Frankie Cosmos, the project led by Greta Kline, released their fifth studio album, “Inner World Peace”, last Friday via Sub Pop.
“For me, ‘F.O.O.F’ is about creating random boundaries and schedules for yourself in an attempt to feel in control,” Greta Kline says. “Feeling time passing at varying speeds and time traveling with music. I love Cole [Montminy]’s art, and we were all so excited and grateful they were on board to make this video. I’ve struggled with feelings of isolation as a result of the pandemic, combined with escalated use of technology.
In a press release Kline says the song “is about wishing for inner peace, and conversely: spiraling. It’s about self-control and the fear of unlocking myself and overflowing. It’s also about finding joy in small moments – walking in circles, hoping to see the neighbor’s dog. I’m so happy we got to work with Sophia Bennett Holmes again for this music video (I last worked with her in 2014 on the ‘Art School’ video). I love the concept Sophia came up with—it tells its own story that fits in with the story of the song, but also takes it somewhere else. To me, the video is about blossoming because of a chill perspective (once I stop trying to jump into flight, I lift off the ground with ease); and then letting go of the need to be perceived, and instead disappearing and floating into the sunset. It perfectly captures the way meditation works—that once you stop focusing and trying too hard, it comes naturally.”
When “Inner World Peace” was announced the band shared the single “One Year Stand.” They later shared the album’s “Aftershook.” Then the band shared “F.O.O.F.”
This video embodies that, and the ending provides a sense of relief and freedom from those feelings. We could all stand to smash our computers and go touch some grass.” It’s from their new album “Inner World Peace“
“F.O.O.F.” by Frankie Cosmos from the album, ‘Inner World Peace,’ out October 21st, 2022 on Sub Pop Records.
Last week, Caroline Rose shared a new single, the sweeping “Love / Lover / Friend.” She has also announced a North American tour for 2023. Tickets are on sale now.
In a press release, Rose states: “I feel like I’ve really grown up in the last few years. I’ve learned, and am learning still, so much about life and love and all its many forms. When I first wrote this song it felt like the perfect jumping off place to tell a story about love… Not just love for another person but also for myself.”
When I first wrote this song it felt like the perfect jumping off place to tell a story about love…Not just love for another person but also for myself. I had reconnected with the pure joy of sitting down with an instrument and exploring all it has to offer. At the time I had no motivation to produce or even make anything. I didn’t want to be anywhere near a computer, but this song arrived and I knew what I wanted it to be pretty immediately.
There are, to me, some pretty obvious vocal references and some not so obvious ones. For a while I was almost exclusively listening to vocal arrangements and discovering the myriad of powerful ways people use their voices. I was also listening to a lot of soundtracks, classical compositions, and ambient music using tape and modular…Both of which I ended up really nerding out on. The past few years have been both a fun and emotional time to experiment.
I hope you enjoy.
cr
Rose released her latest album, “Superstar“, in 2020.
The WAEVE—a new project consisting of Rose Elinor Dougall and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon are to release their self-titled debut album February 3rd, 2023 via Transgressive Records. They have shared the album’s second single, the atmospheric and epic slow-burner “Drowning.” The opening brings to mind Sing Sing (Emma Anderson’s post-Lush band), before there are hints of early Doves and then it settles into simply sounding like The WAEVE.
The band collectively had this to say about the song in a press statement: “Drowning’ is one of the more meandering, cinematic songs on the album. The song touches on themes of allowing oneself to be subsumed by forces you can’t deny, whether that be romantically or life in general, of giving into the delicious risk of total failure and oblivion, despite one’s better judgment… Lyrically it comes from two different perspectives, with Rose’s vocal beginning as an intimate half secret, which then expands into soaring strings. By the end we hear Graham’s refrain, acquiescing to the rising tides of intensity and acceptance of a shared fate – ‘Hold on to me as the waters rise. Drowning again…’”
Previously The WAEVE shared the album’s first single, “Can I Call You,” via a video for it.
James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Florence & The Machine, Foals, HAIM) produced The WAEVE, which was recorded earlier this year. Dougall and Coxon started trading messages during lockdown, around Christmas 2020, and the project grew from there.any of the tracks feature Coxon on saxophone, one of the first instruments he picked up when he initially became a musician. Reference points for the album in the press release include: Sandy Denny, John and Beverly Martyn, Kevin Ayers, and Van der Graaf Generator.
A previous press release describes the band’s sound in more detail: “A liquid meeting of musical minds and talents. A powerful elixir of cinematic British folk-rock, post-punk, organic song writing and freefall jamming. The WAEVE strikes that magical English folk-rock alchemy of earth and ether. Heaviness and weightlessness. Darkness and light.”
The project was announced in April and in May they shared their debut single, “Something Pretty,” but actually isn’t featured on the album. Previously they also shared a trailer for the band.
Dougall released her last solo album, “A New Illusion”, in April 2019 via Vermillion, Coxon’s last solo album was 2012’s “A+E“, but he’s kept busy with soundtrack work, including releasing two albums of songs and score from the acclaimed TV show The End of the F***ing World and his 2021 score to the comic book Superstate.
Levitation 2022 starts tomorrow! Pass pickup starts tomorrow. Due to a fire at Parish on Monday (no one was hurt, thankfully), we have had to move some shows around.
Originally founded in 2008 as Austin Psych Fest by members of The Black Angels and friends, the annual festival (rechristened Levitation in honor of The 13th Floor Elevators in 2015) now encompasses four days of performances in venues throughout Austin’s Red River District and East Side, including Stubb’s, Mohawk, Scoot Inn, and Antone’s. While a rumored appearance of Bernie Sanders introducing King Gizzard never materialized, there was no shortage of epic moments over Halloween weekend, with packed crowds taking in sets from The Jesus and Mary Chain, L7, Automatic, Os Mutantes, Hunx & His Punx, A Giant Dog, Imarham, Osees, and many more.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” sighed Jim Reid towards the end of his legendarily noisy band’s glitch-riddled set. His defeated, depressive apology was once again subordinated to the yowling clamor of his brother William “struggling” with an apparently “kaput” guitar pedal. Jim again: “It’s just one of those nights isn’t it?” Is it? Referencing a friend who’s seen the Scottish shoegaze progenitors several times across their four decades, his description of a standard JAMC show
Saturday with a damn near perfect Heartless Bastards set, the one performance that lingered for me was Australia’s own Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. Having heard of their live prowess in advance of the show, I knew it was one performance that was not to be missed. Luckily for all attendees, (and unluckily for any photogs as it is a brutal place to cover) Mohawk was the chosen venue. The intimacy of the venue paired with Psychedelic Porn Crumpets colossal, unapologetic in-your-face shredding was the absolute pinnacle in a weekend of highlights.
Hunx and His Punx, Pale Dian, and Blushing. It’s always fun to see Hunx, and seeing Shannon out there enjoying herself onstage was really nice to see; I maybe could have asked for stronger sound, but not sure who that falls on. The shoegaze/dreampop due of Pale Dian and Blushing just brought noise and melody, and reminded me that although they might not carry the hype and adoration of the local scene, that doesn’t mean they’re not two extremely powerful forces in their craft.
Honestly, this festival continues to be a highlight. Every year, they grab from all different areas under the psychedelic umbrella, and we’re always getting the reward. The current format does make it harder to see all the bands on a budget, but definitely rewarding for the show you do hit up. Also, the Austin scene came strong. Pale Dian, Grivo, Troller, Black Angels, Blushing…not a single one of those bands didn’t punch above their weight class.
Insane kudos are due to the staff at Levitation. It is safe to say that the event is rapidly becoming one of the most superbly curated festivals in the world these days. Every act on stage this week, bar none, perfectly melded into a stiff Reverberation Appreciation Society cocktail.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27th
THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
OS MUTANTES • W.I.T.C.H. • SUPERORGANISM • PROTOMARTYR
BABE RAINBOW • SLIFT • AUTOMATIC • IMARHAN
SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN • PAINT
CLAUDE FONTAINE • 70s TUBERIDE • TEAR DUNGEON
top bands from Thursday night. Hey, they were sick to be fair.
W.I.T.C.H. Was pleasantly surprised by this set at Empire where sound can sometimes be an issue. Easily the happiest band to be playing live again after years of lay off. African Jazz vibes.W.I.T.C.H. played their Black Sabbath and James Brown-inspired funky stoner classics, including “Living in the Past,” “Chifundo,” “Waile,” “It’s Alright,” and “Lazy Bones.” All energy, grace, and joy, Chanda said: “We take nothing for granted. Thank you for being here.”
Automatic Super heavy bass lines with the best drummer of the night holding it down.
Protomartyr Detroit’s finest are always heavy while staying tight throughout the set. Lead singer Joe Casey still has one of the best growls in the business. Joe Casey – a poet of everyday desperation – rang out nearly as strong as his band’s impossibly muscular riffage. (Looking the part, Casey earned comparison to a high school gym teacher from somebody near me, though I’d argue State Farm salesman.) Though Protomartyr’s sombre, gray-toned industrial churn was likely some of the least outwardly psychedelic music of the weekend, the singer cast a dissociative spell with ghostly, effect-riddled backing vocals from Breeders sister Kelley Deal. Shuttling in place, spitting his words with nihilistic venom, and at one point manically hollering during a heart stopping “Up In The Tower” – Casey’s apocalyptic declamations held Stubb’s in a vice.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28th
KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR • VIAGRA BOYS • SHAME
PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS • THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS
DESIRE • ACID DAD • GLÜME • CLUB INTL • MOTHERMARY
KILLS BIRDS • WARM DRAG • LEAH SENIOR
Too weird for college rock, too muscular for electronicats, and too psychedelic for the goths that first celebrated them, the Legendary Pink Dots define a cult band. Nonetheless, the Netherlands-based act persists into its fourth decade. Still led by singer Edward Ka-Spel (as co-founder Phil Knight retired from the road), the Dots have only honed their potent mix of pulsing rhythm throbs, strident synth noise, and crunch guitar. Built for studio work, the band compels live with minimalist lights, complementing the rhythm pulse, and the deadpan Ka-Spel reveling in his darkly romantic tales of madness and obsession. The group’s latest “The Museum of Human Happiness” contributed highlights “Postcards From Home” and the wild-eyed “This Is the Museum” on Friday night,
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29th
KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD
SHAME • VIAGRA BOYS • OFF! • HEARTLESS BASTARDS
HUNX & HIS PUNX • THE MURLOCS • SUNFLOWER BEAN
SHE PAST AWAY • LEBANON HANOVER • TROPICAL FUCK STORM
DEATH VALLEY GIRLS • A GIANT DOG • ALEX MAAS • TEMPERS • BLK JKS
RINGO DEATHSTARR • HOOVERiii • FUCK MONEY • MUJERES PODRIDAS
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30th
THE BLACK ANGELS
L7 • COLD CAVE • LA FEMME • MOON DUO PRESENTS THE LIGHTSHIP
FRANKIE & THE WITCH FINGERS • SOFT KILL
PLEASURE VENOM • BLOOD RED SHOES • TEMPLE OF ANGELS
BLUSHING • LUCID EXPRESS • DAIISTAR • AMPLIFIED HEAT
And just like that, Levitation 2022 has come and gone as fast and powerful as a Slift guitar interlude. With absolutely no remorse for ear drums, the entire billing unconditionally brought their fucking A game. Earsplitting, breakneck, and with style points in spades, this years fest was one for the record books. 2 nights of Gizz, 4 nights of the Osees, La Femme and Black Angels closing things out, what is not to like? If you were following along, your ATH crew enlisted amongst the thronged masses in the Red River Cultural District this weekend to get a massive dose of culture. We spread out as much as possible over the weekend and below are our major takeaways and favorite shows you should be listening to and seeing live if you get the chance. Until next time, hit the jump.
Check out this long-lost collection of unreleased Nazz studio recordings created by a burgeoning young songwriter/producer by the name of Todd Rundgren!. Taken directly from the original master acetates, this box set collects the originally conceived 1968 rough mix of Nazz’s sophomore album “Nazz Nazz” created by Rundgren as he begins to learn the production techniques that made him the highly acclaimed producer he is today! Also contains unreleased, alternate mixes from 1967-1968 of tracks such as “Hello, It’s Me,” “Open My Eyes” and many more not available anywhere else! Includes a full-color booklet featuring liner notes and rare photos!
• Taken directly from the original master acetates, this box set collects the originally conceived 1968 rough mix of Nazz’s sophomore album “Nazz Nazz” created by Rundgren as he begins to learn the production techniques that made him the highly acclaimed producer he is today!
• Also contains unreleased, alternate mixes from 1967-1968 of tracks such as “Hello, It’s Me,” “Open My Eyes” and many more not available anywhere else!
• Includes a full-color booklet featuring liner notes and rare photos!
LIMITED EDITION 180 GRAM BLACK VINYL!! releases December 2nd, 2022 through Purple Pyramid
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds have shared a new song ahead of a forthcoming album. It’s called “Pretty Boy” and it features Johnny Marr on guitar.
In a press release, Gallagher said, “For this new record it was the first thing I wrote, the first thing I demoed and the first thing I finished, so it’s only right that it’s the first thing people get to hear. Massive shout out to my mainest man Johnny Marr for taking it somewhere special. Oh… and watch out for a cameo from me in the video… first one to spot me wins a bag of Flamin’ Hot Wotsits Giants!!”
Gallagher and his band recorded the track at the musician’s own London studio, where he co-produced the single with Paul “Strangeboy” Stacey. The next LP from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds is due out next year, although a release date and other details have not yet been announced.
The group’s previous LP, “Who Built the Moon?“, arrived in 2017. In 2019, they issued the “Black Star Dancing” EP. In 2021, Gallagher curated a greatest hits album compiling tracks from his output with High Flying Birds. The collection, titled “Back the Way We Came: Vol. 1 (2011 – 2021)“, landed last summer.
For this new record it was the first thing I wrote, the first thing I demoed and the first thing I finished, so it’s only right that it’s the first thing people get to hear. Massive shout out to my mainest man Johnny Marr for taking it somewhere special.
Brand new single – ‘Pretty Boy’ – the first to be revealed from Noel’s forthcoming new studio album.
Psych rockers The Black Angels perform the song outside Space ATX studio on the release of their new LP “Wilderness of Mirrors” .
There is a whole lot more Black Angels recordings in the world, with the iconic Austin heavy-psych troupe releasing their double new album “Wilderness of Mirrors” . This morning they shared one last teaser from the LP with the wailing, politically charged single “Empires Falling”—but today they’re also offering an additional sneak peek at the project with a live video of another new track titled “Icon.” “The song ‘Icon’ has been floating around for about 16 years,” the band clarifies. “[Vocalist Alex Maas] had the original song idea, but we wanted to see what happened if The Black Angels gave it a go!”
Performing the track for a recent “Neighborhoods” session, the band did their best to illustrate the new album’s title by setting up in the woods outside Space ATX recording studio in Austin, while the psychedelic camera effects often mirror the imagery of the band’s setup. “We imagine this filmed version of ‘Icon’ as what we would have sounded like deep in the Texas woods in the year 1865,” the band adds—a point enhanced by one member donning a Civil War cap in the clip. “It is extremely exciting for us to watch, anticipate, and experience the transition of what a song becomes. It’s like directions to hearing a ghost—a ghost of who one used to be.”
For some, home is a place. For others, it’s an idea. For Scout Gillett, it’s a nebulous concept with constantly changing definitions. It’s no wonder the New Yorker can’t quite get to grips with it—she’s displayed an adventurous spirit all her life, cutting her teeth in the Kansas City punk scene before departing for Brooklyn. It’s there that she’s made her base, at least for now. Gillett’s reaction to returning home to her native Missouri led to her digging deep into what made a place feel like home—“Nothing was as I’d remembered,” she recalled. “I felt homesick for a home that no longer seemed to exist”—sowing the seeds for what would become her debut album.
The single “One To Ten” and a subsequent EP of the same name, “No Roof No Floor” is a remarkable record full of hushed intimacy that creates its own unique type of intensity, Gillett’s voice able to turn on a dime from a whisper to a soaring, cathartic belt. It’s an album of many shades, autumnal enough in spots that an October release makes perfect sense. She’s arrived as close to fully-formed as it’s possible to get, updating early singles “Mother Of Myself” and “Signal” to fit into the 10-track record’s more expansive vision.
She’s been involved in music for longer than you’d think; the groundwork for Gillett’s solo endeavors was laid back in 2016 with the “Scout & the Snaggles” solo EP, referenced below, but it feels like she’s just getting started. “No Roof No Floor” is the kind of album you’ll regret missing out on, so make time for it the first chance you get.
Released on Captured Tracks
Richmond, Virginia’s James Goodson makes scrappy guitar rock that’s piled high with hooks
If there’s one belief that guides James Goodson’s songwriting, it’s that rock music should be fun. You can’t miss this when you talk to him—on our hour-long call, he uses the word nine times. “We’re talking about catchy guitar music. I think it’s undeniable that this is fun stuff,” he says, with one of many laughs. “Guitars and loud music, and cool lyrics, and all these things, it should be moving you and hitting you on some level that almost gets around your brain.” Goodson spoke before kicking off a run of East Coast shows with his “Pressure Cooker” collaborators Militarie Gun (and MSPaint), and days before the release of his debut album, “OUTOFBODY”, out now on Lame-O Records. It’s hardly a position he thought he would end up in when he first started releasing music as Dazy in 2020: “I definitely did not expect anybody to find it at all, so to even be talking to you about it now is pretty wild,” says Goodson.
But push play on any of his songs—I mean it, just throw a dart at his discography—and in a matter of seconds, you’ll see why listeners have gravitated to Dazy. Goodson’s one-man band has been fully formed from the start, and on “OUTOFBODY”, it only gets bigger and better.
Nowhere is this more apparent than on singles “Rollercoaster Ride,” “Split” and “On My Way,” none of which stretch past the two-minute mark. Goodson recalls “Rollercoaster Ride” as the result of him “trying to write something as poppy as possible,” pinpointing its echoing drum loop as a particular point of pride. Goodson’s insistent vocal interlocks with equally melodic guitar and mellotron lines in the track’s two-word choruses, creating the kind of ride you jump right back in line for the second it ends. On both “Split” and “On My Way,” Goodson’s wellbeing is entirely at the mercy of external forces (“You could paint a smile on my face / Then tell me something that would make it fade,” he sings on the former, while on the latter, he shrugs, “Comet won’t miss but I’ll just be on my way / Spreading that stress but I’ll just be on my way”), yet the sugar-rush instrumentals cast a rosy tint over even those situations, as if to prove there’s nothing more powerful than a pop song.
Goodson shouts out his beloved Ramones on “Choose Yr Ramone” and bemoans the writer’s dilemma on “Deadline.” He dismisses the never-ending quest to achieve someone else’s idea of success as a sucker’s game over the sludgy guitars and Primal Scream-y beat of “Ladder,” and avoids the void on “Asking Price,” which leaves room for R.E.M. jangle amid torrents of distortion. Goodson is more comfortable than ever with the sonic elements that he once felt self-conscious about, citing drum machines, in particular, as having “opened up a lot of songwriting stuff for me”—he not only inhabits the Dazy sound more confidently than ever on “OUTOFBODY”, but he also expands it.
On “Motionless Parade,” he reduces the tempo and gain both, delivering an imaginative strummer with some of his most resonant songwriting yet: “Nothing like a little fun thinking about what could go wrong,” he muses, formless fear paralyzing an otherwise pleasant scene. And on “Inside Voice,” Goodson pushes his vocals in a more natural, gentle direction, a development that he notes has been “a big part of Dazy” overall. “I guess we oughta try to say the things that stick to our insides,” he croons over acoustic guitar and mellotron, evoking an atmosphere of intimacy and vulnerability not yet seen in his discography.
“OUTOFBODY” ends with “Gone,” an absolute epic by Goodson’s standards, and his longest Dazy song to date at 3:45. The track “[went] through a lot of different versions,” he recalls, “and every time I would dust it off, I’d add something new to it.” With its mellotron strings and layered vocals, the track felt “too crazy” at times, but “I always knew it was going to be a closer on something. And I have a real soft spot for that huge closer. So I decided to just go nuts with it,” he says. If ever a Dazy track felt stadium rock-sized, it’s “Gone”—its dizzying crescendo is the kind of thing that gets people popping up out of even the cheap seats, with Goodson’s overlapping voices and volcanic guitars intertwined around the hopeful refrain, “And when they’re gone, you’ll be holding on.” It’s moments like this where you can forget that Dazy is just one person, recording in his spare room in Richmond. It already feels like much more.
“OUTOFBODY” is out now on Lame-O Records.
