The Undertaking do not play well with others, Somnuri are waiting for you to exhale, Lamb Of God retrace their steps, Snapped Ankles are back in business, Infamous Stiffs freak out — and you’ll also find new goodies from John Hiatt, Portugal. The Man and plenty more in today’s two-stage Midweek Roundup. Up and at ’em:
1 | The Undertaking! | No Friends
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “San Diego quintet The Undertaking! are gearing up to release Funeral Psalms on April 30. The band shared the gloriously frantic song No Friends, crackling with dirty and dizzying, in-your-face energy reminiscent of Glassjaw, Every Time I Die, Refused and early Maylene & The Sons of the Disaster. The band commented: “No Friends is a brash reflection on how difficult it is to be a good friend. What starts out as an accusation attacking others quickly digresses into the realization that we so often push people away and create our own walls of isolation.”
2 | Somnuri | Beyond Your Last Breath
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Brooklyn sludge-metal juggernauts Somnuri arise to unleash the first video from their album Nefarious Wave, out June 4. Somnuri’s sound weaves together breakneck energy, infectious melodies and slow-burning aggression into a cacophony of bludgeoning riffs and pounding grooves that shares DNA with High on Fire, Mastodon, Torche, and even Soundgarden. Drummer Phil SanGiacomo comments: “Beyond Your Last Breath is about the cyclical and intertwined nature of life and death, and how the struggle to survive and find light can bring you to the brink of darkness and beyond … The song also ties into the greater theme of the Nefarious Wave album title, which alludes to a process that repeats endlessly throughout time. The idea of facing that wave head-on is prevalent throughout the record.”
3 | Lamb Of God | Routes (ft. Chuck Billy)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Lamb Of God have debuted a new live quarantine-session video for the track Routes, featuring a guest appearance by Testament vocalist Chuck Billy. Routes is taken from last year’s self-titled release, which will see the deluxe version reissue this Friday. “It’s always an honor to be asked to perform with Lamb Of God, especially on this song,” says Billy, who also lent his voice to the album version. “It has such a deep meaning for me personally with my native American heritage. I’m happy Randy included me to get the message out about what is going on with Native Americans in the U.S.A.”
4 | Snapped Ankles | Rhythm Is Our Business
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “There’s a new congregation in the forest! After a year of solitude in the woods, faced with tangible apocalyptic threats to the modern world, the woodwose are back! But the community has divided, boundaries have been marked out and hedges erected. The four tribes have gone to war. Choose your doctrine. The Business Imp, The Nemophile, The Cornucopian and The Protester all want to save you, take you to the moon, smother you in wellness or just sell you a tree to hug. It’s a dark fearful world out there and here are your spirit guides to lead you through the Forest Of Your Problems. Take care on the path! Our new album Forest Of Your Problems is out July 2. Plant your feet in the forest floor and watch the video for our single Rhythm Is Our Business, directed by Daisy Dickinson and starring The Business Imp.”
5 | Infamous Stiffs | Freak Parade
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “It’s the summer of 2020 at the peak of the Covid 19 global pandemic. California is on lockdown. So what do you do if you’re Infamous Stiffs and just finished recording your album? Make a video with all of your favorite friends … socially distanced and safely, of course. Shot in L.A., Freak Parade is a tribute to all of us, young and old, who for better or worse have to do life our own way. The video was directed by Gabby O’Neill and edited by Nathan “Karma” Cox, with director of photography Christopher Blauvelt. Jack Grisham of TSOL is your narrator.”
https://youtu.be/vmvCX7puIAU
6 | Autogramm | Anxiety
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Autogramm, the synth-driven power-pop trio from Vancouver, premiered a video for their latest single Anxiety, shot in Mexico by director James Maher. The track is the second single off the band’s upcoming sophomore album No Rules, due April 16. Singer-guitarist Jiffy Marx stated: “One of my earliest outside influences was the comic strip Garfield. It’s possible I learned my dislike for Mondays from a lazy orange cat, but I like to think that it was more that I felt akin to his give-no-fucks disdain for the 9-to-5. It’s not that I want to focus on the bad and/or complain about my own anxieties, but I honestly believe it could help others with their own manic worries and irrational fears to know that they are not alone. Like for me all these many years later, it still helps to know Garfield and I are very alike. We both hate Mondays and we both love The Ramones.”
7 | John Hiatt With The Jerry Douglas Band | Mississippi Phone Booth
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “John Hiatt with The Jerry Douglas Band will release Leftover Feelings on May 21. The 11-song set was produced by Douglas and recorded at the historic RCA Studio B in Nashville. A meeting of two American music giants in a legendary setting, Leftover Feelings is neither a bluegrass album nor a return to Hiatt’s 1980s days. There’s no drummer, yet these grooves are deep and true. And while the up-tempo songs are, as ever, filled with delightful internal rhyme and sly aggression, The Jerry Douglas Band’s empathetic musicianship nudges Hiatt to performances that are startlingly vulnerable.”
8 | Portugal. The Man | The Devil
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In 2008, Portugal. The Man had been a band for just over two years and were riding a creative wave that is rarely seen. Today, theyshare a snapshot of that time with The Devil and announce the April 16 release of the live Oregon City Sessions album. “The first few years of PTM were whirlwind,” says singer/guitarist John Gourley. “We didn’t have a place to live, so we were pretty much either recording or touring. We were so wide-eyed coming out of Alaska that every day was an exciting new adventure. I think you can see it in our playing.”
9 | Bachelor | Stay In The Car
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Palehound’s Ellen Kempner and Jay Som’s Melina Duterte recently began their new collaborative project Bachelor. Today, the duo announce their debut album Doomin’ Sun, due out May 28 — and unveil the single Stay in the Car and a video directed & edited by Haoyan of America. Kempner explains, “I wrote the lyrics to Stay In the Car back in December of 2019 when I was in Florida for my partner’s top surgery. I had run out one afternoon — post op while he was healing — to grab lunch for us and as I was gathering my stuff in the parking lot, a big car pulled up and this absolutely beautiful woman got out. She was dressed all in red, dripping with jewelry and had the most wild fiery mane I’d ever seen. She was yelling at the man behind the wheel asking him what he wanted from the store and I wished I was that man. I wanted to be a part of her life, her best friend, her driver, whatever she wanted me to be. I was completely mesmerized.”
10 | Alex McArtor | Wasteland
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Texas singer-songwriter Alex McArtor has announced the June 25 release of Welcome to the Wasteland by sharing the pseudo-title track. The EP-opening Wasteland presents a gorgeously sprawling and nearly symphonic meditation on emotional displacement from McArtor’s experience living in a suffocating Dallas suburb in her early teens. “I was sort of an outcast there and just wanted to get out,” she says. “Wasteland is everything I felt bottled up inside me at that point in my life — everything I felt like I couldn’t express when I was stuck in a community I felt so alienated from.”
11 | Iceage | Shelter Song
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Copenhagen’s Iceage unveil the new single and video Shelter Song, from their album Seek Shelter, out May 7. It opens the record with a dirge-like drone that gives way to a wall of reverb. It sounds fuller and brighter than anything they’ve committed to tape, signalling a clarity of clouds breaking. Elias Bender Rønnenfelt’s instantly recognizable voice is joined by the Lisboa Gospel Collective, who add an anthemic swell: “Come lay here right beside me / They kick you when you’re up, they knock you when you’re down / Some shielding from the fighting / They beat you from the left, they hit you from the right.” The video offers a rare, intimate look into the band’s life in Copenhagen amongst family and friends.”
12 | Silvertwin | Ploy
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A retro-tinted charmer beamed from another era, Silvertwin release their single Ploy. Their first release of 2021, Ploy glows with an artfully nostalgic vintage aura; think Paul McCartney produced by Jeff Lynne, or vice versa. “Ploy is kind of about the insecurity or paranoia that comes with a blooming relationship” says Isaac Shalam. “I suppose initially I thought of the riff as my attempt at trying to write something Beach Boysesque by having simple chords but a bass line that moved back and forth. It was a new style of song-writing for me as up until then I’d mostly used guitar, but I wanted to begin using piano as the anchor for the songs I was working on at the time.”
13 | Sunset | Unresponsive
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bay Area band Sunset Lines share the official video for Unresponsive, the first single from their EP Home Anywhere out May 15. Sunset Lines’ Liz Brooks says: “At first glance it seems to be about unrequited love, but in reality, the song was originally written based on my experience of getting ghosted while trying to find work when fresh out of school. Suddenly I realized the parallels of being vulnerable and putting your best foot forward only to be silently rejected without an explanation … an idea that just took off.” Paul McCorkle adds: “This is the single that really captures the essence of the driving pop and ’80s synth influences that helped create the basis for this EP.”
14 | Yaya Bey | September 13th
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “September 13th is the second single taken from Yaya Bey’s forthcoming release The Things I Can’t Take With Me — out April 9 — and comes alongside a new video directed by Morgan Powell and Michael Grant. “September 13th is the day I realized the relationship I fought so hard for would never be the same,” explains Bey. The video, she continues, “is inspired really by how the song made me feel when I would listen to it in my bedroom. I kept imaging poses which felt like a photoshoot theme would go best with the song. We added a love interest to give it the story it needed. The song is stripped down and really is just about a feeling and the video needed to be the same way.”
15 | Anushka Jag | Hurricane
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “International electronic/pop artist Anushka Jag has just dropped her video for Hurricane. This fiery pop banger is a sassy comeback to a guy who is coming on too strong, but is not prepared for the strength of Anushka. Blending sounds of old-world India and modern electronic soundscapes, she provides a catchy and accessible anthem that is sure to leave a pleasant earworm amongst listeners. Anushka’s hurricane comes to life in this vibrant music video where she incorporates the fun and sassy lyrics in a literal sense.”
16 | Draken | Mountain In An Endless Ocean
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Formed in 2018 by Spidergawd/Orango bassist Hallvard Gaardløs and Andre Drage, Draken are a rock band with an appetite for reinvention. Recently becoming a fully-fledged power triumvirate with the addition of jazz/progressive virtuoso Even Hermansen of Bushman’s Revenge on guitar, the trio dig on the metals and hard rocks of old, and in doing so channel the inspiration they unearth into something truly unique. Draken’s self-titled debut album will be released Friday. Watch them play Mountain In An Endless Ocean live in their lair.”
17 | Subterranean Masquerade | Mångata
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Israel’s progressive metal outfit Subterranean Masquerade have issued a dynamic new single from their impending fourth LP Mountain Fever, due in May. The new single Mångata features guest Idan Amsalem from Orphaned Land on bouzouki and guitar. Vocalist Davidavi Dolev writes, “Mångata … is a song about love, companionship, and language barriers; it is an open end, a vast ocean of longing. Three years ago, I came back to Israel after quite a few years living on/off Scandinavia. I had sunk into its serenity; I fell in love with its melancholy and its rhythm, I lived a different life than the one I’ve had in the Middle East. Mångata in Swedish is the road-like reflection of the moon on the ocean. I loved the idea that no matter what, every night looking at the Mediterranean Sea, I can just step on the water, and go back up north.”
18 | Barnaby Keen | Lay Our Cards
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Psych-informed songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Barnaby Keen shares his debut single Lay Our Cards. The track is a laid-back melting pot of groove and brilliant melodies, inspired by Latin music and Dub. Playing around with a phone app to create soundscapes, Barnaby and his brother Nathaniel were inspired to revive an old song of Barnaby’s he had written over a bagpipe-like drone. “I find it gets me into an imaginative place where melodies flow easily,” Barnaby explains. “Like you’re staring at a flat ocean and then waves start appearing. You can hear the drone or pedal through all of the verses — it gives a kind of tension where the harmony is changing around it while it stays rooted.”
19+20 | Empty Heaven | When I Knew You // Don’t Wanna Know You
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Singer-songwriter and producer Empty Heaven continues a string of successful releases with the lyric video for his new double single When I Knew You // Don’t Wanna Know You. The tracks are the fourth and fifth singles released by Empty Heaven so far in 2021. Empty Heaven explains: “These songs are loosely based on a Sartre story called Intimacy and about his idea of freedom. Think about people you are absolutely not excited to see; it stresses you out to even think about interacting with them. You know they’ve been accumulating negative experiences and inconveniences through the day, and they plan on emotionally holding you hostage, whether you’re available for it or not. One can be a good patient friend, but there are limits. There are responsibilities.”
21 | Ben Seretan | Fog Rolls Out Rabun Gap
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Ben Seretan announced Cicada Waves, the musician and composer’s first proper instrumental release since 2018. It arrives on April 30, and will coincide with another release: the arrival of the once-every-17-year Brood X cicada, one of the world’s largest swarms of the noisy insects. Over the next seven weeks leading up to the release, Seretan will share a new track. The weekly rollout starts with the serene album closer Fog Rolls Out Rabun Gap, a title which nods to the album’s remote recording location in Georgia.”
22 | Zero Trust | Birch
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “New York group Zero Trust celebrated the release of their self-titled debut today. Zero Trust might be a new name, but they boast résumé credits spanning decades of the most creative, cutting-edge pockets of the area’s storied hardcore scene. With a lineup consisting of members of Coheed and Cambria, Bulldoze, Full Scale Riot, Agents of Man, Skarhead and more, the group formed as a creative outlet during the quarantine. To accompany the release, Zero Trust also shared the video for the opening track Birch. BJ Allen (vocals) says: “Birch is about exploring the part of your mind that knows the whole system is against you, while also knowing that if humanity were to be unified, civil and just we would be in a much better position.”
