Matthew Walker.

Their first single and album Springtime Don’t Call was recorded and produced by Stuart Sikes (Loretta Lynn/Jack White, Modest Mouse, A Giant Dog, Sweet Spirit, and The Sword to name a few).

The band was able to play once in 2021 during the pandemic when tensions arose. Keyboardist Erwin had enough of Austin and moved to Colorado, and Pelliciotto and Skaggs decided to pursue other musical interests. It was during this time that High Heavens transformed. Ernest and Johnny decided to record a few more songs with Stuart without a band. Ernest reached out to his former Glorium rhythm section of George Lara (now with ‘60s Chicano soul band Eddie & The Valients and San Antonio pop band The Please Help) on bass and Juan Ramos (The Please Help) on drums, and with a skeletal framework recorded a few basic tracks. 

Additional recording was done at The BBQ Shack by Austin heavy garage/psych/hardcore musician Jason Morales (guitarist for Tia Carrera, Black Mercy, Migas and Olympia, WA’s Helltrout.)

Old time friend Conrad Keely of …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead played additional keyboards on “Life is a Loan Shark”, as well as sax and Rhodes piano on “Hundred Bullets”.

“Life is a Loan Shark” is the first single, a dreamy pop song about boyhood memories and lost love. Its synth-heavy sound inspired by Angelo Badalamenti’s Twin Peaks and ‘50s-era Ritchie Valens, with keyboardist Jeremy Erwin flying in tracks from his home in scenic Nederland, Colorado. 

High Heavens is currently rehearsing with new members and will play shows all around Texas starting in November 2022.

Artist: High Heavens

Album: "Life is a Loan Shark" / "100 Bullets"

Record Label: Self-released

Release Date: September 6th, 2022

highheavens.bandcamp.com

instagram.com/_high_heavens_

US/THEM News: Latest songs & videos + playlists, tour dates and more...

Here's the latest news, tracks and singles for US/THEM group artists:

Summer 2022 Playlist: Until The Summer Comes

Spotify - Until The Summer Comes

Bandcamp/BNDCMPR

 YouTube

Playlist 2: Heavy Sounds of Now

Listen/share: Spotify

Bandcamp/BNDCMPR

The Schizophonics - Hoof It: Spotify for Artists calls them "the wildest band in America!" Album released 9/2 STREAM

Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol - Doom Wop: Austin punk-metal trio: Revolver Magazine: "Epically catchy... Imagine the ear-wormy fuzz-rock riffage of Dinosaur Jr. if it was played on an eight-string guitar with super heavy low-end." Invisible Oranges: "Heavy, catchy madness." STREAM

Pink Frost - Until The Summer Comes: Glorious return of Chicago's alt-punk band STREAM

Pineid - Blue Doom: members of Zappa Band, Dethklok, Dr. John produced by Toshi Kasai (Melvins) STREAM

WHIMZ - PM226: Blackwater Holylight singer/bassist Allison "Sunny" Faris & Night Heron's Cam Spies. STREAM

Jochen Arbeit - Tiere Macht Toene: Einstürzende Neubauten guitarist's beautiful solo album on homemade instruments. STREAM

High Heavens - EP: Ex-members of I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness, New Wet Kojak, Edsel, Glorium, and Crime In Choir. STREAM

Torpedo - Orpheo Nebula: Switzerland trio, FFO: Sonic Youth, Patti Smith, The Xx, etc. STREAM

CURRENT RELEASE SCHEDULE:

08/12 Dreckig - Digital Exposure (Broken Clover Records)

08/26 Pineid - Blue Doom (Sympatry Records)

08/26 Culpepper - Superreactor 

09/02 Schizophonics - Hoof It (Pig Baby Records)

09/16 Pink Frost - Until The Summer Comes (Under Road Records)

09/16 Torpedo - Orpheo Nebula (Broken Clover Records)

09/23 Rickshaw Billy's Burger Patrol - Doom Wop

09/23 Jochen Arbeit - Tiere Macht Toene (Dymaxion Groove) 

10/28 WHIMZ - PM226 (Literal Gold)

11/17 Lori Goldston (Nirvana cellist) LP (Broken Clover Records)

12/01 Dave Aju (Broken Clover Records)

ON TOUR:

RBBP LIVE 2022:

09/22 Dallas, TX - Club Dada*

09/23 Austin, TX - Antone’s*

09/24 Houston, TX - White Oak*

09/25 New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa*

09/26 Mobile, AL - Alabama Music Hall

09/27 Atlanta, GA - Masquerafe*

09/28 Athens, GA - The Lab @ Cine

09/29 Charlotte, NC - Tommy’s

09/30 Raleigh, NC - TBA

10/01 Washington, DC - Slash Run

10/02 Philadelphia, PA - Ortlieb’s

10/03 Saratoga Springs, NY - Desperate Annie’s

10/04 New York, NY - Our Wicked Lady

10/06 Providence, RI - AS22

10/07 Boston, MA - Zuzu

10/09 Pittsburgh, PA - Squirrel Hill

10/12 Nashville, TN - The 5 Spot

10/13 Little Rock, AR - Vino’s

10/14 Dallas, TX - 3 Links

10/15 Austin, TX - Valhalla

* w/ King Buffalo

THE SCHIZOPHONICS LIVE 2022:

09/09 Seattle, WA - Substation

09/10 Portland, OR - Dante’s

09/11 Eugene, OR - Old Nick’s

09/13 Albany, CA - Ivy Room

09/14 San Jose, CA - The Ritz

09/15 Santa Cruz, CA - Moe’s Alley

09/17 Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon

09/23 San Diego, CA - The Casbah

10/21 Los Angeles, CA - Permanent Records Roadhouse

11/03 Indianapolis, IN - Lo-Fi

11/04 Cincinnati, OH - Motr Pub

11/05 Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups

11/06 Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe

11/07 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar

11/08 Washington, DC - City Winery

11/10 Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie 

11/11 Brooklyn, NY - TV Eye

11/12 New Haven, CT - Cafe Nine

11/13 Providence, RI - Alchemy

11/14 Boston, MA - Middle East

11/16 Montreal, QC - Casa Del Popolo

11/17 Toronto, ON - The Baby G

11/18 Rochester, NY - Bug Jar

11/19 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern

11/21 Detroit, MI - PJ’s Lager House

11/22 Chicago, IL - Schuba’s

11/23 Milwaukee, WI - Shank Hall

11/25 Minneapolis, MN - Icehouse

11/26 Green Bay, WI - Lyric Room

SECRET EMCHY SOCIETY:

09/03 Murphys, CA - Tri-County Pride

09/05 San Francisco, CA - TBA

09/10 Vancouver, BC - Farm Fest

09/17 Nashville, TN - The Groove

09/22 San Antonio, TX - TBA

09/23 Houston, TX - Big Top Charlie's

09/24 Austin, TX - The Rustic Tap

09/26 Santa Fe, NM - Tumbleroot Distillery

09/27 Phoenix, AZ - Lost Leaf

09/28 Los Angeles, CA - Footsie's

09/29 Solvang, CA - Lost Chord Guitars

09/30 Albany, CA - Ivy Room

10/01 Grass Valley, CA - Dew Drop Inn

"Epically catchy" Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol share "Heel" video via Revolver Magazine, tour with King Buffalo in late September

“Fuzzed-out, speaker-exploding groove that's both sonically excruciating and intoxicatingly alluring. Rock'n'roll to the core, the Austin-based band has clearly taken notes from noise rock and doom on how to achieve this kind of duality, and then dialed up the formula to new absurd levels… They find a weird sweet spot of harshness and catchiness that goes down like a greasy, gut-busting bad decision.” — Invisible Oranges

"Epically catchy... Imagine the ear-wormy fuzz-rock riffage of Dinosaur Jr. if it was played on an eight-string guitar with super heavy low-end." -- Revolver Magazine

Austin trio Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol share the official video for the single "Heel" from their forthcoming album Doom Wop today via Revolver Magazine. Watch and share the fun-loving chaos HERE. (Direct YouTube.)

Invisible Oranges recently launched lead single "Shoo In" HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)

RBBP kick off tour dates supporting King Buffalo in late September, followed by headlining shows across the US in October. Please see current dates below. 

With their 5th studio release, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol is putting a name to the style of fuzzed out, overdriven, melodic, groovy music they have been making since 2016. In 9 concise, no bullshit songs, RBBP demonstrates their ability to blend the merciless low end of Leo Lydon’s 8-String guitar, Aaron Metzdorf’s masterful chordwork on the bass, and Sean St.Germain’s driving drumwork. Lydon and Metzdorf’s vocal melodies cut through the high frequencies to deliver fresh layers to the hooks that RBBP fans have come to love.

As the name implies, “Doom Wop” is a heavy, melody-driven, party metal album. With riffs as big and dumb as ever, and lyrics that stab at the worst members of society and ourselves (while keeping tongue firmly in cheek), listeners will find all the elements that make up the soul of RBBP on this record. “Doom Wop” will be available everywhere September 23rd.  

Doom Wop will be available on CD and download on September 23rd, 2022. Vinyl LP release date TBD. Pre-orders are available HERE.

RBBP LIVE 2022:

09/22 Dallas, TX - Club Dada*

09/23 Austin, TX - Antone’s*

09/24 Houston, TX - White Oak*

09/25 New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa*

09/26 Mobile, AL - Alabama Music Hall

09/27 Atlanta, GA - Masquerafe*

09/28 Athens, GA - The Lab @ Cine

09/29 Charlotte, NC - Tommy’s

09/30 Raleigh, NC - TBA

10/01 Washington, DC - Slash Run

10/02 Philadelphia, PA - Ortlieb’s

10/03 Saratoga Springs, NY - Desperate Annie’s

10/04 New York, NY - Our Wicked Lady

10/06 Providence, RI - AS22

10/07 Boston, MA - Zuzu

10/09 Pittsburgh, PA - Squirrel Hill

10/12 Nashville, TN - The 5 Spot

10/13 Little Rock, AR - Vino’s

10/14 Dallas, TX - 3 Links

10/15 Austin, TX - Valhalla

* w/ King Buffalo

Artist: Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol

Album: Doom Wop

Label: Self-released 

Release Date: September 23rd, 2022

www.rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.com

rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.bandcamp.com