To celebrate the 25th anniversary of our last ever show in Brussels in November 1994 we are reforming this autumn in our original line up, and then promptly splitting up again 3 days later.
Piotr: “When we originally split up in 1994 it was because of dwindling sales, press indifference and a label that didn’t want us anymore. 25 years on, we’re planning on going out on a high – to play some shows that are a celebration of our time together, and exit this time on our own terms!”
Radiant Dawn‘s nine tracks meld raw analog hardware with frontman Dan Boeckner‘s distinctive voice to create an immersive cinematic sound. Interspersed between the tracks are instrumental inter-titles that amplify the album’s 1970s sci-fi dystopian feel.
For fans of Boeckner’s catalogue (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Divine Fits) Radiant Dawn feels like the next logical step in the artist’s two decade career, while maintaining a completely fresh energy.
Ride return with the 6th studio album of their career and their second since reforming in 2014 and signing to Wichita.
As with their previous album, Weather Diaries, Erol Alkan was in the producer’s chair, and Alan Moulder (with Caesar Edmunds) took care of the mixing (making this the fourth Ride album he has worked on).
Gathering influences from sources such as the Jean Michel Basquiat exhibition at the Barbican, and the post punk sound of The Fall and Sonic Youth, Ride have made an album which contains echoes of their earliest days as a band, while bringing these elements into 2019.
Both musically and lyrically, this is clearly an album made by a band who love being back together and who are at the very top of their game.
Double LP on limited edition green/blue vinyl (1000 copies) or black, includes a download code for album MP3s. This 2LP is released on Friday 16th August.
Pre-order here at Amazon or via the band’s Bandcamp site.
Los Angeles psych-rock band Wand released their 5th album, Laughing Matter, on April 19th.
It moves away from their early garage rock / psychedelic sounds to a more alternative / experimental sound, though there are still elements of their earlier days here.
Since the 2015 release of Drab Majesty’s debut “Careless”, and the release of the acclaimed sophomore album “The Demonstration”the following year, artist Deb Demure and collaborator Mona D. have firmly established themselves amongst the pantheon of dark synth-pop greats, establishing a devoted fan base worldwide with their singular hypnotic sound and mysterious, constantly-evolving presence.
Following intense and extensive touring in support of the first two albums, Drab Majesty escaped to the inspirational landscapes of Athens, Greece to channel the songs for their most ambitious album creation yet: Modern Mirror.
Blowing the dust off the antiquarian myth of Ovid’s “Narcissus”, Drab Majesty uses its premise as groundwork for a modern reinterpretation. Each song tells a piece of the story, in which the listener’s own self-identity has become warped and dissociated through rapidly expanding technology, losing touch with the origins of their own personalities. Setting the stage as a romantic saga of antiquity, “A Dialogue” asks the listener if they are truly in love amid a building wash of guitars and reverb. Elements of classic tragedy weigh heavily in the reflection of Modern Mirror in songs like “The Other Side”, possessing a fundamental sound that is energetic, luminous and hopeful. Fusing the sonic aesthetics of predecessors like New Order and The Cure within the cautious instruction of Greek mythology and modern science fiction, Drab Majesty has birthed a hybrid of dreamy malaise, captured for a future moment.
The first single, “Ellipsis”, romantically plays up the distorted concept of courting through modern technology in a world that has yet to adapt, while on “Long Division”, Deb’s resounding guitar cascades around the chorus shared with No Joy frontwoman Jasamine White-Gluz, wistfully warning us against our vanity and self-obsession. Even when hope for everlasting love peeks through in “Oxytocin”, a sparkling and stoic track sung by Mona D., we are firmly reminded our fleeting existence.
Modern Mirror is a journey of self-reflection, nostalgia, love, beauty, and heartbreak told across eight addictive and emotional synth pop anthems – a seemingly classic tale delivered unblinkingly through the frame of the modern world.
Produced by Josh Eustis (Telefon Tel Aviv) and mastered by Dave Cooley, with appearances by Jasamine White-Gluz (No Joy) and Justin Meldal-Johnson (NIN, Beck, M83, Air). Packaging and design by Juan Mendez of Jealous God/Silent Servant. Photography by Nedda Afsari (Muted Fawn).
First edition pressing on 45 RPM hi-fi double LP, packaged in 24pt sturdy wide spine reverse board jacket with two reverse board euro sleeve lyric inserts. CD comes packaged in classic clear jewelcase inside a spined reverse board slip-case with lyric booklet.
The National has announced ‘I Am Easy To Find’, a short film directed by Mike Mills starring Alicia Vikander, and ‘I Am Easy To Find’, a new album out May 17th on 4AD.
The former is not the video for the latter; the latter is not the soundtrack to the former. You can watch the trailer HERE and pre-order the album now. Film release details to follow.
The first album single ‘You Had Your Soul With You’ features vocals by the amazing Gail Ann Dorsey. Click HERE to listen.
A world tour begins this June, with Courtney Barnett and Alvvays opening at many of the shows.
Mercury-nominated Northampton composer/producer Maps is set to release his fourth album ‘Colours. Reflect. Time. Loss.’ on the 10th May 2019 through Mute, and today shares a new track from the album called ‘Just Reflecting’.
Maps (James Chapman) had this to say about the new release:
“I wanted to push everything to the limit with this record, and explore new territory for Maps. The orchestral instrumentation and addition of other musicians and singers played a huge part in finding the purer and more human emotion I was searching for. I learnt the violin as I was growing up, so I’m glad it finally came in useful!”
In only one week, Bob Mould returns with an entirely new catalogue of music on his full-length album Sunshine Rock, available February 8th via Merge Records. The record features the recently released tracks ‘What Do You Want Me To Do‘ and title-track ‘Sunshine Rock‘. Today, Mould shares his latest single ‘Lost Faith‘: a socially conscious song that sheds light on the mental friction caused from a mixture of facts, fiction, and biased opinions dispersed in the media.
Mould explains of the ‘Lost Faith’ concept:
“The video follows the protagonist who is trying to find solace and anonymity in an increasingly corrupt world filled with paranoia and misinformation. We see him being questioned about his real intent, apprehended by a fictitious yet familiar looking border security, then interrogated about the life he left behind.
Shot in Berlin, the video switches into dream sequences filled with chases, captures, and escapes. There’s a mosh pit of half-naked dancers, an accordionist in a church square, and the climax being a wild pursuit through the surrealistic ruins of a decommissioned CIA listening station.”
PledgeMusic has issued a statement about recent news about payment problems:
PledgeMusic has always been committed to serving artist and fan communities. It was established by artists and was born of a need to change the way in which the traditional music industry operated. It was designed to help artists and their teams at every level.
That said, we deeply regret that recently we have not lived up to the high standards to which PledgeMusic has always held itself. We acknowledge that many artists have and continue to experience payment delays. These delays to artists are unacceptable–not only to them but to us.
While the company has made progress, we still haven’t reached our goals. PledgeMusic has been in discussions with several strategic players in the industry who have an interest in the PledgeMusic platform. We are evaluating a number of transactions with those potential partners, and we plan to announce details of this in the next 60 days. It is our expectation that payments will be brought current within the next 90 days.
As of now, we are working through the backlog of correspondence with artists and teams to clarify their payment plans and your patience is appreciated as we complete this task. Furthermore, we are also working to address the fulfillment issues that some of our consumers have experienced in turn, often as a direct result of artist payment issues. Despite the unfortunate circumstances, the passionate inquiries and messages of support on social media from fans are appreciated, acknowledged and understood.
We are deeply sorry that we have not lived up to the high standards to which PledgeMusic always held itself. We are committed as a company of passionate music lovers to get things back on track as quickly as possible.
Sincerely, PledgeMusicDescription
Update:
PledgeMusic co-founder Benji Rogers has announced he will be returning to the company on a short-term basis.
The first priority for the company is to sort the back payments issue as every penny that is owed to artists needs to get to them in the fastest possible time. A more detailed plan will be shared with the community shortly.
Secondly all funds coming into the company from now on will be managed by an independent third party (to be named soon) so as to ensure that all campaigns that launch going forward, will be paid upon their campaign milestones being reached. The specifics of this will be detailed in the aforementioned forthcoming announcement.
Thirdly I will work with the team to ensure that there is a go forward plan that includes and listens to the incredible community of artists and fans that we created. Once we are through our first two priorities we will work on the third.
Oxford indie/math rock band Foals have announced a new 2-part album called Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost. Part 1 is available for now here.
Part 1 will be released on March 8th. Part 2 will be released Autumn 2019.
The announcement states:
We couldn’t be more excited for you to hear all the work we’ve poured ourselves into over the past 18 months. The albums which will be coming out are two halves of the same locket. They can be listened to and appreciated individually, but fundamentally, they are companion pieces.
Musically, we pushed ourselves to the furthest limit. Lyrically, the songs resonate with what’s going on in the world at the moment. These songs are white flags, or mirrors, or attempts to work through the confusing times we live in… each in a different way.
They are offering a special Collector’s Edition which includes the following:
24 page hardcover book
Album on 12” violet coloured 180g vinyl
Exits 7” vinyl single – exclusive to this set
FLAC + MP3 download card of the album
2 exclusive art prints, 1 of which will be individually numbered and signed by a member of the band
Foals 2019 tour dates
3/16 – Mexico City, Mexico – Vive Latino 2019 3/18 – Vancouver, BC – Orpheum Theater 3/19 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater 3/20 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre 3/22 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater 3/23 – San Diego, CA – The Observatory North Park 3/24 – Los Angeles, CA – Shrine Auditorium 3/27 – Las Vegas, NV – Brooklyn Bowl 3/30 – Buenos Aires, Argentina – Lollapalooza 2019 3/31 – Santiago, Chile – Lollapalooza 2019 4/2 – Santiago, Chile – Lollapalooza Sideshow @ Teatro La Cúpula 4/5 – Sao Paulo, Brazil – Lollapalooza 2019 4/13 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel 4/16 – Washington, D.C. – 9:30 Club 4/19 – Boston, MA – House of Blues 4/20 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore 4/22 – Toronto, Ontario – Rebel 4/24 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant 4/26 – Detroit, MI – Saint Andrews Hall 4/27 – Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre 4/28 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave 4/30 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue 5/3-5 – Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees Festival 2019 5/12 – Brussels, Belgium – Ancienne Belgique 5/13 – Paris, France – Bataclan 5/15 – Lausanne, Switzerland – Les Docks 5/16 – Milan, Italy – Fabrique 5/17 – Luxembourg, Luxembourg – Den Atelier 5/19 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso 5/20 – Berlin, Germany – Huxleys 5/24 – Newcastle, England – This Is Tomorrow 2019 6/5 – Hamburg, Germany – Grosse Freiheit 6/6 – Aaarhus, Denmark – Northside Festival 6/7-9 – Nürburg, Germany – Rock Am Ring 2019 6/11 – Manchester, England – O2 Victoria Warehouse 6/14 – Tunbridge Wells, England – Bedgebury Pinetum 6/15 – Birmingham, England – Digbeth Arena 6/18 – Glasgow, Scotland – SWG3 Galvanizers Yard 6/20 – Thetford, England – Thetford Forest 6/21 – London, England – Alexandra Palace 6/24-26 – Zagreb, Croatia – Inmusic Festival 6/26 – Bournemouth, England – International Centre 7/2 – Dublin, Ireland – Trinity College 7/5 – Barcelona, Spain – Festival Cruïlla 2019 7/5-7 – Ewijk, Netherlands – Down The Rabbit Hole 7/26-28 – Benidorm, Spain – Low Festival 2019 8/1-3 – Lustenau, Austria – Szene Open Air
Presale begins tomorrow, 22 January at 10 AM local.
The Twilight Sad’s James Graham will appear on Reddit’s IndieHeads page today to answer questions.
Also of note is they announced another US tour for May, with a couple Canadian dates sprinkled in.
May 2019: 10 – Philadelphia, PA – The Foundry 11 – Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere 12 – Washington, DC – U Street Music Hall 14 – Boston, MA – Sonia 16 – Toronto, ON – Velvet Underground 17 – Detroit, MI – El Club 18 – Chicago, IL – Sleeping Village 21 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge 22 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge 24 – Vancouver, BC – The Wise Hall & Lounge 26 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile 27 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge 29 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent 30 – Los Angeles, CA – The Teragram Ballroom
London based Fews is set to release their sophomore album, Into Red, on March 1st, 2019. They’ve released a couple tracks such More Than Ever, linked below.
Their 2016 debut Means was released by label Play It Again Sam out of Brussels. Their style can be described as post-punk and Krautrock-inspired.
Alternapop favs The Twilight Sad are releasing their new album, the band’s 5th full-length, It Won’t Be Like This All The Time, on January 19th. It was announced last fall and they’ve been slowly releasing tracks from the upcoming album.
This will be their first album on Mogwai’s Rock Action Records out of Glasgow.
Guitarist Andy MacFarlane stated, via an NME interview, “It all came together really well. To me, it’s like a different band almost. I did a stupid thing of writing loads of music, then giving it to James to write stuff over, then I deleted all the music. So then I wrote another album under it… I think we just needed to shake up the routine. One of our mates bought us those Brian Eno Oblique Strategy cards. I picked one out and it was like ‘delete everything, must try harder, don’t tell James’. The aim was to try and do stuff that we’d enjoy playing live, to make it more interesting for ourselves as well as everyone else.”
Singer James Graham says, “It’s all pretty full on but there’s some lighter shades and some hope on there. The first song that we’re going to come back with epitomizes the record. It’s got really noisy guitars but it’s pretty melodic. I think it’s the next stage of who we’re meant to be.”
The album is a welcome progression. It’s definitely a TSS album but they obviously experiment enough to keep it fresh. It’s a little more keyboard heavy than previous albums while maintaining a rock feel. Andy utilizes an E-Bow (electronic string driver) which moves the sound a bit away from the shoegaze sound of prior albums and the result, along with the overall production, is likely a somewhat more accessible sound.
The album’s strong computer generated, fractured artwork is “to represent fractured memories”, per Graham.
The have consistently been one of our more favorite bands to see live due to their genuine passion and appreciation for both music and their fans.
1. [10 Good Reasons for Modern Drugs] 2. Shooting Dennis Hopper Shooting 3. The Arbor 4. VTr 5. Sunday Day13 6. I/m Not Here [missing face] 7. Auge_Maschine 8. Keep It All to Myself 9. Girl Chewing Gum 10. Let/s Get Lost 11. Videograms
Around 1991 an old friend made a mixtape for me to introduce me to new music. This tape contained songs from bands from The Pixies to the Lemonheads, and many others.
It contained this tune called ‘Downtime’ from the Blake Babies which I became quite fond of. I still have this mixtape in my car that still has a cassette player and 6-disc changer. (Both hardly ever get used now that I installed a bluetooth adapter.)
The Blake Babies were a 3-piece with Juliana Hatfield, John Strohm, and Freda Love.
THE BLAKE BABIES "DOWNTIME"
This leads me to the announcement from American Laundromat Records that they are re-issuing the Blake Babies compilation, Innocence And Experience, on vinyl.
It’s up for pre-order now. There are several color choices and you can also get a test pressing. It’s been remastered by Sean Glonek.
Pre-order Innocence and Experience
It contains other great Blake Babies tunes such as Lament, Cesspool, and Girl In A Box.
1990s Champaign, Illinois Alternative Rock band Hum will be selling reissues of their Downward is Heavenward album on vinyl next Sunday, January 6th at 12 PM CST. (1 PM EST / 10 AM PST)
You can also order an exclusive Jay Ryan poster with the album.
Downward is Heavenward was released nearly 21 years ago on January 27, 1998 and made it to #6 on the US Indie charts. In 1999, Pitchfork placed the album at #81 on their top 100 albums of the 1990s.
Get your browser’s autofill feature filled in and get ready to hit Refresh a couple hundred times.
These are the albums that were released in 2018 that got the most play, listed in alphabetical order:
Deeper – Deeper
Deeper is a post-punk band based in Chicago, Illinois.
Film School – Bright To Death
Film School is a San Francisco/Los Angeles shoegaze revivalist band who released their 5th album.
Holy – All These Worlds Are Yours
Holy is the Stockholm based project of Hannes Ferm from Umeå, Sweden.
Jaguwar – Ringthing
Jaguwar formed in summer 2012 under the starsigns of shoegaze and noisepop music.
The KVB – Only Now Forever
The KVB, from London, blends reverb soaked shoegaze with minimalist electronic production. This was their 5th release.
Moaning – Moaning
Moaning is a Los Angeles-based post-punk outfit that combines melody with raucous noise.
Ought – Room Inside The World
Ought, from Montreal, began in 2011, taking heavy cues from their city’s thriving scene of underground politics, loft parties, and D.I.Y. culture.
Preoccupations – New Material
Preoccupations, from Calgary, play a fusion of art rock and lo-fi pop that maintains a very human pulse despite the extensive use of electronics and noise.
Salad Boys – This Is Glue
Salad Boys are a New Zealand indie pop band. This is their second release.
Shame – Songs Of Praise
Shame, from South London, released their debut this year.
Soft Science – Maps
Soft Science is a dream pop / shoegaze band from Sacramento, California.
Teenage Wrist – Chrome Neon Jesus
Teenage Wrist, from Los Angeles, released their debut full length showing influences from 90s British bands like Catherine Wheel and Swervedriver.
Please give them a listen if you’re not familiar with them and, as always, support the artists.
How do you describe an album out of time, concerned with the disappearance of culture, of humanity, of nature, of logic and emotion? Why make this album in an era when attention spans have been reduced to next to nothing, and the tactile grains of making music have been further reduced to algorithms and projected playlist placement. Why wake up in the morning? Why hasn’t everything already disappeared?
Deerhunter’s eighth LP forgets the questions and makes up unrelated answers. It gets up, walks around, it records itself in several strategic geographic points across North America. It comes home, restructures itself and goes back to bed to avoid the bad news.
From the opening harpsichord and piano figures of ‘Death in Midsummer’, it is impossible to tell where the record came from. Is ‘No One’s Sleeping’ an outtake of an aborted Kinks recording session in 1977 Berlin with Eno producing? No. That is nostalgia. If there is one thing Deerhunter are making clear it is that they have exhausted themselves with that toxic concept.
What they spend their time doing instead is reinventing their approach to microphones, the drum kit, the harpsichord, the electromechanical and synthetic sounds of keyboards. Whatever guitars are left are pure chrome, plugged straight into the mixing desk with no amplifier or vintage warmth.
The result is as thrilling, haunting, and unpredictable as anything in their roughly 15-year career.
Deerhunter have made a science fiction album about the present. Is it needed right now? Is it relevant? Perhaps only to a small audience. DADA was a reaction to the horrors of war. Punk was a reaction to the slow and vacant 70’s. Hip Hop was a liberated musical culture that challenged the notions presented wholesale about the African-American experience. What is popular music today a reaction to?
“(Debut Neverending) ended up taking a really long time, and we all had a lot of person stuff that was happening,” Daniel Lyon tells Billboard. “For this one we really wanted to hunker down and get it done and get it out quick. The goal was to have something come out organically and make something that was kind of raw and aggressive. It kind of took on that quality and then took on a shape of its own.
“We were kind of in a whirlwind,” Lyon adds. “I think we work better having deadlines.”
The Twilight Sad’s James Graham will appear on 
Downward is Heavenward was released nearly 21 years ago on January 27, 1998 and made it to #6 on the US Indie charts. In 1999, Pitchfork placed the album at #81 on their top 100 albums of the 1990s.
