Sunday, April 29, 2018

Live: Protomartyr, INVSN @ Strom (Munich, April 21st, 2018)


Last week we spent a few unseasonably hot days in Munich, where among visits to castles, museums, beer gardens and other tourist attractions, we also had the opportunity to check out live for the first time Protomartyr, one of our current favorite bands.


The band is scheduled to make its live debut in Athens in one of this summer’s festivals, but there is no doubt that the natural habitat of this Detroit quartet with the idiosyncratic, intense post-punk sound is a dark, intimate club like Strom in Munich, so it would be foolish to miss this opportunity to see them in action while we were there.


According to band leader Joe Casey, the first time Protomartyr was supposed to play in Munich a few years back, the show got cancelled due to lack of interest. Thankfully the band didn’t lose heart and although their music remains a cult concern in the capital of Bavaria, here they were once again playing a storming set at Strom club.


About half of the material of their 70-minute performance was taken from their excellent latest album "Relatives in Descent", with "My Children" kicking off the set and gradually building the tension with its accelerating beat. A tension that rarely let off throughout the set, with the menacing drum beat leading the assault while the bass built up the frantic pace and the guitar added the intricate riffs anchoring Casey’s runaway narratives.


"Don't Go To Anacita", "Windsor Hum", "A Private Understanding" and "Here Is The Thing" were few more examples of excellence from the new record, while "Come And See", "Dope Cloud" and the one-two punch of "Why Does It Shake?" and "Scum, Rise!" of the encore stood out from the older material.

Protomartyr, live @ Strom (April 21, 2018)
INVSN, live @ Strom (April 21, 2018)
As an added bonus for us, the band that opened Protomartyr’s Munich gig was INVSN, another fine band led by Dennis Lyxzén who we know best as the lead singer of Refused and The (International) Noise Conspiracy.


The upbeat post-punk sound of INVSN (pronounced "Invasion") is closer to that of The (International) Noise Conspiracy (with added '80s new wave influences), than to the seismic punk of Refused, but the rebellious attitude and explosive performance of their charismatic leader remains the same in whatever band he is playing, always giving a great show and encouraging crowd participation.


INVSN presented songs from their latest album "The Beautiful Stories" and new EP "Forever Rejected", with "Immer Zu" from the album and the title track of the EP being the two most memorable songs of their set, while for the encore they played the anthemic "Down in the Shadows" from their self-titled 2014 LP.



Check out below "A Private Understanding" and "Windsor Hum" from Protomartyr's set and INVSN in "Forever Rejected" and "Immer Zu":


Protomartyr - A Private Understanding, live @ Strom (Munich, April 21, 2018)

Protomartyr - Windsor Hum, live @ Strom (Munich, April 21, 2018)

INVSN - Forever Rejected, live @ Strom (Munich, April 21, 2018)



INVSN - Immer Zu, live @ Strom (Munich, April 21, 2018)

Monday, April 09, 2018

Listening Habits 03.2018

"In A Poem Unlimited", the second album by U.S. Girls for 4AD and sixth overall since Meghan Remy first introduced us to her solo recording project about a decade ago, is her most accomplished and impressive work so far. The album, recorded in collaboration with members of the Toronto-based funk and jazz instrumental collective The Cosmic Range, uses electropop and disco rhythms to create songs that constitute vivid character studies of women grappling with power and protest the lies and hypocrisy surrounding us. Personal politics and fluid pop music combine to create a perfect protest record that fits perfectly with the current turbulent times.

Among the best albums we’ve listened to in the first few months of 2018, we also have "All Nerve", the excellent fifth LP by The Breeders, who make a spectacular return to form after a 10 year absence, this time with the same lineup that gave us the classic "Last Splash" in the 90s. First single "Wait in the Car" is the perfect companion to "Cannonball" in The Breeders "best of" playlist, while tracks like "Nervous Mary", "All Nerve", "Blues at the Acropolis" or the Amon Duul II cover "Archangel's Thunderbird" can easily stand next to their past glories.

In the 10 years between the last two Breeders albums, Ty Segall has released more than ten records, steadily building up an impressive discography that spans the whole spectrum of rock ’n’ roll, from garage and punk, to hard rock and blues. His latest work, "Freedom’s Goblin", adds also soul and funk touches to the mix, while somehow still managing to include nods to every single rock genre that has ever influenced him without ever losing the plot (as, I’m afraid, is the case with Jack White’s latest offering). The end result can easily be counted among his best efforts so far, a new peak to an already impressive run.

Check out below the 12 albums we've listened to the most in the last month and a half, the first batch of LPs that stood out for us in the 2018 release calendar:

Top 12 Albums

1.   In A Poem Unlimited - U.S. GIRLS
2.   All Nerve - THE BREEDERS
3.   Freedom's Goblin - TY SEGALL
4.   Plunge - FEVER RAY
5.   Songs Of Praise - SHAME
6.   Twin Fantasy - CAR SEAT HEADREST
7.   There's A Riot Going On - YO LA TENGO
8.   Little Dark Age - MGMT
9.   Always Ascending - FRANZ FERDINAND
10. I'll Be Your Girl - THE DECEMBERISTS
11. Boarding House Reach - JACK WHITE
12. Rough Trade Shops Counter Culture 17 - VARIOUS ARTISTS

Top 12 Tracks

1.   Pearly Gates - U.S. GIRLS
2.   Blues At The Acropolis - THE BREEDERS
3.   She - TY SEGALL
4.   IDK About You - FEVER RAY
5.   Nervous Young Inhumans - CAR SEAT HEADREST
6.   For You Too - YO LA TENGO
7.   One Rizla - SHAME
8.   Over And Over And Over - JACK WHITE
9.   Little Dark Age - MGMT
10. Feel The Love Go - FRANZ FERDINAND
11. Severed - THE DECEMBERISTS
12. Shadow - CHROMATICS




U.S. Girls - Pearly Gates (ft. James Baley)

Monday, April 02, 2018

New Releases: March 2018

Round-up of the most interesting albums, singles and EP's released in March 2018:

Albums

All Nerve
THE BREEDERS - All Nerve
HOT SNAKES - Jericho Sirens
YO LA TENGO - There's a Riot Going On
FRANKIE COSMOS - Vessel
SOCCER MOMMY - Clean
THE DECEMBERISTS - I'll Be Your Girl
JACK WHITE - Boarding House Reach
SUNFLOWER BEAN - Twentytwo in Blue
PREOCCUPATIONS - New Material
SUUNS - Felt
ONEIDA - Romance
THE MEN - Drift
GUIDED BY VOICES - Space Gun
CAVERN OF ANTI MATTER - Hormone Lemonade
THE SHACKS - Haze
SUPERORGANISM - Superorganism
AMEN DUNES - Freedom
ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF - Dead Magic
THE VOIDZ - Virtue
ALBERT HAMMOND JR - Francis Trouble
DAVID BYRNE - American Utopia
OF MONTREAL - White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood
BUFFALO TOM - Quiet and Peace
TITUS ANDRONICUS - A Productive Cough
NIGHTMARE AIR - Fade Out
MOANING - Moaning
ROLO TOMASSI - Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It
ALICE BAG - Blueprint
LUCY DACUS - Historian
GWENNO - Le Kov
TRACEY THORN - Record
CZARFACE AND MF DOOM - Czarface Meets Metal Face
YOUNG FATHERS - Cocoa Sugar
EDITORS - Violence
THE VACCINES - Combat Sports
MOUNT EERIE - Now Only
THIRD EYE FOUNDATION - Wake the Dead
DEAD MEADOW - The Nothing They Need
MONSTER MAGNET - Mindfucker
CREEP SHOW - Mr Dynamite

Singles & EPs

The Man
GOAT GIRL - The Man
THE KILLS - List of Demands (Reparations)
DJANGO DJANGO - Surface To Air
MORRISSEY - My Love, I'd Do Anything for You
PALEHOUND - YMCA Pool / Sea Of Blood
LOST GIRLS - Feeling EP
DUNGEN AND WOODS - Myths 003 EP 
NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS - It's A Beautiful World
BEN FROST - All That You Love Will Be Eviscerated
SMERZ - Have Fun EP
HOLLOW HAND - Blackberry Wine
PILLOW QUEENS - State of the State
DETOX TWINS - In the Hospital Garden / Transformation
THE HOWL AND THE HUM - Potrait I 
PALE KIDS - Hesitater EP
WAX CHATTELS - Stay Disappointed 
SLOW RIOT - Voyeur / Burn in the City  
LAZY DAY - Weird Cool 
WHENYOUNG - Pretty Pure / The Collector
THE BLIND SHAKE / THE HIPSHAKES - Broad Daylight / Giddy


Frankie Cosmos - Jesse