Alexander Laurence's Blog, page 201
November 5, 2024
Laibach Share Their Interpretation Of "Strange Fruit" || 'Opus Dei Revisited' Out 12/13 On Mute
LAIBACH SHARE THEIR INTERPRETATION OF “STRANGE FRUIT”
OPUS DEI REVISITED OUT 12/13 ON MUTE
TOURING IN EUROPE & UK CONTINUES IN 2025
Photo courtesy of Laibach
Today LAIBACH have announced details of “Strange Fruit”, a three-track single release that follows their recent single “The Future” (Leonard Cohen). This unique interpretation of the haunting protest song has been featured in their ongoing Opus Dei tour (which continues into 2025, full dates are listed below), and precedes the band’s Opus Dei Revisited double album (out December 13, 2024 on Mute).
Watch the video for Laibach’s “Strange Fruit” HERE.
Billie Holiday recorded her iconic version of “Strange Fruit” on April 20, 1939. The track, originally written by Jewish school teacher Abel Meeropol (using the pseudonym Lewis Allen), was in response to lynching in US southern states. A year later, Meeropol, a socialist, was called to testify before a committee investigating communism and asked whether the US Communist Party had paid him to write “Strange Fruit”. Later, in 1999, it was named the song of the century by Time magazine.
Laibach explain: “There’s something that’s still very radioactive about the song; it’s still relevant because race is still relevant. The impulses that Meeropol was talking about are very much still with us, on the front pages of our newspapers and across our social media every day. For us, ‘Strange Fruit’ evokes racial injustice, representing not just lynchings, but racism generally.” They expand, “Racism is a virus that mutates, taking on different forms as it adapts to a changing environment. Its mutation is made harder to observe by it being deeply embedded, not only in our traditions and institutions, but also in our unconscious lives.”
Laibach's interpretation of this famous protest song is aimed at this new context of eternal but ever-changing and adaptive racism.
“Strange Fruit” follows May’s remastered edition of Laibach’s classic meditation on freedom and fascism, Opus Dei. Their 12-month salute to their 1987 album continues in December with the release of Opus Dei Revisited, which features two radical new interpretations of the album, one by Laibach, and the other by original producer Rico Conning.
“Strange Fruit” is out on Mute across all digital platforms today.
Opus Dei Revisited is out via Mute on 2LP / 2CD and digitally on December 13, 2024. Pre-order the album HERE.
LAIBACH – OPUS DEI TOUR:
2025:2/7/2025 - Ljubljana, Kino Šiška, SI2/16/2025 - Krakow, Kwadrat, PL
2/18/2025- Ostrava, Barrak, CZ
2/19/2025 - Vienna, Arena, AT
2/20/2025 - Jena, F-Haus, DE
2/21/2025 - Sittard, Poppodium Volt, NL
2/22/2025 - London, Islington Assembly Hall, UK
2/23/2025 - Manchester, Ritz, UK
2/24/2025 - Southampton, The 1865, UK
2/25/2025 - Bristol, Trinity Centre, UK
2/27/2025 - Lausanne, Les Docks, CH
2/28/2025 – Bologna, Link, IT
3/1/2025 - Nova Gorica, SNG Nova Gorica, SI
3/4/2025 - Skopje, Macedonian Philharmonic, MK
3/5/2025 - Athens, Gazarte, GR
3/6/2025 - Sofia, Pirotska 5, BG
3/7/2025 - Bucharest, Quantic Club, RO
3/8/2025 - Beograd, Dom Omladine, RS
3/21/2025 - Maribor, Narodni dom, SI
Tickets and further information: https://www.laibach.org/future-events/
"Strange Fruit" track listing:
1. Strange Fruit (03:06)2. Strange Fruit (Alternate version) (03:00)
3. Strange Fruit (Live from Lublin, May 28th 2024) (03:19)
Purchase or stream “Strange Fruit” HERE.
RECENT RELEASES
The Engine of Survival: https://mute.ffm.to/laibach_teos
Love is Still Alive EP: https://mute.ffm.to/lb-lisa
The Future: https://mute.ffm.to/laibach-tf
Love Is Still Alive I (Moon, Euphoria): https://youtu.be/lQSqCvpAVQQ
CONNECT WITH MUTE:
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | TIK TOK | WEB
A Collection of Reimagined Versions of Songs From Guryan’s Classic Album Take a Picture Out Worldwide, This Friday, November 8th
As previously announced, On November 8th, Sub Pop will release Like Someone I Know: A Celebration of Margo Guryan, a 12-song compilation and homage to Guryan’s classic 1968 record, Take a Picture. Today, Sub Pop shared the final pre-release song, “What Can I Give You,” which was covered by Kate Bollinger. Click here to listen.
To celebrate the release of this compilation, there will be two DJ events throughout November in LA & Chicago. The first event will be on November 9th at Gold Diggers in Los Angeles with DJ Sets from Pearl & Oyster and Slyvie, with a following event on November 21st at the Empty Bottle with DJ Sets from St. Stephen and Ali Najdi. The LA event will feature a limited amount of screen-printed tote bags designed by Madalyn Stefanak for sale, so get there early to secure your bag. A portion of proceeds from these events and merch sales will be donated to providing and advocating for affordable reproductive health services. Both events are FREE to the public; click here for tickets in LA and here for tickets in Chicago.
This 12-song compilation features additional reinterpretations by contemporary artists such as Margo Price, TOPS, Clairo, Rahill, June McDoom, MUNYA + Kainalu, Frankie Cosmos + Good Morning, Kate Bollinger, Pearl & The Oysters, Bedouine + Sylvie, Barrie, and Empress Of. The release of Like Someone I Know: A Celebration of Margo Guryan also coincides with the third anniversary of Margo’s passing. A portion of proceeds from this album will be donated to providing and advocating for affordable reproductive health services.
Like Someone I Know: A Celebration Of Margo Guryan is available to preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com (North America), Mega Mart 2 (UK/EU), and independent retailers worldwide will receive the limited Loser edition on Opaque Red vinyl (while stock lasts!).
Like Someone I Know: A Celebration Of Margo Guryan was produced by Izzy Fradin and Jonathan Rosner.
About Margo Guryan:
Most of our stories about cult musicians who make an album or two and then seem to vanish are framed by grief, despair, and frayed ambition. Not so with Margo Guryan, an ardent jazz anomaly who disdained pop music until hearing “God Only Knows” in 1966, opening a window onto the wonders that form could contain. Only two years later, she released her own set of little pop symphonies, Take a Picture, to great praise and expectation. But having already divorced the hard-gigging valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, she declined to tour or even talk about it all that much, content even if her reticence meant Take a Picture was soon consigned to discount racks and cutout bins. She wrote and recorded for years to come, even collaborating with Neil Diamond’s band, but mostly she seemed satisfied by her relatively private life—raising her stepson, Jonathan; carousing with a small clutch of pals; talking politics with whoever was game. Rather than a tragedy, Guryan was an ornate pop architect who also drew and lived by her boundaries.
But as befits music so stunning and subtle, Guryan, who died in 2021, has enjoyed several renaissances over the last few decades—multiple reissues and international intrigue, faithful champions who introduced her tender work to successive generations. And now, it’s happening again: Soon after her near-whispered and lovelorn hymn “Why Do I Cry” made her a TikTok star in 2021, the same year she passed, Numero Group launched a reissue campaign, resulting in the acclaimed 2024 set, Words and Music. And now, a dozen artists—none of whom were born when Take a Picture was made, most of whom weren’t even born for a crucial early reissue by Franklin Castle—have reinterpreted and reimagined that entire album (plus one bonus track) for Like Someone I Know: A Celebration of Margo Guryan. Empress Of, Margo Price, Clairo, June McDoom: They all affirm Guryan’s sharpness as a songwriter and the brilliance of an album that has far outstripped whatever promotional cycle Guryan rejected so long ago.
Guryan was born to a sprawling family in a home so big it housed multiple generations just before World War II in Far Rockaway, back when the place was still mostly framed by trees. Her family was matrilineal, with a mother who worked as a radiologist while her father played piano at home and a widowed grandmother who ran the place with unwavering sovereignty. While still a composition student at Boston University, Guryan stumbled into a gig playing piano between Miles Davis Quintet sets, signed a songwriting deal with Atlantic Records, and botched a session with Nesuhi Ertegun. But she wasn’t looking to be a singing star, anyway. In 1959, she headed to the foundational Lenox School of Jazz in the Berkshires, staving off advances from her contemporaries to write for Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry, earn the attention of instructor Max Roach, and made a longtime mentor and friend of Gunther Schuller. She became an accomplished lyricist, writing not only for Coleman and Nancy Harrow but also for Harry Belafonte and Gary MacFarland.
But it was that subsequent encounter with the Beach Boys that opened the trap door for Guryan to Take a Picture and scores of other super songs, many of which appear on Words and Music. Take a Picture is a sophisticated survey of mid-20s romance and indecision, from the flirty romp of “Sunday Morning” and falling-for-you affirmation “Can You Tell” to the desperate helplessness of “What Can I Give You.” In less than 150 seconds, “Thoughts” traces a relationship from its ecstatic start to empty end, Guryan’s pillowtop voice sitting perfectly between the bouncing piano and lachrymose strings. She mines nostalgia for the recent past in “Someone I Know” and, quite brilliantly, for something that hasn’t even ended yet in the title cut.
What remains astonishing about Take a Picture is how placid and nice the surface can seem yet how much is going on just beneath it—the difficult rhythmic shifts, the textural juxtapositions, the dissonance and eeriness lurking in the crevices. Twice as long as almost everything else here, the willfully psychedelic excursion and closer, “Love,” is a jarring semaphore, telling you to go back and listen for the intricacies in everything else. “When do you get to be someone who can give/And live without hurting someone you love?” she coos over caustic guitar and curling organ, the question spilling in reverse over the rest of the record.
Those mirrored senses of slyness and meticulousness, both musical and lyrical, presided over Guryan’s output long after any idea of stardom had faded. She turned earthquake danger into existential boogie on “California Shake,” celebrated the outlaws and their long odds during “I’d Like to See the Bad Guys Win,” and danced with entendre during “Come to Me Slowly.” Indeed, Guryan was not afraid of mischief, whether lampooning the president and all his men during a three-song suite about Watergate or presaging Rihanna by half a century on “Under My Umbrella.” Her perpetually soft voice, audacious songcraft, and complete candor: Guryan, in 1968 and beyond, was making daring music, no matter how gently those sounds seemed to move.
A portion of proceeds being donated to providing and advocating for affordable reproductive health services, Like Someone I Know reinforces the strength of Guryan’s songs by allowing a dozen different artists to take them for trips of their own. The core always remains, unwavering. McDoom stretches static and harmony beneath “Thoughts,” as if they’re spinning on a dub plate beneath her arcing vocals. Rahill lets “Sun” unfurl over harmonium drone and entrancing percussive ticks, digging into Guryan’s interest in the surreal. Frankie Cosmos and Good Morning take a country shuffle through “Take a Picture,” entwined vocals falling over the rhythmic skips with perfect romantic relish. Over the last few decades, it has become increasingly clear just how good Guryan was, how sturdy her songs have been amid varying tides of taste. Like Someone I Know offers absolute validation, a testament to the enduring relevance and brilliance of Guryan’s work.
Various Artists
Like Someone I Know: A Celebration Of Margo Guryan
Tracklisting:
1. Sunday Morning (TOPS)
2. Sun (Rahill)
3. Love Songs (Clairo)
4. Thoughts (June McDoom)
5. Don’t Go Away (MUNYA | Kainalu)
6. Take a Picture (Frankie Cosmos |Good Morning)
7. What Can I Give You (Kate Bollinger)
8. Think of Rain (Pearl & The Oysters)
9. Can You Tell (Bedouine | Sylvie)
10. Someone I Know (Empress Of)
11. Love (Barrie)
12. California Shake (Margo Price)
Goth originators Sex Beat captured live in the darkest places
Goth originators Sex Beat captured live in the darkest places Los Angeles, California: From the birthplace of post-punk and goth rock, London's legendary Batcave club, comes the first ever full-length collection of recordings by one of the bands that defined the era, Sexbeat! Formed by Batcave DJ Hamish MacDonald, Sexbeat never recorded a full studio album. But their 1984 recording of the scene-defining "Sexbeat" remains one of the crucial dance tracks of the Batcave era, and was elected #9 on Rolling Stone's Top 50 goth tracks. Sex Beat also cut another of the year's most electrifying singles, the beat-driven, chant-laden “Pump," and they were a constant presence on the live scene of the day, not only at the Batcave but elsewhere, too. Releasing on November 29, Live at the Batcave and Other Dark Places captures the Sexbeat experience as its most torrid. But, if you can’t wait that long, there’s also a new single, the audience favorite “Girls,” recorded at London’s Lyceum in 1984. SINGLE: https://orcd.co/sexbeat_girlslyceum1984 Lost for decades, these historic live recordings offer a livid portrait of one of the era’s most pivotal acts - frontman MacDonald, bassist Sophie Chéry, drummer Linzi Light - in front of one of the most loyal audiences. Hamish says, “We recorded most of these tracks live on stage in London in 1984, me, Sophie and Linzi, with various guitarists. Strung out on the mainstream rush, Sex Pistols’ backline, wearing leather, lace and Lycra, we took our chance. It was trash glam punk, a metropolitan mysticism, born out of what we created in those early Batcave days. It was girls and boys and all the rhymes and reasons. We rocked.” “Pump,” of course is among the album’s highlights, and so is “Sexbeat,” which despite its pedigree, waited 40 years for release (as a standalone single on purple Cleopatra Records vinyl). But there is so much more here to relish, more than a dozen songs that fans have waited four decades to hear again - and presented here with full digital remastering, and exclusive (and revealing) liners by Hamish MacDonald himself. “Furiously and Curiouser,” “Dogs Made Love,” “Voodoo Man,” “Violent Elation,” “We Will Come And See You” - these are the songs around which the Gothic Rock movement of the day evolved, and whose influence hung heavy across all who saw and heard the band. Live at the Batcave and Other Dark Places will ensure that Sexbeat’s audience is set to grow even larger, and their memory spread even further. The beat goes on forever. CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=sexbeat+live+at+the+batcaveDIGITAL: https://orcd.co/sexbeat_liveatthebatcave Track listing1. Girls2. Dogs Made Love
3. Death
4. Furiously and Curiouser
5. Here It Comes Again
6. Living In The Wild
7. Sweat
8. Sexbeat
9. Pump
10. Metropolis
11. Voodoo Man
12. Here It Comes Again
13. Voodoo Man
14. Sexbeat
15. Pump
16. Metropolis
17. Violent Elation
18. Swinging London
19. We Will Come And See You
20. Baby and Johnny
21. Sexbeat
CLEOPATRA RECORDS, INC.Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify | Cleopatra Records Store www.CleopatraRecords.com
MEROPE release cerebral, bucolic new album 'Vėjula' today on STROOM! Listen in full now.
- Listen in full HERE
- More European live dates added
"A masterful melding of gorgeous pastorals and the mysterious. Quietly astounding." - ***** The Skinny
"Unexpected and brilliant." - Crack Magazine
“An otherworldly record that feels newborn and timely.” - Aesthetica Magazine
Today Merope release their soothing, blissed out new album ‘Vėjula’ on STROOM.
There's a sense of spontaneity and playfulness hanging in the air around Merope's fifth album that's palpable from the very beginning. The duo of Lithuanian singer and kanklės player Indrė Jurgelevičiūtė and guitarist/producer Bert Cools, Merope are kissed by the winds of change on 'Vėjula' , a self-styled musical rebirth that confidently fosters their ongoing narrative. It's their most experimental and open-minded full-length to date, spreading its arms to embrace collaborations with like-minded artists Shahzad Ismaily, Laraaji and Bill Frisell. And while 'Vėjula' still roots itself in Lithuanian folk forms, it sprouts out spiritedly from that point into unfamiliar landscapes, muddling ancient themes with contemporary philosophies, concepts and technologies.
Listen to ' Vėjula' album in full: Bandcamp | Spotify
Merope emerged over a decade ago in 2012, hitting their stride in 2018 when they released the nocturnal 'Naktės'. Since then, they've developed a considerable reputation for their whimsical fusion of folk and ambient music; their last album, 'Salos', released on Belgium's STROOM imprint and recorded with Vilnius-based chamber choir Juana Muzika and conductor Vaclovas Augustinas, received universal acclaim, described by Boomkat as "effortlessly enchanting" and supported by none other than Björk.
'Vėjula' moves their music forward by examining its beating heart, weaving delicate instrumental sequences and ethereal vocals into a rich tapestry of subtle synth work, evocative field recordings and enigmatic processes. Dazzlingly modest, the album strips down Merope to their essence, rediscovering the joy in creation and collaboration.
'Vėjula' is an album that reaches into the unknown without losing its tight grip on the past. Merope are in a new creative phase of their career, and they've never sounded quite so universal, or so vital.
'Vėjula' track list:
1 Koumu Lil - stream
2 Namopi feat. Laraaji and Shahzad Ismaily stream
3 Lopšinė stream | live video
4 Vija
5 Spindulė
6 Aglala - stream
7 O Underhill feat. Shahzad Ismaily
8 Rana
Merope live dates:
08/11 - Le Guess Who? - Utrecht, NL
20/11 - Viernulvier (Ruiskamer) - Gent (double bill with Alex Zhang Hungtai)
23/11 - Explore The North - Leeuwarden, NL
28/11 - BRAND! - Mechelen, BE
29/11 - Het Bos - Antwerpen, BE
01/12 - Bozar - Brussel, BE
06/03 - ZDB - Lisbon, PT
10/04 - Inkonst - Malmö, SW
11/04 - Alice - Copenhagen,DK
Merope press shot by Tina Herbots:
Links:
https://meropemusic.com/
https://www.instagram.com/meropemusic/
https://stroomtv.bandcamp.com/
November 4, 2024
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM “x-ray eyes” NEW SONG OUT NOW
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
“x-ray eyes”
NEW SONG OUT NOW
“x-ray eyes,” the first new LCD Soundsystem song to be released since 2022, is available now across digital platforms and on limited edition white label 12” vinyl exclusively at the band’s shows and through dfarecords.com.
Following the announcement of “x-ray eyes” and its impending release, LCD’s James Murphy revealed that the band has been working on its long awaited fifth album, its first since 2017’s Grammy-winning AMERICAN DREAM. Read James’s statement in full HERE
“x-ray eyes” was written by James Murphy, Al Doyle and Nancy Whang, and produced by James Murphy for DFA Productions.
LCD Soundsystem celebrated Halloween last night with the first show of its eight-date Los Angeles residency, which continues through November 3 at Shrine Expo Hall and November 7-10 at Hollywood Palladium. Check www.youareherela.com for further information.
Following the conclusion of the L.A. run, the band will return to the Knockdown Center in Queens, NY for a 12-show residency taking place over three weekends, November 21-24, December 5-8 and December 12-15. For further details of the NYC residency, which will include various live openers, afterparties featuring special guest DJs, a DFA Records swap meet, an on-site Four Horsemen wine bar and more, go to https://youarehere.bowerypresents.com
To commemorate the occasion, the band is releasing a limited edition run of screen printed 12-inches–– featuring “x-ray eyes” on the A-side along with the never-before-heard trash can dub remix version on the B-side. Only 100 of these will be available exclusively each night of the Los Angeles and New York City run of shows, and will be numbered as well as stamped with the venue and date. 500 will be available for pre-order via DFA Records. A general, non-screen printed version of the 12” release will follow.
FACS Announce ‘Wish Defense’ - The Final Album Engineered by Steve Albini
FACS Announce new LP Wish Defense
The final album engineered by Steve Albini will be out February 7, 2025 on Trouble In Mind
Release for title track music video directed by Joshua Ford
Photo by: Evan Jenkins
The duality of “man” is a subject that has been explored in art for centuries, from writings of the Bible to Descartes, all the way up to filmmakers like Lynch, Cronenberg, and Carpenter. Who is your “true self” and what do they want?
With their sixth studio album Wish Defense (incoming Feburary 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.
Look no further than the album’s title track— which premieres today: “Enter the mirror / Double walker / An intimate / Wish defense / Is it real? / You beside me / The detail / Terrifying / Abject self / Your grief / A public / Performance.” Case lays out the entire album’s theme in one stanza; Are your actions and emotions your true self? Or are they a performative aspect of that “other” person you put forward? Case says that ultimately the sentiment is “…don’t let the bastards get you down, there’s something beyond this moment, like hope— but not in the naive belief that ultimately people are good.”
Watch / share official "Wish Defense" music video
Film by Joshua Ford
Featuring Megan Paradowski
Wardrobe/styling by Grace Kelly
Assistance: Emily Corbett
Filmed at XIX Studio, Los Angeles
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.
A final note: Wish Defense is 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.
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 look for more news to surface soon.
Wish Defense, cover art:
Art by: by Morgan Cuinet
Wish Defense, track list:
Talking HauntedOrdinary VoicesWish DefenseA RoomDesire PathSometimes OnlyYou FutureFACS 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
St. Lenox Unveils Philosophical “Kalahari” Video | LP out now via Don Giovanni Records
St. Lenox
Achieves a Moment of Clarity with “ Kalahari ” Video
Ten Modern American Work Songs LP out now
on Don Giovanni Records / Anyway Records
Ten Modern American Work Songs album purchase link
NPR New Music Friday | NPR Into Music podcast | Rolling Stone
Stereogum | FLOOD | No Depression | GLAAD | Northern Transmissions
"Andrew Choi is one of the most intense and expressive vocalists in indie rock." - Stereogum
"St. Lenox Offers a Rebuttal to J.D. Vance on New Single ‘Courtesan’" - FLOOD
"He belts out his regrets with uncanny melisma, like John Darnielle channeling Tony Clifton.
As odd as it sounds, it's a genuinely affecting affect." - NPR
"sharply evocative and richly imagined tales that … form part of Choi’s larger artistic project of expanding the definition of what gets to be considered an American narrative in the singer-songwriter tradition.”
Singles: “ Rudy ” “ Quasi-Nichomachean Ethics (Drunk Uncle Advice) ”
“ Courtesan ” “ Lust For Life ” " Your Local Neighborhood Bar " “ Kalahari ”
Photo credit: Aaron Cansler
Korean-American artist Andrew Choi has released his fifth album as St. Lenox, Ten Modern American Work Songs to acclaim spanning NPR “New Music Friday”, NPR Into Music podcast, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, FLOOD, No Depression and more. Today, he shares the meditative album single "Kalahari" alongside an official video. The song represents a turning point for Andrew, capturing a rare moment of blissful peace. It sees him floating down a lazy river on a trip to Sandusky, Ohio as he pauses to wonder: “Have I spent too much time working and being anxious about things that really weren't that important?”
Watch / Share: “Kalahari” video
Released Dropping just before the U.S. Presidential election and dedicated to the NYU Law Class of 2014 on its 10th anniversary, the new collection showcases his unique brand of humor (recently toured with Paul F. Tompkins, Matt Besser and others) and political prowess while harnessing his life experience to raise questions about the definition of success and the journey through higher education and the American workforce.
Like many Millennials and Gen-Xers, Andrew grew up with the narrative that quality work and education would eventually lead to personal salvation and provide a path to upward mobility. To that end, Andrew became a pillar of achievement: flying to New York City to study violin at Julliard on weekends as a teenager, graduating magna cum laude from Princeton University, earning a PhD in philosophy in his 30s, attending law school at NYU Law and working in Manhattan at a law firm, while simultaneously grappling with the struggles of modern working life: low wages, massive student debt, and burnout. This tremendous amount of experience—and all of the observations therein—is channeled into Ten Modern American Work Songs. “I want the record to be a snapshot of work life in modern times,” he says. “I try my best in these records to provide a kind of realism. I want the listener to come away with a vivid feeling of what it's like to work these days. Because ultimately that kind of realism is motivating to people on an ethical and political level.
Anyone who has ever paused to wonder “What’s this all for?” as they climb the next rung in capitalist America will find solace in these stories, which, taken together, paint an evocative portrait of 21st century work life.
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Apple Music | Spotify | Bandcamp | YouTube
November 1, 2024
Ethel Cain confirms new project Perverts due 1/8, "Punish" debuts today with video
NEW PROJECT PERVERTS
SET FOR RELEASE JANUARY 8, 2025“PUNISH” DEBUTS TODAY WITH MUSIC VIDEO
Photo credit Silken Weinberg;“Punish” debuts today—listen here and watch the music video, directed by Cain and Silken Weinberg, here.“I wonder how deep shame can run, and how unforgivable an act could be that I may still justify it in some bent way to make carrying it more bearable,” says Cain. “Would I tell myself it’s not my fault and I couldn’t help myself? Would anyone truly believe that? Would I?”Cain’s first body of work since her groundbreaking debut album Preacher’s Daughter, the 90 minutes of music on Perverts explores Cain’s furthest afield inspirations and sonic negative space, mining drone, noise, slowcore, ambient and beyond. Cain wrote, produced and recorded the project between Coraopolis, PA and Tallahassee, FL over the past year.Cain writes of the project:The Consequence of AudienceAs I went there through the long, long wood, I felt no-thing and I was no-thing and I was at ease. The grey ash trees and their mottled plumage were as one with each other, curving and branching to form a ceiling overhead. There was wide separation between trunks, creating vast corridors stretching off in all directions before me, behind me, all around me. O, what praise I could sing of that never-ending dusk fall I spent between those oaks! None came with me, none came upon me, for I was alone and I was at ease. Yet came the day the trees broke, the corridor ended, and I was thrust upon the rocky expanse that was the Great Dark. There I saw first face and heard footstep, few and far between, but I was no longer alone. It was a shameful deed to carry these two naked hands as they clenched hotly, now in full display for all to see. I had never noticed them in the wood, for I was at ease. Here, the taut skin seemed to stretch and sweat, almost glowing, as if exasperated of their own grip. For as I wandered the Great Dark, there was not but grey, barren rock as far as any eye could see. It did make a passerby out of an observer. I saw them trudge by, fingers dipped into their open mouths desperate for wetness, the lolled tongue. There, in the wood, I was the watcher, but here I am nothing but displacing air. Yet, within the smothering toil of my apathy, I had heard the bell. Murmur of God between their slick, bent fingers ruffled the hair on the back of my neck. My muscles groaned against the weight of the skin around them, aching to be set loose. All at once, I saw, from where I stood, there rose a great dome atop a hill on the horizon before me. Yes, I saw it there with mine own two eyes! The white exterior peered at me with flat orifices obscured through the mist, barely distinguishable from the dark sky behind it, as though all the world beyond the dome was cut from the same slab, only slightly effaced. The convex roof sat atop a disk, held up by great ionic pillars circling the temple. Steps radiated out and down the slope, like ripples in a pond escaping a dropped stone. It was greater than life, greater than the wood, greater than all else which filled this dark, and my gullible delight was that it was all mine. Yes, all mine! One could follow me to it but they could not follow me in. My hands stretched outwards with an audible cracking in the bone as I crept forward there. I could not tell you the rest. I would not even attempt, for it would change no-thing. To know if I did go completely naked into the theater of the divine. If I did need for no-thing, want for no-thing. If I was then full to the brim, cylindrical pull slid through my gaping jaw into my endless throat. If I saw it there, shimmering through the veil like pearlescent oil over crystal water. If it heard me singing with every atom that formed me, through every orifice and wound I had, polytonal in my begging for it to complete me with the fifth. If it looked into me, saw how I needed to know what God knows and to be with him. If it spoke back to me in flat dissonance, “how couldn’t ye?”It would be of no good to speak these things to you. In what way I was still returned to the ground, even if beneath it, intact with my puerile need to repeat my-self and my mistakes. Who would not climb the wall for a peer over the edge? The cautionary tale is the fool’s errand, and I am no fool. I am as my hands are; twisting in on themselves and bursting at the seams. I can-not contain the ache for sensation, just as I could not contain the grief as I fell, nor the agony as I crawled my way back to this rocky countryside, and lo! I am on my way there again now. I am, I am, I am! But I will not tell you the visceral details, as you already know them. You all do.It’s happening to every-body.Ethel Cain is the creation of Florida-born multidisciplinary artist Hayden Anhedönia. After years spent teaching herself to produce at home in the Florida panhandle and releasing various projects, Cain moved to Indiana and singlehandedly wrote, produced and mixed her acclaimed 2021 EP Inbred from the basement of the old church where she lived. Cain’s debut album Preacher’s Daughter, a multimedia work that took more than four years to assemble, was released in May 2022 to praise from The New York Times, NPR, Vogue, W Magazine, V Magazine and more, with many critics naming the album one of the best of the year. Cain has spent the years since playing sold out shows and packed festival sets around the world; walking in New York and Paris fashion weeks and collaborating with Givenchy, Miu Miu and Calvin Klein; and collaborating and sharing stages with Florence + the Machine, Mitski and more.
“Punish” single artwork. Artwork by Ethel Cain, photo credit Silken Weinberg;
TEHYA RELEASES “TRAP DOOR” ON NEON GOLD RECORDS, AT THE START OF NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
AT THE START OF NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH, TEHYA RELEASES “TRAP DOOR” ON NEON GOLD RECORDS HERE
+ MUSIC VIDEO HERE
DEBUT “CROWD PLEASER” HERE
TEHYA - artist photo credit: Dallas Thomley
Today, Filipino-Native American singer-songwriter TEHYA celebrates the start of Native American Heritage Month by releasing her new single “trap door”, the latest she’s co-written and produced with Cam Hale (Fletcher, Khalid etc). The single comes with an official Clair Bishara-directed music video here.
Hailing from LA via Seattle, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist released her debut single “crowd pleaser” (produced with Rence and Contradash) in March, followed by “biscuits & gravy” a R&B-tinged track produced by TEHYA, Contradash and Doc Daniel (Natalie Jane, Rei Ami) and most recently, “peach pit” as part of the Bose x NME: C24 mixtape compilation alongside Teddy Swims, Laufey, Royal Otis and more.
TEHYA adds: “Like a good portion of songs being released in this era of my artist project, “trap door” takes on the process of accepting the demonization and defamation of my character by a person whose perspective of me I held in high regard. It’s natural to want to hurt the ones we lose in a breakup, to take them down however far we can to cope and inflate our egos. “trap door” is basically me embracing these derogatory takes. If he needs me to be the villain in his story in order to move forward, then I’ll be the villain, but there’s no reason I can’t have fun doing it, and I think the high energy of this song reflects that.”
TEHYA becomes the latest superstar-in-waiting to join the lengthy lineage of alt-pop artists at Neon Gold Records, the celebrated independent label that first put out Charli XCX, Tove Lo, MARINA, Christine and the Queens, and many more.
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest in the crosshairs of her ancestral cultures; Cherokee, Filipino and Scotch-Irish, Tehya was heavily influenced by music and took after her father, a local legend funk drummer, from a young age. After leaving home at 16, she found her community in a Capitol Hill artist compound frequented by some of the biggest names in the Seattle underground rap scene. It was here she picked up production via osmosis, sitting in on sessions and teaching herself Pro Tools and FL whenever a room was going spare. She is self-taught across the board – playing guitar, keys, drums, and writing 100% of her toplines and lyrics – a self-made DIY popstar unbound by genre and ready for the spotlight.
https://www.instagram.com/oktehya/
https://neon.gold/
https://friendsatwork.com/
SHEER MAG Release NPR Tiny Desk Concert. Touring 2025 w/ Amyl and the Sniffers
SHEER MAG RELEASE NPR TINY DESK CONCERT - WATCH
TOURING 2025 WITH AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS
PLAYING FAVORITES OUT NOW ON THIRD MAN RECORDS
Photo By Elizabeth Gillis / NPR
Sheer Mag swung by NPR headquarters this fall to play their classic hits “Nobody’s Baby”, “Steel Sharpens Steel”, “Need To Feel Your Love”, “Fan The Flames” and this year’s “Don’t Come Lookin’” off their highly lauded album and Third Man debut, Playing Favorites. Watch as the Philly five deliver a powerful performance including a show stopping collaboration with local bagpipe player, Tim Carey.
For over a decade now, Sheer Mag have labored to carve out a discernibly singular position within the canon of contemporary rock - their sound is unmistakably and immediately recognizable as theirs alone. Playing Favorites is a devotion to their own collective spirit—a spirit refined in both the sweaty trenches of punk warehouses and the glamour of concert halls—emerging with a dense work of gripping emotions, massive hooks and masterfully constructed power-pop anthems all lead by frontwoman Tina Halladay’s earth shattering vocals.
Following extensive worldwide touring in support of Playing Favorites, Sheer Mag hit the road next March, April, May supporting Amyl and the Sniffers. See below for a full list of dates, tickets and more.
Praise For Playing Favorites:
“It’s always playful, it’s always really fun…A lot of these songs are just so, so catchy” NPR
"no one sounds like this" The New York Times
“‘Playing Favorites’ has some of catchiest street-rock they’ve ever put on record, all driven home by powerhouse singer Tina Halladay, who balances toughness and empathy in a way that would make both D. Boon and Phil Lynott proud. The Philly band stretches out in less expected ways too, like the disco-rock highlight “All Lined Up.” Rolling Stone
“[Sheer Mag] knows well the virtues of short, punchy, effective songs that seem designed for a corner bar’s jukebox. The band’s singer, Tina Halladay, shines on ‘Playing Favorites’” The Wall Street Journal
“euphoric expansion by one of today’s great American bands” The Guardian
“a blast... a burst of energy to get through the week, if not the month” Consequence
“raw and melancholic” The FADER
“a Revivifying Jolt… anthemic '70s rock and defiant choruses are proof of life” SPIN
“Philly rock heroes Sheer Mag had a singular mission for their new song: to make a straight up rock banger. They succeeded!” NYLON
“If They Aren’t Already A Fav They Will Be!” BUST
“In any just universe, Playing Favorites would dominate the world’s FM stations for two years straight.” MOJO
“Camaro-rocking... full of the rollicking Thin Lizzy riffs and raw, howling vocals” Stereogum
“a major level up that is jam-packed with bangers of all shapes and sizes.” Brooklyn Vegan
“The acclaimed Philly outfit enter their 10th year with a sound that’s more defined than ever… guitarist Kyle Seely is dialed into his band’s beguiling breadth of boogie, southern rock, ‘80s metal, and power pop sounds like never before.” Guitar World (Read Feature)
“Sheer Mag are one of the best pure rock ‘n’ roll bands in America right now” Treble
“Rejoice, rock and roll true believers: Philly four-piece Sheer Mag has new music on the way.” WXPN
Photo By Natalie Piserchio
L-R Tina Halladay (Vocals), Kyle Seely (Guitar), Matt Palmer (Guitar), Hart Seely (Bass)
PURCHASE / LISTEN / SHARE PLAYING FAVORITES HERE
WATCH PLAYING FAVORITES OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEOS:
“PLAYING FAVORITES”
“ALL LINED UP”
“MOONSTRUCK”
