New York City’s Relations revive the intense aesthetics of post-punk’s heydays through an eclectic set of four tracks exploring the unsettling contradictions of the genre’s heritage. Only steps away from the explosive 1980s wave of uptempo self-loathing, old-time friends Terrence Murren and Michael Sanders build – upon head-bopping offbeat rhythms and rolling bass lines – a fast-paced narrative, tinted with nostalgia and that effervescent angst of young love. Get ready for a disturbingly pleasant journey to the center of their minds as the duo celebrates the release of the eponymous debut EP with a show at Matchless on June 28. In a refreshingly dark alternative to the gleeful connotations of most synth-based acts, their screeching guitars and dissonant dialogues bring a twist to unforgettable Factory & Co influences. Tempted? Sample or purchase the EP on the 100mrecord store, you’ll get the gist. – Tracy Mamoun
Up and coming NYC Soul diva: Orly – live at The Blue Note on 07.13
Mary J. Blige sounding too contemporary for you? Try Orly, a young diva who could rightfully be described as the soul throwback Queen. The Manhattanite’s fixation with vinyl groove soul shows her capably belting out funk jams (‘Now’s the Time’), love weary power ballads (‘Get Together With The One You Love’) and ladies’ night anthems (‘It’s Alright’) the way you remember them best from dad’s record collection.
Utilizing a timeless blend of virtuosic singing picked up when studying voice in Australia, coupled with revealing lyrics in her debut LP ‘Distraction,’ this old soul is breathing new life into a genre too often distracted with gimmicky props, when really all that’s needed is the right singer to bring it’s grooves to life. Orly will smooth even the most frazzled of Sunday morning nerves, and get you moving at the same time.
See her when she plays The Blue Note on July 13th, and check out ‘Distraction’ here. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)
New Video: “Live at Brooklyn Bowl” – Man Man
Check out the great video that Denim & Supply Ralph Lauren put together of Man Man! The footage is from their June 5, 2012 performance at Brooklyn Bowl. Enjoy! (Photo by Jim Gallagher)
Sickoids Making Their Punk Forefathers Proud at KFN June 20
Are you sick of the number of poppy acts these days calling themselves punk bands? The word “punk” is being thrown around the music scene like the phrase “rock ‘n’ roll” once was when every band aspired to be Led Zeppelin, but fell way short. Well, rest assured that the term “punk” hasn’t lost its meaning when you are talking about Philly’s own Sickoids. The hardcore punk outfit pulls from a variety of regions in the genre to make bludgeoning sonic assaults that would make their forefathers proud. They’ll be opening for Swedish four-piece Terrible Feelings tonight at Kung Fu Necktie (and I have no clue why), and will also be joined by local badass post post-punk trio Moon Women, who enjoy wading in a pool of darkness and reverb. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 8pm, $8, 21+ – Alexis V.
YAWN “Ganymede”
The new ep from YAWN, Happy Tears, will be released on June 20th via FeelTrip Records. The band has released the first single from the ep, "Ganymede", and you can stream it here.
The band will be performing at Wicker Park Fest on July 28th.
Honest Engines “Going Away”
Honest Engines will be releasing their debut full-length, Going Away, on July 17th through Tandem Shop, and have released another single from the album. The track is called "Faster Van".
Lovers Drugs fills prescriptions on the West Coast
Power pop group Lovers Drugs has just wrapped up a West Coast tour and will soon be back gracing the stages of LA, starting with a show at the Satellite on June 28th. The 3-piece group is a more genuine version of bands like the Arctic Monkeys and Hot Hot Heat, and reminiscent of the boisterous fun that OK Go is well-known for. Songs like "Drift Off" and "You Don’t Know You" are witty and playful, making it hard not to smile. For the former, the band released a video that pays homage to ’80s culture, focusing on the decade’s beloved video games. The story is centered around the 1982 Video Game World Championships and is full of amusing characters and suspenseful competition. While Lover Drugs certainly knows how to have fun, the members can also belt out a heartfelt love song. "Boys With Money" and "Mood Ring" are more on the mellow side, but have a lasting impression. The unchanging factors throughout the album are bright guitars and a crisp sound that can make anyone dance. – Karla Hernández
Jacob Augustine — Frontier, Goldhymns & The Original Love
It’s easy to get hyperbolic when discussing an artist who is genuinely exciting, especially one whose music tends toward the transcendental. Jacob Augustine, the enigmatically sorrowed and gorgeous-voiced Maine songwriter is no exception. Each tremble and howl that leaves Augustine’s mouth does so as a sacrifice. The music is pastoral yet intimate. His lyrics are steeped in naturalistic imagery of nights that freeze and mornings that thaw and grow as a river.
All released on the same day in October, his three new albums deal with issues of solitude, addiction, salvation and personal fortitude in very different ways. The three albums are sonically diverse, and Frontier is arguably the most accessible and straightforward record, featuring the instantly catchy and haunting “Pulse and Hum” as well as the celebratory “Peace Comes.” Goldhymns is a minimal, personal affair that finds Augustine at his most serene. It is a compact six songs, and utilizes nothing but his mighty voice and sparse acoustic guitar. Finally, The Original Love is the experimental album of the bunch, exploring various atmospheric landscapes and vocal techniques. One track coddles while the next jolts. Within this three-album epic, he manages delicacy and brooding fervor as if they are one in the same. Augustine is a brown bear nursing a dove. His songs are timeless yet dwell on mortality. He may be as lost as everyone else, but listen to his music and you may never want to be found.
Jacob Augustine is living up in Northern Maine so if you are lucky enough to live in the area, he plays fairly often in various incarnations from solo performer to a full band sound. You can download his entire catalog for free HERE, but you can also make a donation. And you should. (Photo by Shervin Lainez) – Adam G.
Conveyor celebrates full length release at Mercury on 06.28
Brooklyn’s avant pop band Conveyor presents a sonic palette composed by an intriguing blend of styles and influences, combining the percussion of afropop with moody electronics and rhythmically patterned vocals. Many of the songs in their upcoming self-titled album are the result of a collaborative writing process, resulting in intricate arrangements reminiscent of Animal Collective’s more melodic experiments. Time signatures out of the 4/4 mold also reveal musicians not content to rely on the safety of familiar patterns. The band will celebrate the release of their debut full-length (under Paper Garden Records’ wing) with a show at The mercury Lounge on June 28. Recommended! – Dave Cromwell
Violens debut new video for “When to Let Go”
We’ve always had a weak spot for Violens. This brand new song and video "When to Let Go" marries their light shoegazer sound with some kind of new-romantic aesthetics from the 80s.
Album review: Gemini Revolution – Other Side of Yesterday EP
“Can you picture the armada of Hello Kitty spaceships?” -Gen. Marsupial Takahashi
Someday, Japan is going to send people to Mars. It’s true. I’m pretty sure Gemini Revolution will provide the soundtrack while the astronauts will kick it during their long journey through space.
The Other Side of Yesterday EP is hacky sack music for Asian hipsters. It reeks of patchouli and mirin equally. This is the weird Asian record the Doors would have made had they lasted long enough. It’s kinda jammy, pretty psychedelic, and superbly spacey.
Gemini Revolution takes the Taj-Mahal Travelers playbook, cut out the boring extreme avant-garde randomness, and pop it up a bit. The slow building, eventually lush arrangements feature a mostly free-form rhythm section that provides enough randomness to contrast the layered cheap keyboards. The reverb-maxed vocals come and go sparingly, adding a textural component to music that is clearly focused on the other instrumentation.
The stand out of this EP is the title track “Other Side of Yesterday." Reminiscent of Modest Mouse, the song goes through many variations of stripping down and being built back up. It also utilizes the vocals the best of any song in this batch, with a pleasant back and forth during the choruses. Mix in the melodic bass work, the Kenny G-esque saxophone keyboard doodling, and the random percussion introduced throughout, and you’re left with a song that tows the ADHD line, yet ends up accessible and groovy overall.
Some might say this sound is dated, but Gemini Revolution has a very specific thing they are going for. It is refreshing to hear a group of musicians just doing their thing, regardless of what is dictated by the musical trends around them.
-Zach Hodson
| Zach is a lifetime Kansas City resident who plays multiple instruments and sings in Dolls on Fire, as well as contributing to many other Kansas City music, art, and comedy projects. He is very fond of edamame, treats his cat Wiley better than he treats himself, and doesn’t want to see pictures of your newborn child (seriously, it looks like a potato). |
Editor’s note: Gemini Revolution released the follow-up EP to Other Side of Yesterday on June 14, entitled Sizuka. We’ll have a review of this album to you very soon!
R5 & Morgan’s Pier’s Free Saturday Summer Concert Series Schedule!
R5 just shared a chunk of their schedule for the free Saturday summer concert series at Morgan’s Pier. You can check out what bands will be performing below. (Photo by Collin Keefe)