The first time I saw the extraordinary noise punk band Weeping Icon was at the Bushwick venue Alphaville in 2017, and I was instantly mesmerized. Their music, then and now, comes at you with the force of an electrical storm, laced through with trenchant social and political commentary in the lyrics. This past Friday, they were back at Alphaville for the first time since the pandemic began. (The venue had stopped having live music during the struggles of the past three years, but recently reopened its stage again.) Adding to the festive mood on Friday, Weeping Icon had just released their newest EP, Ocelli (read our review), the first new offering from them since their self-titled debut LP in 2019. Both the musicians and the packed crowd were in the mood to celebrate, myself included.
The Brooklyn trio JWC kicked off the night with their unique ethereal sound, focused around lilting guitar solos and dreamy vocals fromJeremy Cox (formerly of LODRO), also featuring Mike Sheffield (of Heaven’s Gate) and Dan Mehaffey.
Next to take the stage was the experimental quartet YHWH Nailgun, who also just released a new EP, No Midwife and I Wingflap. Originally formed in Philadelphia as a collaboration between drummer Sam Pickard and vocalist Zach Borzone, the band is now Brooklyn-based with Jack Tobias on synths and Sanguiv Rosenstock on guitar. Their music has been described as: “the feeling of a punch, taking heavier, industrial sounds, and condensing them into more urgent, digestible forms, and infusing that with the luster of electronic and dance music.” The punch was palpable as YHWH Nailgun took the stage, with Borzone stretching out on the floor before their set. He needed to stretch since he was literally vibrating with the intensity of the music, yelling out a quick staccato “thank you” at the conclusion of each song.
Before Weeping Icon took the stage, the crowd was treated to a quick performance from trans queen, Harlequin Panic, who encouraged everyone to stand up for trans rights, an issue that Weeping Icon clearly cares about, among many others. Bassist Sarah Reinold started out the sonic hypnosis with waves of rumbling noise that then built into the band’s most recent single from Ocelli, “Two Ways.” Guitarist Sara Fantry’s lyrics channeled the voice of a two-faced sexist man, who is verbally abusive to some women while insisting that he will change whenever he’s called out on his bullshit (and of course he never changes). The song also has a fantastic video directed by Rafael Joson and Mike Andretti which sees the band played by actors on a Jerry Springer-esque talk show that devolves into the predictable mayhem of the original show.
From that strong beginning, the set also included two brand new yet-to-be-titled unrecorded songs that had relentless grooves driven by Lani Combier-Kapel on drums, and awash in the pulsing noise tapestries created by Weeping Icon’s newest member, Heather Elle (also of Flossing), on electronica; the band was also joined by special guest saxophonist, Kate Mohanty. They closed out the night with Ocelli’s first single, “Pigs, Shit, and Trash,” with Combier-Kapel shouting out intense vocals that call to task government officials and the wealthy for their lack of action in an unjust world. This song also has a surreal–or too real?–video directed by Alice Millar.
It was beyond wonderful to see Weeping Icon back on the Alphaville stage, and I’m excited to listen to Ocelli on repeat over the coming months. I stepped out into Friday’s freezing temperatures still sweating from the warmth of the crowd and the fire burning within all of the night’s music. Huge congratulations to Weeping Icon on another powerful record!
Scroll down for pics of the show (photos by Kevin McGann)
If you’re looking for a chance to giggle while dancing barefoot on the beach in your mind, the NYC-based loungecore duo Pleasure Island is for you! And what is this loungecore you might ask? A blend of bossa nova, disco, and pop with very funny lyrics by singer/guitarist Dave Hadden (aka “Uncle Dave”) who croons in a smooth schmoozy baritone while Scott Chasse holds down the grooves on bass. Together (with a rotating cast of other musicians) they will take you on the Piña Colada party that is Pleasure Island.
Their newest EP, Faux Porteño, moves the fun to Buenos Aires, Argentina; a “Porteño” is slang for a person from Buenos Aires. “Uncle Dave” spent last winter in the Argentinian capital city and used the local environs there as a muse. In the duo’s own words: “the result is a blend of genres, languages, and collaborations with local musicians, continuing Pleasure Island’s trademark ‘surf-deprecating loungecore.’”
The opening track, “Imagination,” features Buenos Aires bandoneonist, Santi Villar. (If you’re not in the know, a bandoneon is an accordion used in Argentinian tango music.) Hadden’s lyrics speak in the voice of a man who is “in love again, at least in (his) imagination.” As Uncle Dave takes us on romantic flights of fancy, Villar’s improvised bandoneon lines flutter around the sung melody, just as flirtatious as these dreams of a perfect love. Unfortunately, nothing is that perfect. At the song’s end, Hadden asks, “is that the sound of birds around us or the ring of my alarm,” and then the beautiful dream is over.
But no, wait, the romance continues at the ultimate beach shindig in the second track, “Kokomo 2.” The song opens with a “Rio”-esque (think Duran Duran) lady laugh over glittering synths as the dance beats kick in. Chasse’s exceedingly groove-a-licious bass line here will immediately get you shaking your thing at this Kokomo party, “getting a cutie in your hands.” Hadden, of course, never takes the seduction too seriously with chuckle-worthy lyrics like “I hate chores, so I got a divorce. I wanted more than Zsa Zsa Gabor. My future’s waiting for me at the shore.” The song also has a technicolor psychedelic video that captures all that Kokomo magic with Uncle Dave floating around with his guitar or swimming through color waves of bright orange flowers.
The self-deprecation in the “surf-deprecation” comes through most strongly in the EP’s third song, “Muscles & Money.” This is when that Kokomo party goes wrong and none of those cuties will get in Uncle Dave’s hands. The bossa nova grooves are enticing everyone to dance, but Hadden is experiencing a social face plant: “I’m standing at this party and no one’s talking to me,” he sings, “I need more muscles and money / nobody cares that you’re funny / how ‘bout a face with a little more symmetry?” The lyrics here are again hilarious, but also a pretty damn real take on how the beach party scene can get superficial mighty quick.
Faux Porteño’s fourth and final track, “Intentaré,” is Pleasure Island’s first song with lyrics in Spanish. Hadden took on the challenge of writing lyrics in Spanish for the first time with his expected jocular moxie: “A new language offers a chance to rhyme new ideas. For instance, in Spanish, I can now rhyme ‘big mouth’ with ‘no wedding.’ ‘Integrate mejorar’ translates to ‘I will try to improve.’” This last song shimmies away with a lovely lilting guitar line, and will leave you wanting to listen to Faux Porteño again and again, rocking that coconut rum vibe and laughing at how silly we all are.
Faux Porteño was self released and is available now via all major streamers.
Ian McCuenWestward, to Nowhere (art by Christina Riccio)
Ian McCuen, a self-described “purveyor of sorrow,” has created a haunting musical odyssey through the broken American landscape in their most recent full-length release, Westward, to Nowhere. In addition to composing, arranging, and writing the lyrics for all eighteen of the album’s songs, McCuen also plays a multitude of different instruments here, including acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, theatre organ, electric piano, banjo, mandolin, six-string electric bass, percussion, drums, ebow, harmonica, and accordion. They also provide beautiful lead and backing vocals that are often hushed but urgent, like pained melodic whispers. Westward, to Nowhere traverses both time and space (taking us across the so-called heartland with songs named for Independence, MO to Deadwood, SD). This ambitious double album combines “elements of history, folklore, current events, and personal experience,” and weaves a “loose narrative that follows a drifter on a futile journey across the country.”
The excursion begins with the opening song, “Westward,” which starts with some lovely finger-picking on banjo, creating a mood that is nostalgic, reminiscent of old Western movies. McCuen’s vocals here also sound as if they’re singing to us through time, from the past: “I hear the Iron Horse whistling, I see the locomotive’s steam as it departs right on time…’Westward ho! Westward ho!’ And I know that I must go.”
There are many standout tracks along the way in Westward, to Nowhere. “Lonesome Homesteader” offers an organ introduction that falls away into the finger-picked acoustic guitar again and gentle vocals that build to octave layers on the refrain: “And what if in the end I find that I have fucked up my life? Is it really worth it to even try??” Near the song’s end, we hear a beautiful descending cello line from Lissa Reed. Percussion kicks in as the song goes on, too, a steady beat like footsteps on the road or the bounce of a horse and buggy. “The Letter” has a similar intimate desperation in its lyrics, as the singer writes letters to everyone whom they have ever loved (and everyone is gone now). Dear Sister, Dear Old Companion, Dear Old Lover, and finally, Dear Everyone I Have Ever Known. Both “Lonesome Homesteader” and “The Letter” also have evocative videos made by 542 Films.
Westward, to Nowhere jumps out of the past on certain songs to comment on the shame, violence, and structural racism of the United States, historically and right now. “The Plea” washes over you with a twinkling mandolin in the beginning, and McCuen’s vocals repeat the plea to the people of the United States (and beyond): “This is a plea for us all: stand up and join the fight! Let’s rally behind everyone who’s been robbed of their most obvious rights…You sit on the fence, while the world still turns. Can’t you hear the chanting? ‘No justice, no peace!’” Near the end of the album, “American Retreat” has a funereal feel, almost dirge-like as the instrumentation builds from a single electric piano to layers of guitar and train-like noises. The lyrics address the United States itself, and all the false mythology surrounding the American West: “Left for dead on your battlefields. Fooled by lofty speak. Of what an infinite frontier would provide. But all to be found instead. Was a trail of genocide.”
Ian McCuen (photo by Christina Riccio)
Ultimately, the trip ends at a place called Nowhere where wanderers seek forgiveness. We hear the train whistle once more, receding into the distance, the finger-picking on the acoustic guitar slowing down. The traveler has reached his end. McCuen whisper-sings at the last: “I guess this is it, my final resting place. No tomb, no tears, no flowers, just regret for my days. Silently I whisper to no one: I tried, please forgive me, I’m sorry, goodbye.”
Westward, to Nowhere immerses you in atmospheric melancholy with a mix of nostalgia and outrage at an American dream that was failed from the start. Ian McCuen’s work here is outstanding, and they’ve also assembled an impressive group of supporting musicians including Lissa Reed on cello, Sally Schaefer on violin, and Tom Stocklosa on trombone, with mastering by Alex Wieloszynski. If you’re ready to take the beautiful but heartbreaking journey of Westward, to Nowhere, it’s available on Bandcamp and all major streaming platforms now.
In October 2021, the fantastic noise/post-punk band A Very Special Episode released Fix Your Hearts or Die, their first full-length album. Named for a line from the 2017 revival of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, the record takes listeners on a harrowing journey through storms of noise, haunting beauty, and crippling anxiety, much like the TV show it alludes to. Fix Your Hearts or Die is a profoundly satisfying (and sometimes frightening) record, and to celebrate its first full year out in the world, AVSE has invited an exciting line-up of other talented bands and musicians to remix nine of the original eleven tracks. The result is the aptly named Remix Your Hearts or Die, a true community art project where we all get to hear what happens when the current NYC (and beyond) music scene gets into a collaborative dialogue.
Remix Your Hearts or Die starts out with the title track, AVSE’s own remix of the original album’s title track (and the only remix that comes from them here). The tone is foreboding, with wall-of-sound guitars (from Patrick Porter) sounding an alarm in the distance, while Chayse Schutter on drums holds down a slow, ominous beat as creepy layers of synth pulsate. Lead vocalist Kasey Heisler’s magnificent voice is almost completely missing from this version. Instead we hear David Lynch (playing FBI Deputy Director Gordon Cole) speaking this inspiring line to his colleague, a trans woman: “When you became Denise, I told all of your colleagues, those clown comics, to fix their hearts or die.”
And how can the clowns fix their hearts? Brooklyn band Colatura’s remix of “DFP” urges us to dance our way toward the fix, with a much more synth-drenched pop version of the original, transforming the song’s initial sense of dread into a frantic dance party spinning in an echo chamber of layers of Heisler’s vocals, dying out with an eerie crackling. Several of the other remixes here also seem to be leading the clowns to the dance floor, including “Everdream” (Taaj Al Khaliq remix of “Evergreene”), “Space Cowboy” (COUPY remix of “Cowboy”), and “Introspectre” (Ilithios remix).
But not all of the remixing here is fixing our hearts by seducing us on the dance floor. “Weather” (Jon F Daily remix) flips the structure of the original, beginning and repeating more the dangerous self-destructive voice in Heisler’s original lyrics, “Pull me back down / to the water / I wanna feel it filling up my lungs.” The Cigarettes for Breakfast remix of “New Coke” pulls out Patrick Porter’s aggressive guitar work with an even darker sound. The whole track ends with a voice from another David Lynch creation Mulholland Drive, that creepy cowboy’s warning: “Now, you will see me one more time if you do good. You’ll see me two more times if you do bad.”
Maybe those clown comics will only fix their hearts by feeling menaced, by rolling around in some intense dread. That seemed to be the tone of the original record, and creepy cowboys show up again in the Amskray remix of “Cowboy” (the only song from the original record to be remixed twice). Many of the original lyrics are lost in this remix, as if we’re only hearing what the cowboy can hear, and a lot gets lost in the noise of his toxic masculinity brain. He may get us going, but he’s never going to listen to us. The Nihiloceros remix of “Spent” also builds on this project of threatening us to fix us, with the bridge exploding like in the original, but with an even grungier guitar sound, and an ominous scream wailing over it all.
A Very Special Episode live (photos by Jen Meller)
Only one remix here combines two songs, and that’s the Atlas Engine remix of “Fire Walk With Me // Fuck Everything” (yes, more inspiration from Lynch, in the original album and here). The combined remix starts out in a grind of turmoil, with Heisler’s vocals more distorted than in the original. The chaos falls away, and we hear Laura Palmer (from Fire Walk With Me) musing about how it would feel to fall in space, before the repetition of “Fuck Everything” blooms into a sparkling line of electronica where we’re dancing again.
Like the album that inspired it, Remix Your Hearts or Die takes listeners on an epic and strange journey, worthy of the David Lynch works referred to throughout both. Both albums are available on their Bandcamp page (with Fix Your Hearts or Die also available on Spotify). If you’d like to see A Very Special Episode in action live, don’t miss their upcoming show at East Williamsburg Econo Lodge on November 18th.
I first had the pleasure of meeting Jekssaira last summer when bands were just beginning to play live shows again. They are a power trio in the best sense of the term—with Jekssaira “Jessie” Rodriguez on guitar, Kenny Barojas on bass, and Kevin Martinez on drums—and I was honored to share a stage with them last July at The Parkside Lounge (see FTA’s coverage). My first impression of Jekssaira (the band) was how skilled each of them are musically, how hard they rock, how tight they are as a group, but a closer listen of their newest full-length release, Becoming Well Again, reveals how much of Jekssaira (the front woman/songwriter) poured her heart and soul into the songs. The album is both painful and uplifting. Rodriguez (described on her Bandcamp page as a “loud gay musician from Queens, NY”) has suffered some serious heartbreak and now rises from those ashes like the resilient phoenix, and she’s ready to share the whole gut-wrenching journey with her listeners.
Jekssaira (photo by Kate Hoos)
“Your Doppelganger” is the first of the seven songs on Becoming Well Again, and the album’s softest song musically. Rodriguez’s guitar sound at first has an acoustic feel, while her lyrics capture the haunting and lonely sensation of “seeing” your lost lover everywhere. “Today I saw someone who looked just like you / And my heart began to sink so deep.” At the song’s closing, though, the guitar begins to strengthen into quicker, chunkier strums, introducing the heavier rock sound of the rest of the album. In “Gaslighter,” the third track, glimmers of hope and self-worth begin to break through in the lyrics, while the distorted, in-your-face guitar sounds show the songwriter’s strength beginning to grow. “I’m starting to realize I’m not the only one who messed up here,” Rodriguez’s clear voice cuts through the roar of her guitar. “I’m stronger than you think.”
Other fave tracks of mine included “Ain’t Feelin Too Fine,” where the rhythm section really shines with Barojas’s fantastic octave-jumping bass riff and Martinez exploding on the cymbals. But perhaps the standout song of Becoming Well Again is the penultimate song, “Diary (Entrada 73),” with Jekssaira showing off her strong skills as a bilingual lyricist. At this point in the album, too, our frontwoman has definitely gained strength and is healing herself, and you can hear her hope start to break through. “Sigo sintiendo lo mismo / Chinga la paciencia / Voy hacer lo que yo quiera” (Translation for non-Spanish speakers: “I still feel the same / fuck the patience / I’m going to do what I want.”) She lets out the most infectious squeal of joy after that line! Jekssaira’s triumph over hopelessness comes full circle in the final track, “I’ll Be Okay (The Last Song).” It’s not a grandiose victory, and she knows she’ll have to keep working, but the wisdom of that realization is so relatable. “I’ll be okay / I’ll be alright / It’s about damn time I start taking care of my life.”
In her statement about Becoming Well Again on Bandcamp, Jekssaira writes: “This album is about going from negative thinking to positive thinking…I’ve learned to love again and for the first time, love myself. I hope this album will help others as it did to me.” If you’re looking to heal yourself and rock out hard in the process, Becoming Well Again, is the perfect cure! The album was recorded by Eamon McMullen of The Pigeon Pack, and featuring very cool album art by Val Martinez (building off of a photo by our Editor in Chief, Kate Hoos). Also check out Rodriguez’ other band, The Loneliers, a very fun twee pop-punk project featuring some great harmonies where Jessie sings with her sister, Debbie Rodriguez.
Becoming Well Again was self released and is available on all major streaming platforms.
