Tag: Rancho de la Luna

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JJUUJJJUU Shares Trippy and Mind-Bending “No Way In”

Phil Pirrone is a Los Angeles-based musician and co-founder of Desert Daze. After spending a decade as a tourist bassist, Pirrone back in 2011 borrowed an SG and DL4 and began his exploration of recording looped based music with JJUUJJUU.

His JJUUJJUU debut, 2013’s FRST EP and the follow-up standalone single “Bleck” helped build up buzz about the project. Throughout that initial period, the lines and instrumentation of JJUUJJUU moved in step with the project’s ethos of ephemera and flux with the project touring in several different configurations with Pirrone at the center. During that period, Pirrone and JJUUUJJUU shared stages with the likes of The Claypool Lennon Delirium, Tortoise, Allah-Lahs, Temples, Tinariwen and others. 

Pirrone spent the next few years recording material in various spaces around California. Those sessions included collaborations with Vinyl Williams, members of Lumerians, Dahga Bloom and others, and the material they recorded eventually comprised his JJUJJUU full-length debut, 2018’s Zionic Mud. The album’s release was accompanied by alternate version of its tracks remixed or reimaged by many of the band’s most notable fans and supporters, including J. Mascis, Warpaint‘s jennylee, Liars, METZ, and Autolux. JJUUJJUU supported the album with opening slots for Primus, Mastodon, Kikagaku Moyo, and Earhtless, as well as festival sets at Pickathon, Nelsonville, M3F and others. 

During the height of the pandemic, Pirrone and his collaborators went on to record two follow-up efforts to Zionic Mud. And with the extra time on his hands, he taught himself how to record material, and then sent tracks to longtime band members Ian Gibbs and Joseph Assef. The tracks were then sent around to Boogarins, METZ’s Alex Adkins and a collection of friends that will be revealed in the future. When it was safe to do so, the band wound up at Rancho De La Luna with Dave Catching and Jon Russo and put finishing touches on the material. 

Earlier this year, Pirrone shared “Nowhere,” a track that sonically brought Connect the Dots-era Toy, Deleters-era Holy Fuck to mind, as its built around a relentless motorik pulse, rolling drum beats, bursts of feedback and distortion paired with wailing vocals buried in the mix.

JJUUJJUU’s latest single in a recent string of singles is “No Way In.” Built around propulsive, polyrhythmic percussion, a sinuous bass line and falsetto wailing drenched in reverb and delay, “No Way In” may arguably the funkiest track Pirrone has released in some time, while still retaining the mind-bending drippiness that he’s best known for. “This is what would happen if JJUUJJUU was the soundtrack of 90s video game ToeJam & Earl,” Pirrone says.

Continuing an ongoing collaboration with Micah Buzin, the accompanying video for “No Way In” brings some of the trippy animated sequences of Pink Floyd‘s The Wall to mind — but while seemingly under a psilocybin-like haze: Geometric and lifelike shapes twist, turn and morph before your eyes to the song’s propulsive, motorik-like pulse.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JJUUJJUU Shares Trippy “Nowhere”

Phil Pirrone is a Los Angeles-based musician and co-founder of Desert Daze. In 2011, after spending ten years as a touring bassist, Pirrone borrowed an SG and DL4 and began his exploration of recording looped based music with JJUUJJUU. Pirrone’s JJUUJJUU debut, 2013’s FRST EP and the follow-up standalone single “Bleck” helped build up buzz about the project. Throughout that period, the lineup and instrumentation of the JJUUJJUU moved in step with the project’s ethos of ephemera and flux with the project touring in several different configurations with Pirrone at the center, sharing stages with The Claypool Lennon Delirium, Tortoise, Allah-Lahs, Temples, Tinariwen and others.

Pirrone spent the next few years recording material in various spaces around California. Those sessions included collaborations with Vinyl Williams, members of Lumerians, Dahga Bloom and others. That material eventually comprised Pirrone’s JJUUJJUU full-length debut, 2018’s Zionic Mud. The albums release was accompanied by alternate versions of the tracks remixed or reimagined by many of the band’s most notable fans and supporters, including J. Mascis, Warpaint‘s jennylee, Liars, METZ, and Autolux. JJUUJJUU supported the album by opening for Primus, Mastodon, Kikagaku Moyo, and Earhtless, as well as festival sets at Pickathon, Nelsonville, M3F and others.

Pirrone and his collaborators went on to record two follow-up efforts to Zionic Mud during the height of the pandemic. With extra time on his hands, Pirrone taught himself how to record material, and then sent tracks to longtime band members Ian Gibbs and Joseph Assef. The tracks were then sent around to Boogarins, METZ’s Alex Adkins and a collection of friends that will be revealed in the future. When it was safe to do so, the band wound up at Rancho De La Luna with Dave Catching and Jon Russo and put finishing touches on the material.

In the meantime, the act shares its first single of the year, “Nowhere.” Featuring a relentless motorik pulse, rolling drum beats, bursts of feedback and distortion paired with wailing vocals buried in the mix, “Nowhere” brings Connect the Dots-era Toy, Deleters-era Holy Fuck and others to my mind.

The accompanying video for the track was created for Micah Buzan, who has worked on videos for Adult Swim and for a variety of bands including Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Flaming Lips, and The Claypool Lennon Delirium. Fittingly the video employs the use of psychedelic imagery and hand-drawn animation that undulates in time with the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Peaches Collaborator Saskia Hahn and New Band The Heartways Release an Anthemic Ode to Joshua Tree National Park

Berlin-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Saskia Hahn started her music career in the mid 2000s as a member of the power pop/rock act Sweet Machine, a band widely hailed in her hometown for their distinctive style — and for Hahn’s stage presence. Hahn and her band caught the attention of acclaimed electro-clash artist and gender-equality activist Peaches, who recruited Hahn and the members of Sweet Machine as a her touring band for a two-and-a-half run, which ended with a live recording session with Dave Catching and Edmund Monsef at Rancho De La Luna Studio in Joshua Tree, CA.

After five years of the rock ‘n’ roll life, Hahn took time off from music and devoted herself to mixed media visual art — painting, screen printing and installations. Her work was exhibited in galleries in Berlin, NYC, Sydney, London, and Zurich — and interestingly enough, that period found Hahn rediscovered her love of music, as well as a new approach. Inspired, she decided to not only write the songs but to produce them herself. Leading her new band The Heartways, she released the band’s debut single “Maybe” last year.

The Heartways full-length debut album Damaged Goods will be released later this year. The album’s second single “By Your Side” is an a decidedly 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock-like track centered around Hahn’s expressive yet ethereal vocals, a motorik groove and a rousingly anthemic hook. And while the song — to my ears, at least — brings PJ Harvey to mind, the song is a love song that superficially seems address to a person but is actually a swooning and awe-inspired love letter to a particular place — Joshua Tree National Park. “I tried to capture the moment of falling in love with this amazing place,” Hahn says in press notes. “I’d heard so much about it but never quite understood the deep feelings my ‘desert family’ had for that particular patch of land―until it stole my heart too! I was walking through the desert on an off-day during the “I Feel Cream” world tour with Peaches. We’d just played at Pappy & Harriet’s the night before, and it suddenly struck me. I realized the desert’s incredible beauty and fell totally in awe with it. It was such a powerful and magical moment that I can never forget and will always be thankful for.”

Of course, because of pandemic-related restrictions, Hahn couldn’t be in the desert for the filming of the video; however, the video employs gorgeous Joshua Tree footage filmed by filmmaker Will Stockwell superimposed in the background. Robin Thomson, the video’s Director of Photography and Editor contributes a dreamy and trippy feel to the overall proceedings.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Los Angeles-based husband-and-wife duo Bridgette Moody and John Seasons, both of whom share songwriting duties, Haunted Summer have developed a reputation for crafting dreamily hypnotic and lush material complete with string arrangements and sultry electronic textures; in fact, their previous EP, Something in the Water paired their gorgeous sound with a material that lyrically focused on a nostalgic world of young love and long-forgotten memories. Adding to a growing profile, the Los Angeles, CA-based husband-and-wife duo have toured with Taken By Trees, Deafheaven, The Polyphonic Spree, Coeur de Pirate, Olafur Arnalds, Carla Morrison, Meiko, Basia Bulat, JOVM favorite Geographer, Bauhaus‘ David J and others.

Spirit Guides, the duo’s forthcoming full-length effort was written while the duo was touring and was recorded in several different studios including Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree, CA; Jim Henson Studios in Hollywood, CA; Comp-ny LA and studios owned by Eugene, OR-based Ninkasi Brewing and features guest spots from Eagles of Death Metal’s Dave Catching and Masters of Reality‘s Chris Goss. And the album’s latest single “Every Step” finds the band playing anthemic, 90s-inspired alt rock, complete with fuzzy power chords, a rousing hook and a gorgeous melody before a dreamy, Mazzy Star-like coda closes out a song that reminds me quite a bit of Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins, Silversun Pickups and others but with a swooning earnestness.

The duo will be embarking on a West Coast tour throughout July and August. Check out tour dates below.

 

TOUR DATES
07.29.17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Autry Museum
07.30.17 – Phoenix, AZ @ Trunk Space*
07.31.17 – Tucson, AZ @ Sky Bar*

08.01.17 – San Diego, CA @ Blonde Bar*
08.02.17 – Boulder City, NV @ The Tap*
08.03.17 – Redding, CA @ The Dip*
08.04.17 – Salem, OR @ The Space*
08.05.17 – Eugene, OR @ Whiteaker Bloc Party*
08.06.17 – Portland, OR @ Rontoms*
08.07.17 – Reno, NV @ Holland Project*
08.08.17 – San Francisco, CA @ Elbo Room*
08.09.17 – Merced, CA @ CASA*
* = w/Avi Buffalo