NYC

Following Lease Termination, Pehrspace Crowdfunds to Relocate

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Art gallery by day and music venue by night, Pehrspace was known in the southland as one of the better DIY spaces that exhibited local underground indie music. With the rare admission of all-ages for most shows and affordable admission fees, Pehrspace was regionally known as a small, accessible place to enjoy good music with good people. Notable acts include Vice Cooler, HEALTH, No Age, Dan Deacon and Moses Campbell, as well as the highly praised Sean Carnage who regularly DJ’d and hosted Monday nights. Unfortunately, after a 10-year lease in Westlake since their opening in 2006, Pehrspace was handed a 60-day notice to close by a new landlord.

Pehrspace is currently crowdfunding to find a new space with via GoFundMe. – Kaitlyn Tang

NYC

Watch Meishi Smile’s New Music Video for …Belong

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Digital punk/experimental pop artist Meishi Smile‘s recently released a music video for the title track to 2015’s pico-noise LP …Belong. Directed by Japanese animator Yuka Maeda, the video subverts the Music Anime Douga aesthetic with 3-D model manipulation and references to cult horror films, psychological drama narratives and video games.

If the feeling is still ripe, watch Meishi Smile play a DJ set with live visuals by DJ Saiato (Glitch City LA) at the 21+ Fakku Panel on July 3rd—Anime Expo pass holders get in free.

Meishi will also perform with Zoom Lens labelmate oh my muu, Kraftmatik & Olek Mular collab YEAR of the OX, and Project Blowed alumnus dumbfoundead at a free concert hosted by Japanese American National Museum on August 18th. You can also listen to May Yim’s newest album "(reclamation)" on the Zoom Lens Bandcamp. – photo by Brian Vu

L.A.

Chatrooms release debut EP “Negative Tension”, play at the Echoplex on 7/5

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We regularly hear about new bands that balance the early days of emo with post-hardcore coming from either the Northeast or the Midwest. There’s always the odd exception of course, like Torrance’s very own Joyce Manor, but there’s still a general lack of representation coming from the West Coast. Consider Chatrooms as that next promising act to bring some meaning into the current emo revival: they’re the type of band that defies categorization, sporting a guitar-driven sound that is spiked with vexed, passionate vocals, sure, but they also experiment with more steady rhythms that are plaited together with lush atmospheric touches. The title track off of their debut EP, "Negative Tension", is an urgent, melodic rocker that places emphasis on yearning chord changes with drifting guitar passages.

Chatrooms are playing at the Echoplex’s monthly emo night, Taking Back Tuesday, on Tuesday, July 5. – Juan Rodríguez

Nashville

Rain Drop Garden is a bright-eyed collection from The Esskays

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After a weeklong, sickness-induced break, I thought I’d come back with a handful of music for y’all. What I didn’t expect is that so many of my picks would come from the family of "psych rock." And like many real families, where your sister can be a lawyer while you’re up at 3am in a haze concocting recipes out of stale saltine crackers and various chip dips (the only ingredients you have in the house), the apples may not fall far from the tree but they can sure end up a ways off from one another. Rain Drop Garden from the Esskays is out there and verby, seemingly the only pre-reqs for being "psych," but it’s flowers all the way down. Jangly and poppy, never too demanding (but not boring by any means either), it’s an all-seasons offering of catchy numbers that wander but never lose sight of the path. Either way, take a shovel out to Rain Drop Garden and get to digging. -Austin Phy

Nashville

There’s no fooling around on Fool’s self-titled debut

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Fool. That’s a band name I can get behind. It’s simple, not too ornate…it just seems like it would look good on a poster, you know?  But maybe I’m fixating on the wrong thing, because it turns out these guys are every bit as good at making music as they are naming bands. Fool’s debut is psychedelic in a way that said descriptor isn’t used all too often now. It isn’t grimy, it isn’t fuzzy, it isn’t a bit salty from all the surf that frequently gets mixed in, but is instead more akin to The Zombies, Love, or—take note, as this is the one-in-a-hundred time I use this comparison as a good thing—The Grateful Dead. Whatever it is, really, it’s one of the more unique releases from Nashville in a while. –Austin Phy  

Nashville

Mickee Poole’s “You’re OK” is better than okay

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 You’re OK is something like the soundtrack to a high school prom in an alternate reality where the Cold War heated up and everybody ended up all melted and a little off-center. There’s no anger, no aggression, just a cool, goopy go-with-the-flow relaxation the whole way through. It’s lo-fi goodness as good as it gets, weird but not weird just to be weird, and uncomfortable but far from incomprehensible. There are moments of beauty, moments of breaking point tension, and an 8-minute slow burner that closes it all out with a sense of finality. Check out whatever kind of strange brew Mickee Poole’s got going below. There’s a solid chance you’ll like it. –Austin Phy

NYC

Warn The Duke celebrates release of ‘Ghost Be Gone’ LP at Bowery Electric tomorrow (06.29)

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The Brooklyn-based four piece Warn The Duke is made up of members of River City Rebels and Big D & The Kids Table. Their debut release Ghost Be Gone is a lively punk rock album at once reminiscent of The Replacements and Husker Du. The band blends together the sound of 90’s emo and alt rock to create their catchy brand of melodic punk music. Tracks like “Henry O’Donnell” and “Noreaster” feature smooth melodies and high energy choruses that call to mind alternative punk acts of the early 2000’s like Sugarcult. The opening track “Coastline” (streaming) is characterized by heavy riffs and brash shouted vocals, while still maitntaing a sound that – within the punk rock realm – is softer and quite catchy. Warn The Duke will be celebrating the release of Ghost Be Gone tomorrow (June 29th) at Bowery Electric. – John Honan

NYC

Turnover takes over Strange Matter tonight 6.28!

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Hailing from the coastal town of Virginia Beach, Turnover has charmed with spellbinding riffs and powerful melodies. Deriving its roots from pop punk, Turnover doesn’t shy from confronting the doubts and nuances that so often plague everyday life; questions of identity, insecurities, and love, which they so beautifully explore in their more indie centric Peripheral Vision. With reverb laden and treaded guitars they manage to evoke a sense of warmth and tenderness in each song tinged with a touch of melancholy and nostalgia through Austin Getz’s vocals. Turnover continue their transition into a gauzy dream pop and indie rock with their most recent single, Humblest Pleasure (streaming below), where it feels like being submerged in a memory of muted colors, speckled by brilliant bursts of vivid colors brought to life with the intricately beautiful guitar work. “What a thing it is to grow” Gretz sings, what a thing it is indeed. Turnover takes the stage tonight at Strange Matter so make sure to catch them! – Adriana S. Ballester

NYC

Hero House brings introspective indie pop to Mercury Lounge on 6.29

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Hero House is the new indie pop project from singer-songwriter Jamie Bendell. Bendell, also a member of the band Plastic Cannons, released the first single off her upcoming EP ‘Pretty Tough’ at the end of 2015. Her music marries introspective lyrics and lush, hook-laden vocals with folk and soul influences. This first single also showcases a guitar sound very reminiscent of U2 from ‘The Joshua Tree’ era. Hero House will be playing Mercury Lounge on June 29th in support of Todd Lewis Kramer. – John Honan

NYC

Stove plays Shea Stadium on 7.04

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Stove is the new solo project from Connecticut native, Ovlov member Steve Hartlett and other friends mostly based in Brooklyn. The band released its debut album Is Stupider in November of 2015 on Exploding in Sound, opffering a brand of slacker rock heavily influenced by ’90s acts like Dinosaur Jr. and Pavement. Catchy melodies and memorable choruses abound in tracks like “Wet Food” and “Dusty Tree," and so does the tendency towards introspective and self-deprecating lyrics. “Dusty Weather” (streaming) is the cleanest sounding track on the album, deviating from the band signature sound, until the fuzzy burst of melody at the end. Stove will be playing Shea Stadium on July 4th. – John Honan

NYC

Caveman releases third LP ‘Otero War’ + talks about pedals on Delicious Audio

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Belonging to the rare category of "bands that keep getting better all the time," Brooklyn’s dream rock quintet Caveman just released their third full length album (and three years in the making) ‘Otero War,’ and is set to play several major festivals this summer including Forecastle in Louisville, KY, Panorama in NYC and Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco, CA. With a gear insider like Jimmy Carbonetti in its ranks – besides being the band’s guitarist, the man is a fine luthier and owns Cobra Guitars – we were tempted to ask him a few question about guitar pedals – check out the link below. Check out latest single ‘Life or Just Living,’ streaming below.

Delicious Audio Q&A with Caveman about their guitar pedals.

Philadelphia

New Track: “Balloon To The Moon” – The Writhing Squares

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Launch into the stratosphere while you listen to “Balloon To The Moon,” off The Writhing Squares forthcoming LP In The Void Above, which will be released on July 29 via Siltbreeze Records. The bass-anchored propulsion swims in a funky, jazz-accented vessel, providing intriguing twists. The saxophone jumps off that backend drive and psych-oriented vocals, emerging through the clouds. Catch the duo with Alto! and Valley Exit next Tuesday, July 5 at Kung Fu Necktie! (Photo by Ben Leaphart)