Live concert photography from Elsewhere Festival’s first day feat, Killer Mike, Snow Tha Product, A Place to Bury Strangers, TOKiMonsta, D. Smoke and Zuzu’s Petals.
Tag: indie rock
New Audio: JOVM Mainstay MAGON Shares Nick Drake-like “Portobello’s On The Run”
Over the course of the past handful of years, I’ve spilled copious amounts of virtual ink covering the remarkably prolific, Israeli-born, Costa Rican-based singer/songwriter, musician and JOVM mainstay MAGON. The JOVM mainstay’s recently released eighth […]
New Video: Steve Wynn Shares Punchy “Making Good on My Promises”
Steve Wynn is an acclaimed singer/songwriter and musician, solo artist and frontman of the revered alt-rock/indie rock outfit The Dream Syndicate and The Baseball Project.
This year will be a very busy year for Wynn: Make It Right, the acclaimed singer/songwriter’s first solo album since 2010 is slated for an August 30, 2024 release through Fire Records. The album also coincides with the release of his new memoir I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True, which will be published by Jawbone Press.
I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True is a vivid and revealing memoir that tells a tale of writing songs and playing in bands as a conduit to a world its author could once have barely imagined — a world of major labels, luxury tour buses and sold out theaters across the world, but also one of alcohol, drugs and a a low-level rock ‘n’ roll Babylon. Ultimately, it’s a tale of redemption, with music as a vehicle for artistic and personal transformation and transcendence.
Make It Right was written and recorded in tandem with Wynn’s work on the memoir. “With each chapter, I would get ideas for songs inspired by the deep dive into my past and vice versa,” Wynn explains. “The reflections became intertwined after a while, a mutual commentary between literal and metaphorical ruminating.
“The songs here aren’t directly autobiographical although the album does start with ‘Santa Monica,’ the city and boulevard where I was born and concludes with ‘Roosevelt Avenue,’ the main thoroughfare of the Queens neighborhood in New York City that I call home today. You write what you know—even when you’re not aware it’s what you’re writing about at the time.
“If the book recounted a tale of trepidation and dread and questionable choices, then that tale would turn into a song of similar intent like ‘What Were You Expecting.’ A step back for perspective and positivity, in turn, found its way into a song like ‘You’re Halfway There.’
The cataclysmic ‘one big open drain’ of ‘Simpler Than the Rain’ was resolved by the resolute ‘I’m just trying to make it right’ on the title track. A gauzy and melancholy where-did-it-go-wrong Southern California flashback on the Long Beach inspired ‘Cherry Avenue’ would steer me towards a steelier determination and reset on ‘Making Good on My Promises.’
“It was a dialogue between the memoirist and the musician, a one-man Q&A, a gentle volley in the tennis court of my mind. 40-love, game, set and match.
As I’ve found the melodies and words to stir and simmer with the stories I told in the book, I’ve simultaneously brought friends and collaborators from my recent and distant past to help flesh them out on the record. The likes of Vicki Peterson, Mike Mills, Stephen McCarthy, Scott McCaughey, Jason Victor, Dennis Duck and Mark Walton and my wife Linda Pitmon are all in the book and—look! —there they are on the record as well!”
“And much like life itself, new faces and hit-and-run collaborators would pass my radar during the sessions and provide new light as well. Chris Schlarb from California dream pop ensemble Psychic Temple added his cinematic touch, Emil Nikolaisen of Norway psych-grunge combo Serena Maneesh chimed in with his trademark sonic anarchy and then Eric “Roscoe” Ambel used his studio savvy producer chops to tie it all together at the end.
It feels perfect and very appropriate that the book and record will both be coming out in the same final week of August 2024. Not that one is needed to understand the other. Hey, you can just put on ‘Make It Right’ and use it as the catalyst to create your own life story, dig into your own past. It belongs to you now. Let it tell your own tale while I tell mine. We’re all just trying to make it right.”
Last month, I wrote about Make It Right‘s first single, album title track “Make It Right,” a slow-burning and ruminative ballad, written from the perspective of someone who has lived a full and messy life of foolish and selfish mistakes regrets, heartbreak, bitter betrayals and joyous triumphs — and with the deep, wizened empathy and understanding that people are flawed, occasionally myopic, stupid and selfish. But almost all of us are trying to make it right somehow in a mad, desperate world that’s on fire.
Make It Right‘s second and latest single “Making Good On My Promises” is a defiant, post punk-inspired ripper. Seemingly drawing from The Jam and XTC, the song is anchored around angular guitar jangle, soulful organ blast, a jaunty yet driving rhythm section and a punchily delivered hooks and choruses. Much like its immediate predecessor, “Making Good On My Promises” is written from hard-fought, harder-won experience — and in turn, the perspective of someone who’s been near the brink and survived while being acutely aware of the fact that the shoe will inevitably drop at some point.
“I wrote this song with Paco Loco, a prolific producer down in Spain,” Wynn says. “Haven’t heard of him? If you live in Spain, I guarantee you have. Dude’s a legend and I’d estimate that he’s produced half the records released down there in the last several decades. The lyrics, like most of the words on ‘Make It Right,’ fit into the overall narrative of my book—a defiant and yet tentative of a return from a temporary abyss while keeping a wary eye out for the next dip ahead. I shot the video within the confines and out on the streets in London surrounding my groovy label Fire Records. Together, we’ll make good on those promises.
Lyric Video: Shonali Shares Brooding and Vibey “Driving Nowhere”
Shonali Bhowmik is a Nashville-born, New York-based singer/songwriter, actor, comedian, filmmaker, lawyer and writer, whose musical roots developed in Nashville, where she began making music on an 8-track recorder with her childhood best friend Michelle Dubois in Ultrababyfat, an act that opened for the likes of Pavement and PJ Harvey while she was in law school.
She was pulled into the NYC comedy scene by her close friend David Cross after touring with him during his Let America Laugh tour. Since then, she started the groundbreaking and influential comedy collective Variety Shac alongside Chelsea Peretti, Heather Lawless and Andrea Rosen, and she was the host of The Shac’s popular Upright Citizen’s Brigade live show. Bhowmik has also worked with renowned comedians like Fred Armisen, John Early, John Roberts, Nimesh Patel, Dave Hill, Wyatt Cenac, and Amy Poehler. She currently released comedy albums by rising comedians on her own label Little Lamb Recordings. And lastly, she co-shots her own live variety show podcast series We Don’t Know, which showcases comedians, artists and musicians.
Throughout her lengthy music career, Bhowmik has released nine albums with Ultrababyfat, including three with her current band Tigers and Monkeys and her 2011 solo debut, 100 Oaks Revival. The Nashville-born, New York-based artist steps back out into the spotlight again as a solo artist with her long-awaited sophomore album One Machine At A Time.
Slated for a July 26, 2024 release through Little Lamb Recordings, One Machine At A Time reportedly sees Bhowmik touting her clever songcraft and evocative lyrics while culminating in genre-bending material that feels ubiquitous yet unique to her own experience as an Indian-American woman from Nashville. The album’s songs playfully explore and mesh different genres and eras but within a cohesive, carefully curated musical universe — and overall, a well-rounded album.
The strength and bravery of Bhowmik’s artistic drive is rooted in the steadfast support of her mother and father, professors who immigrated to the States and constantly encouraged her musical and creative efforts. For her, that support is a significant influence on why her music is so unabashedly emotional and fearless.
The forthcoming album sees Bhowmik honoring her father Dr, Dilip Kumar Bhowmik, who recently passed away after a full life of kindness, humor and academic achievement. The album’s cover art, a photo of a young Shonali, taken by her father demonstrates their love and lasting connection. That love and spark of her father’s life continues to fuel her artistic life. Now, she’s able to say “Farewell, sweet one,” while showing how, in the face of loss, how her delicate spark shines on.
For the album, the Nashville-born, New York-based artist wrote a personal statement on the album, which I’m including below:
“A year to-the-date, after losing my father in 2022, I came to the realization I had to share my music with the world again. My dad always encouraged me to take risks, to be true to myself and to ‘go for it.’ In an effort to embrace his wisdom, there was little thinking to be done; I went for it. Once I made the decision to record a new full-length release everything came together quickly. I had a stockpile of demos recorded on my GarageBand which I suddenly realized were worth sharing with the world. I left New York City to go record in Atlanta, Georgia with my OG musical family, friends with whom I formally started my musical career. In July 2023 in Peoplestown, Georgia, I sat with my insanely talented producer friend Dan Dixon, drummer Darren Dodd (along with other talented friends K. Michelle DuBois, Shannon Wright, and Jeff Holt) and recorded my album.
The result of our therapeutic time together is One Machine At A Time, out July 26, an album which combines aspects of all the music I am inspired by – indie rock, soul, psychedelic and retro sounds of the 70s, 80s, and 90s along with the folk singer-songwriter and country influences of my time growing up in Nashville, Tennessee. It takes you on a journey through many genres.
“One of my BFF’s asked his 24-year-old nephew to listen… to which he said “this is really fucking good. It’s like a different genre every song.” Another one of my favorite quotes comes from a friend who said “there’s something retro feeling about these songs that tug on my heart strings in the best way…without feeling retro or dated, if that makes any sense.
As the daughter of Indian professors who immigrated to the United States during the Civil Rights Movement and a woman who grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, I have always been drawn to stories that amplify voices minimized by mainstream media outlets – so here I am pushing myself to be louder and prouder. I considered sharing my music under a pseudonym, but realized that this album reflects my personal journey – pondering the meaning of our lives (including past loves), the state of our world, where love of machines has taken over love for each other, and the celebration and difficulty of life.
My name is Shonali (pronounced Show-nalley.) I am a southern girl with Indian parents, who has been recording my songs on a tape recorder since childhood. My first doll was named Johnny Cash. My goal is connection – our goal should be connection – and I continue to be unable to resist the need to share my voice. It’s my hope that this album fills in the gaps musically, sonically and emotionally for those who feel like they are watching life from the outside in.”
Last month, I wrote about “Up All Night,” a disco pop-tinged bit of post punk anchored around squiggling guitar stabs, oscillating synths, propulsive polyrhythm and a sinuous bass line. The new single sonically channels a slick synthesis of Talking Heads“Stay Up Late,” Entertainment-era Gang of Four and Stevie Nicks‘ “Stand Back” but while evoking a mischievous coquettishness and achingly earnest yearning. The song also showcases Bhowmik’s uncanny knack for crafting ridiculously catchy hooks and larger-than-life, Karen O-like delivery.
One Machine At A Time’s latest single “Driving Nowhere” is a brooding and vibey bit of 80s post punk and pop that seems to stylistically and thematically nod at Billy Idol‘s “Eyes Without a Face,” The Cars “Drive,” David Lynch soundtracks and JOVM mainstays Still Corners while anchored around strummed rhythm guitar, reverb-soaked twang and Bhowmik’s penchant for pairing earnest lyricism with big, catchy hooks. But at its core, the song captures a narrator hitting the road with the endless blacktop ahead of them, and their past looming just behind.
“I was fortunate to hook up with director Andrew Hooper (Jon Spencer, Marcellus Hall, The Dollyrots) who is prolific when it comes to coming up with video ideas and also has a great enthusiasm for music and understanding an artist’s vision,” Bhowmik explains. “He instantaneously understood the Lost Highway vibes of this song. Andrew was based in Thailand at the time we shot the video. He sent me a minutely detailed treatment and our Director of Photography Justin Joseph Hall translated that outline, I think perfectly. And of course Dave Hill, nailed the comedic beats of our community theater production.
“We made an English lyric video along with Spanish and Hindi lyric translation videos with the hopes of including listeners across the world on this universal journey. The song captures how our past is always with us. Our minds wander down the directionless road of our past relationships fully aware that there is no true final destination.”
New Audio: Weep Wave Share a Mosh Pit Friendly Ripper
Released earlier this year through Corporat Records, Seattle-based post-punk outfit Weep Wave‘s Dylan Wall-produced sophomore album Speck sees the band — Dylan Fuentes (vocals, guitar), Mike Hubbard (drums, synth) and Mitch Midkiff (bass) — 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.
In the lead-up the album’s release, I wrote about two previously released singles:
- 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. The song captures Fuentes at his most introspective and neurotic, with the song’s narrator expressing his fears of falling into the same unhelpful — and perhaps just destructive — patterns that seemingly always leads 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?
- “Phasing” 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.
- “Conscious Dust,” a Jack Endino-like grunge take on post-punk that begins with a intricate punk-meets-cheek-in-tongue Motown-like drumbeat and a fuzzy bass line. Fuentes enters the fray with a punchy chant-like delivery before the song explodes into a hypnotic and noisy mosh pit friendly ripper. As a single, “Conscious Dust” sets up the album’s overall aesthetic and thematic concerns as a sort of bold, flag-planting moment for the band and the listener. For me, the song kind of reminds me of Pearl Jam’s “Do The Evolution,” as a sort of tongue-in-cheek takedown of humanity and human consciousness.
In the past few months, the Seattle-based trio have released a single a month off the album, including its seventh and latest single, “Credits to My Life.” The new single may arguably be the most straightforward mosh pit friendly, grunge-inspired track off the album — with the song bringing Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and the like to mind, thanks to big power chords and even bigger, rousingly anthemic hooks paired with thunderous drumming.
New Video: Hello Mary Shares Furious Ripper “0%”
With the release of last year’s sophomore, self-titled album, New York-based indie rock trio Hello Mary — Helena Straight, Stella Wave and Mikaela Oppenheimer — received praise nationally from the likes of Rolling Stone, who wrote that the album was “one of 2023’s sharpest, nosiest debuts.” Building upon a rapidly rising profile, trio will have an incredibly busy summer: Already developing a reputation for a killer live show, the New York-based trio are currently opening for Silversun Pickups on their Stateside tour, a tour that includes a June 27, 2024 stop at Brooklyn Steel. They’ll play a handful of their own headlining Stateside dates and play a set at Denver‘s Underground Music Showcase, before heading to the UK for a London headlining show, followed by an opening slot for American Football during their UK tour. The band has also confirmed a slot at this year’s Best Friends Forever Fest in Las Vegas this October. (As always, tour dates are below.)
“0%” is the first bit of new material from the rising New York-based trio since the release of last year’s self-titled album. “0%” sees the band pushing their 90s alt rock-inspired sound into a much heavier and distorted direction with the song being featuring thunderously percussive, down-tuned bass, distortion pedaled guitar fuzz, forceful drumming and Stella Wave’s throaty, feral screams — within a classic grunge song structure, alternating impossibly loud choruses, quieter verses and a mischievously dreamy break down with vibraphone and triangle.
Fittingly, the song captures a young woman boldly and defiantly expression an existential frustration — and getting a bit of joy out of the fact that she doesn’t know much of much.
The new single emerged as the trio were jamming in their practice space. After quickly become a crowd favorite live, the song really came to life in the studio, becoming the first time that the band’s Stella Wave had ever screamed on a recording. But when she hopped into the recording booth, she felt emboldened to draw out the vocal shouts the band originally planned, turning them into much longer screams. “0% is one of our favorites to play live,” Hello Mary says. “Our inspirations in the last year have broadened, and we feel like this song reflects that.”
The accompanying video edited by Caroline Knight is from footage the band has had taken over the last couple of tours, and captures the energy and passion of their live show.
New Audio: Steve Wynn Shares Ruminative “Make It Right”
Steve Wynn is an acclaimed singer/songwriter and musician, solo artist and frontman of the revered alt-rock/indie rock outfit The Dream Syndicate and The Baseball Project.
2024 will be a very busy year for Wynn: Make It Right, the acclaimed singer/songwriter’s first solo album since 2010 is slated for an August 30, 2024 release through Fire Records. The album also coincides with the release of his new memoir I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True, which will be published by Jawbone Press.
I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True is a vivid and revealing memoir that tells a tale of writing songs and playing in bands as a conduit to a world its author could once have barely imagined — a world of major labels, luxury tour buses and sold out theaters across, but also one of alcohol, drugs and a a low-level rock ‘n’ roll Babylon. Ultimately, it’s a tale of redemption, with music as a vehicle for artistic and personal transformation and transcendence.
Make It Right was written and recorded in tandem with Wynn’s work on the memoir. “With each chapter, I would get ideas for songs inspired by the deep dive into my past and vice versa,” Wynn explains. “The reflections became intertwined after a while, a mutual commentary between literal and metaphorical ruminating.
“The songs here aren’t directly autobiographical although the album does start with ‘Santa Monica,’ the city and boulevard where I was born and concludes with ‘Roosevelt Avenue,’ the main thoroughfare of the Queens neighborhood in New York City that I call home today. You write what you know—even when you’re not aware it’s what you’re writing about at the time.
“If the book recounted a tale of trepidation and dread and questionable choices, then that tale would turn into a song of similar intent like ‘What Were You Expecting.’ A step back for perspective and positivity, in turn, found its way into a song like ‘You’re Halfway There.’
The cataclysmic ‘one big open drain’ of ‘Simpler Than the Rain’ was resolved by the resolute ‘I’m just trying to make it right’ on the title track. A gauzy and melancholy where-did-it-go-wrong Southern California flashback on the Long Beach inspired ‘Cherry Avenue’ would steer me towards a steelier determination and reset on ‘Making Good on My Promises.’
“It was a dialogue between the memoirist and the musician, a one-man Q&A, a gentle volley in the tennis court of my mind. 40-love, game, set and match.
As I’ve found the melodies and words to stir and simmer with the stories I told in the book, I’ve simultaneously brought friends and collaborators from my recent and distant past to help flesh them out on the record. The likes of Vicki Peterson, Mike Mills, Stephen McCarthy, Scott McCaughey, Jason Victor, Dennis Duck and Mark Walton and my wife Linda Pitmon are all in the book and—look! —there they are on the record as well!”
“And much like life itself, new faces and hit-and-run collaborators would pass my radar during the sessions and provide new light as well. Chris Schlarb from California dream pop ensemble Psychic Temple added his cinematic touch, Emil Nikolaisen of Norway psych-grunge combo Serena Maneesh chimed in with his trademark sonic anarchy and then Eric “Roscoe” Ambel used his studio savvy producer chops to tie it all together at the end.
It feels perfect and very appropriate that the book and record will both be coming out in the same final week of August 2024. Not that one is needed to understand the other. Hey, you can just put on ‘Make It Right’ and use it as the catalyst to create your own life story, dig into your own past. It belongs to you now. Let it tell your own tale while I tell mine. We’re all just trying to make it right.”
Make It Right‘s first single, album title track “Make It Right” is a slow-burning and ruminative ballad, written from the perspective of someone who’s lived a fully and very messy life of triumphs, foolish and selfish mistakes, regrets, heartbreak and bitter betrayals and with the deep, wizened empathy and understanding that people are flawed, occasionally myopic, stupid and selfish. But we’re all trying to make it right somehow, in a mad, desperate world.
New Audio: Soccer Mommy Shares Intimate and Introspective “Lost”
When Sophie Allison bean her musical project Soccer Mommy, she was a student at my alma mater, New York University, playing shows across the city to modest crowds just accompanied by her guitar. Since then, Allison is one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful contemporary indie artists of her era, with the release of three critically applauded albums, a slew of appearances on the late night TV talk show circuit, sets across the major global festival circuit, countless sound-out shows across the country, impressive chart debuts and a much more.
With a recent series of solo performances and her newest single “Lost,” the first bit of new material since the release of 2022’s Sometimes Forever, Allison returns to her early Soccer Mommy roots — just her and her guitar. Anchored around an atmospheric arrangement of strummed acoustic guitar, brooding and cinematic strings, Allison’s imitable delivery and rousingly cathartic hooks and choruses, “Lost,” continues the JOVM mainstays long-held reputation for crafting introspective material seemingly informed by her own life — but while being one of the intimate songs she has released in some time.
“‘Lost’ feels like something new and something old at the same time,” Allison says of the song. “It’s a song that’s full of reflection and I wanted its production to really capture that feeling. I’m happy to have a chance to play it at these more intimate solo shows, because I think it really shines in that setting.”
New Video: Peter Bibby Shares Boozy “Bin Boy”
Peter Bibby is an acclaimed Fremantle, Australia-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, whose music career started in earnest when he turned 19: He quit the unfulfilling job he was working at the time to busk, eventually landing a few paying gigs. Sometime later, Bibby landed a high-paying job that he eventually lost, because he would frequently show up hungover from the gigs he’d play the night before.
So the Aussie singer/songwriter and musician played even more gigs with a series of different backing bands, including Frozen Ocean, Fucking Teeth and Bottles of Confidence, gradually developing a rough and tumble sound and approach that a critic describes as being like “Shane McGowan screaming at bleeding laudanum and typhoid hallucinations” with his guitar described as being like “a dog drunk on rum.”
With the release of his first two albums 2014’s Butcher/Hairstylist/Beautician and 2018’s Grand Champion, Bibby proudly championed — and has been championed for — being a working class and wholeheartedly independent artist, which was documented in greater detail in the 2018 film Chasing Palm Springs, which followed Bibby on a cross-country trip from Perth to Melbourne in a temperamental van. Since then, the Fremantle-based artist has begun to build a growing profile and reputation as a must see act, as a result of a rowdy and raucous live set — and through headlining shows and international festival circuit stops at Laneway Festival, Falls Festival and SXSW.
Bibby’s third album, 2020’s Marge saw the acclaimed Aussie collaborating with Dog Act — Pete “Strawberry Pete” Gower (bass) and Dave “Dirty Dave” Taylor (drums) — and derived its name from Dave Taylor’s grandmother Marge. The titular Marge is prominently featured on the album’s over art, smoking a cigarette on a beach in Darwin, Australia, seemingly watching her corner of the world go by.
Sonically, the album is splintered and volatile and written as a sort of soundtrack to a surf movie from hell, where there’s blood in the water, a dirt road leading to a dead end — and everything is covered in diesel fumes and dust. “The Dog Act and I recorded this album in a week off in Perth between two Australian tours. We were match fit and full of beans,” Bibby says of the album. “It features a selection of songs, some fun, some completely bloody miserable. It was made better by the involvement of the fourth Dog, Mitch McDonald, who engineered the record and offered endless energy and ideas. I love this record.”
Produced by Dan Luscombe, whose work with fellow Aussies The Drones and JOVM mainstays Amyl and The Sniffers convinced Bibby that he’d be in safe hands, Bibby’s fourth album, Drama King was released last week through Spinning Top Music. The album was mixed with White Denim‘s Josh Block.
“It was the first time I’d worked with a producer, and I prepared for it knowing that my songs were going to get chopped up and shortened,” Bibby recalls in press notes. “I’m glad I did, because for the most part, Dan was like, oh, you’ve already solved every problem I had with these. He was completely underselling himself, because he shaped and sculpted every song on the record into a far more beautiful and articulate thing than I could have on my own.”
“Where Dan shaped and sculpted the songs into superior arrangements, Josh made them sound better than I ever thought they could sound,” Bibby adds.
Although Drama King‘s material may have come together without major incident, the album’s lyrics reflect Bibby’s evolution from hard-partying prankster to a more enlightened, responsible human, who has grown up, and now knows when enough is really enough. Fittingly, the album’s second single “Fun Guy,” was an up-tempo, in-your fafe ripper built around a motorik groove, scorching guitars and relentless drum machine paired with Bibby’s punchily shouted lyrics and howls.
It’s the sort of song that’s perfect for furious calisthenics — or worse, Peloton sessions — while recalling some of the awful decisions and incidents informed and influenced by hard partying, hard drinking and harder living that you must stay away from — presumably because of all the shit you’re afraid of losing. But at its core, is the unvarnished honesty that comes from having lived the life that his songs talk about. Bibby has been the stupid, drunken lout, who has embarrassed himself and others. And he’s gotten tired — perhaps of not remembering what happened or why it happened; of being completely out of control; of being hungover; of the flop sweat-filled nights or mornings . . .
“I was just really over all the silliness and getting wasted and all dumb behavior that is considered ‘fun,'” admits Bibby. “A lot of the songs on the album are the result of situations where I was drunk or dealing with the drama that comes from it all. It suggests a period of change, and honing in on the shitty situations which have inspired it.”
Bibby adds “It’s a fun song about quitting fun. A bit gross, a bit self deprecative, a bit of a banger. Rather than a drum loop, we just went full drum machine with this one, taking a few hints from Suicide’s first album. We laid this whole thing down in a few hours on my first day in the studio, setting the tone for a disgustingly productive few weeks.”
The album’s latest single “Bin Boy” is a boozy, Kerosene Hat-era Cracker-like tune featuring twinkling keys, strummed acoustic guitar, a shuffling and drunken rhythm, and a bluesy electric guitar solo serving as a lush, slow-burning bed for the acclaimed Aussie’s beer and whiskey soaked, plaintive delivery and a soulful backing vocal. The song hilariously anthropomorphizes a trash bin, and examines with a great deal of empathy, the one-sided relationship people have with their trash bins — with the song’s narrator lamenting its thoughtless treatment.
“Could this be the world’s first song written from the perspective of a wheelie bin? I think it might be,” Bibby says. “The song marks a clear connection between man and bin, how we are not so different after all.” He continues “I went full guitar hero on the solo and was very pleased when Carla’s backing vocals lifted the song onto a whole other level. I don’t think it was that easy for her to harmonize with my derelict vocal style, but she nailed it.”
Directed by Robin Bottrell, the accompanying video seems inspired by Harmony Korine‘s Trash Humpers and follows Bibby as part-man, part-bin in the suburbs being taken out on the curb and its contents — without Bibby, of course — being dumped into a garbage truck.