Brooklyn duo Sex Week have announced their self-titled EP, which lands on August 30 via Grand Jury. Along with the previously released ‘Toad Mode’ and ‘Angel Blessings’, it includes a new song called ‘Cockpit’. Check it out below.
Speaking about the track, the band said: “Have you ever looked an apple in the eye? Have you heard the way it weeps before you devour it? Or have you ever noticed the peach before you squash it? Your place in the cockpit. You are the cockpit. You’re the pilot in the cockpit.”
“With some of our songs, I want people to giggle and sing along, and with the others I want them to cry and scream,” Pearl Amanda Dickson explained in a statement. Richard Orofino added: “I think we have very different approaches to writing which really works in our favor. I come from a more proper musical background so chords, production, and instrumentation come naturally to me while Pearl is a writer. Her lyrical concepts are so unique and I obsess over her melodies.”
Google Earth – the new duo made up of John Vanderslice and his frequent collaborator James Riotto – have announced their debut album, Street View, which is due August 5. Check out the new single ‘something complicated’ below, and scroll down for the album’s cover art and tracklist.
“It was a lifelong dream to collab with Jamie,” Vanderslice shared in a statement. “We’ve been incredibly close for 15 years so this feels overdue. It was more meaningful to me than I could have imagined.”
Riotto added: “John and I have been friends and collaborators for a long time now, but this record feels really different because it’s sort of a culmination of years of pushing each other into more abstract electronic palettes. We didn’t set out to make a record together, either. We just met up a couple of times a month to hang and jam and have dinner together. It wasn’t until pretty far into this process that we realized we were making some very interesting music.”
Chris Cohen has shared a new track from his upcoming album Paint a Room. This one’s called ‘Night or Day’, and it follows earlier cuts ‘Damage’ and ‘Sunever’. Check it out below.
Paint a Room, Chris Cohen’s first album in five years, will be released on July 12 via Hardly Art.
GIFT have released a new song, ‘Later’, off their upcoming album Illuminator. It follows the previously unveiled singles ‘Wish Me Away’ and ‘Going in Circles’. Check out its accompanying video, directed by Sophia Feuer and the band’s own Jessica Gurewitz, below.
“While writing Illuminator I found myself clinging to intense emotions, reluctant to release them,” vocalist/guitarist TJ Freda said in a statement. “‘Later’ stands out as one of the darkest songs I’ve made. Making it was cathartic, diving into darker themes. The song explores surrendering to the overwhelming sensation of life slipping away before my eyes.”
Guerwitz, who also co-wrote the song, added: “I wanted to explore the internal confusion that comes with the passage of time. I was reading a lot of horror stories while we shot this and I wanted to bring those to the screen by exploring unknown places and questioning timelines. Working with Sophia Feuer (Director, DP, Editor) was amazing and she made it possible to bring this vision to life.”
Vundabar have returned with a new single, ‘I Got Cracked’, via their new label Loma Vista. Check out director Christopher Phelps‘ video for it below.
“In a six week window that I could only describe as a careening crash landing, a long term relationship of mine imploded, my dad died, and I broke my arm in a hotel while on tour in Europe,” bandleader Brandon Hagen explained in a statement. “One week after that I was at his funeral and the one after that I was recording this song in Los Angeles. I reeled at the connectedness of it all; so much of these intangible fractures now grounded in the very physical break within my body, this physical break then dictating the floatier bits as I made music determined by the limitations of that injury.”
In 2022, Vundabar released a collection of previously unreleased tracks called Good Old.
Ahead of the release of their new album Your Own Becoming this Friday, MILLY have released a new single called ‘Running the Madness’. Following previous entries ‘Drip From the Fountain’, ‘Spilling Ink’, and ‘Bittersweet Mary’, the track comes paired with a music video directed by Nate Kahn. Check it out below.
“This song should feel like a little bit of a nightmare,” the band’s Brendan Dyer explained in a statement. “I think that the chorus works well in it’s release, kinda balancing out the psychosis on the verses.. it’s mostly about existing in some sort of mad house in a dreamlike state and needing to get the fuck out. We’ve all been there — cornered by our own thoughts.. right? It’s like the cusp of something imploding, but like all good stories (and songs) it works out okay. It’s a happy ending by the end of it, kinda glorious.”
Kahn added of the visual: “Discover the transformative power of rock music in the latest music video, where a man lost in the depths of Los Angeles depression finds unexpected salvation. Opening a random door and putting on headphones, he’s transported into a vibrant, musical journey that reignites his spirit.”
Shifty Shellshock, the co-leader of the Los Angeles rap-rock band Crazy Town, has died. Variety reports that the singer, whose real name was Seth Brooks Binzer, was found in his Los Angeles home earlier this week. Shifty was 49 years old.
Binzer was born to Rollin Binzer, a director who helmed the 1974 concert film Ladies and Gentlemen: the Rolling Stones, and former model Leslie Brooks. He met his eventual Crazy Town co-founder and co-vocalist, Bret Hadley “Epic” Mazur, at a recording session for will.i.am’s early group Atbann Klann in 1992. Together, the pair formed a rap group called Brimstone Sluggers before expanding their lineup and changing their name to Crazy Town in 1999. The band signed to Columbia and released its debut album, The Gift of Game, in November 1999. The record featured the song ‘Butterfly’, which was built on a Red Hot Chili Peppers and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Crazy Town’s second album, Darkhorse, arrived in 2002, but the band disbanded after it failed to reach the same commercial success. Shellshock went on to pursue a solo career, collaborating with Paul Oakenfold on his 2002 hit ‘Starry Eyed Surprise’. In 2004, Shellshock released his first solo album, Happy Love Sick. Crazy Town reformed in 2007 and released one more album, The Brimstone Sluggers, in 2015.
Shifty Shellshock was open about his struggles with substance abuse, appearing on reality shows such as Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew and Celebrity Rehab Presents Sober House. Last year, he made headlines after getting into an altercation with bandmate Bobby Reeves, and Crazy Town were subsequently kicked off the Nu Metal Madness 2 Tour.
Shellshock is survived by his three children, Halo, Gage and Phoenix.
Bright Eyes have a new album on the way: Five Dice, All Threes will arrive on September 20 via Dead Oceans. The band’s 10th studio album and first since 2020’s Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was features guest appearances from Cat Power, the National’s Matt Berninger, and the So So Glos’ Alex Orange Drink. To accompany the news, they’ve shared the first single, ‘Bells and Whistles’, alongside a video directed by Josh Boone and filmed in Omaha, Nebraska. Check it out below, and scroll down for the album cover, tracklist, and the band’s just-announced UK and European tour dates.
Speaking about the new track, Conor Oberst said in a statement: “This is a song about the many little details in life that can seem insignificant or frivolous or temporary at the time but eventually end up forming your destiny. And it’s also kind of a whistle while you work scenario.”
Five Dice, All Threes Tracklist:
1. Five Dice
2. Bells and Whistles
3. El Capitan
4. Bas Jan Ader
5. Tiny Suicides
6. All Threes
7. Rainbow Overpass
8. Hate
9. Real Feel 105°
10. Spun Out
11. Trains Still Run On Time
12. The Time I Have Left
13. Tin Soldier Boy
Bright Eyes 2024 UK and EU Tour Dates:
Nov 10 – Wolverhampton, UK – Wulfrun Hall
Nov 11 – London, UK – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Nov 12 – Nijmegen, Netherlands – Doornroosje
Nov 13 – Ghent, Belgium – Ha Concerts
Nov 14 – Cologne, Germany – Carlswerk Victoria
Nov 15 – Berlin, Germany – Tempodrom
Nov 16 – Weissenhauser Strand, Germany – Rolling Stone Beach
Nov 18 – Stockholm, Sweden – Fållan
Nov 19 – Oslo, Norway – Parkteatret
Xiu Xiu have announced a new LP, 13″ Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips. The follow-up to last year’s Ignore Grief is set to arrive on September 27 via Polyvinyl. Mixed by John Congleton, the album was partly inspired by the band’s recent move from Los Angeles to Berlin. Today’s announcement comes with the release of the new single ‘Common Loon’, which frontman Jamie Steward described as “a boogie embrace for queer perverts across the multiverse.” Check it out and find the album artwork, tracklist, and Xiu Xiu’s upcoming tour dates below.
‘Common Loon’ arrives with an NSFW video (the uncensored version of which you can watch here) directed by and starring performance artist Alicia McDaid as “Mcdazzler, Britney Spears, The Angelologist, Smurfette, Garfield, Pepe, Anna Nicole Smith Joker, Led Zeppelin groupie, Galactica Darkstar, Jason Voorhees, Frida Kardashian, Viagra, Goth Monica Geller, Chemtrails, Ghöstmilf, She Hulk, Carmela Soprano, Cathy, Bret Michaels Andy Warhol and Odie.”
Of the video, Stewart said: “The song ‘Common Loon,’ for us, is about revelling in perversity, cuckooness, queerness and/or the unquenchable personal requirement to wild out. As MASSIVE fans of Alicia McDazzler’s work, we could think of no one else more qualified to embody those ways of being and no one else who would crank them up further than we would have ever imagined. She is an inspiration and icon to all LOONS!”
Alicia McDaid added: “I used footage of myself as @mcdazzler and lots of different characters from the past 10 years to compose what I hope feels like an end of pop culture freak life flashing before your third eye journey to the corndog underworld which emerges into the collective funnel cake in the sky that exists within everything and nothing where all beings are truly free to headbang as Garfield and Odie simultaneously.”
13″ Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips Cover Artwork:
13″ Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips Tracklist:
1. Arp Omni
2. Maestro One Chord
3. Common Loon
4. Pale Flower
5. Veneficium
6. Sleep Blvd.
7. T.D.F.T.W.
8. Bobby Bland
9. Piña, Coconut & Cherry
Xiu Xiu 2024 Tour Dates:
20/09 – Reno, NV @ The Holland Project
21/09 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Social Club
22/09 – Seattle, WA @ The Vera Project
23/09 – Portland, OR @ Holocene
24/09 – Arcata, CA @ The Miniplex
26/09 – San Diego, CA @ The Loft at UCSD
27/09 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge
28/09 – Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole
30/09 – Austin, TX @ The Parish
02/10 – Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
03/10 – New Orleans, LA @ Siberia
05/10 – Orlando, FL @ Conduit
06/10 – Miami, FL @ Gramps
07/10 – Tampa, FL @ Crowbar
08/10 – Savannah, GA @ Lodge Of Sorrows
09/10 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
10/10 – Durham, NC @ TBA
11/10 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
13/10 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro
14/10 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMoca
15/10 – New York, NY @ LPR
16/10 – Providence, RI @ AS220 Live Arts
17/10 – Portland, ME @ Space Gallery
18/10 – Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmont
19/10 – Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground
20/10 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
21/10 – Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village
22/10 – Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club
23/10 – Des Moines, IA @ xBk
24/10 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
26/10 – Fort Collins, CO @ The Coast
27/10 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
29/10 – San Francisco, CA @ Gray Area Foundation for the Arts
30/10 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Lodge Room
01/11 – Oberlin, OH @ The ‘Sco – Oberlin College
08/11 – Groeningen, Netherlands @ Vera
09/11 – Den Bosch, Netherlands @ FAQ Festival
10/11 – Rotterdam, Netherlands @ De Doelen
11/11 – Brussels, Belgium @ La Botanique
13/11 – Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew
14/11 – Brighton, UK @ Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA)
15/11 – Stockport, UK @ St Mary’s
16/11 – Glasgow, UK @ Room 2 Cottiers
17/11 – Oxford, UK @ The Bullingdon
19/11 – London, UK @ Heaven #
20/11 – Cardiff, UK @ Clwb Ifor Bach #
22/11 – Brest, France @ Festival Invisible #
23/11 – Paris, France @ Hasard Ludique #
25/11 – Grenoble, France @ Le Ciel #
27/11 – Nurnberg, Germany @ Soft Spot / Kantine #
28/11 – Prague, Czech Republic @ Meet Factory #
29/11 – Berlin, Germany @ Lido #
30/11 – Poznań, Poland @ Próżność #
05/17 – Seattle WA @ Moore Theatre %
05/18 – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre %
Los Angeles punk legends X have announced Smoke & Fiction, which they say will be their final album. The band’s original lineup – John Doe, Exene Cervenka, DJ Bonebrake, and Billy Zoom – recorded the album with producer Rob Schnapf (Beck, Foo Fighters). It will be out August 2 via Fat Possum Records, and X will then embark on a farewell tour of North America. Listen to the first single, ‘Big Black X’, and check out the list of dates below.
“X is a great band name; also a bad idea sometimes when it gets lost in print or on the marquee,” Cervenka remarked in a statement. “Gotta have a sense of humor. We all did in the early days. Los Angeles was a carnival of weirdness back then, with left over traces of silent movie stars, long haired hippies, bikers, and brand new self-defined punks doing anything we wanted. When we started touring the country we found like-minded people everywhere, and somehow they all found us. Even if the X was lost on the old marquee.”
‘Big Black X’ comes with an accompanying video directed by Gilbert Trejo and Shane McKenzie, who said: “Inspired by 80s video art and the great punk documentaries of the time / shot on VHS, edited tape to tape, using Polaroids + 35mm photos, smashed together with analog video mixers and CRT televisions / it’s a tornado of the past and present – Ed Colver’s photos were a blast to video mix and they are the glue holding it all together.”
Smoke & Fiction Cover Artwork:
Smoke & Fiction Tracklist:
1. Ruby Church
2. Sweet Til The Bitter End
3. The Way It Is
4. Flipside
5. Big Black X
6. Smoke & Fiction
7. Struggle
8. Winding Up the Time
9. Face in the Moon
10. Baby & All
X 2024 Tour Dates:
Jun 24 – Los Angeles, CA – The Troubadour – SOLD OUT
Jul 6 – Kansas City, MO – The Uptown
Jul 7 – Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room
Jul 9 – St. Louis, MO – Del Mar Hall
Jul 10 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall
Jul 12 – Minneapolis, MN – The Varsity
Jul 13 – Chicago, IL – Square Roots Festival
Jul 14 – Chicago, IL – Fitzgerald’s – SOLD OUT
Jul 16 – Detroit, MI – The Masonic
Jul 17 – Kent, OH – The Kent Stage
Jul 19 – Indianapolis, IN – The Vogue
Jul 25 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent
Jul 26 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent
Jul 28 – Costa Mesa, CA – Pacific Amphitheatre
Jul 30 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up
Aug 19 – Menlo Park, CA – The Guild Theatre
Aug 20 – Menlo Park, CA – The Guild Theatre
Aug 22 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory
Aug 23 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
Aug 25 – Portland, OR – The Aladdin
Aug 28 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot
Aug 30 – Denver, CO – The Summit
Sep 1 – Albuquerque, NM – The El Rey
Sep 22 – Derry, NH – Tupelo Music Hall
Sep 23 – Boston, MA – The Wilbur
Sep 25 – Albany, NY – Empire Live
Sep 26 – Rochester, NY – Water Street Music Hall
Sep 27 – Pittsburgh, PA – Jergel’s
Sep 28 – Falls Church, CA – The State Theatre
Sep 30 – Philadelphia, PA – Keswick Theater
Oct 1 – Patchogue, NY – Patchogue, Theatre
Oct 2 – Norwalk, CT – District Music Hall
Oct 4 – New York, NY – Town Hall
Oct 5 – Middletown, CT – Harbor Park
Oct 18 – Austin, TX – The Paramount
Oct 19 – San Antonio, TX – Empire Live
Oct 21 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
Oct 22 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
Oct 24 – Memphis, TN – Minglewood Hall
Oct 25 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl
Oct 26 – Birmingham, AL – Iron City
Oct 29 – Charlotte, NC – The Neighborhood Theatre
Oct 30 – Columbia, SC – The Senate
