East Coast based Palehound was halfway through their first national headline tour supporting their newest album, “Black Friday”, when the world turned upside down. Everyone one of us probably remembers exactly where we were and what we were doing on that fateful weekend in mid-March, 2020 when we were all suddenly directed to scramble for cover… or, as the authorities called it, “shelter in place”.
Everyone has a story. No two stories are the same. We all see the world a little differently now. And so, what appears on the surface to be a short & sweet guitar-driven ditty about a hot summer day becomes something else entirely.
“How Long” kicks off innocently enough, a brisk, rockabilly-inflected twang of acoustic guitar hitting a fun, upbeat vibe. Or wait, is that actually anxiety fuelling that propuslive beat? Who can really tell these days — days that bleed one into another as if there’s no end in sight…
“How long ‘til a sweetness melts, How long til there rings a bell That signals us, Return from hell?”
“This is a true story about a day I had back in July, where a few friends came to meet us at a swimming hole,” Kempner explains. “At first it was a blissful day which then took a sharp turn when a bunch of biblical omens came suddenly from nowhere, water snakes, dark storm clouds, hail. It felt very familiar, and seemed to mock us.” Sound familiar?
Brooklyn based songwriter Juliet Quick has released “Circles” the first single off of her upcoming EP “Glass Years”.
The 5-minute song is one drenched in both sadness and perseverance. The song advocates for zoning out those who constantly try to give you advice on your life and career, noting that sometimes it’s what you need to do to keep your sanity. Juliet Quick builds worlds. Her songs are stark, sweet, weary, frank, immediate, vulnerably plainspoken, always sharply observed. On her forthcoming Glass Years EP, she carves out a space of her own by combining spare acoustics, playful synths, frenetic strings, and weeping lap steel. With these tools, the Hudson Valley-born, Brooklyn-living singer and songwriter reflects on climate terror, misogyny both subtle and unsubtle, self-interrogation, and holding on to hope.
The two verses that showcase this are right in the middle
Men tell me all kinds of things, I tend not to believe them posturing over me,they say, they’re just using reason
Don’t listen to the crust punks, they have no coherent politics you chase yourself around like that, you’ll wind up broke and nauseous again
Juliet’s singing has a similar style to Alexandra Savior. The instrumentation on “Circles” while minimal, letting her voice do the bulk of the work, perfectly compliment the song. The strings swirl around the track, coming in and out to accent Juliet’s lyrics. The drums only bang as the song swells to it’s peak and disappear almost as quickly as they came. Take a listen below and look out for the full EP coming out on March 5th.
All songs by Juliet Quick The Band: Nathan Kamal (violin, mandolin) Philip Joy (drums, synth) Josh Marre (lap steel guitar)
Released through Substitute Scene Records 2021, releases March 5th, 2021
My 2xLP Record Store Day release “All These Perfect Crosses” will be available digitally on 2/26/21 on Partisan Records. Accompanying the release, we’ve partnered with Neighborhood Comics to create a standard and deluxe print edition of Andrew Greenstone’sAll These Perfect Crosses comic. To celebrate, we’ve released two versions of “Calvary Court” (full band and piano versions), which is one of a number of songs illustrated in the comic book. You can pre-order both editions now below.
The vinyl is still available in some stores, check your local record shop. Huge thanks to Andrew Greenstone for creating something so cool around these songs, and to Neighborhood Comics for making us the first release on their publishing imprint. Stay Positive.
‘All These Perfect Crosses is a collection of songs that came from the sessions for Faith In The Future, We All Want The Same Things, and I Need A New War. For Craig, these three records are one body of work, and the songs on this collection are pieces of that larger narrative. For various reasons, these songs didn’t appear on the records they were recorded for, but they still tell a part of the same story: modern people trying to make it through, to keep their heads above water, to live past their mistakes, to survive.
As unexpected as it is to find Luluc closing out 2020 sharing a producer with pop behemoth Taylor Swift, it seems like a fitting end to this liminal, otherworldly year. The kinetic Aaron Dessner beat that opens the Australian duo’s fourth album is as much of a departure from the more muted tones of their previous work as its siblings brought to folklore – and yet, just as those propelled Swift’s heroine east from St Louis, this synthesised pulse also takes the listener on a journey.
The opening “Emerald City” began in a world halfway between the Melbourne of Luluc’s beginnings and the Brooklyn the duo have since come to call home: in Berlin in August 2018, where, on an invitation from Dessner,Zoë Randell and Steve Hassett flew out to perform at the PEOPLE festival. There, in an old East German radio-station-turned-venue-and-studio, the frequent collaborators – together with drummers JT Yates and Jason Treuting, and CJ Camerieri on trumpet – sought to translate the restless energy of the streets of New York into music.
Friends, festivals, transatlantic flights: the “Emerald City” origin story couldn’t be further from the Australian coast where Randell and Hassett finished mixing the album, seeing out the pandemic in isolation. And yet the thread that runs through “Dreamboat” is primarily an introspective one: of wild horses and weatherbirds, Wizard Of Oz metaphors and waking in the night. Luluc’s dream world, like the real one, is still complicated: at times as idyllic as the vision of “blue water and sunshine” in the Carpenters-esque “Dreaming”; at times a claustrophobic nightmare roping you in against your will.
The frantic buzz of that opening track is straight from the fast-paced, pre-pandemic world in which it was occasionally played live – but the anxieties tied up in its frenetic layers, punctuated by panicked bursts of trumpet, will be familiar to anyone who has lain awake these past few months, “tumbling and twisting” with “too much” in their head. The song is a stream of consciousness set in those anxious moments before sleep; above the noise, Randell’s voice a steady ship, with lines that seem prescient now. “Like Dorothy on the run,” she sings, “breaking my will, I stay in”.
The track is one of two to feature a Dessner co-production credit, Randell and Hassett handling the majority of the album solo. Combined with their decision to release independently rather than through long-time label Sub Pop – an amicable decision, Randell explains, driven by the duo’s desire to release this music into the world at their own pace – the implication is of full creative control. The simplicity at the core of the duo’s song writing remains intact, but the confidence that comes with experience allows them to lean into different choices as the songs dictate, be it duelling drummers, tenor saxophone or a touch of New York jazz guitar.
Wurlitzer and walking bass lend “Hey Hey” a vintage country feel, jazz drummer Dalton Hart working with Hassett to keep the song at a simmer until a melodic burst of sunshine shoots through the middle. “Weatherbirds” is built around another Dessner beat, but it’s the brightness of Hassett’s guitar and backing vocals that carry the song; and Arcade Fire touring member Stuart Bogie’s saxophone brings the pink flush of sundown to “Out Beyond”, a harmonious Randell-Hassett duet from the edge of the world.
But sometimes, the songs call for nothing at all. “All The Pretty Scenery”, a feather-light beauty in which the narrator’s gaze turns from her own interior world to that of another, features only Randell and Hassett, some vocal doubling the closest thing to trickery. “Gentle Steed”, recorded live in Berlin with Hassett on piano and Caimin Gilmore on double bass, falls somewhere between old folk song and mythology, Randell’s vocals timeless and pure. Her voice carries something of a myth-making quality in its timbre, making the everyday details that creep into her lyrics – a reference to “booze”, an affectionate “my man” designation for a partner – twice as charming.
The real world creeps in as it must: as the sound of cars “rolling their way into my notebook” among the diary-esque lyrics of “Hey Hey”; in the shape of an arachnid in “Spider”. But behind it all, a self-possessed Luluc in isolation, daydreaming of friends apart until they can once again cross the sea.
“Dreamboat” released through Sun Chaser Records October 23rd, 2020
Happy New Year everyone. Hope you’re doing alright in these ceaselessly overwhelming times. I’m emailing you to let you know Nation of Language have just released a new song today, and to share an early link to pre-order the 7″ vinyl record that it will be on, alongside our song “A Different Kind of Life”.
The new song is called “Deliver Me From Wondering Why“. We let ourselves get a little weird on this one. We hope you enjoy it. Maybe put it on and go for a drive, or just sit on the couch and stare into the middle distance. Both songs were produced by Nick Millhiser, who some of you may know as one half of Holy Ghost!, with whom we’ve shared stages in NYC, DC, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Both songs were also mastered by Heba Kadry, who has worked on all of our releases.
Brooklyn synthpop group Nation of Language are back with a very catchy new single that is reminiscent on Human League and OMD. “‘Deliver Me From Wondering Why’ is a bit of an exploration, rooted in a desire for something repetitious and a bit spacey — something that would make you really want to zone out or go for a long drive on the highway,” says Ian Devaney. “We worked on it with Nick Millhiser (Holy Ghost!) and it was just a really fun exercise in letting the track carry us wherever it was going to go. The backbone of the steady synth arpeggios and rhythms just leads endlessly forward and lets the mind wander around it.”
Now, unfortunately, due to supply chain problems, these records probably won’t be pressed and shipped until some time around June. But at the pace time has been moving the last 12 months, I’m sure June will be here disturbingly quickly.
Gustaf is a throwback art punk band from Brooklyn currently getting rave reviews. They’ve opened for many high-profile acts, including Beck, even though their debut single, “Mine,” is less than four months old. Fans of bands like Talking Heads and Television, Bodega, Patti Smith will want to keep an eye on this band. From: Brooklyn in New York City , USA
The have Impossible-to-resist grooves matched with the performance style of a former improv comedian. You’re going to love them: If super serious scene bands send your eyes rolling to the back of your head, Gustaf will win you back around. The Brooklyn five-piece might only a couple of singles to their name so far, but they’ve cultivated a reputation as one of the most fun new bands across the five boroughs (and, perhaps, beyond) thanks to their enthrallingly joyful live shows and inability not to inject everything they do with a playful spirit.
A song about the overly entitled and underwhelmed. Hi!! Produced and mixed by Chris Coady
released October 8th, 2020 Written and performed by Gustaf.
Gustaf is Lydia Gammill (vocals) Tine Hill (bass) Melissa Lucciola (drums) Vram Kherlopian (guitar and vocals) Tarra Thiessen (vocals and percussion)
We’re thrilled to announce that at long last our first single/music video “Mine” is out today! It’s part of a 7inch vinyl that’ll be available December 4th 2020 on Royal Mountain Records.
Will Butler has been a member of the band Arcade Fire for over 10 years. A few years ago Will Butler put out one of the best rock records of the year and he returned this year with one that explores what it is to be American. It also contemplates what one can do to help and how to be better from day-to-day. On “I Don’t Know What I Can Do” this seems pretty self-explanatory. “Close My Eyes” has this feeling of despair while trying to figure out how to not only combat that, but the daily struggle of the news constantly coming at you with no end in sight. There are foot-stomping rockers like the 50’s era “Surrender” and the more punk rock vibe of “Bethelhem”. The background singers Sara Dobbs, Julie Shore, and Jenny Shore shape this album with their harmonies and clapping almost as much as Will himself.
“Hide It Away” would have felt right in place on “Everything Now” by that other band he’s in. The beat and production on Will’s voice on “Hard Times” feels like he was listening to Billie Eilish while making this song. It’s an interesting outlier on the album and shows that he’s always up for experimenting. “Promised” could have easily fit onto his first record musically. “Not Gonna Die” a disco-laden tune and “Fine” a quiet story of a song close the record out. Will usually gets overshadowed by his brother, but his two solo efforts have truly been great.
Policy is American music—in the tradition of the Violent Femmes, The Breeders, The Modern Lovers, Bob Dylan, Smokey Robinson, The Magnetic Fields, Ghostface Killah. And John Lennon (I know, but it counts). Music where the holy fool runs afoul of the casual world.
Zachary Cale is an American songwriter/musician based in NYC. “False Spring” is his 6th full length album. To be released May 29th, 2020.
“False Spring”, Zachary Cale’s sixth full-length album, explores the spaces between the cold we left behind and the uncertainty ahead, between that fleeting, green warmth and its lack. “Shine a light on the path so I can see,” Cale sings on the album opener, “Shine,” making a plea for hope and happiness rather than merely claiming it, starting the search for whatever possibility may exist. And the album explores so many possible paths in ever-shifting textures. On “Come Morning,” Cale admits “I’m just sitting on a fence, two fingers out to test the wind” while on others songs — the disorienting anxiety of “Mad Season”; the bittersweet travel of “By Starlight”; the mix of hope and regret that comes from staying afloat on “Slide” — False Spring vacillates between facing down the troubling now, reckoning with and paying tribute to then, and sifting through the dark to find the faintest match-head of light for tomorrow.
Cale’s poetic lyrics etches out all these themes in complex layers and careful melodies, but the band he assembled for False Spring drives home the sense of openness and possibility in these songs. Cale is accompanied here by Brent Cordero on piano, Wurlitzer and organ, James Preston on bass, and Charles Burst and Jason Labbe on drums. Cale brought the songs to the studio and enlisted the players to flesh them out. He didn’t write parts for the musicians; they figured out their own way through these tunes. The record is the sound of the band finding itself, capturing these songs live in all their subtle, ragged glory. The album’s 16 songs run just over an hour, but the expansive record is, at every turn, an intimate affair, the listener invited in as these players find connections between this part and that, between one song and another, between melody and feeling.
Stylistically, the band never hems itself in, expanding its sound and morphing it over the album’s extended playing time. Early tracks set up shop within lean, dusty folk rock, but things change from there. There are touches of cosmic Americana and country and some Petty-esque tight yet gauzy rompers. Several tracks are instrumentals, acknowledging roots and stretching exercises for Cale and the band. The sweet, solo guitar of the title track, for instance, uncovers some of the early country-blues sounds humming under these tunes, while “Magnetic North” whips up a full-band blues stomper. These instrumentals, and the album as a whole, explore tangents and push at borders, but while they add variety they also — on a more fundamental level — suggest cohesion at the heart of the album’s wide-open sound and aesthetic.
False Spring is Cale’s first album in five years, since the gauzy and atmospheric gem, “Duskland”. The album was received well, a tour followed but within the year Cale refocused his energy on writing new material. In 2016 he went on a solo tour opening for Dan Bejar of Destroyer in smaller cities across America. More recently he’s been playing in a spattering of other bands and supporting other musical projects.
And all that time, he’s kept one foot in the studio, recording lots of material, several albums worth. And all of this on top of a full-time job. In short, like so many independent musicians, Zachary Cale has been working.
This new album, though, isn’t the sound of work at all. It’s the sound of setting thought aside to feel the music. This doesn’t set out to make a product; this album explores a process. And, as a result, these dusty, bittersweet tunes stretch out, they breathe. They live in all the in-between spaces Cale evokes so beautifully in his lyrics. The fleeting spring can leave, the new growth may get marred by frost, but the warmth of these songs — in all their hope and worry and anxiety and open possibility — will stay with you long after the final note ripples out of the speaker.
Released May 29th, 2020
Performed by:
Zachary Cale: vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric piano, synthesizer James Preston: bass Brent Cordero: piano, wurlitzer, organ Jason Labbe: drums, percussion Charles Burst: drums, percussion
Rising from the ashes of Brooklyn’s Grooms, Activity tread a similar dark, unsettling groove with krautrock rhythms, slashing guitars and creepy, surreal atmosphere. “Unmask Whoever” is doppelganger music for a parallel universe. This supergroup featuring members of Grooms, Field Mouse, and Russian Baths. Produced by Jeff Berner of Psychic TV. Mastered by Heba Kadry, known for her work with Bjork, Slowdive, Deerhunter, Japanese Breakfast, Cass McCombs, et al. Activity are an avant four-piece featuring Travis Johnson, and drummer Steve Levine, both from the band Grooms, bassist Zoë Browne from Field Mouse, and guitarist Jess Rees from Russian Baths. Their debut forms a casually menacing framework for lyrical themes of paranoia, exposed character flaws, and the broader human capacity for growth when an ugly truth is laid bare. Lead single Calls Your Name, establishes the record’s spectral aura with nauseated electronic bells, and a relentless Geoff Barrow-esque drum beat beneath a half-sung, half-spoken lyrics inspired by C.S. Lewis’s 1945 novel The Great Divorce.
In the novel, characters stuck in a grey, joyless conception of hell repeatedly deny opportunities to be taken into heaven, instead making excuses as to why they should remain in their embittered purgatory states. Allegorically, this speaks to the kind of opportunity for metamorphosis and positive change that’s possible when the depths of disillusionment are reached, an idea which permeates much of the album. Despite recurrent aches of discontentment, each track glows with radiant waves of catharsis while elegantly evoking jubilation and anguish within the same breadth, showing that the two are always around the corner from one another. For fans of Blonde Redhead, Clinic, Deerhunter and Broadcast.
“Earth Angel” is both sinister and sensuous and when singer Travis Johnson sings “I wanna fuck around” barely above a whisper, danger lurks.
When Claud Mintz’s mother finally heard the 13 songs on her kid’s magnetic first album, Super Monster, she asked a concerned question: Just how many people had her 21-year-old dated? From beginning to end, these sparkling pop tunes capture the assorted stages of a relationship’s delight and dejection—the giddy sensation of a first kiss during the beaming “Overnight,” the heartsick longing of a pending rejection during the yearning “Jordan,” the reluctant call for a requisite breakup during the smouldering “Ana.” Claud, though, replied that these songs detailed the phases of only two or three relationships, simply written during them or at various points after they were over.
The debut release on Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory Records, “Super Monster” is a vertiginous but joyous coming-of-age reckoning with such young love. Claud sees relationships as games of endless wonder, intrigue, and second-guesses, a roller-coaster thrilling you even when it’s terrifying. If “Gold” turns the tension and indecision of a bad match into an undeniable bit of lithe disco, “That’s Mr. Bitch To You” uses a spurt of righteous indignation to fuse a little soul and emo into one breathless hook. Super Monster is like a compulsive compilation that Claud culled from a lifetime of musical enthusiasms—the arcing alt-rock of ’90s airwaves, the rapturous pop of ’00s chart-toppers, the diligent genre-hopping of modern online life. Claud emerges as the chameleonic mastermind of this mélange, channelling all of love’s emotions into songs so sharp they make even the hardest times feel fun.
Perhaps you are in the throes of one of these romantic moments yourself right now, resentful of a frustrating paramour like Claud during “Pepsi” or indulging in lust like “In or In Between.” Or maybe these songs recall those wild days and tough situations. Incisive, instant, and addictive Super Monster works on either level—to remind us of love’s wild ups and downs or to help us deal with them in real time. In that way, Mom, these songs are about dating, well, everyone.
Discovered through SoundCloud demos and DIY shows in Chicago, the artist formerly known as Toast is the first signing to Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory Records imprint. Their tender, dreamlike melodies touch on relatable coming-of-age themes like unrequited love and the vulnerability of youth, but Claud also makes room for underrepresented snippets of life and love within the young LGBTQ+ community. Look out for Super Monster, Claud’s debut album, when it drops on.
Claud from the album ‘Super Monster’, out February 12th 2021 on Saddest Factory Records.
The Fat Angel Sings 