Category: post punk

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: FACS Share Tense and Uneasy “North America Endless”

Back in 2013, Chicago-based post-punk act Disappears — founding member Brian Case (vocals, guitar) along with  Noah Leger (drums), Jonathan van Herirk (guitar) and Damon Carruesco (bass) — released two related yet very different efforts that are among some of my favorite albums of the past decade or so — the atmospheric and tempestuous Kone EP and the tense, raging Era.  

In 2017, Carruesco left the band. Disappears’ remaining members — Case, Lager and van Herrik — eventually decided to continue onward, but under a new name, and new sonic direction and songwriting approach as FACS. With 2018’s full-length debut as FACS, Negative Houses, the trio quickly established an intense, cathartic and heavy sound, although it’s not always obvious.

The Chicago-based outfit’s fifth album, last year’s Still Life in Decay was a decidedly focused that saw the band at what may arguably be their most solidified. The apocalyptic chaos of their previous album was pushed away in favor of examination with a remarkable and uneasy clarity, while being a sort of addendum to 2021’s Present Tense. Although Alianna Kalaba made an amicable last stand with the band on the album’s material, the album saw the band’s incredibly tight rhythm section dancing and twisting around each other like a double helix rather than inside it, creating a lattice, in which Case wove his guitar lines in and around, much like creeping vines as you’d hear on album tracks “When You Say” and “Slogan.”

The JOVM mainstays — currently Case, Van Herik and Leger — will be releasing the “North America Endless”/”Take Me to Your Heart” single through Sub Pop. The limited release will be on white vinyl and limited to 1,000 copies, and features the original A-side “North America Endless” and on the B-side, a cover of Eurythmics “Take Me to Your Heart.”

“North America Endless” sees the trio at their most forceful yet melodic. Anchored around a shimmering and reverb-soaked, sustain-driven guitar line, thunderous and angular drumming paired with Case’s delivery, which evokes and expresses the anxiety, despair, cognitive dissonance and dissociation of modern American life.

“We had been talking a lot about how to incorporate melody in a new way with the material we were starting to write after Still Life in Decay, and this was one of the first experiments with that,” FACS’ Brian Case says of the new single. “I had this inverted Polvo thing I had been playing around with that Jonathan married to a really nice Frippy sustained lead, and it kind of just wrote itself. Lyrically, it’s about the dissociation needed to live in this country and the powerlessness that can bring. Noah’s beat at the end of the song is one of my favorites from him.”
 
Regarding the cover of Eurythmics’ “Take Me to Your Heart,” Case says the song is “A band favorite, we’ve been kicking around a version of this since we first started FACS, but for some reason just got around to completing it now. This song has a lot of elements we keep in focus when we write – repetition, space, off-the-grid melodies, and mantra-like lyrics that can be construed in a few ways based on what perspective you view them from.”

The tense Joshua Ford-directed accompanying video for “North America Endless” follows a woman through the slow-burn descent into numbing dissociation and madness.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of 2019’s critically applauded full-length debut, Useless Coordinates, Leeds-based experimental outfit Drahla — currently Luciel Brown (vocals, guitar), Ewan Barr (guitar), Rob Riggs (bass) and Mike Ainsley (drums) — exploded into the UK post punk and experimental rock scenes.

The British quartet’s long-awaited sophomore album angeltape is slated for an April 5, 2024 release through Captured Tracks. Recorded with Matthew Benn and Jamie Lockhart last year, angeltape is reportedly an avant-garde document oft he events that unfolded over the course of the five-year gap between albums, which saw a variety of changes — both good and bad — that steered their professional and personal lives down unfamiliar territories.

Of course, instead of succumbing to adversity, the band’s sophomore album sees the band re-emerging sounding creatively rejuvenated with deeply reflective perspectives. Over the last few years, the band’s members have suffered devastating losses and yet have expanded upon their sound with the addition of their newest member Ewan Barr.

Inspired and informed by their recent experiences — collective and individual — the album features a considerably darker, tonally more complex and conceptual sound. The addition of Barr signaled a significant shift in the band’s dynamic and ultimately reshaped the way they approached their angular arrangements, with the band being feeling the freedom to experiment with form more than ever before. Brown, in particular embraced the opportunity to find different ways to inhabit her contemplative lyrics. Naturally, because of the band’s new lineup, there was a readjustment period when they convened to write angeltape — but it helped to kickstart a renewed creative approach. “There was an uncertainty and anxiety in not knowing how to rekindle what we had, and what we did have just didn’t exist in the same format,” Brown explains. “I feel this is apparent in the music; the constant changes, opposing ideas and structures, the overall energy and drive of the songs. I think there’s also the sense of reconnection, encouragement and freedom, too. There’s excitement borne from us finding something together again.”

The album also draws some inspiration from the work of experimental rock outfit This Heat, but the band primarily found that their greatest motivation came from listening to and following one another throughout the writing and recording sessions. “I think the process and inspiration for this album has been way more experimental and insular than taking on any external musical references,” says Brown, “This record feels like it was built on a foundation of insular inspiration.” The band’s Rob Riggs adds, “When the four of us are in a room, we each bring separate things to the table. Sometimes, a session would start a little bit disjointed but then we find a way where we could all interlock together for a moment in a song and then disperse again.”

Sonically, the album’s material is rooted in the interplay of driving bass riffs and charged drum patterns provide an uneasy yet captivating contrast to Brown’s melody sing-songy spoken delivery. The material is also heightened by searing saxophone contributions from the band’s longtime collaborator Chris Duffin.

angeltape‘s third and lates single, the wild and expressionistic freakout “Grief In Phantasia” is a No Wave-inspired take on post punk — or maybe a post-punk-inspired take on No Wave — built around angular and scuzzy guitar lines, primal saxophone skronk and off-kilter yet forceful percussion serving as a tumultuously and uneasy bed for Brown’s melodic sing-songy and punchily melodic delivery.

According to the band: “This song was informed by others on the record and those we’d written in the past. It felt like the closing track when we wrote it, as though it summarised the chaos and the calm of the album.”

Drahla will also head out on tour across the EU and UK through May and June; their first since their European dates in 2023. Their reputation as a fervent live act is ever-growing, having toured across the world and shared stages with the likes of Parquet Courts, Ought, Buzzcocks, and several others. Tour dates are below.

Drahla – Confirmed Tour Dates

03/30 – Leeds, UK – Jumbo Records (in-store performance)

05/02 – Wakefield, UK – The Establishment

05/03 – Brighton, UK – The Hope & Ruin

05/04 – Brussels, BE – Les Nuits Botanique

05/07 – Cologne, DE- Bumann & Sohn

05/08 – Mainz, DE – Schon Schön

05/09 – Hamburg, DE – Hafenklang

05/10- Leipzig, DE – Ilses Erika

05/11 – Berlin, DE – Urban Spree

05/13 – Dresden, DE – Blechschloss

05/14 – Krakow, PL – Green ZOO Festival

05/15 – Prague, CZ – Underdogs

05/16 – Vienna, AT – Arena

05/17 – Munich, DE – Kafe Kult

05/18 – Bologna, IT – DEV

05/19 – Montecosaro, IT – Teatro delle Logge

05/21 – Clermont Ferrand, FR – Cooperative de Mai

05/22 – Toulouse, FR – Metronum Music Box

05/23 – Barcelona, ES – Sala Taro

05/24 – Madrid, ES – Sala Specka

05/25 – Porto, PT – Plano B

05/26 – Lisbon, PT – ZDB

05/27 – Vigo, ES – Radar Estudios & Mondo Club

05/30 – San Sebastian, ES – Dabadaba

05/31 – Bordeaux, FR – IBoat

06/03 – Paris, FR – Point Ephemere

06/04 – Lille, FR – L’AERONEF

06/06 – London, UK – Shacklewell Arms

06/07 – Bristol, UK – Dareshack 

06/08 – Margate, UK – Where Else?

06/09 – Liverpool, UK – Quarry

06/10 – Manchester, UK – YES

06/12 – Glasgow, UK – The Old Hairdresser’s

06/13 – Coventry, UK – The Tin Music and Arts

06/14 – Hebden Bridge, UK – Hebden Bridge

06/15 – Leeds, UK – Belgrave Music Hall

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Strange Cities Shares Echo and the Bunnymen-like “Cage”

San Francisco-based post punk outfit Strange Cities have developed a reputation for a powerful and energetic live show that has landed them opening slots for Gene Loves Jezebel and The Sisters of Mercy. They also caught the attention of Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros,’ The Alarm‘s and Archive‘s Steve “Smiley” Barnard, who invited them to England to record most of their latest album Moments Stolen at this Sunshine Corner Studio. 

Moments Stolen sees the Bay Area-based outfit firmly cementing a sound that reflects the foggy, jagged and dystopian landscape that inspired their name with their sound frequently skirting the fringe of noise and melody, melancholy and nostalgia, tragedy and hope. 

Earlier this week, I wrote about “Holoscene,” a danceable bit of post-punk that seemed to channel Murmur-era R.E.M., Boy and War-era U2 and others. Written during the darkest days of the pandemic, “Holoscene” thematically captures a very real fear of losing something so deeply human and necessary, permanently — nights out with friends, dancing and catching live music.

Moments Stolen’s latest single is the remarkably Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here-era Echo and the Bunnymen-like anthemic “Cage.” Certainly, if you’re a child of the 70s and 80s, “Cage” will bring back some bittersweet nostalgia of seemingly simpler days. Pull out that Walkman and dance the night away, right?

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Strange Cities Shares Rousingly Anthemic “Holoscene”

San Francisco-based post punk outfit Strange Cities have developed a reputation for a powerful and energetic live show that has landed them opening slots for Gene Loves Jezebel and The Sisters of Mercy. They also caught the attention of Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros,’ The Alarm‘s and Archive‘s Steve “Smiley” Barnard, who invited them to England to record most of their latest album Moments Stolen at this Sunshine Corner Studio.

Moments Stolen sees the Bay Area-based outfit firmly cementing a sound that reflects the foggy, jagged and dystopian landscape that inspired their name with their sound frequently skirting the fringe of noise and melody, melancholy and nostalgia, tragedy and hope.

Rooted around an arrangement of angular reverb-soaked guitars, a motorik-like groove punctuated by relentless four-on-the-floor, a propulsive bass line and an anthemic hook, paired with an earnest, yearning vocal, Stolen Moments‘ latest single “Holoscene” is a danceable bit of post-punk that channels Murmur-era R.E.M., Boy and War-era U2 and others.

As the San Francisco-based outfit explains, “Holoscene” was written during the darkest days of the pandemic, when it seemed like going out to support local bands, artists and DJs and going out with your friends would be too dangerous to do. And as a result, the song captures the fear of losing something so deeply human and necessary permanently, while being a desperate shout to the world that we can’t let that die. It’s too important for us as humans.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Belfast’s Chalk Teams Up with Fears on Brooding “Bliss”

Rising Belfast-based outfit Chalk — Ross Cullen (vocals), Benedict Goddard (guitar, sampler) and Luke Niblock (drums) — features three award-winning musicians and filmmakers, who can trace the origins of the band to when they met while attending film school and bonded over having the same musical vision and ambitions. Inspired by the ferocity and live shows of Dublin‘s guitar band scene and the sweaty hardcore dance scenes of their native Belfast, the band have crafted a sound that has been dubbed by some critics as techno-infused, gothic post-punk — and as the band has dubbed Berghain-rock blended with techno punk.

Last year saw the Northern Irish-based post-punk trio release their debut EP Conditions. As a live unit, the band quickly exploded out of the gates with opening slots for London-based outfit PVA for their first ever shows, before selling out shows across the UK. Quickly building upon a growing profile across the region and elsewhere, the band landed sets across the European major festival circuit, closing out 2023 with a set at Rencontres Trans Musicales and a KEXP live session, which will be released on March 8, 2024.

Coming off the heels of a Northern Irish Music Prize 2023 Best Live Act win, the band has begun to make noise globally: Their sophomore EP, the Chris Ryan and Ross Cullen co-produced Conditions II is slated for a Friday release through Nice Swan Records, and the EP will feature previously released singles “The Gate” and “Claw,” which received praise from The Independent, NME, DIY, Dork, Rolling Stone UK, So Young, The New Cue, Rough Trade, Consequence and others while landing on a BBC 6 Music playlist with tracks from PJ Harvey, IDLES, Sampha, Yard Act and more. Thematically, the album continues upon the themes of its immediate predecessor but sees the band diving deeper into subconscious feelings and self-discovery while leaning into the industrial/techno rock sound that they established with their debut EP. Aesthetically, the trio also continue the monochromatic, goth-inspired goth visual landscape in an evocative and seamless manner.

“We see Conditions II as a natural evolution from our debut EP, Conditions. These new tracks are a product of our first year as a touring band. They were tried and tested at most of our shows before being taken into the studio,” Chalk’s Ross Cullen says. “We wanted to expand upon existing themes and ideas we touched upon in our debut, but with this continuation, we could explore ourselves and the world we had created deeper, both lyrically and sonically. In this second installment, we wanted to dive further into the electronic element of our music, bringing the experience of our live shows to our recordings.”

“Bliss” Conditions II‘s hazy third and latest single features angular and reverb-drenched shoegazer-like guitar textures with relentless four-on-the-floor and bursts of glistening synth serving as a brooding yet cinematic bed for Ross Cullen’s punchy yet stoic shouts and Constance Keane, a.k.a. Fears‘ ethereal voice acting as a dreamy counterbalance. Sonically nodding a bit at Joy Division, New Order, Luminous and V-era The Horrors and others, the track thematically moves from longing to loss and regret.

Directed by the band’s Benedict Goddard, the video features two solitary dancers — a man and a woman — dancing ecstatically to the song, cut with intimate shots of each band member performing the song in a cinematic black and white. Visually, the song channels and mirrors the emotional movement of the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 67th Birthday, Cindy Wilson!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates The B52’s Cindy Wilson’s 67th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Sunglaciers Share Punchy Post Punk Ripper “Fakes”

Regular Nature, Calgary-based post-punk/psych pop outfit and JOVM mainstays Sunglaciers‘ highly-anticipated third album is slated for a March 29, 2024 release through Montréal-based label Mothland. While the material sees the band further continuing to blur the boundaries between polished melodcism and opaque experimentation, the material also blurs the lines between auspicious Romanticism and unbridled dissent. Firmly anchored in the strange and uneasy reality of our time, the album’s songs are laced with a certain optimism, through well-calculated psych elements and vibrant rhythms, creating a unique strange of kaleidoscopic pop.

Continuing their ongoing collaboration with co-producer Chad Van Gaalen, the Calgary-based JOVM mainstays’ forthcoming third album was purposely designed to be enjoyed in many ways, from solitary headphone listening to a crowded live venue, while sonically seeming to nod at Deerhunter, Ought, MGMT, DEVO, Talking Heads and others. The album also features a guest spot from acclaimed Zoon creative mastermind Daniel Monkman. 

“We wanted to make a concise yet explosive record, continuing to find the balance between familiar and novel sounds and approaches. We have not and may never make ‘dance music,’ but we make continued efforts to bring sounds that we like from dance and electronic genres into our own, delighting in the process as much as the product,” the band explains. “We love to play and experiment, defying expectations and discovering new sounds. This record shows how these novel (to us) elements interact with the rock and roll world we comfortably inhabit.

“We want to make you dance. We want to make you think. We want to make you think while you’re dancing and dance while you’re busy thinking. This is an album for the body, brain and heart. It’s compassionate, frustrated, communal and dreadful. In a world of information overload, where everything comes at you at once, Regular Nature is trying to normalize the phenomenon. This is chaotic music for a chaotic world, a three-way conversation between outer self, the subconscious and the mad world. As expressed on penultimate track ‘One Time or Another:’ ‘There’s always somebody talking.’”“We wanted to make a concise yet explosive record, continuing to find the balance between familiar and novel sounds and approaches. We have not and may never make ‘dance music,’ but we make continued efforts to bring sounds that we like from dance and electronic genres into our own, delighting in the process as much as the product,” the band explains. “We love to play and experiment, defying expectations and discovering new sounds. This record shows how these novel (to us) elements interact with the rock and roll world we comfortably inhabit.

“We want to make you dance. We want to make you think. We want to make you think while you’re dancing and dance while you’re busy thinking. This is an album for the body, brain and heart. It’s compassionate, frustrated, communal and dreadful. In a world of information overload, where everything comes at you at once, Regular Nature is trying to normalize the phenomenon. This is chaotic music for a chaotic world, a three-way conversation between outer self, the subconscious and the mad world. As expressed on penultimate track ‘One Time or Another:’ ‘There’s always somebody talking.’”

Late last month, I wrote about “Cursed,” a woozy dream pop-meets-psych pop-meets-post-punk track that features glistening and fluttering synth arpeggios, a motorik rhythm section, an Avalon-era Roxy Music-like guitar solo and hazy and yearning vocals. The achingly nostalgic song sees its narrator discussing a love passing them by with a weary and bitterly resigned sense of regret. “Oh, if I had only known what I know now,” the song’s narrator seems to say. 

“‘Cursed’ is quite probably Sunglaciers’ biggest downer to date. It is a piece about shattered, unsaid expectations, and reflecting on the reality of a situation after it has passed, and all that remains is its memory,” the band explains. “It is a slow dance between regret and acceptance, a song about lost love and lost potential. It is being caught in a moment, blinded by short-term desires, only to wake up on the other side when everything has passed and it is too late to reconcile (“You wish your head could unremember this/ But memory is all there ever is”).

“Fakes,” Regular Nature‘s second and latest single is a Freedom of Choice-era DEVO and Remain in Light-era Talking Heads like ripper built around a relentless four-on-the-floor, angular chorus pedal-drenched baselines and squiggling guitars and atmospheric synths paired with Resnik’s punchily uneasy delivery and bursts of gossip and shit-talking. The song captures the inner monologue of someone struggling to keep up with appearances and with keeping up with others, while recognizing — with an excoriating sense of humor — that practically everything in our lives has a veneer of phoniness.

“‘Fakes’ is a song about performance, artifice, and image,” the Calgary-based outfit explains. “Partly a direct narration of a social scene, partly an inner monologue. It is about how our priorities have changed or are distorted. Instead of who we truly are, the importance seems to be on what we appear to be or how we act. Sometimes these intersect, but oftentimes are at odds. We are desperate to mold a certain self-image, a certain perception from the outside, despite what we really think about a situation. We run a risk of being seen as ‘all style, not a lot of substance.’ All social interactions are performative. We are striving to be seen as having a certain character, whether or not that’s who we truly are or how we believe we “ought” to be. ‘Fakes’ is like the subconscious taking over the controls of someone engaging in society (‘Don’t tell me your thoughts about the weather’), then abruptly turning its focus back inward (‘I’m anxious, always acting up’).”

Directed by the band’s Evan Resnik, the accompanying video is inspired and informed by 90s MTV/Muchmusic music video aesthetics, while also nodding at some of DEVO’s videos from the 80s. Featuring the band playing a sparse, white studio space, at points we see some uncanny mash-ups of their faces and bodies that seem startlingly real and unsettlingly weird.

“Everyone in the band grew up on the aesthetics of 90s MTV/Muchmusic, so it’s no surprise that many of our videos look like they belong to that era,” Resnik says. “When conceptualizing the ‘Fakes’ video, Mathieu (Blanchard) told me he wanted it to be our ‘Big Bang Baby,’ a music video by Stone Temple Pilots. I hadn’t seen the video in years, but the vibe is unforgettable. I freshened it up to fit our weirdness, and adjusted for our complete lack of budget. I tend to go off the rails during the editing process, so I spliced our faces to exaggerate the fakeness. And there are parallels to ‘Big Bang Baby’ that found their way in without my realizing (the old TV, neon colours in the bridge). I think Scott Weiland passed these elements to me from the great beyond.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Marseille’s Social Dance Shares Upbeat and Funky “Sometimes”

Formed back in 2020, Marseille, France-based electro pop trio Social Dance — Faustine, Thomas and Ange — are best friends and former roommates, who craft uninhibited and absurd pop inspired by their common experiences and complementary music tastes.

Their debut EP 2022’s Rumeurs featured material that was featured in the Netflix series Emily In Paris. As result of their music appearing in the hit Netflix series, the Marseille-based trio toured across Europe and Canada last year, playing over 70 shows.

The trio’s latest single “Sometimes” is their first single of 2024 — and the first bit of new material since their debut EP. “Sometimes” is a feel good slice of dance punk rooted in a euphoric, dance floor friendly groove featuring squiggling bursts of Nile Rodgers-like guitar, punchy, mathematically precise drum machine, angular bass lines paired with glistening synths serving as a sleek and supple bed for dueling bilingual boy and girl vocals that seems to channel LCD Soundsystem, JOVM mainstays Psymon Spine and others — while being remarkably mischievous.

The Wes Anderson-like accompanying video for “Sometimes” is a behind-the-scene look at the filming of the video for “Sometimes,” that begins with the production company ironing and preparing outfits for the trio, styling hair and makeup before they hit the set. During the shooting, we follow the boldly colored outfit trio rocking out and goofing along to the song. The video manages to capture the mischievous air of the trio and of the song — and in a way that’s adorable.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Virtual Nobodies Shares Brooding and Cinematic “Night of the Skinwalker”

Although they come from different backgrounds and styles, Newbury Park, CA-based post punk outfit Virtual Nobodies — longtime friends, co-vocalists, multi-instrumentals JAAG and Xavier Valdez — have developed a sound and genre that they’ve dubbed coastal desert alt rock, which incorporates bristling riffs, disco grooves and Beach Boys-like harmonies. As a Los Angeles– based journalist once wrote, “Virtual Nobodies are if Oasis, Kaleo, and U2 had a baby in LA, and their drummer locked them down.” 

The duo released their debut EP, Costal Desert Melancholy last October. The EP’s latest single “Night of the Skinwalker” is a brooding noir-ish bit of post-punk built around shimmering and reverb-soaked twang, bursts of soaring synths, fuzz pedaled power chords, yearning and plaintive vocals, and a propulsive rhythm section paired with rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses. While comparisons to U2 are well-founded to a degree, sonically “Night of the Skinwwalker” also reminds me a bit of JOVM mainstays Still Corners, VOWWS and others.

Virtual Nobodies’ Xavier Valdez explains “‘Skinwalker’ is about one’s temptation and at times feeding into that. Often times we carry a lot of shame for said situations. There’s a line in the song that’s my personal favorite. The other singer, Jaag, sings: “In my dreams I fly, higher than my shame,” which I think is such a powerful truth.

Directed by Jeremiah Gray and Ty Metcalfe, the Halloween-themed video for “Night of the Skinwalker” starts Dave Brown, Matthew Nordquist and Virtual Nobodies’ Xavier Vasquez. Set on a dark and fateful, moonlit night, the video tells an ancient tale of a man, who turns into a werewolf and because of primal urges does something horrible.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Italy’s Freddi Rituali Shares 80s New Wave-Inspired “Per Ridere di te”

Formed last year, the Italian synth pop/coldwave duo Freddi Rituali — Diego Ballani (vocals) and Marco Tosetti (guitar, synths, programming) — features two, grizzled Italian scene veterans: After spending 20 years in Italian power pop outfit Made, Ballani and Tosetti decided to start a music project largely inspired by 80s British synth pop, Italian New Wave groups like Diaframma and Germany’s CCCP, as well as contemporaries like JOVM mainstays The Vacant Lots and acclaimed Belarusians Molchat Doma.

The duo’s self-titled debut EP was released earlier this year, and the EP features material that pairs angular guitar and icy synths with introspective lyrics sung with an earnest, emotive delivery. The EP’s latest single, the remarkably Flock of Seagulls-like “Per ridere di te,” sees the duo pairing glistening and icy synth arpeggios, mathematically precise, skittering beats with angular bursts of shimmering, reverb-soaked guitar, catchy hooks and Ballani’s earnest, emotive delivery.

For Americans, “Per ridere de ti,” may open up an alternate pop universe that sounds intimately familiar yet alien — but as infectious and as danceable as ever.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Los Angeles’ Shadow Sides Shares Brooding “No Going Home”

Citing Elliott Smith, The Cure, and Slowdive as major influences, Los Angeles-based indie outfit Shadow Sides — William Thad, John Elliott and Aaron Montes — have crafted a sound and approach that blends intimate songwriting with dreamy sheogazer-like atmospherics and 80s post-punk-inspired riffs. While rooted in an undeniably pop sensibility, the trio’s work explores existential themes, which gives the material a distinctly modern feel.

Shadow Sides’ full-length debut, Dissolve the Frame will feature brooding album single “No Going Home.” Built around a propulsive and angular bass line, jangling and reverb drenched, arpeggiated guitars, eerily swirling atmospherics and big hooks and choruses, “No Going Home” reminds me quite a bit of Starfish-era The Church and fellow Angelinos Blackout Transmission.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Seattle’s Weep Wave Returns with Grunge-like “Phasing”

Seattle-based post-punk outfit Weep Wave released their full-length debut, 2019’s S.A.D.to critical praise from KEXP, Seattle Music Insider, Raised by Cassettes and Dan’s Tunes among others.

In the five years since S.A.D.’s release, the band has been rather busy: They’ve gone through a lineup change, which has resulted in their current lineup: Dylan Fuentes (vocals, guitar), Mike Hubbard (drums, synth) and Mitch Midkiff (bass). They’ve released an EP and a handful of singles, one which was featured as KEXP’s Song of the Day that have gradually revealed an evolving and decided change in sonic direction. The band has shared stages with a handful of acclaimed and renowned acts including JOVM mainstays Los Bitchos, Blackwater Holylight, Gustaf, The Bobby Lees, Godcaster, Habibi, Reignwolf and Spirit Mother among others.

They’ve also made the rounds of the local and regional festival circuit, playing sets at Treefort Music Festival, Capitol Hill Block Party, South Sound Block Party and Off Beat Music Fest. And they’ve done multiple tours up and down the West Coast — and have played a few times here in NYC.

Slated for an April 5, 2024 release through Corporat Records, the Seattle-basd outfit’s 11-song Dylan Wall-produced sophomore album Speck was recorded at Seattle’s 7 Hills Studios and reportedly sees the trio embarking on a kaleidoscopic sonic odyssey through the diverse array of genres they proudly call home. Thematically Fuentes’ lyrics oscillate between two contrasting realms: outward to explore the effects of the perils of capitalism and climate change — and inward, to scrutinize the self, in particular dissecting the ego and self-identity. 

Last month, I wrote about the Low Praise-meets-grunge-like “Rebirth Mantra,” a song built around a pummeling, most pit friendly riff, thunderous drumming and a supple yet propulsive bass line within a classic, alternating loud-quiet-loud song structure that captures Fuentes at his most introspective and neurotic, with the song’s narrator expressing his fears of feeling into the same unhelpful — and perhaps even destructive — patterns that always lead to repeated failure and frustration. The song’s narrator envisions a transformed, evolved version of himself, a much more caring, courageous and empathetic self. Of course, are we able and willing to change and evolve? Or are we too stubborn, too blind to do what’s necessary to better ourselves?”

Speck‘s latest single “Phasing” is a decidedly grunge-like ripper built around the sort of feedback fueled, power chord-driven riffs reminiscent of 90s alt rock greats like Nirvana, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, complete with enormous, arena rock-meets-mosh pit-like hooks and choruses.