The Lovely Bad Things RECORD Release Party for "The Late Great Whatever"

If you are in the LA AREA:
DON'T MISS THE LAST WEEK OF The Lovely Bad Things RESIDENCY TUESDAY FEB 26TH IT'S ALSO Volcom Entertainment NIGHT/RECORD RELEASE FOR THEIR NEW ALBUM- "The Late Great Whatever"  THAT COMES OUT THE SAME DAY! JOINING THE LOVELY BAD THINGS ARE FRIENDS The Shrine // The Audacity // Zig Zags // Spencer Moody ( The Murder City Devils & Corey Brewer ( Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death) STILL ONLY $5 AND AS ALWAYS IT WILL BE 18+!!!!

After the festivities, the bands heads off on tour that culminates in shows at SXSW

Feb. 27 San Francisco, CA - Noise Pop Festival, Hemlock Tavern
Feb. 28 Fresno, CA-Tokyo Gardens
Mar. 01 Burger Records
Mar. 02 San Diego, CA - Bar Eleven
Mar. 05 Denver, CO - Hi Dive
Mar. 06 Lawrence, KS - Jackpot Music Hall
Mar. 07 Des Moines, IA - Vaudeville Mews
Mar. 08 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
Mar. 09 Chicago, IL - Ace Bar
Mar. 10 St. Louis, MO - Firebird
Mar. 11 Nashville, TN - Stone Fox
Mar. 12-16 Austin, TX -SXSW

Crime and the City Solution - Goddess

Crime & The City Solution have just released a psychedelic video, directed by Denielle de Picciotto, for their first single, “Goddess”, from their upcoming album American Twilight (out March 26th) Mixed by renowned producer Flood, “Goddess” is one of the most celebratory songs from the album, with such jubilant lyrics as “Love the light of which you give / A human touch eternal gift / Against the dark a gentle face / I celebrate your sensual grace / Oh Goddess”.  “Goddess” will be released digitally on March 5th and pre-order for American Twilightis available now. 

After a two-decade hiatus, the legendary Crime & The City Solution are back! Newly incarnated and now based in Detroit, the octet return March 26th with a new album, American Twilight.

This latest embodiment of Crime & The City Solution sees Berlin era members Simon Bonney (vocals), Bronwyn Adams (violin) and Alexander Hacke (guitar), joined by renowned visual artist Danielle de Picciotto, Jim White (drums - Dirty Three, Cat Power), David Eugene Edwards (guitar - 16 Horsepower, Wovenhand), Troy Gregory (bass - Witches) and Matthew Smith (Moog / keyboards - Outrageous Cherry, Volebeats).

Formed by Simon Bonney at the age of 16, Crime & The City Solution’s early performancesin Sydney had a big impact on key figures in the early Melbourne art-punk/post punk scene.In 1984, Bad Seed Mick Harvey shipped Bonney to England to form the London-based Crime. There they joined forces with the brilliant and ever-influential ex-Birthday Party guitarist Rowland S Howard, his brother Harry Howard on bass and Epic Soundtracks on drums. Two years later, after the release of an album and several EPs, and tours across Europe, the UK and US the London lineup reached its zenith. The band celebrated its finale with a historic swansong performance in Wim Wenders’ cinematic masterpiece ‘Wings of Desire’. Bonney then removed himself to Berlin, where a new phase of Crime would begin.

Bonney has said his true voice and the definitive sound he sought emerged with the subsequent, Berlin-based incarnation of Crime & The City Solution. Comprised of 50% Berliner, the new collective consequently drew less from Melbourne post punk scene roots, and embraced a more explorative musical approach. The end result was a more experimental sound indicative of the musical inclinations of the current lineup: Einstürzende Neubauten’s Alex Hacke on guitar, ex-DAF/Liaisons Dangereuses electronic genius Chrislo Haas on vintage Korg patchbay synth, free jazz trio bassist Thomas Stern, with Australians Mick Harvey on drums and Bonney’s lyrical collaborator Bronwyn Adams on violin. This second Berlin manifestation released three studio albums and a live CD between 1986 and 1991.

Following well received US and European tours at the end of 2012, Crime & The City Solution shared new tracks “The Colonel (Doesn’t Call Anymore)”, “Goddess” and the title track from the forthcoming American Twilight. With growing anticipation for the release of this new album, they are offering for download another new track, “My Love Takes Me There”.

Also be sure to watch the album trailer, which features part of the title track.

^{_{AMERICAN TWILIGHT TRACKLISTING:}}

^_Goddess

^{_{My Love Takes Me There}}

^{_{Riven Man}}

^_Domina

^{_{The Colonel (Doesn't Call Anymore)}}

^{_{Beyond Good And Evil}}

Album Review: Christopher Owens- "Lysandre" - Perfectly Ok

Last July, when Christopher Owens announced that he was leaving Girls, the band that he had formed in 2007 with bassist / producer Chet "Jr" White to pursue a solo career it made me sad. Now that I have heard his debut album Lysandre, I feel even sadder or maybe this numb feeling is just boredom. It's not that the songs on this album are all that bad (Ok, the instrumental Riviera Rock is pretty god awful) it is that they don't grab you by the shirt collar and draw you into their stories. Some songs come close and at times you almost get the sense that you are eavesdropping on Owens intimate feelings but then (at almost every turn) the over sweet production stops that from happening. As you just start to care in Here We Go a kind of insipidly sweet flute blocks you. In New York City you seriously want to stuff a rag in the bell of the sax player. A Broken Heart feels more like Girls and does sweep you up in it's embrace due to a really tender vocal performance by Owens but still, the song would of been better served with a less pristine production. Here We Go Again certainly is a solid song but like most of Lysandre feels ok but not inspired.

When I heard Riviera Rock which could be an 80's soundtrack for a Miami Vice episode I almost dropped my diet Coke as my grip lessened and my jaw dropped open. For a split second it became crystal clear to me that Owens was fucking with me, ok not me, but us. YES- it was an audacious bit of self mockery and a statement on the media to purposely put out an album full of so so songs and wait for the Pitchforks of the world to embrace it. To not only embrace it but love it. NOT one of us in the blogosphere would have the balls to say the emperor has no fucking clothes on! My theory only made more sense when I heard "Love is in the Ear of the Listener" that sounds like a song co-written by Jimmy Buffett and Kermit the Frog! Chet White is flashing in my mind. Maybe he is the missing link, maybe he was a sounding board that helped filter out the musical muck or maybe his producing skills would of elevated the material (?).

Everywhere You Knew is pleasant. I am listening to the last song Part of Me and I am crazy now. I have taken a big drink of the funny colored kool-aid. I am starting to like harmonica solos. I feel dirty from the sweet songs that would be a huge hit at most convalescent homes. I am now fighting back, clawing at my CD's desperately wanting to hear the Elliot Smith Figure 8 album or Fear Fun by Father John Misty or Father, Son, Holy Ghost by Girls.

-
Robb Donker

Wesley James The 5th- Lovely Bad Things PSA- Vacay at the Echoplex

As the days count down to the Lovely Bad Things record release party for The Late Great Whatever (on February the 26th at the Echo in LA) there have been Tuesday night Echo shows all month. The So Cal garage punk rockers have produced these funny crazy ass PSA's starring Wesley James (Baxter) the 5th which has made him a mini celebrity in his own right. His on screen persona is a socially inept kinda dumb guy who always gets the band names wrong and whose psyche walks the comedic line between alcohol induced pervi-ness and a total emotional breakdown. Quite the polar opposite, long time forever friend to the Lovely Bad Things is a Math and Physics tutor at one So Cal college while studying Physics at another one. He is also an excellent musician who has joined the band on stage from time to time and in a former life was a band mate with the Ward brothers in a previous musical incarnation. Jeez, I love these weird spots- you da man, Wesley James the 5th! Check out the PSA for the one and only Burger Records night Show at the Echoplex.






Catch the other PSA's here:

A Brief Message from Wesley James the 5th (brought to you by The Lovely Bad Things) week 1

More Brief Message from Wesley James the 5th (brought to you by The Lovely Bad Things) week 2

The DHDFD's - 'Babysitters Club' - NZ Punk- VIDEO

The DHDFD's Babysitters Club with a barreling bass line and vocals just left of John Lydon is potent garage punk from Auckland, New Zealand. These guys whose influences are The Stooges, Misfits, Mr. Bungle, Primus, Metallica and The Who are known for shows that hinge on pure chaos.

Babysitters Club is the first single off their upcoming album due to drop in April-
Also look out for a soon to be UK, Europe Tour (we will keep you posted)

Big Deal- NEW ALBUM - June Gloom due to drop this June!

BIG DEAL

 

 

 

NEW ALBUM JUNE GLOOM– JUNE 4th, 2013

 

DOWNLOAD "TERADACTOL"

 

Photo Credit: Malia James

 

Big Deal introduced themselves with their emotive bedroom guitar ballads and electric chemistry last year via their debut release Lights Out. This June the London based duo of Kacey Underwood and Alice Costelloe are back with brand new album, June Gloom (June 4th, 2013) and a bold new sound.
 

Last year we laid out hints of a new record with “terdactol”– a lavish whirlwind of guitars, keys and percussion that assaults the senses and unleashes all of that pent up craving in one humid wave of sound. Thoughtfully arming you with a soundtrack for those tempestuous summer days June Gloom,like any good summer romance, will leave you enraptured.
 

Fleshing out their delicate, nocturnal tones Kacey and Alice take their sound to deeper, darker and more intoxicating height, courtesy of producer Rory Attwell (Veronica Falls, PAWS, Male Bonding) and a full band featuring bass and drums.
 

As a result, the 11 other tracks here are an exploration of the newfound confidence of ‘teradactol’, with a refinement and bold directness. If Big Deal’s earlier tracks felt emotionally lacerating, this new body of work is noisy, boisterous, with a more than assured melodic hook. This evolution is made defiantly clear in the opener ‘golden light‘, which deliberately unhinges the listener by opening with sweetly strummed chords and interlocking vocals before building to a rousing climax. Similarly, ‘dream machines’ crests on a jagged undertow of pounding drums, and the sinister ‘pillow’ gradually opens up to become something vast, scorched and desolate. The pair infuse the volume with their own inimitable, off-kilter take on angst-ridden emotional terrain; on the aptly titled ‘pristine’, they sing, “darkness wash over me, I let it in, it let me be”, while on the otherwise upbeat ‘call and i’ll come’ Costelloe plaintively asks, “What if no one else compares/ what if no one else cares?” It all reaches a beautiful crescendo with the finale ‘close your eyes’, which explodes from an almost unbearably intimate confessional (“I won’t ask why/ if it was love/ we let it die”) into a coruscating maelstrom that is as indelibly affecting as it is thrilling.
 

With June Gloom, Big Deal has expanded their sonic palette without losing any of their potency.
 

June Gloom TRACKLISTING

golden light

swapping spit

in your car

dream machines

call and i'll come

teradactol

pristine

pillow

catch up

little dipper

pg

close your eyes

 

 

 

Big Deal: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Calvin Love to Tour with Mac DeMarco & Naomi Punk

Calvin Love to Tour with Mac DeMarco & Naomi Punk | Premieres "Missions" Video

Download "Missions" MP3 | Grab "Missions" on Soundcloud

CALVIN LOVE - MISSIONS from Calvin Love on Vimeo.

Calvin Love's video for the latest scorcher, "Missions" is like a Warhol Screen Test for 2013. A kaleidoscope of dripping colors, stop motion animation and urban cityscapes, fitting with "lonely highway" electro-pop sound. The video for "Missions," the second single of his debut New Radar LP (Autumn Tone Records), premiered last week at Brooklyn Vegan and is described as "a late night synth-n-twang affair that would probably sound good while driving through the desert or whatever Lynchian fantasy you might have." The track showcases the DIY blend of post-punk, rockabily and new wave that nabbed him a slot on tour with fellow Canadian, Mac DeMarco and Naomi Punk, as well as stints at SXSW and Savannah Stopover. Order the New Radar LP on digital and formats here.

Calvin Love On Tour 2.20 | Vangelis | Saskatoon, CAN 2.22 | The Windsor Hotel | Winnipeg, CAN 2.25 | Silver Dollar | Toronto, ON 2.26 | O Patro Vys | Montreal, QC 2.28 | Middle East Upstairs | Cambridge, MA & 3.1 | Music Hall of Williamsburg | Brooklyn, NY + 3.2 | SUNY Purchase | Purchase, NY + 3.3 | Brandeis University | Waltham, MA + 3.4 | Kung Fu Necktie | Philadelphia, PA + 3.5 | DC9 | Washington D.C. + 3.6 | The Pinhook | Durham, NC + 3.7 | Savannah Stopover Festival | Savannah, GA & 3.8 | 529 | Atlanta, GA & 3.9 | Lamplighter Lounge | Memphis, TN 3.10 | 35 Denton Festival | Denton, TX 3.12 - 3.16 | SXSW Festival | Austin, TX 3.17 | Opolis | Norman, OK + 3.18 | Replay Lounge | Lawrence, KS + 3.19 | The Mill | Iowa City, IA + 3.20 | High Noon Saloon | Madison, WI + 3.21 | Empty Bottle | Chicago, IL + 3.22 | Turf Club | St. Paul, MN 3.23 | The Aquarium | Fargo, ND & - Mac DeMarco + - Mac DeMarco, Naomi Punk

Calvin Love Official Site | Facebook | Twitter

"You Won't Believe" - Rosler's Recording Booth (featuring Spottiswoode)

Pour yourself a drink, toss it back and cozy deep into this track that sparkles with the makings of one of those real life fantastic stories you eavesdrop in as told by one of those magnetic old souls in the dark shadows of a New York bar.

Cassette Release: Rebel Kind - Some Things Were Just Meant To Change

Drummers have a lot to say. This is a true statement. Autumn Wetli,drummer and singer for Ann Arbor, Michigan band Bad Indians is no exception. She has released a collection of 9 songs available on cassette under the moniker Rebel Kind. Recorded (quite well I might add) by band mate Jules Nehring, it is an oftentimes breezy easy lo-fi listen shifting between indie pop punchy songs like On the Farm and Baby, Baby, Baby and soft, darkly edgy acoustic fronted compositions like Billy Spoke His Mind (a kind of late 60's psychedelic ballad),  A Letter (with it's embraceable tempo and tone) and Some Things Were Just Meant To Change (which can send a chill down your spine with an almost morbidly sad melody).

Best Friend and My Baby Is Dead To Me reminds me of something that might be on The Babies 'Our House on the Hill' album. Family's Out To Get You feels like a song tugged in many directions or like a daytime nightmare and the last track, All I've Got with it's bright jangly strained guitar and fog shrouded vocals is drenched in a feeling of being lost. It also feels a bit like a song yet not fully realized but if this is the case, I have no problem with hearing songs in embryo, in fact, I love it.

If Autumn Wetli's (Rebel Kind's) debut Some Things Were Just Meant to Change is any indication of things to come then I am patiently looking forward to future projects.
-
Robb Donker

Video: Grizzly Bear- 'Gun Shy' - cool and odd

Grizzly Bear's Gun Shy video (as directed by Kris Moyes) with it's staccato editing style and picking and pulling of skin and hair samples can feel pretty creepy. A centrifuge spins in a pretty wooded area as latex gloves collect body fluids and does human experiments involving muscle stimulation and electrified acupuncture. As trippy and oddly beautiful as the song itself you will probably find yourself watching the imagery over and over again.

VIDEO: A Brief Message from Wesley James the 5th (brought to you by The Lovely Bad Things)

The Lovely Bad Things post a video about their upcoming Residency at the Echo in Los Angeles to celebrate the release of their full length album - The Late Great Whatever on Volcom Ent (Vinyl and CD) / Burger Records (cassette release) due to drop on February 26th.



 You can dnld their Single Fried Eyes at: www.thelovelybadthings.com


Upcoming Lovely Bad Things tour dates / shows

Feb. 05 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo (w/ Wires on Fire, Cosmonauts, Chad and the Meatbodies)
Feb. 12 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo (w/ Red Onions, Death Hymn #9, Beach Party, Moses Campbell)
Feb. 19 Los Angeles, CA – The Echoplex (w/ Pangea, Dirt Dress, Summer Twins, Wyatt Blair, Aquadolls)
Feb. 26 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo (w/ The Shrine, Audacity, Denny & the Jets + special guest)
Mar. 02 San Diego, CA – Bar Eleven
Mar. 05 Denver, CO – Hi Dive
Mar. 06 Lawrence, KS – Jackpot Music Hall
Mar. 07 Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
Mar. 08 Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
Mar. 09 Chicago, IL – Ace Bar
Mar. 10 St. Louis, MO – Firebird
Mar. 11 Nashville, TN – Stone Fox
Mar. 16 Austin, TX – The Jackalope (VolcomEnt SXSW party) w/Denny & The Jets
Mar. 22 Santa Ana, Ca.- The Observatory - Burgerama 2 with The Black Lips, Bleached, Night Beats, Pangea, Nick Waterhouse and more... 

The Little Ones - "Argonauts" - a surfy sugar high

Argonauts by The Little Ones is the kind of song that makes you feel like you are 5 years old and walking into Disneyland knowing that you are finally tall enough to ride the Matterhorn. Not that Argonauts sounds like a kiddie song but if you drink this musical kool-aid that The Little Ones are serving up, the sounds and head bopping shiny beat will undoubtedly strip away years of cynicism and make you feel that sense of hope, fun and freedom that only the young ones among us can truly feel. If the rest of the songs on the upcoming LP, The Dawn Sang Along are this infectious it is going to be a sweet, sweet record. The Dawn Sang Along is due to drop on February 12th via Branches Recording Collective.