The OBGMs are fed up, Pynch are not themselves, Serpent Omega visit their happy place and more in today’s easy-peasy Monday Roundup. Those of you celebrating Frida Kahlo’s birthday won’t want to miss out on Track 9. Those who prefer Hookers & Blow — not to mention pointless David Bowie covers — shouldn’t skip Track 7.
1 | The OBGMs | Not Again
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto punk rock trio The OBGMs are back with a typically rambunctious new single Not Again. Vocalist and guitarist Densil McFarlane says, “Bad advice, wrong choice, fake lovers and friends. Not Again is about the lies I tell myself when I look in the mirror. The second single released this summer continues the exploration of internal struggles and self destruction.” The OBGMs are a black-fronted punk rock band that demands your attention. From their genre-fusing music, to their lyrical creativity, the band’s sound brings a spicy raucousness to the palette of your eardrums. Delicious. On stage, they control the crowd like the preacher controls the congregation. The sermon’s message is: they are here.”
2 | Pynch | Somebody Else
THE PRESS RELEASE: “London indie quartet Pynch have announced their new single Somebody Else, their first output since 2019’s sensational debut single Disco Lights. Pynch originally started life as a set of demos written and recorded by singer Spencer Enock in his parent’s Ramsgate basement, taking inspiration from indie stalwarts like LCD Soundsystem, The War On Drugs, The Strokes and Beach Fossils to name a few. On moving to London to study music, Spencer met bandmates-to-be Julianna Hopkins (Drums), James Rees (Guitar) and Jimmy Folan (Bass) and Pynch was born. Spencer says, “I wrote and recorded the song over a couple of days in April after losing my job and going back home to live with my parents during the pandemic. The song is sort of a mediation and reflection on that and me figuring out what’s going on in my life.”
3 | Serpent Omega | Land Of Darkness
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Swedish doom/sludge metal unit Serpent Omega will release their II full-length on Sept. 4. In advance of its release, Serpent Omega has undraped a video for second single, Land Of Darkness. The track is a showcase for vocalist Urskogr’s rasped and guttural delivery, which is filthier than ever but tempered by clean passages, adding elements of both strength and vulnerability which only deepens the overall sense of a looming end. Urskogr elaborates, “Land Of Darkness basically sums up the essence of Serpent Omega with its brutal energy and simple yet complex sound. The lyrics were written by me and Jonsson while we were recording the song. Like most of the stuff Serpent Omega does, we do it together and everyone contributes with a lot of passion. That is usually a really time-consuming process since we rarely agree about stuff in the band, but Land Of Darkness was more like binge drinking with Lemmy in comparison to our usual way of working. The riffs were written a while before the lyrics but when they merged together, it was a perfect fit. The song was just there. Land Of Darkness needed to be unleashed and it basically wrote itself.”
4 | Aspiga | Eucalyptus Nights
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Earlier this year, Kevin Day of Aspiga & Graduation Speech teamed up with Twin Peaks Sessions to film a live performance that included one song from each project. If you’re not familiar, Twin Peaks Sessions captures musicians playing stripped-down sets on a San Francisco rooftop that offers quite the backdrop. The Aspiga song selected for this session is titled Eucalyptus Nights and appears on the band’s 2018 release, Dragged Through the Years, a collection of B-sides and previously unreleased material.”
5 | NoN | Until We Say Goodbye
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Euro hard rockers NoN (formerly Now Or Never) have released their new single Until We Say Goodbye. Says founding guitarist Ricky Marx: “Until We Say Goodbye talks about the indefectible love and devotion one has with his child. Whatever happens, whatever the child, son, daughter needs to learn in life, we are always there to guide them and heal them. I wrote the song in 2019 and the lyrics were written by Marc Farrano, a Norwegian musician. It’s a melodic hard rock song, with a touch of a heavy rhythm section, paired with delicate vocals.”
6 | Garrett Owen | These Modern Times
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Dallas/Fort Worth-based troubadour Garrett Owen has announced his forthcoming album Quiet Lives, due out Sept. 18, with the release of lead single These Modern Times. Owen wrote the song after frustration with our seemingly endless addiction to and reliance on all things digital, being constantly “connected” and bombarded with information. He fleshed out the lyrics on one of his regular sojourns to the Brazos River, where he finds peace in the “dis-connection” of being in nature. “At its core, all art is based on a ‘true story,’ and by true, I mean the version we carry in our head and heart – the one that can lift or crush your spirit with equal capacity,” the golden-voiced Owen explains. “Some suggest that your upbringing explains quirks of personality like my shyness, a tendency for introspection, and streaks of perfectionism. Maybe. I’m not so fatalistic as to believe our earliest experiences necessarily determine the arc of adult life, but my slightly foreign childhood never leaves my music or me. Everybody’s got a story to tell. I’m no different.”
7 | Hookers & Blow | Ziggy Stardust
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Hookers & Blow, the now-legendary project formed by longtime Guns N’ Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed and Quiet Riot guitarist Alex Grossi, recently hit the studio to record a covers album that will be released later this year. Now the band are set to drop their third single, an emotive version of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust that truly and respectfully holds a candle up to the original. Grossi comments: “Ziggy Stardust has been in the Hookers & Blow live set since our very first show 17 years ago. We are really happy that we were able to capture the vibe of the way we do it live in the studio.”
8 | Marenna-Meister | Follow Me Up
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Marenna-Meister is the new project of singer Rod Marenna and guitarist Alex Meister (Pleasure Maker). The band present their debut album Out Of Reach on Sept. 28, featuring 10 extremely powerful tracks with the energy of the ’80s hard rock and glam metal. While the partnership’s first full-length is in the post-production phase, the duo have released the first single Follow Me Up.”
9 | Iska Dhaaf | Frida Kahlo
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Iska Dhaaf are a producer/songwriter duo living in Brooklyn. Their recent work navigates indietronica and bedroom pop with a blend of rich lyricism and lush textural soundscapes. Frida Kahlo, their new single, is a nuanced piece of storytelling. The song’s narrator, Nathan Quiroga, tenderly weaves his own disappointment and feelings of isolation with the famous struggles of two iconic painters (Kahlo & Van Gogh). A gorgeous piece of indie folk, each verse lyrically paints these artists inside of their own work. The song’s expressively picked guitar and gentle piano glow beneath Benjamin Verdoes’s flowering vocal harmonies. Iska Dhaaf have taken a compelling and unique approach to songwriting that extends a hand of comfort to their fellow lonely souls.”
10 | Slomosa | In My Mind’s Desert
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Bringing desert rock from what is probably the least desert country in the world, Norwegian rockers Slomosa are due to release their self-titled debut album on Aug. 28. The latest single from the upcoming album, is the sun-dazed In My Mind’s Desert, showcasing the band’s ability to make rock songs that appeal not only to the traditional rock crowd.”
11 | Xythlia | The Eye Bath
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The solo project of US multi-instrumentalist/singer Nick Stanger (also active in the ranks of black metallers Ashbringer), Xythlia brilliantly blend the most extreme tech death/grind metal with Voivod’s progressive/experimental approach and the mind-shattering guitar acrobatics of Krallice and Ocrilim. Immortality Through Quantum Suicide, the band’s first album, is as creepy and weirdly fascinating as Carlos Agraz’s stunning cover painting, where an alien creature performs a suicide ritual through the space/time continuum, furiously stabbing itself to death. It’s a cosmic self-murder, an outer-dimensional bloodbath, each blood drop a seed destined to spawn new and abhorrent life forms. “When quarantine started, I had nothing but time to kill with a myriad of frantic uncertainty and anxiety,” Stanger explains; “this record is a reflection of that. It’s a concept album that follows a character experiencing the full extent of isolation throughout infinite time.”
12 | Sir Was x Casper Clausen | Flyder
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Sir Was and Casper Clausen, singer of experimental Danish post-rockers Efterklang, release their collaboration Flyder. Joel and Casper first met whilst in Berlin when they were both invited to be part of PEOPLE, a 7-day creative experience put together by and involving musicians including Beirut’s Zach Condon, Justin Vernon, Feist and The National’s Dessner brothers. Flyder started as a small sketch around the time when Joel went to join the Efterklang recordings in Copenhagen last year. After bouncing the song back and forth, between Gothenberg and Casper’s studio in Almada (looking across the bay to Lisbon), the song was finally finished off by Joel back in Gothenburg.”
13 | Shiwashiwa | Beside You
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Equally gifted in music and the visual arts, Shiwashiwa is a powerful creative force whose work is warm, inviting, and beautifully surreal. The Tokyo-based artist holds down a day job as a staff member at a health checkup facility, drawing pictures and making songs while on the clock. Their full-length debut, I’m Here, was written and recorded over the course of four years and made entirely using GarageBand. It’s a deeply intimate collection of convention-defying pop from one of the most important artists working today.”
