Tag: Hit the North Records

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Always You Share Woozy, Bittersweet “1994”

Los Angeles-based duo Always You — twin brothers Christoph and Anton Hochheim — have managed to forge their own path while working alongside a hive mind-like collection of musician friends, including Beach Fossils, Wild Nothing, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, MGMT, Jerry Paper, The Depreciation Guild and a lengthy list of others, which has helped shaped the siblings sonic identity along the way. Formerly known as Ablebody, the Hochheim Brothers have spent their careers exploring lo fi hypnagogic laptop pop, sophisticated synth pop informed by 80s UK and Japanese New Wave, as well as kitsch-en sink lounge ballads inspired by the great chansons.

The Los Angeles-based duo’s third album, the Jack Tatum-produced Against The World is slated for a November 13, 2026 release through Hit The North Records. With Jack Tatum at helm guiding production and mixing, he tirelessly broke down and then reconstructed all the elements of the material with the twins, pushing the album’s overall sonics to the absolute breaking point while still retaining their signature sophtisipop sheen. Throughout the album’s run time, heavy guitars and bending sheets of white noise clash over frenzied hi-hats and The Prodigy-like sub bass. Abrupt starts and stops seemingly crash down with the weight of the world. Drum ‘n’ bass and house beats thump over soaring melodies and chopped up vocal samples. The ballads seemingly sparkle with more heart and tension than anything in their previously released work.

Thematically speaking, Against The World is a statement for and against the times: a manic manifesto drawing a line in the sand, pointing out that love is the only resistance against the forces manufacturing distance and endless dissent between us. It’s a rallying cry pushing for something better, a staunch refusal of the status quo, fueled by the belief that we all deserve much better. The album’s material is rooted in the deep sense of longing for something, hell, anything else than this — a different reality, an alternate timeline, anything. Increasingly divorced from the world around us, the false promises of a new lover, a new leader, a quick and seemingly effortless salutation or a new savior become impossible to resist. That fantasy leads us further and further underground, leaving miles of rubble in its wake and keeping us all just out of reach.

Against The World’s second and latest single “1994” is a bittersweet meditation on time’s inexorable march forward, aging, lost youth and lost opportunities and the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia pushing us to dream of a simpler world that never really existed. But when the world is seemingly running down, there’s a strange comfort in looking backwards isn’t there? Sonically and thematically, “1994” seemingly channels Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979” sounding as though it could have been released in — well, 1994 while underpinned by some old school craftsmanship.

“‘1994’ is a song about clinging to specific times and seeking refuge in them, often to moments that never really existed,” the Los Angeles-based sibling duo explain. “We live in a world that deals nostalgia as currency, where the past is constantly viewed through rose tinted lenses, with our youth put on a pedestal and the continual quest to return to that version of ourselves always just out of reach. We long to return to the simpler times before life pulled us from each other and ourselves, before our hardships and tragedies calloused us to the world, back to a time that only ever existed in our minds.”

Directed by Otium, the accompanying video for “1994” is a woozy and panoramic visual that touches on the song’s overall themes of rose-tinted nostalgia for at time before everything seemingly went bonkers — even if it was kind of bullshit to begin with.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Mute Swan Teams Up with Sonoda on Intergalactic “Phantasms of the Living”

With the release of their debut EP, 2016’s Ultraviolet and their full-length debut, 2021’s Only Ever, Tucson-based shoegaze/dream pop outfit Mute Swan — currently, Mike Barnett (guitar/vocals), Prabjit Virdee (bass, vocals), and Gilbert Flores (drums) — quickly established a swirling, densely layered take on psych rock that some critics and others have compared to Of Montreal and Soft Bulletin-era Flaming Lips. 

2021’s Only Ever was released to praise from The FADER, Merry-Go-Round Magazine and several others, as well as airplay on KEXP.

Earlier this year, the band signed to Hit The North Records/Wooden Tooth Records, who will be releasing their long-awaited sophomore album Skin Slip on March 6, 2026. The album will feature a batch of material that will be posthumously released after the death of founding member Thomas Sloane, including the previously released “Hypnosis Tapes,” and “Cocteau Swan,” which featured Citrus Clouds‘ Stacie Huttleson.

The Tucson-based outfit begin 2026 with Skin Slip‘s third and latest single, “Phantasms of the Living,” featuring Sonoda. “Phantasms of the Living” is a dreamy, intergalactic tune anchored around the sort of dense layers of guitars that may remind some of Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins paired with razor sharp hooks.

“Several years ago I got into reading books about non-duality. The lyrics of this song were inspired by a British non-dualist named Tony Parsons but the title actually comes from a 19th century book about ghosts of people who are still alive,” Mute Swan’s Mike Barnett explains. “There’s a connection there but, anyway, we were very excited after writing this song together. This song is one of our favorites. And Lisa (Sonoda) singing on it was the absolute cherry on top.”

Directed by the band’s Mike Barnett, the accompanying video for “Phantasms of the Living” is a deliriously odd DIY effort that’s split between a house gathering watching an old movie “Phantasms of the Living,” followed by a ouija board that seemingly opens a portal into the murder and mayhem of the movie they were originally watching.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Mute Swan Teams Up with Citrus Clouds on Cocteau Twins-like “Cocteau Swan”

With the release of their debut EP, 2016’s Ultraviolet and their full-length debut, 2021’s Only Ever, Tucson-based shoegaze/dream pop outfit Mute Swan — currently, Mike Barnett (guitar/vocals), Prabjit Virdee (bass, vocals), and Gilbert Flores (drums) — quickly established a swirling, densely layered take on psych rock that some critics and others have compared to Of Montreal and Soft Bulletin-era Flaming Lips. 

2021’s Only Ever was released to praise from The FADER, Merry-Go-Round Magazine and several others, as well as airplay on KEXP.

Earlier this year, the band signed to Hit The North Records/Wooden Tooth Records, who released “Hypnosis Tapes,” the first bit of new material from the band since their debut — and part of a batch of material that will be posthumously released after the tragic death of founding member Thomas Sloane. 

“Hypnosis Tapes” came on the heels of the Tucson-based outfit playing opening slots for Horse Jumper of Love, Wednesday, Tanukichanand Peel Dream Magazine, as well as a set at this year’s Levitation Festival.

Mute Swan closes out 2025 with “Cocteau Swan,” which features Citrus Clouds‘ Stacie Huttleson. Anchored around fluttering synths and swirling, reverb-soaked guitar textures paired with boom bap-inspired drum patterns, “Cocteau Swan” features Mute Swan’s Mike Barnett and Huttleson’s uncanny harmonies ethereally floating over the Cocteau Twins-inspired soundscape.
 
“This song is an homage to one of our favorite bands, Cocteau Twins,” Mute Swan’s Mike Barnett explains. “We were very lucky to have our friend Stacie Huttleston from Citrus Clouds sing the backing vocal part, which we recorded at their practice space in Phoenix.”

Directed by Mike Barnett, the accompanying video for “Cocteau Swan” sees the surviving band members paying a loving tribute to their dearly departed friend — by sharing pictures of their friend and the band while on tour, in the fullness and vitality of life.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Tucson’s Mute Swan Shares woozy “Hypnosis Tapes”

With the release of their debut EP, 2016’s Ultraviolet and their full-length debut, 2021’s Only Ever, Tucson-based shoegaze/dream pop outfit Mute Swan — currently, Mike Barnett (guitar/vocals), Prabjit Virdee (bass, vocals), and Gilbert Flores (drums) — quickly established a swirling, densely layered take on psych rock that some critics and others have compared to Of Montreal and Soft Bulletin-era Flaming Lips.

2021’s Only Ever was released to praise from The FADER, Merry-Go-Round Magazine and several others, as well as airplay on KEXP.

The band recently signed to Hit The North Records/Wooden Tooth Records, who released the Tucson-based outfit’s latest single “Hypnosis Tapes.” The new single is the first bit of new of material from the band since their debut album — and is part of a batch of material that will be posthumously released after the tragic death of founding member Thomas Sloane.

“Hypnosis Tapes” features Barnett’s breathy delivery ethereally floating over a woozy soundscape featuring glitchy and swelling electronics, fuzzy, acid-tinged guitars paired with relentlessly driving four-on-floor. While still drawing from shoegaze, “Hypnosis Tapes” may arguably be the most Brit Pop-leaning track of their growing catalog to date.

“We had only approved the final mix of this song weeks before when we lost our best friend and guitarist, Tom Sloane. It is the first of a collection of his last songs we felt especially determined to give a proper release into the world,” the band’s Mike Barnett says. “Displaying some of his best textural guitarwork, this song is about finding some kind of inner peace through the noise of chaotic times and endless mental chatter. There’s a meditation tape sampled at the end, as well as a vacuum cleaner in reverse at the beginning (an inside joke of ours).”

Directed by the band’s Mike Barnett, the accompanying video for “Hypnosis Tapes” features the band’s three surviving members hanging out in someone’s living room. Virdee and Flores are busy fiddling around while Barnett strums his guitar and sings. And it’s all set in trippy kaleidoscopic filters, which sees the members melt and morph into one another.

The new single and video comes on the heels of the Tucson-based band playing opening slots for Horse Jumper of Love, Wednesday, Tanukichan and Peel Dream Magazine, as well as a set at this year’s Levitation Festival. The band has big plans for next year, so be on the lookout.
 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: WØØLS Shares Painterly “Flooded”

Brock Woolsey is a Californian-based multi-instrumentalist, producer, electronic music artist and creative mastermind of the solo recording project WØØLS. With WØØLS, Woolsey uses a mix of acoustic and digital instruments to create a collage sound characterized by textured synths, fuzzy tones, soft pianos, heavy low end and driving drum patterns that draws from Jon Hopkins, James Blake, Tycho, Shlohmo and Weval among others.

The Canadian artist’s latest EP Santa Rosa is slated for a June 14, 2024 release through Hit the North Records. The EP’s third and final single “Flooded” is a painterly almost shoegazer-like track that opens with a symphonic-like synth melody before quickly featuring glisten synth arpeggios, skittering beats, tape saturated fuzz and twinkling keys in a song that twists, turns and morphs into different textured passages before bringing listeners back to the beginning.

“Flooded” was inspired by Woolsey’s first analog synth, a Sequential Prophet Rev 2. “I was listening to Machinedrum heavily while writing this song. The bridge is a nice break in the song. Delicate piano chords run with tape cassette saturation” says Woolsey. The track opens with a symphonic melody, eventually carrying listeners through a roller coaster of textures and passages. The bridge provides a break in the reoccurring melodies, nearly sounding like a completely different track before making a full circle, bringing listeners back to the track’s essential melodies.”