Much like a certain storied pair of shiny shiny, shiny boots of leather, the music of Bootblacks is highly polished, austere and severe. And when it kicks you in the face you’ll beg for more, much like Severin in thrall to Wanda von Dunajew.
Residing somewhere in a batcave in Brooklyn (perhaps neighbors with Eddie Murphy?) these stalwart somber-hued postpunkers not too long ago released their forth full-length Thin Skies. Check out the music vid above for the full effect, and then give a listen to their Live At Saint Vitusset released in December.
Speaking of all thing Venusian, tonight Bootblacks appear as part of Cherry Bomb: International Women’s Day Charity Livestream originating straight outta Philly starting at 7pm EST with 12 bands & DJs benefiting 12 relevant charities with co-hosting duties shared by Lazy Astronomer and DJ Baby Berlin and streaming live on the latter’s Twitch channel. Click HERE for the full lineup and check out videos by a few of the other featured performers below.
A query: Here in these waning hours of Bandcamp Friday do you find yourself in need of a song that’ll simultaneously make you wanna slow dance with a stranger, drunk dial your ex and tell them you still love them, and smash up your room in a frenzied rage and not leave the apartment for a month?
Then oh boy are you in luck because Sir Chloe’s “Michelle” fits the bill. And be sure to check out the sublimely demented video (see above) released earlier this year or late last year who’s really keeping track.
But one thing that definitely got released last year was the band’s debut LP Party Favors and it’s far from too late to sing its praises. I mean the last year didn’t even happen, right?
Taken as a whole it’s a nicely concise and tightly arranged album that walks much the same line as "Michelle" balanced precariously but deliciously between wistful reveries and take-no-prisoners intensity ("make me behave like an animal / I’m asking nicely give me what I want / I’m asking politely give me what I want / make me behave like an animal") though with songs leaning more toward mid-tempo numbers ideal for swaying and stomping in place more than slow dancing with strangers.
And hey just in case you’re wanting to know more about this shadowy entity called Sir Chloe then by all means allow me to directly quote from their promotional materials because it’s Bandcamp Fried-day after all so let’s sell some records or streams or DAT tapes or whatever and I’m happy to help out when the music is this good…
"Sir Chloe is an American indie rock band from Bennington, Vermont now based in Brooklyn, New York. It’s members are Dana Foote (guitar, vocals) Teddy O’mara (guitar) Palmer Foote (drums) and Austin Holmes (bass). Starting as the solo act of Dana Foote, Sir Chloe first came together in 2017 as an academic project at Bennington College, recording their first four singles in the school’s music building. Their debut single “Animal” was released in February 2019. The band returned to the studio in October 2019 to record six new songs, among them being their latest single titled “July.”" And then came the album release and the rest is history that’s still being written. (Jason Lee)
Red Sun Radio are good at writing drinking songs and thank goodness for that—ranging from boisterous sing alongs that’ll have you hoisting you mug in the air, to music seemingly made for staring pensively into your whisky tumbler and eventually laying your head down on the bar.
For a bunch of professional drinkers these guys are pretty prolific, having released new singles in January and February and debuting a new song on yesterday’s “Save The Scene” fundraising cyber-concert broadcast (see above).
On the first of the two singles, “Isotopes,” the Red Sun Radioers weave a tale of good chemistry gone bad that unspools under a warm blanket of fuzzed out organ, weeping guitar, and a rousing coda.
And on last month’s “Dry Martini” they serve up a gently hungover ballad that follows up its opening riposte (“chasing skirts all night gets tiring / but baby you’re inspiring me to move”) with some gin-soaked metaphysical sweet nothings whispered into the addressee’s ear and damn if I’m not buying it.
And then finally just yesterday RSR debuted a new one called “Sound of Sleep” (see up top) which is a deceptively titled mid-tempo rocker that would be great to hear in person one day in the basement of the Bronx pizzeria where the band got their start playing on a stage made of plywood and cans of tomato paste.
P.S. If you’re not the designated driver tonight, by all means don’t stop there because it’s also worth checking out Red Sun Radio’s 2019 full-length debut For All The Wrong Reasons whether over a bottle of good bourbon or a sixer of cheap domestic beer.
P.P.S. Today is Bandcamp Friday so you know what to do…
Tele Novella’s inviting and inventive new album “Merlynn Belle” is out now on Kill Rock Stars. The band, made up of Natalie Ribbons and Jason Chronis, crafts sunny and alluring songs that whisk the listener away to a simpler time. Buoyant melodies careen down a myriad of instrumentation to give the heartfelt lyrics space to explore.
While only clocking in at 32 minutes, “Merlynn Belle” manifests an inter-generational journey. It smoothly glides through compositional styles from the Renaissance to Americana to Sixties Folk to contemporary Indie Pop. The timeless nature of the record is partially due to the use of an 8-track cassette recorder to capture the intricate arrangements—it’s as if Fiona Apple were recorded in 1955. Incorporating the use of atypical instruments, such as the autoharp and the harmonium, also gives off an other-worldly quality one might find on a Richard Dawson album.
This LP feels like a distinctive step forward from their 2016 debut, “House of Souls.” Ribbons, the singer/songwriter of the pair, moves from a purposeful croon to almost full yodel, telling stories of heartbreak, self-actualization and witches. The duo say they found “the music they wanted to be making all along but didn’t know until it happened accidentally”, which is reflected in the natural feel of this record.
Each of the four singles have a complementary music video that encapsulates the album’s aesthetic perfectly: modern tales through an old-fashioned lens. “Merlynn Belle” floats above vague subgenres, such as Baroque Pop or Freak Folk, into a cloud of familiar escapism. Texans sure need a wholesome distraction from the last couple of weeks, and Tele Novella have provided exactly that!
Tasha has released a beautifully hazy new single called "Would You Mind Please Pulling Me Close?" via Father/Daughter Records. The single was produced and features Gregory Uhlmann and is accompanied by the relaxing video below.
Justice Hill has released the first single, "Outta This", from his forthcoming debut full-length album, Room With A View, which is due out on April 20th.
The single features NYC-based rapper Eshe All Day Hues who plays perfectly off of Hill’s bouncy pop production and deep baritone vocals.
With Moen now based in Chicago she finds herself looking back to Iowa and its Governor, Kim Reynolds, and the way most "Politicians pandering to small-town voters without really caring, hearing, or listening to their needs is one of many issues in this country".
queen mars has released the latest single, "YOU", from her forthcoming EP, "Trust Issues", which is due out on April 9th. Back in January she dropped the EP’s opening track "Boys Like You" and is clearly using a mix of Pop and R&B to explore the ups and downs of relationships.
Floatie has released a second single, "Shiny", from their forthcoming debut album, Voyage Out, which is set to be released via Exploding In Sound on March 26th.
This is the work of Sam Bern, Luc Schutz, Joe Olson, and Will Wisniewski, and you can preorder their debut album here.
Strict Tempo is a weekly Thursday night livestream originating out of Seattle featuring a world-spanning Whitman’s Sampler of live DJs and live electronic music acts in the musical veins of EBM/industrial, acid/electro/techno, minimal wave/darkwave, Italo-disco/hi-NRG and other equally cool sounding slashed and hyphenated genres.
The shows kick off at 7PM PST/10PM EST opening with a DJ set from host and curator Vox Sinistra, followed by 3 or 4 featured performers made up of both live electro-based acts and DJs doing their thing in real time. The show goes out live on Twitch just CLICK HERE.
As reigning queen of dark & danceable and occasionally not so danceable beats, Ms. Sinistra introduces each show with a charmingly low-key informative overview of the acts about to perform backed by green-screened dancing skeletons or infinitely scrolling bondage chains or vintage nightclub footage or surreal film clips and with occasional cameos by her tuxedoed cat. Production values on the show are consistently compelling and sometimes appealing demented eye candy with each DJ/electronic artist bringing their own distinct look and vibe.
Tonight’s installment of Strict Tempo features the return of Xibling, a dynamic synth duo comprised of Moriah West and Julian Thieme. Paraphrasing from Vox Sinistra’s Facebook post for tonight: “I’m hosting the release for Xibling’s Maladjusted EP out tomorrow and if you haven’t listened to Xibling, the Portland ‘post-punk techno fever dream’ wrote/livestreamed new songs every week at the beginning of quarantine last year (!) and are also returning Strict Tempo guests, playing the second show I hosted online last April. Tonight they’re supported by coldwave-y synthesist STACIAN, new PDX dark synth-pop act Pleasure Victim and XOR, the new electronic alias from the bassist/synth player of acclaimed darkwave band Secret Shame.”
And if the lead-off title track single to Xibling’s new EP is any indication, with its stuttering beats and phat electro-bass and ethereal vocals, tonight looks to be a lot of fun. Plus for a further sneak preview you can check out the music vid for “Maladjusted” with its cool Tetsuo-style black-and-white engulfed-by-rampaging-technology visuals in which Julian and Moriah are attacked (or seduced?) by sentient unspooling VHS tapes.
With a stylistic range across an electro-spectrum from the darker reaches of darkwave to the poppier side of New Order-esque electro pop, the upshot is that if Xibling’s electro-oscillations don’t get your body oscillating wildly then you may need to visit your local testing center and make sure your heart is still beating—an effect that’s only heightened when you see Xibling doing their thing live because high energy is too mild a term for their performative posture.
And speaking of high energy you’re also advised to check out two retrospective one-year anniversary broadcasts from Vox Sinistra—one compiling some of the best bits from the various Strict Tempo live acts over the past year, and the other a comp of featured DJ acts coming soon on 3/18. Plus holy Mother of Pearl the live show comp is nearly 10 hours long so settle in for the evening and hit play and I can guarantee you it’ll melt your f’ing face off if taken in one sitting so maybe put on that full plastic face mask before even attempting it.
Not unlike these epically scaled retrospective comps but on a smaller scale each Strict Tempo tends to be an eclectic affair, but overall Vox specializes in a style known as EBM (electronic body music) that’s something like a mutant mashup of industrial, cyberpunk, electropop, and synthwave—different artist highlight different elements of course and throw in their own twists—which is a style of music that’s equally effective whether you’re looking to mosh like a maniac in your bedroom late at night or bop in place equally maniacally like Molly Ringwald on Molly.
Anyways when it comes to the genre of EBM it’s name can be taken pretty literally given that we all inhabit more or less “electronic bodies” by this point living so much of our lives through phones and computers and old BlackBerry Storms (for the iconoclasts among us!) but at least watching a live-streamed set by Xibling or a Thursday night installment of Strict Tempo can make “device life” feel more utopian than dystopian for a few hours. (Jason Lee)
Ryan Sambol has a remarkable and mystical sense of humor. Across barely 23 minutes on his new album, Gestalt, he meanders through his own plucked guitar strings and muddled piano keys to highlight strange observations and theories. The name of the record comes from the German word for “shape” and is often associated with the Gestalt school of psychology, in which the whole is perceived to be far more than the sum of its parts.
The whole of Sambol’s career is, in fact, far more than the sum of its parts. He’s a well-worn poet and a former garage rocker from the Austin outfits The Strange Boys and Living Grateful and he likes to zig-zag while telling a story. You’d be forgiven for thinking he’s two sheets to the wind, but he’s eerily calm for a storyteller in his element.
Gestalt opens with tender chords that unfold like petals to reveal Sambol’s timid vocals on “You’re Still Lovable To Someone” (but it’s your guess who that ‘someone’ could be). “According to this guy / I haven’t seen the greatest movie of all time / I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was blind,” he exhales in his apathetic warble. Aspirational thinking rather than actionable advice drive his motives, if barely—“Let’s raise money for each other sometime / If the need arose it’d be good to know,” is the half-assed yet whole-hearted sentiment of someone trying to be the lovable type.
The power of quiet records comes from what’s unsaid more than what’s spoken for all to hear. “We met in the comments / Of one of our favorite singer’s songs,” Sambol sings on “Just Like Golden Hours”—not in the stands, not in the audience, but out in the forum where worlds apart are able to come together. The feeling is immediately resonant like a monostitch from the would-be Twitter account of Joni Mitchell; golden hours are prone to fade, YouTube videos queue to the next one and romances slowly die.
If Gestalt is more than the sum of its parts, it surely is a triumph. Its sum is a loosely-hewn batch of emotional country, but what it amounts to is a beautiful and poetic thought catalog of observations too small for the rest of us to catch.
Olivia Flanigan has released the lead single, "Mannequin", from her debut album, Girl, which is set to be released on March 26th via Flood Records.
For the album Flanigan gathered together a group of talented musician including Matt Gold (Guitar), Paul Bedal (Piano/Keys), Mike Harmon (Bass), and Nate Friedman (Drums). Together they have created a sound that is rooted in Jazz and vintage torch singing while remaining fresh and modern.
