KING BUFFALO - North American tour

"Like a psychedelic sunrise, King Buffalo stretches their music in every direction. Let it wash over you!"
–Kyle Shutt, The Sword

"[King Buffalo] summon elements of the psychedelic and the progressive and the intersection of the two as heard in the music of Pink Floyd."
–PopMatters

With sophomore album Longing to Be the Mountain set for an October 12th release, King Buffalo embark on a North American tour this week, kicking off August 15th in Chicago. The tour covers much of the western US and Canada, includes a slot on Psycho Las Vegas. More North American touring will follow later in the year.

King Buffalo's upcoming new album, Longing to Be the Mountain, is a feast of haunting vocals, hypnotic grooves, mounting tension and explosive finalés. The Rochester, New York trio has earned more than a few comparisons to Pink Floyd.

Stream the album's first single, "Sun Shivers," here:
https://soundcloud.com/thechainworld/king-buffalo-sun-shivers

Pre-order the album (vinyl and digital):

http://kingbuffalo.com/

Past tourmates include The Sword and All Them Witches (whose guitarist Ben McLeod produced Longing to Be the Mountain.)

King Buffalo - North American tour:
Aug 15 - Chicago, IL @ Reggies
Aug 16 - Kansas City, MO @ Riot Room
Aug 17 - Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
Aug 18 - Grand Junction, CO @ Mesa Theater
Aug 19 - Las Vegas, NV @ Psycho Las Vegas
Aug 21 - Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge
Aug 22 - Los Angeles, CA @ Five Star Bar
Aug 24 - San Francisco, CA @ Thee Parkside
Aug 25 - Sacramento, CA @ Holy Diver
Aug 27 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Loading Dock
Aug 28 - Boise, ID @ The Shredder
Aug 29 - Spokane, WA @ The Pin
Aug 30 - Portland, OR @ High Water Mark
Aug 31 - Seattle, WA @ Highline
Sep 1 - Vancouver, BC @ Astoria
Sep 2 - Kamloops, BC @ Grind House Cafe
Sep 4 - Calgary, AB @ Palomino Smokehouse
Sep 5 - Edmonton, AB @ Bohemia
Sep 6 - Saskatoon, SK @ Capitol Music Club
Sep 7 - Regina, SK @ Cloud 9
Sep 8 - Winnipeg, MB @ The Handsome Daughter
Sep 9 - Fargo, ND @ Aquarium
Sep 11 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
Sep 12 - Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club
Sep 13 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme
Sep 15 - Toronto, ON @ Bovine Sex Club

Photo by Mike Turzanski

MICROWAVES + New Noise

“Thrash metal and no wave punk collide to bring forth a vision of cybernetic filth. We mean it, man.”

-John Roman, Microwaves

Stream the title  track from the new album, Via Weightlessness, on New Noise, here.

 Via Weightlessness will be available through Three One G Records on black vinyl as well as digitally via iTunes on September 28th. Preorder here.

 Their latest album, Via Weightlessness, tones down their previous effects-heavy approach, charging lean and unabated toward their dystopian vision. Kuzy’s guitar chimes through the mix with spindly atonal rnuns more akin to data streams spat from an outdated mainframe, alternately careening into chugging, crossover-thrash riffs. The Roman/Arlett rhythm section is much more than the sum of its parts: Beefheartian clamor served up with cyborg precision underpins overdriven bass, rumbling forth frenziedly as a DMT-dosed rhino. Kuzy, the paranoid town crier, and Arlett, the unhinged shrieker, deliver a twin-vocal assault covering most topics previously found in your local video rental shop’s cult/sci-fi section.

Upcoming shows:

September 29th - Pittsburgh, PA @ Howlers, record release show w/ Chantillion, Tartarus

October 11th - Canton, OH @ Buzz Bin

October 12th - Ferndale, MI @ Cellarmens

October 13th - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom w/ Thee Oh Sees

October 24th - Pittsburgh, PA @ Howlers w/ Yautja

November 14th - Kingston, NY @ Tubby's

November 15th - Worcester, MA @ Ralph's

November 16th - Portland, ME @ Geno's

November 17th - Providence, RI @ Dusk w/ Gnaw

November 18th - Broklyn, NY @ Ceremony w/ Gnaw

ACTORS - US tour

Vancouver band ACTORS will bring its infectious sound on tour across the US in September. The coast-to-coast run includes slots on all three Cold Waves Festivals (New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles), as well as shows with Bootblacks, Soft Kill, and more.

ACTORS on tour:
Sep 15 - New York, NY @ Gramercy Theater - Cold Waves Festival
Sep 16 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bazaar - Murder of Crows Festival
Sep 18 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Brillobox w/ Bootblacks
Sep 19 - Cleveland, OH @ House of Wills w/ Bootblacks
Sep 20 - Columbus, OH @ The Summit w/ Bootblacks
Sep 21 - Detroit, MI @ Small's w/ Bootblacks
Sep 23 - Chicago, IL @ Metro - Cold Waves Festival
Sep 27 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall - Batcave SLC
Sep 28 - Sacramento, CA @ Cafe Colonial w/ Creux Lies
Sep 29 - Los Angeles, CA @ 1720 - Cold Waves Festival
Sep 30 - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex - Part Time Punks w/ Trisomie 21, Soft Kill

From Vancouver, Canada, ACTORS electrify with a modern take on post-punk. On debut full-length It Will Come to You, anthemic songs evoke the urgency of early-'80s U2 as well as the driving, synth-drenched scores that emanated from that era's movie screens. As scene authority Post-Punk.com put it, the band conjures "cinematic new-wave... that belongs on a Michael Mann soundtrack."

Much more than a "retro" act, ACTORS' music stands on its own, full of life and unforgettable hooks. ACTORS' songs are glistening bangers: slamming beats propel warm layers of synth, guitar, and vocals. Perhaps best described as a "post-post-punk" band, ACTORS belongs in the discussion alongside bands of today like The Soft Moon and Cold Cave, pushing music forward via a deep knowledge of the past.

Watch ACTORS' latest video, for the song "Slaves":
http://www.post-punk.com/actors-slaves/

Listen and buy ACTORS' latest album, It Will Come to You:
https://actors.bandcamp.com/album/it-will-come-to-you

"Vancouver’s brilliant post-punk and new-wave quartet ACTORS continue their flair for sonic cinematics... The atmosphere quivers with singer Jason Corbett’s crooning reverb augmented by shivering guitars and stark synths." 
–Post-Punk

"Addictively dancey, uplifting and melancholy sounds... Beautiful, dark music."
–CVLT Nation

"Eighties-style post-punk... Marrying influences from metal in the post-punk style."
–Decibel

Photo by Kira Clavell

STERN + BrooklynVegan

"The quartet twists meticulously, almost seductively, through pop-rock songs refracted at disorienting angles. Stern himself is a provocative lyricist and an oddly endearing singer... His voice, like Scott Walker's, can quickly curve from a croon to a caterwaul... Like the best of Kayo Dot and Time of Orchids, it revels in the unexpected."
–Pitchfork

"Stern’s brand of 'pop' is eerie and dissonant, each note seeming to melt into the ether as it’s played. Dreamy, dark... haunting undertones. The fragments of pop that remain are unique and should appeal to fans of industrial, ambient and metal that is a little 'out there.'"
–Decibel

The indescribable Stern (members of Kayo Dot) have dropped new track "Dunce" via BrooklynVegan.

Listen, here:

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/stern-releasing-missive-sister-ships-playing-shows-stream-a-track/

BV's Andrew Sacher writes, "It’s somewhere under the rock umbrella, with a hypnotic backbone, freeform fuzz guitar that sounds like if Blue Cheer ever tried to channel Ornette Coleman, and a woozy vocal performance that’s very psychedelic..." 

This enigma of a band makes music that utterly perplexes and haunts. Equally sweet and sour, with shades of Scott Walker, Craig Wedren, and Ennio Morricone, the sound has been labelled "pop music for Gorguts fans."

New album Missive: Sister Ships comes out August 24th on Sleeping Giant Glossolalia. The album was recorded by Daniel Schlett at Strange Weather Studios (DIIV, The Men, Liturgy), and mastered by Paul Gold at Salt Mastering (Animal Collective, Gang Gang Dance, Ornament).

Pre-order:

https://sleepinggiantglossolalia.bandcamp.com/album/stern-missive-sister-ships

Stern plays this Sunday at the Glove in Brooklyn, at the record release show for Sleeping Giant Glossolalia boss Michael Reisinger's band, Opening Bell.

Aug 5 - Brooklyn, NY @ The Glove w/ Opening Bell, Nastie Band, Vat of Acid

Sep 5 - Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus w/ Unnatural Ways, Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, Chain Gang Grave

Photo by Sophie Leetmaa

QUI + BrooklynVegan

"Every facet of our modality is present and pushed to further extremes; our ugliest ugly, our prettiest pretty, and more drastic juxtapositions of the two. We have been criticized as being too varied in our sound, I have heard or read the word, “schizophrenic,” used more than once. Recently a critic even posited that our music was perhaps one, big piss-take, an endurance test of sorts to see just how much our audience would tolerate. I think it’s fair to say he and others of that mind will not like Snuh. In keeping with our consistently inconsistent M.O, the sounds vary from moment to moment, song to song. The album features guest cameos from new and old collaborators, a wider pallet of timbres, and recurring musical themes throughout, the overall effect being that of a cohesive pastiche. Toshi Kasai’s unique and adventurous production, always present in our records, is it’s most pronounced to date."
-Matt Cronk, Qui

Stream Qui’s first full-length album in 2014, via BrooklynVegan, here.

Qui’s newest LP, Snuh is being released by Three One G Records on August 3rd.
Snuh will be available digitally on iTunes as well as physically on 100 pink and 200 black 180 gram vinyl. Free CD will be included with vinyl purchase. Preorder here.

Records will also be available via Antena Krzyku, Macina Dischi will be releasing the album on CD, and Sweatband Records will be releasing a limited run of cassettes.

Snuh LP: 1. Pomp & Circumstance 2. You Can Call Me Shiny 3. Escape From Now 4. Mowing Machine 5. The Stink of Her Eyes (a) 6. Icky Mouth 7. Hey, Brother 8. Pumpy Circumstance 9. How Much Many More 10. The Stink of Her Eyes (b) 11. Forgivement 12. 15 Little Arguments 13. Trust Force 14. Come, Come

Check Qui out at their record release show, alongside Retox, tomorrow (August 3rd) at The Echo, Los Angeles.

PANICKER + Cvlt Nation

“...a full on dance onslaught that will keep you moving for sure!” -Cvlt Nation

Watch the video for “Habits,” via Cvlt Nation, here.

PANICKER seeks to give a voice (sans vocalist) to the anxious emotional state occupied by musician/producer/sound engineer Brent Asbury. The feeling on the album is often frightening, all-consuming and urgent, and he captures this well. “Habits”, however, is a slightly slower, smoother, but nonetheless foreboding track. It approaches the listener steadily and ominously, and eventually layers upon itself to build up to a dark dance beat. Different stock footage with heavy treatments of grit and grain is used throughout the video, leaving the viewer to draw their own connections between the visual narrative alongside the auditory.

This video is a single off of PANICKER’s debut self-titled LP, which is available digitally and on vinyl via Three One G Records. Each record is a unique color variant and each jacket custom screen printed with paper and ink variations. Order here.

Video directed by GET MEZZY and KILL YOUR IDOLS.

PANICKER Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | Spotify | YouTube

CULT & CULTURE podcast + BrooklynVegan

"Justin Pearson of the bands The Locust, Dead Cross and Head Wound City, and owner of Three One G Records, also has his own podcast, Cult & Culture. The latest episode, Ep. 7, features Justin with his Head Wound City bandmate Cody Votolato (also of The Blood Brothers), John Brady (of Swing Kids), and Sam Stothers (of Narrows), and the topic for this episode is Joy Divison. It ends up going in all kinds of directions though, including the musicians talking about their own pasts and upbringings, their various definitions of punk, and more."

Stream the episode, via Brooklyn Vegan, here.

Catch up on all episodes of Justin and Luke Henshaw's Cult and Culture podcast via iTunes, here, or through Three One G’s soundcloud, here.