New York band The Men have always been genre-morphic and unpredictable, but on their eighth album “Mercy”they have truly done something new as a band. For the first time since forming, they have now created three straight records with the same lineup, and the result is a sound that feels developed and continuous despite running the gamut of mood, in true Men fashion. Having this lineup stability has allowed the band to deepen and finesse the sounds they were exploring on 2017’s Drift and produce tracks that have a unique and distinct voice.
Mercy was recorded live at Serious Business studio to 2“ tape with Travis Harrison.The band did minimal overdubs,contributing to the urgent feel of the recording. The album is simply the sound of a band that has a deep and unjaded passion for songwriting and creation, working at the peak of their collaborative connection.
Since her 2016 debut album Emotions And Math, Margaret Glaspy has stunned us with her commanding guitar work and penchant for amorous songwriting. In fact, we adored that debut record so much we named it one of the best of 2016, and Glaspy one of that year’s best new artists. Two years later, she followed up that indelible release with an EP called Born Yesterday.
Now Glaspy has announced her new album titled “Devotion” that comes out in March. There’s a palpable sense of evolution demonstrated by lead single “Killing What Keeps Us Alive,” which finds her playing with more diverse and digital instrumentation. The track opens up with a roughly distorted vocal stack that rises with edgy synths, which suddenly evaporate to allow for a softer sound to emerge. Piano tones add a syrupy dimension to an already viscous experience. It’s a really sweet song that nestles in somewhere between ode and confessional, which is only enhanced by this super satisfying acoustic drum groove that comes in with the last chorus. Director Alex Chaloff’s music video captures some of that sentiment, which starts out in black and white as color is slowly added back in.
My new album, ‘Devotion’ will be available March 27th and the first single off the album, “Killing What Keeps Us Alive,”
“Devotion’‘ is very different from the last record. It’s not about being righteous or all-knowing, it’s about letting love in even when you don’t know what will happen when you do. It’s about devoting your heart to someone or something, against all odds.
“Killing What Keeps Us Alive” is the first single on Margaret Glaspy’s new album ‘Devotion’ out March 27.
Psych Ward is an irresistible slice of slacker-indie that is notable for it’s resigned, literal lyrics, and was inspired by Kaya Wilkins’ own experience in a mental health institution. Kaya’s Jagjaguwar debut, “Watch This Liquid Pour Itself”, due on 24th January 2020, is filled with images of pools of sweat, oceans, and other forms of wetness. On her first single, Kaya has been playing music since she was a tween, learning songs on her acoustic guitar and listening to Cody Chesnutt. And, being from originally from Norway, she also played in a black metal project. Although she remains at the center of her artistic process,
Acclaimed Seattle band Chastity Belt have returned with their first new music . This heartfelt new record, simply titled Chastity Belt, from Hardly Art records and Milk! records (Australia and New Zealand). Chastity Belt was co-produced by the band and Melina Duterte aka Jay Som.
The music video for “It Takes Time” from directors Claire Buss and Nick Shively. In the spirit of earlier music videos like “Different Now” and “Cool Slut,” this new clip finds the band flexing their comedic chops, with members Gretchen Grimm, Lydia Lund, Julia Shapiro, and Annie Truscott inhabiting multiple roles, including a nightclub lounge act. As Grimm explains, “We had the idea for a video set in a jazz lounge for a little while and we’re very grateful to Weird Dog for helping us bring it to life. We’re all huge fans of jazz and pasta. We have a special pasta dish that we cook when we’re together called La Vasta. It’s our famous dish, we’ve been making it since college and have shared many fond memories slurping it down together. Before we dig in we join hands in the prayer: When you’re here, you’re family.”
Seattle’s Chastity Belt have just shared a new song from their self-titled album, released September 20th. “Elena” is placid and dreamy, with layers of tranquil guitars and complementary vocal parts. “Over the past year, we all read and loved Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels,” says bassist Annie Truscott. “We individually related to the ways in which the main character’s sense of self is inextricably linked to her desire for love and validation both from lovers and friends. The overlapping voices on top of the whimsical wave-like instrumentals captures the universal feeling of having a conversation with yourself about yourself.”
Chastity Belt will be touring extensively this fall in Europe and North America in support of the record, and just announced a new run of North American tour dates
Fresh off a sold-out performance at the Tomorrow Never Knows festival in her native Chicago, Lala Lala aka Lillie West has shared a new digital single, “Legs, Run,” available to stream or download worldwide today. The song was written and performed by West, with production by Yoni Wolf of WHY?. Additionally, Lala Lala has debuted an accompanying music video from production house Weird Life that homages a familiar late ’90s favorite.
What happens at the end?? New song for you. Legs, Run. Preview of what’s to come, or something like that. Video homage to The Truman Show. See you in the multiverse
As Midwife, Denver based multi-instrumentalist Madeline Johnston plays what she describes as “Heaven Metal,” or emotive music about devastation. Johnston began developing the experimental pop project in 2015 while a resident of beloved Denver DIY space Rhinoceropolis. The venue/co-op started in the early aughts and nurtured local artists until 2016, when its doors were shuttered due to high tensions surrounding the safety of DIY spaces (not coincidentally following the horrific Ghost Ship fire in Oakland). Residents were displaced around Denver and artists like Midwife were forced to start over.
However, it was at Rhinoceropolis that Madeline became close with Colin Ward, an artistic confidant and friend to whom her new album, Forever, is dedicated. Madeline comments, “He was my roommate and was the embodiment of that place [Rhinoceropolis] in a lot of ways. We became really close friends there. I was always learning so much from him, about life and being an artist. He was an amazing teacher and friend to me.” When Ward passed away unexpectedly in 2018, she turned towards sound to express the indescribable feelings that partnered with her grief.
These mournful sounds ultimately developed into her new album, Forever. The 6-song LP is a latticework of soft focus guitars and precise melodies– anthems of light piercing through gray clouds of drone. On the track “C.R.F.W.,” we hear Colin Ward reading a poem that speaks of a leaf falling from a tree in autumn: “imagine the way a breeze feels against your leaf body while you finally don’t have to hold on anymore.” Johnston responds with slowly radiating tones, branches stretching out to hold the leaf one last time. “I wanted to write him a letter. I wanted to make something for him in his memory,” Madeline says of Forever.
On Forever, Midwife combines ambient and dream pop into nuanced, reverb-soaked music that is equally haunting and moving. Look for the album to be in stores on April 10th via The Flenser and see Midwife performing at Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands following its release, as part of the Flenser 10 Year showcase.
“Forever” Out April 10th and released by The Flenser
Wes Wilson, who designed concert posters for many prominent bands throughout the psychedelic movement in 1960s San Francisco, has died. His family announced in a Facebook post that he passed away peacefully at his home in Leann, MO, surrounded by his family on Friday.
Throughout his storied career, Wilson created posters for concerts put on by Bill Graham at his San Francisco venues including the Fillmore Auditorium and Fillmore West, as well as Chet Helms‘ concerts at the Avalon Ballroom. Along with fellow artists Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, Victor Moscoso, and Rick Griffin, Wilson helped usher in an entirely new art style of psychedelia by experimenting with fonts and colors, making it look as if the letters themselves were moving.
Robert Wesley Wilson was born in Sacramento, CA on July 15, 1937, and eventually found his way to San Francisco State where he worked at a small printing press to put himself through school. While working at the press, the demand for concert posters and handbills exploded with the advent of the Haight-Ashbury movement of the mid-to-late 1960s, and Wilson was more than happy to oblige the skyrocketing demand.
in the short-film series features poster artist Wes Wilson, who is generally acknowledged as the father of the ’60s rock concert poster. He helped pioneer what is now known as the psychedelic poster. His style of filling all available space with lettering, of creating fluid forms made from letters, and using flowing letters to create shapes became the standard that most psychedelic artists followed. It helped put the “psychedelic” in the art.
As the San Francisco-ballroom era came to a close, Wilson’s artwork became valued by a generation of concertgoers for its unique and trippy style, rather than their ability to convey information. When the hippies left the Haight and the spirit of the 1960s faded, Wilson became disillusioned with the growing commercialism of the concert poster industry, and retreated to a farm in the Ozarks in Missouri, where he lived until his death.
As the San Francisco-ballroom era came to a close, Wilson’s artwork became valued by a generation of concertgoers for its unique and trippy style, rather than their ability to convey information. When the hippies left the Haight and the spirit of the 1960s faded, Wilson became disillusioned with the growing commercialism of the concert poster industry, and retreated to a farm in the Ozarks in Missouri, where he lived until his death.
Today, Wilson’s concert posters hang in both art and history museums alike, including the Smithsonian and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art.
Well, I'm dyslexic so writing about something I love: Music, might help but it's most likely just full of mistakes. That title is also lyrics from The Drones song called I Don't Want To Change. Oh, my name is William and thanks for having a look.
