better living started as a two piece composed of vocalist/guitarist Gavin Siebrass and drummer Greg Klepczyk. Under this lineup they recorded the EP Lemons three years ago. But times have changed, and their debut LP crush features the current lineup that is rounded out by guitarist Sam Gaylert and Jorge B-R on bass.
On this record, the band weds their influences of grunge, hardcore and pop-punk. It’s energetic from start to finish. Two recent singles chosen from the album are “stupid song,” a musically-upbeat number that proves to be a pretty good bop, and “untitled,” a tonally darker, harder song leaning heavily on the bass. It’s a smart choice of the band to showcase the varying moods on crush.
The noisier songs like “hellgodbabydamnno” are the strength on the album, while the catchiest song on here is the humorous yet depressing “danny devito.” There’s a vibe on this album that reminds me a lot of the punk bands I grew up with 20 some years ago, which I promise is a compliment. Fun local bands you can catch live and also put on your skate mix are important to the musical ecosystem.
crush was mixed by Siebrass and mastered by Matt Goings; the production is fairly drum-forward, not necessarily a bad thing as the percussion does drive the songs forward well. Still, I’d like to hear the guitar lines better, as they’re pretty fun. “cold comfort” does a good job of bringing the distorted wail of the guitars forward, with some quiet-loud dynamics that make it a highlight.
better living can be found on Instagram and Soundcloud; crush was self released and is available now on all major streamers.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs have just unleashed their fourth album on the world, Land of Sleeper, via Rocket Recordings. The band, who we’ve described before as “stoner/psych/doom noise kings,” hails from Newcastle upon Tyne in the North of England and haven’t released a full-length record since 2020’s Viscerals (with the exception of 2021’s Off Cuts, a vinyl-only collection of live studio versions of previous releases). This much-anticipated totally new record brings the thunderous madness Pigs x 7 fans have come to crave, while also showing off how the band’s sound continues to evolve. Land of Sleeper deftly demonstrates that this raucous quintet can bring on the doom metal of their early albums just as fiercely as they can blast through some of their more recent stripped-down songs. Not an easy feat to pull off such a diversity of sounds and influences in one album, and that’s what makes Land of Sleeper so satisfying.
“Ultimate Hammer,” the opening track, catapults the listener into a heavy psych dream state, with guitarists Adam Ian Sykes and Sam Grant conjuring up a storm of guitar thunder that threatens to carry you away into the ether. Frontman and vocalist Matt Baty’s lyrics also suggest dreams (or nightmares) and an Icarus-like propulsion toward the sun: “I will admit that I’m frightened by the speed / and turbulence needed to fly around the sun / I keep spinning out / What a time to be alive.” The band shot a very psychedelic video for the song featuring rainbow auras, flashing colored lights, and the glitter of smashed glass flying.
The state of the world over the past three years has also possibly contributed to the themes of existential dread present in some of these songs, although Baty admits that he was quite comfortable diving into the darkness before the pandemic. On the Pigs x 7 Bandcamp page, Baty confesses, “Shouting about themes of existential dread comes very naturally to me, and I think because I’m aware of that, in the past I’ve tried to rein that in a little. [But], there’s definitely moments on this album where I took my gloves off and surrendered to that urge.”
The release into doom feels tangible in “Terror’s Pillow,” where Baty’s full-throated rumblings and groans seem to take on the voice of a monster taking control, as the band thrashes through below, with John Michael Hedley’s relentless bassline and Ewan McKenzie, the band’s original drummer (now back in the fold after a four year hiatus), smashing the kit. Grant, who produced the album in addition to his prowess on guitar, describes the heavier tracks like “Terror’s Pillow” as more of a response to the band’s earlier work instead of a reflection of current events who says their aim was “more as a counterpoint to earlier material, as opposed to any sort of political or social commentary. I still very much see these heavier moments as musically euphoric, and emotionally cut loose or liberating.”
However, the euphoria is still present in Land of Sleeper’s more garage-punk offerings as well, such as the high-energy “Mr. Medicine.” Baty’s lyrics here are joyous and celebratory: “When did I begin / To fall in love again? / That song you sang to me / Made me strong and completely / Fearless.” “Mr. Medicine” also has a hilarious video directed by Wilm Danby that makes glorious fun of various doom metal tropes, with the band rocking out in a sparkling Stonehenge dreamscape, with tiny bats flying down to feast on Baty’s brain (the top of his skull is gone at that point) and a strange monster sent by the moon that rips Baty’s head off. Maybe this is Mr. Medicine? Who knows? Who cares? The song rocks you to your core without taking itself too seriously, and that’s really the beauty of Pigs x 7.
Land of Sleeper also boasts some exciting (and surprising) guest artists that help Pigs x 7 explore new musical realms. Folk singer Cath Tyler is featured on the album’s final track, the Sabbath-esque “Ball Lightning” melding with Baty for a kind of doom-folk duet. Bonnacons of Doom vocalist Kate Smith weaves ominous chanting through “The Weatherman,” the album’s longest (and slowest) track. She adds an eerie feeling to the quiet haunting dirge in between the massively heavy moments of the song which also features a choir that includes Richard Dawson and Sally Pilkington from the wonky-pop duo Bulbils. Baty shares about the lyrics “This one presented an opportunity for me to do something completely unbridled. I wanted to surrender to the weight of the song, so the lyrics came about in much the same way I imagine a frenzied artist might throw paint at a canvas. I just wanted the lyrics to present an uncontrollable energy.”
The wait for Land of Sleeper was long (and understandable), but this exciting new album from Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs shows that they have many other musical dreams and nightmares to hurl at us. In support of the album, the band will soon kick off a huge tour that will see them wind through North America, the UK, and Europe. The tour lands here in NYC on March 11th at St. Vitus and you can be we’ll have more soon about the live show. In the meantime, get Land of Sleeper in your ears and let the somnambulant frenzy begin.
Land of Sleeper is out now via Rocket Recordings and available on all major streaming platforms.
In her latest full-length release, Down Rounder, Canadian indie-folk artist Cat Clyde delivers a beautiful collection of songs guided by cycles of growth and renewal. A soulful respite from the hustle and bustle of life’s demands,this dynamic record offers plenty of meditations on what it means to embrace an existence that pauses to trace the outline of a bird’s shadow mid-flight rather than worrying about getting ahead in the rat race. Firmly rooted in matters of the natural and spiritual world, Clyde returns to themes common throughout her past discography—2017’s Ivory Castanets and 2019’s Hunters Trance—with pronounced intention and plenty of room for swaying softly. “Connecting with the natural environment around me inspired a lot of these songs, and sonically I feel like this record is very grounded as a result,” Clyde says while talking about the album’s thematic bend. “I wanted these songs to sound raw and rough, but also placed-together in a way that created—a simple beauty, like the changing seasons or a setting sun.”
The LP opens with “Everywhere I Go,” a song that sets a solid foundation for launching Down Rounder as a record that celebrates change. As she considers the many ways in which renewal occurs, Clyde gets expansive by making references to various cycles such as “tides that roll” and how “fire licks the wood to ash.” The lively chorus of “There goes my skin/Shedding again/I keep walking on a path that never ends” is layered against a lively array of instruments including tambourine and violin, steeping the song deep in an abundance that is representative of Clyde’s essence.
Cat Clyde (photo by Strummer Jasson)
Featuring ten songs in just over half an hour, this is certainly an album meant to be savored rather than sped through. From the glistening sounds of creek life in “The Gloom” to the softly strummed guitar licks accentuating “Hawk in the Tree,” there is a deeply vast soundscape supporting every song. The record’s pacing is well-balanced and by combining rich instrumentation with stellar lyrical composition throughout, Down Rounder lends itself to be an exquisite body of work.
The most upbeat song on the record, “Papa Took My Totems,” addresses the destructive nature of the patriarchy with a danceable melody (the track was released as a single at the end of January, which we previously covered here). According to Clyde, “Papa Took My Totems” explores the “ravaging effects of colonialism, the state of the environment, and masculine-dominated society at large,” and was inspired by in part by her Indigenous Métis heritage. “There’s a lot of sacredness that’s being destroyed in the world, and that’s difficult to deal with sometimes. Totems, to me, feel like places and things that are important and real, to witness the destruction of things like that is devastating.” The video for the song shows Clyde performing alone in an empty theater with clips of her sitting in various seats looking into the camera interspersed throughout, proudly reclaiming her own power as a woman and person of Métis descent.
Releasing “Mystic Light” and “I Feel It” as the other singles helps show how varied yet cohesive this album truly is. While “Mystic Light” is bright, rich, and airy, “I Feel It” is stripped down, with Clyde singing against a backdrop of piano and cello with the sound of rain sprinkled throughout. Both songs examine the topic of release in relation to illumination, with the sun shining brightly in the former track and setting in the latter single.
The illustrious imagery, brilliant instrumentation, and robust vocal delivery of Down Rounder is able to glisten thanks to the production work of Tony Berg, who has collaborated with some of the biggest names in music including Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, and Phoebe Bridgers. Recorded in Los Angeles’ Sound City Studios, Clyde laid down the entirety of the record in six just days, yet the album sounds far from rushed. The February 17th release date is fitting as well for the album’s ethos as the beginning of Spring is just around the corner in the Northern Hemisphere and many are about ready to transition out of Winter.
Down Rounder is a wonderfully lush album that rejoices in all the beauty that life can bring. We are so glad that Cat Clyde is continuing to sow her musical seeds in 2023 and just as the sun gives life, we can only expect things to grow bigger and brighter for Clyde in the coming days.
Quasi, the long running drums and organ power duo of Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss, have just released their first album in 10 years, the brilliantly sardonic and much needed Breaking the Balls of History. The band shares on their Bandcamp that this album might never have been, and that their 2013 album, Mole City, very well might have been their last had the harshness of life not come calling and quite literally careening into the band. First, Weiss was severely injured in a 2019 car crash. Then the following year, Covid came to (everyone’s) town and we all know what happened next. Given the gravity of everything she went through, Weiss realized “There’s no investing in the future anymore, the future is now. Do it now if you want to do it. Don’t put it off. All those things you only realize when it’s almost too late. It could be gone in a second.”
And so here we are in 2023, Weiss has healed from her injuries, the pandemic is…among us still but has abated from the worst times, and Quasi has blessed us with a new collection of songs, twelve in all, with all the hilarious social and political commentary, quirky organ, sunny pop drenched harmonies, and effortlessly awesome drum fills your heart desires thrown into the mix. There’s no doubt the pandemic influenced the making of the record, how could it not, and the band found themselves taking advantage of the situation by practicing and writing daily, almost mimicking the daily routine of being on tour. Coomes shares “When you’re younger and in a band, you make records because that’s what you do, but this time, the whole thing felt purposeful in a way that was unique to the circumstances.”
The album hits highs and lows along the way, there is a palpable feeling of anxiety in many if not most of the songs, and given all that happened in the world and to the band in the time since we last heard from them, that’s understandable. “Doomscrollers,” which was released as the second single, offers their take on the one thing everyone (justifiably) loves to hate (yet still does, myself included), doomscrolling. But is it really about the action or what we find on said scroll? Either way you slice it, the song certainly calls out our increasingly alarming inability to engage with reality—no matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on—which leads to us scrolling through our days now instead. “Everybody baking bread, doomscrolling going out of their head.” The song is paired with a music video directed by B.A. Miale and features the band being driven around the various chaos of “the timeline,” (or is it “reality”) in a pickup truck (complete with “keep on truckin’” plates) by a grim reaper like character.
“Nowheresville” was the third single and exudes a cool 60s rock n roll party vibe, complete with a killer organ groove and shoop shoop vocal harmonies. But don’t let the groovy aesthetic fool you, or the bike riding Sasquatch starring in the music video make you think the song is a light hearted joke (and I do love a good Sasquatch cameo, I mean who doesn’t?!). The song doesn’t say it outright, but it’s not hard to read between the lines that it’s about the atrocious state of affairs when it comes to gun control and mass shootings in the US and how our elected “leaders” continuously throw their hands up in the air while offering “thoughts and prayers” as a means to justify the blood on their hands. “Here they come now thoughts and prayers, thoughts and prayers won’t get ya there but I guess they do make a pretty pair.” And thus the cryptozoology themed video does make a whole lot of sense in the full context, our hairy beast riding off to nowheresville with the empty words of politicians and their promises to do something tangible as much a myth as a real Sasquatch is.
Other highlights include the lower key “Gravity” which pulls back the curtain on the theater of the absurd that is the “post facts” era created by Trump and his fanatical followers where reality doesn’t matter so much as much as your ability to sell the lie. “You can walk on water if you so choose in your made-in-USA concrete shoes” Coomes croons, too world weary to sound exasperated about it, resigned to the fact that these are the times and the people we have to deal with now. As frustrating as that realization is, I can certainly understand it because it is exhausting and sometimes you just need to make it though the damn day. “Riots and Jokes” in particular sees Weiss in top form on the drum kit, hitting hard, powerful beats and nailing some absolutely killer fills, announcing she is not only back and better than ever, but so happy to be here; the delight is obvious and infectious: “I can hear in the music how happy I am to be there and to be playing at that level again” she shares.
Indeed, we are happy Weiss is back too, one of the best and most respected drummers of her generation, it is always an inspiring joy to hear her play. (I began playing drums not long before Weiss joined Sleater-Kinney in 1996 so I grew up, and learned to play, while listening to her.) This album comes at a unique point in history, where most days it feels like we are through the looking glass—up is down and down is up—which arguably could be said for many other eras too, it just feels even worse than ever before and like we can’t seem to ever get away (cue “Doomscrollers” again). But it also arrives just in time to say yeah we’re tired and resigned to deal with a lot of this shit, but we’re also laughing at it too because what the fuck else are you going to do? I can’t help but think of other masters of political and social sarcasm like Dead Kennedys and War On Women when I think of a band like Quasi too. Sonically all different, but connected in the unique ways they all call out and filter the bullshit that permeates human existence when you’re living anywhere outside the realm of right wing la la land.
Quasi has never failed to give me a wild ride, bumpy at times with the subjects they deal with, but worth it in the end to make sure I’m still challenging myself to do something about the ills of this world. They also provide one hell of a catchy soundtrack for the journey and Breaking the Balls of Historyis yet another awesome addition to their already strong legacy. I’m ready to keep on truckin’.
Breaking the Balls of History is out now via SubPop. The upcoming tour in support of the record hits NYC at TV Eye on 3/16.
Each Yo La Tengo album is like a visit from an old friend. They’re typically amicable and interesting, but also a little guarded and a little mysterious. Their most recent visit, though—This Stupid World—is heavy. Our friends are world weary, a little exasperated, and maybe a bit ornery. It’s not often they speak so directly about the state of the world (though, admittedly, I didn’t dive deep into 2018’s There’s a Riot Going On). They’re usually quite polite, mostly ignoring the controversial topics of money, religion, and politics in favor of ruminations on relationships or narratives from their own little corners of the world. The tribulations we all face today are impossible to ignore, though.
Album opener “Sinatra Drive Breakdown” sets the course, with some familiar themes: a krautrock bounce from drummer Georgia Hubley; an infectious, pulsing bassline from James McNew; and the melodic buzzsaw of Ira Kaplan’s guitar. But the heaviness is present from the jump. The reference to their the old Hoboken haunts in the title offers little levity. The outbursts from Kaplan’s guitar are neither exuberant nor cathartic; they’re searching, questioning, occasionally yelping. Kaplan and Hubley barely seem to be holding on as they sing the mournful refrain, “Until we all break, until we all break.”
The terrific first single, “Fallout,” is classic Yo La Tengo, but lyrically, you can’t help but ache right along with Kaplan: “Every day it hurts to look/I’d turn away if only I could/I wanna fall out of time/Hold back, unwind.” Even with the familiar driving rhythm and fuzzy guitar strumming, there’s still a pall over the proceedings. We’ll get no respite yet.
McNew offers a Motown-esque bass hook for “Tonight’s Episode,” but it’s the only light amid the swirling guitar noise and motorik rhythm. His voice cuts through, clear and deep, and a slight, wry smile appears as he intones, “Ask me nice, whatever you like, I’ll show you a yo-yo trick/I can Walk the Dog/I can Around the World/I can rock that cradle, too.” But, somehow even the imagery of various yo-yo configurations feels ominous within the context of the music and the record as a whole. What’s he talking about? Kaplan enters with beautifully picked acoustic guitar that, even its melodiousness, somehow adds to it to the anxiety.
The clouds start to part a bit with a slight chuckle from Hubley before she brings her soothing, spectral voice to “Aselestine.” At home as one of the great ballads in the Yo La Tengo canon, her voice seems to surround your head and ears. Lyrically, we step away a bit from the outside world, addressing a more insular relationship. It is a much-needed break, even in its sadness.
The record settles in a bit from here, with the ever-so-slight Latin touches of “Until it Happens” and the watery atmosphere of “Apology Letter,” featuring Kaplan’s voice at the fore, always a welcome sound—a little hiccupy, surprisingly rich, and distinctly heartfelt whenever he sings about relationships as he does here. He is charmingly self deprecating: “Then, I got mad ’cause you got mad/Another one of my delightful quirks/What a jerk.” But, given the perspectives on the outside world that make up a lot of This Stupid World, it’s hard not to wonder if these words can also apply to our societal relationships, particularly when he sings, “If I were to smile at you/would you smile at me?”
Yo La Tengo (photo by Kate Hoos)
We slide back into the darkness with the positively stellar title track. The rhythm section provide a relentless, trancelike thump under the guitar drone. “This stupid world is killing me/this stupid world is all we have,” Kaplan and Hubley sing high above, not evoking a dreamlike quality but an untethered distance from the chaos below. The words are a lament, a reminder, a caution. The band begins recede further into the ether on the final track, “Miles Away.” Processed drums groove warmly, washes of guitar create an ambient landscape as the mood shifts slightly; it’s still dark, it’s still tense, but Hubley offers a balm: “Ease your mind/bide your time/hold your thoughts for now.” Another couple short verses, and she’s gone. The drums drop out soon, too. A few notes via guitar or keyboard effects and now everyone is gone. Miles away. Just like we’d like to be sometimes in this stupid world.
El Ten Eleven, the long running instrumental post rock duo, are true masters of their craft, having consistently released strong and musically rich albums for going on twenty years now. And they only seem to get more prolific with time—in the last three years alone they have released a triple album,Tautology (2020) and its follow up, New Year’s Eve, which came out last year. Now they have started off 2023 with the release another album, Valley of Fire, an album that has very distinct themes tying it together, which their label, Joyful Noise, describes as “merging personal anedcotes with the larger ecosystem of the sound.” Bassist/composer Kristian Dunn further explains that the album was inspired by “visiting Valley Of Fire State Park in Nevada,” “Overwhelmed by the beauty and surreal nature of the place, I found myself in the rare state of actually living in the moment and feeling awash in true tranquility. There was a sense of not getting close to something transcendent but actually experiencing it, thus the title. It wasn’t almost transcendent, it WAS.”
The thing I have always loved about instrumental music is that, in the hands of the right artist, it can say so much without ever uttering a word. Vast feelings and emotions, thoughts and ideas, incredible highs and dark lows can wash over you with a power that even the best lyricists can’t seem to match and say things that words can be hard pressed to convey—this is something El Ten Eleven has always excelled at. The band echoed this sentiment, sharing on Instagram about the album: “It hopefully says everything I can’t quite articulate about the feeling of experiencing something bigger than yourself. It’s like having someone describe the Grand Canyon to you—you don’t really understand until you’re standing at the very edge. We hope you listen and love it.”
Regardless of the creators intention, the other gift of instrumental music is that you get to decide and apply it to your own experiences in a way that is much less restrictive than if there are the stricter boundaries of lyrics. I have been a fan of El Ten Eleven for a very long time now, what I have always found and loved in their music is the undercurrent of hope and a sense of calm that always seems to find me in the moments I need it most. Through thick and thin, through terrible loss and incredible triumph, I’ve always found comfort in putting on one of their albums to feel grounded.
And so Valley of Fire finds me and offers me a feeling of being grounded yet again, at the start of a new year and a new phase of myself. Now no longer the quirky twenty something that first discovered this band and fell in love with some of their bouncier older tracks like “Hot Cakes” or “Jumping Frenchmen of Maine,” the firmly middle aged me is here at the dawn of a new era of my life, exploring what that means, and the more somber and contemplative offerings on this latest record hit me in a much needed place.
Opening with the subdued and hopeful, “New Year’s Day,” we enter into the world of the Valley of Fire, full of introspection and reflection, a place to quietly contemplate and explore the meaning of things bigger than ourselves. This song is followed by the album’s lead single “Not Even Almost,” continuing in the vein of hope and hitting many of the sweeping signature aspects of Kristian Dunn’s impressive pedalboard wizardry. About the song he shares “If you listen closely, you’ll notice the melody repeating but the bass parts changing underneath. It’s a very Bach-inspired idea, but fits the metaphor perfectly (the anchor of your identity shifting under a truly moving circumstance).”
Other highlights for me are the short hit of “Volsens,” the darkly funky third track and the quietly majestic “Days of Our Lives” with laid back percussion from Dunn’s stalwart longtime musical companion, drummer Tim Fogarty, who plays perfectly subdued beats alongside the low-key guitar and bass loops. The title track closes the album, with a slow and cinematic build towards a triumphant conclusion, relying again on sparse percussion alongside gentler, circumspect loops to tell its tale.
Valley of Fire is a stirring addition to this duo’s already impressive body of work. It showcases everything that makes them such unique songwriters, and enforces why they are so beloved by the devoted fans who have followed their career for many years. They hit NYC twice in 2022, once for their own headline show and again opening for Peter Hook and the Light (both phenomenal shows for the record), so here’s hoping 2023 sees them grace the Big Apple once more.
