This is what Surf Rock would sound like if it was made in the dark near the frozen shores of the Baltic sea. Because it was. Benadetta, Victoria, and Maria Rosa (these are definitely not their real names) are a trio of Lithuanian mermaids who create ‘zero-waste trash music’ under the name ‘Shishi’. They sing about how it feels to be living in times when nothing makes sense anymore. Their music is perfect for people who care about what’s going on but don’t really know what’s happening.
Genre-wise Shishi takes sugar, spice, and everything nice from Surf Rock and blends it with a chemical formula that has been distilled from the raw sounds of the best Riot-Girl and Punk bands. The result is a beautifully awkward eco-friendly vibe reminiscent of Indie Surf frontrunners like La Luz or Tennis smashing into the powerful femininity of bands like Hole, Kleenex, and Delta 5.
Shishi was initially formed by three vocalists trying to play instruments they couldn’t play. Their 2018 debut album ‘NAx80’ was released after some intense and rapid learning sessions (it was around this time that they became mermaids, just in case you were wondering). Nominations, festivals, and tours followed. As the instrumental skills improved in 2020 Shishi was signed by ‘The state51 Conspiracy’ to release their follow up album ‘Mafitishei’ in which the band searches for new seas in which to splash around.
If this biography left you feeling more confused than informed and you suddenly want to dance upside-down, you are now in the perfect mood for some Shishi.
LINKS:
https://instagram.com/shishiband
https://facebook.com/shishiband
https://youtu.be/H9scVFqJhSA
https://soundcloud.com/user-617918304
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7nmCtibxtJAWRoecSc5EPS
https://apple.co/2y0USTp
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Your 33 Black Angels – Hott Funn
Your 33 Black Angels (a.k.a. Y33BA) has announced their new album ‘Eternities I’, which is their seventh long-play to date, to be released in early May. Ahead of that, they are previewing the lead track ‘Hott Funn’.
Recorded over three years and more than 60 studio days with endless mixes in the making, ‘Eternities I’ is 13 tracks that are built to stand as the culmination of Y33BA’s labors.
Based out of New York City, Y33BA is a long-running noise-pop freakshow. This genre-defying project has its own stamp of dark pop, electro-paisley new wave space rock, with a dose of crunk bass and rhythm. They produce elegant vibrant melodies with strange, novel sounds. This is the New Age underground for the End Times.
How do a group that has danced around sensibilities and sounds refresh the template? More cutting-edge instruments and riskier, avant-garde pop songs than ever. Imagine Madchester, and imagine dream pop meets Aphex Twin. Imagine the bastard child of Arthur Russell, Rain Parade and Rza and add original 21st century sound design and guitar webs.
This is a radical, angry, watermark record. Designed to embrace and rattle against the times. Combining haute popcraft with touches of the undercurrents of our lives–acid house, Paisley Underground, synth wave, field recordings, minimal electronica and epic RAWK.
As well, the Y33BA wordsmiths have always been equal part poetry fans as lyricists, so the Poesia Concreta of Augusto de Campos or Guillaume Apollonaire may have as much influence as wonderful lyricists like Neil Hannon, Bjork or Serge Gainsbourg. Breaking rhythms and broken meter match the polarized sounds from start to finish.
Formed in 2003, Y33BA debuted with the album ‘Lonely Street’ in 2007, which was a vinyl-only limited edition. Once the initial pressings sold out, Y33BA released the album on CD and digitally. They followed up with ‘Tales of my Pop-Rock Love Life’ (2008), ‘Pagan Princess’ (2009), ‘Songs from the Near Bleak Future’ (Optical Sounds, 2010), ‘Moon and Morning Star’ ( Optical Sounds, 2012) and ‘Glamour’ (2015).
In that time, they have played over 500 shows across Europe and North America, sharing the stage with some rather fine acts during recent tours. The Monochrome Set selected Y33BA as the direct support act for its first New York City show in 30 years. La Femme, The Veldt and Dyr Faser have toured or shared many nights with the group. The band has also played with King Tuff, Blitzen Trapper, Suuns, Six Organs of Admittance, Blonde Elvis, B-17 and We Melt Chocolate.
The video for ‘Hott Funn’ was made by Richie of Vinyl Villains. “Richie is a mysterious Bushwick programmer that doesn’t leave his loft til the light has disappeared and the day has turned to dark. He is part vampire, part design whiz. He has invented an automated animation program that turns songs into aliens, furry creatures, whatever the sound seems to suggest. Obviously, Your 33 Black Angels has a very alien sound, but he might have horses singing to Neil Young, vegan cupcakes singing Fiona Apple, dolphins singing Supergrass, etc. Richie is so ineffable and distant, we don’t even know his last name. All we know is he commands legions of aliens, faeries, and elves. Literally, that’s what he does!”
Y33BA ‘Eternities I’ is slated for release on May 7 and will be available across digital stores and streaming platforms. It can also be pre-ordered via Bandcamp. The band’s album release show will take place on May 10 at Alphaville in Brooklyn.
“A delight of jangling guitars, spacey-sweet vocals, and electronic squiggles, a psych record rooted in beat-pop and experimentalism”
– Village Voice (on ‘Glamour’)“One of this year’s treasures… is worth the hunt for its pop-wise rattle (Pavement with a case of the Strokes) and singer Josh Westfal’s resemblance, in dry, frank voice and cautious optimism, to another local institution: Lou Reed on the Velvet Underground’s fourth album, Loaded”
– Rolling Stone (On ‘Lonely Street’)“This is dark electric frenzied New Wave space-rock, blasting by like a fiery and unexpected sonic guest, clearly defying genres and interacting with cosmic messengers”
– Big Takeover Magazine“Retro-leaning, though hardly flower pop fetishists… pacey keyboard textures and groove-oriented arrangements, while their penchant for laid-back Daniel Johnston vocals and warbly lo-fi riffs more closely resembles the classic college rock of Pavement and Built to Spill”
– NOW Toronto (On ‘Songs from the Near Bleak Future’)“Your 33 Black Angels are known for frenetic, unpredictable shows. the interlocking guitars sometimes surged into what seemed like an eternal groove”
– Washington Post (live review)LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/your33blackangels
https://y33ba.bandcamp.com
https://twitter.com/y33ba
https://www.instagram.com/y33ba
https://soundcloud.com/y33ba
https://itunes.apple.com/bn/artist/your-33-black-angels/271047566 -
Shriekback – And The Rain
Seminal British alternative rock outfit Shriekback has announced they will release their new album ‘Why Anything? Why This?’ on May 25. As a teaser, they are previewing the first single ‘And The Rain’, along with a darkly intriguing video filmed by Howard Davidson (a.k.a. Hodah).
Shriekback was formed in 1980 by ex-XTC keyboardist Barry Andrews and bassist Dave Allen on his departure from Gang Of Four, in collaboration with guitarist Carl Marsh from Out On Blue Six. Under the auspices of the visionary Y Records label (home to The Slits, The Pop Group and Pigbag), the group found their voice experimenting in EMI Music’s KPM demo studio in London, refining a uniquely recognizable sound in 1982 on their first full-length album ‘Care’ and eventually achieving wider recognition with the singles ‘Lined Up’ and ‘My Spine (Is The Bassline)’. In 1983, they were joined by drummer Martyn Barker (King Swamp, Billy Bragg).
A move to a major label, Arista, allowed the band to fully realize their sound on ‘Oil & Gold’(1985), a milestone album that remains the band’s best-known (helped by the success of the single ‘Nemesis’) and the foundation of their popularity on the US college circuit and elsewhere.
‘And The Rain’ is dark and infectious, conjuring up steamy, swampy, Southern Gothic blues.This 14th studio album, which boasts a wide, organic and detailed sound, is already being described by early listeners as their best since the landmark album ‘Oil & Gold’. The sound is dense, woody and fibrous. Here we find evolved Bo Diddley beats and African blues”. However you describe it, this is Shriekback refocused, reinvented and reinvigorated.
Band members have also pushed themselves musically and sonically – Barry contributes a lot of guitars, Carl has essayed some slide guitar and keyboards and Martyn has brought in a whole arsenal of world percussion alongside his drumkit. Regular Shriekback listeners will hear more guitars and live drums and fewer loops and electronics. The sonic palette is very broad.
Written, performed and produced almost exclusively by the core trio, this is very much a ‘band’ album, crafted over time with the three core members working in their own studios, as well as in group sessions at Yellow Fish and Echo Zoo studios to capture live drums. But the writing and production on this release have been much more collaborative, with Martyn, in particular, having more input than previously.
New collaborator Scott Firth (of P.i.L) adds irrefutable bass to selected tracks, while Shriekback regulars Wendy and Sarah Partridge contribute their ever-invaluable backing vocals. Live drums were recorded by Ian Caple (who’s been with Shriekback since the beginning) at Yellow Fish in Lewes and Christoph Skirl at Echo Zoo in Eastbourne. The album was mixed and mastered by Stuart Rowe in The Lighterthief Bunker, Swindon – his fifth Shriekback album in this role, an indication of the value placed on his objective ear and technical skill.
‘Why Anything? Why This?’ will be released on May 25, 2018. While fans should keep an eye out for the album via digital stores and streaming platforms, the album is already available for pre-order from the band directly at https://shriekback.com/store.
LINKS:
http://www.shriekback.com
http://www.facebook.com/shriekback
http://twitter.com/shriekbackmusic
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJMkzOIkm9sqOjch00BhHBg/videos
http://soundcloud.com/shriekbackband
http://open.spotify.com/artist/5zdhsKuFI263xttcgdoW3c?si=ygb7IlYKSASw5xefkBQfDA
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/shriekback/85136
http://shriekbackmusic.tumblr.com -
Ask Carol – Run With You
Ask Carol have released their new video for the track titled ‘Run With You’. And, with this being their first actual music video, there is no better way to make their visual debut than with the eye candy set forth with ‘Run With You’. Constructed not only as a visual accompaniment to the song but as an artistic statement in of itself, the video gives visual punctuation to the percussiveness of the song while highlighting the hook and becoming almost a canvas for the song to paint on instead of the music becomes a soundtrack. This is essential because, as someone who reviews music every day, is exactly what a music video should be; an introduction to the music.
ABOUT ASK CAROL
“Run With You” is Ask Carol’s first-ever real music video, made by the band themselves, under the corona-lockdown. Filmed around Carol’s home in the Norwegian woods, this short story portraits two girls, two sisters, desperate to getaway. One of the sisters is in a bad, abusive relationship, reluctant to get away, while her sister tries to convince her otherwise. Eventually, she’s had enough, and the abused sister takes matters into her own hands. They escape together as the story unfolds in a dark, Nordic environment that sets the mood for this dramatic story. Given the special circumstance of the corona-lockdown and that Carol, Ask (Ask is a real Norwegian name) and Carol’s sister was quarantined together, the three is the only people involved in the music video. Carol and Ask filmed, produced, directed, acted in, and edited the music video, and Carol´s sister played the sister in the movie. A real Corona-lockdown DIY project.
“Run With You” is Ask Carol’s first single of 2020, a catchy disco-punk alt-pop tune with a retro vibe. Intimate vocals and grungy guitars setting the mood, with a dreamy background and pulsating beat.
The first of several releases planned for this Summer and Fall, leading up to debut album early 2021. The song was written long before these challenging corona times, but lately, the song has come to mean something more to us. We feel it represents a longing for just going away, to get away from it all, a feeling that has grown more intense as we all have to stay home for such a long time…
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/askcarol
https://www.askcarolmusic.com