Psych Fest has been at a different location every year. From Mohawk to Seaholm to its new location at Beauty Ballroom/Emo’s East, the surreal atmosphere and excellent lineup has made for some legit party times, and this year looks to be no different. The shindig kicks off tonight and lasts through Sunday, so you can bet all that homework I need to do probably will have to wait. Here are some of my picks for must-see bands this weekend. You can find the full schedule here.
Abrasive, aggressive, confrontational, indecipherable, cacophonous. Death Grips’ debut The Money Store is a lot to take in, especially if you’re not sprinting on a treadmill while listening to it. It channels Public Enemy and 80’s hardcore, but it sounds nothing like either. It’s probably closely associated with “rap-rock,” but there’s not a traditional shred of guitar or swagger. Discordant, reversed noises and samples reverberate around angry, often unintelligible lyrics. The beats, provided by Hella and Marnie Stern rhythm machine Zach Hill, are a barely functional backbone to this chaos.
This is one of the most polarizing listens of 2012, without a doubt. It’s going to hit you with either immediate disgust or intense headbanging. For a quick glimpse into the fray, skip to the double shot of “Hustle Bones” and “I’ve Seen Footage.” These tracks, found in the middle of the album, capture probably the most accessible territory Death Grips bothers to dabble in. The rest is an apocalyptic, angry tirade without reason and only occasional rhyme. And the result is simultaneously shocking and awesome.
After much anticipation and a slew of previews on various live performances over the past year, Passion PIt have announced their sophomore release, titled Gossamer. The album drops on July 24th, and in the meantime they continue to tour, stopping in Dallas in June and playing with Justice at Red Rocks in August. Check out the dates at Consequence of Sound.
It’s been several months, actually probably a year, but atmospheric pop up-and-comers Purity Ring are ready to unleash their first full-length of spooky, Fever Ray-influenced electronic soundscapes. The album’s called Shrines, and that’s the cover above. The album drops July 24th via 4AD and Last Gang. Along with this fantastic news, they’ve given us the tracklist, some tour dates, and a new excellent song called “Obedear.” Check all of it out at Pitchfork.
Fiona Apple played her first official show in seven years at Stubb’s during SXSW, and I’m proud to say I was there and she was just amazing. She played this new track, “Every Single Night” at that show, and I remember it very well; the song will be a part of her highly anticipated new album The Idler Wheel, which hits stores brick-and-mortar and digital on June 19th. Listen below.
Tomorrow is every vinyl addict’s favorite day – Record Store Day. Think of it as Black Friday for wax. There are many awesome releases this year – you can check out the full list here. Show up early, fight the crowds! Throw elbows! And if you don’t get what you want, buy something anyway and scalp it on eBay like a BOSS. Here are some records I’m thinking about picking up.
Arcade Fire – Sprawl II
Beach House – Lazuli B/W Equal Mind
Garbage – Blood For Poppies
JEFF the Brotherhood – Upstairs at United Volume 3
Katy Perry – Part of Me (Thin White Duke Remix)
M83 – Mirror
Mclusky – Mclusky Do Dallas Reissue
Refused – The Shape of Punk to Come Reissue
Tallest Man On Earth – King of Spain
The Black Keys – El Camino
The Clash – London Calling 2012
The Flaming Lips – And Heavy Fwends
White Stripes – Hand Springs/Red Death at 6:14
Crosses – Option/Telepathy
Longtime readers will know I am a devoted Ringo Deathstarr supporter. They are far and away my favorite Austin band, and their debut album Colour Trip was one of my picks for the Best of 2011. They recently toured with a little band called the Smashing Pumpkins, and are currently hard at work writing songs for their next album and planning to tour the world and visit even more places than previously.
But they need our help. The group must gather funds to record their second album, and they have set up a Pledge Music page for donations. The page has only been up two days, and the group has already accumulated 62% of their goal! You can help Ringo Deathstarr by visiting the page; additionally, the band has lined up some pretty sweet rewards for big spenders. While you’re donating, listen to a few of my favorites from Colour Trip.
Once every three months I list the best of what I heard in albums/songs/remixes for the quarter. I do this to personally keep up with all the awesome music I hear, as it ultimately helps me at the end of the year when I do my overall listing for the previous twelve months. I also do it to introduce you cool cats to tunes you may have missed independently.
Great awesome fantastic news everyone! My favoritest band in the whole universe has announced a new album release! In fact, they’ve announced THREE new album releases! So yeah, basically, I’m freaking out over here. Uno!, Dos!, and Tre! will drop September 25th, November 13th, and January 15th, respectively. The band has stated they are at “the most prolific and creative time” in their careers, and that every new song “has the power and energy that represents Green Day on all emotional levels.” Get more in-depth, fanboy style, via this link.
Man, oh man, I’m kind of glad I didn’t make 2012 the year I finally journeyed to Indio, because I came oh so very close to doing so. I mean, the lineup for Coachella this year is FANTASTIC, but now that they’ve has released the set times, I can see that too much of a good thing makes for some difficult decisions for the desert dwellers this year. At least they get two weekends to catch what they missed. Peep the set times below, and stare in awe at just how many hypothetical heartbreaks you would have to make.
