Athens Post-Punk Band Gláss Announce New Album 'Accent,' Share First Single

Athens, GA post-punk group Gláss have shared the first single, “Glass(-accent)”, from their debut LP Accent due out via Post-Echo early next year. The track features dark, monotone vocals brought to life by skittering guitar and rapid-fire percussion and anchored by driving bass.

“And I’ll go where I’m not so cold,” speak-sings Aaron Burke, while chilly reverb bounces around beneath the mix, as if the song were being performed inside a metal box. Burke told Transverso,

“The song is a feeling of being exposed. Being in an environment where you can’t control but act unnaturally. A place that is definitely more temperate than you are used to, and you had been so used to a place that is so much more comfortably chilling, and you had become so accustomed to getting used to it, that it I felt so naked not having to wrap up in warm clothing, that I just refused to. To the point where I was wearing tight jeans and a duffle coat in 100 degree weather. That was America to me. No friends, no local knowledge to back me up. No stories or experience to refer to. I felt transplanted from everything I knew when I moved to the states. I can’t help but write about that—my immediate emotions of living in the states. That pretty much sums up the topic of the record.”

While Gláss have not set a date for the LP release, they will be playing a few dates in the Southeast over the next couple of months. Check out said dates and the track below.

10/22 - Greenville, SC @ Soundbox Tavern
11/14 - Athens, GA @ Flicker Theatre and Bar
12/17 - Athens GA @ Flicker Theatre and Bar

Gláss "Glass(-accent)" "Accent" - out 2/5/2016 http://Post-Echo.com Find Gláss on Facebook- http://on.fb.me/1QHk02U Bandcamp- http://bit.ly/1FtcRmo

Bon Iver Ends Eaux Claires Fest With Two New Songs

In spite of Justin Vernon’s insistence that there are no future plans for Bon Iver, the band played two new songs last night during their headline set at Vernon’s own Eaux Claires Music and Arts Festival. Maybe this means they’re at it again. We’ll have to wait and see.

Listen to them below:

Tame Impala's 'Currents' is Latest Evolution in Kevin Parker's Quest for Perfection

While it may have been impossible to predict that the same band that released Innerspeaker in 2010 would create an album like Currents in 2015, in hindsight it's not at all difficult to see how this new sound was reached. Just as Innerspeaker gave Tame Impala the psych-rock label that would be expanded upon in Lonerism, Lonerism in turn introduced the spacey synthesizers and pristine production that would take the lead in Currents. While this latest installment in frontman Kevin Parker's discography may be the most sonically different out of anything in the Tame Impala catalog, it still retains something that makes it familiar.

Most notably, Currents marks Parker’s transition to becoming the complete embodiment of Tame Impala, as he wrote, recorded, produced, performed, and mixed it entirely on his own in his home studio. Up until this point he had worked with other bandmates or at least producer and mix engineer Dave Fridmann, but Currents is his first singularly created album, and his well-documented obsessive nature shows through this in pretty much every aspect. From the lush synth tracks that bubble through the mix to his effortless, washed out vocals, every sound is rendered with the utmost care.

Though this LP builds upon the foundation laid by Tame Impala’s first two albums it certainly lives in it’s own space.  This was evident even in "Let it Happen," the first single released, as the nearly eight-minute track features synth-driven melodies, enough studio tricks to make nearly any producer’s mouth water, and, most surprisingly, barely any guitar. While other tracks on Currents do utilize more guitar, the instrument is mainly used as more of an accent rather than the focal point of each song, a stark contrast from previous staple tracks like "Elephant." Even the song "Eventually," which begins with a fuzzy guitar riff, transforms into a shimmering synth jam as it descends into the verse. 

Besides a lack of guitar, Currents is unique in part because Parker has come to embrace pop songwriting techniques. Leading up to the release of Lonerism he admitted “I really love, like, pop music now” in one of the videos shared by Modular Recordings, and he also revealed that he had written an entire album for Kylie Minogue, an Austrailian pop singer. Since then, Parker has gone on to record with American pop producer Mark Ronson and is featured on 3 tracks on Ronson’s 2015 album Uptown Special. 

Currents can’t exactly be classified as pop, but it’s probably the closest thing to pop that Tame Impala has released. Yet, after songs like the synthy ballad “Yes I’m Changing” and the sugary-sweet “The Less I Know The Better," Parker throws out a left turn in “Past Life," which features pitched down, spoken word vocals not unlike how documentary characters sound when trying to hide their identity in an interview, that ultimately pulls the album back down into an odd haze of phased out, psychedelic noise.

In terms of lyrical content, while Innerspeaker and Lonerism came from the mind of someone stuck inside their own head, Currents showcases that same voice venturing beyond introspection. It’s easy to call this record a break-up album, but Kevin Parker is very clear that it’s much more than that. He speaks largely about change - change in himself, change around him, change in other people - and how those changes shape his thoughts and emotions.  It seems like he’s been through a lot, but he’s pretty okay with letting things happen as they come.

Currents comes as two things: It is the most adventurous, interesting, and well-produced collection of songs Kevin Parker has created thus far, sitting atop of the Tame Impala discography as the most mature and painstakingly crafted iteration in their twisted psych-pop world. However, it also serves as a transition. If anything, we now know that Kevin Parker is unable to stick with a certain sound, forever looking for new ways to evolve his ideas and push his project beyond what was expected when Innerspeaker first hit the shelves. While this album is impressive in its own right, it’s definitely going to be interesting to see what comes next.