Mikal Cronin has announced his fourth solo album album. “Seeker” is due out October 25th via Merge Records. Check out the Yasi Salek-directed video for his new single “Show Me.” Cronin has also announced an upcoming tour—find those dates at the Merge website.
“Show Me’ is a song about feeling small in an overwhelming world,” said Cronin. “There’s a not-quite-subtle hint of the Heartbreakers in the instrumentation and arrangement, having asked many friends to play or sing. It’s one of my favorite songs from the album, I hope you like it too.”
Seeker is Mikal Cronin’s fourth and finest full-length to date. Recorded live with a crew of close friends and engineer Jason Quever at Palmetto Studios in Los Angeles, it finds Cronin pushing his often devastating power pop into darker territory. “Fire—specifically its cycle of purging and reseeding the landscape—is a central theme to the record. Death and rebirth,” says Mikal. “I was looking for something: answers, direction, peace. I am the seeker.”
Mikal Cronin recorded Seeker with engineer Jason Quever. He was backed by Ty Segall’s Freedom Band on the album, which is his follow-up to 2015’s MCIII.
Los Angeles sister trio Haim have shared a brand new song, “Summer Girl,” via a video directed by previous collaborator Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood). Rostam Batmanglij and Ariel Rechtshaid co-produced the song, which is out now via Columbia Records. The video features the band removing different layers of clothing while walking down various Los Angeles streets, often accompanied by a saxophonist. It was also shot at such iconic LA locations as the New Beverly Cinema (now owned by Quentin Tarantino) and Canter’s Deli.
Danielle Haim, whose partner is aforementioned producer Ariel Rechtshaid, had this to say about “Summer Girl” in a press release: “I started the song when I found out my partner had cancer. I was on tour and felt like I was trying to send positive energy his way almost telepathically. Whenever I would come home in between shows I wanted to be his sunshine – his summer when he was feeling dark. His hope when he was feeling hopeless.”
Danielle elaborated in a series of tweets that we’ve combined: “So excited to start releasing new music as we’re working on it – kinda like we did before our first album. We finished this song a couple weeks ago and thought, why don’t we shoot something real quick and release it!… This song started out as a garage band demo in my phone with just a bass line, drums, some gibberish and a doot doot doot little melody. I wrote it around the time my partner was diagnosed with cancer a couple years ago while we were making STTY. (He’s in the clear now!) So I kept singing these lines – ‘I’m your sunny girl/ I’m your fuzzy girl/ I’m your summer girl’ – over the bass line. Summer Girl stuck. We were touring on and off at this time and every time we were on the phone with each other or when I would come home in between shows, I wanted to be this light that shined on him when he was feeling very dark. I wanted to be his hope when he was feeling hopeless. Fast forward to a couple months ago – I remembered this demo and pulled it up from my phone. I brought it to my friend Rostam to see if he wanted to work on it. He wrote the sax part within the first couple minutes of working on it and it all clicked. We were kinda joking about how the doot doot doot part reminded us of [Lou Reed’s] ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ and then he put this stand up bass part on top of the electric bass part and It sounded amazing! The palette was there – very inspired by Lou. And we kept it that way. I brought it back to my partner Ariel – where the inspo first started – and he put some finishing touches on it and here we are!”
Haim’s last album, Something to Tell You, was released in 2017 via Columbia. Since then they have collaborated with Twin Shadow and Vampire Weekend, appeared on Jenny Lewis‘ telethon, and are featured on Charli XCX’s upcoming album, Charli.
To say that sinus woes suck would be a serious understatement: Your senses grow dull, your eyes throb with pain, and your whole noggin begins to feel like a fruit-gusher candy getting slowly crushed between two steel plates at any given moment. At least there’s a silver lining to all that snot; not only does the sickness eventually end — at least for a time — it might just inspire you to make a kickass album. Los Angeles grunge-gaze band Goon have done just that with their debut record, “Heaven Is Humming”, which mastermind Kenny Becker wrote while battling a chronic sinus condition. Rather than snuffle and lament, the musician sought inspiration from the good days. “I find encouragement in the fact that I’m able to be productive in the times that I’m not sick,” he said in a press release. “People like to romanticize the periods in which, for example, someone like Van Gogh was suffering, but it was actually because he was sick that he would go outside, and see a cherry-blossom tree, and be struck by its beauty.”
Heaven is Humming has been a long time coming. Three years coming, to be exact: singer/guitarist/songwriter Kenny Becker, singer/guitarist Drew Eccleston, bassist Caleb Wicker, and drummer Christian Koons started work on the album in the summer of 2016, right around the time Goon’s debut EP Dusk of Punk came ripping in from the Los Angeles sky, spilling from the brim with monster riffs and deep hooks.
Heaven Is Humming, then, is the rare example of a grunge album that isn’t mired in the artist’s despair, but rather his perseverance in the face of the fever dream. The noise-rock malaise hanging poison cloud-like over the record’s two heaviest cuts, “Datura” and “Deny,” along with Becker’s tension-laden yelps throughout, proves that journey as anything but easy, but chill vibes win out in the end. Tracks like “CCLL” and “Northern Saturn” run a little harsh, a little hazy, and a little high: just the way I like my rock.
Heaven is Humming has been a long time coming. Three years coming, to be exact: singer/guitarist/songwriter Kenny Becker, singer/guitarist Drew Eccleston, bassist Caleb Wicker, and drummer Christian Koons started work on the album in the summer of 2016, right around the time Goon’s debut EP Dusk of Punk came ripping in from the Los Angeles sky, spilling from the brim with monster riffs and deep hooks.
Heaven is Humming is fearlessly weird, but it’s also comforting and familiar at the same time, taking the sounds of foundational groups like Pixies and Boards of Canada and contextualising them through a modern lens, placing Goon alongside contemporaries like Forth Wanderers, METZ, Young Jesus, and Partisan label-mates Dilly Dally. Becker croons like Michael Stipe one minute and snarls like Frank Black the next, but you never lose the sense of who these four guys are making a beautiful racket right in the here and now.
Expanded version of seminal debut from cult band, includes unheard extras and a bonus 7” by 15 Minutes.
• a reissue of “Days of Wine & Roses” endorsed by the entire band!
• a vinyl reissue of their original 4 song 12-inch EP (long out of print)
• exact facsimile replica of Steve Wynn’s rare “15 Minutes” 7-inch single
Plus: new interviews with Kendra Smith, producer Chris D., & Paul B. Cutler (who recorded the “Down There” EP), ephemera from the Dennis Duck archives – Lovingly curated by Dream Syndicate archivist Pat Thomas.
An exceptional early ‘80s guitar-powered gem, remastered in full and includes the band’s debut indie EP and both tracks from main protagonist Steve Wynn’s earlier combo 15 Minutes.
With few exceptions, the bands that rose from L.A.’s Paisley Underground scene in the ’80s had only one real thing in common — all of them were obsessed with the rock & roll touchstones of the mid- to late ’60s, whether it was psychedelia (the Rain Parade), country rock (the Long Ryders), or AM pop (the Bangles). But while most of these bands looked to the sunny side of ’60s rock, the Dream Syndicate were the Paisley Underground’s juvenile delinquents, smart but cynical and happy to spread bad vibes for the hell of it.
Nearly all of the Paisley bands were audibly Californian, but while they hailed from Davis, California, the Dream Syndicate’s key influences were significantly from the East Coast: the Velvet Underground (particularly White Light/White Heat), and mid-’60s Bob Dylan (think Highway 61 Revisited). At the core of their sound was the bracing thrust and parry between Karl Precoda’s lead guitar, noisy and elemental but inspired in its wanderlust, and the sharp report of Steve Wynn’s rhythm guitar, yielding a tougher and more abrasive sound than their peers. Consequently, the Dream Syndicate’s debut album, 1982’s The Days of Wine and Roses, is arguably the finest LP to come out of the Paisley Underground’s salad days, and ultimately atypical of the movement, a blast of beautiful but ominous rock & roll chaos whose speedy guitar-based attack was held in place by the intelligent minimalism of bassist Kendra Smith and drummer Dennis Duck. While the Dream Syndicate’s influences were obvious (the initial vinyl pressing of The Days of Wine and Roses included the helpful run-off groove message “Pre-Motorcyle Accident”), the way they manifested themselves were not; the skronky impact of the guitars recalled the Velvets, but Precoda’s billows of noise had a personality all their own, and though Wynn’s vocal delivery had the bite of both vintage Dylan and Lou Reed, his lyrical voice was his own, offhand but deeply personal at the same time. And Chris D.’s no-frills production captured the Dream Syndicate gloriously, and the greatest pleasure of The Days of Wine and Roses is how well this band plays together, like a miraculously contained explosion that seemed to be going a dozen places at once but confidently and fearlessly rolls forward, and the expressive jams on “Then She Remembers,” “Until Lately,” and the title cut are outstanding. The Dream Syndicate would be a very different band when they cut Medicine Show two years later, but while they would remain an interesting band to the end, The Days of Wine and Roses captures them at their peak, and it’s essential listening for noise guitar fiends and anyone interested in ’80s alternative rock.
“The Days Of Wine And Roses’ is as timelessly potent as the records that inspired it.” Uncut
Central to the hugely influential Paisley Underground scene of the early 1980s that spawned Green On Red, The Bangles, Long Ryders and Rain Parade.
“Arguably the finest LP to come out of the Paisley Underground’s salad days.” AllMusic
With a nod to the Velvet Underground, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Dylan, packed into an incendiary slow-burn punk fuse, ‘The Days Of Wine And Roses’ is a glorious, upbeat sprawl, everything that rock ‘n’ roll should be.
The 7th studio album from The Dollyrots, The Dollyrots are a female-fronted rock n’ roll band from California. Titled Daydream Explosion, the upcoming album follows the huge success of their breakout album, 2017’s Whiplash Splash, and will be released in July this year.
Well known for being a very successful DIY band, the release of Daydream Explosion is the first time THE DOLLYROTS have worked with a label since their days working with Joan Jett‘s BlackheartRecords in the mid-late 00’s. The album has also turned out to be one that was particularly inspired by some tough times in the band’s home life, as their vocalist and bassist Kelly says, “it threw us for a loop in December when my dad passed away [of complications from heart disease and a type of dementia]. We had just a handful of songs written. But we managed to keep our kids happy through the holidays, and then every night we’d go into our studio and write. Somehow we wrote the best group of songs of our career in those few weeks.”
Alongside the announcement of the new album, the band have launched a new music video for the first song taken from the upcoming record; titled Everything.
Ty Segall presents a new single “Radio,” from his forthcoming album, “First Taste”, due August 2nd! Just in time for the July 4th festivities (such as they are), “Radio” should satisfy all our barely-subsumed bloodlust and immutable desire to rule while also providing a majestically boomboxable anthem to revel along with at the cookout.
“Radio” sizzles with koto by Segall, saxophone and piano by Mikal Cronin, bass by Emmett Kelly, percussion and drums by Segall and Charles Moothart, and back up vocals by Shannon Lay.
“‘Radio’ is a science non-fiction song,” says Segall. “We live in a Cronenberg film. It has Videodrome saxoheadphones. I am a slave to the new radio and so are you.”
First Taste is an introspective set for Ty Segall after the extroversions of 2018’s Freedom’s Goblin, yet just as steeped in hard beats. These twelve songs form a tightly revolving cycle of song and sound. Throughout, Segall reflects on family, re-encountering pasts, anticipating futures, and hits on oneness, self-esteem and the parents, while reaching outward, feeling for a shared pulse in the world around him.
Segall will play First Taste in full, alongside select albums from his expansive catalogue, in LA, New York, and select European cities with residencies starting this month and going through the end of the year.
A first taste of Ty? Hardly, but First Taste erects extreme new sonic skylines for Segall to soar over. His natural state of urgency is paired with a thirsty contemplative vibe as Ty examines both sides now, twisting some of his best songs and production wack into hard left turns both sweet and hot.
Melina Duterte, the artist better known as Jay Som, has announced a new record called Anak Ko (“my child” in Tagalog). The follow-up to 2017’s Everybody Works is out August 23rd (via Polyvinyl Records). she’s shared the record’s first single “Superbike.” It arrives with a video that features a behind-the-scenes look into the making of Anak Ko.
Melina Duterte recorded, produced, engineered, and mixed Anak Ko at her Los Angeles home. It includes contributions from Vagabon, Justus Proffit, Chastity Belt’s Annie Truscott, and Boy Scout’s Taylor Vick, as well as her Jay Som bandmates Zachary Elasser, Oliver Pinnell, and Dylan Allard. According to a press release, the title was inspired by a text message from her mother, who often tells her, “Hi anak ko, I love you anak ko.”
“Superbike” hops and skips across the shoegaze spectrum, starting out jangly and pretty before winding up in a gauzy drone. The result is intoxicating, with all eyes on upcoming album Anak Ko.
“Superbike” is taken from Jay Som’s new album, Anak Ko, out August 23rd, 2019.
We discovered the Frankie and The Witch Fingers at the Psych Fest in 2018 and they blew our brains out. They recently toured and left a good feeling with the presentation of their latest album ” ZAM “, a one-hour cucumber that combines many influences ranging from King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard to Psychedelic Porn Crumpets , but with that Californian drop of a first-timer Ty Segall or the always effective Thee Oh Sees .
The quartet formed by Dylan Sizemore (voice and guitar), Shaughnessy Starr (drums), Josh Menashe (guitar) and Alex Bulli (bass) combine all this and more, wrapping your skull with songs that drag you to an ambiguous feeling of psychodelia and intergalactic dance in equal parts. Their band recently released their fifth album..
The main attraction of Frankie and the Witch Fingers is their explosive performance. With their rowdy and visceral approach to live shows, each member brings their own devilry to induce an experience of bacchanal proportions.
Using absurd lyrical imagery—soaked in hallucination, paranoia, and lust—the band’s M.O. strikes into dark yet playful territory. This sense of radical duality is astir at every turn, in every time signature change. Airy vocal harmonies over heavily serrated riffs. Low-key shamanic roots under vivid high-strangeness. Rambling stretches and punctuated licks. Cutting heads and kissing lips. All this revealing a stereophonic schizophrenia that has flowed throughout their body of work: an ebb & flow of flowery-poppy horror. The band’s latest incarnation is primed to break new sonic ground, edging into the funky and preternatural. Just when you think the trip couldn’t get any weirder, Frankie and the Witch Fingers cranks up the dial, shatters the mundane, and
summons new visions.
The Fat Angel Sings 