KEN MODE - "These Wires"

KEN mode releases anthemic new single "These Wires" from upcoming "VOID" album; European and North American dates with Baroness, Lingua Ignota, more

KEN mode has released "These Wires," the latest single from its upcoming album, VOID.

The sequel to last year's acclaimed NULL album, VOID will be released September 22nd on Artoffact Records.

Stream "These Wires" (Bandcamp): https://kenmode.bandcamp.com/album/void 

Stream "These Wires" (Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/album/7bCuS0jeX6FOHH7S777iQ5

Stream "These Wires" (Apple): https://music.apple.com/us/album/void/1683182277 

Pre-order VOID, here: https://kenmode.bandcamp.com/album/void

KEN mode frontman Jesse Matthewson gives this statement about the new song: "Why would anything feel right again? Do you get the sense that a lot of people have been fundamentally damaged by the pandemic? The psychological fallout of this event is going to be seen for years to come, and this is its anthem."

An 8-minute epic, building from an icy lament into a deluge of distress, "These Wires" is perhaps the song that best expresses VOID's story of sorrow and dismay. Centered around a simple piano melody, courtesy of newest member Kathryn Kerr, and Matthewson's fragile spoken words, the song erupts into thunderous rhythms, propelled by the machine-like interplay of bassist Skot Hamilton and Jesse's brother Shane Matthewson on drums. Jesse's pleas hit with all the directness of Henry Rollins (whose "KEN mode" acronym, described in his book, Get in the Van, provided the Matthewsons with the inspiration for their band's name, almost 25 years ago) as he belts out the song's crucial six-word phrase: "Why would anything feel right again?"

Released in September of last year, KEN mode's eighth album, NULL, was inspired by the bleakest days of the COVID-19 pandemic and saw the band create some of the rawest, harshest material of its career. The album also marked the official debut of multi-instrumentalist Kerr, who helped install a new palette of No Wave and industrial-tinged sounds into the band's trademark mix of metallic hardcore and noise rock.

Amongst other honors, NULL earned KEN mode the front cover of Decibel Magazine, wherein the music was described as "evocative, guttural, Howl-esque poetry laid over frantic, Godflesh-ian soundscapes." A review from Stereogum stated: "NULL is KEN mode at their peak as composers."

Arriving exactly one year after NULL, VOID is KEN mode's ninth full-length album. More than merely the follow-up to NULL, VOID is a companion to that album, inspired by the same events, and written and recorded within the same time frame. Where NULL embodied the chaos and shock of the early days of the pandemic, VOID is the sound of disappointment and sadness that followed.

Upon VOID's release in September, KEN mode will embark on a tour of Europe, including dates with Fange and Lingua Ignota, followed by US dates with Baroness and a slot on the next Decibel Metal & Beer Fest in Denver.

Tour:
Sep 24 - Porto, PT @ Amplifest
Sep 26 - Rouen, FR @ Le 106 w/Fange
Sep 27 - Lille, FR @ L'Aéronef w/Fange
Sep 28 - Paris, FR @ Point Ephémère w/Fange
Sep 29 - Angoulême, FR @ La Nef w/Fange
Sep 30 - Clermont-Ferrand, FR @ La Coopérative de Mai w/Fange
Oct 1 - Yverdon-Les-Bains, CH @ L'Amalgame
Oct 2 - Karlsruhe, DE @ Jubez w/Fange
Oct 3 - Dresden, DE @ Ostpol w/Fange
Oct 4 - Wroclaw, PL @ Klub Łącznik w/Fange
Oct 5 - Berlin, DE @ Urban Spree w/Fange
Oct 7 - Aalborg, DK @ 1000 Fryd w/Fange
Oct 8 - Aarhus, DK @ HeadQuarters w/Fange
Oct 10 - Liege, BE @ La Zone w/Fange
Oct 11 - Haarlem, NL @ Patronaat w/Fange
Oct 12 - Bruxelles, BE @ Le Botanique w/Fange
Oct 13 - Brighton, UK @ The Hope & Ruin
Oct 14 - London, UK @ Islington Assembly Hall w/Lingua Ignota
Oct 31 - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre w/Baroness
Nov 3 - Seattle, WA @ Crocodile w/Baroness
Nov 4 - Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre w/Baroness
Nov 6 - Edmonton, AB @ Union Hall w/Baroness
Nov 7 - Calgary, AB @ The Palace Theatre w/Baroness

Nov 10 - Saskatoon, SK @ Amigos Cantina 

Nov 11 - Winnipeg, MB @ Good Will Social Club w/Tunic

Dec 1 - Denver, CO @ Decibel Metal & Beer Festival

Photo by Brenna Faris

SE VENDE + New Noise

 

Today, New Noise Magazine premiered Se Vende's Bridge City Sessions, a live performance recorded in studio. They have also announced a split 7" release with band No Stones.

Learn more and watch the performance, here: https://newnoisemagazine.com/premieres/video-premiere-se-vende-bridge-city-sessions/

Formed in 2010 by guitarists Jonny Cuz and Collin Smith, Se Vende released their first album, Pour Me… Some Coffee, in 2013. The intervening years were marked by drug use and jail time that prevented the band from exploring its full potential. Now focused and with the addition of Ono Senteno on drums, Se Vende delivers dirty, crusty pop punk in San Diego, CA-- a raw sound that is tight, without too much of the glossiness that can risk sterilizing emotions. In 2018, the band was approached by Tony Hawk to have one of their tracks, “Positivity 101,” featured on the soundtrack of his video game, Tony Hawk’s Skate Jam. Their live shows make fans out of even the most jaded observer with infectious energy and brutal honesty bleeding through. Lyrically, Se Vende covers the continuum of the human experience, from hopeless drug addiction to hope for the future, without romanticizing either. They simply state the facts and encapsulate both the desperation and optimism that make up their own stories. By day, founding members Jonny Cuz and Collin run their own print shop, which in the past year has also functioned as a DIY venue for the punk community in San Diego. On October 29th of this year, the band will be traveling to Gainesville, FL to perform at Fest.

This  7" ep. vinyl split with No Stones was printed in Tucson, AZ. Edition of 500 limited vinyl, black and white split colored. Sleeves are printed black on black, to be released August 14th. Preorder, here.

Bridge City Sessions video shot in 2023, engineered by Mike Ulysses, mixed and mastered by Frank Smith, filmed by Nick Wilson, Jordan Henline, and edited by Jordan Henline.

CRASHER + Flaunt

 

"The opener to their forthcoming debut album Speaking Terms, 'Static' sees Mead’s lighter timbre float over the gritty bass and heavy percussion. Crasher stretches the track’s title to every facet of their creative expression, from the song’s visuals to its composition."

—Flaunt

Crasher's single and music video for "Static" premiered today with Flaunt Magazine,  and you can watch it, here: https://flaunt.com/post/crasher-static

Crasher formed in summer of 2019 in San Diego. Dave Mead (Exasperation/Wild Wild Wets) had been writing songs on guitar in the background of his life as a serious post-punk drummer, but keeping it under wraps. With a few years of family tragedy and some compounded thoughts on a lost and misled America to reflect on, he eventually stood up from the drums to yell disjointed lyrics and play some grinding guitar chords from a Sovtek half stack. Driven by his anger with the experience of the failed state of healthcare regarding the death of his mother to early onset Alzheimer’s disease, and his own personal grief of losing a family member in such a cruel and slow manner, Crasher created an outlet and, in time, some solace for Mead.

In early 2020 Crasher released the Traitor EP that was recorded in a living room to a 4-track, and it premiered on BrooklynVegan just in time for the pandemic and lockdown. Mead wanted to expand the sound from the living room of the Traitor EP with some bigger production for the follow up LP that would become Speaking Terms, and Jordan Krimston (Oso Oso, Weatherbox, Ms. New Buddha, Band Argument, Omo Cloud)  became the core recording drummer and collaborator. The band did the first round of live tracking at Singing Serpent Studios with Ben Moore (Hot Snakes/Drive Like Jehu) at the board and later they recorded drums at LA’s legendary East West studios. Mead tracked all the guitars and vocals himself in his home studio. There were some outside engineers that were being considered to mix the album, but in the end, the album felt too personal to hand off to someone outside of the band, so Mead recruited Krimston to mix the album with him. The band has a rotating cast of members for live shows, with Krimston and Mead as the core and alternating drummers and bass players, creating a dynamic chemistry that shifts with each lineup change.

“Static” is a single off of Speaking Terms, which will be released digitally October 10th. Preorder, here.

Cult & Culture - John Reis

 

BrooklynVegan is premiering the newest episode of Cult & Culture podcast, which features John Reis (Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, Rocket From the Crypt, etc.)

Watch the episode, here: https://www.brooklynvegan.com/john-reis-opens-up-about-late-drive-like-jehu-bandmate-rick-froberg-on-cult-culture/

On this episode of Cult and Culture, Luke and Justin speak with prolific San Diego musician John Reis of Pitchfork, Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, Rocket from the Crypt, Plosivs and more. They discuss the idea of speaking through an instrument, trying to play every show with the goal of making it feel like the only place in the world someone would want to be, experiencing the chaos of a live GG Allin show, playing with both Fugazi and Danzig in short succession, and the formation of some of Reis's iconic bands. Reeling from the recent loss of long time best friend and musical collaborator Rick Froberg, John also talks about loss, legacy, and the final music the two made together in Hot Snakes. together in Hot Snakes.

Catch up on all episodes of Cult and Culture podcast, via iTunes, or through Three One G’s Soundcloud:

soundcloud.com/threeoneg/sets/cult-and-culture-podcast

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cult-and-culture/id1232084207

Video edited by Displaced/ Replaced.

Out today: SOMETHING IS WAITING - Absolutely

Absolutely, the new album by Something Is Waiting, is out today on Learning Curve Records.

Sounding unlike any other band of today, Something Is Waiting exudes all the swagger of the latter-day hair metal saints and up-and-coming groove-metal goons who filled Riki Rachtman's cue cards in the earliest days of the '90s, yet seethes with enough vitriol to delight the nihilistic noise rock hordes who gathered to witness its set at this year's Caterwaul Festival. Six years deep, inspired as much by the early works of Ross Robinson as by the most caustic cuts from the AmRep catalog, the band is in a league of its own, the undisputed king of its own genre: "nu roll."

Buy the album, here:
https://somethingiswaiting.bandcamp.com/album/absolutely

More info, here:
https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/07/something-is-waiting-absolutely.html

"When Something Is Waiting formed in 2016, the band consisted of five dudes whose stacked resumés included stints in several Chicago heavy favorites, and on their first few releases they focused on big, mean, chaos-bringing noise rock a la Unsane. Over the past few years, though, they’ve charted a new direction, trading in nihilistic bludgeoning for Sunset Strip swagger forged with a sonic sledgehammer of 90s metal. The band’s brand-new full length, 'Absolutely,' feels like a bizarre hybrid of White Zombie and Guns N’ Roses, pairing high-gloss metallic guitar with [vocalist Eddie] Gobbo’s shrill, confrontational shrieks... A record so unexpected and weird that I can’t help but love every second of it."
–Chicago Reader

"Slimmed down to a three-piece configuration, Something Is Waiting has refined their sarcastic, glam-infused noise rock (termed by the band as ‘nu roll,’ which certainly fits) into a larger-than-life vehicle of sardonic riff delivery."
–Invisible Oranges

"Flying off the rails like Metalocalypse's Dr. Rockzo on a bender, Something Is Waiting seem steeped in '80s rocker sleaze and swagger... That's where the anachronism ends though – the trio clearly have a knack for groove and pristine production that this millennium provides. Guitars crunch loudly, bass is bouncy, drums rollick and punch hard, and the vocals' serrated timbre tops the track off like a bandana across the forehead."
–Lambgoat

"A band that are clearly doing their own thing and not following anyone else's playbook... There's a punchiness about it, there's a quirk about it, there's an energy about it, that makes it infectious to listen to... And you will headbang all the way through."
–Metal Epidemic

"Swagger, groove, and ripping solos... This is a band that truly marches/moshes to its own beat."
–New Noise

"Harsh 'n' heavy... Rooted in groove metal with some '80s sleaze elements and a lot of attitude."
–Scene Point Blank

"A singer whose voice can strip paint. A band so heavy Satan couldn't lift it."

–Tinnitist

"Let's just dive right into this one. This is Something Is Waiting. It needs to get played today."

–Total Rock

Out today: NOTT - Hiraeth

Hiraeth, the new album by Nott, is out today on Silent Pendulum Records.

Consisting of only two members – guitarist/vocalist Tyler Campbell and drummer Julia Geaman – Nott summons an all-smothering vortex of doom-death. With viscous tones, and with tempos ranging from mid-paced to glacial, Hiraeth unfolds like a slow-motion free fall into the abyss.

The album title is a Welsh word with no direct translation, but which Campbell defines as "the longing for what once was, and what you cannot go back to." The title takes on new weight, in light of Campbell's and Geaman's personal stories. The two migrated to their current homes in the Pacific Northwest, by way of Alaska and Romania, respectively.

Buy the album, here (LP): https://silentpendulumrecords.com/collections/nott

Buy the album, here (digital): https://silentpendulumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hiraeth

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/05/nott-hiraeth.html

"There’s a storm brewing out there, and it’s coming from the Pacific Northwest. Nott, the dynamic duo of Tyler Campbell and Julia Geaman, has summoned the clouds to rain death-doom terror on their upcoming album Hiraeth. If you’re a fan of the dissonant death metal that emerged over the last decade from bands like Ulcerate, then you definitely need to get harmonized with this."
–Decibel

"The sophomore effort from Pacific Northwest duo Nott is a uniquely devastating prospect that lands in some kind of fascinating middle ground between death-doom and deathcore to stand out as one of the heaviest records of the year."
–Distorted Sound

"As a duo, the devouring bleakness of previous work is omnipresent, a suppression of positivity that disintegrates into something bordering on catastrophic... 'Hiraeth' finds solace in turmoil, drawing creative strength from the darkest places."

–Heavy Music HQ

"The tumultuous two-piece of Tyler Campbell and Julia Geaman evoke the oppressive sounds of both Triptykon and Immolation, while the vocals shred with each successive decibel. They're able to conjure an uncomfortable atmosphere that becomes more real and fully realized with each successive pick scrape..."
–Invisible Oranges

"Nott is impossibly heavy... This band knows another level many other bands do not. Taking on the music feels like mental and physical tumult, a struggle to survive where the surroundings feel uninhabitable."
–Meat Mead Metal

"A shadowy realm brimming with anger, denial, and desolation. Nott‘s sound is deathcore’s response to Ulcerate."
–Metal Epidemic

"'Hiraeth' is dark and heavy. When it's not pummeling you with death metal blasting, it crushes with lumbering doom."

–Metal Injection

"Each track is packed with some of the most whip smart songwriting and whip ass bleakness we’ve heard in some time... It is a huge leap forward for a band that already had a knockout punch of a debut."
–Nine Circles

"A brand of death-doom that will surely cause California to fall into the ocean... Riffs that sound like a boulder being dropped off a skyscraper."
–No Clean Singing

"Nott deliver galactic devastation of the highest order."

–The Heavyist

"You will Nott regret checking this out... It can shift enigmatically from an angular Ulcerate riff to a plodding doom pace to an almost deathcore-ish growl and breakdown."
–Toilet ov Hell

"'Hiraeth' is an absolute monster of an album from Nott, benefitting from massive guitar tones, crushing vocals and gorgeous overarching production..."
–Two Guys Metal Reviews

ÅRABROT - "Horrors of the Past"

ÅRABROT: iconic Norwegian duo reveals Beatles-inspired single "Horrors of the Past" with nightmarish animated video; new album "Of Darkness and Light" produced by Alain Johannes (Queens of the Stone Age, PJ Harvey)

Iconic Norwegian duo Årabrot, consisting of Kjetil Nernes and wife Karin Park, has revealed "Horrors of the Past," the new single from its upcoming full-length album, Of Darkness and Light.

Årabrot's tenth full-length, Of Darkness and Light will be released October 13th on Pelagic Records.

Of the new single, Nernes states: "The original out-of-tune iPhone demo was called ‘Beatles.’ The demo was made years ago. We are happy to see it still feels right." 

While the song's glorious melody and vintage sound may evoke the Fab Four, an undercurrent of terror flows through the song, making it Årabrot's own.

The single's official music video is a wonderfully nightmarish, animated clip, created by Chilean designer Kartess.

Nernes reveals the story behind the song: "We were out driving and hit and killed a cat. Its fur covered the windshield. It was brutal. I had a vision of a metaphysical journey through a storm of animal fur. I couldn’t see a thing until symbols and memories of the past suddenly emerged in front of me. I was working my way out of a nightmarish past.'"

Stream the "Horrors of the Past" video, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7-d3F2-r18

Pre-order the new album, Of Darkness and Light, here: https://listen.pelagic-records.com/arabrot

With its origins going back 20 years now, Årabrot's list of achievements is long: collaborating with fellow innovators Stephen O'Malley and Lustmord; working with such producers as Steve Albini and Billy Anderson; winning a Norwegian Grammy. Nernes also has the distinction of being diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and making a full recovery.

With the early material traversing the roughest edges of The Birthday Party and Swans, and with inspiration taken from esoteric sources – "fin-de-siècle decadence, surrealism and even a pinch of old German philosophy to boot," in Nernes' words – each release has seen more and more risks taken.

In recent years, Årabrot's winding path has led toward absolute rock and roll perfection. In 2021, NPR's Lars Gotrich noted that the band was transforming "from AmRep bulldozer noise-rock into a cathedral-shaking rock-and-roll powerhouse" – and this transformation is fully realized now on the upcoming new album, Of Darkness and Light.

Of Darkness and Light bursts with infectious melodies and shines with the massive production of Alain Johannes (Queens of the Stone Age, PJ Harvey). With Johannes at the helm, Of Darkness and Light was recorded entirely at Djura Missionshus, the church in rural Sweden where Nernes and Park live and work with their two children.

Theatrical, bombastic, dancing on the line between the macabre and the comical, Of Darkness and Light is, among other things, a celebration of the hooks and swagger and almighty power of rock. The Birthday Party and Swans are still references, yes, but so are Queens of the Stone Age and Ghost. Fittingly, the album’s title references Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, a philosophical text centered on transcending our own limitations.

Photo by Pål Laukli

NECKBOLT - "Marianne 05"

NECKBOLT: psychedelic noise-rockers reveal animated "Marianne 05" music video from new Born Yesterday Records album "(dream dump)"

Neckbolt has revealed new single "Marianne 05" by way of a vivid, animated video.

Stream the clip, here: https://feckingbahamas.com/exclusive-neckbolt-give-us-ecstatic-breathless-daymares-with-new-music-video

Pre-order the band's new album, (dream dump) – out September 22nd on Born Yesterday Records – here: https://bornyesterday.limitedrun.com/products/745787-dream-dump

Fecking Bahamas reports: "Neckbolt have a morbidly psychedelic sound, with apparently much inspiration coming from a place of dreams – and not necessarily just the good ones... It’s a pretty freakish screed – hushed, grating, unpredictable yelps punctuate the pulsing chaos in a way that reminds us of both Oh Sees and Lightning Bolt, but also the sludgy recklessness of Body Void and Chat Pile."

The lyrics to "Marianne 05," and all the songs on (dream dump), have their roots in the dreams of vocalist James Roo, who also created the "Marianne 05" video. The band gives this statement: "'Marianne will be there,' James remembers from a dream. It’s not clear, but it’s enduring. James has been thinking about that dream since 2009."

With members in Austin and Oklahoma City, Neckbolt conjures a psychedelic strain of noise-rock that belongs on the freakiest fringes of the genre, amongst the likes of Boredoms and Arab on Radar, as well as the aforementioned bands. Guitarist Benjamin Krause claims he is "uninterested in the masculine sound that can be associated with noise rock" and is instead "interested in exploring sounds associated with hypnagogic residue and full spectrums of emotion."

Sonically, the songs on (dream dump) are as densely layered as the subconscious states they depict. Amidst peals of guitar, distorted bass, and driving rhythms, hidden treasures lie. Krause states: "There is a ton of 'ear candy' recorded with room mics or computer mics or phones. For example, we used a wooden pencil and the top of a scented candle as a placeholder for some of the auxiliary percussion on one song, to capture the rhythm that we would eventually track with real percussion. After a hundred rounds of sending this song back and forth, this 'wood block' sound ended up being ingrained in the song and we really didn’t want to mess with it. So that’s what you hear. This kind of stuff is all over the record."

With its exuberant and unorthodox approach to caustic music, Neckbolt is right at home on Born Yesterday Records, the Chicago label owned by Greg Obis of Stuck and Kevin Fairbairn of Deeper. Chicago Reader calls the label, "a crucial voice in Chicago rock."

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/07/neckbolt-dream-dump.html

Photo by Blake Studdard

LUNG x CONAN NEUTRON & THE SECRET FRIENDS - Adult Prom

LUNG x CONAN NEUTRON & THE SECRET FRIENDS: cello-grunge powerhouse joins forces with Melvins-affiliated rockers on electrifying new split LP; West Coast tour announced

Learning Curve Records announces the October 6th release of Adult Prom, the new split LP by Lung and Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends.

Pre-order the album, here: 

https://learningcurverecords.bandcamp.com/album/adult-prom

Stream new Lung track, "Fucked Up Darling," here: 

https://learningcurverecords.bandcamp.com/album/adult-prom

Stream new Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends track, "Wild Antics," here: 

https://learningcurverecords.bandcamp.com/album/adult-prom

Adult Prom is an example of the magic that can happen when an unlikely pair of bands, bonded more by spirit than by sound, choose to join forces and make a thing together. Like a mouthful of sugar and salt, the contrast between the two reveals the power of each. 

Where Lung brings sheer intensity, executed with dark, neoclassical flair, Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends revel in an exuberant, noisy reimagining of classic rock. Despite the divergent energies, these bands are united by friendship and mutual respect and they give themselves, one hundred percent, to this project. On Adult Prom, not only do the two share space on a slab of vinyl; each also covers one song by the other, reinterpreting it in its own singular style, and members lend their talents to other tracks as guest vocalists and musicians.

Explaining how the collab came to be, Conan Neutron states, simply: "We are fans of each other's music and enjoy each other’s company and it just seemed like a cool thing to do."

From Cincinnati, Ohio, Lung consists of Kate Wakefield, a classically trained opera singer and cellist, and drummer Daisy Caplan, formerly of Foxy Shazam. Fierce, ethereal, and heavy as hell, Lung rocks with the intensity of early grunge, layered with sinister undertones. “Tony Iommi teaching a Nirvana class at Juilliard,” reads one review from Cincinnati paper CityBeat.

"PJ Harvey is absolutely brilliant," states Wakefield. "I also am a huge fan of Tori Amos, Hole, Cibo Matto. I also love dramatic classical composers like Prokofiev, Sibelius and Barber – who are all pretty metal, in a way. Daisy has also introduced me to tons of bands that have influenced our style since we started playing, like Minutemen, Smart Went Crazy, and Death From Above. Our sound is intentionally genre-bending, but the consistent thread is that everything we do has an intensity to it. We mean every word and every note we play, and people can feel that."

People can feel that, indeed, as Wakefield runs her cello through distortion pedals and big amps, and Caplan pounds out earthquaking beats on cartoonishly bell-shaped, vintage North drums. A relentless touring machine, the duo has played over 700 shows across North America and Europe, on bills with Brainiac, Screaming Females, Fucked Up, and so many more.

With roots in Oakland, California, transplanted to Milwaukee, Conan Neutron is a wildly prolific musician, podcaster, and impresario. As a co-founder and curator of Caterwaul Festival, and as the founder and host of the Protonic Reversal podcast, Neutron is a self-built pillar of what he has termed "independent-minded, iconoclastic, noisy music." With Caterwaul, he has helped create an annual fest that has quickly become a major new axis for this "noisy music" scene, putting the likes of Flipper and Chat Pile on one stage and serving to strengthen a community of diverse, yet connected, bands and fans. With Protonic Reversal, he has chatted for hours with an absolutely legendary list of artists – members of The Stooges, Devo, The Birthday Party, Black Flag, and Fugazi, to name but a few – amassing a huge library of conversations that exists as a resource for the world to enjoy.

As a band leader, Neutron wields the same creative fire and the same knack for putting exceptional people under one roof. His rhythm section, The Secret Friends, consists of none other than Melvins drum-slayer Dale Crover and bassist Tony Ash, formerly of Coliseum. (When Neutron takes the show on the road, he and Ash are joined by a revolving cast of live players – "a bench deeper than a baseball team," in Neutron's words.)

Contrary to what one might expect from these guys, the sound hits like a burlier version of power pop – more Cheap Trick than AmRep. Honed over four full-length albums and shows with Big Business, Torche, and more, the songwriting and execution are world-class. Crover's iconic drumming lays the foundation for rich tones, sweet hooks, and Neutron's croon.

Given the underground cred of Neutron and his gang, their choice to rock unabashedly might come across like a subversive act. Neutron puts it like this: "What we do is BIG WEIRD ROCK MUSIC. I have to throw the WEIRD in, because when people think of rock music they tend to think of slavish imitators of bygone eras or a specific kind of very safe consonant guitar music for middle managers and wraparound shade dads."

One press release from the recent past calls it: "small scale arena rock for smart alecks and malcontents."

Lung's tracks on Adult Prom were recorded and mixed by John Hoffman at The Lodge in Dayton, KY; Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends' tracks were engineered and mixed by Toshi Kasai. The album was mastered by Shellac's Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service.

Adult Prom's album artwork, created by Aaron Cross, comprises paintings of the two bands' vans – two 2006 Ford Econolines, coincidentally. On October 6th, the day of the LP's release, Lung and Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends will get in said vans and kick off a West Coast tour together. (See those dates, along with Lung's other upcoming touring, below.)

Adult Prom tracklist:

1) Lung - Fucked Up Darling
2) Lung - Kingpin
3) Lung - Cash Machine (Two Ton Boa cover)
4) Lung - The Impossible Task (Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends cover)
5) Lung - Pastor
6) Lung - Anyone Else (feat. Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends)
7) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends - Wild Antics
8) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends - Crybullies
9) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends - Fridging (feat. Kate Wakefield of Lung)
10) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends - I'm Nervous (Lung cover)
11) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends - Criminal Hypnosis
12) Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends - We Were Wolves

Lung w/ Screaming Females:

Aug 16 - Morgantown, WV @ 123 Pleasant St
Aug 17 - Cincinnati, OH @ Legends
Aug 18 - Chattanooga, TN @ Songbirds
Aug 19 - Asheville, NC @ Static Age Records
Aug 20 - Washington, DC @ Songbyrd

Lung:
Sep 1 - Michigan City, IN @ Oktoberfest
Sep 2 - Indianapolis, IN @ Romanus Fest
Sep 7 - Knoxville, TN @ Pilot Light
Sep 8 - Athens, GA @ Flicker Theatre

Lung w/ Djunah:
Sep 9 - Savannah, GA @ It Takes Two fest
Sep 10 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Sep 11 - Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle

Lung w/ Thelma and the Sleaze:
Sep 19 - Newport, KY @ Southgate House Revival
Sep 20 - Louisville, KY @ Whirling Tiger
Sep 21 - Athens, OH @ Union
Sep 22 - Cincinnati OH @ Fountain Square
Sep 23 - Lafayette, IN @ North End Pub
Sep 24 - Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle

Lung:
Sep 26 - St. Louis, MO @ CBGB
Sep 28 - Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
Sep 29 - Austin, TX @ The Electric Church
Sep 30 - San Angelo, TX @ The Deadhorse
Oct 1 - El Paso TX @ Mona
Oct 2 - Bisbee, AZ @ The Quarry

Lung w/ Conan Neutron & The Secret Friends:

Oct 6 - Tempe, AZ @ Time Out Lounge
Oct 7 - Los Angeles, CA @ Redwood Bar and Grill
Oct 8 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
Oct 9 - Sacramento, CA @ Old Ironsides
Oct 10 - Reno, NV @ The Loving Cup
Oct 11 - Eugene, OR @ Sam Bond’s Garage
Oct 12 - Portland, OR @ High Water Mark
Oct 13 - Bellingham, WA @ Make Shift Art Space
Oct 14 - Seattle, WA @ Southgate Roller Rink

Lung:

Oct 20 - Logansport, IN @ The Record Farm
Oct 21 - Dayton, OH @ Dayton Music Fest

Photo of Lung, by Rachelle Caplan
Photo of Conan Neutron, by Abbey Garside

SEVEN)SUNS - "Prancer"

SEVEN)SUNS: NYC string quartet reveals classical cover of The Dillinger Escape Plan's "Prancer" from upcoming "One of Us Is the Killer" album

Classical music disruptors Seven)Suns have revealed their cover of The Dillinger Escape Plan's "Prancer."

"Prancer" is the opening track off the mathcore legend's landmark 2013 album, One of Us Is the Killer, celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. Seven)Suns has recreated the entire album, rearranging all eleven of its wildly complex tracks for a string quartet. The album will be released on Silent Pendulum Records on September 29th.

Stream "Prancer," here: https://www.metalsucks.net/2023/08/10/sevensuns-somehow-makes-the-dillinger-escape-plans-prancer-sound-even-more-dangerous/

Pre-order the album, here (LP): https://silentpendulumrecords.com/products/sevensuns-one-of-us-is-the-killer

Pre-order the album, here (digital): https://silentpendulumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/one-of-us-is-the-killer

MetalSucks describes Seven)Suns' sound as "dissonant chaos with a tinge of class" and goes on to report: "If The Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman once described the band’s music as 'garbage cans falling down stairs,' then I’d probably describe Seven)Suns’ variation on their work like 'Joseph Haydn writing a classical piece during a major earthquake.'"

Seven)Suns founder Earl Maneein – a world-class violinist whose resumé includes performances with Jay-Z and Rihanna, and whom Metallica’s Robert Trujillo has stated to be “a kick ass player who pushes the creative boundaries” – describes his own group’s sound as “dystopian music rooted in the language of avant-metal and hardcore, played by a string quartet.” Based in New York City, the quartet consists of Maneein on violin, Adda Kridler on violin, Fung Chern Hwei on viola, and Jennifer DeVore on cello.

Seven)Suns has broken boundaries in both the metal and classical music worlds. While their core repertoire is original music written by Maneein, the group incorporates songs from metal and punk bands into its set list as well as Western composers such as Arvo Pärt and Hildegard Von Bingen. One of Us Is the Killer is its most ambitious project to date.

Seven)Suns’ collaborations with The Dillinger Escape Plan date back to 2015 when Maneein and his gang grabbed the attention of TDEP’s Ben Weinman with their cover of the band's odd-time mosh anthem, “43% Burnt.” Impressed, Weinman invited Seven)Suns to perform on two songs on TDEP's final album, Dissociation, and he released their debut album, For The Hearts Still Beating, on his label, Party Smasher Inc. Seven)Suns performed live at TDEP's farewell shows in NYC in December 2017.

Other recent collabs include composer Daniel Bernard Roumain and avant-metal act Imperial Triumphant. Seven)Suns has twice been honored with residencies at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute, and has performed at the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, The TriBeCa New Music Festival, NPR’S Green Space, and the Fairbanks Musical Association.

Photo by John DeVore

FOTOCRIME - "Night Must Fall" Video

FOTOCRIME has released the video for their most recent track, "Night Must Fall," off of their upcoming album, Accelerated.

You can watch it now, here: https://youtu.be/WlKjB45Z-bo

Fotocrime's Ryan Patterson explains of the track:

NIGHT MUST FALL My mind is often filled with cinematic and literary imagery as I write songs. Novels and films have always made my imagination overflow, whether it’s high art or glorious schlock, and the sense of adventure they inspire in me is something I attempt to inject into my songwriting.

The album closer on Accelerated, “Night Must Fall” begins with a marimba melody I wrote that was inspired by Carl Orff’s “Gassenhauer”, which is used perfectly in the score of my favorite movie, Terrence Malick’s 1973 masterpiece Badlands. Young Widows’ drummer Jeremy McMonigle performed the marimba part on “Night Must Fall” and it weaves a thread of tense melancholy throughout the song.

The chord progression in “Night Must Fall” is loosely inspired by the traditional folk song “Come All You Fair And Tender Ladies”, in particular the version by Conway Savage. On the recording we switched up instruments a bit, Will played the rhythm guitar and I played bass VI. Nick played and wrote the main guitar melodies and he and I sing the lead vocals together through the entire song.

Having been raised in the Louisville, Kentucky, area, the darkness of Middle America and the shadows of Southern Gothic mythology have always haunted me. The lyrics to “Night Must Fall” take a bit of my own foggy memories and combine them with fictitious tales of youth’s innocence lost, ala Flannery O’Connor and Joyce Carol Oates.

When I was a kid, a few friends and I used to walk far out on train tracks in my small hometown until we made it to an old train trestle that was high above a small pond. We’d jump off the trestle into the pond below. The pond was shallow, and we’d hit our feet and knees on the rocks at the bottom when we’d jump in. In “Night Must Fall” I imagine what would have happened if one of us hadn’t survived that jump and the rest of us swore to keep it secret for the rest of our lives…

Accelerated will be released on limited edition vinyl on Artoffact Records on September 8th. Preorder, here.

Video for "Night Must Fall" directed and edited by Ryan Patterson // Cinematography by Tommy Johns // Color correction by Joe Watson // Antagonists: Emily Dean, Sarah Reesor, Brian Roundtree, Luke Stevens, Robert Schardein // Best Boy: Marc Fulkerson

NOTT - "Hiraeth"

NOTT: Pacific Northwest crushers "rain death-doom terror" on title track from upcoming "Hiraeth" album; official music video streaming now

Pacific Northwest doom-death duo Nott has unveiled the title track from its upcoming new album, Hiraeth.

Stream the official music video, here: https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2023/08/03/video-premiere-nott-hiraeth/

Pre-order the new album, out August 18th on Silent Pendulum Records, here:

LP: https://silentpendulumrecords.com/collections/nott

Digital: https://silentpendulumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hiraeth

Consisting of only two members – guitarist/vocalist Tyler Campbell and drummer Julia Geaman – Nott summons an all-smothering vortex of doom-death. With viscous tones, and with tempos ranging from mid-paced to glacial, Hiraeth unfolds like a slow-motion free fall into the abyss. Reference points include Immolation, Meshuggah, and Ulcerate.

Decibel reports: "There’s a storm brewing out there, and it’s coming from the Pacific Northwest. Nott, the dynamic duo of Tyler Campbell and Julia Geaman, has summoned the clouds to rain death-doom terror on their upcoming album Hiraeth... If you’re a fan of the dissonant death metal that emerged over the last decade from bands like Ulcerate, then you definitely need to get harmonized with this."

The album title is a Welsh word with no direct translation, but which Campbell defines as "the longing for what once was, and what you cannot go back to." The title takes on new weight, in light of Campbell's and Geaman's personal stories. The two migrated to their current homes in the Pacific Northwest, by way of Alaska and Romania, respectively.

Geaman states: "I was born in Romania and, because things were chaotic in the '90s after Communism fell, we moved to South Africa for 8 years, then finally immigrated to Canada. I remember feeling like I had nothing to do and, after all that moving and chaos, it was suddenly quiet. Maybe I started playing drums to fill that quiet."

More info: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2023/05/nott-hiraeth.html

Photo by Cole Paramore

LAST MAN BACK - "Crossed Fingers"

LAST MAN BACK: Irish rocker Alan O'Keeffe debuts new solo effort; stunning first single "Crossed Fingers" evokes "120 Minutes" heyday

Vocalist/guitarist Alan O'Keeffe unveils "Crossed Fingers," his first single under the banner of Last Man Back.

Stream "Crossed Fingers," here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGATeCfbtCo

A native of Cork, Ireland, who relocated to New York City in 2007, O'Keeffe is a lifer whose decades in the trenches of rock n' roll have led finally to this new incarnation. Last Man Back sees O'Keeffe, a veteran of many bands and bars, take center stage for the first time, as songwriter and frontman.

"I moved to the US in 2007 with my mate Graham," he states. "We came here with the plan to write and record an album in a year before our visas expired. I’m still here and that album never got written! NYC was the first stop. I just dove right in head first. Between playing in bands and working in bars in the Lower East Side and Brooklyn, I could write books about the stories. Magical stuff, really."

Having lent his talents to a slew of acts across the city – among them, garage rock darlings Des Roar – the time came for O'Keeffe to make his own mark. That mark has now been made; Last Man Back's first-ever single is an absolute stunner. Right out of the gate, "Crossed Fingers" hooks the ear and the heart with a driving verse and soaring chorus. Urgent and wistful, in equal measure, this simple, devastating song demands to be played repeatedly.

"You saw me as you walked away," sings O'Keeffe on the four-minute tale of betrayal. "Are you happy now that you walked away?"

O'Keeffe describes his musical roots: "The Stone Roses' first album is where everything changed for me. And with that came a tidal wave of melodic, psyched-out tunes that would be with me forever. Ride, Teenage Fanclub, Swervedriver – that’s just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s all in there. And that’s where I want to take Last Man Back, taking that moment in time and adding my two cents' worth."

While "Crossed Fingers" bears traces of those UK greats of the late '80s and early '90s, the song's arpeggiated guitars, tense drumming, and haunting harmonies also call to mind some of the world-weary gems that defined the heyday of the college rock scene, a few years prior – the early works of The Cure and R.E.M., among others.

To put Last Man Back in a present-day context, O'Keeffe names High Vis as one of his current favorite bands.

"Crossed Fingers" was produced by Jeff Ottenbacher and mixed by Kal Pipal (Gorillaz, Sam Fender). Flanking O'Keeffe are AJ Edmiston on drums and Chris Buckle on guitar and backing vocals.

A man in his forties, O'Keeffe has made the bold move of starting anew, putting himself out on the proverbial limb with his most personal work to date. With "Crossed Fingers" as the first taste of what is to come, it appears that Last Man Back is more than a "project"; it is the culmination of O'Keeffe's life, thus far, and a thrilling new musical entity.

Stand by for news of the next single and the next live shows.

https://www.instagram.com/wearelastmanback/

Photos by Guy Eppel