NEW PRIMALS - "Soft Bullet"

"Learning Curve Records has followed in the footsteps of Am Rep, and they’ve built one of the most consistently reliable noise rock catalogs of the past decade. Which brings us to New Primals, an exciting new addition to the label, and a bright spot in modern DIY noise rock. Set to release 'Horse Girl Energy' on March 20th, their full length debut finds the Minneapolis trio equally freaked out and aggravated, as they grapple with identity, acceptance, and primal emotion..."
–Post-Trash

Watch the music video for New Primals' "Soft Bullet" now via Post-Trash:
http://post-trash.com/news/2020/3/8/new-primals-soft-bullet-post-trash-premiere

The song appears on the Minneapolis trio's debut full-length album, Horse Girl Energy, out March 20th on Learning Curve Records.

The sound straddles the line between the burly noise-rock of the AmRep scene and the sassy dance-punk made famous by labels like Three One G.

Vocalist/guitarist Sam Frederick states: "The lyrics depict a range of personal issues, including addiction and suicidal thoughts, and navigating through life while representing myself as a non-binary person in a world that, often times, doesn't seem ready or willing to accept my identity."

Mar 20 - Minneapolis, MN @ Mortimer’s (album release show)
Mar 24 - Fayetteville, AR @ Backspace
Mar 25 - Denton, TX @ Mustard Zone - w/ Super Thief
Mar 26 - Austin, TX @ Cheer Up Charlie's - w/ Super Thief
Mar 27 - Houston, TX @ Red Dwarf - w/ Super Thief
Mar 28 - New Orleans, LA @ Banks St Bar
Mar 30 - Tampa, FL @ Shuffle's
Mar 31 - Miami, FL @ Churchill’s
Apr 2 - Atlanta, GA @ Star Bar
Apr 3 - Asheville, NC @ Static Age Records
Apr 5 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Century
Apr 7 - Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
Apr 8 - Boston, MA @ OG's
Apr 10 - Saratoga Springs, NY @ Desperate Annie’s
Apr 11 - Brooklyn, NY @ Our Wicked Lady
Apr 13 - Rochester, NY @ Rosen Krown
Apr 14 - Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Tavern
Apr 15 - Nashville, TN @ DRKMTTR
Apr 16 - Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
Apr 17 - Milwaukee, WI @ X Ray Arcade
Apr 18 - Racine, WI @ George's Tavern
Apr 20 - Minneapolis, MN @ HiWatt House

THE NUMBER TWELVE LOOKS LIKE YOU - Wild Gods Instrumental

THE NUMBER TWELVE LOOKS LIKE YOU to release instrumental version of acclaimed "Wild Gods" album

The Number Twelve Looks Like You announces a special new offering for its fans: an all-instrumental version of its latest album, Wild Gods.

Wild Gods Instrumental will be released digitally on March 20th via Overlord Music.

The Number Twelve Looks Like You guitarist Alex Pareja gives this statement:

"Our music is full of intricacies and fans often want to dive deeper. Having gotten a fair amount of requests, we are releasing an instrumental version of 'Wild Gods.' Whether it's because they seek to learn to play the songs themselves or they simply want to hear a version without the vocals, now they'll have the opportunity. It is our hope the album continues to inspire creativity and bring forth fresh interpretations."

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. 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 Alex 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 delivered new full-length Wild Gods in September 2019 – its first new album in ten years. An absolute feast for the ears, Wild Gods showed The Number Twelve to be an evolved, supercharged version of its former self.

In the words of Kerrang! Magazine: "The New Jersey mathcore quartet spent the better part of the 2000s making a name for themselves with their bizarre and untameable mixture of death metal, hardcore, screamo, and triple-jointed prog, as well as with their cathartic live performances... 'Wild Gods' takes its time, reveling in the theater of the band’s music and the open moments between the riffs. The result still has the same convulsing overkill of The Number Twelve Looks Like You’s previous work, but adds a Mike Pattonish grace to their sound."

Loudwire called the album, "a fevered comeback rife with sudden stylistic changes."

Wild Gods Instrumental promises to shine a light on The Number Twelve's musicality and let fans hear the genre-bending work in new ways. Stand by for news of The Number Twelve's next live shows.

Band photo by Karen Jerzyk

Cover artwork by Jesse Korman

LA ARMADA - "Plagued"

LA ARMADA: Latino metal/hardcore activists kick off "Songs of the Exiled" series with "Plagued" music video

La Armada has revealed the official music video for new track "Plagued."

Stream "Plagued, " here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSsrOArq1-c

"Plagued" is the first piece of music to be unveiled from the band's Songs of the Exiled series – a series of upcoming digital releases, "each dedicated to one of the places we were born, or have lived in, that have shaped us and our political stances."

"Plagued" will appear on the first of these releases – Songs of the Exiled I: Chicago – a "mini-EP" celebrating the band's current hometown, set to drop on March 27th.

Founded in the Dominican Republic in 2001, La Armada played a major role in building up the hardcore punk scene in its home country in the '00s, before then emigrating to the US – first to Florida, then to Chicago. The band's highly unique story, of having made its mark in the Dominican Republic, then uprooting and starting again in the US, will be expressed and honored through Songs of the Exiled.

A self-described "crossover" band, the quintet's sound blends influences from metal, hardcore punk, and Caribbean music. In La Armada's hands, thrashing hardcore, inspired by bands ranging from Bad Brains to Death, is intensified by traditional Latin rhythms.

Just as its music reflects its background, so does its message. La Armada describes its political stance to be that of "decolonizing and anti-fascist lyrics, which criticize the politics of both the US and the Dominican Republic." Denouncing historical atrocities and also pointing out flaws in modern-day society – racism, police brutality, prisons for profit, to name a few – the band has put its money where its mouth is, with a long history of organizing concerts and events to raise funds for causes such as the American Civil Liberties Union and for grassroots organizations in the Caribbean.

Having honed its sound and its politics over three studio albums, two splits, and three EPs, and having toured with the likes of Sick of It All, Propagandhi, and Death by Stereo, La Armada will pour its experience into Songs of the Exiled and intends to focus on this project for the rest of 2020.

New song "Plagued" features the debut of new vocalist Casper Torres, who was officially announced this month as the successor to founding vocalist Javier "Bruka" Fernandez.

"Over the years, in addition to perfecting a vicious live show, the hardworking quintet developed a unique style of progressive-yet-propulsive punk-inflected metallic hardcore that marries jumpy tempos, driving riffs, sick guitar solos, and muscular technicality, while experimenting with building songs around Latin rhythms."
–VICE

"Crusty hardcore and monolithic metal with a whiff of the rhythms of the Dominican Republic."
–Chicago Reader

Live photo by Furyo State

SECRET FUN CLUB + BrooklynVegan

"The cover is pretty faithful to the original, but SFC do it well and give it a little of their own twist."
- BrooklynVegan

Listen to Secret Fun Club's cover of Fugazi's "Sweet and Low", via BrooklynVegan, here.

San Diego‘s Secret Fun Club has been the longstanding musical outlet for drummer and engineer Sal Gallegos (Some Girls, Three One G) and bassist John Rieder. An ongoing collaboration that formerly included guitarist Nathan Joyner (Hot Nerds, Some Girls, All Leather), the band has been making odd, challenging, and relentlessly heavy music on its own terms since 2000.

A duo of bass and drums since 2007, Sal and John began writing, demoing, and performing brutal new arrangements for two solid years, finally recording what would become the Three One G LP Skull With Antlers during the first half of 2009. With drums that call to mind Bonham (if he had preferred meth to booze) playing sides of beef and bass tones that alternate between motorcycle rumble and insectoid modulation and filtering, the band has mastered doomy, frenetic noise with occasional forays into quiet minimalism and copy-and-paste sound sculpture. For their most recent album, 101, W.T. Nelson (Geronimo, Bastard Noise) collaborated with his brood of Trogotronic outboard gear, along with equally brutal noisemakers Justin Pearson (Dead Cross, The Locust, Retox, Planet B), Sam Lopez and Esteban Flores.

For the release of Fugazi cover “Sweet and Low”, in addition to the usual lineup of Gallegos on drums and Reider on upright bass and second guitar, SFC enlists further assistance from original member Nathan Joyner on guitar and Nathan Hubbard on Rhodes piano and vibraphone.
Buy the track, here.

Secret Fun Club recently released a full-length album via Three One G, 101 . Order, here.

SECRET FUN CLUB Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

THREE ONE G Cramps Tribute + IDIOTEQ

"Three One G label is here to slightly change that and recall one of the greatest and most important punk in the history. Their new compilation “Really Bad Music For Really Bad People: The Cramps as Heard Through the Meat Grinder of Three One G” landmarks the 100th release by Three One G Records..." - IDIOTEQ
Check out the video teaser and special excerpt from Justin Pearson’s book, From the Graveyard of the Arousal Industry, in which he talks about meeting The Cramps at the age of 12, via IDIOTEQ, here.

Eighteen years ago, Three One G Records flew in the face of Queen purists with the release of Dynamite With A Laserbeam: Queen As Heard Through the Meatgrinder of Three One G, the label’s 20th release. On it, bands like Melt-Banana, Weasel Walter, The Locust, Bastard Noise and The Blood Brothers unapologetically tackled some of the most beloved and universally recognizable music in popular culture and made it nasty, noisy, and brutal-- and they did so with nothing but love and respect. This was followed by an equally bold tribute to Australian avant-garde legends The Birthday Party, entitled Release The Bats. More frenetic energy from the likes of bands like Cattle Decapitation, Das Oath, SSion and Some Girls, more chaotic feedback giving way to unsettling synth lines, and still (knock on wood) not a lawsuit in sight.

It is only fitting, then, that Three One G’s one hundredth release be another tribute, this time to an iconic band known for its raunchy and pure punk spirit, all while looking effortlessly cool: The Cramps. For the label’s third comp, the lineup of musicians enlisted to take part is even more diverse, including the likes of Chelsea Wolfe, Daughters, Mike Patton, and Metz, among others-- all members, in some way or another, of the extended Three One G family. Here you’ll hear everything from Cumbia-style Cramps as interpreted by Sonido De La Frontera, to Panicker’s electronic dance-centric distorted version of “I’m Cramped”. Just as The Cramps mastered the art of covering music through their own warped lens, Three One G carries on the torch of re-imagining songs with swagger and style, making it their own while honoring a band whose influence on the label is obvious.

This compilation will be the landmark 100th release by Three One G Records. It will be available digitally as well as on limited edition vinyl. Mastered by Brent Asbury at Measurable Harm. Layout and design by Black Moon Design. Preorder, here.

Really Bad Music for Really Bad People:

1. Child Bite “TV Set”

2. Metz “Call of the Wighat”

3. Secret Fun Club feat. Carrie Gillespie Feller “I Was a Teenage Werewolf”

4. Chelsea Wolfe “Sheena’s in a Goth Gang”

5. Sonido de la Frontera “Zombie Dance”

6. Qui “New Kind of Kick”

7. Zeus! feat. Mike Patton “Human Fly”

8. Retox “Garbageman”

9. Magic Witch Cookbox “People Ain’t No Good”

10. Microwaves “Don’t Eat Stuff Off the Sidewalk”

11. Daughters “What’s Inside a Girl”

12. Panicker “I’m Cramped”

Out today: SOLO ANSAMBLIS - Olos

From Vilnius, Lithuania, Solo Ansamblis' sophomore album Olos is out today on Artoffact Records.

Stream Olos, here:
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/stream-lithuanian-dark-synthpop-group-solo-ansamblis-new-album-olos/

Buy, here:
https://orcd.co/soloansamblis

“Lithuania’s Solo Ansamblis make atmospheric synthpop that pulls from a variety of black-clad, early-’80s post-punk subgenres. There is a rigid, robotic quality to their music, but they mix their synthesizers and drum machines with traditional rock instrumentation, giving their sound a much more visceral, human impact. It’s an appealing sound; danceable, melodic, gritty, a little sleazy… and their use of their native tongue completes the vibe. While you can hear the past, Solo Ansamblis are forging their own path."
–BrooklynVegan

"Goth synths permeate post-punk rhythms and a classic sense of retro-futurism. It sounds like the idea of the future as viewed from the past... Some sort of enthralling death disco!"
–Under the Radar

"Post-punk surrealists [creating] a pulsing electronic music incantation."
–Post-Punk.com

More info:
http://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2020/02/solo-ansamblis-brooklynvegan.html

SOLO ANSAMBLIS + BrooklynVegan

SOLO ANSAMBLIS: BrooklynVegan premieres Lithuanians' sophomore album "Olos" in full

"Lithuania’s Solo Ansamblis make atmospheric synthpop that pulls from a variety of black-clad, early-’80s post-punk subgenres. There is a rigid, robotic quality to their music, but they mix their synthesizers and drum machines with traditional rock instrumentation, giving their sound a much more visceral, human impact. It’s an appealing sound; danceable, melodic, gritty, a little sleazy… and their use of their native tongue completes the vibe. While you can hear the past, Solo Ansamblis are forging their own path."
–BrooklynVegan

One day ahead of Artoffact Records' release of Solo Ansamblis' sophomore full-length, Olos, BrooklynVegan has launched a premiere of the full album.

Stream Olos, here:
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/stream-lithuanian-dark-synthpop-group-solo-ansamblis-new-album-olos/

Buy, here:
https://orcd.co/soloansamblis

Solo Ansamblis is an exciting new voice in an emerging Baltic scene. In Solo Ansamblis' unique style, moody post-punk meets robotic techno, with lyrics sung entirely in the band's native Lithuanian. Using a combination of live instruments and electronic elements, the quartet conjures thumping energy and monotone melancholy, masterfully playing with the tension between these two extremes. 

Anthemic one minute, mournful the next, Solo Ansamblis' music references Kraftwerk, Joy Division, Underworld, and much more, and might resonate with fans of present-day greats like The Soft Moon and Preoccupations. 

Post-Punk.com has championed the band as "post-punk surrealists [creating] a pulsing electronic music incantation."

With 3/4 of the lineup also working as actors in theater and film, a theatrical streak runs through all of Solo Ansmablis' output and its shows are known to be spectacles of sight and sound. A recent appearance at MENT Festival in Slovenia earned the band these words from Under the Radar Magazine: "Goth synths permeate post-punk rhythms and a classic sense of retro-futurism. It sounds like the idea of the future as viewed from the past... Some sort of enthralling death disco!"

Next up is a hometown Vilnius show at the 1,300-capacity Kablys + Kultura, which is already sold out.

Mar 20 - Vilnius, Lithuania @ Kablys + Kultūra
Apr 17 - Kaunas, Lithuania @ Sakramentas
May 22 - Klaipeda, Lithuania @ Švyturys BHouse

More info:
http://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2019/12/solo-ansamblis-olos.html

Band photo by Tomas Terekas

NEW PRIMALS - "A Beast with Two Backs"

New Primals have premiered new single "A Beast with Two Backs," from upcoming debut album Horse Girl Energy.

Horse Girl Energy will be released March 20th on Learning Curve Records.

Stream the track, here:
https://newprimals.bandcamp.com/track/a-beast-with-two-backs

Pre-order the album, here:
https://learningcurverecords.myshopify.com/products/new-primals-horse-girl-energy-lp-preorder-3-20-2020

From Minneapolis, New Primals is the trio of vocalist/guitarist Sam Frederick, bassist Ali Terveen, and drummer Lars Oslund. The band straddles the line between the burly noise-rock of the AmRep scene in the '90s (Cows, The Jesus Lizard) and the sassy dance-punk made famous by labels like Three One G (Arab on Radar, Ex Models). Angular riffing and theatrical howls writhe atop an ironclad rhythm section.

Regarding new track "A Beast with Two Backs," Frederick states: “The song was written from the perspective of feeling helplessly controlled by lust and a need for physical intimacy. The lyrics touch on the fiery, manic nature of desire and romance."

Minneapolis' preeminent weekly, City Pages, describes a recent New Primals show as "a festival of the id, a madcap display of what would happen if you demolished your inhibitions and gave yourself to the animal sleeping in your brain." Kicking off with an album release show on March 20th, the band will take its "festival of the id" on the road for a spring tour:

Feb 29 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry - w/ Bambara
Mar 20 - Minneapolis, MN @ Mortimer’s (Album Release Show)
Mar 24 - Fayetteville, AR @ Backspace
Mar 25 - Denton, TX @ Mustard Zone - w/ Super Thief
Mar 26 - Austin, TX @ Highland House - w/ Super Thief
Mar 27 - Houston, TX @ Red Dwarf - w/ Super Thief
Mar 28 - New Orleans, LA @ Banks St Bar
Mar 30 - Tampa, FL @ House Show
Mar 31 - Miami, FL @ Churchill’s
Apr 2 - Atlanta, GA @ Star Bar
Apr 3 - Asheville, NC @ Static Age Records
Apr 5 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Century
Apr 10 - Saratoga Springs, NY @ Desperate Annie’s
Apr 11 - Brooklyn, NY @ Our Wicked Lady
Apr 14 - Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Tavern
Apr 15 - Nashville, TN @ DRKMTTR
Apr 16 - Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
Apr 17 - Milwaukee, WI @ X Ray Arcade

Band photo by Sylvia Jennings

SPECTRES - "Years of Lead"

SPECTRES: Vancouver post-punk perfectionists debut new single "Years of Lead" from upcoming Artoffact Records album "Nostalgia"

SPECTRES' new single "Years of Lead" is a glistening rocker, a melancholy anthem that exudes the radiant stylings of melodic '80s heroes like The Chameleons and Modern English. 

Stream "Years of Lead" and pre-order/pre-save/pre-add new album Nostalgia, here:
• Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/3RG1WtQB47ttIZc0ncNZaT
• Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/album/nostalgia/1493451569?ls=1
• Bandcamp: https://spectresvancouver.bandcamp.com/album/nostalgia

Founded in Vancouver in 2005 by vocalist Brian Gustavson, SPECTRES is commonly cited as one of the bands responsible for kicking off the renewed interest in the post-punk sound in Canada. Inspired initially by the original UK anarcho-punk bands of the late '70s and early '80s, SPECTRES mixes the ethics of that scene (Crass, The Mob, et al.) with the stylings of post-punk and an incredible knack for writing catchy songs. As a review on CVLT Nation put it, the band is "firmly rooted in punk, but it weaves dreamy melodies into the angst and frustration."

SPECTRES will release new album Nostalgia on March 13th. It is their first album of new material for Artoffact Records, a label whose roster contains, among other things, an array of crucial bands from across the post-punk spectrum – from Icelandic witches Kælan Mikla, to Lithuanian "sad-dance" experimentalists Solo Ansamblis, to SPECTRES and their hometown Vancouver labelmates ACTORS.

Nostalgia was produced by ACTORS frontman Jason Corbett at Jacknife Sound in Vancouver. It follows three independent albums (all reissued by Artoffact Records in 2019).

SPECTRES will embark on a US West Coast tour in March:

Feb 28 - Vancouver, BC @ ARC
Mar 6 - Portland, OR @ Blackwater Bar
Mar 7 - Oakland, CA @ First Church of the Buzzard
Mar 8 - Los Angeles, CA @ Part Time Punks
Mar 10 - San Diego, CA @ The Whistle Stop
Mar 11 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Rec Room
Mar 12 - San Francisco, CA @ The Eagle
Mar 13 - Chico, CA @ Naked Lounge
Mar 14 - Portland, OR @ Lovecraft

More info:
http://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2019/12/spectres-nostalgia.html

Band photo by Lindsay Wallace

SOLO ANSAMBLIS - "Baloje" video

SOLO ANSAMBLIS: Post-Punk.com premieres Lithuanians' "Baloje" music video; Artoffact Records prepares for release of sophomore album "Olos"


Solo Ansamblis has teamed with Post-Punk.com to unveil the official music video for "Baloje," a single off the Lithuanian band's upcoming sophomore album, Olos.

Olos will be released February 21st on Artoffact Records (Kælan Mikla, Cloud Rat, GOLD).

Stream the official "Baloje" video, here:
https://www.post-punk.com/lithuanian-post-punk-surrealists-solo-ansamblis-unveil-their-icarian-video-for-baloje/

Pre-order/pre-save/pre-add the new album, here:

https://orcd.co/soloansamblis

In Solo Ansamblis' unique style, moody post-punk meets robotic techno, with lyrics sung entirely in the band's native Lithuanian. Using a combination of live instruments and electronic elements, the quartet conjures thumping energy and monotone melancholy, masterfully playing with the tension between these two extremes. Anthemic one minute, mournful the next, Solo Ansamblis' music references Kraftwerk, Joy Division, Underworld, and much more, and might resonate with fans of present-day greats like The Soft Moon and Preoccupations. A recent appearance at MENT Festival in Slovenia earned the band these enthusiastic words from Under the Radar Magazine:

"Goth synths permeate post-punk rhythms and a classic sense of retro-futurism. It sounds like the idea of the future as viewed from the past... Some sort of enthralling death disco!"

The band's "Baloje" video, making its debut today, is a mix of live action and animation, directed by acclaimed Lithuanian artist GoraParasit who says the work is based on the Greek myth of Icarus.

The band has given this statement about the song: “Usually changes are possible after collapse of inner order. Improvements come after learning from mistakes. In our song 'Baloje,' we talk about reaching the bottom, but it is the only solid foundation from which we lean against and start building a new 'me'."

Upcoming shows:
Mar 20 - Vilnius, Lithuania @ Kablys + Kultūra
Apr 17 - Kaunas, Lithuania @ Sakramentas
May 22 - Klaipeda, Lithuania @ Švyturys BHouse

More info:
http://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2019/12/solo-ansamblis-olos.html

Band photo by Tomas Terekas