Hippie Death Cult have a few tricks (and meats) up their sleeve, Birthday Ass take off their shoes and go outside, The Marigold do not believe in themselves, Matt Berry gets on board the psychedelic train, Mythic Sunship make a sharp vertical ascent — and those are just some of the stone-cold killers in the second half of your Tuesday Roundup. Feast your ears:
19 | Hippie Death Cult | Red Meat Tricks
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Portland heavy rockers Hippie Death Cult unveiled the first single off their upcoming album Circle of Days, out May 21. The band also announced the reissue of their debut album 111 and the Doom Sessions Vol.5 EP with High Reeper, out this May. Of the new single Red Meat Tricks, they say: “It’s feeding time at the zoo, specifically at the lion cage where the keepers toss large chunks of fresh red meat to the hungry carnivores while an eager audience of visitors goes into their own feeding frenzy, cheering and screaming as the ferocious cats tear, chew, and digest their favorite meal. Are we the audience or are we the lions, tearing apart the bits of truth we are fed? Or are we just looking for scraps that support our own existing paradigm?”
20 | Birthday Ass | Sunlit Toes
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Priya Carlberg’s vocal talents are on full display on Sunlit Toes, the new single off Birthday Ass’s album Head of the Household, out April 23. Carlberg’s wicked fast delivery, seamlessly intertwined with a squawking horn section, is the center of attention on this rollicking track. The song is about feeling trapped in a spinning globe, the anxiety that comes with feeling like you’re standing still while the rest of the world churns and moves around you. Sometimes you have to move at the world’s pace to stay alive. Sometimes you have to just say screw it and sit down and enjoy the feeling of the sun on your toes. Sometimes all you can do to cope is scream. Through their unique brand of skronky, jagged punk music, Birthday Ass encapsulate the anxiety of living in a bizarre, stressful and wondrous world.”
21 | The Marigold | My Own Apostate
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Marigold deliver a melting pot of sludgy alternate death rock. Echoes of bands like The Melvins, Tool, Big Business and more shine through with a grungy under belly to top it off. Founded on an idea by Marco Campitelli and born in 1998, The Marigold have gone through different lineup changes, a metamorphosis which brings them to the band they are today.”
22 | Matt Berry | Aboard
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Matt Berry has shared news of forthcoming album The Blue Elephant, which will see release on May 14. In addition, Berry has shared first cut Aboard. In contrast to 2020’s stripped-back, folk-inspired Phantom Birds, The Blue Elephant finds Matt in full-on psychedelic mode, enthralled to his love of the genre, and the associated production techniques of the time. Clocking in at just 46 minutes, though rooted in psychedelia, the album features a breadth of styles and musical ideas throughout, taking the listener on a dizzying trip through an idiosyncratically British love of psych, freakbeat, acid rock and late ’60s pop.”
23 | Mythic Sunship | Going Up
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With five acclaimed releases in as many years, Copenhagen quintet Mythic Sunship have established themselves among Europe’s finest purveyors of psychedelic music, bridging the gap between heavy riff worship and expansive, free-jazz experimentation. With their sixth studio album Wildfire due for release this April, Denmark’s most experimental sons simultaneously open a new chapter on their journey, while razing the foundations on which their previous albums were built. Recorded over the course of four intense days in Stockholm, the album documents the erratic, visceral, untameable musical singularity that Mythic Sunship become once unleashed in improvisatory interplay.”
24 | Janet Simpson | Slip
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “There are few things that are more healing than getting the hell out of town. Maybe it’s a solo trip. Maybe you bring a friend. Definitely a lot of music. Don’t say a thing to anybody. Just get in the car and go. Safe Distance, the new album from singer, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Janet Simpson, isn’t a concept record, but it does take a journey. From Nashville to Reno (well, almost), running away from demons, retreating from your troubles, hiding in plain sight, and returning liberated. But nothing here rambles aimlessly: Simpson’s characters long to get free (and succeed) while navigating it all with confident purpose. They are reflective but never middling. They hurt but move to healing — or take the time to care for others. And they don’t shy away for a good time — even if they’re having too much of one.”
25 | Amy Steele | Slow Up
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “London futuristic soul singer Amy Steele has just dropped an emotional cover of Jacob Banks classic Slow Up. Throughout lockdown, Amy has chosen records that move her, and which she feels hold important messages for us this year. It’s a stunning version. Amy says Slow Up is a track to remind us to stay positive and not to let the perception of the world change us or harden us with its prejudice. We’ve had a difficult year of social injustice and seen the way the world can corrupt innocence, but Slow Up is a reminder to stay strong and true to who we are.”
26 | Citizen | Black and Red
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Toledo rock powerhouse Citizen are releasing their fourth full-length Life In Your Glass World on March 26. Today the band share one more early single with the fiery Black and Red. Every aspect of the recording was completely on their own terms, with vocalist Mat Kerekes building a studio in his garage where Citizen tracked the entire album. The result is a set of lean, raw songs that represent the most unfiltered version of the band’s daring vision. Kerekes says Black and Red “is about someone who leeches off of your efforts and turns out to be a bad friend.”
27 | Lucy Dacus | Thumbs
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The last few years have been tremendous for Lucy Dacus. Today, she continues the momentum with a heart wrenching new single Thumbs. The song debuted live following its creation in fall 2018 and has since become a fan favourite. It was written during a 15-minute car ride to dinner in Nashville, Dacus says. “Like most songs I write, I wasn’t expecting it and it made me feel weird, almost sick. It tells the story of a day I had with a friend during our freshman year of college, a significant day, but not one that I had thought of for years.”
28 | Esther Rose | Songs Remain
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Esther Rose’s homespun country music has drawn comparisons to legends like Hank Williams, trailblazers like Rilo Kiley, and a host of other luminaries, but those who are doing the comparing always make note: she’s got her own thing going on. Rose’s innate ability to reflect on her own feelings, to not cast blame, and to keep a smile while doing so brings a spark to her music that sets it apart from her contemporaries and influences alike. On March 26, Rose will release How Many Times, her third full-length. Recorded at home in three takes on a hot day in June with Ric Roberston (acoustic guitar) arriving via skateboard. Rose says, “I had to write and live a lot of bitter, jealous, messy songs to get to this.” Like all things on this album, its placement is intentional. “I sequenced it towards the middle of the record so it feels like a peaceful valley, a resting place.”
29 | Iridescent Dune | Kingdom Of Me
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Behind the name Iridescent Dune is just one man, one musician: Charlie Murphy. Over the last few years Murphy has slowly built an underground following for his unique approach to metal music and disregard for accepted genre rules and regulations. His songs follow their own path and carry their own magic. The latest release from Iridescent Dune is Kingdom Of Me, a powerful cry of independence. The snarling guitars fire out stuttering, jagged riffs that snap and bite with a venomous thrash metal energy over frenetic, vibrant rhythms. The vocals are raw, passionate and forceful, with each sharply enunciated word delivered with unquestionable intent. A huge chorus explodes from the barbed, serrated verses and burns itself into your memory banks on first listen and the song leaves its rusted hooks firmly embedded in your brain.”
30 | Phallosopher | I-Phallo-O-Sopher
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Phallosopher’s second single I-Phallo-O-Sopher is out today. The black psychedelia of I-Phallo-O-Sopher tells a story about terrors and pleasures of annihilation and creation. Hailing from Finland, Phallosopher is a black metal project by Jesse Heikkinen aka Fra. Kailash. Phallosopher combines elements of jazz, ambient and avant-garde with black and death metal creating a collective auditory hallucination formed by transcosmic solar-phallic forces of death, magick and rock ’n’ roll.”
31 | Dandelot | Capital
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “N.Y.C. experimental artist and producer Dandelot shared his new single Capital. Merging a bouncy hip-hop beat with classically influenced strings and a Moog synthesizer loop, Capital is an upbeat, catchy tune that channels Dandelot’s experience both as a producer and as a classical pianist and composer. Discussing the musical influences behind Capital, Dandelot says: “I think this track really brings together the strongest parts of my musical identity. Hip-hop, dance music, and classical music are really my greatest loves and I think they each show up pretty noticeably in the strings, the synth part, the drums, and the vocals, of course.”
32 | Jon Klages | God Bless the Columbia House Record Club
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “On April 1, singer-songwriter-guitarist Jon Klages, who helped create the Hoboken Sound as lead guitarist for The Individuals, will release Fabulous Twilight, a collection of original songs and instrumentals. “The eighth track on Fabulous Twilight is my ode to the (in)famous Columbia House Record Club, and to generations of kids like me who, for a single penny, received 10 albums — and became rabid LP collectors for life. When I first played the song for Pete Thomas, who is not only a marvelous drummer but a man with an uncanny ability to detect musical influences, he exclaimed, ‘Martin Mull and His Fabulous Furniture in Your Living Room,’ an album I wore out as a teen but did not name-check in the song. Kids, remember to read the fine print, and vinyl maniacs unite!”
33 | Chloe Rodgers | Coins For Charon
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With a plethora of tastemaker support since her debut release last September, emerging artist Chloe Rodgers has returned to deliver her dynamic single Coins For Charon. Chloe said, “Coins for Charon was written by Anders Källmark and Nick van Hofwegan, aka Young & Sick. It’s about losing someone you love. I do like the track. The dynamic change and percussion in the chorus was a good call, and the drummer (Giovanni Velez) is a genius.”
34 | Arooj Aftab | Vulture Prince
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “On April 23, Brooklyn-based Pakistani composer Arooj Aftab will release her third album Vulture Prince. Aftab’s liminal sound floats between classical minimalism and new age, Sufi devotional poetry and electronic trance, jazz structures and states of pure being. On Vulture Prince, the composer’s remarkable voice, backed by a team of renowned musicians, transports listeners to worlds once known. The first single Mohabbat is out today.”
35 | Kris Delmhorst | Borrowed Place
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Songwriter Kris Delmhorst will release her new album Light Breaks Through on March 26. Today she shares the new single Borrowed Place. The song was born in response to the accidental death of a local teen in Delmhorst’s small New England community. Although rooted in grief, it conjures a sense of pure innocence and deep peace, landing like a prayer of gratitude. “The first demo of this song was recorded outdoors, and during the last chorus, a sparrow landed nearby and started singing answers to each line,” says Kris. “It felt like a gesture of support from the natural world, the world I was turning to for help.”
36 | Human Failure | Kick It
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Australian punks Human Failure release their new single Kick It today. It’s a furious and brutal short burst of thrashy, crusty, metallic hardcore and comes off their upcoming EP Urchin. ‘’This track is about humanity’s problem with suicide, and have and have nots. It’s crappy how society treats each other as a whole. The high amount of youth suicide that happens every day, no matter what your background is.’’
37 | Morcheeba | Oh Oh Yeah (Hector Plimmer Remix)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Morcheeba share a remix of Oh Oh Yeah, their second single from upcoming album Blackest Blue, due May 14. The track is quintessential Morcheeba, taken for a deeper, chilled, electronic dive by the genius that is South London producer, composer and DJ Hector Plimmer. The band say: “It’s about getting stoned. Back in the day we didn’t think about the A&R guy, the single, we need to hear the chorus in 30 seconds. You’d have seven, eight-minute songs. So we went for it.”
