by Chantal | Jun 12, 2024
Perennial Art History
With their newest release Art History, New England band Perennial offer up an album that would be at home on a dance floor or a mosh pit. Over twelve tracks, few of which top two minutes, the band —Chelsey Hahn (electric organ & vocals), Chad Jewett (electric guitar & vocals) and Wil Mulhern (drums) wiggle and thrash their way through a mash up of genres. Perennial wear their influences on their sleeves—influences that include Q and Not U, Black Eyes and Blood Brothers, according to the band who spoke with FTA last year in a Q and A, when Jewett told us:
“Perennial came from a really sincere desire to form the kind of band we all wished existed. There were all these artists and sounds and aesthetics that we really adored, and we formed Perennial as sort of an art project to put all of that stuff together: 60s soul and 90s Dischord stuff and free jazz and electronic music, and so on.”
Art History doesn’t pull punches and tears right into it on the title track, the dual back and forth yell of Hahn and Jewett immediately grabbing our attention. At no point after this does the album let up. Perennial mix the loud guitars and shouting vocals with grooviness—this might be a punk record, but it’s also a dance record. The syncopated drums throw out rhythms and fills that induce a need to move, and the understated synths provide electro flourishes.
Perennial live in 2023 (photos by Kate Hoos)
Perennial have a “sound” but they do try new things within that, including arty instrumentals like “A Is For Abstract” and “B Is For Brutalism,” where they play into the album title. (On their Bandcamp, the group bills themselves as “modernist punk.”) They do go quiet-loud at times, so it isn’t full “everything at 11 all the time,” even when the song itself is fast and catchy (“Uptight”). Highlights for me on the record were “Art History,” “Tambourine On Snare,” “How The Ivy Crawls” and “Mouthful of Bees,” on which they remind me a bit of We Versus The Shark. (Editors note: “Action Painting” is my favorite over here at FTA headquarters)
If you are familiar with Perennial’s earlier work, like 2022’s In The Midnight Hour, you’ll love this album as well. They haven’t reinvented themselves, but they don’t need to. Art History is a lively and raucous record by a very fun band, one that also very much shines in live performances, so if you have a chance to catch one of their shows and the matching outfits (as we did last year) then definitely do so.
Perennial live (photos by Kate Hoos)
Art History is out now via Ernest Jenning and can be heard on Bandcamp and Spotify; Perennial can also be found on Instagram and Twitter.
by FTA Staff | Jul 15, 2023
Hi! Hello! Here we are with some bite sized goodies and a taste of a some new things that we dug that came out in the last week (ish), quick fire responses to some great new music we think you should check out. This week we have Chantal [CW], Kate B [KB], Kate H [KH] Mike [MB] and Ray [RR] weighing in on some killer songs and they have the scoop on plenty of new tunes, give ’em a listen!
Activity– Where the Art is Hung. These Brooklyn spooksters continue their mission to creep us all out with this haunting, understated post-punk track. Guitarist and keyboardist Jess Rees, who helms the vocals here as well, says the song is “a response to being simultaneously comforted and creeped out by the practical inability to escape from being watched.” Suitably, the video for the song was filmed in an abandoned school, while Rees whisper-sings “rest up against the wall / there are eyes on where you sleep” over eerie washes of guitar and noise. After their last two singles “Department of Blood” and “Careful Let’s Sleepwalk” also left me feeling disquieted, I’m looking forward to their album Spirit in the Room, out on Western Vinyl on 8/4. What can I say, I like being creeped out. [CW]
The Beths– I Told You That I Was Afraid. I’ll be the first to admit that any kind of new material from The Beths is particularly good news for these ears. This new acoustic version of the song from 2022’s Expert In A Dying Field successfully changes the entire feel of the original. Whereas the album version was upbeat, jangly and crunchy, this is soft and introspective. Singer/guitartist Liz Stokes reveals a vulnerability which I don’t think we’ve seen on any of the band’s previous works. Her soft spoken recitation of the lyrics with the gentile finger picking along with the squeaking of acoustic guitar strings as she changes chords is striking and emotionally moving. I’m not yet sure if I like this version better than the album’s version but one things for sure, it proves that sometimes less can be more. [RR]
Big Joanie (featuring Kim Deal)- Today. The DIY Black feminist punk superstars from London have been touring the United States for the first time this spring and summer, and they’re absolutely killing it. As a musical toast to this celebrated summer, Big Joanie has released a new version of “Today,” one of the many fantastic songs off of their 2022 LP Back Home (Kill Rock Stars). The track has always made me sway and shimmy, the music delightfully danceable while the lyrics are reaching out for an answer from a potential lover, and that truth-telling has to be told today, thus the title. Lead vocalist Stephanie Phillips sings: “Please if you want me to go / If you want mе to stay / Just let me know / Don’t turn this love away / Today.” And yes, that familiar voice on the back-up part in this new version is Kim Deal. Big Joanie shared this statement about what it meant to them to collaborate with a musician they’ve all admired for so long:
“We are immensely proud to announce our new version of ‘Today’ featuring Kim Deal. Whether through Pixies, Breeders, or her solo work, Kim has been a vital influence on us as a band and we’re so happy that she’s become part of the Big Joanie world.”
It’s such a pleasure to see the Big Joanie world expanding! Check out pictures from their NYC debut opening for Placebo in April and from their headline set at Union Pool earlier this week. [KB]
Cherry Glazerr– Soft Like A Flower. Beginning on a warbled guitar and then turning down into a verse of chugging bass and floating vocals, this is grungry goodness at its very best. The loud choruses and rising chord progressions only keep the excitement through the whole song. Singer/guitarist Clementine Creevy calls the song “a real ‘losing your fucking shit’ kind of vibe.” I Don’t Want You Anymore, the band’s first album since 2019, will be out 9/29 on Secretly Canadian. [CW]
Grandaddy– The Town where I’m Livin’ Now. Earlier this year Grandaddy announced Sumday Twunny, a 20th anniversary box set that includes a remastered version of their 2003 album Sumday, Sumday: The Cassette Demos, and Sumday: Excess Baggage, collection of rarities and b-sides. “The Town where I’m Livin’ Now” comes from the latter. It’s a downer of a tune, with the titular town described as a place where “the records are held by the sad / the cameras can’t find any smiles / and the waters the worst tasting I’ve ever had.” Bandleader Jason Lytle said, “I like making songs like this. Lots of bleak but sweet visuals.” And it’s true, there is something about the lilting music that captures a fleeting, sweet feeling. Nostalgia can be a soft and bitter old friend. The 4-LP box set will be out 9/1 on Dangerbird Records. [CW]
The Hives– Rigor Mortis Radio. I try not to be too effusive for the same band repeatedly in Single Serve, but The Hives fucking rule, this song fucking rules, rock and roll fucking rules. What else is there to say? This is a sneering growling bassy hand-clapper of a track that begins with Howlin’ Pelle stating “you’ve never seen me look so good before” and I can’t wait for this goddamn record. The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons will be out 8/11 on FUGA and the Hives will bless us with their presence at Brooklyn Steel on 10/30. Check out pics from their recent sold out show at Racket. [CW]
King Bug– Ayahuasca Cowboy. The King Bug Wunderkind, Eddie Kuspiel, brings us the project’s brand new and dreamy second single hot on the heels of yet another trip around the sun. “Ayahuasca Cowboy,” just as psychoactive and entheogenic as its moniker would suggest, is stacked with rich textures and electro fuzz hooks. In case you’ve been in a hole, or swimming the bottom of a mug of ayahuasca yourself, this past year the bedroom project has turned into a full on five-piece shoegaze collective supergroup. Aside from Kuspiel (vocals, guitar), the band includes familiar Brooklyn faces, Lizzy Black (synth), Matt Keim (bass), Lou Cozza (drums), and Justin Krim (guitar). Together they breathe equal parts chaos and balance to the band’s sound, often times obscuring where the guitar hooks end the synth hooks begin. All built upon bedrock solid rhythmic pockets, the blended melodies goo and glue, further reinforcing and cementing its organic pops and cracks. A social and spiritual experience in its own right, King Bug, elevates the realm of musical experience and leaves us all pretty excited to hear what’s yet to come. Happy Birthday Eddie! [MB]
Lutalo– Push Back Baby. Minnesota born and Vermont based, multi-instrumentalist Lutalo is an artist to watch. This track from the upcoming AGAIN EP is a slice of confessional folky indie rock that features airy layered guitars and a catchy beat. It’s both charming and introspective, but there’s a more underneath, as Lutalo takes a look at our current systems, which are, as they explain, “rooted in the greed or narcissism of capitalists… I’m analyzing those systems and patterns, and also asking, ‘Can we continue to not perpetuate this?” AGAIN is out 8/25 on Winspear. [CW]
Mary Shelley– Going To The Beach. Which way to the beach? Grab your towels. Grab your friends. NYC’s 70s art punk revival quartet just dropped a hot new Summer jam for you to pop on your way to the beach. Whether your beach is an inflatable kiddie pool on a Bushwick rooftop, or you’re cruising to the Rockaways with a dolphin in a Mercedes convertible, “Goin’ to the Beach” will definitely get you in the right mood. Almost a modern day “Rock Lobster” homage with its crisp bangin’ beat, driving mod bass and sabertooth synthesizer, it’s an impressive nod given that Jackson Dockery, Charlie Hull, Sam Pinson, and Taylor Yancey were likely all born on this side of the millennium. But if you’ve ever been to a Mary Shelley show, you know firsthand that what you get is often a lesson in expecting the unexpected. [MB]
Perennial– Dissolver. Every so often, a band comes along—seemingly out of nowhere—and really gets under your skin in all the right ways. Perennial has been that band for me. They went from being a band I’d never heard of, to a cold call email in my inbox, to one of my favorites in a blisteringly fast amount of time. “Blistering” is a good way to describe the experimental art/dance/post punk trio as well, their live sets are intense and in your face while their recordings reach that rare feat of capturing the energy of a red hot live band on stage in a studio form (something that sadly not all great live bands are able to achieve). They’ve been around some number of years now and reflecting the growth that happens to a band who has spent years honing their craft, they’ve reworked some of their early material with producer Chris Teti (The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die) who also worked with them on their explosive 2022 album In The Midnight Hour.
The result is The Leaves of Autumn Symmetry which the band calls “9 minutes of avant-garde punk modernism. A high-fidelity, ‘studio-as-instrument’ reworking of five songs from Perennial’s debut album, The Symmetry of Autumn Leaves.” The first single is “Dissolver” which here sounds bigger and bolder than ever, keeping the same structure as the original, but the sound is more all encompassing. There are many added elements as well, bobbing and weaving around the main propulsive guitar riff, creating a sonic palette showing off a band that has clearly grown into it’s own, taking their own strong early foundation and combining it with the skills gained over years of playing together and learning in the studio environment. I for one can’t wait to hear the rest…okay I’m lying, the band gave me a sneak preview of the rest already and it’s an excellent document of the journey this band has been on as well as an exciting glimpse into the paths that they may yet follow. More accurately, I can’t wait for the rest of you to hear it and love it in the same way I do. The Leaves of Autumn Symmetry releases in full on 9/1 and Perennial has several upcoming live dates in New England. They will play an NYC release show on 9/3 at Purgatory. [KH]
Ranch Ranch– Shredded Carrots. The dancy post-punk quartet is back again with another funky angular groove that’ll keep your toes tapping. “Shredded Carrots,” theIR second single and follow up to this Spring’s “American Cheeseburger,” is a polyrhythmic powerhouse. The band has an almost Ween-like feel, bringing an air of balderdash fun and surface levity to an expert musical execution that suggests what seems almost nonsensical carries with it the weight of a far more profound message. But you don’t have to take our word for it. Peel back the onion and take the deep dive into Ranch Ranch to decide for yourself. [MB]
Tea Eater– Double. Tea Eater is one hell of a fun band to see live, with a wild stage presence, wickedly funny lyrics (about podcasts, butter, hating the DMV and more) and just the right blend of catchy yet experimental to keep things endlessly interesting and engaging. Front woman Tarra Thiessen once also fronted the indie rock garage trio Sharkmuffin and now is a member of the sublime and weirdly wonderful post punk band, Gustaf. Tea Eater sees the amalgamation and influence of both of these projects, meeting at the perfect juncture of indie sensibilities and noisy art punk no-fucks-to-give vibes, which showcases the range of Thiessen’s skills as a songwriter and performer brilliantly. They self describe as “surf-rock-on-Neptune grooves and sucker punch tracks,” and it’s hard to argue with that!
“Double” is the first taste from their upcoming debut LP which was produced by Drew Vandenburg (Bambara/Faye Webster/Of Montreal). The song touches on the dark sides of social media and what that does to us as people. It has an accompanying video (directed by her Gustaf bandmate, Tine Hill) which sees Thiessen trying to kill her own doppelgänger. On the track she shares: “These versions of ourselves tend to make us get in our own way,” continuing “By shedding our doubles and integrating the icky parts back into ourselves we’re able to become more whole and present people.” Certainly food for thought in a world that increasingly has us staring at everyone’s “doubles” on screens and perceiving reality as dictated by unseen algorithms. The band will play next in NYC on 8/12 at Rippers on the beach and will head to Europe for the first time this fall. The as of yet unnamed album will be released later this year. [KH]
by Kate Hoos | Mar 14, 2023
Frida Kill at Purgatory (photo by Kate Hoos)
The perfect bill for a show doesn’t exi….wait a minute….Beeyotch, Perennial and Frida Kill all on one night?! Think I need to reassess that statement! As it turns out, punk rock dreams do come true and a bill pretty damn near perfection is possible; I got the proof on a recent Sunday night. I stepped out of the annoying cold (I hate being cold more than just about anything) and into the warm embrace of Purgatory, a queer bar located on a dead end street that is devoid of asphalt and still sports the worn, bare bricks of the NYC of ye olden times aka the 1800s. (As a person who loves history in general and NYC history in particular, big perk for me.) Despite having listed many shows in the pages of FTA at the venue, it was my actual first time getting to go there, work and such always coming up otherwise. The space felt welcoming and inviting from the moment I stepped in and from there on out, things just kept getting better and better.
Beeyotch kicked off the night and while I’d heard their name, I didn’t know what to expect because particularly with locals, I often like to go in without having heard them first, so I admit I had not listened to their recordings prior to the show. I like to form my first impression live whenever I can (which is not always possible but….ya know) so even if I had seen the “shitbird” and “surveillance core” tags on their Bandcamp, I’m not sure I would have known what that meant! Turns out that means that they have a catchy and intense garage punk sound with trippy, intentionally warped and distorted vocals and loads of killer stage presence to tie it all together. This quintet made a solid first impression and I will now be digging into the their 2020 album, Right Behind You, while I look forward to seeing them play again.
Perennial, who hit the middle slot, is a band I did listen to quite a bit before I saw them (since they are not local) and thus was very much looking forward to their set. I recently did a Q & A with them (read here) and remarked there on the influence of Black Eyes, the late great—but recently re-united—Dischord art punks, their label mates Q And Not U, and the frantic jazz-core punks, The Plot To Blow Up the Eiffel Tower. I never got to see any of those bands which has always been a bummer for me (but I will soon see the re-united Black Eyes) because they are among my favorite artists.
But a lot of that disappointment is soothed when I see and hear bands like Perennial who are carrying on their legacy. They definitely have the same spirit of those bands, being arty and weird and smashing genres together, not giving a fuck as long as it sounds good, making something entirely their own in the process. Their live set is top notch and like a chaotic burst of energy flying out towards the audience. They are definitely a band that I am going to be making sure I’m keeping my eyes and ears on. And in exciting news, they’re releasing new music later this year and will soon be back in NYC, hitting Bushwick Public House on 3/25.
Perennial at Purgatory
Closing the night out was Frida Kill, and having been there at their very first show and many shows in between now, I formed my impression of them in the live setting a few years back and they have long since cemented themselves as one of my favorites. They’ve been working on new tunes and introduced one which featured Maria Lina with her giant, belting voice reminiscent of the legendary VH1 Divas—run through a punk lens of course—for stirring effect. (If you never saw her Tina Turner cover band, I feel sad for you.) This was one of the best sets I’ve seen the band deliver and that’s saying something because I’ve seen them a lot! Absolutely killer from start to finish, I still can’t get enough. They also have a new release in the works for later in the year and more local shows, 4/2 at Purgatory again and 4/8 at Main Drag, before hitting the road for Stoop Fest at the end of April.
Up the punx! Catch ya on the flip…
Scroll down for pics of the show (photos by Kate Hoos)
BEEYOTCH
PERENNIAL
FRIDA KILL
by Kate Hoos | Feb 23, 2023
Perennial (photo courtesy of the band)
Perennial hails from New England and makes intense, chaotic and beautiful noisy experimental art punk. They released their excellent second album, In The Midnight Hour, last year and I absolutely loved it. Ahead of their upcoming show in NYC, vocalist/multi instrumentalist Chad Jewett was nice enough to do a Q & A with me over email to talk about the band’s sound and influences and a bunch of other things. Take a read below and catch the band on Sunday 2/26 at Purgatory along with Frida Kill and Beeyotch.
Tell me a bit about the band, how you got started, who you all are, why you decided to form.
Perennial is Chelsey (electric organ & vocals), Chad (electric guitar & vocals) and Wil (drums). We’re all from Western New England. Perennial came from a really sincere desire to form the kind of band we all wished existed. There were all these artists and sounds and aesthetics that we really adored, and we formed Perennial as sort of an art project to put all of that stuff together: 60s soul and 90s Dischord stuff and free jazz and electronic music, and so on. We always dug bands that had matching outfits, so we have matching outfits! That sort of thing. When we’re designing flyers or album art we get to channel our love of French New Wave style, etc…
And finally, we wanted our live show to be the heart of what we do: something really dynamic and exciting and memorable. We play for about 20 minutes each time, and the goal is to never stop moving that whole time, to always make sure that whatever we’re doing on stage is exciting and engaging for the folks kind enough to watch us play. We want to earn the time people give us.
I know it’s perhaps a bit trite to ask about influences but I genuinely always want to know. I hear a bit of Q and Not U and Black Eyes in your sound, are those bands or that “crew” of Dischord bands something that has informed your work or is that me projecting a bit? I also hear elements of the hardcore/jazz fusion of The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower in songs like “Lauren Bacall in Blue,” and “I Am The Whooping Crane”
All three of the bands you mentioned are huge influences, and honestly are pretty foundational to our starting the band: 90s Dischord, the more angular post-hardcore and dance-punk stuff of the early 2000s; those are the sounds and bands and aesthetic movements that we’re enamored with. We’re so glad you mentioned the jazz elements on the new record. That was a big focus for us crafting In The Midnight Hour as an album: making a punk record that could also bring in all these other sounds and approaches and layers.
In terms of influences, I’ll try to keep the list as brief as possible, knowing of course that it could be a thousand bands long!
The Blood Brothers, MC5, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Hives, Otis Redding, The Jam, Stereolab, Wilson Pickett, Small Faces, Ornette Coleman, Black Eyes, Beat Happening, Q and Not U, Sam Cooke, The Make-Up, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Eric Dolphy.
You put out your second album last year, In The Midnight Hour, which I really loved! What was the process of getting that together like with the pandemic looming/in full force? Did that affect anything in terms of the writing or recording process? I imagine that must have been pretty hard if not impossible to ignore.
Thank you! We’re so glad to hear you dig the record! We had the album about three-quarters finished before the pandemic hit. Once it did we took a step back from actively recording for safety’s sake and didn’t really return to the studio until months later. That was hard, as was not being able to play shows for a while since live performance really is our raison d’être, but it did mean that we were able to really listen to everything just for the sake of listening. It forced us to pause and give what we had a bit of time to settle in our minds and to see what we liked and what we might want to update. So once we were back in the studio in 2021, there were some choruses we changed, or parts we substituted or different approaches to sounds to finish the album. The album we ended up putting out was better for having the extra time to just sit with it.
What is your song writing process like? There’s a lot going on in the songs, how do you determine who does what for each?
Generally one of us will come to practice with an idea: it can be a riff or a vocal part or even just a goal, like “I want something that sounds like The Clash,” and then the rest of us start helping build it from there. For the recorded versions of songs it’s the same philosophy: we think of the songs as collages that we’re all adding elements to. Chelsey has suggested drum parts; Wil has written guitar riffs, etc…
The live versions of songs are generally more minimal; more immediate and streamlined. Chelsey and I are generally running around and jumping off of things and dancing, so we condense the more complicated stuff and keep the heart of what the song is.
What are your plans in 2023? Any new music in the works?
We have a few East Coast tours of varying duration planned for the summer and autumn, and we’re currently working on the full-length follow-up to In The Midnight Hour.
We also may or may not have a 7” that we may or may not be announcing soon.
Perennial (photo courtesy of the band)
What music/artists/books/podcasts/shows are you excited about right now?
Right this minute I’ve been listening to a lot of Saint Etienne, The Jam, Sonny Rollins and Blur. I just got done reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte for the first time, which was a trip. I’m currently reading a book about the history of London, which is really interesting. Chelsey is currently reading Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. My podcast routine is pretty much The Best Show, Comedy Bang Bang, some educational stuff like In Our Time, and the occasional music podcast.
What do you get up to besides the band?
We’re all pretty avid film and literature buffs. Chelsey and Wil are also big Nintendo devotees. Mostly we read books, listen to records, hang out with Perennial’s mysterious fourth member, Wasabi the Cat.
Are you involved in any other projects musically or otherwise?
It’s pretty much Perennial! We average around 4-5 shows a month and are in various stages on two different recording projects for Perennial, so it takes up a lot of our creative time and energy. Luckily, we really did start this band as something flexible enough aesthetically to be able to explore and try out lots of different artistic ideas, so it works nicely that way.
The world is a tough place these days, it’s hard to stay motivated a lot of the time. How do you stay inspired to keep going despite all the bullshit of life and the challenges of being independent musicians?
Honestly, a huge part of it is the three of us love being around one another, love making music together, love driving to shows and eating snacks at 1a.m. and looking at one another right after playing and enjoying that feeling that we all put our all into those past 20 minutes. I never get sick of working on Perennial. It’s a joy for us.
Any parting thoughts?
Thank you for the great questions!
In The Midnight Hour is available now via Bandcamp.
Perennial (photo courtesy of the band)