Jaialai blow their top, The Lazy Eyes lose their heads, Tom Jones takes a dim view of the tube, Spirit Of The Beehive give you a pep talk, Modesty Blaise step back onto the dancefloor — and we’ve barely begun to make a dent in your triple-threat Midweek Roundup. The action starts now:
1 | Jaialai | Vesuvius
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Miami psych-dream-pop quartet Jaialai released their latest single and video Vesuvius, from their upcoming EP As Sweet As I Was, due March 12. Discussing the track, songwriter and guitarist Oscar Sardiñas said, “Vesuvius was written on the day the George Floyd protests started. I was watching the news and was moved but also feeling a bit of sensory overload. Massive nationwide protests amidst a pandemic during a T**** presidency. The alt-right and anarchists taking part in the protests and stoking the flames even further. That period in time exposed deep wounds this country has yet to heal.”
2 | The Lazy Eyes | Where’s My Brain???
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Precious Australian four-piece The Lazy Eyes return with their single Where’s My Brain??? Their first new music of 2021, the release comes in tandem with the news of their upcoming second EP. The Lazy Eyes say, “We wrote Where’s My Brain??? in the developing years of the band, at a time when the setlist was lacking fast-paced, energetic tracks. We needed that one last song that the audience could mosh and get sweaty to! The song is loosely about losing your mind over something and wanting to have a tantrum, but really it’s just a jam.”
3 | Tom Jones | Talking Reality Television Blues
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Tom Jones has announced his latest musical adventure Surrounded By Time will be released on April 23. The announcement comes with the release of the album’s first single Talking Reality Television Blues, accompanied by a video that traces the impact and changing role of TV throughout history. Says Jones: “I was there when TV started — didn’t know I’d become a part of it — but it could be that its power is to remind us how wonderful, crazy and inventive we are, but also how scary the reality it reflects can be.”
4 | Spirit Of The Beehive | There’s Nothing You Can’t Do
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Shape-shifting Philadelphia rock band Spirit Of The Beehive’s new album Entertainment, Death, is out April 9. The newly modified trio (founding members Zack Schwartz and Rivka Ravede are joined by new member Corey Wichlin) engaged in an entirely different writing process than their past records. Today you can watch the video for the first single There’s Nothing You Can’t Do. The track illuminates the growth the band has undergone from its formation till now, melding the sonic aesthetic of older records with the new electronic instrumentation the band has been exploring. The video, directed by Ryan Schnackenberg, is a moving insight into the struggle with addiction and its dueling realities.”
5 | Modesty Blaise | Girls Just Wanna Dance
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bristol outfit Modesty Blaise will release their new baroque pop collection The Modesty Blaise on March 26. It’s the band’s third studio album and their first LP in 20 years. Ahead of this, they present the lead single Girls Just Wanna Dance, a perfect orchestral pop song and live favourite singalong that is more Music Hall than Dance Hall. Says frontman Jonny Collins: “You can bounce around your own kitchen to it and rip your own sink out just for fun. “When everyone else was in their bedrooms working on guitar solos and dreaming of being a rock god, I was reading biographies of Cole Porter and listening to Gershwin and Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin. I try to write concise things, with deliberate moves away from that where necessary.”
6 | Death From Above 1979 | One + One
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Death From Above 1979, the boundary-pushing alliance of Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler, released their new single and video. “One + One is a love song,” says Grainger. “It’s the karmic sequel to Romantic Rights. My wife Eva became pregnant not long after we started working on the song and after hearing an early version she said, ‘I wish this song was dancier.’ So I went back into the studio and re-worked the drums. As the record was taking shape, every time I would come home from the studio the baby would start dancing in Eva’s belly. Even before I walked in the room the party would start. One plus one is three, that’s magic!”
7 | Moist | Tarantino
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Recorded remotely in lockdown by band members in their homes in Toronto, Kingston and Montreal and produced by Moist guitarist Mark Makoway, Tarantino came out of a dream sparked by images where we have lost all sense of ourselves — where there are no limits on our consumption and all we want is more. Accompanying Tarantino is a remarkable animated video — a grotesque sci-fi satire that lifts plastic surgery and trans-species body dysmorphia to another level.”
8 | Adrian Sutherland | Respect the Gift
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When Adrian Sutherland first brought home his new demo called Respect the Gift and played it for his family, something unexpected happened … “Everyone got up and started dancing — I couldn’t believe it,” says the Midnight Shine frontman. “In that moment a lightbulb went off. It had to be a dance video.” And so it is. The brand new video for Respect the Gift features five stellar performances combined into one unforgettable ‘groovy’ and brilliant dance sequence.”
9 | The Lickerish Quartet | The Dream That Took Me Over
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Lickerish Quartet — whose members have played with Jellyfish, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Slash’s Snake Pit, Finn Brothers, Alice Cooper, Air & Beck — have reunited for their second EP Threesome Vol. 2. Roger Joseph Manning Jr., Tim Smith and Eric Dover have also unveiled the video for The Dream That Took Me Over. The song reflects on longing as well as the uncertainty of desire and its addictive pursuit. Dover says: “You are driving without a destination lured by the wanderlust of your own making. You turn up the stereo volume and continue along, moonlight reflecting off the chrome of your vehicle. We invite you to put the top down and take a ride into the inner dialectic of our conflicted protagonist as we answer the question: Is there equilibrium in the chaos or does science hold the key?”
10 | King Bull | B-Side Baby
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “King Bull encompass ’70s rock and punk with an angsty vibe and some earthy streetwise riffs. Fired up by intricate licks, buzz-cutter guitar tones and uniquely edgy vocals, they cover what is great about rock music. Now they have released the video for B-Side Baby. It backs up King Bull’s reputation forimpressive musicianship and ingenious riff-writing capabilities in a fresh hit. B-Side Baby is a superb track that dives from garage fused punky rock to an incredible Guns N’ Roses-style crescendo. This could be the track that defines King Bull.”
11 | Stella Research Committee | Hanging in My Screamer
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Fostered in Cincinnati’s feral noise scene, Stella Research Committee have internalized the excesses of noise-rock and no-wave forefathers, and given birth to a sound that is universal in its barely contained primal yelp, but somehow quintessentially Midwestern in its austerity and directness. Hanging in my Screamer, their second single, connects the band’s fierce no-wave, nerve-damaged electro-prog sympathies to an earlier, primordial love of concussive riffs via Tony Squeri’s proxy electronics and Lauri Reponen’s drum interplay. “Aimless driving is the panacea for a cluttered mind,” Kevin Hall says. “I think with this album in general we wanted to make something that you can CRUISE to. You drive around on the weekend to derail the FOMO, until you remember you’re wasting your own time. Only then do you truly feel momentary relief by reminding yourself of the finite nature of life: It’s time to go to work, gotta get to work. Everything else is trash.”
12 | Non Serviam | Ô World, Ô Work
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Anonymous experimental metal collective Non Serviam have released a video for Ô World, Ô Work, a powerful act of defiance directed at capitalism and its system of general exploitation. Non Serviam create a sonic collage of experimental, black, doom, grindcore, crust and industrial metal while staying within the framework of a baroque influence.”
13 | Too Dead To Die | They All Were Wrong
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “One man, one vision. Many years after the debut Murder On The Dancefloor, Too Dead To Die return with a new album Tropical Gothic, to unify the traits of the acclaimed debut with the new way of expression with a Caribbean flair to the classic Too Dead To Die sound. “This song is about being focused on your journey. ppl used to tell – impossible, never, stupid. But they do that just bc they gave up, bc of their own sad experience. So even if you’re alone, even if you’re against everyone – that’s fine. Go ahead and prove … they are wrong about you, about your way. And don’t forget to have fun.”
14 | Vision Video | Static Drone
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Led by active paramedic, firefighter, and veteran of the war in Afghanistan Dusty Gannon, Vision Video have premiered a video for their single Static Drone to announce their debut album, Inked In Red, will arrive April 16. Gannon states: “I wrote this song in the middle of some intense manic episodes where my mental health had completely unraveled. There was this peculiar month-long period of time at my fire station when we were dealing with a death almost every shift, and it was mirroring my internal sentiment that I was beginning to feel like everyone was tragically fated to die alone.”
15 | Sunny War | Lucid Lucy
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Nashville-born L.A. singer Sunny War’s new album Simple Syrup is coming March 26. Today she shares the stop-motion animation video for her first single Lucid Lucy. Speaking with Sunny War, her mind roves endlessly, jumping between topics, spilling out rapid-fire thoughts like her wildly inventive guitar playing. The pandemic has driven many away from their creative centers, but Sunny’s been uncommonly busy. She founded a Los Angeles chapter of the nonprofit Food Not Bombs and put together a network of volunteers to distribute vegan food to the homeless. She marched for BLM in protest against police brutality and found time to cut a new album at her favorite spot, Hen House Studios in Venice Beach. You’d think that the album would bring a whole suite of expectations, but Sunny shrugged these off easily. She’s motivated less by what others expect and more by her own inner muse, and she’s surrounded herself with an artistic group of friends who are constantly writing, recording, and playing music.”
