NYC freaks Acid Dad are here with their first music video, primed and ready for your viewing pleasure. “Marine” is taken from Acid Dad’s self titled debut LP. Acid Dad is available on limited edition vinyl, cassette, cd
NYC’s Acid Dad released its debut S/T LP in March via Greenway Records, to praise from The New York Times, Consequence of Sound, BrooklynVegan & more. A follow-up to 2016’sLet’s Plan A Robbery EP, it showcases the band’s diverse yet accessible sound, from the driving, punk-infused opener “Die Hard“ to the jangly guitars and hazy psych-pop melodies of lead single “2Ci.”
Having just wrapped up a US tour in support of the new release, Acid Dad is gearing up to play Canadian Music Week before heading to Europe for dates in the Netherlands, the UK, and France. Ahead of the tour, they’ve shared a new video for album track “Marine,”
Acid Dad – Marine – 2/23/2018 – Live in the Paste Studios – New York –
When you listen to the Shacks’s self-titled debut EP, you might imagine that Shannon Wise and Max Shrager are much older than their respective 18 and 20 years. But when Shannon’s whisper-vocals breeze through the speakers, you hear the youthfulness of their sound which then in turn explains the fearlessness of their songwriting. Both vaguely familiar and completely fresh, The Shacks are one of the most interesting NYC bands to surface in a minute.
Since the release of their first single, “Strange Boy”, which they recorded with El Michels Affair, The Shacks have been compared to 90’s indie icons like Mazzy Star, Jesus and Mary Chain, and Broadcast. As good as those bands are, you wouldn’t find a single one of their records in Max and Shannon’s music collection. All these bands are drinking from the same well, just 20 years apart.
Highlights from The Shacks EP include a cover of the Ray Davies-penned “This Strange Effect”, which Shannon sings as if it were written for her, giving the song an unnerving edge that’s way more interesting than Dave Berry’s tepid original. Also included on the EP is “Orchids,” one of Leon Michels and Max Shrager’s first co-productions, recorded at the legendary Diamond Mine studios. “Orchids” is a truly original piece of music that showcases The Shacks’ adventurousness in the studio. “Left It With the Moon” is a lo-fi lullaby written by Shannon and recorded to 4 track cassette at Max’s home studio in Princeton, NJ. And “Hands In Your Pockets” features the Frightnrs rhythm section laying down a pitch-perfect rocksteady backing track behind Shannon’s deadpan delivery a la Jane Birkin.
Trackslist: 1. Strange Effect 2. Left It With The Moon 3. Orchids 4. Audrey Hepburn 5. Tidal Waves 6. Rain 7. Hands In Your Pockets
Me Not You, the project started by Nikki Taylor and Eric Zeiler, have developed into one of the best indie success stories in recent memory. Their debut single, “Bulletproof”, became a viral hit with nearly 5 million streams on YouTube and counting. Since that momentous day, they’ve played to sold-out venues across the US and opened for Gary Numan on a handful of dates. To keep the momentum going, they released their second EP, Reckoning 2,
The record showcases are band that is not only maturing, but also getting bolder. A band willing to take a few chances in the name of their art. Whereas “Bulletproof” was a trip-hop / electro-pop track, Reckoning is more electro-rock. They exchanged the delirium of their beginnings for a heavier, darker, and edgier approach. It is the sound of a band not prepared to stay in neutral.
Opener “Surfers” immediately opens the doors to Me Not You’s new approach. The synths take a back seat to the coarse rhythms and searing electric guitar, which drive the melody. A haunting chill, as such, develops and envelopes around Taylor’s vocals, who recalls a chance encounter not too long ago that would change her life. Like the band’s reinvention, the song represents Taylor’s awakening. Both transformations continue on the mystifying and cosmic “Talking To Myself”. The tantalizing and trippy “Chemical Cure”, meanwhile, sees the band slightly channel their early day with a Phantogram-meets-Crystal Castles synth number, but Taylor’s message of continuing down this new path remains.
The delicate ballad, “Eventually”, is most straightforward track on the EP, but for original fans it is a welcome treat. With “Everafter”, however, Me Not You take us to the far reaches of the galaxy on this stunning interstellar love song. It commences with a breathtaking introduction before intensifying slightly to make us feel like we’re drifting aimlessly through asteroid belts and pass distant planets. The stark bass line and beats and the shallow strikes of the electric guitar take the song to its dazzling heights.
The record closes with “Straw Man”, which is the band going outside its comfort zones. Suspenseful, brooding, and dark, the duo craft a political song set in the future. As the deep echoes of the bass and beats throb in the background, Taylor tells the tale of the rise of a tyrant whose sole intention is to reign unopposed. Who wants to cut us down to feed his insatiable thirst for power. With more songs like this and more steps into bolder territory, the stars are the limit for Me Not You, and they will be the ones who reign over our hearts and minds.
On Thursday Frankie Cosmos revealed another new track from their forthcoming album, Vessel, due out on March 30th via Sub Pop Records. Following the previously released “Jesse” and “Being Alive,” this new track “Apathy” is an intimate slacker-pop break-up tune with songwriter Greta Kline wearing her vulnerabilities and naiveté proudly on her sleeve. It concludes with her reveling in newfound clarity: “You could take me and my apathy / Turn us into clarity.”
Band Members:
Greta Kline
Alex Bailey
Lauren Martin
Luke Pyenson
What happens when an anti-social petty thief, a male hustler, and a delinquent runaway come together to join forces in the streets of NYC? One of two things, usually. Either the birth of a gang of misfit criminals, or a legendary rock & roll band. Luckily, for society’s sake, the latter has turned out to be true for Beechwood. This easy psychedelia and vintage sounding looseness puts Beechwood in a sonic world not too distant from the ones inhabited by modern classics like Foxygen and Tame Impala.
There’s a definite 60’s rock flair to the track, amidst a bit of garage-punk groundedness, sunny pop structure, and dreamy psychedelia. The effect is like sunshine in the midst of a bomb cyclone-ridden winter: euphoric and hard to get enough of.
The band are set to release their new studio album, “Songs From the Land Of Nod”, on January 26th 2018 via Alive Naturalsound Records, and the NYC street punks have now unveiled the video for their new single, I Don’t Wanna Be The One You Love.
The NYC pop-punk band has always had a talent for pulling back the curtain to reveal the dark underbelly of humanity, and their latest visual is no different.
Shot and Directed by Nika De Carlo and Gordon Lawrence. Taken from the album “Songs From The Land Of Nod” : http://www.alive-records.com
• They run a pretty wide gamut of scuzz from garage to glam to punk to indie that’s not that easy to date. – STEREOGUM
• Brings the late ’60s into the ’00s. – GRUNGECAKE
• Recalls the best moments of the Zombies and Beach Boys, adding elements of garage and light tinges of the psychedelic. – POPMATTERS
• It’s languid, drippy, like molasses spilling out of a jar, and the vocals do a subtle Kevin Shields thing in my brain. – WHAT YOUTH
As Bruce Springsteen continues his sold-out Springsteen on Broadway run, he has continued to release live concerts from his archives.
Released a couple of weeks ago is Springsteen and the E Street Band live from Stockholm, Sweden on July 3rd, 1988. This concert was part of Tunnel of Love Express tour, which was of course supporting 1987’s album “Tunnel of Love”. What makes this concert significant, however, is that the first 90-minute set was broadcast to radio stations at the time, making it one of most known concerts in the Springsteen canon. “Chimes of Freedom” from the show was released on an EP of the same name. But the broadcast did not contain the full concert, which would continue for another set and three encores. Now, for the first time, the entire concert is being officially released, remixed from the multi-tracks.
Shortly after this tour, Springsteen would disband the E Street Band. Other than recording a couple of tracks for Springsteen’s first Greatest Hits album, the full group would not come back to together until 1999’s Reunion tour. The concert that has just been released is the final one from the tour: July 1st, 2000 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Portions of this concert were included on the Live in New York City album released in March, 2001, but this is the first time you can officially hear the entire show. Unique tracks from this show include the closing number, “Blood Brothers,” which had never been performed on a tour before.
Perhaps to tie in with the concept of Springsteen on Broadway, another recent concert is from March 19th, 1996 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Falling between the other two concerts released, this concert was is support of The Ghost of Tom Joad and features a solo, acoustic set from Springsteen. He had performed in this way before, but this was the first time he embarked on a full tour in the format. Many of his familiar songs were recast with new arrangements to sit alongside newer material.
In addition, Springsteen has also released the concert from December 8th, 1978 in Houston, Texas. This show first appeared in The Promise: Darkness on the Edge of Town boxset in 2010, but this is the first time it has been available separately. All proceeds from the sale of this concert will go to benefit MusiCares Hurricane Relief Fund.
All three newly released concerts have been mixed by Jon Altshiller and mastered by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering.
All the shows are offered in a variety of formats: Direct Stream Digital or DSD (with 64 times the sampling rate of CD), MP3, FLAC or Apple Lossless, HD-Audio (24 bit/192 kHz, FLAC-HD or ALAC-HD) and CD-R ($26.00). A CD-R plus MP3 package is also available for each.
All previous ten volumes of The Bruce Springsteen Archive Series are available at Springsteen’s official live store for download and physical purchase.
A special reminder: all titles are on sale today for Cyber Monday (25% off CDs, 50% off downloads)!
There are quite a few bands or artists calling themselves Honey, but this one from New York City is the one you want to remember. Featuring former members of Psychic Ills and Amen Dunes their new album, the trio’s second – “The New Judy Moody” starts off with the Hendrix-like jam rawk of “Wage Agreement” and then it’s killer rock and roll all the way through.
Take a song like “Dream Come Now“. It’s a buzz saw rocker with the heaviest guitars I’ve heard in a long time, and this is a trio!
Out September 29th on Wharf Cat Records, HONEY’S sophomore long player “The New Moody Judy” builds on their debut’s “hard edged slice of rock noise” to create an album full of the pummel and swing, rave-ups and comedowns, and ferocious riffs and rhythms previously known only to those who have witnessed the power-trio’s live set. Equal parts concision and brute heaviness, this is the sound of perfect rock and roll music – music that’s always on the edge of spinning out of control.
From the first single, “the pugnacious ‘Dream Come Now’ a barnstormer every bit as fiery as the album artwork” to the tight jam giving way to a thrilling cascade of riffs that fuel the rush of ‘Hungry,’ HONEY give everything to the music on this release to deliver their most sonically diverse effort to date. As thematically cerebral as it is musically visceral, New Moody Judy is one of the rare albums that offers as much brain fodder for the lit majors as it does instant gratification for the guitar-heads.
There are huge arena riffs with odes to The Who, Misfits, Stooges, and even Hot Snakes to name but a few.
NYC outfit Me Not You have been well and truly on my radar. Their first single “Relief” remains undoubtedly the best offering on the EP, yet there are some other corkers mixed in there to make the overall selection well worth your time of day. The somewhat sinister vibes of ‘Relief‘ continue throughout and there’s no second-guessing of a fully-formed rebellious identity that’s not afraid to ruffle your hair despite repeated warnings. Opening track ‘Bulletproof‘ is the other real stand-out beauty here – with plenty of pop sensibilities mixing in with that intense alternative feel that keep the band from becoming a tiresome reboot. Each track has that same BIG feel with almost sheepish vocals singing with an understated confidence, keeping them from falling into the same of trap of trying to show off. At times the release undersells itself and the beats perhaps get a little too big. Yet the heart is there, the character is simply glowing and when those killer moments hit you just won’t know what to do with yourself.
If you happened upon the front page of the New York Times arts section on April 13th, 2006, you might likely have been taken by a trio who came up in the idealistic confines of Madison, WI, and the fertile incubator that was the Midwest’s ‘90s indie rock scene, now perched atop a Brooklyn warehouse with the sunset-drenched Manhattan skyline behind them. Rainer Maria had reached a mountaintop of sorts, and yet by the end of the year they’d be bidding farewell to sold out crowds at the Bowery Ballroom and Williamsburg Brooklyn’s now almost mythical DIY haunt, Northsix.
A decade earlier, during the summer of 1995, Kaia Fischer, William Kuehn, and Caithlin De Marrais, collectively named Rainer Maria, were getting their start in a college town not necessarily known as a nexus for any scene. That isolation may have proven fruitful as they crafted their own unique sound. A self-titled EP released in 1996 would be followed by signing to the then nascent Polyvinyl Records and the release of their first full-length albums, Past Worn Searching and Look Now, Look Again.
Those first releases, paired with an ambitious amount of time spent in basement shows, and rock clubs throughout the US, fostered a dedicated following for the trio while connecting them to other scenes and musicians throughout the country. Rainer Maria, likely without realizing it at the time, were on their way to cementing themselves as an early cornerstone for Polyvinyl, In 1999 they moved to New York City, in part to be closer to family and loved ones, but with the added effect of further unconsciously spreading that gospel.
Throughout the first half of the aughts, Rainer Maria would further release three more full-length albums. Evolving their sound as they tightened their craft, By 2006, however, Rainer Maria were feeling the strain of having spent life since their late teens as part of the same band. Collectively, they felt a desire to explore other avenues of living, and so, after a few rapturous farewell shows attended by fans from around the world, Rainer Maria hung up their hats.
De Marrais moved out of the City, releasing two well-regarded solo records of intricate, meticulously crafted pop. Kuehn spent time living in Syria and Yemen, studying and playing music with a variety of artists with all sorts of different approaches and ideas. Fischer studied Tibetan language and Tibetan Buddhism at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University,
Over the years that followed, offers for shows would come in every so often, but the band were neither emotionally nor geographically prepared to seriously entertain them. So when the latest offer came in a few years ago, the three got together to catch up and feel out where they all were both personally and musically. While none of them yet felt the allure of the stage, all three were excited with the idea of writing and recording together again, and so in lieu of any new shows, they began the process of writing the songs that would become S/T “Rainer Maria”.
The lyrics are full of natural imagery, influenced by the more pastoral setting outside De Marrais’ window—soil and greenery, weather patterns, and other markers of country life. While sonically,S/T retains and even amplifies the core grit and vigor that Rainer Maria has always had as a band. The album also benefits mightily from Kuehn’s hand at production. His bandmates implicit trust in him is a guiding force allowing each song to take on its own distinct life without losing a sense of overall cohesion.
Luna – the New York City-based guitar band now scattered around the country – is happy to announce the upcoming release of “A Sentimental Education“, an album of covers, as well as an EP of 6 new Luna instrumentals entitled “A Place Of Greater Safety”. Both will be released simultaneously on September 22nd via the Double Feature label. The LP and EP mark the band’s first output since Luna’s last studio album Rendezvous, released 13 years ago. Both the LP and EP were co-produced by Jason Quever (Papercuts) and recorded at Palmetto Recording in downtown Los Angeles. On “A Sentimental Education” Luna tackle songs by The Cure, Mink DeVille, Fleetwood Mac, Mercury Rev and others. The Luna lineup remains the same as it was when they last recorded: Dean Wareham, Sean Eden, Lee Wall, Britta Phillips.
Today the band share the first single from A Sentimental Education, their take of Fleetwood Mac’s “One Together” which is off their 1970 album Kiln House, Album and written by guitarist Jeremy Spencer who departed the band in 1971 to join the Children of God Sect.
The Fat Angel Sings 