Ipecac Recordings
Melvins Pitfalls In Serving Warrants (Acoustic)
updated
Ipecac is honored to release the new album from legendary musician, composer and arranger, Jean Claude Vannier.
Jean Claude Vannier et son orchestre de mandolines, out on Feb 14th, 2025 is a playful album of beautiful reveries composed on mandolin and accordion, that are both poetic and unrestrained. The title translates as Jean Claude Vannier and his mandolin orchestra, and this marks the first time that the ever-creative composer has written specifically for the mandolin. The album features fellow enthusiast Vincent Beer-Demander, whose mandolin is multiplied by an orchestra to form a singular sound palette, carefully combined with the accordion of Grégory Daltin.
A pinch of strings, a hint of childhood, melodies that touch the heart, orchestration that is always unexpected... these are just some of the elements to emerge from this album.
Mike Patton, who collaborated with Vannier on the 2019 release, Corpse Flower, has this to say about getting to put out his new album on Ipecac, ”Jean Claude is a dear friend, mentor and a wonderfully gifted and decorated composer. Read: LEGEND. To have worked with him is an unmitigated honour. His writing and arrangements have influenced an ocean of artists and I call myself one of the lucky ones who have crossed his path. He was writing ground-breaking stuff before I was born. He has affected me deeply and I’m forever grateful and in AWE.”
The album was created as a music score for a non-existent silent film, and tells the love story of a young boy we follow through time. The first single referencing his search for lost love;
I never saw her again
I looked for her in vain in the city
Time went by
Then I got into trouble
I started drinking
I’ve been a bartender, a garbage man, a fire-eater, a night porter, a gutter sweeper, a beggar.
Jean Claude Vannier, whom the press refer to as “the rare bird”, has worked over the past 60 years most famously with Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, as well as artists such as Beck and Sean Lennon. He’s worked on countless soundtracks, released six solo albums and is a French pop-culture icon who’s composed for Eurovision, directed videos, exhibited paintings, hosted radio shows and published short stories.
This new album features mandolin virtuoso Vincent Beer-Demander, who has won multiple awards and collaborated with the French National Orchestra, Czeske Philharmonic, Mid-Atlantic Symphonic Orchestra and hundreds more around the world. Sounding like nothing else that either Demander nor Vannier has done before.
Also featured is Grégory Daltin, whose accordion playing brings another dimension to this beautiful album.
Jean Claude Vannier et son orchestre de mandolines track listing:
01 - Moi, ma mandoline (Me, my mandolin)
02 - Comme les enfants savent aimer (How children know to love)
03 - La 2CV disparaît au coin de la rue (The 2CV disappears around the corner)
04 - Perdue dans la cité (Lost in the city)
05 - Il y avait des éléphants (There were elephants)
06 - À cause de mes problèmes (Because of my troubles)
07 - Une séance photo sous les arcades (A photoshoot under the arcades)
08 - Belle à pleurer (Beautiful enough to cry over)
09 - Danse des maillots de bain (Swimsuit dance)
10 - Nos regards se sont croisés (Our eyes crossed)
11 - La 2CV rouillée (The rusty 2CV)
12 - Un petit bout de verre cassé (A small piece of broken glass)
13 - Les feux arrière de l'ambulance (Ambulance taillights)
“... Though he has used the mandolin from time to time for recordings and arrangements, this is the first time that Jean Claude Vannier has written specifically for the instrument. And it’s all thanks to another mandolin enthusiast from childhood, Vincent Beer-Demander, mandolinist, composer and teacher at Marseille’s Pierre Barbizet Conservatory. The tremolo technique of mandolins, glissando effects using a steel or glass bottleneck-cylinder, harmonic colours reminiscent of voices, attacks on the strings that are like percussion... Jean Claude Vannier explores all the possibilities of the instrument and its alliance with the accordion. His compositions, each lasting just a few minutes, are melodic delights... an air of Italy, a moment of graceful reverie, at times intriguing, all to the credit of Jean Claude Vannier’s musical creativity... “
SYLVAIN SICLIER - LE MONDE
instagram.com/jean_claude_vannier
Human Impact, the laser-precision noise-rock alliance of Unsane frontman Chris Spencer and Cop Shoot Cop squall-maker Jim Coleman, release their second album, Gone Dark,
Gone Dark is a fiercer, tighter upgrade of their taut grooves, brittle guitar shards, impassioned shouts and clouds of dystopian noise. Not a cry from the darkness but a shout through the darkness, a robust proclamation of resilience and opposition in the face of impending apocalypse.
It follows their self-titled debut that was released on the eve that the world stood still, and was followed by a slew of singles which culminated in the the release of EP01 in 2021 and touring in 2022. They graced the cover of New Noise Magazine France and featured in a New York Times article amongst other recognition.
The Human Impact arsenal is more formidable than ever thanks to the addition of two more noise-rock veterans: bassist Eric Cooper (Made Out of Babies, Bad Powers) and drummer Jon Syverson (Daughters). Spencer had spent the 2020 COVID lockdown working on a cabin in the East Texas woods and would travel into Austin for informal jam sessions with the pair in the Cooper’s garage. Friendly blasts through vintage Unsane songs ultimately resulted in the rhythm section being fully absorbed into Human Impact.
"Jon and Coop bring incredible musicianship," Spencer adds. "I feel incredibly lucky to be in a band with Jon. We've really clicked from the minute we started playing together. Cooper is awesome, and one of my best friends forever. We have a communication that I won't have with just anybody. I can't wait to fucking play this live."
GONE DARK TRACK LISTING:
1 - COLLAPSE
2 - HOLD ON
3 - DESTROY TO REBUILD
4 - REFORM
5 - IMPERATIVE
6 - DISCONNECT
7 - CORRUPTED
8 - REPEAT
9 - LOST ALL TRUST
instagram.com/humanimpactband
facebook.com/humanimpactband
video created by Displaced/Replaced (displacedreplaced.com)
VENAMORIS JOINS IPECAC RECORDINGS ROSTER!
Venamoris, the duo of Paula and Dave Lombardo, has signed with Ipecac Recordings, prepping a 2025 sophomore release,
“’In The Shadows’ is a song that arose from real-life feelings,” Paula Lombardo shares. “The pulsating drum wholly evocative of marching forward even when internal unrest is still close-at-hand. It is a call for self-acceptance with the heaviness of a life well lived.”
“Venamoris is such an intimate project for the two of us,” adds Dave Lombardo. “To have our sophomore album in Ipecac’s exceptionally skilled hands is a dream realized. We are estatic to be a part of this audacious label.”
Venamoris captures the essence of a sound that is alluring and deeply emotional, blending sultry vocals with mesmerizing instrumentation to create an enveloping experience that is as hypnotic as it is emotionally charged. Like a whispered secret, there’s something seductive yet provocative about the noir-tinged songs they create. Brooklyn Vegan, describing an earlier single, adeptly said Venamoris has “Portishead meets David Lynch vibes.”
Additional details will be shared soon.
venamoris.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/venamoris_official
facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088867614321
x.com/Venamoris_Music
Video created by Bill Barminski (http://www.barminski.com)
“I met Bill in Austin back in the mid ‘80s. He was doing underground comics and zine-type stuff,” Duane Denison notes of his friendship with the innovative artist known for his distinctive cardboard sculptures and thought-provoking street art. “We met through mutual friends in the punk rock scene and recently became reacquainted through social media.”
Barminski adds: “We all come from the same place and there seems to be a bond between people who were there. So when Duane asked me to do this video I naturally said yes. It’s all hand drawn cell animation that I have been experimenting with. Very kinetic and fast-paced, which matched the song very well.”
The release of Rack marks a new chapter for The Jesus Lizard, whose influence on alternative and punk music remains undeniable. With its relentless energy and razor-sharp musicianship, the album has already garnered widespread acclaim from critics and fans alike.
In the lead-up to the 11-song, Paul Allen-produced collection’s debut, a series of pre-release songs have showcased the dynamic new album. “Hide & Seek” debuted in tandem with a lengthy New York Times piece diving into the band members’ deep-rooted friendship and their decision to return with Rack. “Alexis Feels Sick,” inspired by Girls Against Boys/Soulside’s Alexis Fleisig’s guarded opinion of modern life, arrived with a David Yow-conceived, A.I. generated video, described as “a disgusting and comically impressionistic portrait of American Late Stage Capitalism… with some doggies.” “Moto(R)” featured recent life footage of the foursome, with Denison saying of the song, “It’s not Motörhead, and it’s not Radiohead either.”
the Jesus Lizard tour dates:
September 26 Cincinnati, OH Bogart’s
September 28 Chicago, IL Warm Love Cool Dreams
October 13 Las Vegas, NV Best Friends Forever Music Festival
October 31 Dallas, TX Longhorn Ballroom
November 1 Austin, TX Levitation / The Far Out Lounge
December 9 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
December 11 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Steel
December 12 Boston, MA Roadrunner
December 13 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
December 14 Washington, DC Black Cat - SOLD OUT
December 15 Washington, DC Black Cat
December 17 Asheville, NC The Orange Peel
December 18 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
January 7 Glasgow, UK QMU
January 8 Manchester, UK Academy 2
January 9 Leeds, UK Brudenell Social Club - SOLD OUT
January 10 Bristol, UK The Fleece - SOLD OUT
January 11 London, UK Electric Ballroom - SOLD OUT
January 12 Brighton, UK Concorde 2
January 14 Belfast, UK The Limelight
January 15 Dublin, IE Button Factory
January 16 Dublin, IE Button Factory
May 2 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern
May 3 Los Angeles, CA The Fonda Theatre
May 5 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
May 8 Portland, OR Revolution Hall - SOLD OUT
May 9 Portland, OR Revolution Hall
May 10 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre
May 11 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre
Tickets for all shows are on-sale now, with ticketing links available via Ipecac.com/tours.
Rack track list:
1. Hide & Seek
2. Armistice Day
3. Grind
4. What If?
5. Lord Godiva
6. Alexis Feels Sick
7. Falling Down
8. Dunning Kruger
9. Moto(R)
10. Is That Your Hand?
11. Swan The Dog
Since their inception in Chicago in 1987, the Jesus Lizard has thrilled audiences all over the planet. The impeccable rocket-thrust rhythm section of bassist David Wm. Sims and drummer Mac McNeilly was the perfect launchpad for guitarist Duane Denison’s jagged yet clean-toned riffing and vocalist David Yow’s mercurial vocalizations manifesting as everything from panicked citizen, reality escapee or wounded sea mammal. The Jesus Lizard’s fury has carried on through six studio albums, two live recordings and a brace of singles and EPs, with the band’s seventh album, Rack, out this Fall via Ipecac Recordings.
instagram.com/thejesuslizardofficial
https://linktr.ee/thejesuslizard
Human Impact, the laser-precision noise-rock alliance of Unsane frontman Chris Spencer and Cop Shoot Cop squall-maker Jim Coleman, release their second album, Gone Dark,
Gone Dark is a fiercer, tighter upgrade of their taut grooves, brittle guitar shards, impassioned shouts and clouds of dystopian noise. Not a cry from the darkness but a shout through the darkness, a robust proclamation of resilience and opposition in the face of impending apocalypse.
It follows their self-titled debut that was released on the eve that the world stood still, and was followed by a slew of singles which culminated in the the release of EP01 in 2021 and touring in 2022. They graced the cover of New Noise Magazine France and featured in a New York Times article amongst other recognition.
"Corrupted" is a jeering stab at the power hungry corporations who leave destruction in their wake in pursuit of something material and useless, featuring see-sawing guitars and a call to action in the form of Spencer's instructions to "Follow the sound ... the future is now".
About the track, the bands says; "Corrupted: The insatiable greed of big pharma which has forced a large segment of the population into addiction, homelessness, mental illness, and desperation.
While the track was written looking at this endless dehumanizing vampirism on a more widespread level, the video for Corrupted specifically looks at the opioid epidemic, and its evolution into the prevalence of Fentynal and Meth. This crisis was created by corporate design, aggressively sold to medical professionals, health insurers and patients, and has permanently altered our society, culture and families. Additionally, our history of criminally prosecuting addicts rather than providing treatment provides cheap labor for a privatized prison system - yet another inhuman method of generating more profits."
The Human Impact arsenal is more formidable than ever thanks to the addition of two more noise-rock veterans: bassist Eric Cooper (Made Out of Babies, Bad Powers) and drummer Jon Syverson (Daughters). Spencer had spent the 2020 COVID lockdown working on a cabin in the East Texas woods and would travel into Austin for informal jam sessions with the pair in the Cooper’s garage. Friendly blasts through vintage Unsane songs ultimately resulted in the rhythm section being fully absorbed into Human Impact.
"Jon and Coop bring incredible musicianship," Spencer adds. "I feel incredibly lucky to be in a band with Jon. We've really clicked from the minute we started playing together. Cooper is awesome, and one of my best friends forever. We have a communication that I won't have with just anybody. I can't wait to fucking play this live."
GONE DARK TRACK LISTING:
1 - COLLAPSE
2 - HOLD ON
3 - DESTROY TO REBUILD
4 - REFORM
5 - IMPERATIVE
6 - DISCONNECT
7 - CORRUPTED
8 - REPEAT
9 - LOST ALL TRUST
instagram.com/humanimpactband
facebook.com/humanimpactband
Director/Cinematographer - Jon Tucker
Thanks to Chris Kraft and Peter Tomlinson
Check out the other videos for "Alexis Feels Sick" (youtu.be/dCcH0BV5sjo) and "Hide & Seek" (youtu.be/_Zx-vUlFXEk)
Duane Denison says of the track, that features recent live footage of the foursome: “It’s not Motörhead, and it’s not Radiohead either…”
The New York Times described the new album as “a raucous record that recaptures the lunging momentum, stealth nuance and unhinged Yow-isms of their best work,” Consequence dubbed it “a rapturous return for the band,” and Brooklyn Vegan said the band is “as delightfully gnarly as they have ever been.”
the Jesus Lizard reconvened in 2009 for a limited number of shows and have maintained their bond both as friends in close contact with one another, and touring bandmates. “We literally only made the record because we thought it would be fun to make the record,” says Sims. With McNeilly highlighting the strong relationship amongst the musicians: “We are bonded by the music we make, and also by the respect we have for each other.”
The band also recently announced a number of tour dates, stretching into 2025
September 7 Raleigh, NC Hopscotch Music Festival
September 26 Cincinnati, OH Bogart’s
September 28 Chicago, IL Warm Love Cool Dreams
October 13 Las Vegas, NV Best Friends Forever Music Festival
October 31 Dallas, TX Longhorn Ballroom
November 1 Austin, TX Levitation / The Far Out Lounge
December 9 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
December 11 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Steel
December 12 Boston, MA Roadrunner
December 13 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
December 14 Washington, DC Black Cat - SOLD OUT
December 15 Washington, DC Black Cat
December 18 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
January 7 Glasgow, UK QMU
January 8 Manchester, UK Academy 2
January 9 Leeds, UK Brudenell Social Club - SOLD OUT
January 10 Bristol, UK The Fleece - SOLD OUT
January 11 London, UK Electric Ballroom - SOLD OUT
January 12 Brighton, UK Concorde 2
January 14 Belfast, UK The Limelight
January 15 Dublin, IE Button Factory - SOLD OUT
January 16 Dublin, IE Button Factory
May 2 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern
May 3 Los Angeles, CA The Fonda Theatre
May 5 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
May 8 Portland, OR Revolution Hall
May 10 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre - SOLD OUT
May 11 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre
Tickets for all shows are on-sale now, with ticketing links available via Ipecac.com/tours.
Rack track list:
1. Hide & Seek
2. Armistice Day
3. Grind
4. What If?
5. Lord Godiva
6. Alexis Feels Sick
7. Falling Down
8. Dunning Kruger
9. Moto(R)
10. Is That Your Hand?
11. Swan The Dog
Since their inception in Chicago in 1987, the Jesus Lizard has thrilled audiences all over the planet. The impeccable rocket-thrust rhythm section of bassist David Wm. Sims and drummer Mac McNeilly was the perfect launchpad for guitarist Duane Denison’s jagged yet clean-toned riffing and vocalist David Yow’s mercurial vocalizations manifesting as everything from panicked citizen, reality escapee or wounded sea mammal. The Jesus Lizard’s fury has carried on through six studio albums, two live recordings and a brace of singles and EPs, with the band’s seventh album, Rack, out this Fall via Ipecac Recordings.
instagram.com/thejesuslizardofficial
https://linktr.ee/thejesuslizard
Human Impact, the laser-precision noise-rock alliance of Unsane frontman Chris Spencer and Cop Shoot Cop squall-maker Jim Coleman, release their second album, Gone Dark.
Gone Dark is a fiercer, tighter upgrade of their taut grooves, brittle guitar shards, impassioned shouts and clouds of dystopian noise. Not a cry from the darkness but a shout through the darkness, a robust proclamation of resilience and opposition in the face of impending apocalypse.
It follows their self-titled debut that was released on the eve that the world stood still, and was followed by a slew of singles which culminated in the the release of EP01 in 2021 and touring in 2022. They graced the cover of New Noise Magazine France and featured in a New York Times article amongst other recognition.
Spencer discusses the concept behind the song: “’Hold On’ is an expression of resistance in the face of a system that’s using convenience and expediency to pry its way into a position of control.”
The accompanying video carries on a visual aesthetic that the band has used since their inception, including their recently released track and video for “Destroy to Rebuild” – an apocalyptic landscape with oversaturated colors and a not-so-subtle commentary on the current state of the world. Spencer and Coleman will venture further into the mix of music and art by performing an ambient noise set on Aug. 15 at Berlin’s Silent Green as part of Beth B’s Now Wave/Glowing exhibition.
The Human Impact arsenal is more formidable than ever thanks to the addition of two more noise-rock veterans: bassist Eric Cooper (Made Out of Babies, Bad Powers) and drummer Jon Syverson (Daughters). Spencer had spent the 2020 COVID lockdown working on a cabin in the East Texas woods and would travel into Austin for informal jam sessions with the pair in the Cooper’s garage. Friendly blasts through vintage Unsane songs ultimately resulted in the rhythm section being fully absorbed into Human Impact.
"Jon and Coop bring incredible musicianship," Spencer adds. "I feel incredibly lucky to be in a band with Jon. We've really clicked from the minute we started playing together. Cooper is awesome, and one of my best friends forever. We have a communication that I won't have with just anybody. I can't wait to fucking play this live."
GONE DARK TRACK LISTING:
1 - COLLAPSE
2 - HOLD ON
3 - DESTROY TO REBUILD
4 - REFORM
5 - IMPERATIVE
6 - DISCONNECT
7 - CORRUPTED
8 - REPEAT
9 - LOST ALL TRUST
instagram.com/humanimpactband
facebook.com/humanimpactband
Video created by David Yow
Inspired by Girls Against Boys/Soulside drummer Alexis Fleisig’s guarded opinion of modern life, the four-and-a-half-minute track is met with an esoteric, David Yow created video. Yow shares insight into the concept behind the clip: "The ‘Alexis Feels Sick’ video is a disgusting and comically impressionistic portrait of American Late Stage Capitalism… with some doggies.” Duane Denison adds that it’s a “study in greed, gluttony, and… dogs.”
“Hide & Seek” (youtu.be/_Zx-vUlFXEk), the first taste from the 11-song album, was described by Yow as “a perky ditty about a witch who can’t behave, and it’s got nearly as many hooks as a Mike Tyson fight.” The video captures the band - Mac McNeilly, David Wm. Sims, Denison and Yow – recording Rack with Producer Paul Allen at Nashville’s Audio Eagle Studio.
the Jesus Lizard reconvened in 2009 for a limited number of shows and have maintained their bond both as friends in close contact with one another, and touring bandmates. “We literally only made the record because we thought it would be fun to make the record,” says Sims. With McNeilly highlighting the strong relationship amongst the musicians: “We are bonded by the music we make, and also by the respect we have for each other.”
The band also recently announced a number of tour dates, stretching into 2025
September 7 Raleigh, NC Hopscotch Music Festival
September 26 Cincinnati, OH Bogart’s - NEW DATE
September 28 Chicago, IL Warm Love Cool Dreams
October 13 Las Vegas, NV Best Friends Forever Music Festival
October 31 Dallas, TX Longhorn Ballroom
November 1 Austin, TX Levitation / The Far Out Lounge
December 9 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
December 11 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Steel
December 12 Boston, MA Roadrunner
December 13 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
December 14 Washington, DC Black Cat - SOLD OUT
December 15 Washington, DC Black Cat
December 18 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
January 7 Glasgow, UK QMU
January 8 Manchester, UK Academy 2
January 9 Leeds, UK Brudenell Social Club - SOLD OUT
January 10 Bristol, UK The Fleece - SOLD OUT
January 11 London, UK Electric Ballroom - SOLD OUT
January 12 Brighton, UK Concorde 2
January 14 Belfast, UK The Limelight
January 15 Dublin, IE Button Factory - SOLD OUT
January 16 Dublin, IE Button Factory - NEW DATE
May 2 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern
May 3 Los Angeles, CA The Fonda Theatre
May 5 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
May 8 Portland, OR Revolution Hall
May 10 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre - SOLD OUT
May 11 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre - NEW DATE
Tickets for all shows are on-sale now, with ticketing links available via Ipecac.com/tours.
Rack track list:
1. Hide & Seek
2. Armistice Day
3. Grind
4. What If?
5. Lord Godiva
6. Alexis Feels Sick
7. Falling Down
8. Dunning Kruger
9. Moto(R)
10. Is That Your Hand?
11. Swan The Dog
Since their inception in Chicago in 1987, the Jesus Lizard has thrilled audiences all over the planet. The impeccable rocket-thrust rhythm section of bassist David Wm. Sims and drummer Mac McNeilly was the perfect launchpad for guitarist Duane Denison’s jagged yet clean-toned riffing and vocalist David Yow’s mercurial vocalizations manifesting as everything from panicked citizen, reality escapee or wounded sea mammal. The Jesus Lizard’s fury has carried on through six studio albums, two live recordings and a brace of singles and EPs, with the band’s seventh album, Rack, out this Fall via Ipecac Recordings.
instagram.com/thejesuslizardofficial
https://linktr.ee/thejesuslizard
Human Impact, the laser-precision noise-rock alliance of Unsane frontman Chris Spencer and Cop Shoot Cop squall-maker Jim Coleman, release their second album, Gone Dark.
Gone Dark is a fiercer, tighter upgrade of their taut grooves, brittle guitar shards, impassioned shouts and clouds of dystopian noise. Not a cry from the darkness but a shout through the darkness, a robust proclamation of resilience and opposition in the face of impending apocalypse.
It follows their self-titled debut that was released on the eve that the world stood still, and was followed by a slew of singles which culminated in the the release of EP01 in 2021 and touring in 2022. They graced the cover of New Noise Magazine France and featured in a New York Times article amongst other recognition.
"We were all looking to go with something more raw and aggressive than the previous releases." says Spencer. "There was a real desire to capture more of what the live performances had been like. With this one, we had plenty of time to develop a full, cohesive album joining songs together with interstitial pieces more like a live performance would be. With Gone Dark we have arrived at a place where we fully understand who we are as a band, so it's a bit more focused and relentless."
The sludgy and anthemic "Destroy to Rebuild" is gnashing ode to cleaning the slate and starting anew.
The Human Impact arsenal is more formidable than ever thanks to the addition of two more noise-rock veterans: bassist Eric Cooper (Made Out of Babies, Bad Powers) and drummer Jon Syverson (Daughters). Spencer had spent the 2020 Covid lockdown working on a cabin in the East Texas woods and would travel into Austin for informal jam sessions with the pair in the bass player's garage. Friendly blasts through vintage Unsane songs would ultimately result in the rhythm section being fully absorbed into the Unsane and Human Impact lineups for their 2022 European tours.
Recorded with co-producer Andrew Schneider (Ken Mode, Cave In) in Austin's Cedar Creek Studio.
Gone Dark will be available on CD, Digital, Black Vinyl and a limited webstore exclusive blue vinyl.
The band will be announcing live dates soon.
GONE DARK TRACK LISTING:
1 - COLLAPSE
2 - HOLD ON
3 - DESTROY TO REBUILD
4 - REFORM
5 - IMPERATIVE
6 - DISCONNECT
7 - CORRUPTED
8 - REPEAT
9 - LOST ALL TRUST
instagram.com/humanimpactband
facebook.com/humanimpactband
Directed by John David Levy
Watch all ten Oxbow videos from Love's Holiday at youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM3riCfjHlm-uO8-ER6uz3flkUAau32Li
Eugene says of the video, “Insofar as possible this is a tip of the hat to my favorite movie of all time, The Servant, directed by Joseph Losey. At least lyrically it tapped into the same mordant vein that makes this almost a perfect capstone for a meditation on love.”
Niko goes in-depth on how the song and video came to be, "We moved into an old house in San Francisco in 1999 and I bought a $100 piano on half-price day at Salvation Army, put it in the garage under the living space, and I think the first time I sat down to play it out came what became “All Gone.” Something intensely sad had happened in that room, as I came to feel it, and found its way into the music.
Eugene and I first performed a version of the song at a tiny bar with a dirt floor up on the side of a hill in Lyon, France. I used to play it before family dinners at my sister’s house with my mother and father there. Now my parents are gone, as is my first marriage. Such is life.
The first time we played it on tour, I closed my eyes and saw the faces of my children above me like cherubim, biting my tongue to stop the tears. Listening to “All Gone” on the test pressing for Love’s Holiday I found myself sobbing three separate times. Unable to approve the test for days, I just couldn’t get through it.
What the hell is all that? Why so sad? I have no idea.
Thank you for taking the journey, now completed, of Love's Holiday videos with us. Thanks to the extraordinary director John Levy."
*********
OXBOW is Dan Adams (electrical/acoustic bass), Greg Davis (drums/percussion), Eugene S. Robinson (vocals), and Niko Wenner (guitars/pianos). The San Francisco-born band have released seven studio albums since their inception in 1988, with Pitchfork saying the foursome have released “some of the most eccentric heavy music albums ever.”
http://www.theoxbow.com
http://oxbowofficial.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/oxbowtheband
“Hide & Seek,” a track David Yow describes as “a perky ditty about a witch who can’t behave, and it’s got nearly as many hooks as a Mike Tyson fight.” An accompanying video captures the foursome of Duane Denison, Mac McNeilly, David Wm. Sims, and Yow as they recorded the “ditty” with Producer Paul Allen at Nashville’s Audio Eagle Studio.
“There are definitely some references to the past,” Denison says, in reference to the album, adding, “but it’s more as a point of departure: We don’t stay there.”
the Jesus Lizard reconvened in 2009 for a finite number of shows, and have spent the intervening years as both friends in close contact with one another, and touring bandmates. “We literally only made the record because we thought it would be fun to make the record,” Sims shares. With McNeilly highlighting the strong relationship amongst the musicians: “We are bonded by the music we make, and also by the respect we have for each other.”
Video created by Displaced/Replaced
Band performance footage produced and shot by Paul Allen
The band has also announced a slate of new tour dates, stretching well in to 2025, with more performances to come:
September 7 Raleigh, NC Hopscotch Music Festival
September 26 Cincinnati, OH Bogart’s - NEW DATE
September 28 Chicago, IL Warm Love Cool Dreams
October 13 Las Vegas, NV Best Friends Forever Music Festival
October 31 Dallas, TX Longhorn Ballroom
November 1 Austin, TX Levitation / The Far Out Lounge
December 9 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
December 11 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Steel
December 12 Boston, MA Roadrunner
December 13 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
December 14 Washington, DC Black Cat - SOLD OUT
December 15 Washington, DC Black Cat
December 18 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
January 7 Glasgow, UK QMU
January 8 Manchester, UK Academy 2
January 9 Leeds, UK Brudenell Social Club - SOLD OUT
January 10 Bristol, UK The Fleece - SOLD OUT
January 11 London, UK Electric Ballroom - SOLD OUT
January 12 Brighton, UK Concorde 2
January 14 Belfast, UK The Limelight
January 15 Dublin, IE Button Factory - SOLD OUT
January 16 Dublin, IE Button Factory - NEW DATE
May 2 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern
May 3 Los Angeles, CA The Fonda Theatre
May 5 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
May 8 Portland, OR Revolution Hall
May 10 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre - SOLD OUT
May 11 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre - NEW DATE
Tickets at ipecac.com/tours.
Rack track list:
1. Hide & Seek
2. Armistice Day
3. Grind
4. What If?
5. Lord Godiva
6. Alexis Feels Sick
7. Falling Down
8. Dunning Kruger
9. Moto(R)
10. Is That Your Hand?
11. Swan The Dog
Since their inception in Chicago in 1987, the Jesus Lizard has thrilled audiences all over the planet. The impeccable rocket-thrust rhythm section of bassist David Wm. Sims and drummer Mac McNeilly was the perfect launchpad for guitarist Duane Denison’s jagged yet clean-toned riffing and vocalist David Yow’s mercurial vocalizations manifesting as everything from panicked citizen, reality escapee or wounded sea mammal. The Jesus Lizard’s fury has carried on through six studio albums, two live recordings and a brace of singles and EPs, with the band’s seventh album, Rack, out this Fall via Ipecac Recordings.
instagram.com/thejesuslizardofficial
https://linktr.ee/thejesuslizard
Video directed by Jacopo Leone
“This mysterious and beautiful music by Alessandro Stefana entrances me. Its fragility and tenderness bring comfort and understanding. It reflects the unique sensitivity of its creator, who has drawn on his experience to bring this profoundly moving, and life affirming record to the world.” - Polly Jean Harvey, Executive producer
"Achingly beautiful music from my beautiful friend!" - Mike Patton
Ipecac Recordings proudly presents the eponymous solo album from the Italian composer, multi-instrumentalist and Mike Patton/Calexico collaborator, Alessandro “Asso” Stefana,
"Moonshiner" is one of the tracks from the album featuring the voice of Roscoe Holcomb, taken from the Smithsonian Folkways Archives.
Asso describes his use of the archives as “a powerful and moving testimony to a bygone era… I have always been fascinated by the idea of mixing folk, a music so intimately linked to the land, with something that goes beyond the boundaries of the genre.” One of Asso’s aims for this album was for it to feel “suspended between earth and sky” - the interplay between decades old recordings with new improvisations evokes feelings of being grounded and untethered at the same time.
The musical journey of Alessandro "Asso" Stefana, hailing from Brescia, Italy, is a compelling one, and if you’ve heard PJ Harvey’s The Hope Six Demolition Project, Mike Patton’s Mondo Cane, Calexico's El Mirador, or Micah P. Hinson's I Lie to You, Penguin Cafe's Rain Before Seven..., or listened to Guano Padano’s output on Ipecac, you’ll have encountered him.
This album sees Asso perform an eclectic array of instruments and in varying genres, borrowing from rootsy folk and primitive blues to soundtracks, psychedelia, desert ballads and ambient explorations. He also dives into the Smithsonian Folkways archives, repurposing the voice of Roscoe Holcomb to create poignant interplay between past and present.
Each track across the album fades in and out like a sonic vignette or fragments of emotion situated in sound. A variety of instruments from different epochs emerge on the album, blending together in musical alchemy. From relatively obscure or nearly forgotten instruments of the early 1900s, such as the Marxophone, to pedal steel and lap steel guitars, tape echoes, psychedelic organs and folk fingerpicking.
Check out an "Introduction" playlist of songs that Asso has recorded and appeared on at asso.lnk.to/intro
TRACK LISTING:
1 - FADING AWAY
2 - FAREWELL TO DUST
3 - OUT OF THE BLUE
4 - THE WANDERING MINSTREL
5 - THE HOUSE
6 - BORN AND RAISED IN COVINGTON (FT. ROSCOE HOLCOMB)
7 - I AM A MAN OF CONSTANT SORROW (FT. ROSCOE HOLCOMB)
8 - MOONSHINER (FT. ROSCOE HOLCOMB)
9 - CONTINENTAL SPAZIO
instagram.com/alessandro_asso_stefana
facebook.com/assostefana
Director, DP: Hassan Abdul-Wahid (@hassandirectorofphotography)
Camera Operators: Derek Edwards & Cameron Hill
Check out the previous videos for "Smart Mouth" (youtu.be/ZqLZGtGjj3o) and "I Won't Work For You" (youtu.be/14Isw1S2OcQ)
CNTS feature guitarist/producer Mike Crain (Dead Cross, Retox, Festival of Dead Deer), drummer Kevin Avery (Retox, Planet B), and vocalist Matt Cronk (Qui), Thoughts & Prayers marks a significant comeback for the band. Following a devastating car accident that tragically resulted in the loss of Cronk's voice, casting doubts over the future of CNTS, the band's existence, and Cronk's career, were both in jeopardy. Defying medical expectations, Cronk experienced a remarkable recovering when his damaged vocal cord began to heal. Within just two months, he regained his voice, paving the way for the resurrection of CNTS.
Thoughts & Prayers track list:
1. I Won’t Work For You
2. Thoughts & Prayers
3. Smart Mouth
4. Dear Sir
5. For A Good Time (Don’t Call Her)
6. Alone
7. Eating You Alive
8. Real Truth
9. Junkie
10. Drown
CNTS ON TOUR
May. 23, 2024 LOUISVILLE, KY Portal
May. 27, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS, MN Caterwaul Festival
May. 30, 2024 KALAMAZOO, MI The Runoff
more dates coming soon!
http://cntsla.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/cntsla
http://www.tiktok.com/@cnts_la
“This mysterious and beautiful music by Alessandro Stefana entrances me. Its fragility and tenderness bring comfort and understanding. It reflects the unique sensitivity of its creator, who has drawn on his experience to bring this profoundly moving, and life affirming record to the world.” - Polly Jean Harvey, Executive producer
"Achingly beautiful music from my beautiful friend!" - Mike Patton
Ipecac Recordings proudly presents the eponymous solo album from the Italian composer, multi-instrumentalist and Mike Patton/Calexico collaborator, Alessandro “Asso” Stefana,
The musical journey of Alessandro "Asso" Stefana, hailing from Brescia, Italy, is a compelling one, and if you’ve heard PJ Harvey’s The Hope Six Demolition Project, Mike Patton’s Mondo Cane, Calexico's El Mirador, or Micah P. Hinson's I Lie to You, Penguin Cafe's Rain Before Seven..., or listened to Guano Padano’s output on Ipecac, you’ll have encountered him.
This album sees Asso perform an eclectic array of instruments and in varying genres, borrowing from rootsy folk and primitive blues to soundtracks, psychedelia, desert ballads and ambient explorations. He also dives into the Smithsonian Folkways archives, repurposing the voice of Roscoe Holcomb to create poignant interplay between past and present.
Today, we share the track "The House" from the album.
Each track across the album fades in and out like a sonic vignette or fragments of emotion situated in sound. A variety of instruments from different epochs emerge on the album, blending together in musical alchemy. From relatively obscure or nearly forgotten instruments of the early 1900s, such as the Marxophone, to pedal steel and lap steel guitars, tape echoes, psychedelic organs and folk fingerpicking.
On the second half of the record Roscoe Holcomb’s voice appears, taken from the precious Smithsonian Folkways archives. “It is a powerful and moving testimony to a bygone era… I have always been fascinated by the idea of mixing folk, a music so intimately linked to the land, with something that goes beyond the boundaries of the genre.” One of Asso’s aims for this album was for it to feel “suspended between earth and sky” - the interplay between decades old recordings with new improvisations evokes feelings of being grounded and untethered at the same time.
TRACK LISTING:
1 - FADING AWAY
2 - FAREWELL TO DUST
3 - OUT OF THE BLUE
4 - THE WANDERING MINSTREL
5 - THE HOUSE
6 - BORN AND RAISED IN COVINGTON
7 - I AM A MAN OF CONSTANT SORROW
8 - MOONSHINER
9 - CONTINENTAL SPAZIO
instagram.com/alessandro_asso_stefana
facebook.com/assostefana
Directed by Anthony Ciannamea (@effixx)
Watch all the videos from Venera's debut album at youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM3riCfjHlm-7Tf__-v5oMjw8RRv6vPax
The last gasps of all kind // Blackwaters lapping at bloodwaters
Stream, download or buy the album on CD, as well as an assortment of vinyl, including limited-edition red, snowy white and skull gold variants
VENERA TRACK LIST:
1. Alignment
2. Erosion (ft. Deantoni Parks)
3. Ochre (ft. HEALTH)
4. Swarm
5. Disintegration (ft. Deantoni Parks)
6. Hologram (ft. VOWWS)
7. Surrender
8. Triangle (ft. Alain Johannes)
9. Helium
L.A.-based James Shaffer and Atlanta-based Chris Hunt converged in early 2022 in Downtown Los Angeles while working on songs for singer Xhoana X. Their kindred interest and backgrounds in dramatic texture, electronics and experimentation inspired an improvisation-based recording process which seeks to explore a sonic universe defined by evolving atmosphere, cinematic noise and select collaborations with other artists.
Tarantula Heart is available on a trio of vinyl variants (black, indie exclusive Silver Streak and Ipecac Recordings’ 25th Anniversary Puke Green), featuring a 12-page booklet, as well as on CD and digitally.
“An album so magical, I helped create it without knowing it was happening. It’s definitely the weirdest album I’ve ever been a part of.” - Steven McDonald
The Melvins latest opus, Tarantula Heart , is quite possibly the band’s most unconventional and imaginative work yet, but also some of their catchiest, continuing a legacy celebrated for its eccentric and extraordinary output.
“The way we approached Tarantula Heart was different than any other Melvins’ album,” explains Buzz Osborne. “I had Dale and Roy Mayorga come in and play along with Steven and I to some riffs, then I took those sessions and figured out what parts would work and wrote new music to fit. This isn’t a studio approach we’ve ever taken. Usually we have the songs written BEFORE we start recording!”
“The majority of Tarantula Heart has dual drum parts,” adds long-time Melvins drummer Dale Crover. “Roy is an amazing drummer. We would discuss what we would do pattern wise, then we’d just go for it. Improvising riffs and trading off on drum fills.”
Recorded, mixed and co-produced by longtime Melvins’ collaborator Toshi Kasai, the album also features We Are The Asteroid guitar player Gary Chester. Gary and the Melvins’ history goes back to their days on Boner Records, with the guitar player formerly having been a part of the legendary band, Ed Hall.
Buzz and Bungle bass player Trevor Dunn team up later this year for the “King Dunn Tour,” a 45-date excursion that sees the pair play songs from the King Buzzo releases: This Machine Kills Artists and Gift of Sacrifice. The full list of dates can be found via Ipecac.com/tours.
Tarantula Heart cover, artwork by Mackie Osborne
Tarantula Heart track list:
1. Pain Equals Funny
2. Working the Ditch
3. She’s Got Weird Arms
4. Allergic to Food
5. Smiler
The Melvins are one of modern music’s most influential bands. Having formed in 1983 Montesano, Washington, the group founded by singer/guitar player Buzz Osborne (with stalwart drummer Dale Crover joining the following year), has been credited with merging the worlds of punk rock and heavy music, forming a new subgenre all its own. Over the band’s 40-plus-year history, they’ve released over 30 original albums, numerous live full-lengths and far too many to count singles and rarities. Recent releases include 2021’s 36-track acoustic collection Five Legged Dog, featuring reinterpretations of some of the band’s heaviest songs as well as covers from their favorite artists. In the course of their discography, they've partnered with Jello Biafra, Mudhoney, and Fantômas for individual releases and toured the world many times over. In fact, the band had the misfortune to be in both Christchurch and Tokyo for their 2011 earthquakes. In 2012, the Melvins completed the “51 States in 51 Days” (50 states +DC) tour, which was chronicled in the film “Across The USA in 51 Days.” The current incarnation of the band is Osborne, Crover, and Steven McDonald (Redd Kross). Previous line-ups include a pairing of Osborne and Crover with Big Business band members Jared Warren and Coady Willis, a four-piece featuring the current trio plus Butthole Surfers’ Jeff Pinkus, as well as Melvins Lite, which partners Osborne and Crover with Mr. Bungle’s Trevor Dunn. Sometimes, if you’re extra lucky, one version of the Melvins will open for the Melvins.
http://www.facebook.com/melvinsarmy
http://www.twitter.com/melvinsdotcom
http://www.instagram.com/melvinsdotcom
http://www.facebook.com/ipecac
http://www.twitter.com/ipecacrec
http://www.ipecac.com
Un Film De Zev Deans, Adam Espino & Wolf Tijuana
"A haunting deconstruction of french new wave's 'Last Year At Marienbad', via the cultural toilet bowl that is Artificial Intelligence." - Zev Deans
About the video, Eugene S. Robinson comments, "I hear other artists complain about AI like it's going to make us go broke when it steals our 'jobs'. But with "The Second Talk" we've upended the table. Besides which we were already broke, as well as broken, and the video is a perfect reflection of that based as it is one of my favorite movies of all time: Last Year at Marienbad."
Niko Wenner adds, "The music for “The Second Talk” began like other songs on Love’s Holiday, improvising on my father’s old nylon-string guitar to entertain my baby boy. My dad played that guitar singing folk songs for my mom and us kids, “The fox went out on the town one night” etc. He said the guitar had been given to him by Ry Cooder’s mother, when long ago they worked together at UCLA hospital in Los Angeles. It’s fitting somehow that this video references a French film - L'Année dernière à Marienbad - my Francophone mother would talk about, released about when that guitar came into our family. My son and his mother, my French wife Céline, both hold duel French and U.S. citizenship, she just earned the U.S. part. Of course, an Oxbow song needs a grinding slide-guitar - my old white strat - with a fever-vision video by the Terror Trio, Le Trio de la Terreur, or perhaps better, « Trio Terroir? » May our play, entertain you all. Que notre jeu vous divertisse tous."
Watch all the Oxbow videos from Love's Holiday at youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM3riCfjHlm-uO8-ER6uz3flkUAau32Li
OXBOW LIVE DATES
Sunday, June 16, 2024 CH Zurich X-tra w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Monday, June 17, 2024 IT Milan Magnolia w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Tuesday, June 18, 2024 DE Munich Feierwerk
Wednesday, June 19, 2024 DE Berlin Huxleys w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Friday, June 21, 2024 FR Bourlon Rock In Bourlon
Saturday, June 22, 2024 NL Den Haag Paard
Sunday, June 23, 2024 LUX Luxembourg Atelier w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Monday, June 24, 2024 NL Tilburg O13 w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 DE Karlsruhe Jubez
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 CH Geneva Cave12
Thursday, June 27, 2024 FR Gigors-et-Lozeron CBGC
Friday, June 28, 2024 FR Pau La Ferronnerie
Saturday, June 29, 2024 FR Clisson Hellfest w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Sunday, June 30, 2024 FR Paris Petit Bain
OXBOW is Dan Adams (electrical/acoustic bass), Greg Davis (drums/percussion), Eugene S. Robinson (vocals), and Niko Wenner (guitars/pianos). The San Francisco-born band have released seven studio albums since their inception in 1988, with Pitchfork saying the foursome have released “some of the most eccentric heavy music albums ever.”
http://www.theoxbow.com
http://oxbowofficial.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/oxbowtheband
Video directed by Meriel O’Connell
Matt Cronk shares the story behind the song: “’I Won’t Work For You’ was inspired by the talking point being bandied about, mostly by conservatives, that ‘nobody wants to work anymore’ after having collected unemployment during the lockdown. I think a more accurate way to frame that is that nobody wants to work for people who treat them badly. Nobody wants to work without the expectation of fair pay and dignity. Nobody wants to work for the sole purpose of enriching someone else, and nor should they! Work sucks. I think a lot of people, myself included, are inspired to find more equitable means of supporting themselves or at least expect more from their employers.”
Michael Crain adds, very succinctly: “Bosses suck.”
The video, directed by Meriel O’Connell, who also crafted the band’s “Smart Mouth” clip, was filmed at a pizza joint where Michael Crain worked. During tough times, Crain occasionally treated Cronk to a free slice.
Watch the video for "Smart Mouth" at youtu.be/ZqLZGtGjj3o
CNTS feature guitarist/producer Mike Crain (Dead Cross, Retox, Festival of Dead Deer), drummer Kevin Avery (Retox, Planet B), and vocalist Matt Cronk (Qui), Thoughts & Prayers marks a significant comeback for the band. Following a devastating car accident that tragically resulted in the loss of Cronk's voice, casting doubts over the future of CNTS, the band's existence, and Cronk's career, were both in jeopardy. Defying medical expectations, Cronk experienced a remarkable recovering when his damaged vocal cord began to heal. Within just two months, he regained his voice, paving the way for the resurrection of CNTS.
Thoughts & Prayers track list:
1. I Won’t Work For You
2. Thoughts & Prayers
3. Smart Mouth
4. Dear Sir
5. For A Good Time (Don’t Call Her)
6. Alone
7. Eating You Alive
8. Real Truth
9. Junkie
10. Drown
CNTS ON TOUR
Mar. 1, 2024 LAS VEGAS, NV The Dive Bar
Mar. 2, 2024 BAKERSFIELD, CA 415
Mar. 4, 2024 SEATTLE, WA Fun House
Mar. 5, 2024 PORTLAND, OR Polaris Hall
Mar. 6, 2024 BEND, OR The Silver Moon
Mar. 7, 2024 SACRAMENTO, CA Cafe Colonial
Mar. 8, 2024 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Kilowatt Bar
Mar. 9, 2024 FRESNO, CA Destructive Warehouse
Mar. 10, 2024 POMONA, CA Characters Bar (Early Show)
Mar. 10, 2024 LONG BEACH, CA Supply & Demand (Late Show)
Mar. 23, 2024 LOS ANGELES, CA Poor Kids Mansion w/ Cancer Christ
May. 23, 2024 LOUISVILLE, KY Portal
May. 27, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS, MN Caterwaul Festival
May. 30, 2024 KALAMAZOO, MI The Runoff
VIDEO CAST
Director: Meriel O’Connell @merieloconnell
Director of Photography: Sarah Rattay-Maloney @sarattay
1AC: Paolo Arriola @paolotheandal
2AC: Mikaela Thorne @mikaelaxthorne
Steadicam Op: Ed Hill @e3hill
Gaffer: Drew Bienneman @omgdlb
Key Grip: Camilo Godoy @camilogodoydp
Grip: Eddie Sleven @eddiesleven
Grip/swing: Topher Hammond @topherhammond
Makeup: Heather Galipo @_crowjane_
Auto Shop Boss: Tad Yenawine
Pizza Place Boss: Paul Bateman @paul.v.bateman
Customers:
Tabitha Schaubhut @beniceorfuckoffalittle
Johnny Hassle @johnny.hassle.tay
Spencer Cadigan
Lucy Cooper @lucyfuckingcooper
Gil Young @gilxrist
Liz Walton @shemakesithappen
Chris Rodriguez
Andres Martinez
Emmanuel @watch_me_crumble
Cassandra Barnett
Kelly Weaver
http://cntsla.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/cntsla
http://www.tiktok.com/@cnts_la
Fan Video by: adios from everywhere
IG @adiosfromeverywhere
Alchemy For The Dead tracklist:
1. Beyond The Broken Sky
2. The Alchemist
3. Sunset Burial
4. Algorithmic
5. False Gods
6. Repeat The Silence
7. Ballad In The Mirror
8. Crawling Toward The Light
9. Alchemy For The Dead
Spotlights is Mario Quintero (guitar, vocals, keys), Sarah Quintero (bass, vocals) and Chris Enriquez (drums). The band has released three albums to date: Tidals (2016), Seismic (2018) and Love & Decay (2019). Consequence praised their “unique amalgam of sounds that is both heavy and heavenly,” Brooklyn Vegan said Spotlights “balances the pretty with metallic sludge,” and Invisible Oranges said they thrive “on the ambient and krautrock inspired edges of post-metal.” In the wake of their 2020 EP We Are All Atomic, Kerrang! observed, “That a band as heavy and romantic as Spotlights have become a fixture in the rock scene Is impressive; that they’ve done it in such a short period of time is tremendous.”
spotlights.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/spotlightsmusic
facebook.com/spotlightsband
twitter.com/spotlightsband
Directed by Anthony Ciannamea (@effixx)
Watch all the videos from Venera's debut album at youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM3riCfjHlm-7Tf__-v5oMjw8RRv6vPax
Stream, download or buy the album on CD, as well as an assortment of vinyl, including limited-edition red, snowy white and skull gold variants
VENERA TRACK LIST:
1. Alignment
2. Erosion (ft. Deantoni Parks)
3. Ochre (ft. HEALTH)
4. Swarm
5. Disintegration (ft. Deantoni Parks)
6. Hologram (ft. VOWWS)
7. Surrender
8. Triangle (ft. Alain Johannes)
9. Helium
L.A.-based James Shaffer and Atlanta-based Chris Hunt converged in early 2022 in Downtown Los Angeles while working on songs for singer Xhoana X. Their kindred interest and backgrounds in dramatic texture, electronics and experimentation inspired an improvisation-based recording process which seeks to explore a sonic universe defined by evolving atmosphere, cinematic noise and select collaborations with other artists.
Directed by Jesse Nieminen
Tarantula Heart is available on a trio of vinyl variants (black, indie exclusive Silver Streak and Ipecac Recordings’ 25th Anniversary Puke Green), featuring a 12-page booklet, as well as on CD and digitally.
“An album so magical, I helped create it without knowing it was happening. It’s definitely the weirdest album I’ve ever been a part of.” - Steven McDonald
The Melvins latest opus, Tarantula Heart , is quite possibly the band’s most unconventional and imaginative work yet, but also some of their catchiest, continuing a legacy celebrated for its eccentric and extraordinary output.
“The way we approached Tarantula Heart was different than any other Melvins’ album,” explains Buzz Osborne. “I had Dale and Roy Mayorga come in and play along with Steven and I to some riffs, then I took those sessions and figured out what parts would work and wrote new music to fit. This isn’t a studio approach we’ve ever taken. Usually we have the songs written BEFORE we start recording!”
“The majority of Tarantula Heart has dual drum parts,” adds long-time Melvins drummer Dale Crover. “Roy is an amazing drummer. We would discuss what we would do pattern wise, then we’d just go for it. Improvising riffs and trading off on drum fills.”
In actuality nothing appeared out of thin air. Buzz spent hours and hours with the drum tracks by himself writing songs to what he was hearing drum wise. “When the rest of the band heard these songs I’d created from the sessions, they were blown away,” Buzz shares. “These were fully developed new songs that they’d never heard before that had seemingly appeared out of thin air. Presto!”
Recorded, mixed and co-produced by longtime Melvins’ collaborator Toshi Kasai, the album also features We Are The Asteroid guitar player Gary Chester. Gary and the Melvins’ history goes back to their days on Boner Records, with the guitar player formerly having been a part of the legendary band, Ed Hall.
Next month sees the Melvins head overseas, playing in Japan for the first time since 2019 following a stint where they join current labelmates, Mr. Bungle, for a trek across Australia and New Zealand. Buzz and Bungle bass player Trevor Dunn team up later this year for the “King Dunn Tour,” a 45-date excursion that sees the pair play songs from the King Buzzo releases: This Machine Kills Artists and Gift of Sacrifice. The full list of dates can be found via Ipecac.com/tours.
Tarantula Heart cover, artwork by Mackie Osborne
Tarantula Heart track list:
1. Pain Equals Funny
2. Working the Ditch
3. She’s Got Weird Arms
4. Allergic to Food
5. Smiler
The Melvins are one of modern music’s most influential bands. Having formed in 1983 Montesano, Washington, the group founded by singer/guitar player Buzz Osborne (with stalwart drummer Dale Crover joining the following year), has been credited with merging the worlds of punk rock and heavy music, forming a new subgenre all its own. Over the band’s 40-plus-year history, they’ve released over 30 original albums, numerous live full-lengths and far too many to count singles and rarities. Recent releases include 2021’s 36-track acoustic collection Five Legged Dog, featuring reinterpretations of some of the band’s heaviest songs as well as covers from their favorite artists. In the course of their discography, they've partnered with Jello Biafra, Mudhoney, and Fantômas for individual releases and toured the world many times over. In fact, the band had the misfortune to be in both Christchurch and Tokyo for their 2011 earthquakes. In 2012, the Melvins completed the “51 States in 51 Days” (50 states +DC) tour, which was chronicled in the film “Across The USA in 51 Days.” The current incarnation of the band is Osborne, Crover, and Steven McDonald (Redd Kross). Previous line-ups include a pairing of Osborne and Crover with Big Business band members Jared Warren and Coady Willis, a four-piece featuring the current trio plus Butthole Surfers’ Jeff Pinkus, as well as Melvins Lite, which partners Osborne and Crover with Mr. Bungle’s Trevor Dunn. Sometimes, if you’re extra lucky, one version of the Melvins will open for the Melvins.
http://www.facebook.com/melvinsarmy
http://www.twitter.com/melvinsdotcom
http://www.instagram.com/melvinsdotcom
http://www.facebook.com/ipecac
http://www.twitter.com/ipecacrec
http://www.ipecac.com
Directed by Anthony Ciannamea (@effixx)
Into rapid devolution of carnal information. Disordered cylindrical intention resets all needs.
Watch all the videos from Venera's debut album at youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM3riCfjHlm-7Tf__-v5oMjw8RRv6vPax
Stream, download or buy the album on CD, as well as an assortment of vinyl, including limited-edition red, snowy white and skull gold variants
VENERA TRACK LIST:
1. Alignment
2. Erosion (ft. Deantoni Parks)
3. Ochre (ft. HEALTH)
4. Swarm
5. Disintegration (ft. Deantoni Parks)
6. Hologram (ft. VOWWS)
7. Surrender
8. Triangle (ft. Alain Johannes)
9. Helium
L.A.-based James Shaffer and Atlanta-based Chris Hunt converged in early 2022 in Downtown Los Angeles while working on songs for singer Xhoana X. Their kindred interest and backgrounds in dramatic texture, electronics and experimentation inspired an improvisation-based recording process which seeks to explore a sonic universe defined by evolving atmosphere, cinematic noise and select collaborations with other artists.
Video directed by Meriel O’Connell
CNTS are back!
Featuring guitarist/producer Mike Crain (Dead Cross, Retox, Festival of Dead Deer), drummer Kevin Avery (Retox, Planet B), and vocalist Matt Cronk (Qui), Thoughts & Prayers marks a significant comeback for the band. Following a devastating car accident that tragically resulted in the loss of Cronk's voice, casting doubts over the future of CNTS, the band's existence, and Cronk's career, were both in jeopardy. Defying medical expectations, Cronk experienced a remarkable recovering when his damaged vocal cord began to heal. Within just two months, he regained his voice, paving the way for the resurrection of CNTS.
“We got together and ran through a song and it sounded good. We kept playing and my voice held up, sounded cool, and we all felt good playing together. It was immediately clear that we could do it again, that we’d really missed playing together and we wanted to do it,” says Cronk. “Personally, the experience was a significant marker in my recovery. I got a little teary after that first song.”
Reinvigorated by Cronk’s recovery, CNTS spent the rest of the year hard at work on their new record, Thoughts & Prayers, the title inspired by the banality of our collective reaction to crises. With a great deal of inspiration from their recent challenges, CNTS channeled several years of frustration and hardship into the well-articulated and aggressive statement that became the 10-song collection. Such tracks include “Smart Mouth” and “Thoughts & Prayers,” which both chronicle Cronk’s pain and anger throughout his various injuries and subsequent recovery. “I Won’t Work For You” and “Eating You Alive” deal with the inequity inherent in modern life, while “For A Good Time (Don’t Call Her)” is a screed about the age-old theme of fighting with one’s romantic partner.
Crain adds: “I really wanted to have SONGS on this record. Hooks. Choruses. Shit I listen to. In all times of confusion or indecision during the making of this album we’d stop and ask ourselves… What would AC/DC do?”
Equal parts catharsis and blood-letting, CNTS as a live entity is an unapologetic display of rage and sex, of belligerence and contempt, a warm gob of spit in the eye, all done with a sarcastic smile. The future belongs to CNTS.
CNTS play the Caterwaul Music Festival (Minneapolis) in May, with more shows to be announced soon.
Thoughts & Prayers track list:
1. I Won’t Work For You
2. Thoughts & Prayers
3. Smart Mouth
4. Dear Sir
5. For A Good Time (Don’t Call Her)
6. Alone
7. Eating You Alive
8. Real Truth
9. Junkie
10. Drown
VIDEO CREDITS
Director: Meriel O’Connell @merieloconnell
Director of Photography: Sarah Rattay-Maloney @sarattay
Steadicam Operator: Krisel Magaña @_kris_muahaha
1AC: Paolo Arriola @paolotheandal
2AC: Ness Bivins @lilnessyvonne & Chris Tse @tse.whaaat
Key Grip: Luke Poole @lukeatmenow
Sunbathing Girl 1: Madison Abbott @madison.abbott
Sunbathing Girl 2: Alyssa Vance @alyssavance_
Little Girl: Dottie Wager @keithwager
Picture Car: James Duran @deathbyjames
Colorist: Rafaim Correia @rafaim_
http://cntsla.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/cntsla
http://www.tiktok.com/@cnts_la
Directed by John Levy
Watch all the Oxbow videos from Love's Holiday at youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM3riCfjHlm-uO8-ER6uz3flkUAau32Li
"Million Dollar Weekend" is the latest entry into the band's cinematic videos from their album, Love's Holiday (released last autumn and appearing on multiple albums of the year listings including Metal Hammer magazine and New Noise Magazine in France).
About this track and video, Eugene S Robinson says; “One of my favorite songs on the record and maybe one of the oldest it was a total joy to have John Levy capture on video what used to be Friday for me. When this was being filmed initially I was going under the knife…which is to say I’d have been happy to have this be my last will and testament if, heaven forbid, I’d have not pulled through surgery.”
Niko Wenner adds, "A Pacific seaside motel I’d always wanted to visit, and a creepy af brutalist amphitheater in the woods that gave me the shivers when I first chanced on it. Scenes for what may have been a wild, hazy, lost weekend. Director John Levy has crafted a dreamy noir-mare of moods you too may recognise as hidden somewhere deep in your memory. Gathering the props for this one was particularly fun.
Wenner continues, "My circa 2002 song demo is simply classical guitar and voice, our band recording on Love’s Holiday made with Joe Chiccarelli adds orchestrated sections of a fortified Pierrot ensemble including old friend Kyle Bruckmann on oboe. Enjoy!"
OXBOW LIVE DATES
Sunday, June 16, 2024 CH Zurich X-tra w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Monday, June 17, 2024 IT Milan Magnolia w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Tuesday, June 18, 2024 DE Munich Feierwerk
Wednesday, June 19, 2024 DE Berlin Huxleys w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Friday, June 21, 2024 FR Bourlon Rock In Bourlon
Saturday, June 22, 2024 NL Den Haag Paard
Sunday, June 23, 2024 LUX Luxembourg Atelier w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Monday, June 24, 2024 NL Tilburg O13 w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 DE Karlsruhe Jubez
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 CH Geneva Cave12
Thursday, June 27, 2024 FR Gigors-et-Lozeron CBGC
Friday, June 28, 2024 FR Pau La Ferronnerie
Saturday, June 29, 2024 FR Clisson Hellfest w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Sunday, June 30, 2024 FR Paris Petit Bain
OXBOW is Dan Adams (electrical/acoustic bass), Greg Davis (drums/percussion), Eugene S. Robinson (vocals), and Niko Wenner (guitars/pianos). The San Francisco-born band have released seven studio albums since their inception in 1988, with Pitchfork saying the foursome have released “some of the most eccentric heavy music albums ever.”
http://www.theoxbow.com
http://oxbowofficial.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/oxbowtheband
Directed by Anthony Ciannamea (@effixx) and Samanta García (@dark___mesh on IG, @samantagarciap on X)
In the sights of the death-defining orifictional tension core
Watch the previously released videos for “Swarm”, “Hologram” ft Rizz from VOWWS, "Disintegration" ft Deantoni Parks (The Mars Volta, John Cale), "Ochre" featuring Jacob from HEALTH and "Triangle" ft Alain Johannes at youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM3riCfjHlm-7Tf__-v5oMjw8RRv6vPax
Stream, download or buy the album on CD, as well as an assortment of vinyl, including limited-edition red, snowy white and skull gold variants
VENERA TRACK LIST:
1. Alignment
2. Erosion (ft. Deantoni Parks)
3. Ochre (ft. HEALTH)
4. Swarm
5. Disintegration (ft. Deantoni Parks)
6. Hologram (ft. VOWWS)
7. Surrender
8. Triangle (ft. Alain Johannes)
9. Helium
L.A.-based James Shaffer and Atlanta-based Chris Hunt converged in early 2022 in Downtown Los Angeles while working on songs for singer Xhoana X. Their kindred interest and backgrounds in dramatic texture, electronics and experimentation inspired an improvisation-based recording process which seeks to explore a sonic universe defined by evolving atmosphere, cinematic noise and select collaborations with other artists.
Directed by Samanta García (@dark___mesh instagram, @samantagarciap twitter)
Additional Post-Production by Anthony Ciannamea (@effixx)
"We were so excited to hear that Alain was going to be contributing to our album. His sense of melody is so unique – it felt perfect for this, and I’ve been a fan of his for years. When we heard what he had done over the track, we were so impressed with his performance. We knew he had captured this moment, and this legend!” - James Shaffer
"Singing on “Triangle” with Venera was a real treat. The atmosphere immediately inspired and guided the melody and mood and I loved exploring to find a resonant vocal quality and imagery. One of my favorite collaborations." - Alain Johannes
"In the Triangle video you are under a spell, being devoured, stripped down, inevitably modified by strange technology" - Samanta Garcia
"Into the circle triangling,” a doom-looped vox narrates. “All we have been is now divided.”
You know you’ve heard these words before. Traced into your brainstem like acid pins.
Each thought fields its own tombstone. You wish you could remember how it felt to live.
“Into the triangle circling,” the vox replies, forming a loop, “All we could lose is now decided."
Watch the previously released videos for “Swarm”, “Hologram” featuring Rizz from VOWWS, "Disintegration" featuring Deantoni Parks (The Mars Volta, John Cale) and "Ochre" featuring Jacob from HEALTH at youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM3riCfjHlm-7Tf__-v5oMjw8RRv6vPax
Stream, download or buy the album on CD, as well as an assortment of vinyl, including limited-edition red, snowy white and skull gold variants
VENERA TRACK LIST:
1. Alignment
2. Erosion (ft. Deantoni Parks)
3. Ochre (ft. HEALTH)
4. Swarm
5. Disintegration (ft. Deantoni Parks)
6. Hologram (ft. VOWWS)
7. Surrender
8. Triangle (ft. Alain Johannes)
9. Helium
L.A.-based James Shaffer and Atlanta-based Chris Hunt converged in early 2022 in Downtown Los Angeles while working on songs for singer Xhoana X. Their kindred interest and backgrounds in dramatic texture, electronics and experimentation inspired an improvisation-based recording process which seeks to explore a sonic universe defined by evolving atmosphere, cinematic noise and select collaborations with other artists.
*the vinyl reissue does not contain this song
Mike said of the release and single, "Peeping Tom was a blast to make. For me, the best part of being a musician is the collaborative process. It gave me the chance to work with so many friends and musicians I admire. I'm always tempted to go back for a second round. It was also one of the few projects that I worked on where not everything ended up on the record. It's nice to be able to share "Pre-School Love Affair" with more people. At the time, I just couldn't find a place for it on the record that made sense.”
***********
In keeping with the landmark 1960 psychological horror film that inspired its name, PEEPING TOM had its genesis as a modus operandi devoid of physical intimacy. Mike Patton would write songs with a wishlist of theoretical collaborators in mind, then hope for a reply in the form of a finished track. "It's an exotic way of working for someone accustomed to a band environment," Patton says. "It was charming, really. None of the usual Animal House stuff. Instead of swapping spit and underwear, we were swapping files."
Lack of face-to-face interaction did not keep long-distance collaborators from turning in exceptional performances: Norah Jones' lascivious "Sucker," Kool Keith's "Getaway" and Massive Attack's "Kill The DJ" are intense and passionate as anything a live band environment could have produced-despite the fact that Patton has still never met Jones or Keith. "Plenty of people on the record are still complete strangers to me," he says.
The initial PEEPING TOM offering also includes contributions from Amon Tobin, Bebel Gilberto, DubTrio, Kid Koala, Dale Crover, Rahzel and several of Patton's Bay Area running buddies, such as Dan "the Automator" Nakamura, and Jel, Odd Nosdam and Dose One of hip hop collective anticon. The end result is an utterly unique multi-genre/multi-artist departure from Patton's more recent noisy output-one that would ultimately have to be classified as a pop record, alas a Mike Patton pop record, but a pop record nonetheless.
"I don't listen to the radio, but if I did, this is what I'd want it to sound like. This is my version of pop music. In a way, this is an exercise for me: taking all these things I've learned over the years and putting them into a pop format. I've worked with many people who have said to me, 'oh you have a pop record in you, eventually you'll find it,' and I always laughed at them. I guess I owe them an apology."
Director-Filmmaker-Editor: Annapaola Martin
Assistant: Xabier Iriondo
Special thanks to Chris Holden
" If you listen to it, Gunwale is a sound wave that drags you away. If you look at it, Gunwale is a journey on the surface of the water, on the border between our reality and the world of abyss, where all of our dreams and fears live. Three men are trying to capture the stranger who comes from the sea: who’s the Watcher that can see everything?" - Annapaola Martin
"I would record my improvised singing to each of my newborn kids going to sleep or when they would wake predawn needing a diaper or a bottle. Listening later I realized I was at concert pitch, oddly in-tune with the piano there in the dark, often straight from sleep. A real discovery after a lifetime of singing. This particular melody which became the song “Gunwale,” sung to my intently focused baby boy one early morning in 2018, fit a D Major blues. I arranged the melody for a 15 voice mixed choir and we recorded two layers in the studio. We had used our final bass, drums, and guitar take, the only one with an extended improv at the end. Protools crashed midway in the first vocal take so we had to restart from there; the final choir chord gave me a shiver of pleasure hearing it sung in the studio the first time. One of my favorite moments on Love’s Holiday." - Niko Wenner
"Gunwale and the gerund form “gunwaling” describes a trick that you use when/if you’ve lost your paddles and it sees you standing at the boat’s stern ON the stern and moving the boat by squatting and then standing. The lyric itself? Nothing at all to do with that. And yet it does.” - Eugene S. Robinson
OXBOW LIVE DATES
Sunday, June 16, 2024 CH Zurich X-tra w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Monday, June 17, 2024 IT Milan Magnolia w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Tuesday, June 18, 2024 DE Munich Feierwerk
Wednesday, June 19, 2024 DE Berlin Huxleys w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Friday, June 21, 2024 FR Bourlon Rock In Bourlon
Saturday, June 22, 2024 NL Den Haag Paard
Sunday, June 23, 2024 LUX Luxembourg Atelier w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Monday, June 24, 2024 NL Tilburg O13 w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 DE Karlsruhe Jubez
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 CH Geneva Cave12
Thursday, June 27, 2024 FR Gigors-et-Lozeron CBGC
Friday, June 28, 2024 FR Pau La Ferronnerie
Love’s Holiday track listing:
1. Dead Ahead
2. Icy White & Crystalline
3. Lovely Murk
4. 1000 Hours
5. All Gone
6. The Night The Room Started Burning
7. “ “
8. Million Dollar Weekend
9. The Second Talk
10. Gunwale
OXBOW is Dan Adams (electrical/acoustic bass), Greg Davis (drums/percussion), Eugene S. Robinson (vocals), and Niko Wenner (guitars/pianos). The San Francisco-born band have released seven studio albums since their inception in 1988, with Pitchfork saying the foursome have released “some of the most eccentric heavy music albums ever.”
http://www.theoxbow.com
http://oxbowofficial.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/oxbowtheband
directed by EFFIXX (@effixx)
additional figure design by samanta garcia (@dark___mesh)
“Ochre came early on in the recording process of the album. For me, it recalls a beast stealthily moving through a dark space, or a strange ritual unfolding in moonlight.” - Chris Hunt
"It was refreshing to contribute to a track that is focused on creating atmosphere and feeling rather than simply capitulating to the endless regurgitation of standard verse/chorus structure. It is grounding to reconnect to the building blocks of music making that are elemental and emotional, and I wish I got to do it more often.” - Jake Duzsik from HEALTH
Lyrics:
Trust
Too much trouble
Hearts like open sores
You want
Too much trouble
Hearts like open sores
So I’ve been living alone
Cruel to love
Cruel to want to love
To love
No one now
Sees their form
No one else
Nothing
No one now
Sees their form
No one now
Sees beyond
Grown apart
Too much damage
Grown apart
Too much to salvage
We’ll both return to nothing
We all return to nothing
Check out the previously released videos for
“Swarm” - youtu.be/6AVrME4fRgo
“Hologram” featuring Rizz from VOWWS - youtu.be/x2OIHW7bH5U
Disintegration" featuring Deantoni Parks (The Mars Volta, John Cale) - youtu.be/ZS7otxuUGZM
Stream, download or buy the album on CD, as well as an assortment of vinyl, including limited-edition red, snowy white and skull gold variants
VENERA TRACK LIST:
1. Alignment
2. Erosion (ft. Deantoni Parks)
3. Ochre (ft. HEALTH)
4. Swarm
5. Disintegration (ft. Deantoni Parks)
6. Hologram (ft. VOWWS)
7. Surrender
8. Triangle (ft. Alain Johannes)
9. Helium
L.A.-based James Shaffer and Atlanta-based Chris Hunt converged in early 2022 in Downtown Los Angeles while working on songs for singer Xhoana X. Their kindred interest and backgrounds in dramatic texture, electronics and experimentation inspired an improvisation-based recording process which seeks to explore a sonic universe defined by evolving atmosphere, cinematic noise and select collaborations with other artists.
Geraldine Morales, director
Sofia Reyes, actress
Sebastian Leal, production assistant
Geraldine Morales:
When I made the video, I focused on feelings of sweetness/eeriness that the music suggested. To me, the actress is representing a witch who’s barefoot, playing outside with nature. I imagine her like a sort of Maenad, that’s why her moves and the way she caresses the trees is not just sweet, but suggestive.
Niko Wenner:
Begun circa 2012, alone facing West at the kitchen table, San Francisco, my white Stratocaster guitar played acoustic/no amp, phone recording, then, 2022 in France among family, headphones, layering that mono recording in ProTools with different start times, a nod to the tape-choir of composer Steve Reich’s “It’s Gonna Rain” begun in 1964 San Francisco, the tempo entropy made to slowly re-sync; finally, adding a phone recording of a mysterious tuned-exhaust fan located where long ago the ocean met land in, now, downtown San Francisco, the “drone” of the working title “Happy Drone.”
OXBOW LIVE DATES
Sunday, June 16, 2024 CH Zurich X-tra w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Monday, June 17, 2024 IT Milan Magnolia w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Tuesday, June 18, 2024 DE Munich Feierwerk
Wednesday, June 19, 2024 DE Berlin Huxleys w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Friday, June 21, 2024 FR Bourlon Rock In Bourlon
Saturday, June 22, 2024 NL Den Haag Paard
Sunday, June 23, 2024 LUX Luxembourg Atelier w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Monday, June 24, 2024 NL Tilburg O13 w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 DE Karlsruhe Jubez
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 CH Geneva Cave12
Thursday, June 27, 2024 FR Gigors-et-Lozeron CBGC
Friday, June 28, 2024 FR Pau La Ferronnerie
Love’s Holiday track listing:
1. Dead Ahead
2. Icy White & Crystalline
3. Lovely Murk
4. 1000 Hours
5. All Gone
6. The Night The Room Started Burning
7. “ “
8. Million Dollar Weekend
9. The Second Talk
10. Gunwale
OXBOW is Dan Adams (electrical/acoustic bass), Greg Davis (drums/percussion), Eugene S. Robinson (vocals), and Niko Wenner (guitars/pianos). The San Francisco-born band have released seven studio albums since their inception in 1988, with Pitchfork saying the foursome have released “some of the most eccentric heavy music albums ever.”
http://www.theoxbow.com
http://oxbowofficial.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/oxbowtheband
[directed by] EFFIXX (@effixx) + Samanta Garcia (@dark___mesh)
[text by] Blake Butler (@blakebutler)
LIGHT THE MATCH AND WATCH THE WIRES FRY THE SKY THAT ISN’T
EVERY HOUR I AM STILL HERE I AM STILL NOT WHERE I AM NOT STILL
YES I BELIEVE I WANT TO BE HERE FOREVER BECAUSE I AM HERE FOREVER
ALL AUTHORITY IS THE AUTHORITY I CRAVE TO CONQUER SUDDENLY AT LAST
YES EVEN I BELIEVE I AM GOING TO EVENTUALLY LEARN TO WANT TO WIN
WAKING UP IN VASE-SHAPED CASES CONTAINING ALL ORIGINAL THOUGHT
THE NEXT DAYS ARE GETTING SIMULTANEOUSLY SIMPLER AND MORE DENSE
THE LIVING HOURS ARE SENSE-COMPRESSING AT UNSUSTAINABLE RETENTION
LIKE THE WAYS I KNOW I WISH TO SEE MYSELF IN YOU IN HAVE BEEN X’D OUT
LIKE THERE MAY BE ONLY ONE WAY TO RETRAIN ANY INTOLERABLE ATOMS
I KNOW THE WAY - I NAME THE TIME - I CLAIM THE KNIFE – I’M ON MY WAY
YOU WILL KNOW THAT I AM ME BY HOW I RETAIN NO OTHER KNOWLEDGE
REWINDING BACK TO THE ONLY ENDING BEFORE THE BEGINNING BEGINS
W/IN THE STILLNESS OF A WISH LONGER & LOUDER THAN ALL LIFETIMES
I AM TRYING NOT TO LISTEN TO THE WORDS IN THE SONG THAT I CAN’T HEAR
NO CERTAINTY EXCLUDED FROM THE POSSIBILITY OF MASS UNPACKINGS
BRIGHT WHITE STEELS BOLTS THAT HOLD THE CENTER OF THE THROBBING
WRITTEN IN THE WILL OF THE TIMELINE SPILLING MY MIND ALL OVER
IT ISN’T ALL OVER IS IT SAY IT ISN’T ALL OVER AND I WILL LISTEN THIS TIME
IF IT IS OVER I WOULD PREFER NOT TO HAVE TO BE ENCODED SO CLEARLY
PACKETS OF BLACK MOONS CRACKING WHERE MY LIPS MAKE NO SOUND
EVEN IF THE ERA CAN’T BE FOUND EVENTUALLY IT WILL HAVE HAD ITS SAY
WHAT IS INSIDE OUT INSIDE A SURFACE THAT HAS NO LASTING VASTNESS
NO ELECTRICAL IMPULSE SCATTERED THROUGH DEATH’S HANDICRAFTING
UB INFINITE CAVITIES THAT REVISE PROGRESS BY DEFINING THEIR AUTHORITY
LEAVING NOTHING THAT CAN BE SAID IN TIME TO CHANGE YOUR MIND IN TIME
WHIPPED BY BRICKS OF FLATTENED ATTITUDES I DENY HAVING LOVED
CRYSTALLINE PALACE WHERE YOU WERE SPLIT INTO MANY EX-WORLDS
ALL THE VITAL EDGES OF THE FIRST ANTI-LAW COLORED IMPENETRABLE
CRAMMED INTO THE ETERNAL FUNNEL YOU RIPPED OFF FOR COOKIES
YES I AM GOING TO BELIEVE IN WHATEVER I HAVE BELIEVED IN FINALLY
AGHAST W/IN THE TIME RIFT WHERE CARNAL FOLLY MARKED LAST RITE
YES I BELIEVE I WILL OUTLAST WHAT I AM GOING TO NOT NEED SOON
YOU ONLY UNDERSTAND YOU NEED THE LOCKS AS THEY CLICK ACROSS US
HOW LONG I HAVE WAITED FOR THE WAITING TO EXTEND BEYOND IT
BEYOND THE INFERNAL BEYOND THE INEVITABLE BEYOND IT REPEATING
WATCHING HALVINGS OF THE AIR OF THE NATURAL DISORDEREDNESSES
UNNATURAL TO HAVE TO WONDER WHAT BECAME OF HOW ELSE WAS
VAST GALAXIES I WOULD HAVE ASKED YOU TO FORGET LAST OF ALL
DON’T LET ANYBODY ELSE EVER SELL YOU A DIFFERENT
Directed by Chris Purdie
“Lyrically it’s a purposeful take on Johnny Hartman’s ‘The Day the World Stopped Turning’ but instead of the power of love to alter our proximal relationships it’s, in my mind, all about the incendiary nature of suchlike love. It fulfills specifically because it fills you with that which burns. And that’s something that absolutely no one slow walks.” - Eugene Robinson
Niko Wenner comments, "I began the music for “The Night The Room Started Burning” on my fathers old folk/classical nylon string guitar, a tune to amuse my young son. My mother played clarinet in high school but it was my father who took me to see my first string quartet concert in Seattle when I was a kid, and who inspired my love for classical music. Including, as an influence heard in this song, baroque period music. “What’s not to like about baroque music? You can dance to it, it’s got a beat!”
Wenner continues, "And you can hear the steady dance rhythm in ...Room Burning. And a bit of baroque style in the way the guitar line sounds like two voices in a call and response, first higher “bah bah dee bah dee dee,” and the second, lower, answering the first and going down “BAH BAH BAH.” And of course the choir. The elephant in the room here is the guy, baroque composer J.S. Bach, whose name we should never speak in the same breath as our own, from humility, and respect. Enjoy."
OXBOW LIVE DATES
Sunday, June 16, 2024 CH Zurich X-tra w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Monday, June 17, 2024 IT Milan Magnolia w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Tuesday, June 18, 2024 DE Munich Feierwerk
Wednesday, June 19, 2024 DE Berlin Huxleys w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Friday, June 21, 2024 FR Bourlon Rock In Bourlon
Saturday, June 22, 2024 NL Den Haag Paard
Sunday, June 23, 2024 LUX Luxembourg Atelier w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Monday, June 24, 2024 NL Tilburg O13 w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 DE Karlsruhe Jubez
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 CH Geneva Cave12
Thursday, June 27, 2024 FR Gigors-et-Lozeron CBGC
Friday, June 28, 2024 FR Pau La Ferronnerie
Love’s Holiday cover by Aaron Turner
Love’s Holiday track listing:
1. Dead Ahead
2. Icy White & Crystalline
3. Lovely Murk
4. 1000 Hours
5. All Gone
6. The Night The Room Started Burning
7. “ “
8. Million Dollar Weekend
9. The Second Talk
10. Gunwale
OXBOW is Dan Adams (electrical/acoustic bass), Greg Davis (drums/percussion), Eugene S. Robinson (vocals), and Niko Wenner (guitars/pianos). The San Francisco-born band have released seven studio albums since their inception in 1988, with Pitchfork saying the foursome have released “some of the most eccentric heavy music albums ever.”
http://www.theoxbow.com
http://oxbowofficial.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/oxbowtheband
Pre-order the October 27th release at: ipecac.lnk.to/peeping
Finally back in print after over a decade, one of Mike Patton’s most sought after releases featuring an amazing array of musicians including Norah Jones, Massive Attack, Kool Keith, Dub Trio, Dan The Automator and more.
The reissue features a die-cut sleeve different from the original release, in limited edition colors including:
Standard Yellow
Indie Exclusive Tan
Ipecac Exclusive Champagne
Revolver Exclusive Maroon
Newbury Comics / JB Hi-Fi Exclusive Orange
🎥 : @faithnomorefollowers
#PeepingTom #MikePatton #DanTheAutomator #NorahJones #MassiveAttack #DubTrio #ImaniCoppola #Rahzel #OddNosdam #AmonTobin #BebelGIlberto #KidKoala #KoolKeith #Doseone #Jel #Fantomas #Tomahawk #MrBungle #FaithNoMore #MondoCane #DeadCross #Nevermen
[what] Venera
[who] James Shaffer, Chris Hunt, with appearances from HEALTH, VOWWS, Alain Johannes, Deantoni Parks
[when] 10-13-2023
[where] DTLA (tracking); ATL (assembly)
[how] improvisation & sculpture via: granular synthesis, paulstretch, drumbrute, modular system, pulsar23, Ibanez gtr+pedals
[the video] Directed by EFFIXX, featuring 3D design by Colombian artist Samanta Garcia
[more music] Check out the previously released “Swarm” at youtu.be/6AVrME4fRgo
[tracklist]
1. Alignment
2. Erosion (ft. Deantoni Parks)
3. Ochre (ft. HEALTH)
4. Swarm
5. Disintegration (ft. Deantoni Parks)
6. Hologram (ft. VOWWS)
7. Surrender
8. Triangle (ft. Alain Johannes)
9. Helium
[socials]
facebook.com/veneramusicofficial
instagram.com/_veneramusic
threads.net/@_veneramusic
twitter.com/_veneramusic
tiktok.com/@_veneramusic
Directed by EFFIXX
3D design: Samanta García
**The wires snip. The axis bends.... / Above an empty beach. An endless wind. Piercing the sky. Nothing to claim. / OPEN WIDE / DEFORM / REVISE / PERCEIVE / BELIEVE / x
...That’s why they put you in this PRISM. / They need for you to choose what you must choose. / The longer you wait the less there is left of what you knew. / Cleft rifts in old dimensions marred by trying spilling over where your wish slipped / through catacombs on catacombs without a vent / searching for myths you long since sold beyond the edge of active plot / NO CIRCLING BACK / ALL NOW OR NEVER / too numb to spell / & yet you’ve only just begun…**
Follow Venera:
Website: veneramusic.com
Instagram/Threads: instagram.com/_veneramusic
Twitter: twitter.com/_veneramusic
Facebook: facebook.com/veneramusicofficial
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/470fbjt
#Venera #Swarm
Directed by Zev Deans
About the video and track, Niko Wenner says;
"I started Lovely Murk in late 2011 imagining the perspective of my mother then dying from Alzheimer’s, and what it would feel like to lose everything, even one’s self. So personal, I kept the song for myself; she died in early 2012. But soon Lisa Meyer at Supersonic Festival in Birmingham England asked us to play, encouraging me to orchestrate a version for an Oxbow Orchestra performance. And eventually I was ready to record the song for our new Oxbow album Love’s Holiday, with new lyrics. I asked Kristin Hayter to create a Lingua Ignota choir using my melody from 2011, she also added voice over the bridge, altogether creating a stunning and essential addition. A long journey for what for me is a beautiful, powerful song, made with love."
Eugene S. Robinson continues,
"My favourite part of filming the entire video was during a break in the recording when the home owner of the historically significant house in Pennsylvania where we recorded it, walked into a room where I was sitting and screamed on account of him believing I was an actual ghost. In his mind I guess 17th century ghosts have iPhones."
"When Kristin's voice comes swelling up in the song's centre, right about the time my dying and almost dead carcass ascends to the sky gods, I actually had a moment where it felt like that's precisely and 'for real' what was happening. Her voice, my voice, the voices all contributed to...yes: that feeling of... release."
OXBOW LIVE DATES
Sunday, June 16, 2024 CH Zurich X-tra w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Monday, June 17, 2024 IT Milan Magnolia w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Tuesday, June 18, 2024 DE Munich Feierwerk
Wednesday, June 19, 2024 DE Berlin Huxleys w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Friday, June 21, 2024 FR Bourlon Rock In Bourlon
Saturday, June 22, 2024 NL Den Haag Paard
Sunday, June 23, 2024 LUX Luxembourg Atelier w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Monday, June 24, 2024 NL Tilburg O13 w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 DE Karlsruhe Jubez
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 CH Geneva Cave12
Thursday, June 27, 2024 FR Gigors-et-Lozeron CBGC
Friday, June 28, 2024 FR Pau La Ferronnerie
Love’s Holiday cover by Aaron Turner
Love’s Holiday track listing:
1. Dead Ahead
2. Icy White & Crystalline
3. Lovely Murk
4. 1000 Hours
5. All Gone
6. The Night The Room Started Burning
7. “ “
8. Million Dollar Weekend
9. The Second Talk
10. Gunwale
Love’s Holiday formats, including limited-edition indie exclusive red and Ipecac.com marbled grey vinyl variants, as well as standard vinyl, CD and digital, are available now: oxbow.lnk.to/love.
OXBOW is Dan Adams (electrical/acoustic bass), Greg Davis (drums/percussion), Eugene S. Robinson (vocals), and Niko Wenner (guitars/pianos). The San Francisco-born band have released seven studio albums since their inception in 1988, with Pitchfork saying the foursome have released “some of the most eccentric heavy music albums ever.”
VIDEO CREDITS
Directed by Zev Deans
DP: Christopher Raymond
Drone Operator: Daniel Feighery
Gaffer: Luke Martin
Locations: Troy Coffee
Locations ASST: Reetu Shah
MUA: Ali Ciotto
Fencing Choreo: Daniel Feighery
Line Producer: Paula Armas
Duelists:
Eugene Robinson & Erica Densmore
Niko Wenner & Al Groppi
http://www.theoxbow.com
http://oxbowofficial.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/oxbowtheband
Directed by Chris Purdie
“’Dead Ahead’ was made to order for starting our new album, Love’s Holiday,” says guitarist/pianist Niko Wenner. “It is one of the few songs without choral singing and the only in D Minor, my co-producer in crime Joe Chiccarelli calling for fast and abrasive, it was birthed playing for my kids on an acoustic guitar given to me at age 6 and handmade before 1957 in Umeå, Sweden by Göran Frii. The recording features both the tiny toy tine piano Dan [Adams] gave our children and my 1981 white Stratocaster, the chorus adds a Little Big Muff Pi fuzz pedal I bought in 1979 from Tom Stevenson, my friend from age 4, recently deceased, who taught me to play AC/DC, Judas Priest and Van Halen songs. RIP and rock on, Tommy.”
On the Chris Purdie-directed video, who also created a pair of clips for the band’s 2017 album, Thin Black Duke, vocalist Eugene Robinson shares: “This may be the only video wherein we appear just as actors/characters and while the gaming scene recalls nothing if not Ingmar Bergman’s ‘The Seventh Seal,’ the lyric is pure OXBOW: ‘This god of love destroys and creates’…indubitably.”
Purdie adds: “The concept for the mirrors used in ‘Dead Ahead’ were inspired by Orson Welles noir, ‘The Lady From Shanghai,’ a film partly based in and around San Francisco. The idea of mirrors and reflection were used to evoke themes of duality, and the idea that there are multiple perspectives, or that things aren’t entirely as they seem.”
The Bay Area quartet have simultaneously announced their first tour dates in support of the 10-song album, with both east and west coast swings slated for this Fall. Tickets for all shows are on-sale now, with ticketing links and additional details available here.
OXBOW LIVE DATES
Sunday, June 16, 2024 CH Zurich X-tra w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Monday, June 17, 2024 IT Milan Magnolia w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Tuesday, June 18, 2024 DE Munich Feierwerk
Wednesday, June 19, 2024 DE Berlin Huxleys w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Friday, June 21, 2024 FR Bourlon Rock In Bourlon
Saturday, June 22, 2024 NL Den Haag Paard
Sunday, June 23, 2024 LUX Luxembourg Atelier w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Monday, June 24, 2024 NL Tilburg O13 w/ Mr. Bungle, Spotlights
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 DE Karlsruhe Jubez
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 CH Geneva Cave12
Thursday, June 27, 2024 FR Gigors-et-Lozeron CBGC
Friday, June 28, 2024 FR Pau La Ferronnerie
Love’s Holiday cover by Aaron Turner
Love’s Holiday track listing:
1. Dead Ahead
2. Icy White & Crystalline
3. Lovely Murk
4. 1000 Hours
5. All Gone
6. The Night The Room Started Burning
7. “ “
8. Million Dollar Weekend
9. The Second Talk
10. Gunwale
Love’s Holiday pre-orders, including limited-edition indie exclusive red and Ipecac.com marbled grey vinyl variants, as well as standard vinyl, CD and digital, are available now: oxbow.lnk.to/love. OXBOW previously released two previews from the upcoming collection: “Icy White & Crystalline,” a pulsing song with an equally dynamic live clip, and “1000 Hours,” which Stereogum described as “a rumbling, wide-open landscape that sort of sounds like an apocalyptic yet hopeful Soundgarden song produced by Mark Hollis.”
OXBOW is Dan Adams (electrical/acoustic bass), Greg David (drums/percussion), Eugene S. Robinson (vocals), and Niko Wenner (guitars/pianos). The San Francisco-born band have released seven studio albums since their inception in 1988, with Pitchfork saying the foursome have released “some of the most eccentric heavy music albums ever.”
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