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?
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.
If you’ve been paying attention, we have quite high hopes for the future of Nisa, undoubtedly one of New York’s most talented rising talents. She will release her debut EP, “Guilt Trip”, in March, described a collection of songs described as “rooted in emotional detachment and reticence, especially surrounding dissolved relationships and a failure to communicate.”
Nisa has followed up the previously released “Bottom Feeder” with the equally triumphant new single “Ferris Wheel,” a song about the whirlwind dynamics of a long-distance relationship, and “the rollercoaster of emotions involved with trying to keep the ups and downs in check.”
It’s another powerful 90’s-esque rock anthem that sees her hone in on her already well-defined sound, while also continuing to expand her sonic reach yet maintaining a relatable emotional chord. She continues to find the perfect balance between something familiar yet brand new at the same time. You feel every ounce of every word and this passion is captured in perfect fashion in the music video that she has shared along with its release.
It was filmed in London with creative direction by Angela Ricciardi
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
Miel Breduow never had to explain that she wasn’t kidding. Under regular circumstances, a person best known for doing comedy has to clarify what’s sincere and what isn’t, there are countless examples of comics moving into earnest territory. Bredouw isn’t all that different. She goofed around on Vine at its peak, ending up on countless compilations and keeping the dream of Keisza’s “Hideaway” alive. She moved over to podcasting and found a new cult following as she punched up countless jams, both with friends and on her own. She is, as Streisand would say, a funny girl.
When “Must Be Fine” came out, Miel never had to explain that she wasn’t kidding. The answer is two-fold. The first is a reflection on the kind of person Bredouw is – or, at the very least, a reflection on the public persona fans and listeners have come to know through her work. Even when making ridiculous jokes or shriek-laughing at more of Chris Fleming‘s escapades, she comes across as entirely genuine. The kind of person who means what they say, who wouldn’t be laughing if they didn’t find it funny and the kind of person who sees honesty as the best policy.
More pertinent to the song itself, though, is that secondly there’s basically no other read you can give on “Must Be Fine.” It’s a cutting song – it’s sharp, and goes surprisingly deep for a two-and-a-half-minute song with two verses, two choruses and a bridge. A bridge that doesn’t lead anywhere, either – which is surprising on the first listen, but once you’re intimately familiar with your surrounds it clicks and begins to make sense. This isn’t a story with a definitive conclusion. There are no heroes and villains. It’s a time-lapse of a flower withering beneath a descending California sunset. It’s beauty and loss and tragedy within a sunburnt city landscape.
Miel’s work has always released tension. It’s interesting, then, that her work that achieved this in the most accomplished of ways was not centred on laughter. And she never had to explain that she wasn’t kidding. She went through a break-up and wrote an album about it.
Adult Mom will release their third studio album “Driver” on March 5 via Epitaph Recordings. In celebration of the announcement, they have shared the new single “Sober.” The track examines how people’s perceptions of each other change and deteriorate over time, especially in the wake of a relationship gone sour.
On Driver, co-produced by Stevie Knipe and Kyle Pulley (Shamir, Diet Cig, Kississippi), Knipe delves into the emotional space just beyond a coming-of-age, where the bills start to pile up and memories of college dorms are closer than those of high school parking lots. Ultimately seeking the answer to the age-old question posed by every twenty-something; what now?
Over the course of 10 tracks, Knipe sets out to soundtrack the queer rom-com they’ve been dreaming of since 2015. Driver incorporates an expert weaving of sonic textures ranging from synths and shakers to ’00s-inspired guitar tones which convey a loving attention to detail. Lyrically, Knipe radiates an unmistakable honesty mixed with a level of wit and a sense of humour producing intimate yet relatable indie pop songs.
Adult Mom began as the solo project of Stevie Knipe at Purchase College. Adult Mom now falls between the playful spectrum of solo project and collaborative band with beloved friends and musicians Olivia Battell and Allegra Eidinger. Since forming in 2012, Adult Mom has released five EPs and two full-length albums; Momentary Lapse of Happily (2015), and Soft Spots (2017). Knipe writes clever and intimate indie pop songs that offer a glimpse into the journey of a gender-weird queer navigating through heartache, trauma and subsequent growth.
Rhythm Guitar, Keys, Vocals, and Songwriting by Stevie Knipe Drums and Percussion by Olivia Battell Lead Guitar by Allegra Eidinger Bass by Kyle Pulley
Adeline Hotel is the New York-based psych-folk project led by Dan Knishkowy. Sharing his music with the world since back in 2014, Dan has this week announced his latest album, “Good Timing”, as well as sharing the first two pieces from it, Photographic Memory and I Have Found It. In many ways Good Timing is like an origin story for Adeline Hotel’s music, returning to the roots of Dan’s songwriting by recording, “ostensibly aimless music”. This is a world of improvisation and layering, just Dan at his guitar producing work that seems to tap into the middle ground of instrumental ambience and the American Primitive influence we’ve come to expect on his music.
Nodding to artists like Jim O’Rourke or William Tyler, on these first two tracks, without even uttering a word, Dan seems to have hit on something deeply personal, this music feels like an extension of himself, songs woven from the strings, delicate and beautiful spiders-webs of guitar. While beautiful, these are also deceptively simple, unadorned, never knowingly over-thought, the records are free from studio-trickery or any danger of overworking, tracks that are at once raw and fragile, a reminder that the roots of punk, folk and neo-classical composition all lie with a human at their core. Dan has suggested his process for Good Timing is, “the closest I’ve ever gotten to the source”, and as a result this feels like the most open, honest and quite possibly exciting he has ever sounded.
Here’s what they say about it: At long last, we’re proud to announce our new album, ‘Green to Gold’ will be released on March 26th via Anti / Transgressive Records! You can pre-order the new album via Bandcamp. And today, we’ve got a new song to share with you. This one’s called “Solstice”.
“Solstice” is a flashback to the infinite days of peak childhood summer, innocent barefoot hikes, staying outside all afternoon and late into the evening, well past it being too dark to see. But it’s remembered from the vantage of a present day that feels unbearably long rather than joyously endless. It’s an invocation of those simpler times, an attempt to conjure the lightness of youth, before life got so damn complicated. Peter Silberman is back with the first Antlers album in seven years, which will be out in March. Here’s the new single.
Eager to share the rest of ‘Green to Gold’ with you this spring. Thank you for listening. With love,The Antlers”
Vocals, guitar, bass, pedal steel, piano, and organ by Peter Silberman Drums and percussion by Michael Lerner
Bass clarinet on “Wheels Roll Home” by Jon Natchez Violin and viola on “Solstice” by Will Harvey Cello on “Stubborn Man” by Brent Arnold Banjo on “Just One Sec” and “Volunteer” by David Moore Slide Guitar on “Just One Sec” by Dave Harrington Baritone saxophone, flute, clarinet, and french horn on “It Is What It Is” by Kelly Pratt Guitar on “Green to Gold” by Tim Mislock
Laura Stevenson‘s second album with The Cans as her backing band, the modern classic “Sit Resist”, turns 10 this year, and we’ve very excited to be teaming up with her to help celebrate that anniversary with a livestream performance of the album in full. “Sit Resist (At Home)” airs on Saturday, February 13 at 8 PM ET (5 PM PT), and tickets, including merch bundles, are on sale now.
“We had a handful of full-band, full album “Sit Resist” shows planned around the release of the reissue before the pandemic put an end to that,” Laura says. “This is probably the closest we can get to actually pulling it off. This will be the first time I’ve ever played some of these songs for an audience. It feels like we took a lot of pre-pandemic life for granted, one of those things being the ability to freely gather together and experience all that music does for communal connection. Livestreams will never be the same as that experience, but I’m hoping this will fill a couple of the cracks in the meantime.
The thirteen song album has been remastered at the hallowed Abbey Road Studios in London from the original 1/4” analog master tapes, and the vinyl processed with a new half speed lacquer cut to ensure the highest quality audio possible. The bonus LP is a collection of outtakes of nearly every album track, including never before heard pre-production demo recordings, alternate mixes and arrangements, live material, an Archers of Loaf cover, as well as a newly recorded version of the album track “Caretaker” which was recorded in 2019 on the literal last night in the house Stevenson grew up in, ten years after the song was originally written there.
The album features liner note essays written by musicians Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus who drew early inspiration for their own music and song writing from the album. Also contributing liner notes are Pitchfork, NPR and Stereogum writer Nina Corcoran, as well as long time friend and collaborator Jeff Rosenstock who produced and played guitar on some of the bonus demo material contained in the collection.
The packaging also features many never before seen studio photos and tour photography from the era in which the album was written, produced and released, and outtakes from the photo session at which the album’s iconic cover artwork was shot. The limited run double-LP Remastered Deluxe Edition set of “Sit Resist” is now available for pre-order via Don Giovanni Records, and will be released on September 4th, 2020. This is a one-time edition, and the limited collection will not be reissued in this current state after the initial pressing sells out.
The Band:
Laura Stevenson – vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, piano, organ Mike Campbell – bass guitar Alex Billig – accordion, trumpet Peter Naddeo – electric guitar, glockenspiel Chris Parker – drums, percussion
Peel Dream Magazine is the musical vehicle for NYC’s Joe Stevens, who launched the band in 2018 with the critically acclaimed album “Modern Meta Physic,” a mysterious, liminal tribute to the hazy end of ‘90s dream-pop that found its place on numerous “Best of 2018” lists. Now Peel Dream are back with “Agitprop Alterna,” an album that pays homage to sonic and spiritual influences ranging from early Stereolab and Broadcast through stateside groups like Lilys and Yo La Tengo.. “Agitprop Alterna” finds Stevens channeling the collaborative spirit of the band’s live incarnation in the studio, deepening the connection between the existential and the interpretive first explored on “Modern Meta Physic.” It is a rejection of manipulation in all its forms and a buzzsaw against complacency; it’s a rare trick to agitate without being obvious, and perhaps that makes “Agitprop Alterna” the most Peel Dream Magazine-like statement yet.
What have you wound up doing with your free time during lockdown? Some online yoga classes? A walk in the park? Maybe finish the the novel that’s been lying beside your bed?
Well, New York outfit Peel Dream Magazine embarked on an intimidating creative pull. Their rightly lauded album ‘Agitprop Alterna’ was a significant statement, a sign that their dreamy, effects-laden guitar pop contained some unexpected depths, as well as a commitment to emotional rigour.
Mere weeks later, however, Peel Dream Magazine dropped a surprise – an eight track EP that drew upon those same sessions, acting as a kind of parallel statement to ‘Agitprop Alterna’.
Taken as a whole, that’s more than 20 songs, a universe that moves from neat Neu!-esque cosmiche moments through to My Bloody Valentine leaning pedal stompers. Something to adore.
Joe Stevens – Vocals, Guitars, Organ, Synth, Drones, Drum Machine Jo-Anne Hyun – Vocals Brian Alvarez – Drums on Pill, Escalator Ism, Too Dumb, Do It, and Eyeballs Kelly Winrich – Drums on Emotional Devotion Creator, Brief Inner Mission, NYC Illuminati, and Up and Up
All songs written by Peel Dream Magazine Mixed by Peel Dream Magazine and Kelly Winrich
The Fat Angel Sings 