The Go Team! make a scene, No Joy have your number, Paradise take it away, Incantation share their manifesto and more in today’s Roundup. Scroll down to hear new songs from Jefferson Starship and Yo La Tengo. No points for guessing which one I’m more excited about.
1 | The Go! Team | Cookie Scene
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The Go! Team return with new single Cookie Scene — a warped Daisy Age jam fit to melt pavements. A bouncing flute pattern, finger clicks and firing ray guns lay the groundwork for guest rapper IndigoYaj to skip on. With the flute in a locked groove, junkshop percussion takes centre stage — built from a marching drum, a quarter pinging against a glass bottle, rimshots and the maple on maple of drumsticks hit together. Says Ian Parton: “The stripped-back swinging percussion of Iko Iko by The Dixie Cups and the loud crunchy shaker in Salt-n-Pepa’s Push It were both inspirations and I’ve always loved the way Bollywood or William Onyeabor songs would have random laser beams and electro toms popping up. I wanted to mix the streetcorner with the intergalactic, to take Detroit to outer space.”
2 | No Joy | Four
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Montreal’s No Joy today reveal their latest video, Four. Frontperson and principal songwriter Jasamine White-Gluz calls Four “perhaps my favorite No Joy song ever written.” It is taken from their new album Motherhood, out on Aug. 21. No Joy’s latest video follows Kanienʼkehá꞉ka (Mohawk) visual artist Ashley Diabo at her home in Kahnawake. Ashley’s art is inspired by her home, family, Pennywise and nature. No Joy teamed up with Jodi Heartz with the aim, explains Jasamine, “to appreciate Ashley at home, hoping to inspire all to embrace the love and inspiration of their home the way Ashley reminds us every day. She has a special gift to make the everyday more and better and magical.”
3 | Paradise | Away From You
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Like many musicians and bands around the world, members of Montreal’s heavy stoner rockers Paradise have been separated from one another as a precaution to the Covid 19 pandemic. Not able to see each other to have regular jams along with postponements of performances, the band has adapted to the state of the world and continues to promote their heavy and winding arrangements of corrosive rock with the creation of a new quarantine video series entitled From The Van. Today, the band share their first video for the track Away From You. “Funny enough, we all own our own vans, so we decided to each record ourselves performing our tunes with multi-camera angles. This is Covid 19 style! We couldn’t do it on stage, couldn’t do it for our fans, so we did it in our vans!” says vocalist R.L. Black.”
4 | Incantation | Fury’s Manifesto
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Death metal pioneers Incantation unleash their Fury’s Manifesto music video. The track comes off the band’s highly anticipated new full-length Sect Of Vile Divinities, set for release Aug. 21. Comments bassist Chuck Sherwood, “We present another offering unleashed from Sect Of Vile Divinities aptly named Fury’s Manifesto, a more crushing choice from the album to express blasphemy towards religious ethics and its failure to the very evil that the faiths themselves created.”
5 | Lakeman | Pandosy
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Instrumental prog band Lakeman split up earlier this year, but before they say goodbye, the band is sharing their live video for Pandosy, which captures footage of the band’s final night of rehearsal and last three sold-out shows in Kelowna and Penticton during November 2019. Lakeman’s Robert McLaren explains further: “We worked really hard to try to get every song we wrote filmed in order to highlight the fact we were exchanging instruments and using more than the standard rock band set up. We tried to film/record Pandosy on multiple occasions and it would never work out for whatever reason: technical difficulties, poor quality recording, bad performances. When we decided to stop playing live for an indeterminate amount of time, possibly for good, we knew our final shows would be our last chance to film Pandosy. All week at rehearsals and even the first show of the weekend we were shaky, I remember my fiddle was out of tune the first night. Pandosy is always our big ender of the night. So we played it for what might be the last time and we captured this beast of a song on film and record. It was a fitting end if that was the end. At that time we weren’t sure.”
6 | Pryme Kingz | RNB ft. Shay La Rose
THE PRESS RELEASE: “South London music collective Pryme Kingz have returned to deliver their first offering of the year with the self-produced track RNB. Freeze Pryme, La’al Pryme and Prelude DM join forces to pay homage to the RnB greats who came before them to create a nostalgic vibe for listeners, complete with Dancehall and Afrobeat sounds in tow and a feature from Afro-RnB songstress, Shay La Rose.”
7 | Seething Akira | Gravity
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Seething Akira release their new single and video Gravity. Seething Akira are a five-piece electronic rock band from Portsmouth, UK. Combining rock riffs, rap rhymes and harmonic vocals, Seething Akira are a truly unique proposition, and stand out with their high energy live shows. In action since 2013, founder member Charlie Bowes (Production/Vocals) is joined by Kit Conrad (Vocals), Stu Radcliffe (Drums) Richard Ellis Speaight (Bass) and Simon Williams (Guitar).”
8 | Jefferson Starship | It’s About Time
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Legendary rock band Jefferson Starship (featuring David Freiberg, Donny Baldwin, Cathy Richardson, Chris Smith, and Jude Gold) have announced the release of their new EP, Mother of the Sun, their first collection of new songs in 12 years. Mother of the Sun will be released on Aug. 21. The seven tracks include two songs co-written by original Jefferson Starship/Jefferson Airplane members — It’s About Time co-written with Grace Slick and another co-written with Marty Balin. “Paul Kantner was our bandleader and the visionary who kept Jefferson Starship going through so many eras,” says Richardson. “He inspired so much about this record, from the messages in the lyrics to the title and album art to the collaborative process of creating music as a band with some of his original muses — Grace, Marty, and Pete. Mother of the Sun is dedicated to PK.”
9 | Concrete | Executing Vengeance
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Executing Vengeance is the latest song from Albany, New York-based metallic hardcore practitioners Concrete. The tune comes off the band’s Free Us From Existence full-length set to drop Aug. 7. Says Concrete: “Executing Vengeance is about people who prey on small or vulnerable groups to feed their own egos, getting what they deserve. In a way, it is enjoying the age old adage, ‘what goes around, comes around.’ ” Notes the band of the record’s message, “We focused a lot on the negativity and disintegration of humanity in various forms from our seemingly unbreakable addiction to the internet and social media, to the self-destruction of humanity through hatred and lies and the apparent indifference to it all.”
10 | Dog Day | Hell on Earth
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Dog Day is back with a brand-new album. Present is out on Friday, Aug. 14. Present draws as much on a history of gothic synth-rock than it does on hook-oriented indie punk. It is a much-awaited comeback from a band that has never stayed in the same lane and always adapted to their surroundings without losing their gloom-pop throughline. The album comes as the band emerges from a comfortable silence following 2013’s prophetically named Fade Out. In the years that followed, Seth Smith & Nancy Urich — the band’s lead creative duo — focused their talents on another medium: film. Releasing the critically acclaimed feature The Crescent in 2017, they quickly moved into production on an upcoming bio-sci-fi feature titled Tin Can. Amidst these new works, Seth & Nancy reconvened with original Dog Day drummer KC Spidle (Diamondtown/Bad Vibrations) and newcomer Meg Yoshida (Not You/Bad Vibrations) for this new, full-length record.”
11 | Kids of Skids | Army Store
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Sydney-based hardcore punk band Kids of Skids have released their debut single Army Store. Army Store is exactly what it sounds like, a song about the band’s favourite store. This short but energetic single is a perfect example of Kids of Skids’ versatility and impressive ability to fit a lot of punk into a short song. Kids of Skids are full of obscenities and play their music loud, fast and aggressive. In their own words: “We play punk music your mum doesn’t want you to listen to.” Kids of Skids are all about gigging hard, playing fast, and having as much fun as possible.”
12 | Black Magnet | Divination Equipment
THE PRESS RELEASE: “While birthed in the late 1980s, it was in the 1990s that the “industrial metal” genre came to full fruition with the likes of Godflesh, Ministry, Pitch Shifter, Fear Factory, Front Line Assembly, and Nine Inch Nails carving out (or in some cases sampling) metal-inspired riffing over a backbone of electronic malevolence and brutal machine driven percussion. In that tradition, Black Magnet offer the haunted pummeling synthesis that is their debut album, Hallucination Scene. From the initial battering of opener Divination Equipment, it is clear Black Magnet play heavy guitar-focused music with equal devotion to industrial rhythms and electronic machine thunder. Throughout the punishing lurch a dark melodic sense throbs with uniform attention paid to the club floor as much as the mosh pit. All the while Black Magnet progenitor James Hammontree guides the hallucinatory torment and ecstasy with his acerbic delivery.”
13 | Nyssa | Bye Bye Jubilee
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto singer-songwriter/producer Nyssa’s debut album Girls Like Me arrives Aug. 21. Today she released her first summer single Bye Bye Jubilee, a protest song that takes place in a parking lot. Nyssa states, “Girls Like Me is an album about freedom. We all look to stories and fictions for clues on how to navigate our messy lives. I seek to write anthems for all our rebellions. I aim to shed light on new pathways. Non-men lack the power to wander freely. I wrote these songs to fill this wandering void. Hitchhikers. Outlaws. Killers. Rebels. Bad boys. Renegade heirs. Players. Lovers. I want to embody each of these. As a woman. An androgyne. A pansexual pagan.”
14 | Turning Jewels Into Water | Swirl In The Waters
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Turning Jewels Into Water — the duo of Haitian-born drummer, DJ, educator and electronic music artist Val Jeanty and Indian-born drummer, producer and educator Ravish Momin — will release their new album, Our Reflection Adorned by Newly Formed Stars, on Aug. 21. Today, they share Swirl In The Waters, a dark and pulsing epic. The track is a collaboration with Iranian singer Kamyar Arsani, who is “as comfortable in DC’s Punk scene as he is with traditional Persian music,” says Ravish. “The track evokes a ‘digital folk music’ from nowhere, as the inspirations span a range from Shanghai’s 33EMYBW to Cairo’s 3Phaz to Durban’s DJ Lag.”
15 | Yo La Tengo | James and Ira demonstrate mysticism and some confusion holds (Monday)
THE PRESS RELEASE: “If you’ve spent any time hanging out with us at our rehearsal space in Hoboken — that pretty much covers none of you — you’ve heard us playing formlessly (he said, trying to sidestep the word “improvising”). Most of the songs we’ve written in the last 25 years have begun that way, but often we do it for no other reason than to push away the outside world. In late April, with the outside world weighing on everybody, we determined that the three of us could assemble in Hoboken without disobeying the rules laid out by Governor Murphy, and resumed … “practicing” hardly describes it, because we’ve done no practicing per se, and anyway what would be practicing for … playing. James set up one microphone in the middle of the room in case we stumbled on something useful for the future. Instead we decided to release something we did right now.”
16 | Muck & the Mires | Take Me Back To Planet Earth
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Buckle up and prepare yourself for a rocket trip fueled on pure power pop! Boston’s garage-rock ambassadors Muck and the Mires return with a six-song EP of brand new songs all written while the band has anxiously been waiting to take their live show back on tour around the world. On Take Me Back To Planet Earth, Muck and the Mires steer their space ship back to a planet earth still reverberating with guitar tones straight out of 1964, garage rock growl and a few songwriting tricks they learned from touring the world with legendary powerpoppers like The Flamin’ Groovies and Paul Collins Beat. Concept album? We won’t go that far…”
17 | The Great Palumbo | What Are The Odds?
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The Great Palumbo started with an American living in Hanoi, Vietnam, writing songs and playing in small clubs around the Vietnamese capital. After a long wandering journey, he crash-landed in Nashville, where a reliable cast of collaborators began to emerge. In 2019, The Great Palumbo’s driving, choral debut single was released, followed by their EP Into the Dark. Their latest single is a catchy dose of indie poptimism, What Are The Odds?”
18 | Chris Wenner | Losing Hold
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Chris Wenner’s fascination for acoustic guitars developed in the early 1970s during his teenage years. Since then, Chris has paired his fascination for this instrument with a genuine love for songwriting, storytelling and performance, having played with renowned artists. His debut album New Born Man is the culmination of Wenner’s lifelong musical passion, marrying touching stories with gentle vocal harmonies and a stunning acoustic guitar sound — a repertoire that spans half a century of songwriting! With his new single Losing Hold, Wenner tells us about painful losses in his life, but in an authentic and positive way. Thus listening to him one is immersed in this sentimental mood! The famous California band Venice accompanies Wenner and adds a sweet West Coast feeling to the song.”
19 | Jaakko Eino Kalevi | The Search (Domenique Dumont Remix)
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Finland’s master voyager Jaakko Eino Kalevi eases out of lockdown with a look back to a simpler time: late November 2019, to be precise, and the release of his mini-album Dissolution. In keeping with that record’s wayward spirit, Jaakko has now called on friends and continental colleagues to remix some of its songs, resulting in the Dissolution Remixes EP, due on July 31. “It is always interesting to hear how other people interpret my music,” says Jaakko. “I like to be surprised in a good way and these remixes are very much on point and right up my alley.” On the first remix to be shared, Latvian dream-pop titans Domenique Dumont conjure a characteristically charming version of The Search, that also includes a portion of Jaakko’s song Uutiset. Domenique Dumont seldom venture out, so this mix is a rarity.”
