New Selections — Living Hour, Art Trip and the Static Sound, Russian Baths, Imperial Wax, Ioanna Gika, Mint Field, Arellano, Waste of Space Orchestra

Welcome to the working week. Here's a batch of singles to check out:

Living Hour: "Hallboy"
(via Force Field PR / Kanine Records / Stereogum / YouTube)



Via Force Field PR:

Today, Winnipeg’s Living Hour shares "Hallboy," the third single from their upcoming album, Softer Faces. Stereogum has the premiere and described the track as "immaculate." The band is in the middle of a winter / spring tour that includes a stop at SXSW and ends with a west coast run in late March. See full dates below.

Bio:
Everything about Winnipeg’s Living Hour has been expanding since their humble basement beginnings in 2015. What started with dreamy love songs inspired by the cinematic sky of their hometown has transformed into even more sprawling and expansive expressions on their latest effort,
Softer Faces due March 1, 2019.

What started as a quartet is now a quintet, though still led by the smoky, ethereal lead vocals of Sam Sarty (vocals, trombone, keyboard), who started singing in choirs at a young age. With her strong vocal backbone, musicians Gil Carroll (guitar), Adam Soloway (guitar, vocals), Alex Chochinov (drums, trumpet, organelle), and Brett Ticzon (bass, vocals) are able to shine. Three voices, guitar, trombone, brushed percussion, and boundless effects sees Living Hour pulling from many genres to create their own sonically diverse and unique vibe.

Due out March 1 via Kanine Records,
Softer Faces follows up to their highly-praised 2016 S/T debut, featuring haunting, ethereal vocals accompanied by lush, expansive instrumentation.

Softer Faces was produced by Kurt Feldman (The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Chairlift, DIIV, Dum Dum Girls) in Living Hour’s hometown and mixed by Jarvis Taveniere (Real Estate, Woods, Blouse, Widowspeak) at Thump Studios in Brooklyn.

Known for their mesmerizing and deeply-moving live show, Living Hour has toured Europe, the UK and North America. Their performance captures the dreamy, emotional power of the band’s recordings, creating a mesmerizing, unforgettable, cathartic, and deeply moving live music experience. Sarty finds that,
"Sometimes people are a little turned off and not living in the now or being present. I find that when you perform, it's one of the most present moments that you can be in. You're living in the hour."

TOUR DATES:
03/01 - Minneapolis, MN - The Fallout
03/02 - Chicago, IL - The Hideout
03/03 - Bloomington, IN - The Bishop
03/04 - Cincinnati, OH - MOTR
03/05 - Washington DC - Songbyrd
03/06 - Brooklyn, NY - Rough Trade
03/07 - New York, NY - Pianos
03/08 - Roanoke, VA - Billy's Barn
03/09 - Savannah, GA - Savannah Stopover
03/10 - Athens, GA - World Famous
03/12 - Austin, TX - SXSW - Melted Magazine Showcase 8:30pm
03/13 - Austin, TX - SXSW - Flitch Fest 5pm
03/14 - Austin, TX - SXSW - Bungalow Break Out West 3pm
03/15 - Austin, TX - SXSW - Lazarus Brew Co - Noon
03/16 - Salado, TX - Barrow
03/18 - Phoenix, AZ - Lunchbox
03/22 - Los Angeles, CA - The Factory
03/23 - Las Vegas, NV - Starboard Tack
03/25 - Billings, MT - Kirks Grocery

LIVING HOUR ONLINE
WEBSITE
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK

KANINE RECORDS ONLINE
WEBSITE
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK


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Art Trip and the Static Sound: "Iron Lung"
(via mutante-inc. / Fiasco Recordings/ Bandcamp)



Via mutante-inc:

Art Trip & The Static Sound - 'Iron Lung' (A Single)
Released 5th April 2019 - Fiasco Recordings - Fiasco 20
Formats – CD & DL – Distributed by State 51 and Bandcamp

Art Trip & The Static Sound’s new single Iron Lung taken from their second LP
A Week Of Kindness. Recorded with Luis Felber and Andy Ramsey (Stereolab) and mixed by Simon Holliday.

This aggravated ditty sees Art Trip on breathless pop form delivered with their customary Acid Punk punch and which kicked its way onto 6Music’s headphone moment late last year.

Art Trip have been compared to this bunch and do wonder if it’s true? Polly Harvey, Hawkwind, Wire, Lydia Lunch, The Damned, Plankton Now, Half Japanese, Hole, La Dusseldorf and X Ray Spex! A pretty wild bunch we’d say.

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Russian Baths"Slenderman"
(via Good Eye Records / Under the Radar / YouTube)



Via Good Eye Records:

Intertwining feedback and harmony with equal significance, Russian Baths paint in searing strokes finding beauty in towering, looming, incendiary noise-rock. Comprised of Luke Koz (guitar, vox), Jess Rees (guitar, keys, vox) and joined by Evan Gill Smith (bass) and Jeff Widner (drums), the band has been honing their craft and chemistry since initially storming listeners with their split single, “Ambulance / Ghost.”

Earlier this year, Russian Baths released their debut EP,
Penance, signing to Brooklyn-based label Good Eye Records.

Incorporating dissonance into traditional song structures, Penance’s aesthetic recalls Big Black's caustic fits, '70s space rock, Chapel Hill's noise pop, Big Muff driven grunge, and the angular arrangements of British post-punk. The breadth of Russian Bath’s scope in sound is marked by the distance and cohesion between singles in the furious, driving “Slenderman” and the elegant thunderstorm that is “Poolhouse.” 

Russian Baths links:
Facebook // Instagram

Penance tracklist:
01: Slenderman
02: What’s Your Basement
03: Poolhouse
04: Black Cross
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Imperial Wax"No Man's Land"
(via Rarely Unable / Saustex Records / Bandcamp)



Via Rarely Unable:

IMPERIAL WAX PRESENT THEIR DEBUT ALBUM GASTWERK SABOTEURS ON SAUSTEX RECORDS 17TH MAY; FEATURING THREE OF THE LONGEST SERVING AND LAST LINE UP OF THE FALL

DEBUT SINGLE "NO MAN'S LAND" RELEASED TODAY
(PRE ORDER LINK, SPOTIFY & BANDCAMP)

Imperial Wax are pleased to present their debut album Gastwerk Saboteurs, delivering twelve memorable songs showcasing their distinctly vital and infectious blend of post-punk, rock 'n’ roll and garage rock. “Imperial Wax are noise rock & garage brawlers unafraid of a psych workout or a rockabilly dust-up.” (Nick Hutchings, Velvet Sheep)

The album shall be released via Saustex Records - recommended by friend of the band Jeff Pinkus (Butthole Surfers, Melvins) - on 17th May, preceded by the first single "No Man's Land" which is officially released today and is streaming above. An accompanying video has premiered on The Quietus today also.

The four-piece comprising frontman Sam Curran and Keiron Melling, Dave Spurr and Pete Greenway - three 11 year veterans in the longest serving and last line up of The Fall - shall be touring in support of their debut, check out the dates and details below.

IMPERIAL WAX, GASTWERK SABOTEURS TOUR DATES:
Thursday 30th May Huddersfield, The Parish
Friday 31st May Manchester, Night People
Sunday 2nd June Brighton, Prince Albert
Monday 3rd June - Bristol, Rough Trade
Thursday 6 June London, The Islington
Friday 7th June Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
Thursday 13th June Glasgow, Broadcast
Friday 14th June Newcastle, Think Tank? Underground

Official tour poster here

The album was produced by Mat Arnold (Noisettes, The Coral, Peter Gabriel, The Fall) Ex in-house engineer at Real World Studios. Mastered by award winning mastering engineer Andy Pearce who has remastered works for (Elvis Presley, Motörhead, Black Sabbath, Frank Sinatra, Lou Reed, Bo Diddley, X-Ray Specs, The Kinks).

IMPERIAL WAX ARE:
Pete Greenway - Guitar/Stylophone
Keiron Melling - Drums/piano/percussion/harmonica/Bv’s
Dave Spurr - Bass/piano/bv’s
Sam Curran - vocals/guitar/Hammond

Recommended especially if you like:
Royal Trux, Big Black, Minutemen, Birthday Party, Beefheart, The Stooges, Can, Love, Velvet Underground, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Old Doo-Wop, Afrobeat, Motorhead, Cows, Hepa.Titus, Black Sabbath, Black Flag, Mudhoney, James Brown, Howlin' Wolf...

FACEBOOK | TWITTER | WEBSITE
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Ioanna Gika: "Out of Focus"
(via Stereo Sanctity / Sargent House / YouTube)



Via Stereo Sanctity:

Ioanna Gika is set to release her debut solo album Thalassa on April 5th via Sargent House. Thalassa takes its name from the primeval spirit of the sea, a nod to the singer's Greek heritage and a thematic touchstone for the self-produced 10 song set.

The album announcement is accompanied by a self-directed music video for new album track “Out Of Focus,” featuring world surf champion Jake Caster as the Greek god Pan, cutting waves in a surreal indoor wave barrel as Gika performs the song beside him.

Written in Greece during a period of familial grief and romantic dissolution,
Thalassa documents an unanchored soul facing nature at its most unforgiving. Gika's unique voice is laid bare, a beacon above the black water of dense, looming production that lies beneath. Her lyrics (recently quoted by Booker Prize winning author Arundhati Roy in her best-selling book The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness) sung in Greek as well as English, chart a path through her own mourning while luring the ear like a siren’s call.

"
A series of deaths drew me home to Greece. The city of childhood memories was in disrepair. I drove past painted swastikas towards burial sites. I said goodbyes and grieved for those I didn’t get to say goodbye to. Thalassa is about going through change that is unwanted yet unstoppable. It is a document of the dread, the adrenaline, and the surrender in the moments when you realise the only way to survive the wave, is to brace yourself and go through."

The theme of change is represented not only in the album's lyrics, but also in Gika's production: from expansive opener “Roseate,” shared online late last year, to the stark loneliness of album closer “Drifting,” she channels the helplessness of being plunged into the depths of
Thalassa's great waves, along with the adrenaline of not knowing if she will come up for air.

Gika, who formerly toured the world as a member of IO Echo, recently completed a US run of live dates supporting Deafheaven and DIIV. She also wrote and performed the song “Estrange” with Tokimonsta on the latter’s Grammy nominated album
Lune Rouge. She will support Garbage across the US in May as part of a Spring tour around the release of Thalassa. European dates to follow soon.

Thalassa is available to pre-order here: http://smarturl.it/IoannaGika

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/ioannagika/
https://twitter.com/ioannagika
https://www.instagram.com/ioannagika
https://sargenthouse.com/

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Mint Field: "Jardin de la Paz"
(via Stereo Sanctity / Innovative Leisure / Soundcloud) 



Via Stereo Sanctity:

Tijuana-based psych trio Mint Field return with new EP Mientras Esperas, set for release March 1st via Innovative Leisure. The first single from the record "Jardin de la Paz" is streaming online now.

In the words of the band themselves, "The 'Mientras Esperas' EP comes from a connection between what's happening in the modern world and how that reflects and affects our minds. "Jardín de la Paz" is about taking a deep breath amidst all of this, it's about acquiring peace of mind."

Watch Mint Field perform "Jardin de la Paz" live here.

With their 2018 debut ‘Pasar de la Luces’, released on Innovative Leisure Records, Mint Field made an album that couldn’t come from anywhere other than Mexico. It’s a unique combination of psych rock, dream-pop, shoegaze and krautrock, dreamt up and shaped by Amor Amezcua and Estrella del Sol Sánchez under the skies of Playas de Tijuana. Organic, spacious and inhabited, their music was driven by furious drums, dramatic basslines and distorted guitars. One year later, and the band has played more than 80 shows across Mexico, USA and Europe. They’ve played festivals such as Desert Daze, Pitchfork Music Festival Paris, Ceremonia, SXSW, toured with Ulrika Spacek and have opened for the likes of Courtney Barnett and Franz Ferdinand. Their music was also been chosen by Dior to illustrate its collaboration with the eight Mexican photographers who captured a collection inspired by escaramuzas, Mexican female riders who compete in the male-dominated rodeos.

Mint Field has since become a trio, with bass player Sebastian Neyra joining the band for the ‘Pasar de la Luces’tour. Written on the road and recorded in a couple of days during a stop-off in Los Angeles, Mint Field’s new EP ‘Mientras Esperas’ is more dry, more distorted and more powerful. It captures the essence and the intensity of their live sound and energy. This EP is a reflection of the band’s feelings towards the modern world: the lack of care for nature and what surrounds us, our selfishness towards it and our thoughtlessness of what we are about to loose. It’s about questioning your role, carving your own path and acquiring peace of mind throughout it all.mind through all of this.

Links:
Pre-order EP here
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
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Arellano: "On Time"
(via Robert Arellano / YouTube)



Via Robert Arellano:

There are no words for shamanic ego death, and there is no schedule for what is called dying to the self.

After a decade spent honing my vocals, writing, and arranging while raising my daughter, the foundations began to crumble. My strange motivations for music, which had been fed by flattery heaped upon me when I was young, collapsed. Unable to pick up my beloved acoustic six-string, I experienced first-hand the desert of creative emptiness.

Portuguese Christian hymns and the indigenous healing songs of the Peruvian Amazon filled the void I felt and reoriented my life and career. It was about as far removed from the American music scene as I could imagine.

“On Time” is the first testament of my renewal. I wrote this song for my daughter. It seems to channel the tenderness that I feel towards her. Listen to it now through SoundCloud or Spotify. You can also watch the accompanying music video on YouTube.

Cameron Greider (Chris Cornell, PM Dawn, Sean Lennon, Natalie Merchant) produced “On Time,” with mixing help from Bryce Goggin (Pavement, Evan Dando, Spacehog, Swans) and recording by Glenn Ianaro. We did the basic tracks live-to-tape, and the chemistry in the room was powerful. Cameron and Matt Johnson (Jeff Buckley, St. Vincent) wrote their parts in real time – that’s how good they are.

I hope listening to “On Time” makes you feel better - calmer, gentler, more at ease. It’s not so much that I was trying to tell any particular story with it, as I was simply channelling an immense feeling of love and gratitude.

Innocence.

Robert Arellano


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Waste of Space Orchestra: "Seeker's Reflection"
(via Earsplit PR / Svart Records / YouTube) 



Via Earsplit PR:

The mention of either cosmic black metal alchemists Oranssi Pazuzu or ritualist doom metal conjurors Dark Buddha Rising - as separate entities - is enough to get excited at the mention of new music, so when their forces combine into WASTE OF SPACE ORCHESTRA, we know all too well what kind of a treat we're in for.

This distinctive "X factor" is exactly why they were prime candidates to be the first to grip the baton for Roadburn's commissioned pieces series which started in 2018. The ensemble toiled away in secret, in Finland, for months; what would eventually manifest as WASTE OF SPACE ORCHESTRA was shrouded in mystery. When this particular behemoth lumbered into view on the 013 Main Stage that year, it was truly breathtaking. For seventy magical minutes an audience was enraptured by what unfolded. A mere two hours into the festival, and with jaws eventually scraped off the floor, many heralded it the set of the weekend - a claim that plenty stood by four days later. The psychedelic darkness divined during this particular set resonated long after the festival detritus was swept away and the Tilburg streets were empty once again.

Luckily, plans were afoot to commit this unholy, progressive maelstrom to tape;
Syntheosis will be released on April 5th via Svart Records. Syntheosis is not a live recording but a carefully prepared studio interpretation on which the ten musicians worked over the spring and summer of 2018. The offering was recorded and mixed by Julius Mauranen, who also worked on Oranssi Pazuzu's Värähtelijä. The album can be digested as a challenging, engaging psych metal record or as a dimension-spanning, one-hour performance consisting of nine parts. The work recounts a story of three beings and their deep search for knowledge:

The Shaman (Vesa Ajomo) is seeing oppressing visions from the bleak future of mankind.
The Seeker (Juho Vanhanen) is searching for the truth from unknown dimensions with secret methods.
The Possessor (Marko Neuman) corrupts the other individuals, manipulating them into his own sinister plan.

In advance of its release, WASTE OF SPACE ORCHESTRA has unveiled the official visual accompaniment to "Seeker's Reflection." The clip was shot, directed, and edited by Kalle-Erik Kosonen. Offers Ajamo,
"After seeing through the Shaman's eyes, The Seeker begins his journey from altered states of reality. The Syntheosis is like a black hole; once The Seeker is within the gravitational pull, there is no return."

View WASTE OF SPACE ORCHESTRA's "Seeker's Reflection" video at THIS LOCATION.

Svart Records will release Syntheosis worldwide on CD, double LP, and digital formats on April 5th. For preorders, go to svartrecords.com/product/waste-space-syntheosis-album.

WASTE OF SPACE ORCHESTRA:
Vesa Ajomo - voice of the shaman, guitar
Toni Hietamäki - bass guitar
Niko Lehdontie - guitar, effects
Ville Leppilahti - keyboards, effects
Marko Neuman - voice of the possessor
Jukka Rämänen - drums
Petri Rämänen - deep bass guitar
Jussi Saarivuori - electronics
Jarkko Salo - drums
Juho Vanhanen - voice of the seeker, guitar

http://www.facebook.com/wasteofspaceorchestra
http://www.svartrecords.com
http://www.facebook.com/svartrecords
http://www.twitter.com/svartrecords

Sincerely,
Letters From A Tapehead

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