Hey Satan tempt you, Snotty Nose Rez Kids get creative, Fucked Up slip you a dose, Kevin Morby gets wild and more in today’s Roundup.
I finally watched the Mötley Crüe movie. Wow. Just wow.
1 The band is named Hey Satan. They’re Swiss stoner-rockers whose rubbery basslines, electro-shock guitars and wailing vocals can go toe-to-toe with the baddest of the bad. Their song is called Housewife Blues. It’s from their album Orange Moon, out April 8. And the insane accompanying video is definitely NSFW. Do I really need to say anything else? I mean, we both know you’re going to watch it. You’re not fooling anybody. So let’s just cut to the chase, shall we? SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Two fierce guitars and one drums, pure rock’n’roll pleasure, body and soul: Hey Satan is back in town and ready to rumble! Be sure that the loveable boys know how to rock this shit live.” Hey yourself:
2 Snotty Nose Rez Kids’ future is bright, based on the acclaim and award nominations that have been coming their way lately. But their worldview is still black and white on the video for Creator Made An Animal, the dynamic rap duo’s first followup to the Average Savage album. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Snotty Nose Rez Kids bring an aggressive and assertive energy that imitates the way society portrays Indigenous peoples and POC across Turtle Island. Their ancestors were stereotyped as savages, and they are often regarded as the pissed-off generation who haven’t gotten over what colonization has done to their lands and people. Through stylish delivery, Snotty Nose Rez Kids let the world know they aren’t changing for anyone. The future is theirs.” Hope that car belongs to somebody else, though:
3 I have never been a fan of psychedelic drugs. So I can’t speak from personal experience about whether Fucked Up’s new video for the funky jam Dose Your Dreams — which starts off looking like countless other low-cost clips shot in and around someone’s home, but gradually gets weirder and weirder until reality is morphing and swirling around you — does, does not or is even meant to approximate the gradual effect of a specific drug. But I can say with confidence that it’s pretty trippy. And I can say with happiness that Damian Abraham keeps his clothes on in the live footage. Nobody needs to see his gonch in any state. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Throughout Fucked Up’s double-album epic Dose Your Dreams, the politics and aesthetics of hardcore are married to an “open format” approach to genre: elements of doo-wop, krautrock, groove, digital hardcore, and so much more. Perhaps no better song exemplifies this marriage than the album’s title track, which has been given the music video treatment courtesy of the band’s Mike Haliechuk.” Tune in and turn on:
4 Life makes no sense sometimes. So it’s probably only fair that videos should follow suit. That would seem to be the philosophy behind the clip for Nothing Sacred / All Things Wild, the latest single from Kevin Morby’s upcoming album Oh My God. The song itself is a simple, slow-building ballad with hand percussion, saxophone and gospel overtones. The video? Well, it’s got a bunch of kids who apparently live in a greenhouse, a football scrimmage in dry ice fog, a kid with blue teeth being prevented from catching what looks like a giant bean by vines around her ankles and more. Maybe he and Fucked Up could trade clips. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Nothing Sacred was the moment that (producer Sam Cohen) and I stumbled into what would become the sonic landscape of Oh My God by breaking the songs down to their parts and doing away with a conventional band,” explains Kevin. And a lot of other things, perhaps:
5 This time it’s personal. And nostalgic. Long-running Canadian folk vets Madison Violet — the duo of singer-guitarists Brenley MacEachern and Lisa MacIsaac, who are partners onstage and off — recall their first road trip as a band and a couple in the video for Tell Me, the latest single from their upcoming album Everything’s Shifting. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “In 1999, Brenley MacEachern and Lisa MacIsaac met in Toronto. They instantly formed a band and became a couple. By recommendation of some industry folk, they were told that they should hide their sexuality and their relationship (which they did so for many years of their career). So, they ran away to the desert with their guitars in tow and wrote their first record. This video is a glimpse into their adventures and misadventures on that first road trip together.” Somebody get out and push:
6 If you want something done right, do it yourself. Though it also helps if you can get Daniel Romano to help. That’s what Constantines and Baby Eagle singer-guitarist Steven Lambke did for his upcoming solo album Dark Blue. The pairing makes perfect sense; after all, the disc is being released to mark the 10th anniversary of You’ve Changed Records, the label Lambke and Romano co-founded. They lit the candles on the cake with Fireworks, an Eastern-spiced hypno-drone groove-rocker; now they turn down the volume with the intimate folk ballad White Horses, a fine showcase for Lambke’s sandpaper pipes and literate songcraft. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Shot against the backdrop of enduring snow in a warehouse of endless windows, and featuring accompanists Daniel Romano (guitar) and Roddy Carlyle (bass), the performance echoes the intimacy of the track as delivered on the forthcoming record. Delicate twang and gracious restraint fuse with an illustrative narrative for the offering. Six white horses comin’ down.” Nice rug:
7 Three is supposed to be the magic number. And seven is the lucky one. But Flaural clearly aren’t playing by the numbers. At least not those numbers. The Denver psychedelic experimentalists’ latest single is the warm ’n’ fuzzy trip 1616, which manages to flow soothingly even as it toggles between 5/4 and 6/8 time. And reveals the secret truth: Dinosaurs visited the Pyramids. See for yourself. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Flaural is the unified sum of four equal parts. The hypnotic pulse of Nick Berlin’s krautrock drum grooves crystalize as the backdrop atop which sprawls the band’s ethereal art-pop-songwriting. Connor Birch’s expansive synths and keys, the unique virtuosity and aggression of Noah Pfaff’s guitar playing, and the resonant croon of Colin Johnson’s vocals and driving bass lines all coalesce into experimental psych rock that warmly invites the uninitiated listener into the unknown.” Your number’s up:
8 We all have to grow up and accept the truth someday. Even Foxygen, apparently. Among the facts that need facing on the L.A. duo’s retro-freaky single Face the Facts (from their April 26 release Seeing Other People): You’re never going to be a famous rock star; you’re never going to dance like James Brown; you’re never going to be black; and you’re never going to get her back. Amazingly, the song itself — a colourful smear of funk weirdness — is anything but a bummer. Fact. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Face The Facts is a synth-guitar earworm that gives a humorous take on becoming an irrelevant artist.” Is that a fact?
9 You know what they say: You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. And in the case of cosmic country-rock collective Drugdealer’s single Honey — from their April 19 release Raw Honey — you can catch even more fans by getting an assist from Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Honey is a forthright examination of self-worth, anxiety, and creativity in an ultra commercialized world (“Money is the root of the game, the problem with fame is that everybody is going to lose their edge”).” Sweet:
10 Every time London-based electro quartet Hælos put out a single, I have to go hunting around my keyboard for the æ key. But I am willing to forgive them as long as they keep putting out funky jams like End of the World Party. The cut from their May 10 album Any Random Kindness is anchored by a classic James Brown sample updated with a plethorta of synths — blurry ones, bleeping one, swoopings ones, etc. — and a suitably celebratory vibe. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “End of World Party is a satirical look at disregarding the apocalyptic aspects of humanity and focusing on the now.” The pærty stærts now:
11 When Irah singer Stine Grøn sings, “Echa mendiou / Iduh Maneh / Isa mendiou / Ídau mena / Ehqui nama da namara sé / Eso tho setha me rioda sereh,” it’s impossible to disagree. Mainly because most of those lyrics consist of made-up mumbo-jumbo. Which is not to suggest Grøn and synth-playing partner Adi Zukanović are making up their song Siu Hinama as they go along. Just that this darkly grooving trance-rocker — a preview of the Danish outfit’s May 24 album Diamond Grid — exists on its own terms and in its own world. Still, you should visit. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Siu Hinama occurred through vocalistic sound meditations. The song never felt right with lyrics and therefore we decided to just let the words or word-sounds be as they were.” Must be nice:
