Alexander Laurence's Blog, page 1172
July 9, 2020
Hear “Better Man” by KANDLE via your preferred streaming platform now.
Hear “Better Man” via your preferred streaming platform now.
Follow along on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter
Manipulation is emotional blackmail. They use certain behaviours to influence how you think, feel and act until you are broken down to a fragment of what you once were. When your success is monopolized by someone else holding the key, you find yourself making deals with the devil without a clue how you got there.
After wallowing in solitary shame and indignation for years, I decided to flip the script. It is my hope that this song will inspire those in an inferior position to no longer normalize the silent epidemic of abuse of power. And if you’ve been a casualty of career manipulation, seek redemption by waving the red flag and being resilient.
Some Days Are Darker Debut "Take Me Anywhere" Video via New Noise
SOME DAYS ARE DARKER DEBUT “TAKE ME ANYWHERE” VIDEO VIA NEW NOISE
https://newnoisemagazine.com/video-premiere-some-days-are-darker-take-me-anywhere/
LOVE+TRUTH ARRIVES JULY 31 VIA INFERNO CHOIR
“ The solo endeavor of singer/songwriter Lear Mason, Some Days Are Darker illustrates a rich soundscape colored by hues of love, loss, and rebirth, an era-ambiguous amalgamation of goth-rock gloom and modern-day crooner. ” – New Noise
To view the “Take Me Anywhere” video, click the image above or follow this link:
https://newnoisemagazine.com/video-premiere-some-days-are-darker-take-me-anywhere/
July 9, 2020 – Phoenix, Ariz. – Some Days Are Darker, the Phoenix-based outfit that The Entertainer described as having “a sound that lies between Nick Cave and Chris Isaak,” debut the video for “Take Me Anywhere” via New Noise (https://newnoisemagazine.com/video-premiere-some-days-are-darker-take-me-anywhere/).
“Take Me Anywhere,” which is the second preview from the forthcoming release Love+Truth (July 31, Inferno Choir) with a video for “Wolves” (https://youtu.be/MKVTpKAQhdA) released in early June, has been described by singer/guitar player Lear Mason as an exploration of “the thrill of forbidden love. We don’t get to choose who we fall in love with, and there’s a danger in that. How far are you willing to go?" Album pre-orders are available here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/somedaysaredarker/love-truth.
“I grew up across the river from Detroit, my mom exposed me to Motown while my dad was a fan of The Stooges and MC5,” said Mason upon the announcement of Love+Truth. “Growing up with that combination of music in our house made what now seems like an unusual pairing seem natural to me. I think you can hear that freedom and those influences in the music I make. I’m getting back to the early fifties style of recording where you just stand in front of the microphone, hit record, and play the song.”
Dubbed “an era-ambiguous amalgamation of goth-rock gloom and modern day crooner,” Some Days Are Darker’s debut release is “like the True Detective soundtrack meets the Pretty in Pink soundtrack.”
# # #
Facebook.com/somedaysaredarker
Instagram.com/somedaysaredarker
Photo credit: Lauren Bradley
Watch Eyedress' new "Last Time I'm Falling In Love" video; a surrealist fever dream directed by Bobby Astro
Watch Eyedress' new "Last Time I'm Falling In Love" video; a surrealist fever dream directed by Bobby Astro; Let's Skip To The Wedding is due 8/7
Let's Skip To The Wedding is out on 8/7 via Lex Records
pre-order the LP here
WATCH: "Last Time I'm Falling In Love" (Dir. by Bobby Astro) -
YouTube / Spotify / Apple / Bandcamp / SoundCloud / More
Today, Eyedress shares his new fever dream video for "Last Time I'm Falling In Love" directed by Bobby Astro (Zack Fox/Father). In just two and half minutes, Eyedress takes us on a love fueled car chase through constantly shifting worlds, starring himself as a getaway driver and his pregnant girlfriend, Elvia, as a mermaid.
Eyedress' upcoming full length, Let's Skip To The Wedding, is due out on August 7th, 2020 via Lex Records. The album is his first since relocating from Manila to LA in late 2018. A passionate exploration of his love and fears as he prepares to welcome a child into this ever changing world.
Bio:
Eyedress is the alias of Filipino artist Idris Vicuña, formerly lead guitarist of psychedelic indie/noise-pop band Bee Eyes. Born in 1990 in the city of Makati, Philippines. Vicuña relocated to the US with his family at the age of 6. He was raised in Phoenix, Arizona before moving to San Clemente, California at the age of 13, where he started playing bass in a Crass-influenced crust-punk band.
In 2005, Vicuña moved back to Manila - He released his first solo record entitled Hearing Colors in 2013. Well received by music blogs, it led to him signing his first record deal with XL Recordings imprint Abeano. He followed up in 2016 with his second full length, Shapeshifter. The title track featured King Krule under his Edgar The Breathtaker alias.
The follow up was released in November 2018. Sensitive G is a deeply personal reflection on the joys and pains of his life in Manila told through the styles he was influenced whilst growing up in the US; R&B, dream-pop, indie rock, punk rock and G-funk. A more solitary affair, Sensitive G was recorded almost entirely by himself in his bedroom and demonstrates a more refined and visceral approach to his process and palette.
Following the release of Sensitive G he relocated from Manila to LA, and began collaborating with kindred spirits like Cuco and Inner Wave. 2019 found him sharing stages with acts like Homeshake, Enjoy, Jasper Bones, N8NOFACE, and B Cool Aid, as well as supporting Inner Wave on their 13 date west coast summer tour.
Eyedress' upcoming LP, Let's Skip To The Wedding, is the first album he’s created since moving to the United States. A passionate exploration of the themes of love, settling down, adjusting to life in a new city, and preparing to welcome a child into this ever changing world. Let's Skip To The Wedding channels the uncertainty of 2020 into an eclectic collection of songs and loved up remedy for the times.
Eyedress
Let's Skip To The Wedding
(Lex Records)
[click here to pre-order]
Street Date: August 7, 2020
Track List:
1. Let's Skip To The Wedding
2. Skateboarding Day
3. Never Want To Be Apart
4. Can I See You Tonight?
5. Romantic Lover
6. X-Girl
7. I Don't Wanna Be Your Friend
8. Jealous
9. Last Time I'm Falling In Love
10. Pop The Question
11. Happy Hour
12. Trauma
13. My Girl The Finest
14. Never Been To Prom
15. Mystical Creatures Best Friend
16. Pick Up Your Phone
17. Self Improvement
18. Kiss Me Like It's The Last Time
19. Anything For You
EYEDRESS LINKS:
SoundCloud
Erasure Launch New Track "Shot A Satellite"; New Album Out August 21
LAUNCH NEW TRACK
“SHOT A SATELLITE”
NEW ALBUM
THE NEON
OUT AUGUST 21
credit: Phil SharpRecent praise for first single “Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling)”:"...[an] appropriately neon-streaked synth confection." – STEREOGUM
"…another irresistible, modern synth-pop stunner..." – BLACKBOOK
“Clarke's gurgling synthpop + Bell's powerful pipes never seems to get old.” – BROOKLYN VEGAN
ERASURE (Andy Bell and Vince Clarke) have shared the second track to be taken from their eagerly awaited new album, The Neon . Listen to “Shot A Satellite” here.
Launching off a bed of stuttering, percussive sci-fi synths, “Shot A Satellite” is the latest taste of what to expect from The Neon – out August 21 on Mute. The record will be released digitally and on standard and deluxe limited editions of vinyl, CD and cassette. Pre-orders via Mute or the band’s shop will give priority ticket access to future tour dates. Pre-order The Neon here.
The band recently released a remix EP for the first single, “Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling)” featuring reworkings from UK-based DJ and producer Philip George, Nimmo, and Daybreakers – aka Ric Scott and Alex Hush whose previous remix credits include Madonna and U2. Listen to the original track here and the remix EP here.
MORE ABOUT THE NEON
The Neon is a place that lives in the imagination. It could be a night club, a shop, a city, a cafe, a country, a bedroom, a restaurant, any place at all. It’s a place of possibility in warm, glowing light and this is music that takes you there.
Written and produced by Erasure, the album’s initial sessions saw Vince and Andy reunite to work on the follow up to 2017’s World Be Gone with a fresh optimism and energy, in part born from their own recent personal projects. Vince goes on to explain, “Our music is always a reflection of how we’re feeling. Andy was in a good place spiritually, and so was I – really good places in our minds. You can hear that.”
Taking inspiration from pop music through the decades, from bands Andy loved as a child through to the present day, he explains, “It was about refreshing my love – hopefully our love – of great pop. I want kids now to hear these songs! I wanted to recharge that feeling that pop can come from anyone.”
The Neon offers us warmth and a brilliant brightness in our times. It connects us to our pasts and our futures as it glistens with hope. It creates beautiful places where our imaginations can roam, bringing us together, twinkling and beaming. The Neon transports us to a celebratory world, now and forever, illuminated and alive.
The Neon Tracklist
1. Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling)
2. Nerves of Steel
3. Fallen Angel
4. No Point In Tripping
5. Shot A Satellite
6. Tower of Love
7. Diamond Lies
8. New Horizons
9. Careful What I Try to Do
10. Kid You’re Not Alone
Pre-order The Neon
Listen to “Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling)”
Listen to “Shot A Satellite”
Stream and purchase the Hey Now (Think I Got A Feeling) Remix EPERASURE: WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY | APPLE MUSIC
MUTE: WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | SOUNDCLOUD
July 8, 2020
Napalm Death Announce New Album, Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism (Sept. 18, Century Media Records)
NAPALM DEATH ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM, THROES OF JOY IN THE JAWS OF DEFEATISM; ARRIVES SEPT. 18 VIA CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS
Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism album cover
July 8, 2020, Birmingham, UK - U.K. grindcore pioneers Napalm Death are delighted to announce their upcoming studio album, Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism, is slated for a Sept. 18 release via Century Media Records.
Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism, the band’s highly-anticipated follow-up to Napalm Death’s critically-acclaimed 2015 album, Apex Predator – Easy Meat, was again recorded with long time producer Russ Russell and features artwork by Frode Sylthe.
Napalm Death vocalist Mark ‘Barney’ Greenway checked in with the following comment about the upcoming album and its theme:
“The phrase sticking in my mind when I started thinking about the lyrical direction for this album was ‘the other.’ You could recognise at the time that there was a rapidly growing fear and paranoia being generated about everybody, from migrating people to people with fluid sexuality and this was starting to manifest itself in very antagonistic reactions that you felt were almost verging on violence. Not everybody resorts to such reactions of course, but even the basic lack of understanding can become toxic over time. I’m not saying that this is an entirely new phenomenon, but it has been stoked in recent history by some particularly attack-minded people in more political circles and, as ever, I felt that it would be the natural antidote to endorse basic humanity and solidarity with all.
The artwork specifically uses a white dove as a centrepiece, which of course is a commonly recognised symbol of peace and cooperation. The dove has been mauled very violently by a sterilising hand and in death appears particularly broken and bloodied. However, through the violence you can see an equality symbol in blood on the chest of the dove, which perhaps demonstrates – visually at least – that equality cuts through in the end. A positive amidst many negatives then, much like the album title itself being a bit of an oxymoron – the celebration of humanity even in the mangling jaws of negativity.”
From the pinnacle of confrontational instrumental extremity and steadfast lyrical humanity, Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism warps musical landscapes all over again. The 12-song album is seething with caustic evolution and unrelenting scope.
Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism track list:
1. F**k the Factoid
2. Backlash Just Because
3. That Curse of Being in Thrall
4. Contagion
5. Joie De Ne Pas Vivre
6. Invigorating Clutch
7. Zero Gravitas Chamber
8. Fluxing of the Muscle
9. Amoral
10. Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism
11. Acting in Gouged Faith
12. A Bellyful of Salt and Spleen
A first single off Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism will be launched on July 24 as pre-orders become available. Look out for further details and the various album formats to be revealed soon.
Napalm Death most recently released a quickly sold-out 7” / digital EP titled Logic Ravaged By Brute Force to coincide with the band’s most recent European tour. Check out “Logic Ravaged By Brute Force” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecqiuhmHeK0 or stream the EP via Spotify here: http://open.spotify.com/album/57fFOIV2veGlPlQuZNNJnZ.
The group previously released Coded Smears And More Uncommon Slurs in 2018, a special compilation gathering a total of 31 songs in a playing time of over 90 minutes, including rarities and exclusive earworms spanning 2004-2016 from the whirling gene pool of noise that is Napalm Death.
Check out a few Coded Smears And More Uncommon Slurs samples here:
“Standardization” (video): https://youtu.be/FNlWLtZMvko
“Call That An Option?”: https://youtu.be/qugUJQUzma0
“Oh So Pseudo”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZzrZtOd2Po
And order the release here: https://napalmdeath.lnk.to/CodedSmearsAndMoreUncommonSlurs
Photo credit: Gobinder Jhitta; left to right: Shane Embury (bass reverberations, barks and moans, noise-testing everyday objects), Mark ‘Barney’ Greenway (bawling, shrieking, intermittent baritone), Danny Herrera (turbulent beat throes)
# # #
Napalm Death online:
http://www.napalmdeath.org
http://www.facebook.com/officialnapalmdeath
https://twitter.com/officialND
https://www.instagram.com/theofficialnapalmdeath
PINEGROVE SHARES NEW VIDEO FOR “ENDLESS” - WATCH
MARIGOLD (Expanded Edition) OUT NOW
Pinegrove have just shared the video to “Endless,” from their already critically lauded new album, Marigold. Watch the video for “Endless” HERE.“In this video we wanted to explore tenacity & endurance of spirit.” Says singer Evan Stephens Hall. “In this moment of turbulence in our country, as many of us are banding together to fight racism, to stay healthy in a pandemic, & to live with dignity through economic oppression, we believe in the power of resilience and perseverance. Keep going. It's working.”
Director Brian Paccione also had this to say about the video:
“I learned so much from nature while making this for us — I learned to listen to it, respond to it, and collaborate with it. I was not in charge — and I hope this special relationship is reflected in the work. I hope you all see a part of your own emotional life in our little seed’s journey.”
Pinegrove have also released an expanded version of Marigold which is out digitally now. Marigold (Expanded Edition) includes an alternate version of “No Drugs” from the Skylight album sessions, and an acoustic version of “Phase.” Listen to Marigold (Expanded Edition) HERE.
(photo credit: Daniel Topete)Formed in 2010 in Montclair, NJ by childhood friends Evan and drummer Zack Levine, Pinegrove have released three previous albums - Everything So Far (2015), Cardinal (2016), and Skylight (2018) - to massive critical acclaim, garnering them a widespread and devoted listenership. Hall named the band after a “beautiful and regulated, yet natural and messy” grid of pine trees on his college grounds. ‘The Pinegrove’ was a place of introspection, repose and spiritual serenity, and a place he had established to be creatively fertile. That influence - the peace found in nature and contemplation - is a theme in his songwriting.
Zack describes Pinegrove as a constellation of “soulmates.” At 30 years old, Zack and Evan have known each other for 25 years and have been playing music together for twenty, communicating via a “telepathic musical connection.” Nearly everyone they work with are friends and collaborators from way back. Marigold features Evan, Zack, Nick, as well as Josh Marre (who, outside of his usual guitar duties, doubles on bass for this record), Sam Skinner, Nandi Rose, Evan’s dad Doug Hall, and Zack & Nick’s dad Michael William Levine. Sam also engineered and co-produced the record, as he has on every Pinegrove recording since 2015.
While there is room for ambiguity in Evan's hypnotic storytelling, its thesis is anchored as always in radical empathy. This is music that makes a humble yet confident case for inclusiveness and community, for tenderness and patience in a world that sometimes seems to have other plans.“This is a lifelong project,” Zack says, “We’re always thinking about how to be better humans and humanists. It’s about how to keep going, and to respond to the world as it is right now.”
Praise for Pinegrove:
"...this ruddy cheeked collective rekindle the guileless spirit of mid-90s alt rock (Wilco; Buffalo Tom)...a surge of power-chord melancholy. (4 Stars)" - MOJO
"The mournful peddle steel, keening harmonies and thumping analogue rhythms that ornament the deeply introspective songs of Marigold transform...into a vibrantly emphatic experience. The band is in peak form...ruggedly handcrafted tracks that capture charged moments in real time, just as Hall's trenchant, minutia-filled lyrics do." (8/10) - UNCUT
“Evan Stephens Hall writes poetic, diary-ish lyrics, and the rest of the band burnishes them in a sound that’s like the Promise Ring gone country, and heartwarmingly so.” - Rolling Stone
“There's a confessional quality to the songs of Pinegrove that feels reassuring. The problems that swirl around Evan Stephens Hall's head feel universal” - Bob Boilen, NPR
“Pinegrove...revolves around Hall’s ability to break your heart and put it back together again in the span of a single song.” - Consequence Of Sound
“Pinegrove (recall) some of the most consistently likable rock bands of the past 20 years in their most easy going phases: There’s the rootsy shamble of early Wilco, the wiggly guitar solos and general guilelessness of pre-prog Built to Spill. But beneath the amiable surface is an intense work about one of the most important things imaginable: how to make our friendships really matter.” - Pitchfork
“Pinegrove has a very big future ahead of them and...anyone attendance at their Brooklyn Steel performance last month could’ve showed you that as the packed audience sang along to every single word, nearly overwhelming the vocals of frontman Evan Stephens Hall on occasion. It’s an amazing thing to witness, the sort of emotional experience that heightens the already very emotional songs that the band produces with such genuine heart.” - We All Wants Someone To Shout For “The Montclair, New Jersey's band's sound--off-the-cuff, loose heart-on-sleeve indie-rock cut with Americana--is the perfect vessel for that kind of premature twilight, anxiety and loss. Above all else, it feels so goddamned natural.” - Exclaim! “Simple and understated, Pinegrove grafts unassuming banjo and pedal-steel textures to classic slacker indie rock, making each moment as engaging as the next.” - Boston Globe
Keep Up With Pinegrove:
WEBSITE | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK
Mattiel Premieres New Video for Beastie Boys Cover “Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun"
Double Cover 7-Inch Out Now
Also Featuring “Guns Of Brixton (The Clash Cover)”
Photo credit: Jason KofkeMattiel, the Atlanta-based rock band fronted by vocalist Mattiel Brown, premieres the incredible video for their new cover of the Beastie Boys’ “Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun” today. Brown directed the video and stars in it alongside bandmate Jonah Swilley. “In the video for ‘Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun,’ we hoped to capture the energy of the song in our own way,” says Brown. “The circular shots are a bit of a nod to the Beasties’ love for using a fisheye lens in so many of their videos. A sense of ‘dark psychedelia’ also comes through in the distorted, stretchy elements. For the shots of Jonah, we used this old broadcast camera (lent to us by Zach Pyles - Thank you Zach!). So those parts were recorded onto a VHS tape and played back on a monitor and digitized. All the digital parts were done on my Canon 5D Mk II, so the whole thing was a pretty barebones setup without any fancy equipment. We shot this during a pandemic, and we’re all still waist deep in global crisis - so I feel grateful that we were able to get good results during a time where video production can be especially challenging.” Watch “Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun” below:
“Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun” appears on Mattiel’s Double Cover 7-inch, which is available now digitally and on limited-edition vinyl (shipping in August). Double Cover also features an explosive cover of The Clash’s “Guns Of Brixton,” from their classic 1979 album London Calling. Purchase Double Cover HERE.
Mattiel’s sophomore album Satis Factory was released on ATO Records last year, winning instant acclaim for its gritty and provocative rock-and-roll sound. Rolling Stone compared Brown’s “gorgeously yearning, full-voiced alto range” to Nico, and NPR raved, “There's something delightfully unique about Mattiel's music. A pinch of garage rock, a touch of psychedelia, some galloping honky-tonk and at the lead, Mattiel Brown's powerful and assertive vocals.” Satis Factory is available HERE.mattiel.com | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
NANA ADJOA Announces Debut Album 'Big Dreaming Ants' + Shares "No Room"
(Credit: Robbert Doelwijt Jr. - download high res here)Singer-songwriter Nana Adjoa is a sonic explorer, armed with a deft poeticism and a fierce sense of musicianship. But behind her bold approach to songwriting is an unflinching sense of curiosity and an openness to endless possibility. All of this is demonstrated on Adjoa’s debut full-length, Big Dreaming Ants which will be released September 24th. On her debut album we see the Amsterdam-based multi-instrumentalist find herself contemplating such profound themes as identity, love, and our modern global society. The album is available for pre-order here.
Released today is the gorgeous new single and video for the powerful song “No Room”. The video is a nod to her Ghanian heritage and was premiered on Complex UK who call it a “beautifully calming rack — built around little more than a guitar and Adjoa's stunningly gentle voice.”
"No Room"Creative Director Rudy Asibey says, "The vision was to bring Nana’s duality in culture and music together. Her name stands for so much more in Ghanaian culture. Nana means king/queen and Adjoa is her day name (Monday) which stands for peacemaker. For me, Nana’s music is a journey to finding the answers to life. Nana guides us with music to help us find those answers. I wanted to bring that journey to life in the visuals. In this video we see more of her Ghanaian culture and a journey to finding self— even though people want to put you in a box or want you to become someone else. In the end, she chooses herself. As Nana’s name represents, I hope her music guides people to choose for themselves, to learn more about their heritage in order to gain learnings from heritage and grow. Especially in these times, it is important to know where you’re from, in order to know where you’re going. We could all use a peacemaker."
"She's Stronger"Big Dreaming Ants is an impressive body of work which shows an artist poised to make a clear and concise artistic statement as seen on some of the songs already released. “She’s Stronger,” for instance, is about a friendship, which, she recalls, “Made me realize that I wasn’t as strong, or as independent as I thought I was.” In awe of her friend, she was forced to confront her own insecurities. “She made me aspire to be the best version of myself,” says Adjoa. On “Throw Stones,” the artist sings about the phenomena of online trolls and digital clashes. “They can vent all of their emotions and there aren’t any rules,” she explains. “It’s a conflict. You want to react but you also want to keep a moral high ground.”
"Throw Stones"Praise for Nana Adjoa:"powerful" - The FADER
"The music will envelop you like a warm hug while Adjoa's lyrics make you feel like you are loved and in the safest of places" - Refinery29
"It’s Joan Armatrading by way of Mazzy Star, intimate and glossy, simple and surreal." - Consequence of Sound
"Her lyrics are honest and relatable” - Stereogum
“Her resolute ballads wrestling with race, gender, and sexuality... accruing a well-earned audience along the way.” - FLOOD
Follow Nana Adjoa:Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
BECK Receives Khruangbin Remix of “No Distraction” for his Birthday
BECK Receives Khruangbin Remix of “No Distraction” for his Birthday
To commemorate Beck’s July 8 birthday, Khruangbin is gifting the seven-time GRAMMY-winner with a singular interpretation of a beloved song from his lauded catalogue:
“No Distraction (Khruangbin Remix)” features the Houston TX trio reconstructing this deep cut from Beck’s Best Alternative Music Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical GRAMMY-winning 2017 album Colors. The track is available now across digital platforms.
Beck’s current album Hyperspace was released November 22, 2019 on Capitol Records, and has been uniformly hailed as yet another in a series of nearly 30 years of creative peaks. The ASSOCIATED PRESS raved “There is not a boring moment on the entire album,” USA TODAY added “14 albums into his career, Beck has rarely been better than he is on Hyperspace,” while David Fricke of ROLLING STONE’s 4-star lead review likened Beck’s voice on the album’s lead single “Uneventful Days” to “David Bowie’s Major Tom checking in from distant orbit.”
Silversun Pickups Share Cover of Martika's Song, “Toy Soldiers”
SILVERSUN PICKUPS SHARE NEW SONG, “ TOY SOLDIERS ”
BAND RECORDS MARTIKA’S CLASSIC SONG, PRODUCED BY
BUTCH VIG, AND SHARES NEW VIDEO
PERFORM “ DON’T KNOW YET ” ON FULL FRONTAL WITH
SAMANTHA BEE
5TH STUDIO ALBUM WIDOW’S WEEDS OUT NOW
“…it seems pretty obvious that, nearly 20 years into its career, the band is humming with renewed energy.”-The Los Angeles Times
“…it’s long past time to acknowledge the group’s evolution over its past two albums… finds the band sounding more vital than it has in years.
- The AV ClubToday, Silversun Pickups share their new song “Toy Soldiers,” a reimagined version of Martika’s classic track, which was produced by Butch Vig and recorded in January. “We were thinking about songs from the ’80s that we loved growing up, that had a big radio moment and was part of our cultural DNA,” Brian Aubert of the band says. “A song that you know right away when you hear it. We thought of ‘Toy Soldiers’ as a great example of this and decided we should try and record it.” Listen to Silversun Pickups’ “Toy Soldiers” here.
The band also shares their original music video for “Toy Soldiers,” directed by Claire Marie Vogel and Aaron Hymes, with animation by Hymes. Vogel reveals about the making of the video: “Creating a video from a distance makes for many limitations, but I love how limitations can shape an idea. The song's melancholy nature and the sense of isolation permeating the world right now were both very influential when writing the treatment. The video we made speaks to that collective sense of yearning and disconnection many of us are experiencing.” Hymes adds, “The overall tone and feeling of isolation in the video is a pretty clear reflection of how we were feeling while making it. In a way, it was really therapeutic to take those feelings and put them on screen.” Watch the new music video for “Toy Soldiers” here.
Brian Aubert further reveals about the song:
This version doesn’t feel bombastic and over the top, it’s crackling and tiny at times. Butch really helped with this. I dont think I’ve ever sung this intimately before. The guitar solo during it was very important to me, and we quickly realized that the solo worked during that time period, but not when we did it. We threw in a curve ball, some weird things, inspired by Johnny Greenwood. We put our weird stamp on it and it really came together.
There’s something about this song that hits me emotionally - this song has always hit me that way. At first, it wasn’t about the lyrics, but the feel of it. To be honest, I was not initially aware what the song was about, but listening to the lyrics, it was clearly about addiction. Someone else’s addiction. It’s pretty painful and very personal. You realize it doesn’t matter what the shell is, what the production is, what the era is…this is obviously a very personal story that at first I wasn’t sure we could touch. We ended up framing it into our own world and we think it works.
Butch Vig adds:
I was psyched when SSPU asked me to produce a cover of Martika’s “Toy Soldiers.” It’s great pop song and I have always had a soft spot for it. I read Martika wrote the song about a friend battling addiction, so knowing what Brian has gone through the song seems even more potent. We put our own spin on it. I hope Martika digs it!
Silversun Pickups recently performed their latest single, “Don’t Know Yet” on Full Frontal With Samantha Bee. The band taped the stripped down version while socially distanced in their respective homes, and were joined by Samantha Bee who contributed finger snaps to the song. Watch the band’s performance of “Don’t Know Yet” for Full Frontal With Samantha Bee here.
Silversun Pickups’ 5th studio album, Widow’s Weeds , is out now via their own New Machine Recordings label. The band enlisted Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth) to produce their latest, an extroverted and open album about rebirth and renewal. Said lead singer Brian Aubert about Widow’s Weeds: “This was the first album where we were open. We were exposed. I see how that can be scary to people, but for us we really thrived on that.” Widow’s Weeds is available for purchase on all formats here. Upon release, lead singer Brian Aubert also provided an in depth look at the at the album’s origin and influences in a track-by-track guide via Consequence of Sound.
Bursting out of the Silverlake, CA music scene in the early 2000s, Silversun Pickups– lead singer Brian Aubert, bassist Nikki Monninger, drummer Christopher Guanlao and keyboardist Joe Lester– have maintained their independence throughout their storied career. They released their first three albums on the local label, Dangerbird Records, before founding their own label, New Machine Recordings, for the release of their most recent albums, Widows Weeds and Better Nature. Now almost two decades into their career, they remain a vital and important rock band and have racked up ten Top 20 hits on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, as well as over a million records sold in the US.
Official site
Spotify
YouTube
