Friday, August 23, 2019

Out today: WINGTIPS - Exposure Therapy


Wingtips' debut album Exposure Therapy is out today on Artoffact Records.

Stream the album in full, here:

https://www.post-punk.com/early-access-darkwave-duo-wingtips-premiere-their-debut-album-exposure-therapy-exclusive-interview/

Buy it, here:
http://orcd.co/exposuretherapy

From Chicago, Wingtips is the duo of Vincent Segretario and Hannah Avalon. Their dark anthems are in line with Ministry's early, "With Sympathy"-era synth-pop and the textural, yearning sounds of The Cure. Modern-day reference points include Drab Majesty, with whom Wingtips have shared the stage.

Wingtips embark on an extensive North American tour in August, including slots on Cold Waves VIII in Chicago, Absolution Festival in Tampa, and much more.

"Darkwave is experiencing an incredible renaissance right now, in part due to stylish and talented duos like Drab Majesty... Another rising act in the genre is Chicago's Wingtips, the devastating twosome of Vincent Segretario and Hannah Avalon."
–Revolver

"Immensely talented... A hybrid of post-punk and dark synth pop – as if The Cure and Depeche Mode circa 1983 were to come together in a studio in Berlin."
–Post-Punk


"Goth-pop duo Wingtips... captures the irresistible disintegration and woozy depths of the Cure's late-80s sound."
–Chicago Reader

"Darkwave duo Wingtips are taking flight with a sound that recalls the beginnings of 1980s synth/electro-pop noir. Staking out a piece of The Cure’s swooningly romantic territory... with washes of diffusive synths, sparkling electro-notes, softly reverberating guitar chime, and echoed drum beats."
–Big Takeover

"Vincent Segretario and Hannah Avalon channel a lush, Cure-esque goth vibe and some slick post-punk tendencies to create impeccable, anthemic synth-pop to soothe your neurotic soul."
–Pure Grain Audio

Out today: COARSE - Cut and Preserved


Cut and Preserved, the new EP by Coarse, is out today on 6131 Records.

Stream the EP in full, here:
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/stream-coarses-ep-ft-the-armed-street-sects-hash-gordon/

Buy, here:
https://smarturl.it/coarse

Coarse is the bicoastal duo of Brandon Gallagher and Ryan Knowles. The band stormed out of the gate in 2018 with its debut EP, I, laying down a chaotic hardcore sound which Revolver described as "rough and tumble, violent and furious, owing a debt to noisy, acrobatic hardcore heroes such as Botch while breaking into furious Crossed Out–style blasting hatred.”

Comprising one new track and three remixes, the Cut and Preserved EP is a stunning detour into the electronic realm that was only lurking in the shadows on Coarse's debut. Ominous, hypnotic industrial-metal of the Godflesh variety brushes up against noise and hip-hop elements, as musical fragments from the debut get totally reanimated in this new context. The EP features contributions from members of Street Sects, The Armed, Precious Death, and Hash Gordon.

"Coarse is the new-ish collaborative project of hardcore musicians Ryan Knowles and Brandon Gallagher, and their upcoming EP 'Cut and Preserved' sees them going in more ambitious, experimental directions than ever before without losing their sense of pure heaviness. It’s a killer record all around and it’s far from your average 'remix EP.'"
–BrooklynVegan

"Self-described 'feral rock' duo Coarse specializes in a particularly corrosive brand of chaotic hardcore. Think Botch, Converge, Cult Leader, Candy, et al. Their forthcoming EP sees the group roaming down new abrasive avenues, however, exploring the sounds of industrial metal, hip-hop and more."
–Revolver

"The band’s upcoming new EP, 'Cut and Preserved' – a precursor to a full-length the band has planned for next year on 6131 Records – adds a heavy industrial influence to the mix, as if Coalesce and Author & Punisher fell into a vat of mutating slime, and were disposed of in the sewers of Manhattan to rot for a decade or more."
–Kerrang!

THE NUMBER TWELVE LOOKS LIKE YOU - "Raised and Erased"


The Number Twelve Looks Like You has revealed the official music video for "Raised and Erased," a song from the upcoming album, Wild Gods – the band's first new album in ten years.

The song features vocals by Eric Nally of Foxy Shazam.

Watch "Raised and Erased," here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7fPEtEsWok


Wild Gods will be released September 20th via Overlord Music (double LP vinyl, CD, and digital formats). Pre-order, pre-save, and pre-add the album, here:

The Number Twelve frontman Jesse Korman offers this statement about the song:

"Our days are numbered. For our next single I wanted to revisit that time tested message, about time itself, and how we use it. It’s a story we’ve all heard before, and most likely ignored. For many of us, no matter how much we see the signs, we remain in denial, and continue to waste our lives repeating the same patterns time and time again until we’ve been emotionally or physically… erased. I wanted to touch on the aspirational aspect of that, and the fact that anyone has the ability to get out of a cycle of mediocrity and waste. 

"When writing the song I drew inspiration from countless places, including many historic figures. Larger than life icons who became immortal in our imaginations, Martin Luther King, Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, so many others. People who came from nothing and changed the world. Of course, we’ve all heard these names and struggle to see a part of ourselves in them. But we are in them. We all have to start somewhere. I grew up quite poor in Jersey City, NJ, my mother an immigrant and my father dying young. We came from almost nothing. I was bullied and bitter and knew I didn’t want the same life as everyone else. The expectations taken for granted were suffocating and uninspiring, ‘do well in school, do what everyone else does, get a job.’ I just didn’t want it. I dropped out of high school when I was 16 and started a band at 17. That journey has taken me across the world and changed my life in ways I never could have imagined. I met SO many friends along the way, people that mirrored those long dead icons of the past but were living and breathing, pushing forward right now."

From New Jersey, The Number Twelve Looks Like You made its name as a standout of the mid-'00s mathcore scene, bashing out wildly adventurous, technical music, imbued with the musicality of progressive metal and the urgency of screamo. The AV Club once described the sound as a hybrid of "The Blood Brothers' dual-scream abrasion and The Dillinger Escape Plan's nanotech riffing... The Number Twelve knows precisely when to throw a soaring, melodic chorus or a bizarre flamenco flourish into an otherwise grinding, grunting gnarl of prog-metal."

Releasing four albums and one EP between 2003 and 2009, the band then took a long hiatus, returning finally in 2016 with a new lineup: original members Jesse Korman on vocals and Alexis Pareja on guitar, with new recruits Michael Kadnar on drums and DJ Scully on bass. The reformed, revitalized Number Twelve toured the US and Europe with the likes of The Dillinger Escape Plan, and even brought its noise to Russia for the first time ever.

Continuing to tour over the next few years, The Number Twelve grew into the beast we have before us now. Wild Gods, the first new album since 2009, bursts with raw emotion and daring musicality. An absolute feast for the ears, Wild Gods shows The Number Twelve of 2019 to be an evolved, supercharged version of its former self.

The band will tour the US in October, with support from God Mother and Pound.

10/1 Brooklyn, NY @ Kingsland
10/2 Amityville, NY @ Amityville Music Hall
10/3 Somerville, MA @ ONCE
10/4 Buffalo, NY @ Rec Room
10/5 Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB
10/6 Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dee’s
10/8 London, ON @ Call The Office
10/9 Lansing, MI @ Mac’s Bar
10/10 Berwyn, IL @ Wire
10/11 Indianapolis, IN @ Citadel
10/12 Columbus, OH @ Big Room Bar
10/13 Pittsburgh, PA @ Smiling Moose
10/15 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
10/16 Richmond, VA @ Canal Club
10/17 Philedelphia, PA @ Voltage Lounge
10/18 Teaneck, NJ @ Debonair Music Hall

Photo by Karen Jerzyk

Thursday, August 22, 2019

PRISSY WHIP + Alternative Press

Prissy Whip
“Los Angeles-based no-wave crew Prissy Whip have spent the last four years of their existence making a glorious racket with alien melodies and stuttering rhythms, the kind of tracks that are in regular rotation on some unknown planet you’d be afraid to visit.”
-Alternative Press

Watch the video for “Dr. Jessup,” animated and directed by Eric Livingston, via Alternative Press, here.

Prissy Whip wields a shrill and utterly disorienting brand of noise rock, somewhere in the league of dynamic and confrontational acts such as Daughters, Throbbing Gristle, Butthole Surfers, and Melt-Banana. Vocalist Crow Jane (Egrets on Ergot) provokes the audience with alarming wails and a convulsing strut. Effects-drunk guitars and pummeling drums collide and careen happily off the rails. Hailing from Los Angeles, Prissy Whip exudes a reckless energy rarely felt since the heyday of its punk scene, and has shared the stage with abrasive, chaotic bands of the same breed including Clipping, Deerhoof, Head Wound City, Retox, Hot Nerds, Psychic Graveyard, Planet B, and The Primals.

Swallow will be released September 21st digitally and on clear vinyl, limited to 250.
Pre-order vinyl, here.


Check out Prissy Whip at one of their upcoming shows: Sep. 28 - Oakland, CA @ Elbo Room (PRF) Oct. 1 - Denver, CO @ Rhinoceropolis Oct. 2 - Kansas City, MO @ miniBar Oct. 5 - Detroit, MI @ Trumbullplex Oct. 6 - Millvale, PA @ The Funhouse at Mr. Small's Oct. 8 - Pawtucket, RI @ Machines With Magnets Oct. 10 - Brooklyn, NY @ The Kingsland Oct. 14 - New Orleans, LA @ Poor Boys Bar Oct. 16 - Austin, TX @ 523 Thompson Oct. 18 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Lunchbox

WINGTIPS + Post-Punk


"One of the best synth-driven releases of 2019... Vincent and Hannah immediately come out swinging, showing exactly what they are capable of together."
–Post-Punk


One day ahead of the release of Wingtips' debut full-length, Exposure Therapy, scene authority Post-Punk has launched a stream of the entire album, alongside an interview with frontman Vincent Segretario.

Stream, here:
https://www.post-punk.com/early-access-darkwave-duo-wingtips-premiere-their-debut-album-exposure-therapy-exclusive-interview/

Pre-order, pre-add, and pre-save the album, here:
http://orcd.co/exposuretherapy

From Chicago, Wingtips is the duo of Vincent Segretario and Hannah Avalon. Their dark anthems are in line with Ministry's early, "With Sympathy"-era synth-pop and the textural, yearning sounds of The Cure. Modern-day reference points include Drab Majesty, with whom Wingtips have shared the stage.

Post-Punk calls Exposure Therapy, "one of the best synth-driven releases of 2019." Revolver Magazine has hailed the band as a "devastating twosome."


Wingtips embark on an extensive North American tour in August, including slots on Cold Waves VIII in Chicago, Absolution Festival in Tampa, and much more.

Aug 27 - Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge  $
Aug 28 - Denver, CO @ Rhinoceropolis
Aug 30 - Boise, ID @ The Shredder
Aug 31 - Seattle, WA @ Belltown Yacht Club
Sep 4 - Vancouver, BC @ The Astoria
Sep 5 - Portland, OR @ The Lovecraft
Sep 6 - Oakland, CA @ The Uptown  %
Sep 8 - San Diego, CA @ The Whistle Stop
Sep 10 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Moroccan
Sep 11 - Phoenix, AZ @ Lunchbox
Sep 12 - El Paso, TX @ Rockhouse
Sep 13 - San Antonio, TX @ The Amp Room  &
Sep 14 - Austin, TX @ Empire  &
Sep 15 - Dallas, TX @ Three Links
Sep 17 - Tulsa, OK @ The Starlite
Sep 18 - Kansas City, MO @ miniBar
Sep 20 - Chicago, IL @ Cold Waves Festival
Sep 26 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit
Sep 28 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bazaar  +
Sep 30 - Richmond, VA @ Banditos  +
Oct 2 - Raleigh, NC @ The Wicked Witch  +
Oct 5 - Tampa, FL @ Absolution Festival  +
Oct 10 - Nashville, TN @ Drkmttr
Oct 11 - Louisville, KY @ Art Sanctuary
Oct 16 - Detroit, MI @ UFO Factory
Oct 17 - Toronto, ON @ The Boat
Oct 19 - Newark, NJ @ QXT's

# = w/ Silent Servant, Fee Lion
$ = w/ Plack Blague DJ set
% = w/ Ash Code
& = w/ Twin Tribes
+ = w/ Korine

Photo by Alexus McLane

CLOUD RAT - "Wonder"


CLOUD RAT reveals new track "Wonder," prepares for US tour with Iceland's Kælan Mikla and more

Cloud Rat has premiered new track "Wonder" via BrooklynVegan.

Stream, here:
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/cloud-rat-releasing-pollinator-touring-stream-wonder/


"Wonder" appears on Cloud Rat's upcoming, fourth full-length album, Pollinator, due out September 13th on Artoffact Records.

Pre-order, pre-add, and pre-save the album, here:
https://orcd.co/cloudratpollinator

Sheer emotion is the name of the game on "Wonder" – Brandon Hill's hurricane drumming propels the song, as Rorik Brooks' melodic guitars and Madison Marshall's tortured screams deliver complete catharsis in just under two minutes.

Over the past ten years, Cloud Rat has established itself as one of the most compelling bands in the underground – releasing four full-length albums, eleven EPs and splits, a live album, and various other comps, the prolific Michigan trio has made a name for itself via sheer emotion and musical freedom. Emerging from the space where hardcore punk spirals into grindcore, Cloud Rat incorporates musical influences from across the map – black metal, death metal, noise, folk, and beyond – all while retaining its realness and urgency.

As BrooklynVegan states,"Grindcore isn’t always the easiest genre to break ground in, but Cloud Rat have a genuinely fresh, unique take on the genre... Even on their grindiest songs you can tell that Cloud Rat are experimentalists at heart."

Brooks states, "Pollinator is our most complete and accomplished work yet. It is the quintessence of everything we've tried to say and do before, and it's kind of fitting that we are coming up on a decade of being a band together."

As a companion piece to Pollinator, Cloud Rat has devoted an entire EP to its more experimental leanings: Artoffact will release Do Not Let Me Off the Cliff as the second disc in a 2-CD digipak version of Pollinator.

Upcoming shows include a week of US dates with labelmates Kælan Mikla and more.

Aug 30 - Chicago IL @ Scorched Tundra Fest
Sep 2 - Boston, MA @ Once Somerville w/ Kælan Mikla
Sep 3 - Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie w/ Kælan Mikla
Sep 5 - Richmond, VA @ Wonderland w/ Kælan Mikla
Sep 6 - Atlanta, GA @ 529 Bar w/ Kælan Mikla
Sep 7 - New Orleans, LA @ Santos w/ Kælan Mikla
Sep 8 - Austin, TX @ Empire
Sep 9 - Dallas, TX @ Double Wide
Sep 10 - Little Rock, AR @ Whitewater
Sep 11 - Memphis, TN @ B Side
Sep 12 - Raleigh, NC @ Maywood
Sep 13 - Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery w/ Pig Destroyer
Sep 14 - Hudson, NY @ Basilica Soundscape
Sep 15 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr Roboto Project
May 2020 - Baltimore, MD @ Maryland Deathfest

Photo by Jason Tipton

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

CAR BOMB - Mordial


Based in and around New York City, Car Bomb has made its name over the past two decades as master craftsmen of metal that is as heavy as it is progressive. Stereogum described the quartet's third album (2016's Meta) as "a rhythmically abstruse variety of extreme metal... hallucinatory time-stretching noises... unpredictable detours into melodic territory." Guitar World stated, "the eclectic album bursts with complex arrangements, brutal, off-kilter riffs, and deep grooves." Kerrang! reviewed a live performance with these words: "Their psychotic turbo-thrash is disgustingly disorienting... one relentless onslaught of time-chopping violence."

Upcoming, fourth album, Mordial, will be self-released by the band on September 27th (with Holy Roar Records handling the European release).

Car Bomb has been honing its craft for a long time and has once again outdone itself, reaching new levels on Mordial. Punishing, baffling, and beautiful – for music designed to subvert expectations and deny easy resolutions, Mordial is an extremely satisfying piece of work.

At the core of Car Bomb is movement. Its churning, beyond-Meshuggah metal constantly shapeshifts, the center point constantly repositioning. Riffs appear to detune or spontaneously combust halfway through, and totally contrasting sounds pile up on top of one another into new and bizarre configurations.

Surrender to the nonstop motion, the calculated confusion, and one may find bliss – the aural illusions the band painstakingly sets up have a visceral effect. There is endless inspiration to be found here for musicians who can crack the codes, but Mordial is an album that can potentially rock anyone with ears. 

Mordial sees Car Bomb embrace musical vibes from all across the map, more than ever before: moody hooks, shoegaze textures, Satriani-shred, and much more. Guitarist Greg Kubacki offers this insight:

"On our last record, Meta, one of the biggest surprises was 'Gratitude.' That was one of our favorite songs on the album, but we were hesitant to release it since it leans on a lot of our non-heavy influences. After seeing fans react so positively to it we felt like we could explore more of that vibe on Mordial. But then we thought, 'wait, what other sounds can we explore that we’ve always wanted to try?' With this particular record it really feels like the gloves came off, and that we were free to experiment with whatever we wanted to.”

Mordial was recorded by the band in Brooklyn at Silver Cord Studio (Gojira), mixed by Nolly Getgood (Periphery, Animals As Leaders), and mastered by Ermin Hamidovic. 

Having toured Europe all summer – an Animals As Leaders tour, followed by festivals – Car Bomb will return to headline Euroblast Festival in Cologne, Germany, on September 29th, and the appearance will serve as the official record release show for Mordial.


Tracklist:

1) Start
2) Fade Out
3) Vague Skies
4) Scattered Sprites
5) Dissect Yourself
6) Xoxoy (feat. Courtney Swain of Bent Knee)
7) HeLa
8) Blackened Battery
9) Mordial
10) Eyecide
11) Antipatterns
12) Naked Fuse

Lineup:

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

Discography:

Mordial (2019, self-released in US, Holy Roar Records in EU)
Meta (2016, self-released)
w^w^^w^w (2012, self-released)
Centralia (2007, Relapse Records)

Photo by Randy Edwards




Wednesday, August 14, 2019

COARSE + Street Sects


COARSE teams up with Street Sects on new "Untitled" remix track from upcoming "Cut and Preserved" EP; Revolver premieres music video

"Self-described 'feral rock' duo Coarse specializes in a particularly corrosive brand of chaotic hardcore. Think Botch, Converge, Cult Leader, Candy, et al. Their forthcoming EP sees the group roaming down new abrasive avenues, however, exploring the sounds of industrial metal, hip-hop and more."
–Revolver

"The band’s upcoming new EP, 'Cut and Preserved' – a precursor to a full-length the band has planned for next year on 6131 Records – adds a heavy industrial influence to the mix, as if Coalesce and Author & Punisher fell into a vat of mutating slime, and were disposed of in the sewers of Manhattan to rot for a decade or more."
–Kerrang!

Coarse has revealed new single "Untitled (Only Death Remix)."

"Untitled (Only Death Remix)" features guest vocals by Street Sects frontman Leo Ashline and appears on Coarse's upcoming Cut and Preserved EP, out August 23rd on 6131 Records.

Watch the official music video for "Untitled (Only Death Remix)," created by Chariot of Black Moth, here:
https://www.revolvermag.com/music/see-coarses-gritty-new-video-industrial-remix-street-sects-singer


Stream the track and pre-order the EP, here:
https://smarturl.it/coarse

Coarse is the bicoastal duo of Brandon Gallagher and Ryan Knowles. The band stormed out of the gate in 2018 with its debut EP, I, laying down a chaotic hardcore sound which Revolver described as "r
ough and tumble, violent and furious, owing a debt to noisy, acrobatic hardcore heroes such as Botch while breaking into furious Crossed Out–style blasting hatred.”

Comprising one new track and three remixes, the Cut and Preserved EP is a stunning detour into the electronic realm that was only lurking in the shadows on Coarse's debut. Ominous, hypnotic industrial-metal of the Godflesh variety brushes up against noise and hip-hop elements, as musical fragments from the debut get totally reanimated in this new context. In addition to Street Sects' Leo Ashline, the EP features guest work from members of The Armed, Precious Death, and Hash Gordon.

Drummer/vocalist Brandon Gallagher says:

"When Ryan and I started Coarse we pretty much made it clear that we weren't going to get too caught up in any specific niche, and I think collaborating with Street Sects on a heavier industrial/electronic track really exemplifies that. Everything they do with that project is really cool and is always changing and evolving, which is extremely inspiring."

He says the "Untitled (Only Death Remix)" music video is "best viewed with eye clamps, A Clockwork Orange–style." 

https://coarseisaband.bandcamp.com/
https://instagram.com/coarseisaband/
https://facebook.com/coarseisaband/

Thursday, August 8, 2019

WINGTIPS - "Here and Now"


WINGTIPS: Chicago darkwave duo debuts new "Here and Now" single from upcoming "Exposure Therapy" album; North American tour approaches

Wingtips have premiered "Here and Now," the third single from upcoming debut album Exposure Therapy, via Big Takeover.

Stream the track, here:
http://bigtakeover.com/news/SongPremiereHereandNowbyWingtips

Exposure Therapy will be released August 23rd on Artoffact Records.

Pre-order, pre-add, and pre-save the album, here:
http://orcd.co/exposuretherapy


From Chicago, Wingtips is the duo of Vincent Segretario and Hannah Avalon. With an impeccable sound and look, the band creates dark anthems that blend synth-driven danceability and yearning romanticism, reminiscent of The Cure, early Ministry, and more.

A recent Revolver Magazine write-up compares Wingtips to Drab Majesty and hails the band as a "devastating twosome." Post-Punk.com calls them "immensely talented... a hybrid of post-punk and dark synth-pop – as if The Cure and Depeche Mode circa 1983 were to come together in a studio in Berlin."


Wingtips embark on an extensive North American tour in August, including slots on Cold Waves VIII in Chicago, Absolution Festival in Tampa, and much more.

Aug 27 - Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge  $
Aug 28 - Denver, CO @ Rhinoceropolis
Aug 30 - Boise, ID @ The Shredder
Aug 31 - Seattle, WA @ Belltown Yacht Club
Sep 4 - Vancouver, BC @ The Astoria
Sep 5 - Portland, OR @ The Lovecraft
Sep 6 - Oakland, CA @ The Uptown  %
Sep 8 - San Diego, CA @ The Whistle Stop
Sep 10 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Moroccan
Sep 11 - Phoenix, AZ @ Lunchbox
Sep 12 - El Paso, TX @ Rockhouse
Sep 13 - San Antonio, TX @ The Amp Room  &
Sep 14 - Austin, TX @ Empire  &
Sep 15 - Dallas, TX @ Three Links
Sep 17 - Tulsa, OK @ The Starlite
Sep 18 - Kansas City, MO @ miniBar
Sep 20 - Chicago, IL @ Cold Waves Festival
Sep 26 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit
Sep 28 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bazaar  +
Sep 30 - Richmond, VA @ Banditos  +
Oct 2 - Raleigh, NC @ The Wicked Witch  +
Oct 5 - Tampa, FL @ Absolution Festival  +
Oct 10 - Nashville, TN @ Drkmttr
Oct 11 - Louisville, KY @ Art Sanctuary
Oct 16 - Detroit, MI @ UFO Factory
Oct 17 - Toronto, ON @ The Boat
Oct 19 - Newark, NJ @ QXT's

# = w/ Silent Servant, Fee Lion
$ = w/ Plack Blague DJ set
% = w/ Ash Code
& = w/ Twin Tribes
+ = w/ Korine

Photo by Alexus McLane

CLOUD RAT - "Seven Heads"


CLOUD RAT debuts new track "Seven Heads" from upcoming "Pollinator" album; tour with Kælan Mikla approaches

Cloud Rat has unveiled new song "Seven Heads" today via an exclusive premiere with Decibel.

Stream "Seven Heads," here:
https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2019/08/08/track-premiere-cloud-rat-seven-heads/


"Seven Heads" appears on Cloud Rat's upcoming, fourth full-length album, Pollinator, due out September 13th on Artoffact Records.

Pre-order, pre-add, and pre-save the album, here:
https://orcd.co/cloudratpollinator

"Seven Heads" rips through speakers with a mix of death metal and grindcore, while haunting synths swell deep underneath. Cloud Rat guitarist Rorik Brooks describes the song as "somewhere between Coffins, Morbid Angel, Discordance Axis, and Deftones," also acknowledging sci-fi masters Ray Bradbury and David Cronenberg as lyrical inspirations. Like many of Pollinator's songs, "Seven Heads" addresses the potential lethality of the internet. Brooks says, "[Vocalist] Madison Marshall was thinking of the Cronenberg film, The Brood, and took that kind of surreal body-horror vibe and married it to modern delusional terror, i.e. social media, where every day our brains are pollinated constantly by different emotions, ideologies and identity delusions."


Over the past ten years, Cloud Rat has established itself as one of the most compelling bands in the underground – releasing four full-length albums, eleven EPs and splits, a live album, and various other comps, the prolific Michigan trio has made a name for itself via sheer emotion and musical freedom. Emerging from the space where hardcore punk spirals into grindcore, Cloud Rat incorporates musical influences from across the map – black metal, death metal, noise, folk, and beyond – all while retaining its realness and urgency.

Brooks states, "Pollinator is our most complete and accomplished work yet. It is the quintessence of everything we've tried to say and do before, and it's kind of fitting that we are coming up on a decade of being a band together."

Upcoming shows include a week of US dates with labelmates Kælan Mikla and more.

Cloud Rat photo by Jason Tipton

Friday, August 2, 2019

Out today: MULTICULT - Simultaneity Now


Multicult's fifth full-length album, Simultaneity Now, is out today on Learning Curve Records. 

Stream the album and buy, here:
https://multicult.bandcamp.com/album/simultaneity-now

And here:
https://learningcurverecords.myshopify.com/collections/preorders/products/multicult-simultaneity-now-lp-pre-order-out-aug-2nd

"Over the past decade, Baltimore’s Multicult have earned their reputation as one of this era’s best and most consistent noise rock bands. Set to release their fifth album, 'Simultaneity Now,' on August 2nd via Learning Curve Records, the band remain of the best and brightest. Pushing the noise rock framework in new directions with a relaxed sonic freedom and a deeper understanding of their own goals, the album sounds as vital as ever."
–Post-Trash

"Noise rock, as a genre, provides a home for a cadre of secretly virtuoso musicians. The focus isn’t on shredding and pyrotechnic playing as much as maneuvering through strange time signatures and a thorough command of instrumental sounds and textures... This is certainly the case with Baltimore-based trio Multicult. Consisting of Nick Skrobisz of The Wayward on guitar and vocals, Rebecca Burchette (ex-Fight Amp) on bass, and Jake Cregger of Triac and Backslider on drums, the trio bring a wealth of talent and experience to bear on their fifth full-length, 'Simultaneity Now,' due out August 2 via Learning Curve Records."
–Burning Ambulance

"With the new 'Simultaneity Now' out on Friday August 2, Multicult provide yet another reason to love Baltimore."
–Scene Point Blank


"'Simultaneity Now,' the band’s fifth album, extends the trio’s streak of crafting the finest updates on the rattling noise-rock Touch & Go and Amphetamine-Reptile used to put out, spiked with the rhythmic pummel of 1980s industrial throb... And five albums in, Multicult’s remarkable consistency has resulted in a world-building sonic landscape all its own. Skrobisz’s lyrics feel intentionally difficult to make out, a scream struggling to be heard amid the actual and virtual noise overcrowding our headspaces. Rhythmically, the band straddles metal’s heaviness and dance music’s pulsating tempos, and such steely combinations often result in a futuristic Birthday Party-ish primal scream. 
–Baltimore Fishbowl

__________

On tour:

Aug
1 - Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery w/ City of Caterpillar
2 - Athens, GA @ Caledonia Lounge w/ Super Thief
3 - Durham, NC @ The Pinhook w/ Super Thief
4 - Atlanta, GA @ The Earl w/ Super Thief
5 - Chattanooga, TN @ The Spot w/ Super Thief
6 - New Orleans, LA @ Circle Bar w/ Super Thief
7 - Austin, TX @ Barracuda w/ Super Thief
9 - Chicago, IL @ Co-Prosperity Sphere w/ Tongue Party
10 - Minneapolis, MN @ Mortimer's w/ Tongue Party
11 - Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews w/ Tongue Party
13 - Denver, CO @ 3 Kings Tavern w/ Tongue Party
15 - Seattle, WA @ Clock Out Lounge w/ Tongue Party
16 - Portland, OR @ High Water Mark w/ Tongue Party
17 - Oakland, CA @ Elbo Room w/ Tongue Party
18 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Lexington w/ Tongue Party

Sep
13 - Portland, ME @ Geno's w/ Vincas
14 - Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory w/ Vincas
15 - Philadelphia, PA @ Ortlieb's w/ Vincas

__________

Out today: JONNY COUCH - Mystery Man


Jonny Couch's debut full-length album, Mystery Man, is out today on Damaged Sofa Records. Produced by Peter Mavrogeorgis (Grinderman, Sharon Van Etten, The National). 

Stream the album and buy, here:
https://jonnycouch.bandcamp.com/album/mystery-man

"Soulful, synth-laced pop."
–New Noise


"Couch’s songs are gems... from infectious rockers to contemplative ballads. They all descend directly from the power pop and New Wave greats of the late ’70s and early ’80s."
–Big Takeover

"The charming 80s aesthetic and catchy melodies are sure to tickle the pop sensibilities of any self respecting ’80s devotee."
–Ghettoblaster

"Roxy Music meets 'No Jacket Required'-era Phil Collins... Atmospheric synths, shimmering and angular guitars, a motorik-like groove, a soaring hook and Couch’s plaintive vocals... underpinned by an earnest sense of late night loneliness and longing."
–Joy of Violent Movement


Live:
Aug 14 - Brooklyn, NY @ Our Wicked Lady

Oct 11 - Denton, TX @ Backyard on Bell
Oct 13 – Austin, TX @ Cheer Up Charlies


Further info:

http://thechainworld.blogspot.com/search/label/JONNY%20COUCH

Photo by Kelsey Wagner

Thursday, August 1, 2019

INUS + Decibel: Album Stream & Video Premiere

“The Institute for Navigating the Universal Self may sound more than a little hippy-dippy and academic than the blood, fire, death and swords and tequila we customarily introduce you to via our website, but know that the San Diego trio prefer to use the acronym INUS and that their sound and presentation is anything but customary.”
-Decibel Magazine

Stream Western Spaghettification in its entirety and watch the video for "Time is a Person," via Decibel Magazine, here.

INUS (aka The Institute for Navigating the Universal Self) is a pre-postapocalyptic, post-honky-tonk-prog-skronk, space Tropicalia, math-lounge powersilence trio from San Diego, California. Poking fun at the failed for-profit universities of yesteryear, the band’s live performance interweaves blistering, calculated bursts of noise with educational slideshows that riff on subversive political commentary, dada-surrealist sci-fi, scathing social critique, fake news, space cults, infomercials, spoofs on the Department of Defense, and shout-outs to corporate sponsors. The result is an unapologetically bold, utterly ridiculous, and serious-as-all-hell multimedia showcase of sophisticated polyrhythms and hog-wild-future-amusement-park timbres with vocals ranging from ring-modded falsetto to rumbling Tuvan throat skronking. INUS was originally formed as a two-piece under the name Innerds in 2011 by guitarist/vocalist Bobby Bray (The Locust, Holy Molar) and drummer Brandon Relf (Sleeping People). The band has shared the bill with left-field luminaries including 2UP, Head Wound City, The Molecules, Corima, Retox, Upsilon Acrux, Bastard Noise, Horse Lords, and Atomic Ape. Joined by bassist Chad Deal (Phantom Twins) in 2016, Innerds was reborn as INUS and finished the recording of Western Spaghettification.

Western Spaghettification will be released digitally as well as on red vinyl through Three One G Records on August 9th. Preorder, here.

The title of the album itself is a play on words referring to the movie genre spaghetti western, which were westerns filmed in Italy, and the actual physics term “spaghettification,” which is what happens if you cross the event horizon of a black hole. The 8-song opus probes the event horizon of Western civilization in a series of pummeling outbursts beginning with “Time is a Person,” a proctologist’s-eye-view through the fourth dimension wherein archetypal heroes, tyrants, and everyday NPCs gurgle into existence periodically to play out their parts. Other topics addressed include government cover-ups/disinformation, gender biased communication, drug abuse, and the idea that atomic bomb detonations may be detectable in parallel dimensions. While listening to “We Are Our Computers’ Genitalia,” we are faced with such questions regarding being the first generations in the digital age, and what happens to our concept of self when physically engaged with the Internet for hours at a time (is it empowerment or distraction?).

Western Spaghettification LP:
1. Time is a Person
2. Kajillions and Bazillions
3. Whose Methane Gas is on Mars?
4. We Are Our Computers’ Genitalia
5. There Was a Fish in the Percolator 
6. For Whom the Bell Curve Tolls
7. This is Not Proper Notification
8. Western Spaghettification