EULA (Post-Punk) Plays Glasslands Gallery Tomorrow Night Along with Members of Deerhoof, Speedy Ortiz and Titus Andronicus (Castle of Spices)

Alyse Lamb, singer/guitarist from the post-punk trio EULA, is curating the "Castle of Spices" event tomorrow night at Glasslands Gallery. It is an evening filled w/ collaboration & experimentation with artists from all different mediums (music, dance, poetry, photography). Performances will be from Greg Saunier of Deerhoof, Sadie of Speedy Ortiz, Adam Schatz of Man Man, EULA....and many more.

This show is being presented by Famous Swords, which is an artist collective run by Lamb. In a recent Village Voice article, Lamb describes the collective as: "a huge production collective...we want to do music videos, recordings, t-shirts, kind of an all-encompassing art collective, that's kind of our vision behind it." EULA's latest video "Orderly" was produced by the collective and Lamb said "[w]e wanted to use sort of trippy psychedelic images that had a very feminine edge to them, but also [have it be] very sharp and angular to go with the sounds of the song."



Tickets for tomorrow night's show are $10 and doors are at 8PM.

Links:
EULA

Ghastly City Sleep (Brooklyn Post-Punk) Release "Clumsy One" from Forthcoming Fourth CD

Brooklyn based Ghastly City Sleep just released "Clumsy One", which is the second single from their 4th full-length release, Lulling Skulls, out October 2014 on Magic Bullet Records. The new single pushes sonic boundaries as the band mixes live instruments with electronic soundscapes. Mixed by engineers Alex Aldi (Passion Pit, Bruno Mars) and Andrew Schneider (Cave In, Bear Hands), Ghastly City Sleep’s latest offering serves up dense beats accompanied by complex electronic compositions.

Ghastly City Sleep was built from the ruins of influential Virginia hardcore/emo/post-rock bands City of Caterpillar, Gregor Samsa and Pg. 99. The members of Ghastly City Sleep moved to New York City in 2005 and, taking time to the develop their sound, they released their stunning eponomynous debut EP in 2007. Amazon proclaimed, "It isn't often new music surfaces that is so deeply intense, just hearing it may induce instant nostalgia..."

The multi-talented instrumentalists are known for their engaging and dynamic live shows. Every live event showcases each band member’s musical prowess as they swap instruments and roles seamlessly with the accompaniment of twisting synthesizers, triggered samples, loops and haunting vocal melodies and harmonies. NYC Taper writes, “Each act was striking in its own way, but perhaps none so much as Ghastly City Sleep, whose music takes a sharp turn from current trends with dark, sometimes lengthy songs that are not afraid to challenge listeners’ expectations… For a young band, these guys have a fully developed sound that is poised for bigger things.”

DOWNLOAD: Ghastly City Sleep - Glasslands, Brooklyn, NY 5/3/10

Links:
Ghastly City Sleep

A Secret Policeman's Ball - 'Teenage Crimewave' CD Review (MVD Audio)

A Secret Policeman's Ball started when Greg, Mike, and Jesse finally took the "No Girls Allowed" sign off their club house and let Nikki read their comic books – from the band’s bio

Murfreesboro, TN four-piece A Secret Policeman’s Ball released their debut CD, Teenage Crimewave, earlier this summer and the band’s sound is an intriguing and compelling mix of seemingly disparate styles. At the core of the band’s sound is a wall of sparkling shoegazer fuzz which is complemented a healthy layer of synthesizers, all of which leaves the band sounding somewhat like Blondie or Lush. Categorizing the band’s sound through isn’t as simple as I just made it sound as vocalist Nikki Oliff can quickly switch from melodic clean vocals to a throat-shredding growl while the other members of the band veer off from melodic post-punk to menacing black metal and pounding hardcore.

The disc starts with “Brian’s House”, which combine Oliff’s angelic vocals with an ominous and menacing back metal buildup which subsequently crashes into hardcore fury and ends by slowly dissipating as the musical storm fades. “I’m Not A Scientician” builds up a Garbage/Lush-like wall of sound with swirling atmospheric guitar lines and prominent synthesizers before Oliff switches into throat-shredding vocals that sound like Courtney Love’s early work with Hole. “A Flock of Beagles” switches gears completely as this track sounds like an 80’s college rock number with traded-off male/female vocals and guitarist Greg Harp’s vocals sound a bit like Let’s Active’s Mitch Easter. Skipping forward in the disc, “They Already Banged” and “Padfoot” could pass for British post-punk dance club numbers from 10-to-20 years back. Seemingly never content to stand still, these two tracks are followed by “Trying To Find Shon a New Hat”, which is blast of hardcore fury that clocks in under a minute.

A Secret Policeman’s Ball’s bio describes the band as having a "can't quite put your finger on it" sound. Given the seamless transitions between all the disparate musical elements on this disc, I’m guess these guys must have fascinating record collections. When asked in an interview with The Saturday Independent on how the band got together, they responded “We all met in an online chat group for Jewel fans.” Generally. I’d laugh at a comment like this but…with all the different influences that ASPB are pulling into their music, it seems possible this is true.



Links:
A Secret Policeman's Ball

DC's Paperhaus Release 'Helicopters' from Forthcoming Sophomore EP 'Lo Hi Lo' (Out May 28th)

Based on the first track, "Helicopters", from DC's Paperhaus, I'm intrigued as the band sounds somewhat like Michael Hampton's (x-Faith, State of Alert) little-heard but much missed DC post-hardcore band Manifesto. Paperhaus is playing a show tonight in California and is working their way back east but...there are no local area shows scheduled.

Paperhaus released its alt-country styled self-titled EP in 2011, and will release its second effort, an EP entitled "Lo Hi Lo" on May 28th, 2013. "Lo Hi Lo" was recorded at DC's Inner Ear studios with producer Ivan Basuri, and reflects the more pop side of Paperhaus' psychedelic music. A full-length LP of more blues and funk influenced psychedelic music is already in the works and will be released in 2014.


Paperhaus' Spring 2013 Tour Dates:
04.30 • The Bat Cave (Arcata, CA)
05.01 • Valentine's (Portland, OR)
05.02 • El Corazon (Seattle, WA)
05.03 • Bird Stop (Caldwell, ID)
05.07 • GNU: Experience Gallery (Fort Collins, CO)
05.08 • Mouth House (Denver, CO)
05.09 • Side Door Lounge (Omaha, NE)
05.11 • Kitty Kat Club (Minneapolis, MN)
05.13 • Blank Space (St. Louis, MO)
05.14 • Haymarket Whiskey Bar (Louisville, KY)
05.16 • The Other Basement (Nashville, TN)
05.19 • Woodruff's (Ypsilani, MI)
05.20 • Mahalls 20 Lanes (Lakewood, OH)
05.21 • Basement Transmissions (Erie, PA)
05.23 • Anthony's House (Honeybrook, PA)
05.24 • BSP Lounge (Kingston, NY)
05.26 • The Elevens (Northampton, MA)
05.28 • People's Art Collective (New Haven, CT)
05.29 • Radio Bean (Burlington, VT)
05.30 • O'Briens (Boston, MA)



Paperhaus started in a basement in the suburbs of Washington, DC, where guitarists Alex Tebeleff and Eduardo Rivera spent their teenage years playing music together with ears buzzing from Radiohead, Television, and Fela Kuti. Miles away in Philadelphia, the dissonant vibrato of drummer Brandon Moses howled over distorted blues, while bassist John Di Lascio’s three drunken years playing absurdist prog-pop in shady Japanese yakuza bars were winding down.

When the haze cleared, these four musicians found themselves in the Red Door room in DC's legendary Gold Leaf Studios (R.I.P.), screaming raw vocal poetry into rickety old mics and bleeding cosmic noise through rusty tube amps. All night jams edged into anything from CAN to DC Gogo, while haunting noisescapes echoed of Sonic Youth and Scott Walker. Above it all hung country-blues and pop-oriented arrangements with deeply personal lyrics.

Links:
Paperhaus

Believers: Columbia, MO Polyrhythmic Post-Punk Band Releases Ltd. Edition Vinyl EP as a Free Download / Show at Glasslands on Oct. 7th

After listening to the debut EP from Columbia, MO's Believers, the disc struck such a chord that I started it over again from the beginning. The post-punk label that I used above really doesn't do justice to the band's new disc as the closest comparison is the post-punk, polyrhythmic experimentalism of later period Talking Heads without any of the pop dross/gloss that plagued the Heads' later albums. Columbia, MO's True/False Film Fest touches on Believers' core sound in a recent interview with guitarist and singer Wesley Powell.

True/False: "A striking feature of your live sets is that you have two percussionists at the center of the stage while the rest of the band fills the edges with guitars, samples, vocals, and bass. What’s the reasoning behind that setup? Is it just a space issue, or is there a purpose for such a configuration?"

Wesley Powell: "For much of what we play live, the rhythm section carries us. Taylor and Pete are the metronomic backbone, so it makes sense to have us all focus on them. And we like to have the two of them close together so they can feed off of one another’s energy, and the rest of us can feed off that. Some kind of parasitic vibe feast."

Believers are off on a trek to the East Coast which hits Cake Shop on Oct. 6th and Glasslands on Oct. 7th. No information is posted yet about the show at Cake Shop. For the show at Glasslands, Believers are playing with Landlady and RAILBIRD and advanced tickets are $10.

Believers Tour Dates
9/21 - Columbia, MO - RNBNBBQ Fest (5:45 Set)
9/21 - Columbia, MO - Mojo's (9:00pm)
9/29 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar
9/30 - St. Louis, MO - Strange Folk Festival
10/2 - Pittsburgh, PA - Brillobox
10/6 - New York, NY - Cake Shop
10/7 - Brooklyn, NY - Glasslands
10/8 - Portland, ME - Space
10/10 - Cincinnati, OH - Mayday
10/11 - Bloomington, IN - Bishop Bar
10/12 - Champaign, IL - Mike n Molly's
10/13 - Chicago, IL - Schubas
10/14 - Rock Island, IL - Daytrotter

Links:
Believers

Dead Fame - "Frontiers" CD EP Review / Shows at Lit Lounge & Pianos in March/April

Richmond post-punk band Dead Fame released their debut EP “Frontiers” early this year which shows the band’s sound firmly rooted in the darkly melodic melancholia of bands like Joy Division and The Chameleons. Dead Fame started in 2009 when synthesizer player Christopher DeNitto reunited with former band mate, guitarist KC Byrnes and duo slowly found additional players to give the group a “live band” sound. The group is fleshed out by bassist Sadie Powers, drummer Eric Klemen and singer/lyricist Michael Means. Given that Dead Fame is Eric and Michael’s first band, the group’s debut EP is strikingly mature.

The five songs on “Frontiers” all run about 4 minutes in length and the disc’s clean mix brings the band’s edgy drive quickly to the surface. The disc was produced by Cam DiNunzio [of Heks Orkest, Denali and others] at Black Iris Studios and he did a wonderful job of balancing all of the instrumentation. There isn’t one instrument that stands out over another but I was especially taken Eric Klemen’s innovative drumming and Michael Means’ world-weary, almost British-sounding vocals.

Adding to the music, Michael Means’ lyrics are detailed and interesting: “As far as lyrics go, it is usually several "pictures" or contexts that feed into the lyrics. It seems to be that several ideas always go spinning around, interacting with each other, leading to the lyrical fabric for each song, with the music helping to spark or trigger many of those ideas and pictures. So for instance, "Glass Jacket" isn't about one thing - it’s more contextual, with various themes working off the other to create an overall effect. ” (from Magazine33's 2011 interview with Dead Fame).

The disc starts out strong with the dark and raw sounding “Frontiers” which starts with prominent keyboards and a pulsing bassline before heading into a big chorus. This track is followed by the edgy Chameleons sounding “We Can Run”. The band changes pace on the slow burning “Glass Jacket” but keep the high-energy and drive consistent across the disc. What makes Dead Fame exciting is that they have been able to put their own personal imprint on a well-traveled genre.



Dead Fame is playing two local shows at the end of the month. The first is at Lit Lounge on March 31st and the second is at Pianos on April 1st. At the Lit Lounge show, Dead Fame is playing with Praha Depart (from Japan), Keeps (NYC), and Good Morning Valentine; Cover is $6. At the show at Pianos, Dead Fame is playing with Autodrone, Star Fawn, and Labirinto and cover is $8.

Links:
Dead Fame

Deleted Scenes (D.C. Post-Punk) are Playing Brooklyn Bowl on Dec. 2nd and Pianos on Dec. 3rd

DOWNLOAD: Deleted Scenes - "Bedbedbedbedbed" (from Young People's Church of the Air)

D.C. post-punk band Deleted Scenes released their second disc, Young People's Church of the Air, in September on Sockets Records. Their newest collection of songs originated in frontman Daniel Scheuerman's basement and assumed a live identity over the course of 300 tour dates. Recorded at the Garden Center in Hockessin, DE, with Nick Krill (The Spinto Band) and Birdseed Shirt producer L. Skell, the album mixes themes of family, love, death, and joy incorporating studio sounds and home-recorded lo-fi noise. Young People's Church of the Air's title was fittingly taken from a 1930's radio-church hymnal Scheuerman found in an old piano bench at the Garden Center, and evokes the elusive and sometimes illusory nature of hope.

In an interview with Washingtonian, singer/guitarist Daniel Scheuerman was asked to describe the band's new album and he said: "This new album is our second, and we wrote it over the course of the last two or three years. Lyrically, it opens up a lot of new territory, so it moves away from a post-adolescence/early twenties negativity, and tries to come to terms with a post-cynical outlook. In your late twenties, you start to doubt the usefulness of negativity, and try to find truth in a world that doesn’t really offer it, so I think you try to create it yourself instead. It’s about getting over yourself, I guess...One of my favorite songs on the new album is called “Bedbedbedbedbed,” and that’s definitely inspired by getting engaged and appreciating the nice things about relationships, the ways in which they help you."



Deleted Scenes came through NYC over the summer and are now back on the road for a Fall tour. The band is playing two NYC shows with the first being at Brooklyn Bowl on Dec. 2nd with Jukebox the Ghost and The Spinto Band. Tickets for this show are $10 in advance and $12 (DOS) and doors are at 6PM. The second show is at Pianos on Dec. 3rd. Tickets for this show are also $10 and Deleted Scenes is playing with Mandala, Lesser Ghost and Backlights.

Links:
Deleted Scenes

Poor But Sexy - DC Post-Punk Veterans Release Debut CD // Show at Union Pool with Franz Nicolay on Feb. 25th

DOWNLOAD: Poor But Sexy - "Hotter Than A Poptart"
DOWNLOAD: Poor But Sexy - "Cherry Delicious"

Washington DC's Poor But Sexy (PBS) is the latest project from five veterans of the DC post-punk scene. Singer David Brown and bassist Brandon Kalber met playing in the punk-funk band Travis Morrison Hellfighters. Guitarist and producer Jason Caddell brought the noise for 10 years as the guitarist in the Dismemberment Plan, a DC group that earned an international cult following for incorporating samples and dance grooves into punk rock long before it was de rigueur for indie bands. Keyboardist David Durst composes for the punk-chamber music collective Anti-Social Music when he's not working out his Stevie Wonder licks in PBS. Like a lot of DC bands, PBS also includes an investigative journalist, drummer Bruce Falconer.

In a 2008 interview with Washington Post Express, David Brown tries to explain the band's sound by saying "I was obsessed with R. Kelly. I tried to make some R. Kelly songs, basically. I literally tried to make what I thought sounded like R&B radio hits. But it didn't really turn out that way. People say it sounds like Steely Dan. There's a lot of '70s radio rock in there."

The band released and toured behind an EP in 2009 (which included a show at Brooklyn Bowl) and the standout track from this disc is "The Only Good Thing", where David Brown channels a R. Kelly vibe. (He is quoted in another interview as saying "The original concept was ‘The only good thing about saying goodbye is looking at your ass when you walk away’").



Poor But Sexy now have their debut full-length Let's Move In Together coming out on Feb. 15th and the band is playing some shows over the next few weeks in support of this new release. The local show with Dismemberment Plan on Jan. 29th (at Webster Hall) is sold out but you can catch the band at Union Pool with Franz Nicolay and David Dondero on Feb. 25th.

Links:
Poor But Sexy

The Last Dinosaur Plays Arlene's Grocery on Jan. 1st // New EP Posted as a Free Download

DOWNLOAD: The Last Dinosaur - "Tales" EP
DOWNLOAD/PLAY: The Last Dinosaur - "The New Massachusetts" (from the band's self-titled debut EP)

Delaware post-punk band The Last Dinosaur is making their NYC debut on New year's Day with a show at Arlene's Grocery.

The band is touring behind their latest EP "Tales" (which they are currently giving away as a free download) which Dave Scotford/Media Essentials described as "nothing short of heart-stopping. Top quality vocals pull together with bouncy guitar riffs, thundering drums and a first rate bass player. If you don't believe these guys care about their music as much as they say they do then I urge you, listen to it. You can almost hear the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into their music careers."

Cover for Saturday night's show is $10 and The Last Dinosaur plays at 10PM. Also on the bill are Last Days in the Bunker (11PM), Slightly Left (12AM) and Black Girls (1AM).



Links:
The Last Dinosaur