Guitarist/vocalist Brady Keehn and drummer Melissa Scaduto moved out from New York to Los Angeles in search of higher temperatures and lower rent. They found a bit of both, and then some. Keehn and bassist Kenny Elkin had done a Part Time Punks stint earlier last year as The Choke, which played out well, as Ohio transplant guitarist Eddie Wuebben moved down from SF. Four bodies were drawn together by the cosmos, and as the stars aligned, Sextile was born in 2015.
German post-punk influences and an affinity for the occult led to some heavy studio work trapping musique concrète atmospheres with the magnetism of motorik-inspired rhythms. In their first single "Can’t Take It", Scaduto’s ritualistic drumming evokes the scrape of surf guitar — it froths and hisses as synth notes dance like flames to Keehn’s mesmeric chanting, which quickly rises and explodes. Bodies break down. Emotions are purged and spirits are cleansed. It’s a sweet release that will rip the soul out of you, again and again and again.
Sextile will be playing this week at The Hideout in San Diego (6.24), and Friday at the Non Plus Ultra (6.26) in support of Australian shoegaze/dreampop band Au.Ra, and will ride along the West coast with them in the coming weeks. Listen to Sextile’s newest single "Can’t Take It" below, and look for their debut album A Thousand Hands on August 21st through Los Angeles-based label Felte Records. – Ryan Mo