“I suppose we’re all chasing something that resembles salvation, something that calms our bones. Maybe this is some small slice of that. Maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s chaos in soft clothes. Maybe it’s frightened. Maybe it’s fearless. Maybe it’s both. Or maybe it’s nothing. I don’t know, but I think about this: one day I’m going to be dust. And when my soul splits, maybe this will be the thing that sneaks me through the gates. If not, well, those are the breaks.”
—James Alex [Quiet Slang]
“Discover yourself with roller skating!” reads a homely sign at the end of Beach Slang’s new soundrunk visual for their single taken from their album “A Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings” “Spin The Dial.” Despite my oh-too-personal and painful relationship with gravity, Beach Slang’s new video is selling me on the blades. Three badass roller skaters cruise along the California strip with heart-shaped sunglasses, colorful shorts, and bedazzled jackets. Cartwheels, spins, and seamless cruisin’ alongside pals make “discovering yourself” seem like a breeze as lead singer James Alex proclaims romantic notions for a grungy renegade (“I got dust in my lips and a limp in my charm/ But got a halo on my heart”). Watch director Jason Lester’s lo-fi video
On February 10th, Beach Slang will release the second installment of their mixtape cover series Here, I Made This For You (via Polyvinyl). The latest release from the project is a cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Sometimes Always.” . The cover follows the Adverts’ “Bored Teenagers.” Other covers on the EP include Tommy Keene, the Modern Lovers, and the Candyskins. Last year, Beach Slang released a new album, A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings. A curious title, perhaps, coming from a fortysomething songwriter, but for such a miscreant romantic as Alex – mission statement: “We’re here to punch you right in the heart” – rock’n’roll is the eternal elixir of youth.
Our cover of “Sometimes Always” by The Jesus and Mary Chain appears on Here, I Made This For You Vol. 2, our second covers mixtape, due out February 10th, 2017.
Beach Slang, “Throwaways” (Polyvinyl Records)
No one’s going to make a case for Beach Slang’s The Things We Do to Find People Who Feel Like Us as album of the year—nor should they. This is a record of straightforward rock, after all. What the album and its opener “Throwaways” do, however, is set the scene for some of the most explosive and uplifting rock music heard since Japandroids’ “House That Heaven Built.” If you caught either of their two shows at the Bodega recently then you’ll already be a huge fan.
“Hi we’re Beach Slang and we’re here to punch you in the heart!” singer James Alex said as Beach Slang opened their set. Alex’s charisma is through the roof, his velvet sport coat was a staple all week and Beach Slang held their own when I saw them across multiple showcases during the week. The power-punk outfit from Philadelphia demanded attention on stage and got it every time with tracks off of 2015’s Polyvinyl release The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us. They’re a pop punk that you want to keep listening to, ‘cause despite the moments when they might be reminiscent of late 00’s radio bands, Alex is still as punk as they come
CAR SEAT HEADREST – TEENS OF DENIAL
‘Teens of Denial’ is the thirteenth album in Car Seat Headrest’s (aka 23-year-old Will Toledo) oeuvre, second on Matador, and first to be recorded in a proper studio with a full band and producer (Steve Fisk). On Denial, Toledo moves from bedroom pop to something approaching classic-rock grandeur and huge (if detailed and personal) narrative ambitions, with nods to the Cars, Pavement, Jonathan Richman, Wire, and William Onyeabor. By turns tender and caustic, empathetic and solipsistic, literary and vernacular, profound and profane, self-loathing and self-aggrandizing, he conjures a specifically 21st century mindset, a product of information overload, the loneliness it can foster, and the escape music can provide. At the heart of the album sits the 11:32 ‘Ballad of the Costa Concordia,’ which has more musical ideas than most whole albums (and at that length, it uses them all). Horns, keyboards, and elegant instrumental interludes set off art-garage moments; vivid vocal harmonies follow punk frenzy. The selfish captain of the capsized cruise liner in the Mediterranean in 2013 becomes a metaphor for struggles of the individual in society, as experienced by one hungover young man on the verge of adulthood.
2LP – Double Vinyl with Download.
Psych-pop masterpiece from two of the best to ever do it. Los Angeles native and weirdo-pop enthusiast Ariel Pink joins forces with lo-fi pop pioneer R. Stevie Moore in a crazy freak-out extravaganza. Back in 2012, two leaders of the modern psych scene colluded together in making a 60+ track album. Here, we have the definitive collection of songs from ‘Ku Klux Glam’. Re-mastered and compiled by R. Stevie Moore, this is a presentation of this record in it’s clearest form.
Faun Fables are back with ‘Born Of The Sun’. Since 1998, Faun Fables has been the musical world of Dawn McCarthy, visited in collaboration with her partner Nils Frykdhal. In early times, their wild spirit roamed the streets and hills of the SF / Oakland community while, pilgrim-like, wandering the world and issuing two albums of deeply-rooted, swirlingly other folk music in 1999 and 2001. With the release of ‘Family Album’ in 2004, Drag City got involved and ‘The Transit Rider’ (2006), ‘A Table Forgotten’ (2008) and ‘Light Of A Vaster Dark’ (2010) followed. Now, suddenly, it’s 2016. Six years have passed since ‘Light Of A Vaster Dark’ appeared. Life has happened, in the form of three children born to Dawn and Nils.
Anyone who has spent time in the thrall of Faun Fables’ bewitching sound knows that this was the dream; beyond Dawn’s passion for song, dance, theatre and all manner of folklore (plus a regular regimen of yodelling), the mythic shadows of home and hearth, friends and family, have infused all of their expressions. Now, raising the family that was once only dreamed about makes for an earthier and more expansive Faun Fables album, informed by the slow and sudden progress of time that occurs when we are with the very young.
‘Born Of The Sun’ is in itself another birthing, the songs gestating over several years, then recorded mostly in concentrated periods over the past two winters. On previous albums, the passions of Faun Fables seemed to be laid firmly on the stones of the Old World. The minstrels who cavorted across the cover of ‘Mother Twilight’ seemed out of another, hard-to-place time. ‘Born Of The Sun’ continues on in this exalted tradition but also reflects the rhythms of family living, where each day is a new and irreversible step forward through the necessarily scorched earth of raising children.
Where ‘Family Album’ and ‘A Table Forgotten’ looked yearningly through time at the spiritual natures of communal living, ‘Born Of The Sun’ is forged in the crucible of now and, as such, has a feeling apart from the previous days of Faun Fables.
Dawn and Nils and the kids (whose vocals on ‘Wild Kids Rant’ suggest they are following their parents’ path into the forest) are embracing the phenomena of creation as they move inexorably forward. ‘Born Of The Sun’ is the bountiful and exuberant album of this place and time – an old, candlelit world of arcane beliefs in our brightly-lit world, growing ever more profound in the light of perpetual discovery that bathes all of Faun Fables’ songs.
An enchanting and often beguiling mix of traditional medieval folk and swirling Californian psychedelic sounds. Progressive but coherent chord changes and textures develop as time goes on, building and morphing into a cacophony of instrumental depth and vocal intensity. Fascinating and thoroughly skilled instrumentation and (in places) frightening heart-wrenchingly poignant lyricism. A Journey not to be missed.
Beach Slang’s second full-length is a crash-and-thunder collection of songs about what it takes to keep yourself going, to make it through the rest of the night – hell, through the rest of your youth – and beyond. Frontman James Alex wrote much of ‘A Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings’ on their first album’s support tour, during which he spent a lot of time with the kids who’d picked up the record. “A lot of the songs [on Loud Bash] are the stories of the kids who got turned on to Beach Slang by the first album,” says Alex. “They’re autobiographical, too, but kind of at a remove – I’m not that young kid anymore, but I used to be. You know how it is; rock and roll is a new crop of 15-year-olds picking up guitars every year and having at it. There was something really cool about documenting someone elses life, but seeing myself in it. I suppose that’s why we connect. We’re all kind of one big gang.” LP – Black Vinyl. LP+ – Limited Clear with Blue Splatter Vinyl.
BEACH HOUSE – ZEBRA
“Zebra” was Beach House’s follow up EP to the highly acclaimed breakthrough album “Teen Dream” which was centered around that album’s lead-off cut.
Philadelphia’s Beach Slang seem to exist in a state of constant tumult A breakdown a break up on stage was soon followed by assurances to the contrary that was soon followed by a band member leaving . During a tense and volatile set in Salt Lake City, frontman James Alex declared the band over on stage. Guitars were thrown, words were exchanged and the whole thing was posted on the internet within minutes. “It was a molehill that became a mountain,” Alex says sheepishly.
As far as I’m concerned it would be a true goddamn shame if Beach Slang were to break up right now, having seen them perform a storming set at the Bodega in nottingham just a few weeks ago , The Band are making some really great rock music, and it would be a shame to lose that. But the band chaos is oddly consistent with the lineage into which Beach Slang have inserted themselves. This is exactly how the Replacements behaved at their own artistic peak (it’s no accident that the Replacements’ 1985 live album was titled The Shit Hits The Fans. And yeah, you can hear plenty of Westerberg in “Punks In A Disco Bar,” but you’re missing out if you think Beach Slang are just replicating the Replacements. There’s a whole history of anthemic guitar-rock written into this thing . The song’s title sounds like a scene from Richard Linklater’s “Everybody Wants Some” .
Philadelphia’s DIY scene seems to be thriving at the moment, with an host of acts breaking through over the past 18-months. The latest from the area we’re excited about are Beach Slang. The post-punk outfit are preparing for the release of their debut album ‘The Things We Do To Find People Like Us’ next month.
Ahead of its release the band have shared online it’s latest cut, ‘Young & Alive’ – which sees the East Coast quartet bring to the table another brilliantly snarly, in you’re face punk number, plied with the ever-reverberating lyrics of “We are Young & Alive” – it isn’t a track you’ll want to forget in a hurry.
“Young & Alive” appears on our upcoming album, The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us, out 10/30/15 on Polyvinyl Records (North America), Moorworks (Japan), Big Scary Monsters (UK & Europe) and Cooking Vinyl (Australia & New Zealand). Beach Slang are a three piece punk rock band from Philadelphia. Members also play in Weston, Crybaby and Ex-Friends. They have been described as sounding like “a one-night stand between The Psychedelic Furs and The Replacements”.
“Go truth or dare like brats tonight. It’s wild. Go shake your Cher. Go bake a dime. We are young and alive. Go bang the snares and amplifiers. It’s wild. Take down your hair. Wake up the night. We are young and alive. Go barely care with all your might. It’s wild. Go scare your skull. Bring it to life. We are young and alive. Go punch the air with things you write. It’s wild. We are awake with hearts to riot. We are young and alive.”
Beach Slang release their debut LP ’The Things We Do To Find People Like Us’ on October 30th via Polyvinyl Records. They will also be at the Bodega in Nottingham
”Bad Art & Weirdo Ideas”(from The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us)
”This song is for a friend who really needed to hear it. It’s strange how really brilliant some people can be and just never know it. I wanted to remind her. I don’t know,Stephen Merritt said this thing once about there only being two types of Music that matter – pop and avant garde. This was me listening to way too much Jesus & Mary Chain and having a go at writing a loud pop song. I think maybe I even got some of it right. Who knows?”
The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us. You get 1 track now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app ), released 30th October 2015. Beach Slang took off so quickly. With nothing but a pair of EPs under their belt, the scrappy Philadelphia three-piece was able to get themselves booked on festivals and tours alongside bands like Cursive, Knapsack, Modern Baseball, and The Hotelier, not to mention a label deal with indie stalwart Polyvinyl Records. But it’s not hard to crack the code of the Slang’s appeal. There is a timeless universality behind Beach Slang’s lyrics, one that celebrates the idea of being young and carefree (regardless of how old you actually are). Throw a dart at any of their insert sheets and you’ll no doubt nail a lyric about turning the stereo up, singing along with your best friends, and feeling alive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7nXvOTqyCY
Now, after a seemingly endless wait, Beach Slang are finally, finally ready to unleash The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us, their long-anticipated debut album. Though they’ve got a few new tricks in their arsenal, including additional guitarist Ruben Gallego, the album is more of the same, thematically, from the Slangers. The album’s first single, “Bad Art & Weirdo Ideas” is a pretty good example of where they’re at. It packs in their trademark hopeless romanticism and a lust for nostalgia over emotional vulnerability. “I’ve always felt stuck, alone, or ashamed!” James Alex sings with a hushed scream, before giving way to the “ah-ah-ahs!” and “ooo-oohs!” that you’ll no doubt be shouting back instantly.
So here it is, the first taste of one of the most anticipated records of the year. Let its chords dig into your brain. Turn your speakers up, and feel this song—the soundtrack for the angry, young, and wild.
The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us came out on October 30th from Polyvinyl. Catch Beach Slang on tour.
After releasing two of last year’s most propulsive and promising EPs, Beach Slang — led by punk veteran James Alex from Philadelphia bottle up all their angst, energy, and youthful disposition into their firecracker of a debut album, The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us. The urgency of that title speaks to the band’s all-or-nothing temperament, which shuffles between bold declarations and nostalgic self-affirmations, and tracks like “Young & Alive” and “Noisy Heaven” provide the proper ammunition to prove that these guys burn bright, catch the band at the Bodega in Nottingham in February 2016.
“Bad Art & Weirdo Ideas” appears on our upcoming album, The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us, out on Polyvinyl Records (North America), Moorworks (Japan), Big Scary Monsters (UK & Europe) and Cooking Vinyl (Australia & New Zealand).
“The sound of your heart is wired to break. Too fucked up to love, but too soft to hate. The hum of your lungs is my favorite thing and the air you shove out into my mouth. I’ve always felt stuck, alone or ashamed. The gutter’s too tough, the stars are too safe. I’m always that kid always out of place. I try to get found, but I’ve never known how. I’m tracing the lines on your handsome face, the scars on your arms, the shape of your veins. We are not alone. We are not mistakes. Don’t whisper now. We’re allowed to be loud.”
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