“Sweep Me Off My Feet,” is the first bit of new material from the band since last year’s Man, It Feels Like Space Again and interestingly enough the single sounds as though it could have been a Tame Impala B side — and that’s not a terrible thing, really. Sonically speaking, the band pairs boom-bap like drums, layers of buzzing synths, chiming percussion, plaintive falsetto vocals, buzzing yet bluesy guitar solo and an anthemic hook in a slow-burning and trippy bit of psych pop that possesses an urgent, carnal need and vulnerability underneath it’s arena rock swagger. Unsurprisingly, “Sweep Me Off My Feet” is also the first single from the band’s forthcoming, Kevin Parker produced, untitled full-length album slated for release in early 2017.
Tag: Can
Originally formed by its founding duo Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and video director Peter Christopherson after the breakup of Throbbing Gristle in the early 1980s, Psychic TV (also known as Psychick TV or PTV) was conceived as an experimental video art and music project. Throughout each of its three incarnations, the project has included a diverse and rotating cast of collaborators including Coil, Current 93, Hafler Trio, The Cult, Soft Cell, Fred Giannelli, XKP, Master Musicians of Jajouka, Matthew Best, Abino Brolle, Daniel Simon Black, William Breeze, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Derek Jarman, John Gosling, Timothy Leary, Rose McDowall, Stephen Kent, Vagina Dentata Organ, Andrew Weatherill, Larry Thrasher, Z’EV, Zef NoiSe, Jeff Berner and a lengthy list of others. Interestingly, the project has a long-held reputation for relentless experimentation with its sound and aesthetic, and at one point for being incredibly prolific — with the release of a monthly series of live albums starting in 1986, the band earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for most records released in one year.
Psychic TV’s latest effort Alienist can trace its origins back to 2009 when the project’s creative mastermind and primary member Genesis Breyer P-Orridge proposed that the band cover Funkadelic‘s “Maggot Brain” as a musical interlude while on tour. After that tour, the members of the band went into the studio to record their interpretation of “Maggot Brain,” that lead to the band recording a series of 12 inch records annually which included the band’s interpretation of a classic song on the A side and a new song on the B side. Mostly chosen by drummer and co-producer Edley ODowd, the band has covered Hawkwind‘s “Silver Machine,” Can‘s “Mother Sky,” and Captain Beefheart‘s “Dropout Boogie” among others. Alienist is the latest effort in their 12 inch series and the album includes the band covering Harry Nilsson‘s “Jump Into the Fire” and 60’s British psych rockers, The Creation’s “How Does It Feel to Feel,” one of Breyer P-Orridge’s all-time favorites, along with two original tracks “I’m Looking For You” and “Alienist,” a trippy, dance-floor friendly song that sounds as though it drew from Evil Heat-era Primal Scream, Zooropa-era U2 and house music, while also channeling the project’s acid house experiments of the late 80s.
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Formed in 2014 and inspired by Romance music, CAN and the films of Stanley Kubrick, VTCN Radio is a mysterious Parisian artist and production duo that pairs analog synthesizers with field recordings to create an eerily atmospheric sound as you’ll hear on thee “Late Night Shuttle”/”Venus Flytrap” EP.
“Late Night Shuttle” consists of a twinkling and cascading keyboard-based melody, a sultry but chopped up vocal samples and propulsive boom bap beats to craft a song that sounds like an eerie, Portishead and Sneaker Pimps-inspired lullaby, complete with a subtle bit of dread and unease. “Venus Flytrap” begins with an equally slow-burning track that has the duo pairing stuttering drum programming with electronic bleeps and bloops before turning into drum ‘n’ bass track with a subtle cosmic sheen for the song’s second half. And while clearly specializing in an atmospheric and ambient production, the duo subtly nods at drum ‘n’ bass and house with a moodily sleek and seductive, cinematic fashion.
New Video: The Surreal and Nightmarish Sounds and Visuals for Crown Larks’ “Chapels”
Crown Larks – “Chapels” – Music Video from Emily Esperanza on Vimeo. Chicago, IL-based quartet Crown Larks have steadily built up a both a local and national reputation with praise from the likes of Stereogum, […]
New Video: David Bowie’s Creepy, New Video for “Blackstar”
More than enough ink has been spilled on David Bowie‘s lengthy career as a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger, actor and painter, so delving into any significant backstory will be largely unnecessary for the scope of […]
Jack Name is a bit of a mysterious presence, who has played guitar alongside Tim Presley in White Fence, has released several other solo efforts through a variety of monikers including Fictional Boys and Muzz. […]
As a music journalist, it’s often extremely convenient to get caught up on your local scene or your national scene. Sometimes it’s out of unadulterated and unapologetic biases but usually it’s out of both laziness […]
If you’re familiar with this site, you’d have a general sense that covering and writing about music from all over the world has been part of a deeply personal mission. And I personally think that’s […]
The Chicago, IL-based quartet of Raiders of the Lost Art specialize in a sound that’s highly unusual for most indie rock bands – hell, for most acts these days as it’s heavily inspired by jazz; […]
Like countless bands, the Washington, DC-based quartet of Paperhaus consists of four guys with very different musical influences who have bonded together over their mutual love of music and their desire to play music. Guitarists […]
Cyclopean is the musical collaboration between Burnt Friedman, Jono Podmore, and CAN founding members Jaki Leibezeit and Irmin Schmidt. The quartet will be releasing a 4 track EP digitally on February 12th and physically on […]
Mute Records and Spoon Records recently announced that they will be releasing a 5 LP Box set of legendary German rock band CAN‘s Lost Tapes on 180g vinyl. But like many other box sets, there’s a rather […]