Shonen Knife get dizzy, Rich Aucoin gets foiled, Johnny Thunders sees double, Loma dance in the dark and more in today’s no-frills Roundup. Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies.
1 Shonen Knife show off their girl-group dance moves on Dizzy, the first preview of the Japanese pop-punk legends’ nostalgic new album Sweet Candy Power, which will bring some sugar to your world on June 6. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Sweet Candy Power is an homage to my favorite rock music from the 1960’s and 1970’s,” explains frontwoman Naoko. “I put all of my enjoyment, entertainment, joy, and delight into my songs. Inspired by my experience during tours and my daily life, I wrote the lyrics with fun and a little bit of irony. I hope people get happy through this album.” You go, girls:
2 The mind is a terrible thing to waste (or taste, if you’re Al Jourgensen). But it’s a wonderful thing to make a strangely surreal video about, as Nova Scotian Rich Aucoin has done to illustrate The Mind, a majestically sweeping instrumental from his May 17 release, fittingly titled Release. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “This track is about the mind and therefore has no lyrics. Musically, this song has two drum sets on it. The main kit is played by Jeremy Malvin (aka Chrome Sparks) and the second is carried over from the Release session by Broken Social Scene’s Justin Peroff. Ben Talmi played the very rare Therevox slide theremin on the track down at his Virtue & Vice studio in Brooklyn. While Jenn Grant was recorded by Daniel Ledwell at his Echo Lake studio in Nova Scotia. The vocal melody seamlessly switches from male to female vocals with Jenn and my voices being the samples.” Foiled again:
3+4 You can’t put your arms around a memory. But you can get your hands on two new videos dedicated to the life and death of glam-punk gypsy-junkie and New York Dolls/Heartbreakers guitar anti-hero Johnny Thunders. First up is the April 5 release of Madrid Memory, a long-lost (and star-studded) Spanish concert that dates back to 1984. Then, May 24 brings Room 37: The Mysterious Death Of Johnny Thunders, a film inspired by the troubled guitarist’s final days and tragic demise in New Orleans. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Madrid Memory features a long lost live concert performance from The Heartbreakers’ explosive 1984 reunion world tour that included fellow Dolls Sylvain Sylvain and Jerry Nolan plus Billy Rath. Room 37: The Mysterious Death Of Johnny Thunders is inspired by true life events.” Too much, too soon:
5 Texas trio Loma go dancing in the dark — and set off some fireworks — in this fittingly moody clip for their sublime new single Half Silences. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “We’re deep inside the new album, but didn’t want to wait to release this song. That’s not CGI, by the way; Dan and I held the fireworks while Emily danced and our friend Sam yelled ‘Lower! Higher! To the left!’. Watch for a cameo by Noodle the cat.” Light the fuse:
6 Folk-pop duo Olden Yolk — the partnership of singer-songwriters Shane Butler and Caity Shaffer — play inside and outside on the video for the strummy Cotton and Cane, the first single from the New Yorkers’ May 17 sophomore album Living Theatre. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Cotton & Cane is a self-reflection, entertwined with Butler and Shaffer’s lilting vocals and melancholy instrumentation. The video, directed by the band and P. Nick Curran, filters between hazy scenes of the duo wandering on a green hillside and throughout rooms of a looming house.” Hit the deck:
7 Cate Le Bon and her red hoodie roam far and wide in the meandering video for the earnestly swooning Daylight Matters, the latest preview of her May 24 release Reward. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The video, directed by acclaimed film maker and multimedia artist Casey Raymond against the solitude of the Welsh coastline, utilizes saturated hues of reds and pinks to accentuate the sense of expanse. As described by Le Bon, the video represents “playful solitary despair in an alien landscape of sinking sand and towers in the sea. Searching or running away? A little bit of both, maybe.” Catch her if you can:
8 Is this the Real Thing? That’s what Australian trio Middle Kids — Hannah Joy, Harry Day and Tim Fitz — want to know on the potent and pretty first single from their upcoming EP New Songs For Old Problems due May 24. Spoiler alert: It is. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “A soaring anthemic track, Real Thing ruminates on our “lifelong quest for meaning,” says Hannah. “It’s the quiet, persistent voice in the stillness that constantly checks to see if you truly think you’ve found the thing you’re looking for.” Keep it real:
9 Bay Area scrappers The Happys deliver a short, sharp slice of surf-garage energy to your day with Cut the Rope, from their brand-spanking EP Bipolar. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Frontman Nick Petty explains, “The song examines elements in people’s lives that hold them back emotionally. Cut The Rope to us is like ripping a band aid off…. it could be regarding a drug problem, bad work situation, toxic relationship or anything that you need to just get over and cut out of your life. If something is continuously holding you back/down, then maybe this song is about that.” C’mon, get happy:
10 Ontario singer-songwriter Kalle Mattson heads out on the floor with DJ duo Rainer + Grimm’s hypnotastic house remix of Strangers, from his latest LP Youth. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “This one is for anyone who’s thought: ‘I wish this DJ would play something upbeat AND SAD’,” says Mattson. “Seriously though, it’s pretty surreal to hear your own song remixed for the first time, the Rainer + Grimm guys did a great job. Catch you in the club.” Not on your life, pal:
11 Arizona garage-popsters The Astronots keep their feet on the ground — and keep reaching for the stars — on the dreamy, swirly and slightly psychedelic single Settle Down. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Settle Down narrates the feeling of anxiety and being trapped inside yourself. Featuring resonating guitars, throbbing basslines and eerie layered vocals the track truly packs a punch.” Blast off:
12 There’s no time like the present for Lauren Lakis. The L.A. singer-songwriter stays current on her haunting low-rock dreamscape Right Now, which was apparently written while she attended a seance — and sounds like it. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Right Now is about the heaviness of the present moment, the constant energy required to operate in the here and now, how simple existing can be such a struggle sometimes. Lakis explains, “Malaise is the word that probably best describes that feeling. But it’s also suggesting that it isn’t a solitary experience, and that we can find comfort in each other.” Now’s the time:
