Tag: Fuzz Club

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Venice’s New Candys Shares Brooding and Forceful “Night Surfer”

Venice-based psych outfit New Candys — core members Fernando Nuti (vocals, guitar, synth and programming) and Dario Lucchesi (bass, synth, programming), alongside newest members Emanuele Zanardo (guitar, backing vocals) and Francesco Giacomin (drums, percussion, sampler) — will be releasing their highly-anticiapted fifth album, the Maurizio Baggio-produced The Uncanny Extravaganza through Fuzz Club on May 30, 2025.

While showcasing the Italian outfit’s newest lineup, the album sees the band marking a bold evolution in their sound, with the material seeing the quartet blending their signature rock roots with electronic influences and cutting-edge production to create a genre-defying experience.

The album can trace its origins back to late 2022 when the band started working on new material. The band’s primary songwriter, Fernando Nuti, recalls, “It was an intense and exciting time. I had many songs and ideas that I wanted to try out with the band, and we ended up debuting ‘Crime Wave’ live. We don’t live close to each other and can’t rehearse very often, so using our home studios became the solution. This new process gave us the opportunity to experiment further, and it allowed me to quickly explore different arrangements to find the best one for each song.”

Dario Lucchesi’s growing interest in electronic music also played a pivotal role in shaping the album’s direction making the transition from drums to bass a natural evolution. “The lineup change and shift to bass created a situation, where I could bring new ideas to the band,” Lucchesi says. “Working alone, with my own pace and methods, allowed me to explore and express myself more effectively. I found it refreshing to play remotely, exchanging projects and seeing the progress of the songs that both Fernando and I could work on, handling all the instruments and breaking away from the roles established on stage and on previous albums.” Their collaboration resulted in album tracks like “Regicide” and “Night Surfer,” with contributions from Zanardo and Giacomin further enriching the band’s evolving sound.

Production duties were handled by Maurizio Baggio, who worked with the band closely throughout last year, spreading the recording sessions across the course of the year to focus on individual track in detail. “After self-producing all our records, except for the first, we wanted to collaborate closely with Maurizio on this one”, New Candys’ frontman explains. “We’re thrilled with the final result. With Vyvyd, we just scratched the surface of electronic elements, this time we wanted to fully embrace them and find a new balance. I couldn’t imagine us finishing a song using only the instruments we normally play live, it wouldn’t have been interesting, contemporary, or new enough. Also, I couldn’t have cared less about making a stylistically and genre-cohesive album. In fact, the less categorizable and the more bizarre it was, the happier we were. I wanted each track to feel unexpected, a constant surprise. Just when you think you’ve figured out what kind of record it is, the next song makes you realize you’re wrong.”

Sonic variety has long been a hallmark of the Venetian outfit’s work — but with The Uncanny Extravaganza, it’s more pronounced than ever with the album’s songs spanning an wider arrange of styles and references. You’ll hear minimal and melancholic tones, Western and surf-influenced riffs, psychedelic codas paired with slick electronic production and more.

Lyrically, the album delves into surrealistic and sometimes cryptic themes with a recurring motif related to water, inspired by the band’s proximity to Venice, the city floating on water. Nuti reflects on how everything underwater transforms and appears dreamlike, distorted, inaccessible and often lifeless. And this imagery is used metaphorically, relating to reality.

The album’s material also conveys a sense of restlessness and rebellion, informed by the COVID-19 pandemic providing the bulk of the world’s population an opportunity to rethink priorities, which most politicians across the world have seemingly missed.

The Uncanny Extravaganza‘s latest single “Night Surfer” is a danceable and hooky bit of garage rock anchored around buzzing power chord-driven choruses and a motorik groove featuring bursts of electronic pulse in the song’s verses, before ending with an explosive coda. While recalling a mix of The Raveonettes and The Stills among a handful of others, the song’s titular night surfer symbolizes the thrill and danger of nightlife in the big city.

“The night surfer is someone who moves through the night, surrounded by its shadows and artificial lights,” Nuti explains. “But when morning comes and the natural sun rises, sometimes it’s better to forget what happened just hours before.”

Nuti adds, “’Night Surfer came together in a unique way, showcasing a tight collaboration between all four members. I had the first verse parts ready as early as 2018, while Dario created the instrumental for the choruses last year, which instantly inspired me to come up with a fresh vocal melody. Merging the two parts ultimately completed the track. Francesco added the mid-song break and gave the drums an energetic, borderline feel. The guitars were recorded by myself, Dario, and Emanuele, who also contributed vocals, creating a dialogue within the song.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Floral Image Shares Mind-Bending Visual for “Burning 305”

Norwich, UK-based psych outfit Floral Image — Fergus Nolan (vocals, guitar), Jack Warner (vocals, keys), Matt Kennedy (bass guitar), Mitch Forsyth (drums, visuals), and Phil Whitton (guitar, visuals) — will be releasing their highly-anticipated full-length debut Gone Down Meadowland on April 25, 2025 through Fuzz Club.

After an extensive touring schedule throughout the course of 2023, the rising British quintet spent the following winter looking both inward and outward to the wide-skied rural landscape of their immediate environs with the aim of distilling their wide pool of influences. As it turned out, once the gigs started to expand outside of Norwich, a fear of musical inertia had left the band asking themselves what their own sound even was. The long nights of their touring break were used to reassess and reconnect with a sense of play that had disappeared while spending hours driving around in a tour van.

During Friday night jam sessions, with the band wrapped in coats and warmed by homemade cocktails, Phil Whitton’s freezing living room wound up providing the cultivation for the begging of a new musical shape for the band — a sound not just intending to be big and formidable live, but one that provides a softer, more subtle recorded companion for drunken hijinks with pals and unleashed self-introspection.

More than ever, the quintet wanted to produce a brand of East Coast psychedelia that reflected the lushness of their natural surroundings and the solitude of their immediate surroundings. Over 30 songs were written, considered and arranged before the band whittled that down to 10 songs that they felt truly epitomized what they do best — vivid hued colors and harnessed live energy and power woven together with fluid, lyrical harmonies inspired by Woods, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Stereolab and others.

Written and recorded over across a string of at-home recording sessions during a six week period of last summer, Gone Down Meadowland‘s material is anchored around a sense of mischief and dreaminess, informed by the band member’s own playful and loving friendship. Sonically, the material bends, grows and shifts between light, dark, malaise and excitement. There are moments of head-down ferocity, punctuated by moments of pulsing awe and wonder.

“Barns, basements and boxrooms across Norfolk were all utilised to unearth the songs from the soil of our collective minds. We practically lived with each other and buried ourselves in the music for what was almost a whole half year,” Floral Image explains. “We would cook for each other, learn from each other and laugh like we never could elsewhere. Even ‘that’ tricky period of cutting songs off went by with all of us in complete faith that the album’s needs seemed greater than our own. If it wasn’t for the fact that recording had almost become secondary to getting actually quite good at Frisbee, we might have been able to release a double LP.”

“A lot of themes are anti-establishment commentaries on the state of the modern world,” the band adds. It can feel isolating being bystanders of global concern in sleepy Norfolk, even though it’s easy to slip into a false comfort when you’re surrounded by vast space, natural beauty and friendly folks down the market. Gone Down Meadowland is that egoless escapist fantasy that still can’t escape the world caving in on itself; Norfolk isolationism.”

“Burning 305,” Gone Down Meadowland‘s latest single is a is a trippy and hook-driven mesh of 60s and 70s psych rock, krautrock and shoegaze, featuring a relentless motorik groove, swirling and painterly guitar textures paired with dreamy falsetto melodies and an arena rock friendly sense of bombast.

Directed and featuring animation by M. Forsyth and live-action camera operation from Alistair Nicholls, the accompanying video for “Burning 305” follows a bored janitor, listening to music on his phone while on the late night shift, when he encounters a discarded virtual reality headset. Once he puts the headset on, he’s transported to a mind-bending, surrealistic, psilocybin-fueled virtual reality world that’s first bright and sunny before quickly turning hellish.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: MIEN Shares Menacing and Groovy “Empty Sun”

MIEN is a psych rock super group that features some of the genre’s biggest and most accomplished artists:

Since the project’s inception, MIEN has been a confluence of diverse musical influences and shared histories: The band’s origins can be traced back to 2004 when Dihr crossed paths with Maas during a serendipitous encounter at SXSW. That meeting sparked a deep friendship and a series of critically applauded collaborations, including famously, The Black Angels’ 2008 effort, Directions to See a Ghost. Around the same time, Dihr met Lapham, whose electronic and production expertise would later become a cornerstone of MIEN’s sound. These connections led to MIEN, a band that sees its members seamlessly blending their varied musical backgrounds into a unique sound. The band’s newest member Kidd joined on in 2018. 

The psych supergroup’s long-awaited sophomore album MIIEN is slated for an April 18, 2025 release through Fuzz Club. The sophomore album reportedly marks a bold new chapter for a band known for an alchemical approach to their work. Building upon the foundations of their critically applauded self-titled debut, MIIEN finds the band and its members pushing their collaborative and explorative ethos into uncharted territories. 

Recorded in studios between Montréal, Abilene and Austin, the psych supergroup’s sophomore album captures a unique creative process: Most songs began as a simple idea — a loop, a vocal phrase or a groove — passed between members and meticulously layered.

The band’s collaborative workflow saw each individual sketch evolving as each member contributed their distinct sonic palette. “It’s an organic process,” Rishi Dihr says. “A simple idea can become something monumental when we each put our stamp on it.” 

The album’s creative journey was heightened during key in-person sessions, including an intensive recording period in Austin during SXSW. The rare opportunities for the band to work together in the same space added a dynamic immediacy to several album tracks. 

Overall MIIEN represents the strength of the band’s collective vision. Each member brings their unique perspective to the table, creating music that is simultaneously personal and universally resonant. Anchored around richly textured soundscapes and fearless experimentation, the album, purportedly sees the band crafting material that actively bridges the golden age of 60s psychedelia with the cutting edge of modern music. Lapham reflects, “Working with these guys has been one of the most enjoyable experiences in my music career. Our synergy is seamless, and I’m excited to see where this next chapter takes us.”

Last month, I wrote about “Evil People,” a propulsive bit of synth-driven psych rock featuring a relentless motorik-like groove paired with Maas imitable delivery and a rousingly anthemic hook and chorus with expressive bursts of reverb-drenched guitar. “‘Evil People’ has its roots in a 2015 collaboration between Alex and awesome Danish musician Trentemøller,” the band explains. “Fast forward to March 2022, when MIEN reunited in Austin for three intense days of recording during SXSW. Given how rare it is for all of us to be in the same room at the same time, the creative energy was electric—music and ideas flowed effortlessly, and ‘Evil People’ was born.”

MIIEN‘s latest single “Empty Sun” features Alex Maas’ imitable vocal floating over a menacing and uneasy motorik pulse with bursts of woozy strings and complex rhythmic patterns, including a breakbeat section that The Crystal Method and The Chemical Brothers would swoon over. It’s arguably the trippiest groove the band has written to date.

“Like many of our songs, ‘Empty Sun’ began as a series of loops paired with a lyric-less vocal demo from Alex” the band comment. “From there, Alex and Robb laid down the initial ideas before passing it along to the rest of us. The track sat untouched for a while until John Mark revisited it, shaping it into something new with distinct sections, samples, and layers of Solina string machine. To lock in the groove, Robb returned to the studio, recording what felt like countless drum takes to perfect the complex patterns and make them as “mean” (MIEN) as possible. As the track evolved, Rishi teamed up with Elephant Stone guitarist Robbie to layer in massive, warped guitar textures that brought ‘Empty Sun’ roaring to life.”

The accompanying video by the band’s John Mark Lapham features 1960s-styled collage artwork that includes pages from books, irises staring back at you, geometric patterns and more.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Underground Youth Shares Broodingly Cinematic, Trip Hop Inspired “You (The Feral Human Thunderstorm)”

Acclaimed Berlin-based post-punk outfit The Underground Youth — Blackpool, UK-born, Berlin-based founder, singer/songwriter, musician and author Craig Dyer, visual artist and drummer Olya Dyer, guitarist Leonard Cage and bassist Samira Zahidi — was initially started as a solo project by Dyer back in 2008 while he was residing in Manchester, UK. Since expanding into a full-fledged band and relocating to Berlin, the band has released 11 albums and 4 EPs, which have seen them develop an ever-evolving sound and approach that has seen them range from cinematic lo-fi psychedelia, raw melancholic post-punk and gothic folk-noir. And during this same period, they’ve earned and maintained a devoted following globally built by the band’s extensive touring through Europe, Asia and North America.

The band’s highly-anticipated 12th album, Décollage is slated for an April 4, 2025 release through Fuzz Club. Written, recorded and produced by the band’s Craig Dyer, Décollage is a decisive shift in sound and approach from the band, an exercise in artistic deconstruction in both name and form. “‘Décollage is the art of creating an image by ripping, tearing away or removing pieces of an original existing work’. My idea was to apply this technique to music”, Underground Youth’s frontman explains. “I built walls of static coated hip-hop drum samples, layers of Lee Hazlewood style string arrangements and Serge Gainsbourg inspired mellotron melodies, then I began tearing away at these beautiful, chaotic walls of noise.”

The result, Dyer says, is “a trip-hop infused soundtrack to a collection of lyrics dealing with adoration, ancestry, originality, hallucinations of revolution and a hope that something better can be born from the ashes of the horror that exists in our world.”

Décollage‘s first single “You (The Feral Human Thunderstorm)” is a broodingly cinematic track built around a Portishead and Massive Attack-like production featuring dusty and cracking boom bap-like beats, layers of woozy strings and background analog tape hiss. The production sounds like an old tape that’s been played and run through its reels a million-and-a-half times.

“Lyrically it’s something of a romantic country ballad, but dragged through an entirely different and new sound for The Underground Youth,” Dyer says of the song.

Directed by Olya Dyer, the accompanying video for “You (The Feral Human Thunderstorm)” is shot in a gorgeously cinematic black and white. While being a reminder of how beautiful Black people look in black and white — the video features a Black male dancer expressive dancing to the song in a dance studio while the band’s Craig Dyer sings the song.
 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Psych Rock Supergroup MIEN Shares Brooding and Driving “Evil People”

MIEN is a psych rock super group that features some of the genre’s biggest and most accomplished artists:

Since the project’s inception, MIEN has been a confluence of diverse musical influences and shared histories: The band’s origins can be traced back to 2004 when Dihr crossed paths with Maas during a serendipitous encounter at SXSW. That meeting sparked a deep friendship and a series of critically applauded collaborations. Around the same time, Dihr met Lapham, whose electronic and production expertise would later become a cornerstone of MIEN’s sound. These connections led to MIEN, a band that sees its members seamlessly blending their varied musical backgrounds into a unique sound. The band’s newest member Kidd joined on in 2018.

The psych supergroup’s long-awaited sophomore album MIIEN is slated for an April 18, 2025 release through Fuzz Club. The sophomore album reportedly marks a bold new chapter for a band known for an alchemical approach to their work. Building upon the foundations of their critically applauded self-titled debut, MIIEN finds the band and its members pushing their collaborative and explorative ethos into uncharted territories.

Recorded in studios between Montréal, Abilene and Austin, the psych supergroup’s sophomore album captures a unique creative process: Most songs began as a simple idea — a loop, a vocal phrase or a groove — passed between members and meticulously layered.

The band’s collaborative workflow saw each individual sketch evolving as each member contributed their distinct sonic palette. “It’s an organic process,” Rishi Dihr says. “A simple idea can become something monumental when we each put our stamp on it.”

The album’s creative journey was heightened during key in-person sessions, including an intensive recording period in Austin during SXSW. The rare opportunities for the band to work together in the same space added a dynamic immediacy to several album tracks.

Overall MIIEN represents the strength of the band’s collective vision. Each member brings their unique perspective to the table, creating music that is simultaneously personal and universally resonant. Anchored around richly textured soundscapes and fearless experimentation, the album, purportedly sees the band crafting material that actively bridges the golden age of 60s psychedelia with the cutting edge of modern music. Lapham reflects, “Working with these guys has been one of the most enjoyable experiences in my music career. Our synergy is seamless, and I’m excited to see where this next chapter takes us.”

The album’s first single “Evil People” is a propulsive bit of synth-driven psych rock featuring a relentless motorik-like groove paired with Maas imitable delivery and a rousingly anthemic hook and chorus with expressive bursts of reverb-drenched guitar.

“‘Evil People’ has its roots in a 2015 collaboration between Alex and awesome Danish musician Trentemøller,” the band explains. “Fast forward to March 2022, when MIEN reunited in Austin for three intense days of recording during SXSW. Given how rare it is for all of us to be in the same room at the same time, the creative energy was electric—music and ideas flowed effortlessly, and ‘Evil People’ was born.”

The accompanying video by the band’s John Mark Lapham and Raz Ullah features scorching VHS fuzz, collages of the band member’s faces, psychedelic art and more.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: ORB Shares Trippy Motorik Groove-Driven “You Do”

The members of Geelong, Australia-based outfit ORB — Zak Olsen (vocals, guitar, bass), David Gravolin (guitar, bass) and Jamie Harner (drums) — have had a lengthy career, starting in earnest with a lengthy stint in their first band as teenagers, The Frowning Clouds. Since starting ORB, the Aussie trio have released two albums, 2017’s Neutrality and 2018’s The Space Between, which they supported with a European and North American tour opening for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard back in 2019. 

The band’s long-awaited and highly-anticipated album, the Tim Dunn-produced Tailem Bend is slated for a July 12, 2024 release through Fuzz Club globally and through Flightless Records in Australia. The band didn’t intend for six years to pass without an album, but there’s little in life that happens as expected — or as desired. Much like all of us, the COVID-19 pandemic threw a monkey wrench into their plans. And then add side pursuits and the other vagaries of daily life that we all know too well. 

Tailem Bend derives its name from a quiet South Australian town, whose name caught the band’s collective eye while on tour. For the band, the name conjured images of some long lost prog rock act; however, the town’s name reportedly is derived from the Ngarrindjeri word “thelim,” referring to a sharp bend in the nearby Murray River. Written over the course of 2021 and 2022 and finished in the studio early last year, Tailem Bend‘s material is saturated in vintage warmth and depth while showcasing a bold leap forward in their sound and approach that’s not a complete departure: Continuing to be anchored around their unerring knack for being tunefully hypnotic, the album’s material sees the trio infusing heavy doom-leaning jams with a lighter psych pop sensibility and funky rhythmic grooves. There still fuzzy power chord-driven riffs, but the material also features some mellower passages and a renewed focus on rhythm and space. 

A deep sense of shared history also informs the album’s material. The Aussie trio reunite with Tim Dunn, who produced several Frowning Cloud albums. The album also features guest spots from former Frowning Cloud bandmate and current frontman of Banana Gun, Nick van Bankel (conga); The Murlocs‘ Callum Shortal, who often plays live shows with ORB (guitar); Leah Senior’s Girlatones‘ and Baby Blue’s Jesse Williams (piano) and Emma Bailey (backing vocals) and Ashely Goodall (backing vocals). 

Last month, the Aussie outfit shared two singles from the album “Can’t Do That”/”Morph.”

The A-side “Can’t Do That” is an expansive jam anchored around fuzzy blues-tinged power chords, a funky and mind-bending, motorik-like groove paired punchy hook that channels a synthesis of Thin Lizzy, Ram Jam‘s “Black Betty,” Black Sabbath and jazz fusion. “‘Can’t Do That’ started out from a demo of mine,” the band’s David Gravolin says. “Tried to sound like W.I.T.C.H., ended up sounding like Thin Lizzy.” The band’s Zak Olsen adds that “Lyrically it’s about having self-respect in low times.”

The B-side “Morph” features some heavy yet melodic, Black Sabbath-like riffage paired with Olsen’s reverb-soaked Ozzy Osbourne-inspired delivery singing some trippy lyrics. Play loud, smoke some ganja and then vibe out!

While the previous singles were Black Sabbath-inspired riff-driven rippers, Tailem Bend‘s third and latest single, the Can-like “You Do” features a 70s prog rock-meets-psych rock, wah-wah pedaled motorik groove, syncopated percussion, bursts of fluttering flute and shimmering Rhodes paired with cooed vocals. At its core, “You Do” continues a run of expansive and vibey material that’s perfect to blast in your car while on a lengthy drive — or to play while getting high.

“Just like the Murray River of Tailem Bend, a small rural town with a name that made us think of some lost prog act when we passed it on tour, ‘You Do’ is one of the many sharp turns on the new record. It features our old Frowning Clouds bandmate Nick vanBakel (now of Bananagun) on congas and Ashley Goodall on backing vocals.”

The animated video by Luke Player fittingly features 70s-styled animation that brings Schoolhouse Rock to mind, that also riffs off on fairy tales and fables: We see Humpy Dumpty sitting on a wall, knights encountering a dragon, the band playing in a lysergic headspace and more.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

The members of Geelong, Australia-based outfit ORB — Zak Olsen (vocals, guitar, bass), David Gravolin (guitar, bass) and Jamie Harner (drums) — have had a lengthy career, starting in earnest with a lengthy stint in their first band as teenagers, The Frowning Clouds. Since starting ORB, the Aussie trio have released two albums, 2017’s Neutrality and 2018’s The Space Between, which they supposed with a European and North American tour opening for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard back in 2019.

The band’s long-awaited and highly-anticipated album, the Tim Dunn-produced Tailem Bend is slated for a July 12, 2024 release through Fuzz Club globally and through Flightless Records in Australia. The band didn’t intend for six years to pass without an album, but there’s little in life that happens as expected — or as desired. Much like all of us, the COVID-19 pandemic threw a monkey wrench into their plans. And then add side pursuits and the other vagaries of daily life that we all know too well.

Tailem Bend derives its name from a quiet South Australian town, whose name caught the band’s collective eye while on tour. For the band, the name conjured images of some long lost prog rock act; however, the town’s name reportedly is derived from the Ngarrindjeri word “thelim,” referring to a sharp bend in the nearby Murray River. Written over the course of 2021 and 2022 and finished in the studio early last year, Tailem Bend‘s material is saturated in vintage warmth and depth while showcasing a bold leap forward in their sound and approach that’s not a complete departure: Continuing to be anchored around their unerring knack for being tunefully hypnotic, the album’s material sees the trio infusing heavy doom-leaning jams with a lighter psych pop sensibility and funky rhythmic grooves. There still fuzzy power chord-driven riffs, but the material also features some mellower passages and a renewed focus on rhythm and space.

A deep sense of shared history also informs the album’s material. The Aussie trio reunite with Tim Dunn, who produced several Frowning Cloud albums. The album also features guest spots from former Frowning Cloud bandmate and current frontman of Banana Gun, Nick van Bankel (conga); The Murlocs‘ Callum Shortal, who often plays live shows with ORB (guitar); Leah Senior’s Girlatones‘ and Baby Blue’s Jesse Williams (piano) and Emma Bailey (backing vocals) and Ashely Goodall (backing vocals).

To celebrate the album’s announcement and build some buzz on the album, the members of ORB recently shared “Can’t Do That”/”Morph.” The A-side “Can’t Do That” is an expansive jam anchored around fuzzy blues-tinged power chords, a funky and mind-bending, motorik-like groove paired punchy hook that channels a synthesis of Thin Lizzy, Ram Jam‘s “Black Betty,” Black Sabbath and jazz fusion. “‘Can’t Do That’ started out from a demo of mine,” the band’s David Gravolin says. “Tried to sound like W.I.T.C.H., ended up sounding like Thin Lizzy.” The band’s Zak Olsen adds that “Lyrically it’s about having self-respect in low times.”

The B-side “Morph” features some heavy yet melodic, Black Sabbath-like riffage paired with Olsen’s reverb-soaked Ozzy Osbourne-inspired delivery singing some trippy lyrics. Play loud, smoke some ganja and then vibe out!

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Formed back in 2020, Austin-based shoegazers DAIISTAR (pronounced Day-Star) — Alex Capistran (vocals, guitar), Nick Cornetti (drums), Misti Hamrick (bass) and Derek Strahan (keys) — have established a narcotic blend of noise and melody that draws from the neo-psychedelic era of the 80s and 90s, but modernizes it with modulating synths, heavy guitars, bouncing bass lines and spiraling hooks. 

The Austin shoegeazer outfit’s Alex Maas-produced full-length debut, last year’s GoodTime featured the fuzzy The Jesus and Mary Chain-meets- Crocodiles-like “Parallel” and revealed a band that paid a remarkable amount of attention to craft with a penchant for catchy hooks. The band supported the album touring across North America with The Black Angels, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols, and included festival circuit stops at Levitation, Desert Daze, SXSW, Freak Out, Treefort, as well as a KEXP session. 

The Austin shoegazers are currently on a European tour. Those tour dates are below. But they’ll be releasing the “Clear”/”Velvet Reality (Sonic Boom ” Remix 7 inch through Fuzz Club. Slated for a May 10, 2024 release, the 7 inch will feature “Clear,” a previously unreleased song recored during the GoodTime sessions. “Clear” is a reverb-drenched bliss bomb featuring shimmering synths, Capistran’s dreamily delivered falsetto paired with a slow-burning groove. The song, to me at least, brings road trips on glorious, sunny afternoons — full of hope, possibility, life-altering adventures and laughs. 

DAIISTAR’s Alex Capistran (guitar/vocals) explained that “the idea behind ‘Clear’ was to write the perfect song for a perfect day. A song that comes to mind on a warm and sunny afternoon; inspiring thoughts of attainable bliss and encouraging you to dream up something nice for your future self.”

Album track “Velvet Reality,” closes out GoodTime with a dreamy, washed-out haze. Spacemen 3 co-founder Pete Kember, a.k.a. Sonic Boom gives “Velvet Reality” the remix treatment, further deconstructing the song by making it even more ethereal and hazier than its original while also giving the oscillating and fluttering synths more of an emphasis. The result is an ethereal and narcoleptic bit of shoegaze seemingly informed by doo wop.

TOUR DATES

4/19 ES BARCELONA – BARCELONA PSYCH FEST
4/20 ES ZARAGOZA – LATA DE BOMBILLAS
4/21 ES SAN SEBASTIAN – DABADABA
4/23 CH BERN – CAFE KAIRO
4/24 IT BOLOGNA – COVO CLUB
4/25 IT ROMA – GLITCH
4/26 IT FIRENZE – THE CAVE
4/27 IT LENO – PRIMO MAGGIO ROCK!
4/30 DE BERLIN – LOOPHOLE
5/1 DE VIECHTACH – ALTES SPITAL
5/2 DE STUTTGART – DIE WAGENHALLEN
5/3 DE FRANKFURT – THE UP CLUB
5/4 NL EINDHOVEN – FUZZ CLUB FEST
5/5 DE GIESSEN – PITS PINTE
5/6 NL AMSTERDAM – OCCII
5/7 NL WAGENINGEN – LOBURG LIVE
5/8 NL THE HAGUE – MUSICON
5/9 FR ROUEN – LE 3 PIECES
5/10 UK LONDON – STRONGROOM
5/11 UK HULL – ALOFT AT THE HAWORTH
5/12 UK GLASGOW – THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS
5/14 UK SOUTHAMPTON – HEARTBREAKER
5/15 UK BRISTOL – CROFTERS RIGHTS
5/16 UK FOLKESTONE – THE CHAMBERS
5/17 FR PARIS LE TRUSKEL – CLUB
5/18 FR LE HAVRE – FOUL WEATHER FESTIVAL
5/21 FR LYON – LE SONIC
5/22 FR BORDEAUX – I-BOAT
5/24 FR PORTSALL – O’DONNEIL IRISH PUB
5/25 FR ANGERS – LEVITATION FESTIVAL

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Austin’s DAIISTAR Shares Fuzzy “Parallel”

Austin-based shoegazers DAIISTAR (pronounced Day-Star) — Alex Capistran (vocals, guitar), Nick Cornetti (drums), Misti Hamrick (bass) and Derek Strahan (keys) — formed back in 2020. And since their formation, the members of DAIISTAR have crafted a narcotic blend of noise and melody that draws from the neo-psychedelic era of the 80s and 90s and modernizes it with modulating synths, heavy guitars, bouncing bass lines and spiraling hooks.

The Austin shoegeazer outfit’s Alex Maas-produced full-length debut, Good Time saw its release yesterday through Fuzz Club, revered British-based purveyors of all things psych. (You can purchase the vinyl here. LEVITATION is also offering their own colored vinyl variant, which is available here.)

“To us these songs were a glimmer of light,” the band’s Alex Capistran says. “Starting a band at the peak of the pandemic to some might seem ill timed, but to us it was a way to escape for a moment. There was something to look forward to and we kept our heads in the future. These songs guided us through some dark times and hopefully they can do the same for you. GOOD TIME is here!“

“Parallel,” Good Time‘s latest single sees the band pairing fluttering synths, buzzing power chords, dreamy falsetto vocals in a way that will bring The Jesus and Mary Chain and more modern fare like Crocodiles and others to mind. But underneath that is a remarkable attention to craft with the band revealing their penchant for catchy hooks.

“Sometimes I’ll be working on a song for weeks, other times I pick up the guitar and write nothing, but the songs that seem to emerge out of thin air always end up being my favorite,” Capistran says. “‘Parallel’ came to me instantly and has become one of the tracks I feel most connected to on the album. It’s a love song contrasted with fuzzed out guitar and driving rhythm. It’s about those days we find ourselves gliding effortlessly through time as two lives in unison and we can’t help but think ‘how is this real.'”

Directed by the band, the accompanying video is indebted to classic 120 Minutes MTV-era visuals: The band performing in a studio with fittingly psychedelic visuals behind them.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Vacant Lots Share Brooding “Damaged Goods”

With the release of 2020’s Interzone through London-based psych label Fuzz Club, the Brooklyn-based psych duo The Vacant Lots — Jared Artaud (vocals, guitar, synths) and Brian McFayden (drums, synths, vocals) — crafted an album that saw the duo seamlessly blending dance music and psych rock while maintaining the long-held minimalist approach that has earned the duo acclaim across the global psych scene.

Clocking in at a breakneck 23 minutes, last year’s eight-song Closure was written during pandemic-related lockdowns, and continues the Brooklyn-based psych duo’s “minimal is maximal” ethos, while being a soundtrack for a shattered, uneasy, fucked up world. “During the pandemic the two of us were totally isolated in our home studios,” The Vacant Lots’ Jared Artaud says. “I don’t think the pandemic directly influenced the songs in an obvious way, but merely amplified existing feelings of alienation and isolation. We found ourselves writing in a more direct and vulnerable way than ever before.”

The Vacant Lots’ fifth album Interiors is slated for an October 13, 2023 release through their longtime label home Fuzz Club. Recorded over many sleepless nights and amphetamine-fueled mornings in the duo’s isolated Brooklyn-based bunker home studio, Interiors reportedly sees the duo synthesizing their past work while pushing forward into the future: They go deeper into their long-lend minimal is maximal aesthetic but with nods to 70s and 80s punk and nightclub music like Joy Division, Depeche Mode, New Order and The Idiot-era Iggy Pop.

Throughout the entire album, ethereal, metallic synths and blistering electronics are paired with disco-on-downers dance beats, gutter rock guitar riffs and icily detached vocals singing concise, lacerating lyrics. “I like writing songs you can dance or zone out to”, Artaud says: “That duality of individual listening and music played in a crowd has always attracted me. A cross between the club and headphones. Music for loners and lovers.”

Interiors‘ latest single “Damaged Goods” pairs glistening synths arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rattling beats, scorching guitars with Artaud’s icily detached delivery. But just underneath the cool and seemingly insouciant exterior is an aching, bitter heartache and despair.

“’Damaged Goods’ is about integrating conflicting internal feelings. If you’re saying you need an exit strategy and one lifetime is enough, that’s a whole other zone you’re going to. On this album, I wanted to dig deeper than I had done before and really carve out the pain”, Jared Artaud says of the new single: “In Damaged Goods lines from other songs on the record are referenced and contrasted. We did this a lot on Interiors. I like how all the songs can interrelate with one another, and it gives this song and the album another layer of intimacy, depth and closeness.”

Directed by Alexander Schipper and starring Matteen Ismail, the accompanying video for “Damaged Goods” is shot in a glitchy, VHS-like black and white, and follows a brooding Mateen in a ride share through a city at night. The video manages to emphasize the heartache, bitterness and despair at the core of the song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Night Beats Share Slow-Burning and Atmospheric “Blue”

Texas-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Danny Lee Blackwell is the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed psych rock outfit Night Beats. And with Night Beats, Blackwell creates music like one might assemble a puzzle: He builds his work from one moment, an initial spark that for him, must fit a specific criteria — it must give him goosebumps. If he gets goosebumps, then he will purse that idea relentlessly until he has a new song; if not, he moves onto the next moment, constantly looking for the perfect molecule of a song.

Rajan, Blackwell’s fifth Night Beats album is slated for a Friday release through Suicide Squeeze/Fuzz Club. The album began much like every other Night Beats album before it: Shortly after the release of 2021’s Outlaw R&B, Blackwell had the familiar itch to create new music. Writing isn’t a process that Blackwell has to sit down and engage with, rather it’s something he’s always doing. The only differentiation between creative periods is what makes it on certain albums and what winds up falling victim to the cutting room. “Whenever my writing gets to a point where songs begin to take shape, it begins to feel like a faucet,” Blackwell explains. “As soon as Outlaw R&B was finished, I began writing and very quickly fell in love with a few ideas that encapsulated the feeling of Rajan. I think writing is a constant cycle in that it never really begins or ends, but there are definitive points where the writing is leading somewhere.” 

Early on, Blackwell felt that the album would be dedicated to his mother. Although thematically, it doesn’t always reflect his tribute, the material is informed by the familial tie. “This isn’t a concept album, because every album has a concept. That term never made sense to me. But if it’s about one thing, it’s about this pursuit of freedom that was instilled in me by my mother,” Blackwell says. “In the arts, I’m very lucky in that I have 100% control over what I want to say, and how I do it,” he explains.

Fittingly, the album’s material is wildly diverse and lands somewhere between Spaghetti Western film score and psych pop opus — while being among Blackwell’s most cohesive works to date. Some of the album’s songs nod at Anataolian funk and Western tinged R&B. Others with 70s Brazilian psychedelia, Chicano soul, rock steady — and even Lee “Scratch” Perry-inspired dub. “Rajan is just one of six examples of me doing exactly what I want, and not caring about whether it’s checked out or not. I’m a journeyperson. I want to make things for the sake of making them,” Blackwell says. 

While clearly indebted to its influences, Rajan is wildly innovative and finds Blackwell pursuing his wildest musical whims. “I’m here to explore. I think exploration is the underlying reason in a way, of why we do the things we do,” Blackwell explains. “I feel lucky. What can I say? I feel blessed.”

In the lead up to the album’s release later this week, I’ve written about three of its singles: 

  • Album opener “Hot Ghee,” which simultaneously sets the stage for what to expect sonically from the album and establishing a scalding hot take on the interaction of psych rock, jazz, blues, soul, hip-hop and more. Built around bluesy and sultry guitar lines, swinging drumming, layers of intertwined harmonies, subtle bursts of twinkling piano, “Hot Ghee” sounds like a synthesis of Altin Gün, Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles and Free Your Mind . . . And Your Ass Will Follow-era Funkadelic that’s mind-bending while displaying Blackwell’s unerring and deft craftmanship. 

  • “Thank You,” a soaring and groovy bit of gospel-tinged psychedelia built around Blackwell’s yearning falsetto, twinkling keys, dense layers of bluesy wah wah pedaled guitar, towering feedback, paired with a gospel backing chorus. Sonically nodding at a bit at Sly and the Family Stone’s “Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself” and Parliament Funkadelic’s “Testify,” “Thank You” expresses a sense of profound gratitude. 

  • “Nightmare,” a song that to my ears recalled the psych soul leanings of 70s Isley Brothers — i.e. 3+3, Go For Your Guns and The Heat is On and others built around a dense arrangement featuring blazing guitar solos paired with shuffling funk guitar, a supple and sinuous bass line paired with layers upon layers of vocals, including Blackwell’s yearning delivery — and his unerring knack for a well-placed, catchy hook. The song as Blackwell explained in press notes is essentially “a call and response to the blood curdling voice of a lost soul, ringing out, pleading for understanding.”

Rajan’s fourth and final pre-release single, “Blue” is a slow-burning Motown-meets-blue-eyed soul-meets-Quiet Storm-like jam built around a lush and trippy arrangement paired with Blackwell’s aching and ethereal falsetto intertwining with the song’s arrangement.

“Waking up on a mist-covered street corner, downtown night time cruising, Donnie and Joe Emerson mood. Everly Brothers in an underground subway, accompanied by a steady beat living in the pocket. Sunny Oruna, slow soul, hip hop and jazz, every flavor distilled into the trip,” Blackwell writes about the new single.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Night Beats Shares Trippy, Isley Brothers-like “Nightmare”

Texas-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Danny Lee Blackwell is the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed psych rock outfit Night Beats. And with Night Beats, Blackwell creates music like one might assemble a puzzle: He builds his work from one moment, an initial spark that for him, must fit a specific criteria — it must give him goosebumps. If he gets goosebumps, then he will purse that idea relentlessly until he has a new song; if not, he moves onto the next moment, constantly looking for the perfect molecule of a song. 

Rajan, Blackwell’s fifth Night Beats album is slated for a July 14, 2023 release through Suicide Squeeze/Fuzz Club. The album began much like every other Night Betas album before it: Shortly after the release of 2021’s Outlaw R&B, Blackwell had the familiar itch to create new music. Writing isn’t a process that Blackwell has to sit down and engage with, rather it’s something he’s always doing. The only differentiation between creative periods is what makes it on certain albums and what winds up falling victim to the cutting room. “Whenever my writing gets to a point where songs begin to take shape, it begins to feel like a faucet,” Blackwell explains. “As soon as Outlaw R&B was finished, I began writing and very quickly fell in love with a few ideas that encapsulated the feeling of Rajan. I think writing is a constant cycle in that it never really begins or ends, but there are definitive points where the writing is leading somewhere.” 

Early on, Blackwell felt that the album would be dedicated to his mother. Although thematically, it doesn’t always reflect his tribute, the material is informed by the familial tie. “This isn’t a concept album, because every album has a concept. That term never made sense to me. But if it’s about one thing, it’s about this pursuit of freedom that was instilled in me by my mother,” Blackwell says. “In the arts, I’m very lucky in that I have 100% control over what I want to say, and how I do it,” he explains. Fittingly, the album’s material is wildly diverse and lands somewhere between Spaghetti Western film score and psych pop opus — while being among Blackwell’s most cohesive works to date. Some of the album’s songs nod at Anataolian funk and Western tinged R&B. Others with 70s Brazilian psychedelia, Chicano soul, rock steady — and even Lee “Scratch” Perry-inspired dub. “Rajan is just one of six examples of me doing exactly what I want, and not caring about whether it’s checked out or not. I’m a journeyperson. I want to make things for the sake of making them,” Blackwell says. 

And while clearly indebted to its influences, Rajan is wildly innovative and finds Blackwell pursuing his wildest musical whims. “I’m here to explore. I think exploration is the underlying reason in a way, of why we do the things we do,” Blackwell explains. “I feel lucky. What can I say? I feel blessed.”

So far I’ve written about two of the album’s singles:

  • Album opener “Hot Ghee,” which simultaneously sets the stage for what to expect sonically from the album and establishing a scalding hot take on the interaction of psych rock, jazz, blues, soul, hip-hop and more. Built around bluesy and sultry guitar lines, swinging drumming, layers of intertwined harmonies, subtle bursts of twinkling piano, “Hot Ghee” sounds like a synthesis of Altin Gün, Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles and Free Your Mind . . . And Your Ass Will Follow-era Funkadelic that’s mind-bending while displaying Blackwell’s unerring and deft craftmanship. 

  • “Thank You,” a soaring and groovy bit of gospel-tinged psychedelia built around Blackwell’s yearning falsetto, twinkling keys, dense layers of bluesy wah wah pedaled guitar, towering feedback, paired with a gospel backing chorus. Sonically nodding at a bit at Sly and the Family Stone’s “Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself” and Parliament Funkadelic’s “Testify,” “Thank You” expresses a sense of profound gratitude. 

Rajan’s third and latest single “Nightmare” sonically brings to mind the psych soul leanings of 70s Isley Brothers — i.e. 3+3, Go For Your Guns and The Heat is On and others: you’ll a hear dense arrangement featuring blazing guitar solos paired with shuffling funk guitar, a supple and sinuous bass line paired with layers upon layers of vocals, including Blackwell’s yearning delivery — and his unerring knack for a well-placed, catchy hook.

“I wanted to hear sounds and cries of unconditional, blind love. I wanted swirling, fitful guitars, speaking in tongues, thrashing around in a chest trying to break free. A call and response to the blood curdling voice of a lost soul, ringing out, pleading for understanding,” Blackwell says. “Rajan is laced with distant, layered choral groups, exploring pathways paved by Isley Brothers, David Ruffin, Grace Slick and other psychedelic soul pioneers of the time. I wanted to hear the sounds of service to the ones you love, even being blinded by it. This song creates a circle, if you’re listening. A cascading roadmap through a nightmare. Thunder and lightning, flashing neon blue lights, rhetorical puzzles.”

The accompanying video features Blackwell and his backing band performing the song. Shot on grainy film stock, the video captures the band in front of lysergic and hazy filters, kaleidoscopic bursts of light, and geometric figures.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Night Beats Shares Soaring and Groovy “Thank You”

Texas-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Danny Lee Blackwell is the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed psych rock outfit Night Beats. With Night Beats, Blackwell creates music like one might assemble a puzzle: He builds his work from one moment, an initial spark that for him, must fit a specific criteria — it must give him goosebumps. If he gets goosebumps, then he will purse that idea relentlessly until he has a new song; if not, he moves onto the next moment, constantly looking for the perfect molecule of a song. 

Rajan, Blackwell’s fifth Night Beats album is slated for a July 14, 2023 release through Suicide Squeeze/Fuzz Club. The album began much like every other Night Betas album before it: Shortly after the release of 2021’s Outlaw R&B, Blackwell had the familiar itch to create new music. Writing isn’t a process that Blackwell has to sit down and engage with, rather it’s something he’s always doing. The only differentiation between creative periods is what makes it on certain albums and what winds up falling victim to the cutting room. “Whenever my writing gets to a point where songs begin to take shape, it begins to feel like a faucet,” Blackwell explains. “As soon as Outlaw R&B was finished, I began writing and very quickly fell in love with a few ideas that encapsulated the feeling of Rajan. I think writing is a constant cycle in that it never really begins or ends, but there are definitive points where the writing is leading somewhere.” 

Early on, Blackwell felt that the album would be dedicated to his mother. Although thematically, it doesn’t always reflect his tribute, the material is informed by the familial tie. “This isn’t a concept album, because every album has a concept. That term never made sense to me. But if it’s about one thing, it’s about this pursuit of freedom that was instilled in me by my mother,” Blackwell says. “In the arts, I’m very lucky in that I have 100% control over what I want to say, and how I do it,” he explains. Fittingly, the album’s material is wildly diverse and lands somewhere between Spaghetti Western film score and psych pop opus — while being among Blackwell’s most cohesive works to date. Some of the album’s songs nod at Anataolian funk and Western tinged R&B. Others with 70s Brazilian psychedelia, Chicano soul, rock steady — and even Lee “Scratch” Perry-inspired dub. “Rajan is just one of six examples of me doing exactly what I want, and not caring about whether it’s checked out or not. I’m a journeyperson. I want to make things for the sake of making them,” Blackwell says. 

And while clearly indebted to its influences, Rajan is wildly innovative and finds Blackwell pursuing his wildest musical whims. “I’m here to explore. I think exploration is the underlying reason in a way, of why we do the things we do,” Blackwell explains. “I feel lucky. What can I say? I feel blessed.”

Last month, I wrote about Rajan‘s first single, album opener “Hot Ghee,” which simultaneously sets the stage for what to expect sonically from the album and establishing a scalding hot take on the interaction of psych rock, jazz, blues, soul, hip-hop and more. Built around bluesy and sultry guitar lines, swinging drumming, layers of intertwined harmonies, subtle bursts of twinkling piano, “Hot Ghee” sounds like a synthesis of Altin Gün, Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles and Free Your Mind . . . And Your Ass Will Follow-era Funkadelic that’s mind-bending while displaying Blackwell’s unerring and deft craftmanship. 

“Thank You,” Rajan‘s second single is a soaring and groovy bit of gospel-tinged psychedelia built around Blackwell’s yearning falsetto, twinkling keys, dense layers of bluesy wah wah pedaled guitar, towering feedback, paired with a gospel backing chorus. Sonically nodding at a bit at Sly and the Family Stone “Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself” and Parliament Funkadelic’s “Testify,” “Thank You” expresses a sense of profound gratitude.

Directed by Vanessa Pla, the accompanying video for “Thank You” is a slick and cinematically shot visual that visually tackles the themes of the song — gratitude and transformation, as we see Blackwell physically transform by the video’s conclusion.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Night Beats Shares Mind-Bending “Hot Ghee”

Texas-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Danny Lee Blackwell is the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed psych rock outfit Night Beats. With Night Beats, Blackwell creates music like one might assemble a puzzle: He builds his work from one moment, an initial spark that for him, must fit a specific criteria — it must give him goosebumps. If he gets goosebumps, then he will purse that idea relentlessly until he has a new song; if not, he moves onto the next moment, constantly looking for the perfect molecule of a song.

Rajan, Blackwell’s fifth Night Beats album is slated for a July 14, 2023 release through Suicide Squeeze/Fuzz Club. The album began much like every other Night Betas album before it: Shortly after the release of 2021’s Outlaw R&B, Blackwell had the familiar itch to create new music. Writing isn’t a process that Blackwell has to sit down and engage with, rather it’s something he’s always doing. The only differentiation between creative periods is what makes it on certain albums and what winds up falling victim to the cutting room. “Whenever my writing gets to a point where songs begin to take shape, it begins to feel like a faucet,” Blackwell explains. “As soon as Outlaw R&B was finished, I began writing and very quickly fell in love with a few ideas that encapsulated the feeling of Rajan. I think writing is a constant cycle in that it never really begins or ends, but there are definitive points where the writing is leading somewhere.”

Early on, Blackwell felt that the album would be dedicated to his mother. Although thematically, it doesn’t always reflect his tribute, the material is informed by the familial tie. “This isn’t a concept album, because every album has a concept. That term never made sense to me. But if it’s about one thing, it’s about this pursuit of freedom that was instilled in me by my mother,” Blackwell says. “In the arts, I’m very lucky in that I have 100% control over what I want to say, and how I do it,” he explains. Fittingly, the album’s material is wildly diverse and lands somewhere between Spaghetti Western film score and psych pop opus — while being among Blackwell’s most cohesive works to date. Some of the album’s songs nod at Anataolian funk and Western tinged R&B. Others with 70s Brazilian psychedelia, Chicano soul, rock steady — and even Lee “Scratch” Perry-inspired dub. “Rajan is just one of six examples of me doing exactly what I want, and not caring about whether it’s checked out or not. I’m a journeyperson. I want to make things for the sake of making them,” Blackwell says.

And while clearly indebted to its influences, Rajan is wildly innovative and finds Blackwell pursuing his wildest musical whims. “I’m here to explore. I think exploration is the underlying reason in a way, of why we do the things we do,” Blackwell explains. “I feel lucky. What can I say? I feel blessed.”

The album’s first single, album opener “Hot Ghee” both sets the stage for what to expect from the album, while establishing it as a scalding hot take on the intersection of psych rock, jazz, blues, soul, hip-hop and more. Built around bluesy and sultry guitar lines, swinging drumming, layers of intertwined harmonies, subtle bursts of twinkling piano, “Hot Ghee” sounds like a synthesis of Altin Gün, Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles and Free Your Mind . . . And Your Ass Will Follow-era Funkadelic that’s mind-bending while displaying Blackwell’s unerring and deft craftmanship.

Directed by Chris Keller, edited by Bradley Hale and featuring animation by Hale, the accompanying video for “Hot Ghee” recalls the opening sequences to 60s lysergic-tinged films, complete with line animation, footage of Blackwell rocking out and singing the song’s lyrics, superimposed with more Blackwells. Trippy.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Vacant Lots Share Slow-Burning and Brooding “Consolation Prize”

With the release of 2020’s Interzone through London-based psych label Fuzz Club, the Brooklyn-based psych duo The Vacant Lots — Jared Artaud (vocals, guitar, synths) and Brian McFayden (drums, synths, vocals) — crafted an album’s worth of material that saw the duo blending dance music and psych rock while maintaining the minimalist approach that has won the band acclaim across the international psych scene. 

The duo’s highly-anticipated fourth album Closure is slated for a September 30, 2022 release through Fuzz Club. Written during pandemic-related lockdowns, the eight-song Closure clocks in at 23 minutes and continues the Brooklyn-based duo’s established “minimal is maximal” ethos — all while being a soundtrack for a shattered, fucked up world. 

“During the pandemic the two of us were totally isolated in our home studios,” The Vacant Lots’ Jared Artaud says. “I don’t think the pandemic directly influenced the songs in an obvious way, but merely amplified existing feelings of alienation and isolation. We found ourselves writing in a more direct and vulnerable way than ever before.”

So far I’ve written about two of the album’s singles:

“Chase:” Written on a Synsonics drum machine and a Yamaha CS-10 synthesizer, “Chase” is firmly rooted in their long-held “minimal is maximal” ethos but while seeing the Brooklyn-based duo pushing their sound in a club friendly direction while still being lysergic. Arguably one of their most dance floor friendly songs, “Chase” is centered around what may be the most vulnerable and direct lyrics of their growing catalog with the song subtly suggesting that at some point we will all need to dance away our heartache — if only for a three or four minutes. 

“‘Chase’ is a song about longing, about the struggle of love across time zones,” The Vacant Lots’ Brian MacFayden explains in press notes. “It’s about the desire to close that gap of separation, but also the anticipation and excitement that builds between each encounter. It’s about a sense of knowing how it should be before it is.” The band’s Jared Artaud adds, “‘Chase’ has this duality that strikes a balance between wanting to dance and taking a pill that plunges you on the couch.”

“Thank You,” a dance floor friendly banger centered around a relentless and angular, arpeggiated baseline paired with a four-on-the-floor drum machine pattern, glistening synths, angular guitar buzz and sneering vocals. But while being a New Order-like banger, “Thank You” is a bitter tell-off to a people (and situations) that have wasted valuable time. 

“‘Thank You’ was built in the framework of simplicity,” The Vacant Lots Brian MacFayden says. “It has a relentless pace driven by an angular arpeggiated bassline and drum machine pattern. A Juno-6 was used for chords throughout, a Korg M500 for the leads, and the track is brought to another level with guitars layered on top. The process of crafting this song was done entirely remotely due to the pandemic and the layers over time became more and more refined until we were satisfied with each sound source.”

“Consolation Prize,” Closure‘s third and latest single continues the Brooklyn-based duo’s long-held minimal is maximal ethos but while leaning heavily towards industrial goth with the track being centered around droning synths, wiry bursts of guitar, some efficient thump paired with vocals expressing aching heartbreak and frustration. Sonically, the song sounds like a narcotic synthesis of Suicide, Iggy Pop, and New Order.

Filmed and edited by Alexander Schipper, the accompanying video follows a leather jacket-clad Katerina Samar walking through a park. Shot in grainy Super 8 black and white film, the video employs kaleidoscopic filters and old film stock to give the proceedings a slow-burning yet trippy air.

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