Out today: JOLIETTE - Pérdidas Variables

Pérdidas Variables, the new album by Mexico City post-hardcore dynamo Joliette, is out today on Persistent Vision Records.

A pillar of the Mexican scene, the quartet takes the urgency of screamo and laces it with brooding, post-metal grandeur. The band has stated that the new album is a meditation on their home of Mexico City. Vocalist Gastón Prado screams in his native Spanish yet his earnest voice transcends language barriers, transmitting universal angst.

Stream the album, here: https://joliette.bandcamp.com/album/p-rdidas-variables-2

Pre-order the album, here: https://persistentvisionrecords.com/products/joliette-perdidas-variables-lp

"In classic screamo fashion, Joliette are able to convey that sense of longing and beauty with music that scans as harsh and aggressive on the surface. If you find yourself gravitating towards heavy/beautiful stuff like Envy, Deafheaven, and Touché Amoré, make sure you’re keeping your ears peeled for the new Joliette album."
–BrooklynVegan

"Founded in 2011, Joliette has long operated in the blurry space between emotional hardcore, chaotic screamo, and post-metal—moving with the surgical heaviness of bands like Cult of Luna, while channeling the raw urgency of groups like Raein or Saetia. On Pérdidas Variables, the quartet once again pulls tension from opposites: chaos and order, collapse and control, private loss and collective trauma."
–Idioteq

"A rabid post-hardcore onslaught... Progressive and twisted but always charging forward at full fucking force."
–Louder

"A kind of revelry, bursting at the seams with energy. The drums set up a vivid clatter; the big bass-throbs feel like the pulse of the earth beneath our feet; the guitar sizzles and slashes through the tumult in piercing and sometimes stridently dissonant tones; the high-pitched hardcore vocals spray blood."
–No Clean Singing

Photo by Alejandra Juangorena

HEAVY HALO - "Bloodrush"

HEAVY HALO: alt-industrial alchemists channel Depeche Mode on new single "Bloodrush"; summer tour with Light Asylum announced

Heavy Halo has revealed new single "Bloodrush" from its forthcoming album, Damaged Dream.

Stream the track, here: https://youtu.be/RWHCUqkZqEg

Pre-order the album, out July 25th on Silent Pendulum Records, here: https://silentpendulumrecords.com/collections/heavy-halo

Based in New York City, Heavy Halo is the duo of vocalist/guitarist McKeever and producer Gosteffects. Working out of Spellsound Studios, located inside a historic, 19th-century Brooklyn hospital building, the pair meld metallic guitars, frenetic beats, and yearning vocals into industrialized alt-rock anthems for the next generation. Reference points include Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, and HEALTH. 

New Noise describes the new single, "Bloodrush," as "a pulse-pounding, fast-paced industrial rock track that brings together the power of rock, the slickness of electronic elements, and McKeever’s clean, crisp vocals."

McKeever states: "'Bloodrush' embodies everything we want a Heavy Halo song to be: shot through with adrenaline and sexuality and searching for an alchemy of industrial noise and melody. We took a cue from our heroes Depeche Mode’s 'Enjoy The Silence' which warns about how words can ruin the moments of intoxicating desire... 'Words are very unnecessary, they can only do harm.' But because we lack British charm, we expressed it way less elegantly: 'Don’t talk just touch, don’t think just fuck.'"

Heavy Halo will tour the East Coast in July with darkwave powerhouse Light Asylum. Purchase tickets, here: https://linktr.ee/lightasylum_heavyhalo_tour

July 15 - Brooklyn, NY @ TV Eye
July 16 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Dolphin
July 17 - Baltimore, MD @ Mobtown Ballroom
July 18 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit
July 19 - Richmond, VA @ Cobra
July 21 - Raleigh, NC @ Kings
July 22 - Washington, DC @ Pie Shop
July 23 - Medford, MA @ Deep Cuts
July 24 - Providence, RI @ Gettie’s
July 25 - Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s
July 26 - Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Fouf’s

Photo by Tori McGraw

PYGMY LUSH - "It Wasn't a Compliment (Martial Law Blues)"

PYGMY LUSH: reunited Pageninetynine offshoot releases rocking new single "It Wasn't a Compliment (Martial Law Blues)" from long-lost masterpiece "TOTEM"

Virginia collective Pygmy Lush has revealed new single "It Wasn't a Compliment (Martial Law Blues)" from its upcoming album TOTEM.

Stream the song, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uZQh9q87VE

Founded in the mid-2000s as an experimental offshoot of the band Pageninetynine, Pygmy Lush has existed as an outlier from the start, following no script, with output ranging from Pageninetynine-caliber screamo to fragile Americana. After a long hiatus, the band is active again, making recent appearances at festivals such as Roadburn, Dark Days Bright Nights, and Prepare the Ground.

Recorded with Converge's Kurt Ballou at GodCity Studio in 2016, TOTEM was initially shelved by the band and never saw the light of day until now. The album will finally be released for the first time, July 11th via Persistent Vision Records. Pre-order the album, here: https://persistentvisionrecords.com/products/pygmy-lush-totem

Although it was recorded nearly a decade ago, TOTEM is a monumental work of art that feels absolutely fresh and vital in 2025. A feast for the ears and the heart, TOTEM is an engrossing display of musical freedom, backed by authentic emotion. There are songs that rage, songs that rock, and songs that cruise hypnotically. From bruising noise rock, teetering on the edge of hardcore, to meditative refrains that roll along like trains through moonlit valleys, it moves in its own ways, unhindered by genre.

Pygmy Lush guitarist Mike Taylor describes the new single, "It Wasn't a Compliment (Martial Law Blues)," as "a noise rock grunge laden punk ripper by a bunch of punkers who were on a steady diet of Sebadoh, Born Against and Nirvana in 1994" – a contrast to the album's first single, the lush, melancholy "February Song."

With TOTEM set to be released to the world on July 11th and effectively closing the book on that chapter of the band's history, Mike Taylor states: "Yes, we will be writing new music ASAP."

Photos by Elulu Photos

CAR BOMB - Tiles Whisper Dreams

CAR BOMB: extreme metal innovators celebrate 25th year with new EP "Tiles Whisper Dreams"; first single "Paroxysm" streaming now; tours of Europe and Australia announced

Founded in 2000, Car Bomb celebrates its 25th year with the August 1, 2025 release of new EP Tiles Whisper Dreams.

Consisting of three new tracks, Tiles Whisper Dreams is the band's first new music to be released since 2019's Mordial album.

Stream the EP's first single, Paroxysm," here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIiw_IzJZFM

Pre-order the EP, here: 

https://carbomb.bandcamp.com/album/tiles-whisper-dreams

In a genre built on shock and awe, it is tough to be shocking or awe-inspiring these days. With metal in its sixth decade, making an impact is an increasingly difficult feat. The ceiling is red with the blood of straight-line shredders futilely competing for the attention of desensitized ears.

Car Bomb is that rare metal band that has found a pathway through the ceiling – a wormhole, if you will – and has occupied a position of radical transcendence for a quarter-century now. In its 25 years of existence, the New York City-area quartet has been sculpting its own signature sound and cementing its identity as an outlier, above the fray, inspiring a legion of younger musicians in the process.

Car Bomb's sound is that of perpetual transformation: a spiraling flurry of rhythm and texture that congeals, fleetingly, into planet-pulverizing death-grooves and fragments of haunting melodies. Baffling rhythmic modulations and deep-space guitar effects appear to warp time completely. Disorientation is the rule, not the exception. 

"Their psychotic turbo-thrash is disgustingly disorienting," reads one Kerrang! review. "One relentless onslaught of time-chopping violence."

A Stereogum review describes the style as "a rhythmically abstruse variety of extreme metal... hallucinatory time-stretching."

Car Bomb guitarist Greg Kubacki puts it like this: "When someone asks me what we sound like, I always ask them ‘what’s the heaviest band you listen to?’ and then I say it’s either 10x, 100x, or 1,000x crazier than that, depending on their answer. We aspire to create our own style of heavy music by bending everything: the notes, time signatures, tempos, sonic quality of the guitars, etc. We’re always pushing and pulling everything, ripping ideas apart and then squashing them back together. And as a result our songs might sound chaotic at first, but as they progress the patterns, grooves, and motifs embedded inside all of the mangling and warping will reveal themselves and evolve in unexpected ways. Most people won’t get that deep into our stuff and will just hear a pile of noise, which is fine with us. We’re creating the kind of music we want to hear and that’s all we care about.”

"Paroxysm," the first single from the new EP, Tiles Whisper Dreams, reveals a revitalized Car Bomb, seemingly chomping at the bit with all the fury of a band half its age. "This is our first release since before COVID," states Kubacki, "and we really tried to put our 100% into these songs." 

In under 3 minutes, the aptly-titled "Paroxysm" delivers a barrage of semi-automatic drum-fire and viscous guitars, conjoined in inscrutable patterns. Vocalist Michael Dafferner mostly roars but lets his singing voice shine in one brief, glistening moment. The song is about "the never-ending struggle with power and control," he says.

One could spend weeks trying to calculate the twists and turns of Car Bomb's compositions but, zoom out, surrender to the chaos, and there is another experience to be had: complete catharsis. While there is joy in trying to dissect the elite chops and maniacal arrangements that Dafferner, Kubacki, bassist Jon Modell, and drummer Elliot Hoffman put forth, there is also joy in reveling in the ineffable, unknowable spaces their confounding music explores. The fact that this band continues to explore, 25 years in, makes it one of the real treasures of today's metal scene.

Drum tracking and vocal pre-production for Tiles Whisper Dreams were done at Silvercord Studio in Queens, New York, the studio owned by Joe Duplantier of Gojira. Kubacki describes Silvercord as "our home away from home." Guitars, bass, and vocals were recorded at the band members' respective home studios. The album was mixed by Johann Meyer at Silvercord and mastered by Grammy Award winner Ted Jensen (The Eagles, Green Day).

Car Bomb will tour Europe and the UK in August, including dates with Gojira, Between the Buried and Me, and Imperial Triumphant, followed by a September tour of Australia, supporting Animals as Leaders – Car Bomb's first time ever in Australia.

Aug 7 - Jaromer, CZ @ Brutal Assault Fest
Aug 8 - Berlin, DE @ Cassiopeia
Aug 9 - Karlsruhe, DE @ P8
Aug 10 - Utrecht, NL @ Pandora *
Aug 12 - Oberhausen, DE @ Turbinenhalle Δ
Aug 14 - Nottingham, UK @ Rock City Beta
Aug 15 - Bristol, UK @ ArcTanGent Fest
Aug 16 - London, UK @ Oslo
Aug 18 - Copenhagen, DK @ Vega #
Aug 19 - Stockholm, SE @ Bar Brooklyn #
Aug 20 - Oslo, NO @ Goldie #
Aug 21 - Aalborg, DK @ SH35 #
Aug 22 - Kiel, DE @ Kieler Schaubude #
Aug 23 - Haarlem, NL @ Complexity Fest #
Sep 12 - Adelaide, AU @ Hindley Street Music Hall ∞
Sep 14 - Brisbane, AU @ The Tivoli ∞
Sep 18 - Melbourne, AU @ Forum ∞
Sep 19 - Sydney, AU @ Enmore Theatre ∞
Sep 21 - Perth, AU @ Magnet House ∞

* = Between the Buried and Me
Δ = Gojira
# = Imperial Triumphant
∞ = Animals as Leaders

Tiles Whisper Dreams tracklist:
1) Blindsides
2) Paroxysm
3) Tiles Whisper Dreams

Lineup:
Michael Dafferner - vocals
Greg Kubacki - guitar
Jon Modell - bass
Elliot Hoffman - drums

Discography:
Tiles Whisper Dreams (2025, Self-Released)
Live in Santa Cruz (2023, Self-Released)
Mordial (2019, Self-Released)
Meta (2016, Self-Released)
w^w^^w^w (2012, Self-Released)
Centralia (2007, Relapse Records)

JOLIETTE - "Limítrofe"

JOLIETTE: Mexico City post-hardcore dynamo reveals new single "Limítrofe"; European tour enters UK

With its new album, Pérdidas Variables, coming June 20th on Persistent Vision Records, Mexico City-based post-hardcore dynamo Joliette reveals the album's second single, "Limítrofe."

Stream "Limítrofe," here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UGAKmvySWk

Pre-order the album, here: https://persistentvisionrecords.com/products/joliette-perdidas-variables-lp

Founded in 2011, Joliette has become a force in the Mexican scene, playing shows with the likes of Converge and Touché Amoré and releasing music via Zegema Beach Records. On the upcoming new album, Pérdidas Variables, the quartet takes the urgency of scene heroes like Saetia and Raein and laces it with the brooding, post-metal grandeur of Neurosis or Cult of Luna. Screaming in his native Spanish, Gastón Prado's earnest voice transcends language barriers, transmitting universal angst.

Announcing the new album last month, BrooklynVegan praised Joliette's "ability to fuse passion, aggression, and melody in classic-yet-fresh screamo fashion." The band has revealed that the album is a meditation on their home of Mexico City. 

Of the new single, guitarist Juan Pablo Castillo states: "'Limítrofe' is about the feeling of living on the edge, both physically and emotionally. It captures that moment of uncertainty when you're caught between two spaces, unsure of where you stand. The lyrics reflect the tension that comes with being on the threshold of something new, yet also trapped in the pull of what’s familiar. It’s a track that wrestles with personal, societal, and even geographic boundaries, while asking the listener to consider where they belong and how they navigate that liminal space."

Joliette is currently entering the final stretch of a month-long tour of the UK and Europe, with these dates remaining:

May 22 - Norwich, UK @ Voodoo Daddy’s
May 23 - Nottingham, UK @ JT Soar
May 24 - London, UK @ Portals Festival
May 25 - Bristol, UK @ Exchange Basement
May 27 - Paris, FR @ Le Klub
May 28 - Aromas, FR @ A la Vieille Ecole
May 29 - Cassano d´Adda, IT @ Solidar Rock Fest
May 30 - Zurich, CH @ Ebrietas

Photo by Alejandra Juangorena

Live photo by Alberto Rondin

CATERWAUL this weekend

CATERWAUL: 2025 festival kicks off Friday in Minneapolis; Pissed Jeans, Uniform, Young Widows set to perform

After months of planning, the fourth installment of the annual Caterwaul is here, kicking off Friday, May 23rd in Minneapolis. 

Across four days and three Minneapolis venues – 331, Mortimer's, and Zhora Darling – Caterwaul promises a full immersion into the noisy, iconoclastic fringes of rock, with performances by Buildings, Deaf Club, FACS, Kowloon Walled City, Pissed Jeans, Uniform, Young Widows, and dozens more.

In a new feature about the festival, posted this month, New Noise Magazine states: "Caterwaul season is upon us... The fest brings together some of the best underground rock acts in existence today."

Interviewed by New Noise, Young Widows’ Evan Patterson enthuses: “All non-corporate festivals are vital for all music scenes. Caterwaul is bringing together bands with similar aesthetics that may or may not be aware of one another. It’s exciting.”

The Minnesota Star Tribune placed Caterwaul on their "Critics' Picks" list this week, stating: "This fourth annual, four-day noisemakers’ fest is proof positive weird things can still thrive in the music biz... Genres range from sludgy metal to experimental electro-punk and basically anything loud and on the fringe."

Local Minneapolis scene authority Racket reports: "The noisiest music fest in the North returns on Memorial Day weekend, serving up a plethora of loud guitars and great band names."

Caterwaul founders Conan Neutron, Rainer Fronz, and Melanie Thomas say they are intent on fostering a sense of community that transcends any one musical genre, viewing Caterwaul as a means to unite all people on the loud and eccentric side of the fence. "In a world of Coachellas, be a Caterwaul," they proclaim.

Tickets can be purchased at this location: https://www.ticketstripe.com/caterwaul2025

This year's official poster was created by Minneapolis designer Miss Amy Jo.

The full schedule is as follows:

Friday, May 23 @ Mortimer's

1:00 am - FACS
12:00 am - Eye Flys
11:15 pm - Pinko
10:30 pm - Wipes
9:45 pm - Violenteer
9:00 pm - Something Is Waiting
8:15 pm - Virga
7:30 pm - Blacklighter

Saturday, May 24 @ Zhora Darling

1:15 am - Naw
12:15 pm - ¿WATCHES?
11:30 pm - In Lieu
10:45 pm - Plot

Saturday, May 24 @ 331

9:15 pm - Young Widows
8:15 pm - Kowloon Walled City
7:25 pm - Fotocrime
6:30 pm - The Cell Phones
5:45 pm - Bridesmaid
5:00 pm - Upright Forms
4:15 pm - Vincas
3:30 pm - Fashion Week
2:45 pm - Moon Pussy
2:00 pm - Pillcutter

Sunday, May 25 @ 331

8:15 pm - Pissed Jeans
7:15 pm - Buildings
6:30 pm - Big'n
5:45 pm - Suckling
5:00 pm - Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends
4:15 pm - Lung
3:30 pm - Tonguecutter
2:45 pm - Unstable Shapes

Monday, May 26 @ 331

9:15 pm - Uniform
8:15 pm - Deaf Club
7:30 pm - Elephant Rifle
6:45 pm - Mr. Phylzzz
6:00 pm - Vile Bees
5:15 pm - Gaytheist
4:30 pm - powertakeOff
3:45 pm - Mr. Clit & the Pink Cigarettes
3:00 pm - Miracle Blood
2:15 pm - Spit Takes

PYGMY LUSH - TOTEM

PYGMY LUSH: reunited Pageninetynine offshoot announces release of lost album "TOTEM" via Persistent Vision Records; first single streaming now

Persistent Vision Records announces the July 11th release of Pygmy Lush's TOTEM.

Recorded and mixed by Converge's Kurt Ballou in 2016, the album has remained unreleased for nearly a decade. Active again now after a long hiatus, the revitalized band has made the decision to unearth this lost masterpiece.

Stream the first single, "February Song," here: https://youtu.be/leDxRQ-sP8o

Pre-order the album, here: https://persistentvisionrecords.com/products/pygmy-lush-totem

Pygmy Lush was founded in Northern Virginia in the mid-2000s by brothers Chris Taylor and Mike Taylor as an experimental offshoot of their band Pageninetynine. Beginning with the debut album, Bitter River, released on Robotic Empire in 2007, Pygmy Lush's output ranged from Pageninetynine-caliber screamo, to fragile Americana; from the basement show to the campfire and back again, the songs all hit with equal conviction.

Following the release of 2011's Old Friends album on Lovitt Records, Pygmy Lush faded from view, reemerging in 2024 to many fans' surprise and delight. Reentering the limelight by way of an NPR Tiny Desk Concert in August 2024, the newly reignited band was a standout of the inaugural Dark Days Bright Nights festival in September of that year, and went on to wow the crowd at this year's Roadburn.

With an appearance at Toronto's Prepare the Ground festival booked for May, and shows in the works with the likes of Young Widows, Pygmy Lush now prepares to reveal the long-buried TOTEM. Mike Taylor explains why this nine-year-old masterpiece has not yet seen the light of day: "Frankly, we lost momentum shortly after recording the album. It was a very transitional time for Pygmy Lush where we were trying hard to figure out what this group wanted to do."

He describes the upcoming 2025 release of TOTEM as a necessary step in Pygmy Lush's progression toward its next phase: "I personally have wanted to release TOTEM as a document of this era of the band, in order to continue moving forward."

While TOTEM's belated release might give the Taylors a sense of closure on the past, it is more than a snapshot of bygone days. It is a monumental work of art that feels absolutely fresh and vital in 2025. A feast for the ears and the heart, TOTEM is an engrossing display of musical freedom, backed by authentic emotion. There are songs that rage, songs that rock, and songs that cruise hypnotically. From bruising noise rock, teetering on the edge of hardcore, to meditative refrains that roll along like trains through moonlit valleys, it moves in its own ways, unhindered by genre.

"The album became a bridge between the two completely different sounds of the band, the quiet and the loud," states Mike Taylor. "It was very collaborative. We were all trying out as much stuff as we could. It’s a very eclectic album." He offers up Born Against, PJ Harvey, and Brian Eno as three reference points. First single "February Song" is a heavy, haunting lullaby that ravages, serenely, evoking the quieter moments of Sonic Youth and Pavement alike.

The common denominator beneath TOTEM's songs is the urgency, the realness, fueling every note and lyric. Chris Taylor states: "The lyrics desperately look for answers that aren’t there, and deliberately mock themselves. We sing and we write and we play, as the world becomes more and more obviously horrific. We admire, or argue over, the patterns of our battle flags while the fort is burning."

Furthermore, TOTEM's rich, warm production unites the disparities into one whole. With longtime collaborator Kurt Ballou overseeing the recording and mixing at his hallowed GodCity Studio, mastering was handled by the great Carl Saff (Bambara, Bonnie Prince Billy). 

The cover art, created by Paul Nitsche, consists of hand sculpted organic elements and mixed media collage, photographed using traditional tintype photography and darkroom methods. Nitsche is known widely for his artwork for Dazzling Killmen's Face of Collapse album.

With TOTEM set to be released to the world on July 11th, the path is cleared for whatever Pygmy Lush chooses to do next. "Yes, we will be writing new music ASAP," declares Mike Taylor.

Tracklist:
1) House of Blood (Butch’s Monster)
2) It Wasn’t a Compliment (Martial Law Blues)
3) A Little Boy and His Bulldozer
4) Algorithmic Mercy (Prayers Printed Directly into a Shredder)
5) A Famous Jock (The Rest of Us)
6) February Song
7) Band-Aid on a Bullet Wound
8) The Puppeteer
9) Post-Punk in the Wrong Hands
10) Artistic Blood / Blanket Out the Sun (in a world of better things)
11) Nonsensical Whimper

TOTEM recording lineup:
Chris Taylor - vocals, bass
Mike Taylor - guitar

Mike Widman - guitar
Erin McCarley - bass, vocals
Andy Gale - drums

2025 lineup:
Chris Taylor - guitar, vocals
Mike Taylor - guitar

Mike Widman - guitar, bass
Johnny Ward - guitar, vocals
Andy Gale - drums

Upcoming shows:
May 30 - Toronto, ON @ Prepare the Ground (w/ Baroness, Yob)
June 8 - Richmond, VA @ The Warehouse (w/ Young Widows)

Discography:
TOTEM (2025, Persistent Vision Records)
Demos / B-Sides (2016, Self-Released)
Old Friends (2011, Lovitt Records)
Cold World / Guilt 7" (2011, Lovitt Records)
Split w/ Turboslut (2009, Exotic Fever)
Mount Hope (2008, Lovitt Records)
Bitter River (2007, Robotic Empire)

Live photo by Michael Thorn