The Melvins have a busy February ahead of them, releasing a trio of albums via Ipecac Recordings/Liberator Music on Friday Feb 26: a new Melvins 1983 release named Working With God as well as a pair of vinyl reissues: Hostile Ambient Takeover and Gluey Porch Treatments.
Working With God is the second release from the 1983 iteration of the band, which features Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover and original drummer Mike Dillard. The trio’s previous release was the 2013 album, Tres Cabrones.
The band preview Working With God with a pair of singles: ‘I Fuck Around’ (a re-imagined cover of The Beach Boys’ ‘I Get Around’), and ‘Bouncing Rick’, a song about Buzz Osborne and Mike Dillard’s junior high biology teacher. The pair of songs can be heard here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Trash-wave trailblazers, Me Nd Adam, is the depraved result of a relationship between a self-loathing egotist and a boisterous, red-headed emotional wreck. After meeting in New Orleans and hating each other, Adam & Vince parted ways. Unfortunately, there can be no despair without hope, no discord without union, no darkness without light. Thus, Adam & Vince came to realize they had no choice but to embrace their differences and craft the emotionally turbulent, alternative pop duo, Me Nd Adam. Now living the dream in a small apartment in Austin, they’re sharing their hope-tinged despair with the world.
Over the past year, the band has been refashioning its sound, embracing their Texas roots with a traditional rock aesthetic in instrumentation, lyrics, and arrangement, while retaining elements of their original alt electro-pop style. The new vibe is reminiscent of classic American songwriters like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen with a contemporary twist of pop production like heavy hitters Marshmello and Louis Bell. The band’s influences range from Willie Nelson to Meek Mill, Jason Isbell to Blink 182.
American Drip, Part I, is the musical culmination of a coming-of-age journey across America. After separately fleeing their shared hometown of Austin, meeting in New Orleans, initially hating each other, bouncing to Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and parts beyond, Adam and Vince reconnected and formed Me Nd Adam deep in the heat of a sweltering Big Easy summer. After four rough and rowdy years developing their sound on the road and in the studio, the trashcan cowbois have returned to Texas. American Drip, Part I consists of twelve trash-wave trailblazin’ hits. Buckle up.
Me Nd Adam have garnered millions of streams across DSPs, with their music garnering acclaim from the likes of Rolling Stone, Alt Press, American Songwriter, Wonderland Magazine and The Line of Best Fit. They have also received notable sync placements, such as MTV’s ‘Real World’. The music video for their most recent single “Heartbreak Kid” was a finalist at the Austin Music Video Festival, nominated for Video of the Year.
After honing their live show at venues like Irving Plaza and The Fonda, Me Nd Adam opened to a sold-out crowd for Big Freedia at the Mohawk in Austin. Since then, the band has been tearing through the Austin music scene with appearances at Pride Fest ATX, Mohawk, Emo’s, The Parish and a sold-out headline performance at Stubb’s.
American Drip Part I, is available worldwide via Las Vegas-based indie Handwritten Records.
SMRTDEATH
NEW ALBUM
SOMETHJNGS WRONG
OUT NOVEMBER 20
SHARES NEW TRACK AND VIDEO FOR
“DON’T LOVE ME”
Smrtdeath, born Mike Skwark, has announced his new album Somethjings Wrong due out this Friday November 20 via Epitaph. Smrtdeath shares his latest single from the forthcoming record. “Don’t Love Me” epitomises what Skwark does best, making anthems out of the everyday. With an incredibly catchy, and powerful chorus, the song transcends the underground alternative rap scene and makes it an infectious earworm.
“’Don’t Love Me’ is about wanting someone you can’t have,” explains Skwark. “Kind of like meeting someone at the wrong time, or when you’re too focused on yourself to have time to pursue a connection anywhere else. It’s also about the misguided feelings people can have about someone based on a fleeting connection.”
Smrtdeath has never been easily defined incorporating hip-hop, emo, trap, alternative rock, and a pleasingly warped take on pop into his deeply sincere and catchy songs while frequently collaborating with artists across the entire musical spectrum. Skwark’s genre-agnostic approach to music allows him to successfully touch upon themes of vulnerability, addiction, and heartache within his lyrics. Through getting to know all versions of himself, Skwark has produced a deeply honest collection of songs.
|
Fleet Foxes have released a new Sean Pecknold directed video for “Sunblind” off their widely celebrated, fourth full length Shore, which was surprise released digitally on, September 22nd.
Watch the video for “Sunblind” here.
The video takes the viewer on a stunning international architectural, geographical and creative tour through never before seen behind the scenes footage of the album’s two-year recording sessions. Featured locations include Long Pond studio in Hudson Valley, NY, St. Germain in Paris and Vox in Los Angeles. The “Sunblind” video provides a look into the close collaboration between Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold and multi-talented recording and production engineer Beatriz Bartola, who was a constant throughout the recording process. In addition, “Sunblind” features select footage from the Kersti Jan Werdal directed 16 mm road movie named for the latest release.
In a recent interview Pecknold explained that “Sunblind” was the last song to come together, and recorded only a few weeks prior to release.
It really is this big centrepiece and is the anchor that all the other songs are tied to. I wanted to make a song that celebrated my heroes in an explicit way — people who have passed and who I want to honor in the music. That was a big focus of mine, helping them stay alive through these memories. Music is this weird invisible form of immortality for these people, and I wanted to do it in a joyous way and reframe some of the sorrow of loss into a kind of celebration.
“Sunblind” is the latest video from Shore, directed by Sean Pecknold, who, alongside Adi Goodrich, were behind the recent “Can I Believe You” video. You can view that video HERE.
Following the release of the album, Fleet Foxes hosted sold out outdoor screenings of the aforementioned Kersti Jan Werdal directed film companion to the album, an art film that showcases the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest of the U.S set to the score of the album. The outdoor screenings, took place in Portland, LA, Brooklyn, Austin, Seattle and Chicago.
Listen to Shore HERE
ACCLAIM FOR SHORE:
“Shore looks to the world and realises there is already enough, as if staring into a darkness and responding with beauty, acceptance, and light.” – PITCHFORK (BEST NEW MUSIC)
“A gorgeous folk-rock song cycle about life, death, and art, full of deep mourning and glimmers of relief on the other side. Track for track, Shore is the most immediately rewarding Fleet Foxes record since their brilliant 2008 debut.” – ROLLING STONE (⅘ STARS)
“When you’ve got a song on your album called “Quiet Air/Gioia,” and it’s every bit as pretentious as that title suggests and yet in no way sucks, you’ve done your artistic betters proud.” – ROLLING STONE (⅘ STARS)
“The gorgeous record found tonal balance amid the chaos of recent months, when the project suddenly seemed inconsequential to its creators and, therefore, more like a refuge. Though still primarily the creation of the band’s front man, Robin Pecknold, “Shore” is a collective effort that includes many contributors, and its glistening arrangements are reflective of the unburdening that collaboration fosters. ” THE NEW YORKER
“The album is uniformly gorgeous, sometimes overwhelmingly so when taken in all at once…Every now and then there’s a moment of brightness, an actual good thing, that alleviates the darkness of the wretched year that is 2020. This is one of those good things.” – STEREOGUM
“Fleet Foxes made the perfect album for this moment.” – VULTURE
“Filled with epic, sweeping songs.”- ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
“These 15 tracks are the work of an artist taking in everything dark and corrupt about this year, and choosing to craft an artefact of hope.” – UPROXX
“There are lush soundscapes, fluttery brass cacophonies and subdividing rhythms…there is an acknowledgment of the past, but in a way that throws into sharp relief the potential that lies ahead and the legacy that is carried into the future” – ASSOCIATED PRESS
“Lucid, warm, and with no shortage of heart, Shore is a wonderful album to lead us into the concluding chapters of what has been a heartbreaker of a year.” – CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND
“Shore is their most collaborative, most joyous album, and also one that transcends what Pecknold called the agrarian fantasies of their early days for an earnest plea to hear the call of the wild.” THE RINGER
“Robin remains an extremely gifted songwriter, and these songs find him weaving in deceptively simple arrangements and some of the most instantly-satisfying melodies he’s written yet.” – BROOKLYN VEGAN
“Both vibrant and vital.” UNDER THE RADAR
“Their most gorgeous full-length yet.” NOISEY
“An absolute tour de force of rich melodies, heavenly hooks, luxurious production and songs packed to the brim with key/tempo/mood shifts that keep you constantly on your toes, it’s one of the most formidable albums we’ve heard this year, full stop.” – GUITAR WORLD
|
Powerful and emphatic, four-piece alternative rock band, The Silencio make a bold return with their new single ‘Apology’; a song penned through compassion and seeing the light during dark times.
An honest single inspired by a friend struggling with sobriety, the band hope the new song encourages strength and comradery when people need it the most. Releasing alongside a video clip that flips between the band and a narrative that evokes the very sense of the lyrics detail: repentance and retrospect.
“Jan always respected how hard it would have been for his friend to continuously apologise for his shortcomings and was willing to forgive him to encourage staying on the right track. We need to lift people up and not push them down,” explains lead singer, Nick.
Since The Silencio’s inception in 2014, the band have worked hard at curating their sound and building their audiences amongst the Gold Coast rock scene. Since then the band have toured nationally across Australia, and their previous single ‘Same But Different’ premiered on Triple J’s Breakfast Show. Jumping on board to work with well known Los Angeles musician-producer-composer, Danny Saber (David Bowie, Michael Hutchence, The Rolling Stones), ‘Apology’ is the second release before their upcoming 10-track album set for release in 2021.
Don’t be sorry and get on The Silencio train now.
‘Apology’ is out NOW.
|
|
Grammy-nominated Sydney trio Mansionair have teamed up with Germany’s NoMBe for cathartic new track ‘Guillotine’, which landed last Friday with an accompanying lyric video. The track is the band’s first single release since the launch of their acclaimed debut album Shadowboxer early last year.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Coupling effortless cool with refined rock songwriting chops, Melbourne trio The Grogans unveil their second studio record, Day / To / Day. An album that has been designed to be absorbed, Day / To / Day is a sonic journey that has The Grogans delivering melodies, rhythms and great energy throughout.
Last month saw the band release single ‘Got A Girl’, a track that offered an insight into the charged up end of the album’s spectrum. Yet as the listener makes their way through its 12 track run time, The Grogans flourish as 60’s and 70’s surf rock sounds come together with contemporary slacker influences; all up making for a perfect Spring/Summer soundtrack. Even the album image, taken by seminal 60’s surf photographer John Witzig, perfectly encapsulates the cheeky escapism found in Day / To / Day.
Previous singles ‘Got A Girl’ and ‘Dead Weight’ are two examples of The Grogans’ dynamism as a unit, with further highlights of their harmonies and melody construction shining across ‘Unnecessary’, ‘Graveyard Sleepin’ and ‘Strange Feeling’.
The laidback jam session vibe is captured and refined into a more realised and cohesive LP format by vocalist and guitarist Quin Grunden, who recorded and mixed the album, and engineer Steve Corrao. The pacing of Day / To / Day makes this great for road trips or long days hanging out in summer heat; ‘Gravel Road Blues’ and ‘Takin’ It Easy’ demonstrate slight psych influences in the band’s guitar and rhythm progressions.
“We wanted to build off of our last album and EPs, writing songs that we enjoy playing and listening to. It’s got a bit more of a 60s surf sound than our last releases; we just like that era – the style, the sound of the time, the cars. We also tried to have less limits, to show our wide variety and bigger picture of what The Grogans are, who we collectively are as people.” The Grogans
Recorded at Grogans HQ and out in Ocean Grove, Day / To / Day had the opportunity to come together outside of Melbourne, with Ocean Grove providing an idyllic relaxed setting for The Grogans to settle into. Spending their time making music, skating and hanging out made the album process far easier an experience to get through; with new ideas and sonic sessions coming naturally for the band over time.
“[The recording process] same as what we usually do; a couple of months writing, then we take a week off and lock ourselves away to get the majority of the recording done, then polish it up with added tracks at Grogs HQ. This time was in Ocean Grove, which was really relaxing. We’d surf, skate and just hang out without too much structure to the recording.” The Grogans
Forming in high school, The Grogans have got a stack of releases as well as a strong live reputation to their name in debut album Just What You Want (2019) and EP releases Grogan Grove (2018), Twangs ‘n’ Cans (2017), and Cacteyed (2016). Emerging as a dominant constant on the Melbourne music scene and an exciting presence on stages around the country.
PRAISE FOR THE GROGANS
“The Grogans are ramping things back up on this one! What an infectious, jump around, 2 min surf banger..”
Triple J, Declan Byrne (‘Got A Girl’)
“The Grogans capture the laid-back lifestyle we all yearn for.”
Beat Magazine
“The Grogans continue to kill it. This is a massive chiller. The amount of people at both your shows this weekend was insane. A line around the corner and everything?!?!! Any time now… I can’t wait to see you guys explode! “
Triple J Unearthed Claire Mooney
“The Grogans are one of the best recently-newcoming rock groups we have at the moment”
Hayden Davies, Pilerats
“Clocking in a smidge over two minutes, ‘Got A Girl’ is everything that we’ve come to love about The Grogans – fast surf rock guitars and lyrics about living life to the fullest.”
Tonedeaf
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Triple J Unearthed
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stay connected with Dune Rats:
Official Website | Facebook | Instagram
SUPPORT FOR STUPID BABY
“One of the area’s most promising newcomers.”
Pilerats (AUS)
“Are you familiar with Stupid Baby? You probably should be.”
Life Without Andy (AUS)
“It’s got a 90’s grit that twists and turns – and would be right at home on a Buffy the Vampire Slayer soundtrack.”
Lucy Smith – triple j (AUS)
‘Feline’ added to rotation on Double J
‘Mr Zil’ added to Apple Music’s ‘The New Rock’
NSW Central Coast-based indie-rock trio Stupid Baby has just revealed their audacious new single ‘Fear’ – produced and mixed by Simon Dobson (Bootleg Rascal) and mastered by Andrew Edgson (Ocean Alley, West Thebarton, The Gooch Palms).
Driven by haunting guitar harmonics, groove-laden bass lines and the commanding vocals of lead singer/drummer Jake Dobson, ‘Fear’ is another masterful exploration of indie-rock by the group. The track darts back and forth between all-encompassing fervour and spacious, syncopated builds, hurtling towards a wholly satisfying ending.
Dobson talks about the meaning behind ‘Fear’:
“The song is a story about the fear of losing someone, but not doing anything to keep them. Most of the song focuses on the realisation of self-sabotage and the consequential regret. Though the story is pretty sombre, we wanted to keep the music upbeat and confident. You could say that a lot of 80’s goth pop was consumed this year. Dance, be sad, and try to feel good about it. Next question.”
In the live arena, the band have shared stages with the likes of The Chats, The Smith Street Band, Pist Idiots, Skegss, Ocean Alley, Polish Club and WAAX, as well as performing at their debut music festival Rolling Sets in January, alongside Hilltop Hoods, The Rubens, Lime Cordiale, Mallrat and George Alice.
Their first two singles ‘Feline’ and ‘Mr Zil’ saw extensive support from Apple Music and Australian radio stations triple j, Double J, triple j Unearthed, FBi Radio, 2SER, 4ZZZ, SYN FM, Edge Radio, Radio Adelaide, 2XX FM and Aussie Music Weekly. They also saw support from online blogs Pilerats, Life Without Andy, Hysteria Magazine, The AU Review, Music Feeds, AAA Backstage and Ear to the Ground Music (USA).
In the coming weeks, Stupid Baby will reveal an accompanying music video for ‘Fear’.
‘Fear’ is available worldwide now
FOLLOW STUPID BABY
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | SOUNDCLOUD | SPOTIFY | APPLE MUSIC
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Photo credit: Mushroom Creative House
|
|
|
|
|
|
