Towards the end of Talking Heads’ career, all four members of the band gathered in the studio with Lou Reed to record the Velvets’ “Femme Fatale.” The result came out on a Tom Tom Club LP (Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom), but the credits sure read like Talking Heads + Lou: Tina Weymouth on bass and keyboard, ChrisFrantz on drums, Jerry Harrison on keys, David Byrne on slide and rhythm guitar, and Lou Reed on lead and rhythm guitar. Weymouth sings Nico’s part and everyone else joins in on backup vocals.
Rolling Stone reported news of the NYC supersession in 1987. It provided the happy ending to “Are Four (Talking) Heads Better Than One?,” a profile that suggested the foursome was held together with Scotch tape and chewing gum, and contained some bons mots from Lou:
Back in earlier, calmer days, the band looked to Lou Reed as a sort of patron saint. He doled out advice like “Get some dynamics in your songs” or “David should wear a long-sleeved shirt – his arms are too hairy.” And more profound warnings, which the band still remembers today. Chris: “Lou Reed once told us, ‘Man, I’ve gotta go out on tour again. People want to view the body.’” Tina: “He told us, ‘A band is like a fist of many fingers. Whereas record companies like to ego-massage one finger and break it off.’”
The Byrne/Frantz/Harrison/Reed/Weymouth “Femme Fatale”:
Following on from their acclaimed 2015 debut Down Time (released on Bedroom Suck in Australia, Fire Records in the UK), Her is a shining jewel of an album. Elizabeth Mitchell’s voice is a thing of unearthly beauty, capable of soaring and swooping in shiver-inducing ways. As a songwriter she is equally arresting, addressing desires and dreams with affecting frankness.
In Totally Mild she is joined by guitar magician Zachary Schneider, drummer Ashley Bundang and bassist Lehmann Smith. In the last few years the band have developed a quasi-psychic intensity, surging forward or pulling back in seamless unison. This intensity has been captured in crystalline form by producer and one-time Architecture In Helsinki member James Cecil. Her is polished and spacious, while never losing the feeling of a band in full flight.
After Down Time’s release, Totally Mild toured UK/Europe in 2015, then hit the US in early 2017, playing SXSW and a string of LA/NYC shows. In Australia they have played Meredith Music Festival and shared stages with the likes of Real Estate, Kurt Vile, Best Coast, DIIV and The Chills.
About the new album, Mitchell says “Her is a record of failure and victory, new desire, stale romance, queer domesticity and what comes when the party is over. I was torn between a new domestic life and the impulse to tear it all away with bad choices. I fell in love, but I wrestled for independence. I was always trying to prove that I didn’t need anyone; my wife, my friends, my band. Her is a document of a woman struggling with the idea of potential. We are told that we could be limitless, but we wrestle with unseen personal and structural walls.”
Mood rises and falls expertly throughout the album: Working Like A Crow, originally written for a children’s choir, is simple in its self-sufficiency. From One Another is an eulogy for a toxic relation- ship given the most graceful pop setting. Mitchell’s love for piano balladry is showcased on Lucky Stars, while Today Tonight is kinetic, dynamic guitar pop at its finest..
Cathedral is the first single from Golden Rise, Mt. Mountain’s third LP in as many years. Recorded at Studio Sleepwalkers Dread with Ron Pollard (Tangled Thoughts of Leaving, Meniscus, Hideous Sun Demon), it follows on from 2017’s conceptually ambitious Dust. Whereas Dust unfolded like a long-take of harsh but beautiful desert landscapes, Golden Rise’ reveals itself like a series of photographs in song form; 10 tracks that stand on their own, yet best experienced in reference to each other and the album’s celestial evocations. Harking back to Mt. Mountain’s 2016 debut Cosmos Terros, Golden Rise is mood music for all occasions – equally fit for night drives, contemplative stasis or revelations in darkened rooms.
Record of the week goes to Amyl & The Sniffers – I’m totally in love with this band. Good-time Australian punks, inspired by Sharpie culture and AC/DC riffs, its such a fun dumb record. I hope they come to the UK this year.
The best band Australia have to offer at the moment. Snarling, exciting and totally punk. If you love Australian 70’s style proto punk n’ roll look no further. Amyl and the Sniffers are a garage punk band who sing about biffs, blowjobs and Chiko rolls. They’re proudly sporting shitty tatts and they named their band after a seedy drug that provides a brief, intense euphoria, followed by a brutal headache – which may or may not be a metaphor. With the mullets, the aggression and the unflinching embrace of Australiana, Amyl and the Sniffers have been likened to the sharpie subculture of the ‘70s – a pre-punk movement that was birthed in Melbourne and characterised by ‘sharp’ outfits and that quintessential Aussie larrikin attitude. The soundtrack to this era was Australian boogie: bands like Skyhooks, The Coloured Balls and AC/DC. AMY says she and the boys are definitely influenced by that ‘70s Aussie rock, but lyrically, she’s also intrigued by the storytelling of country singers like Dolly Parton; she likes the cheek of a Southern woman in the 1960s singing about cheating on her husband.
Shame – Songs Of Praise
Shame thrives on confrontation. Whether it be the seething intensity crackling throughout debut LP Songs of Praise or the adrenaline-pumping chaos that unfolds at Shame’s shows, it’s all fueled by feeling. NPR’s Bob Boilen noted, “Of the 70 bands I saw at this year’s SXSW, the band Shame seemed to mean what they played more than any other.”
Comprised of vocalist Charlie Steen, guitarists Sean Coyle-Smith and Eddie Green, bassist John Finerty, and drummer Charlie Forbes, the London-based five-piece began as school boys. From the outset, Shame built the band up from a foundation of DIY ethos while citing The Fall and Wire among its biggest musical influences.
Utilizing both the grit and sincerity of that musical background, Shame carved out a niche in the South London music scene and then barreled fearlessly into the angular, thrashing post-punk that would go on to make up Songs of Praise, their Dead Oceans debut. From “Gold Hole,” a tongue-in-cheek takedown of rock narcissism, to lead single “Concrete” detailing the overwhelming moment of realizing a relationship is doomed, to the frustrated “Tasteless” taking aim at the monotony of people droning through their day-to-day, Songs of Praise never pauses to catch its breath.
Produced by Nick Launay (Nick Cave, Arcade Fire) and recorded at Sunset Sound Los Angeles over the past few years, the band have taken many unlikely twists and turns, yet have always remained focused on the music and returning again to edge of the stage. “It’s a crazy making machine, it can chew you up as fast as it spits you out. A few years back we literally toured till the wheels came off and Leah’s brain literally started leaking out of her head” says the band’s Robert Levon Been. “It catches up with you, I know I’ve battled on and off with my own depression, and Pete’s head never came with any proper instructions. So you just gotta keep pushing buttons to see what happens.”
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club –
‘Wrong Creatures’ returns to the core of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s alchemy, yet plunges the knife in even further. From the Cave-esque murder balladry of ‘Haunt’ to the garage punk of ‘Little Thing Gone Wild’, it runs the gamut allowing the band to flex every muscle in their armour. They remain opaque about the songs’ greater meanings, fearful of past misunderstandings. “I find myself writing about death a lot,” says Hayes. “I find myself having a discussion with death, which sounds dark. For me, it’s dark humor.” Talking about mortality allows Hayes to explore life’s great mistakes and regrets. Channelling them through rolling riffs and dirge-laden rhythms that stir the pot before reaching boiling point.
Ultimately, the band may well be survivors of an era where rock & roll can often be overshadowed by dance pop and garish commercialism. Robert LevonBeen: “We are truly an island – come hell or high water, so it’s usually best to dress accordingly. Though I’m not sure what the proper attire is when drowning in fire. But leather usually goes with everything.”
The Courtneys, The Courtneys
The Courtneys debut reissued again on limited edition blue vinyl. Vancouver three-piece The Courtneys’ excellent 2013 self-titled debut reissued and available again on Flying Nun Records. Consistently propelling itself forward this collection of eight songs are drenched in summer hooks propelled from fuzzed out guitars and creamy vocals that are both nonchalant and introspective. Not having enough money in your bank account, crushing on pizza delivery boys along with the subtle yet alluring charm of Keanu Reeves all occupy the three Courtney’s minds with lo-fi urgency which doesn’t outstay it’s welcome. It is clear to hear why The Courtneys’ felt at home in New Zealand when they first toured there in the summer of 2015 and joined the Flying Nun roster. Their commitment to the fine balance of pop and idiosyncratic indie guitar music finds lineage between The Clean, Look Blue Go Purple, The Bats while diving deeper into the fuzzy world of the likes of Bailerspace.
Radar Men From The Moon –
Following their recent collab LP with Gnod, under the Temple ov BBV pseudonym, Eindhoven art-punk collective RMFTM (fka Radar Men From The Moon) have announced the third and final instalment in their ‘Subversive’ album trilogy – ‘Subversive III: De Spelende Mens’, due for release December 1st on Fuzz Club Records. Influenced by the ground-breaking sonic industrialism of Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire and Coil, as well the transcendent kinetic rhythms of Neu!, Faust and Amon Duul II, ‘Subversive III: De Spelende Mens’ see’s their industrial art-punk take on it’s most incessant, angular and free-flowing form in a frenzy of metallic drones, thunderous feedback stabs of synths and throbbing, repetitive krautrock rhythms that at times border on techno territory. With the Subversive series, RMFTM have sought to deconstruct and rebuild their creative process, pushing themselves to the limit with each and every release and ‘Spelende De Mens’, translated as ‘the playing man’, is the perfect way to conclude the series.
Skids – Burning Cities
Back in 1979, Scottish group Skids released their seminal debut ‘Scared To Dance’, an equally abrasive but more intellectual continuation of punk, but also one of the albums that helped establish the UK’s post-punk sound. Having not released a record in nearly 37 years, ‘Burning Cities’ marks their long-overdue return. Both the band and the album benefit greatly from Killing Joke bassist Youth’s punchy production, which aids the group as they simultaneously explore contemporary rock and reprise some of their early-eighties sound. ‘Burning Cities’ is the comeback album that has propelled Skids right back into relevance, in a time when their high-energy anti-establishment songwriting will resonate more than ever.
There’s a good spread of new releases out . We’ve new albums from Shame (including a limited blue vinyl LP), Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Arrows Of Love, Skids and the ‘Stranger Things 2’ soundtrack has also showed up a week early, so get that limited splatter vinyl quick! Two nice 7″s out – we have a limited gold vinyl single from Otis Redding plus a just announced brand new 7″ from Jack White; released on his Third Man Records label, this is a limited single taken from his forthcoming album ‘Boarding House Reach’ that will be out later in the year. All this plus reissues from Lloyd Parks, The Ting Tings, the ‘Don’t Look Now’ soundtrack and, finally, The Stooges ‘Highlights From The Fun House Sessions’ that is very limited indeed.
Amyl & The Sniffers Big Attraction / Giddy Up – Homeless Records
King Gizzard & The Wizard Lizard – Polydgondwannaland – Bear Tree Records (Indie Exclusive)
Little Bob & The Lollipops – Nobody But You – Mississippi Records
Shame – Songs Of Praise – Dead Oceans (Indie Exclusive)
Prettiest Eyes – Pools – Castle Face
Glass Candy – I Always Say Yes – Italians Do It Better (Coloured vinyl)
Penguin Cafe – The Red Book – Editions Penguin Cafe LTD
Heavy Metal – The Nietzschean Superman Of Dustbin Rock – Harbinger Sound
Toylettes – Toylettes – Harbinger Sound
Kanker Kommado – Low Tech – 1982-88 – Harbinger Sound
To Kill A King – The Spiritual Dark Place – These Are My Bones (Indie Exclusive)
Steve Ignorant’s Slice Of Life – Just Another 7″ – Harbinger Sound
Arrows Of Love – Product – I’m Not From London
Bronnt Industries Kapital – Arsenal – I Own You Records
Shame thrives on confrontation. Whether it be the seething intensity crackling throughout debut LP Songs of Praise or the adrenaline-pumping chaos that unfolds at Shame’s shows, it’s all fuelled by feeling.
Comprised of vocalist Charlie Steen, guitarists Sean Coyle-Smith and Eddie Green, bassist John Finerty, and drummer Charlie Forbes, the London-based five-piece began as school boys. From the outset, Shame built the band up from a foundation of DIY ethos while citing The Fall and Wire among its biggest musical influences. Utilizing both the grit and sincerity of that musical background, Shame carved out a niche in the South London music scene and then barreled fearlessly into the angular, thrashing post-punk that would go on to make up Songs of Praise, their Dead Oceans debut. From Gold Hole, a tongue-in-cheek takedown of rock narcissism, to lead single Concrete detailing the overwhelming moment of realizing a relationship is doomed, to the frustrated Tasteless taking aim at the monotony of people droning through their day-to- day.
The notion, however, that a scrappy post-punk band may have to deal with old-school rock stardom isn’t as far-fetched as it seems. They’re as ferocious as their acknowledged inspirations the Fall; even when the guitars aren’t turned up to a jet roar, Steen’s furious sneer gives them urgency (“My voice ain’t the best you’ve heard / And you can choose to hate my words / But do I give a fuck?” he asks on One Rizla). Best of all, though, they have huge, anthemic tunes to go with the anger.
I think the idea of the leather jacket-wearing, womanising, drug-fuelled rock star should be burned,” says CharlieSteen, the 20-year-old singer of Shame, who are 2018’s angriest, shoutiest young British guitar band.
“Destroyed for ever,” says the 21-year-old drummer, Charlie Forbes. “But at the same time,” adds Sheen, “with a lot of people I’ve grown up loving, like Bowie or Iggy Pop, there’s an attraction to someone who lives a lifestyle you’ll never be able to live, and you couldn’t live, because it’s so dysfunctional and damaging to you as a person. You can almost live your life through them.”
Steen thinks for a moment, then outlines the simple reason why Shame won’t become rock stars. “That lifestyle could only exist because of money. Bands can’t go out now and get a kilo of coke or drive to Las Vegas in a Ferrari. Now it’s get a gram of speed and sit in a Travelodge. That’s the reality of it.”.
Shame formed when the five members were in their mid-teens and bumped along anonymously for a while, part of a nascent south London scene of bands drawn together through mutual friends that also included HMLTD, GoatGirl and Dead Pretties. Over the past year, all four bands transcended their free-party origins, getting signed, getting acclaimed and forming the nucleus of something that’s been missing in British music for some time: an exciting, youthful guitar scene whose participants are not grimly fixated on securing their slice of the post-Britpop lads-with-lagers crowd.
The scene, they say, was more the result of necessity than anything else: when few of their friends liked guitar bands, those who did would group together. “It was weird to meet people the same age as you who liked the same music,” Steen says. “Lots of people we knew at school were into popping pills and going to techno nights. But then we started meeting these people who were engaged with something we didn’t think existed.”
Shame formed around the Queen’s Head pub in Brixton, the former headquarters of the Fat White Family. Forbes’s dad was a friend of the landlord, who let the young band rehearse in an upstairs room (“Every day,” Forbes says. “Just hop on the bus to the after school club”). There they met assorted luminaries and recidivists of the south London music scene, but managed to avoid the worst excesses of the Fat Whites and their friends, largely through being too young to realise they were hanging around with committed hard drug users (“We were oblivious,” Forbes says).
They stumbled over lucky break after lucky break. Not just getting a free rehearsal space for 15 months, until the Queen’s Head was converted into a gastropub, but meeting people who then gave them studio space, and getting free advice from musicians who had been chewed up and spat out by major labels. What they learned was the importance of keeping as much control as possible over their decisions, which led them to sign to indie imprint DeadOceans for their debut album, Songs of Praise. They also think the very grime of the Queen’s Head shaped them into being Shame: “I don’t think if we had started in a squeaky clean studio it would have been the same,” Forbes says.
They are less interested in offering comfort than demanding resolve: “We like to confront those who have committed acts of injustice, by writing snippy songs about them,” Forbes says. Just before last year’s general election they released one such song about the prime minister, Visa Vulture. “With each day the vacuous Mrs May steers our country closer and closer into the darkness and confusion that is Brexit, no doubt securing the best deal for herself and her cronies in the Conservative party,” they wrote on YouTube. “We would like to take this opportunity to humiliate and debase her frankly evil political record even further with this, the world’s worst love song.”
But given they’re still so young – all five members are 20 or 21 – they sometimes haven’t worked out where their principles are taking them. So there’s a mild disagreement between Forbes and Steen over whether they would let their music be used in a TV advert by some particularly awful company.
“No chance,” Forbes says. “No chance.” Then Steen recalls the Fat Whites turning down £100,000 from easyJet. “They wanted to use Whitest Boy on the Beach. Lias [Saoudi, the Fat Whites’ singer] said the biggest mistake of his life was not taking the hundred grand. But until we have to make that decision …”
Forbes interrupts, surprised that Steen is deciding band policy on his own. “Oh no, there’s no way.”
“Not with Primark or something,” Steen says. “But I’m not going to exclude everything. I would find it funny to have tequila flavour Bud Light playing one of our songs.”
The pair keep taking extreme positions, then realising they have to pull back from them, that their principles are racing away from practicality. When asked how they will respond when their crowd starts to include the beered-up geezers who tend to follow popular and boisterous guitar bands, Forbes says: “If I ever looked down from the stage and saw that, I would probably quit.”
Steen interrupts: “We wanna get rid and dissolve …” Forbes interrupts back: “Dissolve is too nice a word. Incinerate.”
And then Steen realises that suggesting pre-emptive incineration of their fans is, perhaps, a bit much. “We’re not going to discriminate against any person who comes to our show unless they do something unjust. But we don’t want to project any image of laddish behaviour. I’ve spoken to girls who feel that if they go into the pit they are going to get knocked about by older guys. And when that happens, you have to make a point to the crowd. We don’t want to stop anyone having fun, but we don’t want anyone to be hurt or harassed in any way.”
Their instinct for confrontation might make that a tightrope act. In one French TV appearance Steen, dressed in a T-shirt reading “Je suis Calais”, strutted across the presenters’ table and licked an audience member’s face – pick the wrong person for that, and he might well find himself called out on social media for the very things Forbes says the band want to avoid.
It’s oddly charming listening to a band working out what they think as they go along. For all the apparent certainties of Songs of Praise, for all their reputation for provocation – and the thrilling, tumbling rush of their music – they are very well aware of the limitations of being a rock band and of how damaging to mind and body it could be.
Last month, as Shame finished their year with a jaunt around Germany as a support slot, Steen had to call a stop to things. He was getting panic attacks; he wasn’t digesting his food; he was vomiting 15 times a day. “In that month we toured America, Canada, I did eight press days in Europe and London, played a show in Paris and then went on tour in Germany. Sitting in a van in the pitch black, and you’re in Hanover surrounded by snow and nothing else, and there’s only indistinguishable meat available … it can get you down.”
Over the next 12 months, Shame will take Songs of Praise around the world, to more and more people who will force them to confront their self-image as the band who are against things, whatever things happen to be on their minds. A band this exciting aren’t going to be allowed to sit still for long – in the weeks before they go to Australia at the end of January they are writing for their second album, because there will be no chance once the touring begins. They had better get used to the idea of more cans, more pitch black and even more indistinguishable meat, and not just in Hanover.
So might they become rock stars after all? Forbes suggests the very notion is “quite incredibly dated”, and Steen chips in. “Offensive as well, in a lot of ways. It will be a white male, skinny, perfect hair, who sleeps with women daily.”
That’s your principled position – but wouldn’t you really like to be rock stars, given the chance? “I’d just like a house with a pool table,” Steen says.
Songs of Praise is released on Dead Oceans on 12th January.
Check out the Ciaran Lyons-directed new video for ‘Static Resistance’, a track from the forthcoming new Hookworms album, ‘Microshift’, due out on February 2nd via Domino Recordings.
“‘Static Resistance’,” say the band, “is the oldest track on the album, we wrote and recorded the first version of it early 2015, not very long after ‘The Hum’ had been released. It’s one of only two pre-flood songs on the record. It’s a song about the wax and wane of depression and an eternal want to escape the life you’ve built.”
Live dates
FEBRUARY
23 LIVERPOOL Invisible Wind Factory
24 BRIGHTON Patterns MARCH
04 BIRMINGHAM Hare & Hounds
09 MANCHESTER White Hotel
10 MANCHESTER White Hotel
18 NEWCASTLE Cluny
24 LONDON Electric Brixton
25 SHEFFIELD Picturehouse Social
Esoteric Recordings announce the release of an official limited edition super deluxe boxed set celebrating 50 years of the legendary Procol Harum: Still There’ll Be More. This eight disc set comprises five CDs and three DVDs, of which the first three discs draw upon the key tracks from Procol Harum’s illustrious career. Disc four features the band’s legendary concert at the Hollywood Bowl on 21st September 1973 (with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Roger Wagner Chorale), whilst disc five features a previously unreleased concert at the Bournemouth Winter Gardens on 17th March 1976.
Of the DVD content, (NTSC – Region Free) which features over three and a half hours of footage, mostly previously unreleased, disc six begins with a performance of A Whiter Shade of Pale on the BBC TV show Top of the Pops from December 1967 before moving to the archives of the German Beat Club series. All of the band’s surviving performances for the show are here, including the entire un-broadcast raw video footage of the band’s Beat Club Workshop studio concert from 1971, shorn of the visual gimmickry of the actual broadcast, revealing the pure performance on DVD for the first time. Disc seven features the entire sixty-five minute recording session of a performance for the German Musikladen series in October 1973, most of which was never shown on television. Disc eight features more BBC TV performances, including a rendition of Pandora’s Box from Top of the Pops in September 1975 and the band’s set for the Sight and Sound In Concert series in March 1977.
This lavish re-mastered set also features a 68-page hard backed book with an essay by Patrick Humphries and a lengthy in depth commentary on the performances featured by respected Procol Harum authority Roland Clare. The book also includes many previously unseen photographs and memorabilia from Gary Brooker’s private collection. Still There’ll Be More also includes a 60cm x 40 cm reproduction poster from a Procol Harum concert (featuring support from Vivian Stanshall) in 1976.
Still There’ll Be More is the most elaborate celebration of Procol Harum’s music released to date and this deluxe boxed set is a fine tribute to 50 years of one of Britain’s greatest bands.
Typhoon‘s colossal and ambitious fourth LP Offerings is available everywhere . The album, which follows the journey of a man struggling to cope with the loss of his memories, has already garnered praise from NPR, Stereogum, and more for its unmatched lyricism and profound storytelling.
‘“Good lord this Typhoon album is brilliant…haven’t cried listening to a record since [Sufjan Stevens’].” Offerings is truly a wise and ruminative record.” – Bob Boilen, NPR
“The first compelling album of 2018” – Daily Mail (★★★★)
“Typhoon has succeeded in creating a profoundly human and poetic masterpiece on the edge of the concrete, which despite all its ambition remains multi-layered and cohesive at the same time (…) Rarely ever has forgetting been set to a better soundtrack and more appropriately staged than on this album. 9/10″ – Plattentests
“… one of the most ambitious, delicate, heartbreaking recordings ever.” – Vortex Magazine
“As early as we are into 2018 as we may be, Offerings already stands as a rare example of a band shooting for a terrifyingly ambitious album that not only holds up to that immense pressure, but exceeds expectations and succeeds on multiple levels, both grand and subtle. If you haven’t been paying attention to Typhoon already, it’s time to change that. 9/10”
Among our favourite New Yorkers, Public Access TV, go for the ‘difficult second album’ with the release of ‘Street Safari’ next month – the follow-up to their debut album ‘Never Enough’ two years ago.
Public Access TV have announced plans to release their new album ‘Street Safari’ in early 2018.
The band have confirmed they’ll release the follow-up to their ‘Never Enough’ debut in February, and have also firmed up plans for a full UK and European tour to coincide.
“I think it’s a cop-out to say that this is our mature album, or whatever cliche thing it is that bands say about their second album.” says frontman John Eatherly, in a press release. “There was no spiritual awakening or come-to-Jesus moment. We’re four young guys trying to figure our lives out, be good people, and a lot of the time find ourselves coming up short. The song is described by frontman John Eatherly as a “retrospective of our last teenage years after moving to NYC. ‘Livin’ that roach life’ is how we referred to our conditions. Fifty dollars a week income fuelling delusional self-indulgence. The golden years…”
Expressing this through songwriting is the challenge and I can only hope the deliverance.”
Prior to which, they have shared a new track from the record, ‘Lost In The Game’.,
Rob Jacobs and John McCowen thrive on restlessness. Their joint project Wei Zhongle has maintained a rotating cast of musicians through the five albums they’ve released under that name. The latest pleasant shock to the system from this Chicago-based outfit is the new album The Operators, out on February. 16th via Self Sabotage Records. The record is bouncy and bubbly yet cut through with hard angles and sharp points. Give a listen to this slithery beast of a song from the new LP and take care not to let it wrap around your cerebral cortex too tightly
On their latest album, The Operators, Wei Zhongle achieves a natural continuation and a stark departure from their previous output. Gone is the spacious brooding of the band’s most outré fare, replaced with a raw and potent funkiness, a radiant optimism, and undeniable ear-worm-ready hooks. It’s no less trance-inducing than they’ve been at their heaviest, but it’s a different sort of ecstasy, one marked by deep grooves, sinewy melodies, and frenetic paces.
Wei Zhongle was born in a midwestern oasis from a love of traditional Chinese court music and general esotericism. Now they make pop music. Led by guitarist & vocal gymnast Rob Jacobs, Wei Zhongle has had four differing line-ups over five albums released with avant-taste-makers like NNA Tapes, Hairy Spider Legs, and New Atlantis. Constants Rob Jacobs and John McCowen are now joined by workhorses Pat Keen (Ramp Local) and Phil Sudderberg, adding a burrowing depth of groove to fleeting melodies and clamorous reeds.
Give a listen to this slithery beast of a song from the new LP and take care not to let it wrap around your cerebral cortex too tightly
