photo by sacha lecca
The boom boom salsa meets surf punk rhythms and Tarantino-esque spaghetti western fire of "El Lobo Negro" by New York based Miranda and the Beat, and from there dazzling garage rock bonfire album "Can't Take It", feels (like the album as a whole) exorcised from cross generational raw musical explosions from the 40's to the mid 80's (to me). As I reflected when writing about track 3, the explosive "Earthquake Water" I described the band's sounds as "seeded as much from seminal 50's rockers who possessed punk hearts like Little Richard or Screamin Jay Hawkins or Chuck Berry as other resulting bands spawned from similar seeds like Deadmoon, The Gories, Black Flag, Siouxsie and the Banshees" and the more I hear this exquisitely artful band I feel the same way, I mean that sense is reinforced.
"El Lobo Negro" feels potently raw and perfectly ID and unfettered by any feelings of being reserved or shy in the least. Everything I have always wanted to be but am not, ha. The gritty nature, beautifully feral, playfully dirty and powerfully magnetic brings a free form approach to their sonic fusions.
LINER NOTES:
[To celebrate the release the band is sharing a new video for “El Lobo Negro” created by Callum Scott-Dyson.
On the song and video the band's Miranda Zipse says, "There were many spooky and unexplainable experiences we had while we were locked away recording this album in King Khan's rock and roll vortex. An 8 foot mirror fell and shattered on our recording engineer, Felix, in the middle of the night while he was sleeping, an actual tomahawk seemingly jumped off the wall and missed Dylan’s head by a couple inches while he was recording Farfisa, and I kept having a reoccurring dream every night about a mysterious black wolf following me around. We wrote this song to capture the ominous and superstitious nature of our recording experience in making this record. Beware, for the spirit of 'El Lobo Negro' could be conjured by playing this track."]
[Miranda and the Beat are back with a brand new slab of audio splendor. “Can’t Take It” was recorded in King Khan’s Moon Studios Rock n Roll Vortex in a remote village on the German countryside. Written and recorded in just five days, the album blends all the best flavors from pure punk anthems played at a chair smashing intensity, to grinding R n B, to hypnotic edgy sci-fi alchemy and even some heart smashing balladry to boot. Miranda Zipse (Lead Vocals and Guitar), Dylan Fernandez (Farfisa and guitar), and Alvin Jackson (bass) have created a rock and roll storm so prepare your ears for a hurricane of blasphemy and tears. After extensively touring since their debut ‘Self-Titled’ LP release in May 2023, the band is back full force with their classic gut wrenching guitar, tear jerking vocals, and taste for blood.]
One of the band's I was in eons ago, when I had hair on my head featured Jeff Flynn on a Farfisa Fast 3 (the green and white version) so hearing that incredible organ sound thrills me to no end. That and the bullwhip guitar cracks and amazing rhythm section is everything. Check it out and dance for me. I can't dance, remember?
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://www.instagram.com/miranda_andthebeat
https://linktr.ee/mirandaandthebeat
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/miranda_andthebeat
https://linktr.ee/mirandaandthebeat
https://mirandaandthebeat.bandcamp.com/album/cant-take-it
Miranda and The Beat are a Rock and Roll band, w/ all the term might entail. Drawing from traditional rock music (The Dirt Bombs, The B-52’s, MC5, and Ronnie Spector) Miranda and The Beat operate from a clear eyed appropriation of the greats and healthy disregard for blame. Garage, soul, punk, classic rock… pick your poison; the band has plenty to spare. Arriving in New York City in 2018, the band have, through songwriting & performance, proved themselves an essential spark and spearhead to a scene of new blood rockers, bringing a much needed renewal of energy to the New York City scene. Originally a duo of then 21 year old guitarist/vocalist Miranda Zipse and 21 year old drummer Kim “The Beat” Sollecito, the pair added a full band and quickly became known for their tireless, wheel-on-fire live sets driven by Miranda’s captivating stage presence, vocal prowess, and her pyrotechnic (but never indulgent!) melodically slashing guitar work. Their live reputation (and for being neither pushovers nor scumbags) led to collaborations with such childhood idols as The Mystery Lights and Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Soon there was the release of their 7” single Such A Fool, on Jack White’s Third Man Records. One pandemic later, between days/nights spent sweating out piss, vinegar, and trackloads of tears in the studio, and a rigorous rehearsal schedule, Miranda and The Beat are monstrous in both sound and vision, and ready to meet the world.
Miranda and The Beat are a Rock and Roll band, w/ all the term might entail. Drawing from traditional rock music (The Dirt Bombs, The B-52’s, MC5, and Ronnie Spector) Miranda and The Beat operate from a clear eyed appropriation of the greats and healthy disregard for blame. Garage, soul, punk, classic rock… pick your poison; the band has plenty to spare. Arriving in New York City in 2018, the band have, through songwriting & performance, proved themselves an essential spark and spearhead to a scene of new blood rockers, bringing a much needed renewal of energy to the New York City scene. Originally a duo of then 21 year old guitarist/vocalist Miranda Zipse and 21 year old drummer Kim “The Beat” Sollecito, the pair added a full band and quickly became known for their tireless, wheel-on-fire live sets driven by Miranda’s captivating stage presence, vocal prowess, and her pyrotechnic (but never indulgent!) melodically slashing guitar work. Their live reputation (and for being neither pushovers nor scumbags) led to collaborations with such childhood idols as The Mystery Lights and Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Soon there was the release of their 7” single Such A Fool, on Jack White’s Third Man Records. One pandemic later, between days/nights spent sweating out piss, vinegar, and trackloads of tears in the studio, and a rigorous rehearsal schedule, Miranda and The Beat are monstrous in both sound and vision, and ready to meet the world.
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