- A culture magazine reaching terminal verbosity -
Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam's forthcoming collaborative LP, I Had A Dream That You Were Mine, is shaping up to be one of our favorite records of the year and we're only three tracks deep.
The latest taste of the album due out September 23 via Glassnote is "When The Truth Is...", a swanky blend of bottle slide guitar, steady piano plinks, and a jarringly splendid marriage of Leithauser's pipes with those of a saxophone. Listen below.
Phantogram premiered their third Three single, "Cruel World," on Beats 1 today. Featuring a drum machine sonic collage reminiscent of "Don't Move," the sharp, two and a half minute long track seems primed for car commercial levels of ubiquity, but would be one we wouldn't mind hearing around for a while.
Complete with the nice subtle touch of the warm fuzz of a vinyl spin like we first heard on "When I'm Small," the full recorded version of "Cruel World" with all its production tricks more than meets the expectations set when the duo debuted it at their Lollapalooza aftershow almost three weeks ago.
Three, which also includes previous singles "You Don't Get Me High Anymore" and "Run Run Blood," has had its release date pushed back and is now due out October 7th via Republic.
of Montreal's lower case cache of chaos, innocence reaches, opens with a question: “How do you identify? / How do you ID?" Though perhaps a newly-minted staple introduction of the millennial age, sexual discovery has been an omnipresent undercurrent in the kaleidoscopic catalog of androgynous flamboyance only the man who once transformed into a transsexual alter-ego named Georgie Fruit could procure. Whether aimed outward or introspectively (and we get both in spades), these sorts of probing enquiries form the spine of a record that combines Kevin Barnes’ psychedelic sound with newfound electronic experimentation.
Though not on the levels of Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?’s dense tracklist, Barnes grandiloquence is still on full display on innocence reaches as his trademark verbosity continues to force us to come to terms with just how limited the vocabulary of pop music usually is. Even at his most overwrought - Barnes amusingly recounts basking in the sun as "absorb[ing] some solar lashings" on “chaos arpeggiating“ - he still manages to somehow pull it off in a jarringly natural way. Only he could rhyme "gratuitous abysses" and make one 2016's catchiest rock hooks out of it while reminiscing of “The Jean Genie” guitar riffs. "Am I on the edge of a really big breakthrough / Or just another meltdown?" he again begins a song with interrogation. For Barnes the answer is usually both simultaneously, and we’re better for it in the voyeuristic way we as consumers of his emotional turmoil can't help but be.
Though the binary-challenging instant dance bounce of “let’s relate” and off-kilter feminist anthem of “it’s different for girls” may seem increasingly on the nose, it’s likely only because times have begun to catch up with Barnes himself, who has been strutting stages in dresses and glitter - if anything at all - since the ‘90s. “I’m thankful to have an outlet for that, to express that and not get chased out of town or beat up. I think we’re moving in the right direction now,” he’s explained, and for a gender-fluid performer based in Athens, Georgia (a classic Southern town that only just closed local favorite Confederate-themed bar last year) that's a feat not to be under-appreciated. Pressed beneath a cover adorned with neon naked female forms created by longtime art directer and set-opening hype-man David Barnes, his brother adds to the highlighting of the “wonderment for the female anatomy” (and we can't wait to see how many times this review is taken down by Facebook because of it).
Just as 2013’s Lousy With Sylvianbriar signaled a departure in sound as of Montreal shed its auxiliary members while Barnes fled to San Francisco, for this album he decamped to Paris in the waning wake of his divorce, and innocence reflects that shift in geography as well. Enjoying the anonymity only foreign excursions can bring, Barnes lyrically fleshes innocence with the tales of French flings from “les chants de maldoror”’s “We only act nicely when we’re ruining hotel beds / I greeted you in a hundred doorways” to “trashed exes”’s “The problem is a different girl / An Athenian beach-goth.” Recorded in a small urban apartment, he also often eschews the cacophony and collaboration of the traditional rock band instruments of the previous two LPs for fear of neighboring flats complaining, resulting in a collection of solitarily forged tunes addressing new characters and love interests set to the more manageable modes of drum machines and synthesizers.
This change of scenery also burst the bubble that blocked the contemporary music climate from influencing Barnes, as he began pulling from peers Jack Ü, Chairlift, and Arca after a career largely inspired by Prince, Bowie, Beach Boys, and Beatles. Flirting with skittering trap beats and EDM-inspired synthetic sound, particularly on standout “a sport and a pastime,” Barnes both shows old dogs can learn new tricks, deftly mixing nearly nihilist levels of destructive tendencies with glittering rave. Vocally it seems he's settled on more monotonous murmurs and coos over his chandelier-swinging shrieks of the mid aughts.
One of the few certainties of each of Montreal release is the likelihood that its successor is already at least partially completed by the time your copy has arrived. Coming only one year after Aureate Gloom and their 14th proper LP in 19 years, one could argue the only reason of Montreal’s recent records fail to make a larger splash is simply because people can't seem to consume his confessional epics as quickly as he can produce them. While Barnes no doubt lapses in and out of varying degrees of self-indulgence, give them time and you can't help but still be entranced, even if it can take some time to chew.
"It's not bad / It’s not sad / It’s fun,” closer “chap pilot” bluntly justifies before ending with a repetition of “I guess we can still surprise ourselves when we stop acting way too tough.” It’s an appropriate realization for a shameless poet ever vacillating between unforgivingly brutal depictions of love and desperately vulnerable admissions. 14 albums and 19 years later the only consistent predictability is that Barnes will indeed still continue to surprise.
Read our in-depth interview with of Montreal here.
Now that we've listened to the first taste of ex-Vampire Weekender Rostam and The Walkmen's Hamilton Leithauser collaboration "A 1000 Times," the duo have filled in the details of their upcoming album and given us a second single to listen to as well.
"This is probably my favorite recording I've done in the last few years," Rostam said of "In a Black Out" on Twitter, and it's understandable why. Though much of peak Walkmen-era Leithauser vocals are delightfully thrown against a clash of reverb and electric guitar we have them gently laid over a bed of acoustic here, while a most likely Rostam-procured "Step"-esque choir combines to beautifully fill the space.
A 10 song LP titled I Had A Dream That You Were Mine is due out September 23 via Glassnote Records, the closing track of which features Angel Deradoorian, formerly of Dirty Projectors. Check out "In a Black Out," as well as the tracklist and album art, below.
Download "In A Blackout" and preorder the album I Had A Dream That You Were Mine: https://hamiltonrostam.lnk.to/IHadADream http://www.facebook.com/hamiltonrostam http://www.twitter.com/hamiltonrostam http://www.instagram.com/hamiltonrostam http://www.hamiltonrostam.com Music video by Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam performing In a Black Out. (C) 2016 Glassnote Entertainment Group LLC http://vevo.ly/AU5Exf
I Had A Dream That You Were Mine:
“If you want someone with real balls it’s the male ballet dancer. That’s where the real grit is," Hayden Thorpe recently told The Guardian. Toying with the role - or lack thereof - masculinity plays in the oft married duo that is sex and rock ’n’ roll since the very first notes of their discography, Cumbrian natives Wild Beasts have come far from the raucously theatrical flamboyance of Limbo, Panto to the impeccably wrought beauty of Present Tense’s gentler sides. They’ve been swearing by their own “cock and balls” since they emphatically debuted in 2008, but on their fifth LP, Boy King, they outright swear with them, and it's clear that the courtship show is now over as raw, licentious aggression drips in its stead. Boy King consists of 10 sharp pop tracks beneath some massively ‘80s cover art reminiscent of a more polished News of the World, its robotic glow all the more curious when juxtaposed with the animalistic sentiments that writhe within.
Wild Beasts’ unique art rock has usually occupied the English indie scene’s outsider category as Arctic Monkeys-type lad rockers reigned. Thorpe’s exuberant, if not effeminate falsetto sounded an outright protest of them, though in embracing such lecherous id he and his band now wear their own brand of leather jackets and wear them quite well. “In some ways we're now the band we set out against!” Thorpe admits, but while artists grow and change, the true Boy King inherent in men remains limbic despite any change in our creative and cerebral representations of its primitive drive.
"After five records there had to be an element of 'what the fuck?’” Thorpe explains, leading one to wonder if “He The Colossus” line, “Not enough fucking and too much of wondering“ is a jab at their past selves. It was eight years ago when Thorpe first claimed he was tough, and nowhere is there such a stark example of their evolution - or devolution - from painstaking wordplay to outright brashness than the contrast in lyricism from then to now. On Limbo, Panto’s “The Club Of Fathomless Love” he dynamically delivers, “But I'm not a soft touch / And I won't been seen as such / So full with fierce fathomless love / I spit and have spats to be tough / Show I'm not soppy and stuff.” Put that up against “Tough Guy”’s simple assertion of "Now I'm all fucked up / And I can't stand up / So I better suck it up / Like a tough guy would,“ and it’s clear a lot has changed. Perhaps a self-fulfilling prophecy, the former’s opening line of, “Oh when I'm older I'll hear this moment and I'll laugh haha,” seems quite prescient.
Adding to the bravado, Dallas, Texan recording and John Congleton (St. Vincent, The Walkmen, Modest Mouse, Spoon) production makes it a sonically enthralling ride as well. Album opener “Big Cat” extends the metaphor of Wild Beasts’ rightful place atop the food chain as Thorpe’s sultry vocals and a steady percussion backing climax in a brief glimpse of some sharp guitar fangs that leave you wanting more. Though perhaps overly repetitive, “Alpha Female” has a delightfully thick slink to it plus some electrifying shreds of St. Vincent-esque guitar tones, while lead single “Get My Bang”’s funk foundation shakes with fuzzed out bass bombs over a simple, linear drum base. Following track and final single “Celestial Creatures” is a space-y track that maintains a steadily uplifting locomotion of synth undulations, boosted by more ever-elegant crooning. Later, Thorpe breathily threatens to surpass and consume the most vital dark meat the god of beauty and desire himself has to offer on “Eat Your Heart Out Adonis” before some sleazy riffs throw their hot weight around.
Baritone foil Tom Fleming, though not as vocally prominent as on past releases, has his not-to-be-under-appreciated moments too, most notably “2BU,” a brooding album standout built upon stutter step percussion and the unsettling confession, “Now I’m the type of man / Who wants to watch the world burn.” Also present is the proof that old habits die hard; for all its reckless abandon, Boy King's closer “Dreamliner” is a lovely relapse into the delicate control of records past, leaving you to wonder just what direction they’re headed in the end.
For all the straightforward sensuality of Wild Beasts’ newfound give-no-fucks mentality, it would seem their name is increasingly appropriate for such libidinous swagger. That being said, long-term fans of the band behind the moniker may come away feeling disappointed had they been looking for more of the same clever intricacies that drew them in at first. All but the hardest critics will get their “bang” regardless.
Through years of lusciously calculated yet carnal emoting Wild Beasts have earned the blurred line of irony now surrounding their unabashed virility (take, for example, the brilliant satire of 2009’s “All The King’s Men”). Newly emboldened, there’s an unflinching self-awareness of what it means to be the priapic pinnacle that is man in a rock ’n’ roll band, and they’re not afraid to seek out an equally satyric “Alpha Female” to prowl the stage with. And why not? It’s all just “self-loathing” anyway, and if life truly is merely a desperate race to mate before the crush of death then misery loves close, intimate company. "No getting it right / No getting it wrong / Just getting it on," indeed.
Well, here's some good news for people who love bad news: According to The Seattle Times, Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock was the catalyst for the unconscious coupling of multiple vehicles in Portland yesterday after falling asleep at the wheel and rear-ending a government truck that began a chain reaction of collisions. He was cleared of any intoxication and walked away unharmed.
No black Cadillacs nor baby blue sedans were involved, and it remains to be seen if he will blame it on the Tetons. You could say he just drove off; sometimes life's okay. It's understandable, for it was a long drive for someone with nothing to think about. Brock should be careful next time he takes interstate 8.
Last month Phantogram treated us to "You Don't Get Me High Anymore," the first single from their forthcoming third LP, Three. The second track, "Run Run Blood," was revealed today, and it's an equally confident and powerful sounding glimpse of what's to come.
Following their Big Boi Big Grams collab, the duo again call on some friends for help, this time in the form of some "creepy horns" contributed by none other than The Antlers. Those horns are a highlight of the mix that also includes Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter trading vocals through various effects and a continuance of their increasingly industrial leanings. In a statement to Stereogum, Carter explains it's "about the sad state of the world we live in today. It feels like the blind leading the blind sometimes.”
"Run Run Blood" will likely be given its live debut at Phantogram's sold out Lollapalooza aftershow tomorrow, while Three is out 9/16 via Republic. Listen and see the rest of the tour dates below:
Run Run Blood (Official Audio) Available on the new album THREE Download here: http://republicrec.co/PhantogramThree See all Phantogram tour dates at: http://republicrec.co/PhantogramTour Follow Phantogram on: Facebook: http://bit.ly/PhantoFacebook Twitter: http://bit.ly/PhantoTwitter Instagram: http://bit.ly/PhantoInstagram Spotify: http://bit.ly/PhantoSpotify YouTube: http://bit.ly/PhantoYouTube SoundCloud: http://bit.ly/PhantoSoundcloud Tumblr: http://bit.ly/PhantoTumblr Music video by Phantogram performing Run Run Blood.
We still haven't fully come down from seeing Beach House at Pitchfork two weekends ago, and now Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have surprised us with a new music video for Thank Your Lucky Stars track, "The Traveller."
A standout from a virtually flawless album, "The Traveller" shines in the Jennifer Juniper Stratford-directed visual that seems to reveal the journey taken is through time and space itself. Shot and processed on intentionally obsolete equipment, the striking images of a lady in red ebb and flow in a gorgeously distorted way truly befitting of Beach House's sound, while adding an '80s psychedelic edge to the dreaminess.
Watch below, and read our review of Thank Your Lucky Stars.
Thank Your Lucky Stars is available... In the US, from the Sub Pop Mega Mart: https://megamart.subpop.com/releases/beach_house/thank_your_lucky_stars In the UK and Europe, from Bella Union: https://bellaunion.greedbag.com/buy/thank-your-lucky-stars-4/ From Amazon: https://amzn.com/B016B0FL3I From iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/thank-your-lucky-stars/id1047853068 On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7zPfNw88t2Xv2nVXWKqQls
Damn, we've missed Hamilton Leithauser's voice.
The former Walkman has joined forces once again with now ex-Vampire Weekender Rostam Batmanglij to grace us with "A 1000 Times," a lovely tune that breaks right out of the gate with Leithauser's full register of glorious pleading howls. The potential energy is immediately palpable in the delicate opening few seconds that serve only to set the stage for a vocal main course that doesn't really let up once it starts.
The official debut of the newly-christened Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam duo, it's the first taste of what the latter told Pitchfork "might be one of the best records I make in my whole life." Rostam elaborated on Sirius XMU, explaining,
“I always wanted to try to really capture [Leithauser’s] voice in a way I felt like maybe it had never been captured before, just in terms of how it was recorded, and also pushing him to really scream, because it’s interesting. His voice has this kind of choir boy aspect to it, but then when he screams, it’s like a little bit of the choir boy is still intact, and I think that’s a special blend of things. He sings in a way like no one else sings. So I kind of felt like it was my role as the producer, to bring that out of him. And I think ‘A 1000 Times’ is probably one of the best examples of that.”
As long as he keeps belting like that, we're sold.
Listen to "A 1000 Times" here: https://hamiltonrostam.lnk.to/A1000Times Lyrics: I had a dream that you were mine I've had that dream a thousand times A thousand times, a thousand times I've had that dream a thousand times I left my room, on the west side I walked from noon, until the
Adorned by what can only be described as a Warby Parker-wearing gangsta corgi on the cover, We Roll Like Madmen's second AF single, "Always Late," is just in time to fill the cool summer shade. The track follows their recent impressive music video for "You Thought You," and, according to the duo, came about pretty organically.
WRLM explains to Transverso,
“Often times, I find myself procrastinating by producing music of no use in particular. It’s usually the day before some project is due that I’ll be spending my time writing drum loops or making wonky sounds instead of actually concentrating on the task at hand. ‘Always Late’ started from one of those distractions and it wasn’t until much later that we developed it into anything. Those initial strokes on a blank canvas end up meaning more in hindsight. ‘Always Late’ is the feeling of life changing while we are at our least mindful. Whether it feels good or bad, you can’t go back.”
Despite what their name implies, the Madmen show a lot of restraint on "Always Late," patiently building upon a skittering beat and pulsing bass as the song slowly evolves over its runtime of five minutes even. Appropriately, Jordan Young's hypnotic vocals don't even first appear until 4:15, though whether you can consider that "late" or not is all relative.
Listen below. AF is due out October 7 via Post-Echo.
We Roll Like Madmen "Always Late" AF http://Post-Echo.com http://WeRollLikeMadmen.com Find We Roll Like Madmen: Facebook- http://on.fb.me/1FLBI56 Spotify- http://spoti.fi/29uo7Aq Bandcamp- http://bit.ly/29q16z9