Alexander Laurence's Blog, page 169
January 21, 2025
Amenra Return with ‘De Toorn’ and ‘With Fang and Claw’
Amenra Return with De Toorn and With Fang and Claw
Two EP’s out March 28th on Relapse
Watch / listen first single “Heden” (from De Toorn)
Photo by: Stefaan Temmerman | Hi-res here
AMENRA make their highly anticipated return with two EPs that highlight the band's career as one of the most compelling and unequivocally vital entities in extreme music.
Titled De Toorn and With Fang and Claw respectively, each of these EPs have distinct soundscapes, songwriting approaches, and emotional weight. The result is a two part journey through AMENRA's raw, visceral beginnings, and a look into the band's future as one of the most enthralling and cinematic experiences in the genre.
"With De Toorn we finish what we have started with De Doorn in 2019," AMENRA vocalist Colin H. Van Eeckhout comments. "We came as close to our cultural heritage as we possibly could and offered the world a glance of where we come from. With the artwork reached back to the early beginnings of the band, MASS I. Aline Gorsen's interpretation of the art propelled us in a world forlorn."
Guitarist Mathieu Vandekerckhove comments: "With De Toorn, we carry forward the spirit of De Doorn, delving deeper into the raw emotions of grief, wrath, and transformation. It is a continuation of the ritual, a step further into the fire. At the same time, With Fang And Claw harks back to the essence of Mass I, embracing the primal force that defined our beginnings." He continues: "These two works intertwine: De Toorn channels the lament and fury of De Doorn, while With Fang And Claw recalls the unfiltered intensity of Mass I to Mass IIII. Together, they form a crucial passage in our 30-year journey—a reflection of where we began and where we are going. This transition is not just a bridge; it is a reckoning, a moment that prepares us for the resolution to come with Mass VII. Through rage and sorrow, we rise, bearing both the scars of the past and the fangs of resilience."
Guitarist Lennart Bossu says, "The track 'Heden' was the very first one of these ritual pieces we had written. It grew very organically while playing together in the rehearsal room and it set the tone for the rest of 'De Doorn' and 'De Toorn,' so it's definitely a track that is special to us."
Watch / share music video for "Heden" on YouTube
Stream / share "Heden" on DSP's
Van Eeckhout shares, "With Fang and Claw explores our earlier work, and merges with our contemporary being, setting the direction to what will soon become our MASS VII."
Recorded in a single session at the same studio in the Belgian Ardennes where the band's massive Mass VI was recorded with Seth Manchester (Machines With Magnets). Both EPs herald a new era for AMENRA. "These EPs feel like the closure we were desperately seeking, as we prepare for a new beginning in our almost 3 decade long trajectory" says Van Eeckhout.
Pre-order De Toorn and With Fang and Claw here.
Amenra, on tour:
22/03/25 : den Atelier - Luxemburg (LU)
26-30/03/25 : Ancienne Belgique - Bruxelles (BE) ~headline shows (first 4 sold out, 5th just announced)~
21/04/25 : Im Wizeman – Stuttgart (DE)
22/04/25 : Carlswerk Victoria - Köln (DE)
23/04/25 : Uebel & Gefährlich – Hamburg (DE)
24/04/25 : Astra – Berlin (DE)
25/04/25 : Oczki – Warsaw (PL)
26/04/25 : Kwadrat - Krakow (PL)
27/04/25 : Beatpol – Dresden (DE)
28/04/25 : Palac Akropolis – Prague (CZ)
30/04/25 : Arena - Vienna (AT)
01/05/25 : A38 – Budapest (HR)
02/05/25 : Boogaloo club – Zagreb (Croatia)
03/05/25 : Backstage Halle – Munich (DE)
04/05/25 : TPO – Bologna (IT)
05/05/25 : Monk Club – Rome (IT)
06/05/25 : Legend Club – Milano (IT)
07/05/25 : Les Docks – Lausanne (CH)
08/05/25 : CCO – Lyon (FR)
09/05/25 : Espace Julien – Marseille (FR)
11/05/25 : Apolo – Barcelona (ES)
12/05/25 : Cabane – Toulouse (FR)
13/05/25 : Atabal - Biarritz (FR)
14/05/25 : Antipode – Rennes (FR)
15/05/25 : Elysée Montmartre – Paris (FR)
17/05/25 : Desertfest @ Roundhouse – London (UK)
De Toorn cover art:
De Toorn track list:
HedenDe Toorn (Talisman)With Fang and Claw, cover art:
With Fang and Claw, track list:
ForlornSalve Mater
MAGNOLIA PICTURES ACQUIRES NORTH AMERICAN RIGHTS TO VENICE AND TELLURIDE HIT ‘ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO,' FROM OSCAR®-WINNING FILMMAKER KEVIN MACDONALD
MERCURY STUDIOS PRESENTS
A PLAN B/KM FILMS & MERCURY STUDIOS PRODUCTION
MAGNOLIA PICTURES ACQUIRES NORTH AMERICAN RIGHTS TO
VENICE AND TELLURIDE HIT ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO, FROM
OSCAR®-WINNING FILMMAKER KEVIN MACDONALD
Film Will Open Exclusively in IMAX
®
April 11 Before Expanding To Additional Theaters
Leading Up To HBO And Max Premiere
SUNDANCE (January 21, 2025) – Magnolia Pictures announced today that they have acquired North American rights to ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO, from Oscar®-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland, Marley, HBO’s One Day in September, The Mauritanian). An expansive and revelatory inside look at the 18 months John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent living in Greenwich Village in the early 1970s, ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO delivers an immersive cinematic experience that brings to life electrifying, never-before-seen material and newly restored footage of Lennon's only full-length, post-Beatles concert. With mind-blowing remastered audio overseen by their son, Sean Ono Lennon, the film is a seismic revelation that will challenge pre-existing notions of the iconic couple. Following its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, the documentary had its North American bow at the Telluride Film Festival and will screen next in Sundance Film Festival’s Spotlight section. Magnolia will open the film exclusively in IMAX April 11 before expanding to additional theaters. The film will air on HBO and will be available to stream on Max in late 2025.
On August 30, 1972, in New York City, John Lennon played his only full-length show after leaving The Beatles, the One to One benefit concert at Madison Square Garden, a rollicking, dazzling performance from him and Yoko Ono. Macdonald’s riveting documentary takes that legendary musical event and uses it as the starting point to explore eighteen defining months in the lives of John and Yoko. By 1971 the couple was newly arrived in the United States— living in a tiny apartment in Greenwich Village and watching a huge amount of American television. The film uses a riotous mélange of American TV to conjure the era through what the two would have been seeing on the screen: the Vietnam War, The Price is Right, Nixon, Coca-Cola ads, Cronkite, The Waltons. As they experience a year of love and transformation in the US, John and Yoko begin to change their approach to protest — ultimately leading to the One to One concert, which was inspired by a Geraldo Rivera exposé they watched on TV. Filmed in a meticulously faithful reproduction of the NYC apartment the duo shared, ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO offers a bold new take on a seminal time in the lives of two of history’s most influential artists.
“ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO is a revelation,” said Magnolia Pictures co-CEO’s Eamonn Bowles and Dori Begley. “Kevin Macdonald has given us an incredibly fresh, marvelously human and revealing look at the iconic couple.”
“I am personally thrilled to be back with the Magnolia and HBO teams to be giving ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO the ambitious theatrical release that I always dreamed of for this film,” said Kevin Macdonald. “This is a movie about music and love and politics - and about immersing yourself in the year of 1972 - a period in time that feels uncannily like the world we are currently inhabiting. And more than anything else I’m grateful to Sean Lennon and Mercury Studios for entrusting the incredible One to One concert to me."
Mercury Studios Presents A Plan B/KM Films & Mercury Studios Production. ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO is directed by Kevin Macdonald. Edited & Co-directed by Sam Rice-Edwards. Produced by Peter Worsley, Kevin Macdonald and Alice Webb. Executive Producers are Marc Robinson, David Joseph, Steve Condie, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner.
The deal was negotiated by Magnolia SVP of Acquisitions John Von Thaden, with Cinetic on behalf of the filmmakers.
(PHOTO BY BEN ROSS)
Directed by KEVIN MACDONALD
Produced by PETER WORSLEY
Edited & Co-directed by SAM RICE-EDWARDS
Producers: KEVIN MACDONALD, ALICE WEBB
Executive Producers: MARC ROBINSON, DAVID JOSEPH, STEVE CONDIE,
BRAD PITT, DEDE GARDNER, JEREMY KLEINER
Music Producer: SEAN ONO LENNON
An expansive and revelatory inside look at the 18 months John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent living in Greenwich Village in the early 1970s, ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO delivers an immersive cinematic experience that brings to life electrifying, never-before-seen material and newly restored footage of Lennon's only full-length, post-Beatles concert. With mind-blowing remastered audio overseen by their son, Sean Ono Lennon, the film is a seismic revelation that will challenge pre-existing notions of the iconic couple.
On August 30, 1972, in New York City, John Lennon played his only full-length show after leaving The Beatles, the One to One benefit concert at Madison Square Garden, a rollicking, dazzling performance from him and Yoko Ono. Oscar®-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald’s riveting documentary takes that legendary musical event and uses it as the starting point to explore eighteen defining months in the lives of John and Yoko. By 1971 the couple was newly arrived in the United States— living in a tiny apartment in Greenwich Village and watching a huge amount of American television. The film uses a riotous mélange of American TV to conjure the era through what the two would have been seeing on the screen: the Vietnam War, The Price is Right, Nixon, Coca-Cola ads, Cronkite, The Waltons. As they experience a year of love and transformation in the US, John and Yoko begin to change their approach to protest — ultimately leading to the One to One concert, which was inspired by a Geraldo Rivera exposé they watched on TV. Filmed in a meticulously faithful reproduction of the NYC apartment the duo shared, ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO offers a bold new take on a seminal time in the lives of two of history’s most influential artists.
100 minutes
#OneToOne
RELATED LINKS:
Bonnie Trash share pummelling, steely-eyed new single "Hellmouth". Album 'Mourning You' out Feb 28 on Hand Drawn Dracula
- Forthcoming album ‘Mourning You’ out February 28th on Hand Drawn Dracula
- Announce new Canadian live dates
Photo credit: Dana Bellamy Today Guelph, Ontario hell-raisers Bonnie Trash share a new single and video, taken from their forthcoming new album, ‘Mourning You’, which is set for release on February 28th on Hand Drawn Dracula.
‘Mourning You’ finds Bonnie Trash, twins Emmalia & Sarafina Bortolon-Vettor, embracing a newfound sense of urgency. The album is, put bluntly, an album about death. Not death in the macabre, violent, or outrageous sense, but death as you or I might know it. A spectre lurking around the corner. Capricious, indiscriminate, and unexpected. Ordinary and all the more terrifying for it. Real. Fear in the eyes of a loved one about to die, and the fear in your eyes – staring back. This is sorrow not as a lingering bruise, but a gushing wound.
Following previous single, “Veil of Greed”, today they share the howling, urgent new track "Hellmouth" - a song that evokes the gnarled claw of remorse gripping you in twilight's terror. "I see you in my dreams every night," Sarafina intones. Were it not for Emmalia's blown-out Stratocaster, you might mistake those words for the chorus of an old doo-wop standard. The track launches off as a woozy siren song, before pummelling you with anthemic power chords for Sarafina's self lacerating chorus: "Drag me to hell and back I go."
"Every reminder of what once was, feels like a sharp sword" the band comment. "But, even in the darkest moments, there’s always a path towards love. Remembering the warmth of their smile, as you scrape your nails towards the surface..."
“Hellmouth” video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEPFUHNzbrk
‘Mourning You’ album pre-order/pre-save links: https://ffm.to/mourningyou
A lifelong project christened in 2017 with the release of ‘Ezzelini's Dead’, the band's debut EP which found the pair mining the Trevisan dialect and archaic Italian folklore of their heritage to grisly effect. Where their first full length, ‘Malocchio’ (2022), shrouded Bonnie Trash's nightmares in dusky dreamlike reverb, ‘Mourning You’ is vivid and immediate. Emboldened by the addition of Emma Howarth-Withers on bass and Dana Bellamy on drums – whose thunderous rhythms sharpened 2024's ‘My Love Remains the Same’ EP into a fine-edged blade – ‘Mourning You’ is less a post-mortem fantasia than a sudden, swift dagger to the heart.
Sarafina, the band's singer and lyricist, has described the album as being about "losing someone you love. It's about the horrors of grief, haunting you every day." Inspired, largely, by the passing of Nonna Maria – who provided interstitial narration across the band's early work – it's these intimate details which render the songs on ‘Mourning You' so devastating. The record explores love and grief as kindred spirits. Grief as love with nowhere to go. Love determined by the fear of its loss. A blood pact. A life for a life. The gnarled claw of remorse gripping you in twilight's terror.
Though inspired by the shocking iconography of horrorshows, slasher flicks, and psychological thrillers, Bonnie Trash turns cinematic tropes on their head. Rather than fashioning nightmares into reality, the band paints reality as a nightmare, rife with pain, suffering, and gothic theatre. Bonnie Trash understands that everyday atrocities haunt the periphery of our lives. A black cloud looming on the edge of our vision. Curses abound. You can't ward them off. You'd best make an unholy racket.
‘Mourning You’ is out February 28, 2025 on Hand Drawn Dracula. In mourning, all is lost.
Bonnie Trash live dates:
Feb 27 - Toronto, ON - Wavelength Winter Fest w/ The OBGMs, pHoenix Pagliacci, Cadence Weapon
Mar 01 - Guelph, ON - ArtBar
Mar 08 - Kitchener, ON - The Union
‘Mourning You’ track list:
1. Grief
2. Veil of Greed - official video
3. My Love Remains the Same (Kisses Goodbye)
4. Hellmouth - official video
5. Haunt Me (What Have You Become)
6. and in the end, I’ll wait for you
7. Poison Kiss
8. Your Love is My Revenge
9. it eats shadows.
‘Mourning You’ artwork:
Links:
https://www.tiktok.com/@bonnietrash?_t=8rmuHaixj3Y&_r=1
https://www.handdrawndracula.com/artists/bonnie-trash/
https://www.instagram.com/bonnietrashband/
https://twitter.com/bonnietrashband
FANA HUES ANNOUNCES 'MATTERS OF THE HEART' HEADLINE TOUR
FANA HUES ANNOUNCES MATTERS OF THE HEART NORTH AMERICAN HEADLINE TOUR
CELEBRATING ACCLAIMED 2024 ALBUM MOTH;
ARTIST PRE-SALE BEGINS WEDNESDAY;
SPOTIFY PRE-SALE BEGINS THURSDAY;
GENERAL ON-SALE THIS FRIDAY
Photo by Dana Trippe
PRESS PRAISE FOR FANA HUES
“Moth—shows Hues at her most assured, standing on firmer sentimental ground as a writer, singer, and lover.” - PITCHFORK
“Music is something she was mean t for.” - HARPER’S BAZAAR
“She communicates an urgent passion.” - NPR
“As soon as you hit play on her new album, MOTH, you’ll feel a sense of comfort.” - ESSENCE
“Fana Hues is doing everything right nowadays.” - UPROXX
“Fana Hues’s third album, moth, is a sonic cocoon that envelopes her ‘newfound womanhood’.” - VIBE
“The success Fana Hues has rightfully earned for herself in the last few years would take most decades to achieve.” - COMPLEX
“The Pasadena-born, Los Angeles-based artist is carving a lane of her own, one sultry song at a time.” - VOGUE
Today, beloved singer-songwriter and executive producer Fana Hues announces a North American headline tour, Matters of the Heart Tour, kicking off March 14 with support from Pamé. Beginning in Chicago, Fana will perform her celebrated 2024 album MOTH, out now via Bright Antenna Records, on stages across North America making stops in Toronto, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and more. Artist pre-sale begins on Wednesday, Spotify pre-sale begins on Thursday and general ticket sales begin this Friday, January 24 at 10AM local time. A Pasadena native, Fana Hues has partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 per ticket goes to providing critical relief and long-term recovery support for individuals, families, and communities impacted by the devastating Altadena wildfires via the PLUS1 LA Fires Fund. Check https://www.fanahues.com for more information.
The announcement of the Matters of the Heart Tour follows a monumental year for the multi-talented singer, songwriter and producer. A soul-stirring and meticulous 13-track album, Fana’s masterful third album MOTH stole hearts in 2024 earning praise from Pitchfork, Harper’s Bazaar, ABC News, NPR, Elle, FADER, Essence, Stereogum, Vibe, Uproxx, and more. Fana’s voice, at times celestial and tender, at others intrepid and electric, is the driving force behind MOTH’s otherworldly sonic cocoon. Her live show reinforces her remarkable ability to paint emotions with her music, both lyrically and sonically.
Working with co-producers like Levan Kali and Josh Grant, MOTH explores a panorama of themes, from lust and love languages to patience and karma. The record features songs like “Paper Tigers,” a ribboning track stuffed with psychedelic guitars and boundless vocals, summertime bop “Rental”, an indulgent, irreverent and sassy ode to distractions and joy, and “Sweetlike”, a sultry, playful, assertive examination of a cat-and-mouse dynamic between lovers. Watch the official video for “Paper Tigers” HERE and the official video for “Rental” HERE.
MOTH is the first release since Fana’s critically acclaimed 2022 album flora + fana, an exquisite meditation on self-love heralded by NPR, Vogue, Complex, The Guardian, Billboard, VIBE, and more. Since releasing her debut album, Hues, in 2020, Fana has steadily risen through the ranks of R&B as a promising singer and songwriter, earning a prominent feature on Tyler The Creator’s “Sweet / I Thought You Wanted to Dance" with Brent Faiyaz from his Grammy Award-winning album CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST. Fana’s compelling performances led to touring with Raveena, Snoh Aalegra, and Giveon in the US and playing a sold-out headline tour in Europe, as well as gaining fans in the likes of Janelle Monae, Sabrina Claudio, and Lucky Daye.
Fana’s new music has landed her influential playlist covers at Spotify, Amazon, Tidal and Pandora, with “Rental” landing on over 50 editorial playlists across DSPs. Last April, she took the stage at Spotify’s Fresh Finds live experience in Chicago alongside artists like Paris Texas, Slow Pulp and Casper Sage. Last summer, Fana was the special guest on Lucky Daye’s US theater tour, stopping at legendary venues like New York City’s Radio City Music Hall and Los Angeles’s Greek Theatre. Fana was also announced as the first artist in Spotify’s inaugural R&B Soundscapes series. In August, she was featured in rapper Doechii’s popular Swamp Sessions series on “SUNDAY’S BEST”. With the continued success of MOTH, Fana Hues’ return to the stage marks an exciting start to 2025.
LISTEN TO MOTH
LISTEN TO “RENTAL”
https://fanahues.ffm.to/rental
WATCH THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO FOR “RENTAL”
https://fanahues.ffm.to/rental
LISTEN TO “PAPER TIGERS”
https://fanahues.ffm.to/papertigers
WATCH THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO FOR “PAPER TIGERS”
https://fanahues.ffm.to/papertigers
‘MATTERS OF THE HEART TOUR’ DATES
March 14th - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
March 16th - Detroit, MI @ El Club
March 17th - Toronto, ON @ Drake Underground
March 19th - New York, NY @ Baby’s All Right
March 20th - Washington, DC @ Pearl Street
March 22nd - Atlanta, GA @ Vinyl
March 23rd - Nashville, TN @ Row One Stage
March 25th - Dallas, TX @ House of Blues - Cambridge Room
March 26th - Austin, TX @ 3TEN ACL Live
March 27th - Houston, TX @ Bronze Peacock at House of Blues
March 30th - Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge
April 1st - Oakland, CA @ Crybaby
April 3rd - Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s
April 8th - Los Angeles @ The Echo
FOLLOW FANA HUES
January 20, 2025
CSS - 20th Anniversary of Cansei De Ser Sexy @ The Regent 01.19.25 // THE PORTABLE INFINITE
All photos taken by Martin Worster
NOISE POP EXPANDS ‘25 FESTIVAL LINEUP: Danny Brown, DIIV, American Analog Set, Earliment & More
NOISE POP FESTIVAL EXPANDS 2025 MUSIC LINEUP
CONCERT TICKETS ON SALE THIS FRIDAY AT NOISEPOPFEST.COM
WITH FESTIVAL BADGES ON SALE NOW
DIIV, Danny Brown, The American Analog Set, Reverend Horton Heat,
DāM-FunK, Earlimart, Flamin' Groovies, Zzzahara & Four-Night-Takeover of SF Jazz
Join American Football, Soccer Mommy, Lankum, Mercury Rev, Cymande, Les Savy Fav & More
Iconic Independent Music & Arts Festival Celebrates 32nd Anniversary
With Return to San Francisco Bay Area on February 20 - March 2, 2025
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (December 19, 2024) – Hometown organizers behind Noise Pop Festival, the San Francisco Bay Area’s premier independent music and arts festival, have just unveiled the next phase of music performers joining this year’s lineup as the multi-venue music festival returns for its 32nd anniversary beginning Thursday, February 20 through Sunday, March 2, 2025.
Joining the previously announced acts like American Football, who will celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut album LP1 with a rare two-night gig at the Great American Music Hall (March 1-2); indie rocker Soccer Mommy who will soon headline the iconic Fillmore post fall 2024 album-release (February 28); and Irish folk music group Lankum, who will perform in support of their Mercury Prize-nominated album False Lankum (February 27); Noise Pop will proudly welcome today over a dozen new acts to this year’s lineup.
As part of Noise Pop Festival’s expanded lineup, critically acclaimed MC Danny Brown has been invited to headline the 2025 festival with a special one-night performance at Public Works (February 22), following the release of his latest new critically-acclaimed, long-teased sixth studio album Quaranta earlier this spring.
Playing true to the festival's indie rock roots, Noise Pop Festival will also host DIIV, a festival alum (2016) who recently released their first new album in five years called Frog in Boiling Water; lo-fi rock pioneers The American Analog Set as the band return to SF after a 20-year hiatus to perform two nights of “Magic Hour”, an intimate and immersive 90-minute live show of thoughtfully selected songs from their first six albums (February 26-27), following a ; and one of SF’s most legendary bands the Flamin’ Groovies (February 22).
Following several years of successful festival collaborations, Noise Pop Festival will be partnering again with SF Jazz to host a multi-night takeover featuring acclaimed musicians like Dani Offline (February 27), Sirintip (February 28), August Lee Stevens (March 1), MeloDios (March 2), each of whom will perform two concerts each night.
Also included in today’s announcement is the official festival opening night party taking place at the Cal Academy of Sciences on Thursday, February 20, featuring an incredible roster of talent with the likes of modern-day funk maestro DāM-FunK set to usher in the new edition of Noise Pop Festival 2025.
Newly announced Noise Pop Festival 2025 concerts are listed below in chronological order, with tickets on sale tomorrow via www.noisepopfest.com:
Noise Pop Festival’s Opening Night Party at NightLife featuring DāM-FunK: February 20 at Cal Academy of Sciences
Reverend Horton Heat: February 21 at Great American Music Hall
Danny Brown: February 22 Public Works
Flamin’ Groovies, The Losin' Streaks & Peter Case (of Nerves, Plimsouls): February 22 at 4 Star Theater
The American Analog Set’s “Magic Hour”: February 26-27 at Gray Area
Zzzahara: February 26 at Bottom of the Hill
DIIV: February 27 at Gray Area
Noise Pop @ SF JAZZ: February 27 - March 2 at SF Jazz
Dani Offline (February 27)
Sirintip (February 28)
August Lee Stevens (March 1)
MeloDios (March 2)
Earlimart’s 20th Anniversary of “Treble & Tremble”: March 1 at Bottom of the Hill
FACS Reveal New single “You Future”
FACS reveal new single “You Future”
Wish Defense— the final album engineered by Steve Albini— out February 7, 2025
See FACS on tour in select markets this April
"...tight, rhythmic and hauntedly abstract as ever, further solidifying their status as one of the best post-punk bands of the 21st century." - Treble
"Everything FACS release sounds like solid gold, their steely minimalism and attention to detail is given radiant clarity..." - Post Trash
"a study in tension and release" - BrooklynVegan
Photo by: Evan Jenkins
With their sixth studio album Wish Defense (incoming Februrary 7, 2025 on Trouble In Mind Records), Chicago trio FACS take a good, long look in the mirror to face themselves. FACS' Brian Case notes that the album's lyrical content revolves around doppelgängers or "doubles,” tackling the idea of facing yourself and observing your ideas and motivations.
"Are you the same as you were?" they ask on "You Future," FACS' latest single and Wish Defense album closer. Case shares: "The final track is also the final action, look in the mirror and ask the questions. It's a future self talking to a 'you' from the past, assessing the path up until this point, questioning who you are. We bookended the album with the two songs that felt the most vulnerable and I think that really works with this idea of examining and challenging who you are and the perception of who you are."
Wish Defense is also the last album engineered by Steve Albini. Two days were recorded at Electrical Audio in early May of 2024 before Steve’s untimely passing, with renowned engineer and friend Sanford Parker stepping in to finish the session 24 hours later, tracking the last bits of vocals and overdubs. Longtime collaborator John Congleton mixed the album as Albini would have, in Electrical Audio’s A room, off the tape, using Albini’s notes about the session.
Listen / share Wish Defense album closer, "You Future"
On Wish Defense, the return of FACS original member Jonathan Van Herik— who stepped away from the group just before their debut album Negative Houses was released, and replacing longtime bassist Alianna Kalaba— brings renewed vigor and a marked angularity from the band’s more recent output. The songs still hit hard, but the approach is sideways; the roles have changed since Van Herik’s original tenure and his previous time with Case and powerhouse drummer Noah Leger in Disappears; now on bass, Van Herik was originally the group’s guitar player and features on the debut, while current guitarist Brian Case played bass. This role reversal has helped the band’s dynamic, offering up a different musical perspective than before, now revisiting the trio’s long-going collaboration with some distance and time.
Wish Defense will be released on February 7, 2025 on compact disc, cassette, black vinyl and a limited white vinyl variant while supplies last [pre-order]. See FACS on tour in Europe throughout February and in select markets in North America in April.
FACS on tour:
Feb. 07 Den Haag, NL - Grauzone Fest
Feb. 08 Amsterdam, NL - OCCII
Feb. 09 Hamburg, DE - Ms Stubnitz Boat
Feb. 10 Berlin, DE - Neue Zukunft
Feb. 11 Brussels, BE - Magazine 4
Feb. 12 Luxembourg, LUX - Rotondes
Feb. 13 Metz, FR - Trinitaires
Feb. 14 Lyon, FR - Periscope
Feb. 15 Nïmes, FR - Paloma
Feb. 16 Marseille, FR - Emma Vortex
Feb. 18 Savona, IT - Raindogs
Feb. 19 Grenoble, FR - Le Ciel
Feb. 20 Zürich, CH - Ziegel Oh Lac
Feb. 21 Trier, DE - Mergener Hof Trier
Feb. 22 Liege, BE - Jaune Orange
Apr. 07 Washington, DC - Songbyrd
Apr. 08 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
Apr. 09 Ridgewood, NY - TV Eye
Apr. 10 Medford, MA - Deep Cuts
Apr. 11 Montreal, QC - Quai des Brumes
Apr. 12 Toronto, ON - Dance Cave
Apr. 13 Grand Rapids, MI - Pyramid Scheme
Apr. 17 Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall
Wish Defense, cover art:
Art by: by Morgan Cuinet
Wish Defense, track list:
Talking HauntedOrdinary VoicesWish DefenseA RoomDesire PathSometimes OnlyYou Future
January 17, 2025
PHANTOGRAM @ HOB anaheim 01.16.25 // THE PORTABLE INFINITE
All photos taken by Martin Worster
Frank Black Shares 'Teenager Of The Year' Reissue LP, 2025 Tour Dates On Sale l LP Out Now via 4AD
Frank Black Shares Limited Edition 'Teenager of the Year' 30th Anniversary Tour Edition On Double Gold Vinyl
2025 Tour Dates On Sale Now
LP Out Now via 4AD
To celebrate Frank Black’s landmark solo album, Teenager Of The Year turning 30, 4AD release a one-time vinyl pressing on 17th January, to accompany a tour of North America plus Paris and London, where Frank Black and the original band will be performing the album in its entirety.
This special vinyl tour edition of Teenager Of The Year, has been remastered for the first time from its original analogue studio tapes. Sounding as essential as the day it was released, the limited 30th Anniversary Tour Edition is cut at 45 rpm for optimum playback and is being pressed on double gold vinyl. The album also comes in a gatefold sleeve with liner notes by both Frank Black and producer Eric Drew Feldman. A 24-bit digital version is being released on the same day.
Originally recorded amid a rich songwriting vein, just as the Pixies had been placed on hold, Frank Black’s ambitious double album Teenager Of The Year came out in May 1994, just one year after his fantastic self-titled solo debut. Recorded with scene legend Eric Drew Feldman (Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band, Pere Ubu, The Residents), Teenager Of The Year, is now widely regarded as the defining statement of his solo career and the best album the Pixies never made.
“Sometime in the early 80s, I'd have to look up the date, I matriculated high school. This school held an awards banquet for some of the departing students at the school. I received an award called the TEENAGER OF THE YEAR award; my brother received the same award the following year. Our award was a 50 dollar credit for textbooks, a TEENAGER OF THE YEAR medallion (my mother still has this), and also the banquet hall dinner, soup to nuts. My brother and I had no complaint about the award (it was given for being all-around-good-guy as best as we could determine). But for such a grand title to be given as TEENAGER OF THE YEAR, I felt the glory had not been amplified enough.
In 1993, I was doing “solo recording” sessions with Eric Drew Feldman in Los Angeles. We had settled on a core band with Nick Vincent and Lyle Workman, occasionally augmented by Joey Santiago and Moris Tepper. Though we had to change studios numerous times for actual forest fires and earthquakes, the whole process was such an addictive musical buffet that Eric and I couldn't stop. We did some vocals at a studio rumored to be owned by Sergio Mendes; in the control room was a wall of television screens broadcasting the brush fire which crept toward us. We eventually evacuated to someplace else. We never met Sergio but we saw him perform a few weeks later when we vacated to Las Vegas after the Northridge earthquake, which had trapped the TEENAGER OF THE YEAR tapes in a studio vault for some time. Our zeal plus empathy from our financiers, they safely observing our travails from London, was enough to keep the money flowing until Eric and I relented and declared “Consummatum est”.
We tried to make it grand. 22 in 62. I called it TEENAGER OF THE YEAR. It is 30 years old now, and the original band will perform the record at various venues in early 2025. 4AD has remastered the LP for a fresh printing. Enjoy.” Black Francis 2024 Meredith, New Hampshire.
Pitchfork placed Teenager Of The Year in their Top 100 albums of the 90’s saying “beneath its veneer lie the moments brilliant enough to rival any of the Pixies’ 1990’s work, and Black’s greatest lyrical achievement.” The album is also included in the book “ 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”, while The Quietus in 2014 said “Teenager Of The Year feels like a lost Pixies album in the way Ram feels like a lost Beatles album. It’s colossal, it teems with innovation.”
"Headache" - Official Music Video“Initially it was a 14-song album. It was mixed. Eric Idle was staying nearby. He kept telling me to change the songs around. Al (Clay)had to run off and go to his next project. We weren’t completely happy with what we had. The solution: record more songs. Eight more were born. Whole shebang was remixed by David Bianco. The day before we were to start the remix, the 1994 Northridge earthquake occurred. Charles, Jean (Charles’ first wife) and I escaped to Las Vegas, ate many shrimp cocktails, and we saw Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and Sergio Mendes and Brazil ’99 perform. Sergio was especially good. After about five days we returned to the mixing studio and the deed was done.” Eric Drew Feldman.*
To order the limited Teenager Of The Year 30th Anniversary Tour Edition go to: https://frankblack.ffm.to/teenageroftheyear30
Performed by:
Frank Black on vocals and guitars
Eric Drew Feldman on bass and keyboards
Lyle Workman on guitar
Nick Vincent on drums
plus features by
Joey Santiago - lead guitar on tracks 8,15,20,21 and 22
Moris Tepper - lead guitar on tracks 11 and 17
The Teenager Of The Year Tour starts on 15th January at the legendary Fillmore in San Francisco and includes 11 US and Canadian shows before going over to perform in Paris on Tuesday 4th February and the iconic London Palladium on Thursday 6th February.
Teenager Of The Year Tour Dates:
January
16th - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
18th - LA, CA - The Orpheum
19th - El Cajon, CA - The Magnolia
22nd - Denver, CO - The Paramount
24th - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
25th - Chicago, IL - The Metro
26th - Chicago, IL - The Metro
28th - Detroit, MI - St Andrews Hall
29th - Toronto, ON - History
31st - Boston, MA - House Of Blues
February
1st - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Street
4th - Paris, France - Le Trianon
6th - London, UK - The Palladium
SON LUX Release New EP 'Risk of Make Believe' via City Slang, All Streaming & Digital Sales Going To LA Fire Relief Efforts
SON LUX RELEASE RISK OF MAKE BELIEVE EP
VIA CITY SLANG
ALL STREAMING & DIGITAL SALES OF THE EP GOING TO LA FIRE RELIEF EFFORTS FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE
Photo credit Alex Kozobolis | download high-res here
Son Lux, the band of composers enlisted to score 2023’s genre-defying Best Picture, Everything Everywhere All At Once, is back with their first release of new music since their prismatic 49-track soundtrack. Risk Of Make Believe (out now - January 17th, 2025) is a new EP that encapsulates what made the experimental rock trio a perfect fit for the film: an unlikely alchemy of beguiling sounds and heart-on-sleeve passion. It is further evidence of Son Lux's wild creativity, voracious appetite for experimentation, and ability to distill seemingly disparate universes of sound into a signature unmistakably their own. Listen to the EP here.
The band has announced today that all streaming and digital sales of Risk of Make Believe will go to LA fire relief efforts for the foreseeable future.
Friends, today we release our new EP, Risk of Make Believe, on all digital platforms. It feels strange to be sharing new music that has brought us such joy while we’re also feeling such heartbreak for our friends and colleagues experiencing myriad levels of loss due to the LA fires. As someone proud to call this city home, it’s been devastating watching this happen in my own backyard, and while my family and home have been spared any damage, it’s not lost on me that the collective trauma of loss will be deeply felt among our creative community for some time.
With that in mind, we have decided to donate all proceeds from this EP for the foreseeable future to @sweetreliefmusiciansfund, a non-profit who have long been supporting musicians in need. They’re collecting funds to specifically address the loss of music equipment, medical bills related to the event, and vital living expenses. Their website also includes a growing list of mutual aid organizations in the LA area.
This effort feels small in the face of so much need in the world, but it’s at least one thing we can do that feels right. Thank you for listening, and let’s take care of each other. 💙 - Ryan Lott
Patience and ease pervade the EP’s title track, “Risk Of Make Believe.” The song begins with what sounds like drums through a vocoder up in the choir loft. Ian Chang and Rafiq Bhatia join with a precise but pliant groove, drums and bass moving together as if in slow motion. What unfolds is an unhurried song that never feels restless in its gradual evolution. Ryan Lott sings, “What’s the risk of make believe?” weaving a plea to give oneself permission to change through tessellations of crystallizing guitar.
“Don’t Say It’s Too Late,” the EP’s second single (December 5th, 2024), features Grammy Award-winning arranger and string player Rob Moose (Bon Iver, Paul Simon, John Legend, yMusic). The interplay between Lott’s voice, electronics, and strings creates a sweeping winter ballad balancing longing and loss, precariously reaching for the hope of reconciliation.
More traditional tracks give way to a pair of slowly unfurling songs on the meditative back half of the EP. Fans of the band will recognize the minimal, repeated refrains as a return to Son Lux’s roots. “Cocoon” holds space for metamorphosis over seven minutes, its spare, cyclical form belying a steady, relentless revolution. Detuned Tunis drums and prepared guitars shed like a chrysalis from around a choir of Lott’s evolving vocals, propelled by Chang and Bhatia’s sinewy rhythm section sensibility.
The EP closes with “Take Your Time With Me,” a slow-burn anthem that showcases the band's ability to reconcile hooky pop and thrilling experimentation. Spacious clearings of sound give way to technicolor thickets, with Chang’s drumming thrillingly pitting splatter-paint abstraction against nod-inducing viscerality. The EP leaves us right where we began—imagining and longing for whatever reinvention might follow.
Album art by Andrea Hyde | download high-res here
Tracklist
HaikuRisk Of Make BelieveDon’t Say It’s Too LateCocoonTake Your Time With Me
On Son Lux:
“Exhilaratingly unpredictable at every turn.” – Consequence of Sound
“One of the most important bands in contemporary music.” – Under the Radar Mag
On Everything Everywhere All At Once:
“Every bit as chaotic and ambitious as the plot of Everything Everywhere All At Once, Son Lux’s soundtrack is an audacious, exploratory collection of songs.” – The Vinyl Factory
“Son Lux’s score is a remarkable juggling act that oscillates from ominous to awe-inspiring and back again, with a few playful digressions along the way.” – Indiewire
On Tomorrows:
“Embraces chaos with an audacious range and unremitting sincerity.” – Pitchfork
“A three-part series of austere beauty, white light and black rock, rooted in layers of haunting electro-acoustic samples.” – Composer Magazine
Follow Son Lux:
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