“Working quickly on the heels of their 2022 garage rock concept album Rapscallion, Australian rock outfit the Murlocs will return with another new project, Calm Ya Farm, on May 19 via ATO Records. Rarely content to work in one genre, the group dabbles here in the country rock stylings of the Byrds in tandem with tinges of ’70s British pub rockers such as Nick Lowe.”
From humble beginnings as a goofily named, “hey, why not?” college project in Australia to releasing 23 different genre-jumping albums since 2009, King Gizzard has suddenly become one of the most talked-about bands in rock, seized upon by jam band-loving Gen Z stoners, Metallica and Tool devotees jonesing for like-minded heavy riffage, suburban dads still holding a candle for AC/DC and Pink Floyd, and Discogs-loving record nerds perpetually in search of the next great buzz. At a time when many established artists can’t make the economics work to tour at all and many listeners cling to the notion that “rock is dead,” there’s something quite extraordinary about what King Gizzard is doing
“King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard launched its new album, Laminated Denim, last night (Oct. 11) against the backdrop of two marathon three-hour performances at Red Rocks outside Denver. The vinyl (with an actual denim cover) was available early at the merch stand yesterday, and the music itself was debuted over the PA during each show’s intermission”
“After scrapping summer European dates so its frontman Stu Mackenzie could seek treatment for Crohn’s disease, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard will return to the continent for a spring 2023 tour. Dates begin March 2 in Paris and wrap with a March 22-23 stand at London’s O2 Academy Brixton. Tickets go on sale on Oct. 14”
One of Bikini Kill’s best songs is one of their most overlooked. In two and a half minutes, “Outta Me” packs in more emotional nuance than the band usually left room for. Riot grrrl has meant, and continues to mean, many things to many people. But when I think about the central tension of being a woman trying to move through the world, “bein’ in love,” “bein’ in hate,” and just feeling fucking bled dry often seems like the right way to put it. But that’s probably just how everyone feels. “Outta Me,” in its bittersweet efficiency, transcends riot grrrl, it but also sort of defines it — if anything ever could.
‘Indeed, the band is achieving any number of new milestones in the weeks ahead, from selling out two Red Rocks shows eight months in advance (a third was just added), to playing their largest New York-area concert to date in October at the 13,000-capacity Forest Hills Tennis Stadium and reaching the top tiers of international festival lineups with zero radio airplay or traditional promo.’
GØGGS Announce New Album ‘Pre Strike Sweep’, Release Title Track
Of the video, frontman John Dwyer said in a statement: “Animation and role-playing games were a huge part of my youth, so I was really excited to work on this with Alex Theodoropulos and make a fun Halloween video that harkens back to the real simple times.
“The content comes with a slight change in sound: Gone is the rinky-dink, pealing electric guitar tone that colored his early records, replaced with an acoustic instrument, recorded as if he’s in the room with you. There’s also prolific use of a CR-78 drum machine set to cruise, the steady motorik rhythms pushing him toward a more reflective space. He sounds comfortable, lived-in.”
“…It’s a simple, glammed-up tune with shimmering-yet-crunchy guitars that add a welcome ’60s twist. The album artwork was designed by Segall himself…”
“Before Ty Segall can issue Emotional Mugger, his latest (in a string of many) collections of grimy garage rock, but he has to look back before he moves forward. Way back. The California-based songwriter’s affinity for the sparkly songwriting of T. Rex’s Marc Bolan has been no secret, but next week he’s underscoring that with the release of Ty-Rex, a compilation of covers on Goner Records…”
“Indie rock’s favorite merry prankster — the Bizkit-covering, self-violating, gap-toothed, boy-king Mac DeMarco — has another collection of chewy guitar-pop treats to share…”
“One of former SPIN cover star Ty Segall’s many going concerns is a stoned hard-rock trio with the knowingly un-Googleable name Fuzz…”
“If there’s any band that can get away with a video that grotesquely depicts — and arguably celebrates — murder, it’s San Francisco’s Thee Oh Sees, whose lacerating fuzz-rock evokes all sorts of primal urges…”
“Soul singers like Bobby Womack have spent careers confessing weaknesses, and let’s not get started on singer-songwriters. Indie rock can show up the phoniness of the whole major-label hustle by setting out modest goals and nailing the shit out of them. That’s what Thee Oh Sees do on “Toe Cutter – Thumb Buster,”…”
“Opening with mournful but warm strings, the track soon graduates to an off-kilter upbeat swoon as John Dwyer sings of fading dreams backed by the gushing ahhs of Brigid Dawson…”
“‘Shout It Out,’ from Cronin’s May 7 album MCII — his second overall and first for Merge Records — is melodic, jangling, hand-clapping, #90-hashtagging indie rock; sure, there’s plenty of distortion, piss, and vinegar, but you don’t ever worry that Black Sabbath are about to bite off some poor critter’s head here.”
“‘I think I’m getting better at translating what I hear in my head to tape,’ Mikal Cronin says. “I’m really excited about that. This record comes from the same place as what I’ve done before, but it’s bigger, more filled-out.” Cronin, a fellow Laguna Beach, California native, longtime collaborator and bandmate to Ty Segall (their time together dates back to high school punk outfit Epsilons) is just days out of completing his sophomore solo full-length, an album he recorded over multiple sessions this past fall with Eric “King Riff” Bauer in San Francisco’s Chinatown and mixed at legendary Fantasy Studios in nearby Berkeley…”
“I think I’m getting better at translating what I hear in my head to tape,” Mikal Cronin says. “I’m really excited about that. This record comes from the same place as what I’ve done before, but it’s bigger, more filled-out.”
“DeMarco’s trickster persona is on full display in the video for “Dreamin,” one of many tangled, mellow rock songs on the album that could carry that name…”
“Both ‘This Time I Got a Reason’ and B-side ‘Fuzz’s Fourth Dream’ are galvanizingly sludgy, proto-metal psych rock, and though the single is sold out, the music is streaming for your head-banging delight.”
“Ex-Coachwhips singer-guitarist John Dwyer keeps his band running like a ’57 Chevy hooked up to a morphine drip…”
“The hooks are viral to the point of contagious, whether Segall is jingle-jangling through acoustic ballads or squalling along at interplanetary speed.”
“When I was a kid, records were my religion, the glue that brought together like-minded people, people who feel that connection with something. To me, that is God. That is all religions, that is everything. Ozzy Osbourne is Jesus. Arthur Lee is the Divine Spirit. That’s the point: keep it alive, spread it around. I want to make records you don’t have to think about.”
A Rolodex of garage styles circa 2011, 1979, or 1966
Part of SPIN’s 5 Best New Artists for April.
