Tag: punk rock

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays White Lung Return with an Anthemic, Radio-Friendly, Power Chord-based New Single and Trippy Visuals

“Sister,” the latest single off Paradise will further cement the trio’s reputation for urgent, anthemic hook-laden, power chord-based rock paired with some of the band’s most incisive and probing lyrics to date. Sure, the song may possess a radio-friendly, studio polish but it’s still as forceful as ever. Interestingly, the recently released video was directed by Justin Gradin, who also directed the video for “Hungry,” and the video features a desperate man’s attempt at finding love with two beautiful strangers. As Gradin explains in press notes “In a lonely world a man seeks to find love through his telephone. He discovers two women with whom he becomes obsessed with from their captivating and elegant conversations. In the end, these two women’s thrilling lives and escalating partying leave the man feeling isolated and rejected again.It’s basically a 90s chat line commercial on PCP.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the past couple years, Memphis, TN-based punk band Ex-Cult emerged into the national scene and became a JOVM mainstay with the release of their sophomore effort 2014’s Midnight Passenger and its follow-up, 2015’s Cigarette Machine EP, two efforts which cemented the act’s reputation for a furious, bruising sound — and an equally intense, bruising live show. 2016 may arguably be the biggest years to date in the band’s history as Famous Class Records released the “Summer of Fear”/”1906” 7 inch last month and the band’s highly-anticipated third full-length Negative Growth is slated for a September 23, 2016 release through  In The Red Records.

As the band’s frontman Chris Shaw explains in press notes, “In the year of the snitch, there are forces beyond your control that keep you up at night. Ghost notions that swirl around your room while you sleep. Your own pillow laughing right in your face while you fight for an hour of rest. There are voices that whisper from the corner, telling you everything you never wanted to hear. Negative Growth, our third album , is dedicated to fear and deception.

“This collection of songs were conceived in Memphis and finalized in Los Angeles with the help of our family doctor, Ty Segall. It was created in February 2016, when we traded Memphis misery for a week of California sunshine. Negative Growth is a nine-track nightmare, a death trip in the crystal ship.” Now, if you were frequenting this site last month you may recall that I wrote about Negative Growth‘s first single “Attention Ritual,” a tense, bilious and abrasively paranoid song that evokes the narrator’s desperate, self-flagellating, self-doubting and fucked up psyche, and the inner voices that fuel one’s anxious nightmares — and on another level, it evokes the absolutely mad times we live in.  The album’s second and latest single “Let You In” is a urgent, desperate howl into an unceasing, cold and uncaring void with all the fury and anger within every sinew and figure of your body.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Alfred Brown IV (vocals), Justin Smith (guitar), Anthony Rivera (drums), Chris Conde (bass), DANGERS is a Los Angeles, CA-based hardcore punk band, who have developed a reputation for doing things completely in a DIY fashion since their formation in 2005. In fact, since their formation, the quartet have played basements, garages, living rooms, squats, banquet halls, high school auditoriums, Adriatic beach resorts, abandoned Soviet furniture factories and public park gazebos across the US, UK, Australia, Japan and Southeast Asian — and releasing their first two critically applauded full-length efforts through their own label, Vitriol Records; however, the band’s forthcoming third full-length effort, The Bend in the Break finds the band releasing the album through Topshelf Records. And the material on the album finds the band attempting to expand and grow their sound in a way that shows growth while not breaking it.

Interestingly, the album’s blistering and snarling new single “Kiss With Spit” has the band pairing layers of scuzzy and acidic guitar chords, thundering drumming, a persistent bass line and howled vocals in a way that sounds reminiscent of Melvins, Metz and Nirvana — in particular, think of “Dive,” “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” and “Breed,” complete with a tense, mosh pit worthy fury.

If you’re out on the West Coast throughout late October, check out the tour dates below. In the meantime, we’ll be awaiting some East Coast dates for the band.

 

TOUR DATES
* = w/ with Super Unison

OCT 20 – San Francisco, CA @ Thee Parkside
OCT 21 – Oakland, CA @ 1234 Go! Records *
OCT 23 – Los Angeles, CA @ All-Star Lanes *

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Thee Oh Sees Pair Strange, Disturbing Visuals with Their Blistering, Forceful Sound

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Plastic Plant,” the first single off Weird Exit, a single that continues the band’s renowned guitar pyrotechnics but filtered through dreamy psych rock, gritty garage rock, prog rock with tons of effects pedals paired with propulsive and forceful drumming and Dwyer’s falsetto. And of course, in typical Thee Oh Sees fashion it’s a thrashing, ass-kicking, sweaty mosh pit worthy song with an atypical, almost jam-like song structure. “Dead Man’s Gun,” Weird Exit’s second and latest single seamlessly meshes garage rock, psych rock, surfer rock and punk as Dwyer’s falsetto and howls are paired with alternating sections of scorching power chords, shimmering reverb and delay pedaled surfer rock and psych rock chords in the song’s quieter sections, and the whole thing is held together by a propulsive rhythm section featuring a throbbing and insistent bass line and a rolling drum pattern. Every time I hear the Bay Area-based band’s material I’m reminded of how much of a sonic debt they owe to the 60s — but with an underlying sense of menace.

The recently video follows a series of people, who clearly appear to be tweaking on crystal meth and freaking out/rocking out in almost exact rhythm to the song and it’s spliced with sequences of someone making the shit in their basement. In some way, the video evokes the perverse human tendency to be unable to stop looking at something particular gruesome — although we’ll almost always regret it later.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Hard rocking Denton, TX/Austin, TX-based trio Bad Sports first caught the attention of the blogosphere upon their formation back in 2007; however, it’s been some time since they’ve released any new material as each of their members have been busy with other successful projects — Orville Neely III (guitar and vocals) is also known as the frontman of renowned rock act OBN IIIs, an act that’s been pretty busy over the past two years, as they’ve released two albums over the past two years, while the rhythm section comprised of aniel Fried (drums) and Gregory Rutherford (bass) have been members of Video, an act that has not only recently received attention across the blogosphere, they signed with Jack White‘s Third Man Records, who released Video’s debut effort. Additionally, the duo of Fried and Rutherford are also half of Radioactivity, an act that released Silent Kill through Dirtnap Records last year.

The trio of Neely, Fried and Rutherford had recently reconvened to record a quick series of three songs; however, after the band had written and recorded 7 songs, the folks at Dirtnap Records and the members of the band realized that the songs fit so well together, that they should be released together — but on a 12 inch EP that the band titled Living With Secrets. Interestingly, the material on the Living With Secrets EP  finds the band at yet another change of sonic direction; whereas 2011’s Kings Of The Weekend consisted of punk and power pop-leaning material and and 2014’s Bras consisted of grimy punk, the material on on Living With Secrets will reportedly take on a much darker, bleaker and desperate tone and yet some of their catchiest material they’ve recorded yet.

Living With Secrets‘ first single “Done to Death” still manages to be full of the power chords and propulsive rhythm section that has won each member of Bad Sports attention both within Bad Sports and their individual projects; however, the song manages to have one of most infectious and anthemic hooks they’ve written and recorded while sonically the material sounds as though it owes a debt to the Ramones and to Cheap Trick but focusing on the absolutely hopeless and bleakest shit possible with a subtly weary air. And yet, it’s still a song you can listen to with your friends, raise a beer up to the sky un-ironically and rock the fuck out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms


Certainly, if you’ve been frequenting this site for some time, you may be familiar with Memphis, TN-based punk band Ex-Cult, a band that emerged into the national scene with the 2014 release of their sophomore effort Midnight Passenger and its follow-up, 2015’s Cigarette Machine EP — and simultaneously, the band became a JOVM mainstay for a raw, angry, bruising sound and live show. Interestingly, 2016 may arguably be one of the biggest years to date in the band’s history as Famous Class Records will be releasing the “Summer of Fear”/”1906” 7 inch on August 12, 2016 and September 23, 2016 will mark the highly-anticipated release of the Memphis, TN-based punk band’s third, full-length album Negative Growth through In The Red Records.

As the band’s frontman Chris Shaw explains in press notes,  “In the year of the snitch, there are forces beyond your control that keep you up at night. Ghost notions that swirl around your room while you sleep. Your own pillow laughing right in your face while you fight for an hour of rest. There are voices that whisper from the corner, telling you everything you never wanted to hear. Negative Growth, our third album , is dedicated to fear and deception.

“This collection of songs were conceived in Memphis and finalized in Los Angeles with the help of our family doctor, Ty Segall. It was created in February 2016, when we traded Memphis misery for a week of California sunshine. Negative Growth is a nine-track nightmare, a death trip in the crystal ship.” And as a result, the album’s first single “Attention Ritual” is a tense, bilious, caustic and paranoid song that evokes the narrator’s desperate, fucked up, self-doubting and self-flagellating inner voices that keeps him up at night, fraught with worry and hatred — and the tense, nightmarish times we live currently live in, in which everything seems  to have gone absolutely mad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal Animated and Hyper Aggressive Visuals for Cowtown’s “Tweak”

Clocking in at 92 seconds, Paranormal Romance’s second and latest single “Tweak” sounds as though it were indebted to the Ramones and 90s alt rock, as the the trio pairs propulsive and thundering drumming with blistering power chords and an anthemic and infectious “oh oh oh” at the hook that you can imagine a crowded and sweaty bunch of kids yelling lustily while moshing — and with a youthful abandon.

The recently released animated video by Molly Kaplan pokes fun at cartoons, the relentless barrage of commercials we’re inundated with on a regular basis — but with neon bright colors and a surreal sense of humor.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the 2014 release of Midnight Passenger and its follow-up Cigarette Machine EP, Memphis, TN-based punk band Ex-Cult emerged into the national scene while becoming a JOVM mainstay artist for a raw, angry, bruising sound. And although a little bit of time has passed since we’ve heard from them, August 12, 2016 will mark the release of the “Summer of Fear”/”1906” 7 inch through Famous Class Records.

A couple of months ago, I wrote about “1906, ” a tense and furious cover of The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band’s “1906”and as the band’s frontman Chris Shaw explained to the folks at Stereogum: “The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band have an amazing catalog of California psych/folk rock, but’1906′ has this downer, post-apocalyptic vibe that none of other songs come close to duplicating. The lyrics match some of the negative vibes we channel and the guitar stabs on ‘1906’ are a lot like some of the riffs we crank out on our own. It seemed like a natural fit.”

Famous Class Records along with the band have released the A side single “Summer of Fear,” is a anxious and tense song consisting of abrasive and angular guitar stabs, off-kilter syncopation and Chris Shaw’s punchy shouts in a song that much like “1906,” will further cement the Memphis-based punk act’s growing reputation for angrily caustic, bilious punk rock that’s raw, primal and bruising while evoking the tense, fucked up times we live in.

 

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Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Certainly, over the past few weeks, I’ve written quite a bit about Nashville, TN-based sibling duo JEFF The Brotherhood. Comprised of Jake and Jamin Orral, the sibling duo have developed a reputation for a sound and overall aesthetic that’s been influenced by jazz, black metal, hard rock, prog rock, stoner rock, the films of Werner Herzog, the choreography of Kate Bush and the rivers of their home state. Over the past decade the duo have played well over 1,000 shows across North America, New Zealand and elsewhere, touring to support 11 full-length albums, as well as creating a number of related zines, puppets and videos among other things. The Orral Brothers’ forthcoming effort Zone is an experimental rock-leaning album that was recorded and co-produced by the band and Collin Dupuis, and is the third album of a trilogy based roughly around spirituality that began with 2009’s Heavy Days and 2011’s critically applauded We Are The Champions.

Of course, over the past few weeks I’ve also mentioned how the renowned and now-defunct DIY venue Death By Audio had a special place in my heart, thanks in part to the fact that unlike most venues I’ve seen and covered shows in my hometown, there was a palpable sense of anything being possible and anything going. Personally, some of the most memorable shows and live music moments I’ve ever seen happened at the South Williamsburg DIY space. Now, as the venue was set to close at the end of 2014, its owners and bookers curate what turned out to be an epic final month featuring a number of currently renowned acts, who had either gotten their start there and returned to pay their proper dues or had some kind of intimate connection to the venue, including A Place to Bury Strangers, Thee Oh Sees, Protomartyr, Ty Segall, Future Islands, Lightning Bolt, Metz, the aforementioned JEFF The Brotherhood and others. Of course, what I bet that most people attending those shows didn’t know was that the venue recorded their last month of existence, with the end result being the the compilation Start Your Own Fucking Show Space, which features highlights of the past month in chronological order, slated for release this week through Famous Class Records — and the compilation is meant not as bittersweet nostalgia but as a forceful call to go out and do something fucking awesome, like start a show space and have your friends and others play there.

The third and latest single is a blistering live version of JEFF The Brotherhood’s “Heavy Damage” is a perfect example of the sound that caught the blogosphere’s attention — frenzied power chords, propulsive and thunderous drumming and howled vocals, which give the song a raw, primal feel; however, live the song feels completely unhinged and furious — as though it should inspire the audience to mosh and then riot.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Beginning his music career as a part-time musician in various underground bands in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, the insanely prolific multi-instrumentalist Ty Segall started his solo career back in 2008 with the release of the Horn The Unicorn through Wizard Mountain — and was later re-released by HBSP-2X on vinyl. After befriending Thee Oh Sees frontman and creative mastermind, and co-founder of Castle Face Records, John Dwyer, Segall signed to the renowned, garage rock label, which released his self-titled debut, also in 2008. Since then, Segall has released albums through Memphis, TN-based label Goner Records, frequent collaborations with renowned indie artist Mikal Cronin and for being a member of a number of bands including Fuzz, Broken Bat and GØGGS, and as a former member of The Traditional Fools, Epsilons, Party Fowl, Sic Alps, and The Perverts.

Now, as I mentioned in a post earlier today, as a native New Yorker, who has been covering music for over a decade, I’ve seen countless venues come and go — and soon as a well-regarded or beloved venue closes, another one pops up a few months later in another part of town; however, as both a passionate music fan and journalist, there are a handful of venues that hold a special part of your heart. And for me, Death By Audio held a very special place in my heart. Unlike most venues I’ve seen and covered shows in, there was always a  palpable sense of anything going and happening and in fact, I saw some of the most memorable shows I’ve ever seen; shows that transformed how I saw and wore about live music. Much like Metz, Segall has a connection to Death by Audio as he got his NYC area start at the now defunct DIY venue.

And as I mentioned in a post earlier today, as the venue was closing up shop back in 2014, its owners and bookers curated what turned out to be an epic final month featuring a number of currently renowned acts, who had gotten their start or had some kind of connection to the South Williamsburg, Brooklyn venue including A Place to Bury Strangers, Thee Oh Sees, Protomartyr, Ty Segall, Future Islands, Lightning Bolt, Metz and many others. What people most likely didn’t know was that the venue recorded the last month of shows at the venue and the end result is the compilation Start Your Own Fucking Show Space, which features highlights of the past month in chronological order, slated for release next week through Famous Class Records — and the compilation is meant not as bittersweet nostalgia but as a forceful call to go out and do something fucking awesome, like start a show space and have your friends and others play there.

The second and latest single off the compilation features Ty Segall and his backing band playing a somewhat bittersweet yet forceful and sludgy live version of “Wave Goodbye,” a song that structurally and sonically sounds as though it owes a debt to 90s alt rock as it consists of alternating, rousing and thunderous, power chord-based hooks and a quiet second around the verse. And as soon as you hear it, it should make you want to raise your beers up high and shout along — or mosh the fuck out.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Izzy True’s Bitterly Ironic, Classic Rock-Leaning, New Single

Comprised of Isabel Reidy (who we’ll kindly refer to with the pronouns they/them when referring to the third person), their brother Silas Reidy and dear friends Angela DeVivo and Jon Samuels, Trumansburg, NY-based punk rock […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of two EPs and their full-length debut Consent released last year, the Vancouver, BC-baesd post-punk trio Lié, comprised of Brittany West, Ashlee Luk and Kati J, have developed reputation for a sound that draws from both early post-punk and noise bands, their hometown as well as each individual member’s own creative side efforts — West’s darkwave project Koban, Kati J’s trash punk band SBDC and Luk’s electronic project Minimal Violence; but perhaps much more important, they also developed a reputation for politically charged material — last year’s Consent was a barbed commentary on rape culture. However, the Canadian trio’s follow-up Truth or Consequences reportedly turns inward to the deeply personal, focusing on the dichotomy between the destructive and fragile elements of the ego. And as a result, the album’s first single “Failed Visions” is a tense, maniacally anxious song that evokes the fucked up inner dialogue we maintain within our heads — the sort in which you may vacillate from cocksure confidence to self loathing. Sonically and structurally, the band pairs slashing, angular guitar chords, a propulsive rhythm section and rapid fire tempo changes and in some way it makes the song sound as though it draws from L7 and Bikini Kill — or in other words it’s abrasive and furiously cathartic.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays, The Coathangers Return with 60s Girl Group Inspired Visuals and Sounds for New Single “Down Down”

“Down Down” Nosebleed Weekend’s latest single will further cement the band’s reputation for crafting incredibly catchy hook in a song that possesses an obvious studio sheen — but without removing the scuzzy and primal feel of the album’s previously released material; in fact, “Down Down” possesses a mosh pit-ready feel while pairing it with a 60s girl group-leaning harmonies and layers of distorted and towering guitar chords.

Directed by Matt Odom, the recently released music video for “Down Down” interestingly enough draws from old footage and videos of 60s girls groups playing on American Bandstand, The Ed Sullivan Show and others complete with the members of the band singing and playing in front of psychedelic and art school projects — but with a clean, hyper-modern feel.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Initially began as a solo recording project of Cincinnati, OH-based singer/songwriter Michael Oliva, The Harlequins became a fully-fleshed out band when Oliva met and recruited bassist Alex Stenard in 2006 and drummer Rob Stamler in 2008. Since 2008, the trio have self-released five full-length albums that revealed a band that specialized in a garage rock/psych rock sound wth elements of punk rock, surfer rock and krautrock — and  as a result, the Cincinnati-based trio have played sets at SXSW, Bunbury Music Festival and Midpoint Music Festival, as well as receiving praise from a number of major websites including The Onion‘s AV Club, Exclaim!, Performer Magazine, Vice’s Noisey and others. Additionally, the band has developed a reputation for energetic live shows paired with light displays; in fact, after the release and tour to support 2013’s Sex Change EP, the trio signed with Dizzybird Records and spent the better part of 2015 writing, revising and then recording the material, which would comprise their recently released label debut, One With You.

One With You‘s latest single “Hear Me Out” will further cement the band’s reputation for crafting noisy, infectious and anthemic garage/surfer punk as scuzzy guitar chords are paired with a propulsive and driving rhythm section, an uncannily mischievous sense of melody and howled and sung vocals fed through effects pedals. Sonically, the song bears an uncanny resemblance to Crocodiles‘ Crimes of Passion as it does to Raccoon Fighter, as it possesses a wild, unabated passion that almost takes the song completely off the rails — but while still remaining breezy.