Tag: Jack White

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Be Your Own Pet Returns from 15-Year Hiatus with a Roar

Nashville-based punk outfit Be Your Own Pet — Jemina Pearl Abegg (vocals), Jonas Stein (guitar), Nathan Vasquez (bass) and John Eatherly (drums) — originally formed back in 2004 while its original lineup — Pearl, Stein, Vasquez, Eatherly and JEFF The Brotherhood‘s Jamin Orrall — were all attending Nashville School of the Arts. The then-quintet honed a spastic-yet poppy sound playing house shows and gigs at all-ages venues like Guido’s Pizza and Bongo Java.

The Nashville-based quintet played attention-getting sets at 2004’s CMJ and 2005’s SXSW, which helped to create buzz for them Stateside. Around the same time, their first single “Damn Damn Leash,” which was released as a CD-R, caught the attention of BBC Radio One‘s Zane Lowe, whose support helped the band gain an early UK following.

Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the members of Be Your Own Pet released a string of singles and EPs release through Infinity Cat Recordings, which they supported by playing sets across the global festival circuit, including stops at Coachella, Bonnaroo, Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds — and opening slots for Arctic Monkeys, Sonic Youth, Kings of Leon and others.

Their early material received critical acclaim from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and NME, who named the band’s Jemina Pearl in the Top 10 of their annual Cool List and NYLON, who put the band on the cover of their summer 2006 issue.

The band signed to XL Recordings in the UK and Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace Universal Records imprint in North America. Both labels released the band’s first two albums, 2006’s self-titled full-length debut and 2008’s Get Awkward.

After finishing a small UK tour to support Get Awkward, the band announced their breakup — and they went off on their own separate ways creatively and professionally: Stein and Eatherly went on to play in Turbo Fruits, along with their friend Max Peebles. Vasquez went on to play in Deluxin’. Pearl has played in a number of different projects including Cheap Time and Rare Form, and has released material as a solo artist.

After 15 years apart, the band recently made a triumphant return to both the stage and airwaves: They played SXSW and opened for Jack White ahead of the release of their critically acclaimed single “Hand Grenade,” which Rolling Stone dubbed “incendiary” and The Fader dubbed “hard to ignore.”

BYOP’s long-awaited and highly-anticipated third album and first in 15 years, Mommy is slated for an August 25, 2023 release through Third Man Records. The album was written and recorded by the band’s three founding members Pearl Abegg, Stein and Vasquez along with longtime drummer Eatherly. “For better or worse, we all were slapped in the face that it wasn’t as easy on our own,” the band’s Stein says of their hiatus. “We were all moderately successful, but nobody found that Be Your Own Pet chemistry.”

The bond returned on the very first day that the band stepped back into rehearsal, which is also when they began writing the material that would comprise Mommy. In the past, Pearl had previously fitted lyrics into the others’ songs, but with the new album, she brought her own ideas into the writing room. “Mommy is the bitch in charge, the one in control,” Pearl says. “It’s a reclamation of myself.” The album also reportedly sees the band bolstering the garage punk ferocity they’ve long been known for with matured song, inspired musicianship and a fervent desire to simultaneously claim their space and define their future.

Along with the album announcement, the punk rock outfit share Mommy‘s lead single, “Worship The Whip,” an irony-drenched, BDSM leather-clad dominatrix-meets-breakneck glam punk-like take on DEVO‘s “Whip It” built around rousingly anthemic hooks, enormous power chords and Pearl’s defiant delivery. “‘Worship The Whip’ is about the right wing authoritarian personality,” explains Pearl. “Aggressive and domineering to people who don’t think like them, while at heart being a submissive to the authority figures who use and abuse them.”

Directed by Jordan William and shot by Ben Chappell, the accompanying video for “Worship The Whip” features the band’s Pearl in latex being both the dominatrix and the submissive.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Olivia Jean Shares Creepy and Groovy “Raving Ghost”

Growing up on the outskirts of Detroit, Olivia Jean found her first musical love in 1960’s instrumental surf bands. Taking up guitar at an early age, she became enamored by the city’s thriving garage rock scene, drawing inspiration from its unique rawness. By the time, she was a teenager, the Detroit-area based singer/songwriter and musician began regarding her own surf music compositions. After years of self-recording, she put together a demo that led to the founding of the Black Belles and the band’s signing to Jack White‘s Third Man Records.

After the release of the Black Belles’ 2011 self-titled full-length debut, Olivia Jean stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist with her full-length debut, 2014’s Bathtub Love Killings. She then followed with her self-produced sophomore album, 2019’s Night Owl.

Slated for a Friday release through Third Man Records, Olivia Jean’s highly-anticipated third album Raving Ghost is populated by mysterious characters in various states of danger — cursed lovers, doomed souls, women deliriously hunted by unseen forces. Featuring backing from a collection of top players, including My Morning Jacket’s Bo Koster (keys), Jellyfish‘s Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. (keys). T-Bone Burnett‘s and Nikki Lane‘s Carla Azar (drums) and The Raconteurs‘ and The Afghan Whigs‘ Patrick Keeler (drums), the 11-song album sees Olivia Jean amplifying the drama with her wildly melodic take on garage rock, with each riff handled with the power and precision she’s shown as a member of the Black Belles and as an in-demand session and touring musician. As a whole, the album is reportedly an evolution of the retro-surf sound featured on her previously released solo work while arguably being among the most mesmerizing material she’s released to date.

The album’s latest single is the slinky and darkly seductive album title title track “Raving Ghost.” Built around a looping, Link Wray-meets-Jack White gutter line paired with twinkling keys, a rousing anthemic, power chord-driven chorus paired with Olivia Jean’s mesmerizing vocal, “Raving Ghost” is a groovy but unsettling tale of a woman being hunted by a creepy and determined, unseen force.

Directed by Erica Salazar and Olivia Jean, the accompanying video for “Raving Ghost” fittingly features the acclaimed singer/songwriter and musician being followed by monstrous and shadowy figures, who at times surround her.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Follow Velvet Starlings on a Hallucinogenic Chase

Southern California-based garage rock Velvet Starlings` — wunderkind founding member, singer/songwriter multi-instrumentalist and producer Christian Gisborne, drummer Foster Poling and bassist Hudson Poling — was initially surged as a solo recording project with Gisbourne writing, recording, producing every instrumental part on the project’s 2015 self-titled debut EP, which he released when he was 15. When Gisborne was 17, he released his sophomore EP, 2019’s Love Everything, Love Everyone. Both EPs charted in the top 5 at Speciality Radio and landed at #1 on KROQ’s Locals Only.

Gisborne’s work with Velvet Starlings has also caught the attention of The Kinks’ Dave Davies and acclaimed artist Shepard Fairey, who count themselves as fans of the project, as well as the BBC. Adding to a growing profile, Gisborne won Milwaukee Summerfest’s 2019 Emerging Stage competition, which has led to a Summerfest main stage set on September 17, 2021.

Velvet Starlings highly-anticipated full-length debut Technicolour Shakedown is slated for an August 27, 2021 release through Sound x 3 Recordsr/AWAL/The Orchard with a vinyl release in the States by Kitten Robot. Much like his previously released material Gisborne wrote, produced, engineered and mixed Technicolour Shakedown — in the middle of his living room as a result of pandemic-related restrictions and lockdowns. Sonically, the album’s material draws influence from a number of various sources including early Jack White, Thee Oh Sees and Arctic Monkeys while revealing Gisborne’s own take on the sound, which he describes as “beach fuzz psych with a big cheeky nod to the UK Invasion.” He adds “in the gloom and doom of COVID, I found myself reminiscing all the time about the days when we would wait in line for hours to see our favorite bands. The songs on the first album reflect everything i felt I was missing out on.” Looking forward to 2021 and beyond, Christian Gisborne adds “I think a Rock ‘n’ Roll renaissance is coming after this crazy year of lock down. We’re hoping that a full front-to-back of Technicolour Shakedown will evoke the feeling you get at a rock ‘n’ roll house party — wherever the listener may find himself.”

After completing the album’s material, Gisborne recruited the Poling Brothers to help flesh out the band’s live sound. The Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer met the Poling Brothers while waiting on line outside of a 2019 Cage The Elephant show. After realizing that they all shared a mutual love of The Who` and Spongebob Squarepants, they found themselves setting up plans to jam at a rehearsal space. Although Gisborne had long hired session and touring musicians, with his friendship with the Poling Brothers growing deeper, he recognized that the next era of the project would feature them as his full-time bandmates.

Technicolour Shakedown’s first single “Back Of The Train” is a swaggering and rousingly anthemic, psych rock stomp centered around fuzzy power chords, thunderous yet murky drums paired with Gisborne’s guttural howls that sounds as though it could have been released in 1964 or 2008 — or yesterday. As Gisborne told Flood Magazine: “The song is about struggling as a musician while taking nothing for granted. ‘Back Of The Train’ centers around a sneaky low note 60s guitar riff and drums so over-compressed it would make The Sonics cringe. I think it’s awful in the best way possible.” He goes on to further describe it as the story “paying dues and making sacrifices while making sure to enjoy the ride along the way.”

Directed by Megan Blanchard, the recently release video for “Back Of The Train” is one part classic Hitchcockian chase meets The French Connection, one part psychedelic trip and one part 120 Minutes MTV-inspired video.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Alison Mosshart Releases a Film Noir-ish Black and White Visual for Atmospheric “It Ain’t Water”

Alison Mosshart is a Vero Beach, FL-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter best known as one-half of the acclaimed indie rock act JOVM mainstays The Kills — and for being the frontwoman of the indie rock/blues punk supergroup The Dead Weather. Over the past decade or so, Mosshart has been restlessly creative: her painting has been show in galleries across the world and she has published her first book, CAR MA, a collection of her art, photography and writing that serves as a love letter to all things automobile. In that same period of time, Mosshart has become a go-to collaborator, adding that extra dash of swaggering badassery, working with her Dead Weather bandmate Jack White, Arctic Monkeys, Primal Scream, Gang of Four, Cage The Elephant, Foo Fighters, James Williamson and Mini Mansions in a rapidly growing list.

2020 will continue a period of remarkably creative prolificacy for Mosshart: Currently, Mosshart and her bandmate Jamie Hince are working on the next Kills record, which they hope to be able to bring to the road — pandemic willing, of course. This year will also see Mosshart stepping out into the spotlight as a solo artist, releasing material under her name for the first time in her career. Although, releasing music under her own name is a completely new and thrilling experience, the album’s material can be traced back to unreleased material Mosshart had been compiling for the better part of the past decade. Now, as you may recall, last month, I wrote about her debut single, the  Lawrence Rothman-produced “Rise.” Initially tracing its origins to a song sketch that Mosshart wrote in 2013, the song is a slow-burning and searing blues with brooding and ominous undertones centered around thumping beats, fuzzy power chords, Mosshart’s imitable vocals and an enormous, arena rock friendly hook. 

Mosshart’s second and latest single is the atmospheric and brooding, Alain Johannes-produced and recorded “It Ain’t Water.” Centered around a sparse arrangement of shimmering acoustic guitars, strings and gently padded drums, the song manages to bring PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, and JOVM mainstay Mark Lanegan to mind. Although the song was written late last year, Mosshart had been sitting on the track for some time — with the acclaimed signer/songwriter guitarist turning to the then-unfinished track whenever she found herself battling a bout of writer’s block. 

“Working with Alain on ”It Ain’t Water’ was a blast. He’s such a talent and such a kind person,” the JOVM mainstay says of working with Alain Johannes. “His mind is wide open. He understands and sees the beauty in imperfection, magic moments, accidents- the soulful human stuff, and the spirited super-human hard to explain stuff that makes a song great. Working with him was an honor, and also, hot damn he can play any instrument like a champ . .  . like he invented the instrument himself. Alain Johannes IS music.” 

Directed, edited and shot by Mosshart, the recently released video continues a run of decidedly DIY visuals — but unlike its predecessor, its shot in an aptly film noir-like black and white and evokes our pandemic-influenced isolation, as we see the acclaimed Kills and Dead Weather frontwoman in her own home, expressively dancing in the background while we see a superimposed image of a sunglasses wearing Mossheart singing the song. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Alison Mosshart’s Self-Directed and Edited Visual for Ominous Solo Debut “Rise”

Alison Mosshart is a Vero Beach, FL-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter a best known as one-half of the acclaimed indie rock act JOVM mainstays The Kills and for being the frontwoman of the indie rock/blues punk supergroup The Dead Weather. Interestingly, over the past decade or so, Mosshart has developed a reputation for being restlessly creative: she has had paintings shown in galleries across the world and she recently published her first book CAR MA, a collection of her art, photography and writing that serves as a love letter to all things automobile. Additionally, Mosshart has developed a reputation for being a go-to collaborator for that added dash of badassery, working with her Dead Weather bandmate Jack White, Arctic Monkeys, Primal Scream, Gang of Four, Cage The Elephant, Foo Fighters, James Williamson and Mini Mansions in a rapidly growing list. 

2020 will continue a period of remarkably creative prolificacy for Mosshart: Currently, Mosshart and her bandmate Jamie Hince are working on the next Kills record, which they hope to be able to bring to the road — pandemic willing, of course. Interestingly, this year also see Mosshart stepping out into the spotlight as a solo artist, releasing material under her name for the first time in her career. And although for Mosshart, releasing music under her own name is a new and thrilling experience, it’s a process that can be traced back more than a decade with Mosshart compiling a trove of unreleased material. Her debut single, the Lawrence Rothman-produced “Rise” can trace its origins back to 2013 when she first wrote the initial sketch of the song.  The end result is a slow-burning and searing blues with brooding and ominous undertones centered around thumping beats, fuzzy power chords, Mosshart’s imitable vocals and a soaring hook. 

“I didn’t ever forget it,” Mosshart recalls. “I remember right where I was when I wrote it, sitting at my desk in London, missing someone badly. Interestingly, when the Sacred Lies team reached out to the Kills and Dead Weather frontwoman about doing a signature song for the song, she knew “Rise” had the right sort of vibe for the show. Interestingly, “Rise” is prominently featured in the final episode of  the FacebookWatch drama Sacred Lies with the song serving as a major plot point within the series’ story. 

Much like everyone else across the world, Mosshart is hunkered down in her Nashville home and she’s used this period of social distancing and quarantine to teach herself video editing. Shot, edited and directed by Mosshart, the recently released video for “Rise” is comprised of footage from a recent trip she took to Los Angeles with most of it centered around capturing lowrider culture. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rachelle Garniez Takes on a Beloved Della Reese Song

Rachelle Garniez is a highly regarded singer, songwriter, instrumentalist and grizzled New York cabaret scene vet, who has managed to work with an eclectic array of contemporary artists including Jack White and Taylor Mac. Garniez’s recently released album Gone to Glory chronicles her interpretation of songs written or made famous by a variety of recently departed, beloved artists. Interestingly, the album can trace its origins back to 2016r, a year that saw the deaths of David Bowie, Prince and Leonard Cohen — and alongside feelings of immeasurable cultural bereavement, that year also saw an increasing climate of unrest and heightened irreconcilable division.

The first Farewell Party concert was conceived and performed at Pangea, known as NYC’s home to alternative cabaret performance. Crowds were starved for the chance to mourn with other fans and celebrate the lives of their favorite artists. The concert became so popular that it became an annual event. And while being a collection of covers, the album’s material is also about recovery and resilience, that reminds the listener that death may wreck our own, we still manage to survive to enjoy what’s been bequeathed to us.

The album finds Garniez tackling the work of Bowie, Prince, Cohen, Glen Campbell, Motörhead, Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson, Della Reese, Sharon Jones, Mose Allison and Bea Wain — and while inhabiting the characters and worlds of each of those artists, the acclaimed cabaret artists finds a way to make the songs her own. Although she’s largely eschewed covers, she has found the album as a way to honor fallen musical heroes and to branch out into exploring other lives and characters. Interestingly, instead of choosing the most obvious songs — no “Hallelujah” or “Purple Rain” here — she makes more idiosyncratic choices.  “A lot of it has to do with if I can look at the lyrics and imagine becoming a character, or even just being my own self and being able to sing these songs,” Garniez  says in press notes. “I need to feel that I’m connected to the lyrics, that I can really deliver them in a meaningful way.”

Gone to Glory’s songs are centered around an emotional arc that deals with abject despair to acceptance. Death looms large and at points comedic. Monsters are everywhere. There’s alienation, self-delusion and even toxic patriotism. But love is seen as countervailing and multiform — hopeless and unrequited, romantic, lust, paradisal and so on. Garniez, who also contributes piano, accordion and guitar, collaborates with the Farewell Party band, Karen Waltuch (viola) and Derek Nievergelt (double bass) — with the material sonically reflecting Garniez’s eclectic influences: the material evokes klezmer, Cajun, doo wop, blues, R&B, Latin, jazz and show tunes with five of the songs featuring instrumental introductions that function as sort of mini-memorials, references Glen Frey, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds and Bernardo Bertolucci.

Gone to Glory’s latest single finds the acclaimed cabaret artist covering Della Reese’s 1959 hit “Don’t You Know,” an adaptation of a Puccini aria, “Musetta’s Waltz” from La Bohème. Featuring a yearning vocal, the song is centered around a slow-burning, understated arrangement consisting of French horn and twinkling keys, viola, harp, and double bass — Garniez’s rendition manages to nod at jazz standards, chamber pop and classical music simultaneously while aching with pride, heartache, and loss in a way that feels devastating. The recently released video by Lewis Klahr features collage-based animation that tells the song’s central story of unrequited love and loss — with pop art.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Howie Payne is aLiverpool-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. And although his music career started in earnest in the early 1990s when he played in a number of local bands including The Magic Clock, The Windmills, Telephone, Blueseed (who, released their debut single “The Only Ones” in 1997 and their debut EP, 1998’s Special Care and Spare Change through Ultimate Records) and The Big Kids, Payne is best known for his solo project-cum-full-fledged band The Stands, an act that was both critically applauded and championed by the likes of The Stone Roses, Spiritualized, Jack White, Noel Gallagher and Bill Ryder-Jones.

The band supported their two albums together, 2004’s All Years Leaving and 2005’s Horse Fabulous, with tours opening for Paul Weller, The Libertines, The Coral and Oasis before Payne ended the project in late 2005. Since then Payne has developed a reputation as a critically applauded solo artist releasing two albums 2009’s Bright Light Ballads and 2017’s Mountain. Payne is gearing up to release his highly-anticipated third, full-length later this year. But in the meantime, his latest single, the self-produced and self-engineered “Into Daylight” is the first bit of new material from the acclaimed Liverpool-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer since Mountain. Clocking in at a little over 2 minutes, the track is a breakneck, Brit Pop take on psych rock that’s a decided change in direction from Payne’s previously released solo work, as the track is centered around fuzzy and darting power chords, a motorik-like groove, a bluesy and expressive guitar solo and an enormous hook before a sudden fade out.

“The first person I played it [the song] to said, ‘It sounds like if Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac and early Pink Floyd were in the same band’ . . . I’m having that thank you very much,” Payne says of the song inn which he plays all the instrumental parts. “It’s the first full on electric rock and roll tune I’ve put out since I was doing The Stands, definitely the most psychedelic and the first guitar solo I’ve cut in a while. I’ve been listening to a lot of rock and roll and rediscovered my love of playing the electric guitar and of volume and it sent me off in a new, heavier direction. ‘Into Daylight’ is a pure rock and roll song. It’s loud, fast and exciting to play live. I can see us  absolutely jamming the shit out of it at the shows down the line.”

 

 



Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Toronto-based electronic act Holy Fuck — Brian Borcherdt, Graham Walsh, Matt McQuaid and Matt Schultz — have a long-held reputation for playing by their own rules, never being overly concerned about chasing the limelight or after genre-based trends. They’re also known for employing the use of instruments and non-instruments including a 35mm film synchronizer, toy keyboards and toy phaser guns to achieve electronic-sounding effects without the use of laptops, programmed backing tracks, splicing and so on.
Last year, I wrote about two singles off acclaimed electronic act’s soon-to-be released fifth album, Deleter:  “Luxe,” which managed to be both the first bit of new material from the act since the release of 2017’s Bird Brains EP. Clocking in a little over six minutes, the song can trace its origins back to a spontaneous encore jam at Luxembourg, Belgium. As the story goes, once they had the early elements of the track worked on in the studio, they sent it to to their good friend and casual musical mentor Kieran Hebden, best known as Four Tet, who picked the early version of “Luxe” as a standout. The Canadian quartet then invited Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor to contribute vocals. Taylor not only jumped at the opportunity but went to Jack White‘s Third Man Studio in Nashville to record his vocals on White’s 1947 Voice-O-Graph.

“Among more literal translations, ‘Luxe’ is the short form of Luxembourg – the city in which the nexus of the song was created,” the members of Holy Fuck explain in an extensive statement. “On this particular night, during soundcheck, we had a pulsing minimal synth loop we’d been tinkering around with. (We were listening to lots of TRAX Records stuff on that tour.) We decided that if the crowd demanded an encore we’d go for it. ‘Luxe’ was the result. Or – as it was then called on the live recorded MP3 – ‘Luxembourg Encore’. Once home from tour we took all the live demos back to the drawing board. We shared everything with our friend Kieran Hedben aka Four Tet. His always-intuitive advice was that he heard a great club track in his ‘very favorite thing here’: ‘Luxembourg Encore’”.
The next moment of discovery came when Graham suggested the band scrap Brian’s vocals and give it to Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip. When we presented Alexis with the concept our reference notes to him, based around Brian’s temporary vocals, were ‘like an old sample you’d dig up off an old folk record… and approached more like a classic house track’. He responded, ‘We could try to record the vocal in a Voice O Graph booth (an obsolete 1940s coin operated phonograph booth) if we can access one…’. As far as we’re aware, there are only two in the world – one in Liverpool (that apparently doesn’t work anymore) and the other at Jack White’s Third Man studio in Nashville. And that is where Alexis sang ‘I’d like to scrap all of this and start over again.’ Fittingly, it was New Year’s Eve.”
Interestingly, “Luxe” serves as the first official single off the band’s soon-to-be released fifth album Deleter. Slated for release this Friday, the album’s material finds the Canadian electronic act pushing their sound in a very different direction — polyrhythmic and pleasure focused, the members of Holy Fuck mesh elements of krautrock and deep house with motorik percussion. Thematically, the album reportedly explores what happens when humanity and technology coalesce into one big, semi-organic celebration of the joys of spontaneity, repetition and individuality. As the band puts it, “the robots are smarter than ever, and the algorithm knows more and more what we like as individuals, but we have to remind ourselves that there is music in the margins that can go missing and that that music is more important than ever.”
Deleter‘s second single, the expansive, roughly six an da half minute “Free Gloss” was centered around a glistening synth-like arpeggio and atmospheric feedback, a sinuous bass line, a motorik groove, and plaintive and ethereal vocals from POND‘s Nicholas Albrook. And much like its predecessor, the album’s second single wound up being a seamless synthesis of hypnotic and driving pulsation, ethereal atmospherics and dance floor friendly thump. “Deleters,” the album’s third single and sort of album title track continues a run of motorik groove-led, euphoric club bangers centered around thumping four-on-the-floor, retro-futuristic-like sounds, a propulsive bass line and guest spot from Liars’ Angus Andrew, who contributes backing vocals.  “The song ‘Deleters,’” write Holy Fuck, “started at a party in the woods of rural Quebec. Set up on the forest floor, literally over moss covered tree roots we decided to make up a new hour-long improvised set in front of a crowd of people dancing amongst the trees. From that session two songs emerged and found their way onto the new record. This is the first time we selected a song from the record to also be a title track — but there really isn’t a reason for it other than we thought it sounded cool, like a modern version of Fugazi‘s Repeater or Depeche Mode‘s Violator (or even Kiss‘ Destroyer, though in name only). Our friend Angus from Liars doubles Brian’s vocals giving the track a nice punch.”
The act will be embarking on a roughly two month North American, UK and European Union tour to support Deleter. The band recently added a handful of East Coast and Canadian tour dates. The added tour dates include a June 12, 2020 stop at Elsewhere Hall.
Check out the tour dates below.
Tour Dates:
Holy Fuck Tour Dates:
03/23/20 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
02/24/20 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
03/25/20 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room
03/27/20 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
03/28/20 – San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
03/30/20 – Portland, OR @ Lola’s Room
03/31/20 – Seattle, WA @ Nuemos
04/01/20 – Vancouver, BC @ Fortune Sound Club
04/03/20 – Calgary, AB @ Broken City
04/04/20 – Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo’s Cantina
04/06/20 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
04/07/20 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
04/24/20 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix
04/25/20 – Luxembourg @ Out of The Crowd Festival
04/27/20 – Birmingham, UK @ The Hare & Hounds
04/28/20 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk
04/29/20 – Cardiff, UK @ Clwb lfor Bach
04/30/20 – Manchester, UK @ Yes (basement)
05/03/20 – Glasgow, UK @ Slag & Dagger Festival
05/05/20 – Barcelona, ES @ La Nau
05/06/20 – Oviedo, ES @ La Lata de Zinc
05/07/20 – Vigo, ES @ Radar Estudios
05/09/20 – Valencia, ES @ La Pérgola
05/23/20 – London, UK @ All Points East
06/09/20 – Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel
06/10/20 – Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
06/12/20 – Brooklyn, NY @ ELSEWHERE: Hall
06/13/20 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
06/15/20 – Montréal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB
06/17/20 – Ottawa, ON @ Bronson Centre
06/19/20 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Holy Fuck Releases a Mind-Bending Visual for Shimmering Club Banger “Free Gloss”

Toronto-based electronic act Holy Fuck — Brian Borcherdt, Graham Walsh, Matt McQuaid and Matt Schultz — have developed a long-held reputation for playing by their own rules, never being overly concerned about chasing the limelight or after genre-based trends. They’re also known for employing the use of instruments and non-instruments including a 35mm film synchronizer, toy keyboards and toy phaser guns to achieve electronic-sounding effects without the use of laptops, programmed backing tracks, splicing and so on.

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Luxe,” the first bit of new material from the acclaimed Canadian electronic act since the release of 2017’s Bird Brains EP. And as you may recall, the single was born by their mutual desire to resist old and trusted methods of creating new material — primarily by experimenting live and on the stage. Centered around a pulsating, minimal synth loop, shimmering and arpeggiated synths, thumping kick drum, the expansive song, which clocks in at a little over six minutes can trace its origins back to a spontaneous encore jam at Luxembourg, Belgium. As the story goes, once they had the early elements of the track worked on in the studio, they sent it to to their good friend and casual musical mentor Kieran Hebden, best known as Four Tet, who picked the early version of “Luxe” as a standout. The Canadian quartet then invited Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor to contribute vocals. Taylor not only jumped at the opportunity but went to Jack White‘s Third Man Studio in Nashville to record his vocals on White’s 1947 Voice-O-Graph.

“Among more literal translations, ‘Luxe’ is the short form of Luxembourg – the city in which the nexus of the song was created,” the members of Holy Fuck explain in an extensive statement. “On this particular night, during soundcheck, we had a pulsing minimal synth loop we’d been tinkering around with. (We were listening to lots of TRAX Records stuff on that tour.) We decided that if the crowd demanded an encore we’d go for it. ‘Luxe’ was the result. Or – as it was then called on the live recorded MP3 – ‘Luxembourg Encore’. Once home from tour we took all the live demos back to the drawing board. We shared everything with our friend Kieran Hedben aka Four Tet. His always-intuitive advice was that he heard a great club track in his ‘very favorite thing here’: ‘Luxembourg Encore’”.

The next moment of discovery came when Graham suggested the band scrap Brian’s vocals and give it to Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip. When we presented Alexis with the concept our reference notes to him, based around Brian’s temporary vocals, were ‘like an old sample you’d dig up off an old folk record… and approached more like a classic house track’. He responded, ‘We could try to record the vocal in a Voice O Graph booth (an obsolete 1940s coin operated phonograph booth) if we can access one…’. As far as we’re aware, there are only two in the world – one in Liverpool (that apparently doesn’t work anymore) and the other at Jack White’s Third Man studio in Nashville. And that is where Alexis sang ‘I’d like to scrap all of this and start over again.’ Fittingly, it was New Year’s Eve.”

“Luxe” also served as the first official single off Holy Fuck’s forthcoming fifth album Deleter. Slated for a January 17, 2020 release, the album’s material finds the acclaimed Canadian electronic act pushing their signature sound in a new and exciting direction — polyrhythmic and pleasure focused, the members of Holy Fuck manage to seamlessly mesh krautrock, deep house and motorik percussion. Thematically, the album reportedly explores what happens when humanity and technology coalesce into one big, semi-organic celebration of the joys of spontaneity, repetition and individuality. As the band puts it, “the robots are smarter than ever, and the algorithm knows more and more what we like as individuals, but we have to remind ourselves that there is music in the margins that can go missing and that that music is more important than ever.”
 

Clocking in at just under six and a half minutes, the expansive “Free Gloss” features plaintive and ethereal vocals from POND’s Nicholas Albrook and is centered around glistening synth arpeggios, atmospheric electronics, a sinuous bass line and a motorik groove. And much like it’s immediate predecessor, “Free Gloss” is a seamless synthesis of hypnotic and driving pulse, ethereal atmospherics and dance floor friendly thump. 

Directed by Haoyan of America, the recently released video for “Free Gloss” is a trippy and wondrous synthesis virtual reality, video games and reality that’s pulled out of the home, on to the dance floor and back home. And throughout, the individual in all of their strangeness is celebrated. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Holy Fuck Releases a Mind-Bending and Hallucinogenic Visual for Motorik-Groove Driven “Luxe”

Toronto-based electronic act Holy Fuck — Brian Borcherdt, Graham Walsh, Matt McQuaid and Matt Schultz — have developed a long-held reputation for playing by their own rules, frequently using miscellaneous instruments and non-instruments including a 35mm film synchronizer, toy keyboards and toy phaser guns to achieve electronic-sounding effects without the use of laptops, programmed backing tracks, splicing and so on. And perhaps more important, the act has never been overly concerned about chasing the limelight or any genre-based trend.

“Luxe” is the first batch of new material from the acclaimed Canadian electronic act since the release of 2017’s Bird Brains EP and interestingly, the single was born out of the quartet’s desire to revisit old and trusted methods of creating new material — primarily by experimenting live on the stage. Centered around a pulsating, minimal synth loop, shimmering and arpeggiated synths, thumping kick drum, the expansive song, which clocks in at a little over six minutes and bears a bit of a resemblance to Tour de France-era Kraftwerk can trace its origins back to a spontaneous encore jam at Luxembourg, Belgium. As the story goes, once they had the early elements of the track worked on in the studio, they sent it to to their good friend and casual musical mentor Kieran Hebden, best known as Four Tet, who picked the early version of “Luxe” as a standout. The Canadian quartet then invited Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor to contribute vocals. Taylor not only jumped at the opportunity but went to Jack White‘s Third Man Studio in Nashville to record his vocals on White’s 1947 Voice-O-Graph.

“Among more literal translations, ‘Luxe’ is the short form of Luxembourg – the city in which the nexus of the song was created,” the members of Holy Fuck explain in an extensive statement. “On this particular night, during soundcheck, we had a pulsing minimal synth loop we’d been tinkering around with. (We were listening to lots of TRAX Records stuff on that tour.) We decided that if the crowd demanded an encore we’d go for it. ‘Luxe’ was the result. Or – as it was then called on the live recorded MP3 – ‘Luxembourg Encore’. Once home from tour we took all the live demos back to the drawing board. We shared everything with our friend Kieran Hedben aka Four Tet. His always-intuitive advice was that he heard a great club track in his ‘very favorite thing here’: ‘Luxembourg Encore’”.

The next moment of discovery came when Graham suggested the band scrap Brian’s vocals and give it to Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip. When we presented Alexis with the concept our reference notes to him, based around Brian’s temporary vocals, were ‘like an old sample you’d dig up off an old folk record… and approached more like a classic house track’. He responded, ‘We could try to record the vocal in a Voice O Graph booth (an obsolete 1940s coin operated phonograph booth) if we can access one…’. As far as we’re aware, there are only two in the world – one in Liverpool (that apparently doesn’t work anymore) and the other at Jack White’s Third Man studio in Nashville. And that is where Alexis sang ‘I’d like to scrap all of this and start over again.’ Fittingly, it was New Year’s Eve.”

Interestingly, “Luxe” also is the first official single off the acclaimed Canadian electronica act’s forthcoming, fifth album Deleter. Slated for a January 17, 2020, the material reportedly finds the band pushing their signature sound in a new direction — with it being polyrhythmic and pleasure focused, as they seamlessly mesh krautrock, deep house and motorik percussion. Thematically (and spiritually), Deleter reportedly explores what happens when humanity and technology coalesce into one big, semi-organic celebration of the joys of spontaneity, repetition and individuality.  As the band puts it, “the robots are smarter than ever, and the algorithm knows more and more what we like as individuals, but we have to remind ourselves that there is music in the margins that can go missing and that that music is more important than ever.”

Directed by Rapapawn, Óscar Raña and Cynthia Alfonso, the recently released video is a mind-bending and hallucinogenic visual featuring floating geometric shapes, and animated version of the band performing the song. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Toronto-based electronic act Holy Fuck — Brian Borcherdt, Graham Walsh, Matt McQuaid and Matt Schultz — have developed a long-held reputation for playing by their own rules, frequently using miscellaneous instruments and non-instruments including a 35mm film synchronizer, toy keyboards and toy phaser guns to achieve electronic-sounding effects without the use of laptops, programmed backing tracks, splicing and so on. And perhaps more important, the act has never been overly concerned about chasing the limelight or any genre-based trend.
“Luxe” is the first batch of new material from the acclaimed Canadian electronic act since the release of 2017’s Bird Brains EP and interestingly, the single was born out of the quartet’s desire to revisit old and trusted methods of creating new material — primarily by experimenting live on the stage. Centered around a pulsating, minimal synth loop, shimmering and arpeggiated synths, thumping kick drum, the expansive song, which clocks in at a little over six minutes and bears a bit of a resemblance to Tour de France-era Kraftwerk can trace its origins back to a spontaneous encore jam at Luxembourg, Belgium. As the story goes, once they had the early elements of the track worked on in the studio, they sent it to to their good friend and casual musical mentor Kieran Hebden, best known as Four Tet, who picked the early version of “Luxe” as a standout. The Canadian quartet then invited Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor to contribute vocals. Taylor not only jumped at the opportunity but went to Jack White‘s Third Man Studio in Nashville to record his vocals on White’s 1947 Voice-O-Graph.

“Among more literal translations, ‘Luxe’ is the short form of Luxembourg – the city in which the nexus of the song was created,” the members of Holy Fuck explain in an extensive statement. “On this particular night, during soundcheck, we had a pulsing minimal synth loop we’d been tinkering around with. (We were listening to lots of TRAX Records stuff on that tour.) We decided that if the crowd demanded an encore we’d go for it. ‘Luxe’ was the result. Or – as it was then called on the live recorded MP3 – ‘Luxembourg Encore’. Once home from tour we took all the live demos back to the drawing board. We shared everything with our friend Kieran Hedben aka Four Tet. His always-intuitive advice was that he heard a great club track in his ‘very favorite thing here’: ‘Luxembourg Encore'”.

The next moment of discovery came when Graham suggested the band scrap Brian’s vocals and give it to Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip. When we presented Alexis with the concept our reference notes to him, based around Brian’s temporary vocals, were ‘like an old sample you’d dig up off an old folk record… and approached more like a classic house track’. He responded, ‘We could try to record the vocal in a Voice O Graph booth (an obsolete 1940s coin operated phonograph booth) if we can access one…’. As far as we’re aware, there are only two in the world – one in Liverpool (that apparently doesn’t work anymore) and the other at Jack White’s Third Man studio in Nashville. And that is where Alexis sang ‘I’d like to scrap all of this and start over again.’ Fittingly, it was New Year’s Eve.”
Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: The Raconteurs Perform “Help Me Stranger” on “Late Show with Stephen Colbert”

Comprised of founding duo Jack White (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Benson (vocals, guitar) along with Jack Lawerence (bass) and Patrick Keeler (drums), the Nashville, TN-based supergroup The Raconteurs can trace their origins to when White and Benson, who have been longtime friends were hanging out together and wrote “Steady, As She Goes,” and after they wrote it, it inspired them to start the band, with the band’s founding members recruiting Lawrence and Keeler, who were once members of The Greenhornes to complete the band’s lineup. The band came together in Detroit during 2005 and wrote and recorded material when time allowed.  White and Lawrence went on to form The Dead Weather with The Kills Alison Mosshart.

The Raconteurs long-awaited third, full-length album HELP US STRANGER was released last month through Third Man Records — and the album, which also marks the first batch of new material from the band in a decade, finds the band further pushing their sound in new directions, meshing enormous power chord-based riffs with blues, psych rock, Detroit funk and Nashville soul. Now, as you may recall, album single “Bored and Razed” was a sleazy power chord-based 12 bar blues with an anthemic hook, delivered with a swaggering AC/DC-like air. “Help Me Stranger” finds the band playing a swaggering and dusty old-school blues filtered through modern rock, complete with anthemic hook.  While in town for a nubmer of promotional activities for the new album, the band had a two-night run on Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: The Raconteurs Perform “Bored and Razed” on “Late Show with Stephen Colbert”

Comprised of founding duo Jack White (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Benson (vocals, guitar) along with Jack Lawerence (bass) and Patrick Keeler (drums), the Nashville, TN-based supergroup The Raconteurs can trace their origins to when White and Benson, who have been longtime friends were hanging out together and wrote “Steady, As She Goes,” and after they wrote it, it inspired them to start the band, with the band’s founding members recruiting Lawrence and Keeler, who were once members of The Greenhornes to complete the band’s lineup. The band came together in Detroit during 2005 and wrote and recorded material when time allowed.  White and Lawrence went on to form The Dead Weather with The KillsAlison Mosshart. 

HELP US STRANGER, The Raconteurs long-awaited, third full-length album officially dropped yesterday through Third Man Records — and the album, which also marks the first batch of new material from the band in a decade, finds the band further pushing their sound in new directions, meshing enormous power chord-based riffs with blues, psych rock, Detroit funk and Nashville soul. HELP US STRANGER‘s latest single “Bored and Razed” finds the members of The Raconteurs playing sleazy power chord rock, centered around a boozy, 12 bar blues arrangement, a rousingly anthemic hook, delivered with a swaggering AC/DC-like air.

The members of the Raconteurs have been busy doing promotional activities for their new album that included a two-night run on Late Show with Stephen Colbert in which they performed “Help Me Stranger” and “Bored and Razed” and in-store appearance and performance at Rough Trade. Check out the live performance of one my favorite songs off the album “Bored and Razed,” which they played last night. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of found duo Jack White (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Benson (vocals, guitar) along with Jack Lawerence (bass) and Patrick Keeler (drums), the Nashville, TN-based supergroup The Raconteurs can trace their origins to when White and Benson, who have been longtime friends were hanging out together and wrote “Steady, As She Goes,” and after they wrote it, it inspired them to start the band, with the band’s founding members recruiting Lawrence and Keeler, who were once members of The Greenhornes to complete the band’s lineup. The band came together in Detroit during 2005 and wrote and recorded material when time allowed.  White and Lawrence went on to form The Dead Weather with The Kills Alison Mosshart. 

HELP US STRANGER, The Raconteurs long-awaited, third full-length album is slated for a June 21, 2019 release through Third Man Records — and the album, which also marks the first batch of new material from the band in a decade, finds the band further pushing their sound in new directions, meshing enormous power chord-based riffs with blues, psych rock, Detroit funk and Nashville soul. HELP US STRANGER‘s latest single “Bored and Razed” finds the members of The Raconteurs playing sleazy power chord rock, centered around a boozy, 12 bar blues arrangement, a rousingly anthemic hook, delivered with a swaggering AC/DC-like air.

White, Benson, Lawerence and Keeler will be embarking on a lengthy North American tour, which will include a three nights stop in New York — September 5, 2019-September 6, 2019 at Hammerstein Ballroom and September 7, 2019 at Kings Theatre. The September 6, 2019 show at Hammerstein Ballroom and the September 7, 2019 show at Kings Theatre are sold out. Every online ticket purchased for the upcoming North American headlining shows will include a physical copy the album on CD — except for the Aspen, CO shows. Fans will also have the option to upgrade their CD to the standard, black vinyl LP. Check out the tour dates below.

Tour Dates
July 4: Belly Up Tavern – Aspen, CO
July 5: Belly Up Tavern – Aspen, CO
July 12: Masonic Temple Theatre – Detroit, MI (SOLD OUT) @
July 13: Masonic Temple Theatre – Detroit, MI $
July 14: Eagles Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI #
July 15: Armory – Minneapolis, MN #
July 18: WaMu Theater at CenturyLink Field Events Center – Seattle, WA #
July 19: Queen Elizabeth Theatre – Vancouver, BC (SOLD OUT) #
July 20: Queen Elizabeth Theatre – Vancouver, BC #
July 21: Edgefield – Troutdale, OR (SOLD OUT) #
July 23: Fox Theater – Oakland, CA (SOLD OUT) #
July 24: Fox Theater – Oakland, CA
July 26: Greek Theatre – Los Angeles, CA #
July 27: Santa Barbara Bowl – Santa Barbara, CA
July 28: Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre – San Diego, CA
August 10: Railbird Festival – Lexington, KY *
August 11: Knoxville Civic Auditorium – Knoxville, TN
August 12: Egyptian Room at Old National Centre – Indianapolis, IN (SOLD OUT)
August 13: Stage AE (Indoors) – Pittsburgh, PA
August 15: Agora Theatre – Cleveland, OH (SOLD OUT)
August 17: The Anthem – Washington, DC
August 18: The Fillmore Charlotte – Charlotte, NC (SOLD OUT)
August 20: Township Auditorium – Columbia, SC
August 21: Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA
August 22: Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA
August 29: Ryman Auditorium – Nashville, TN (SOLD OUT) %
August 30: Ryman Auditorium – Nashville, TN (SOLD OUT) %
August 31: Ryman Auditorium – Nashville, TN (SOLD OUT) %
September 3: Red Hat Amphitheater – Raleigh, NC %
September 5: Hammerstein Ballroom – New York, NY %
September 6: Hammerstein Ballroom – New York, NY (SOLD OUT) %
September 7: Kings Theatre – Brooklyn, NY (SOLD OUT) %
September 9: House of Blues – Boston, MA (SOLD OUT) %
September 10: House of Blues – Boston, MA %
September 12: Sony Centre for the Performing Arts – Toronto, ON (SOLD OUT) %
September 13: Express Live! Indoor Pavilion – Columbus, OH %
September 13-15: Riot Fest – Chicago, IL *
October 4-6: Austin City Limits Music Festival – Austin, TX *
October 9: Denver, CO – The Mission Ballroom (SOLD OUT)
October 11-13: Austin City Limits Music Festival – Austin, TX *
October 12: The Criterion – Oklahoma City, OK ^
October 13: Cain’s Ballroom – Tulsa, OK (SOLD OUT) ^
October 14: Cain’s Ballroom – Tulsa, OK (SOLD OUT) ^
October 16: Cain’s Ballroom – Tulsa, OK ^
October 17: Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland – Kansas City, MO (SOLD OUT) ^
October 18: The Pageant – St. Louis, MO (SOLD OUT) ^
November 13: Teatro Colisea – Santiago, Chile
November 15: Popload Festival – São Paulo, Brazil *
November 16-17: Corona Capital – Mexico City, Mexico *
@ WITH THE PURE HEART TRAVELERS & NIKKI D AND SISTERS OF THUNDER
$ WITH THE HENTCHMEN & THE STOOLS
# WITH LILLIE MAE
% WITH OLIVIA JEAN
^ WITH THE CASUALITIES OF JAZZ
* FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE