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Deafheaven at Public Assembly in 2012 (more by Greg Cristman)

As mentioned, San Francisco black metallers Deafheaven are releasing their new album, Sunbather, on June 11 via Deathwish. You've already heard the first single, "Dream House," and now they've let loose the title track, which like the last single, leans just heavily on shoegaze and post-rock as it does on metal. Check it out below (via FADER).

Deafheaven's tour with Marriages hits NYC for an Invisible Oranges-presented show on July 2 at Saint Vitus with NOTHING. Tickets for that show are still available.

Song stream below...

Continue reading "listen to the title track from Deafheaven's new 'Sunbather' LP" at brooklynvegan

From a distance, the title track from Deafheaven’s sophomore LP, Sunbather, sounds like a particularly harrowing and intense act of God — a tornado leveling a concert hall, maybe, or an avalanche burying a valley. But in the lovingly crafted details, the song is all about dynamics: George Clarke’s raw shriek is pure urgency and desperation; percussionist Daniel Tracy’s rhythms vary from hailstorm to sunshower as the movements progress and demand; and Kerry McCoy’s guitars ring out from a din of reverb and noise, bringing melody and muscle, guiding the song through clouds to Olympian heights, and then dipping gracefully, suddenly, into shadows. The final quarter of the 10-minute-plus “Sunbather” is a study in contrast and momentum: A dizzying post-black metal barrage relents, and suddenly the guitars and bass are gentle ripples in an otherwise placid dream-pop pool; then, everything ascends at once, and all the elements combine to reach higher peaks still — climax upon climax, until it is hushed.

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Scuzzy Portland trio the Thermals make working out look deceptively fun in a new video for their single, The Sunset, off their most recent release, Desperate Ground. An ode to some of the most famous boxing movies (Rocky and Raging Bull), the clip follows bassist Kathy Foster as she preps for a big fight by chasing a chicken, doing an insane amount of sit-ups, and of course, some funky dancing.

Just when you think Foster is down for the count, she rises, phoenix-style, and defeats her opponent while Hutch Harris chants on about how he refuses to let the sunset pass him by again. The band is currently on tour in North America. You can check out the tour dates, and the marvelous video for The Sunset, below. Just try not to sweat on your keyboard.

The Thermals Tour Dates:
05/21

Does your pops watch Rocky every time it’s on TNT? Then point him towards The Thermals’ latest video for “The Sunset”. The Desperate Ground track soundtracks a sports montage that pulls from the Sylvester Stallone franchise in all its glory. Bassist Kathy Foster trains hard across Portland, much to the support of her coach, aka drummer Westin Glass. She chases chickens, commits to push ups, and knocks ‘em out of the box. Where’s Hutch? Well, let’s just say that Michael Buffer has his work cut out for him. Get in the ring below.

Desperate Ground is currently available now via Saddle Creek.

by Fred Pessaro

Phil Anselmo with Down at Best Buy Theater (more by Greg Cristman)

With all of the many many projects that Phil Anselmo has been involved in over the years (Down, Pantera, Superjoint Ritual, Arson Anthem, etc), its not entirely shocking to hear that the vocalist/guitarist/songwriter has taken on another . His latest, called Philip Anselmo & The Illegals, is being billed as his first "solo" venture, despite writing all of the music on the first Viking Crown EP. The band is preparing to release their new record, Walk Through Exits Only, via his own Housecore Records, for a July 16 blast off. Stream a new track below.

As discussed at InvisibleOranges, the release of new material also comes packaged with live dates dubbed "Technicians of Distortion" tour, where the band will be joined by perennial tourmates/Housecore bros Warbeast and most interstingly, the great industrial/metal oddity Author & Punisher! Look for the tour to hit NYC on August 16 at Best Buy Theater. Tickets go on sale Friday (5/24) at noon.

As discussed at InvisibleOranges, Author & Punisher are readying the new LP, Women & Children, released on June 11. Stream that title track below.

And, as mentioned, Anselmo & Co will also play Austin, TX with Goblin soon too.

The Vancouver duo Lightning Dust is a side project of the great Black Mountain, and their new single “Diamond” is the romantic soft-focus new-wave jam that nobody ever expected them to write. With the song’s video, director Helen Reed tells a nice story about using art to overcome mundanity. It shows us three women who bust into a seemingly spur-of-the-moment synchronized swimming routine in a dingy public pool. Watch it below.

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K Records magnate Calvin Johnson (of Beat Happening, Dub Narcotic Sound System et al) has a few East Coast/Midwest dates this week, including a show on Wednesday (5/22) at Ran Tea House with labelmate Ian Svenonius' Chain & the Gang, and Arrington de Dionyso's Malaikat dan Singa, and the NYC live debut of Erin Earthling. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Arrington de Dionyso's Malaikat dan Singa also play another NYC show on Friday (5/24) at Secret Project Robot with Aye Aye Rabbit (featuring Greg Saunier of Deerhoof), Many Mansions, and The Drunken Foreigner Band.

In other K Recs news, as mentioned, Heather Rose Dominic's 1998 documentary The Shield Around the K will screen next Friday (5/31) at Videology in Williamsburg as part of 2013 NYC Popfest. Screening is at 5 PM and free.

All Calvin Johnson tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Calvin Johnson touring, playing NYC with Chain & the Gang and more (dates)" at brooklynvegan

I used to work in an office with a guy who played drums for the band Asobi Seksu. When he told me the name of his band, I found the moniker to be strange, inviting, and enchanting … till he informed me it was a Japanese translation of the English-language term “sport fucking” (which the band had lifted from Fight Club). Ann Arbor quartet Pity Sex have chosen a handle that is no less dubious in origin than Asobi Seksu, and it’s made doubly so by the fact that the band doesn’t even bother to glamour-cloak it in non-English. Oddly, though, Pity Sex and Asobi Seksu have more in common than just their dispiriting monikers: Both bands are quartets that play blissful and gigantic-sounding shoegaze pop with alternating female-male vocals and overdriven guitars. Pity Sex — drummer Sean St. Charles, guitarist/vocalist Brennan Greaves, bassist Brandan Pierce, and guitarist/vocalist Britty Drake — emerged in 2012 with the six-song Dark World EP (which you can check out on the band’s Bandcamp), and they’re now set to release their first full-length, Feast Of Love. We’ve got the Greaves-fronted album-opener “Wind-Up” for you to spin today, and if it means anything, it’s one of my favorite songs of 2013 — all feedback and fat, fuzzy guitars, glorious melancholy and insane pop hooks. I honestly love it. Listen.

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For certain segments of the population, including some of us who may be reluctant to admit such things, an adorable Zooey Deschanel dance routine is pretty much audio-visual crack cocaine. And that group of people (which, let’s be honest, probably encompasses Stereogum’s entire readership, as well as its staff) should enjoy the living hell out of She & Him’s new video for “I Could’ve Been Your Girl.” Deschanel herself directed this one, in which she tries and fails to get the attention of her bandmate M. Ward. This probably makes band practice awkward. Watch it below.

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The rising London producer slows down the electro-pop smash.

Icona Pop’s Charli XCX-featuring ‘I Love It’ had pop hit written all over it, even before it was featured in HBO’s Girls. While some might find the neon original a bit too garish, this remix by Bobby Champs turns down the lights to great effect.

Champs (who has released tracks on Pictures Music, Hypercolour, and WNCL Recordings) slows down ‘I Love It’, washes the kiss-off vocals in reverb, and rebuilds the beat with a slo-mo house engine. Stream the remix below; the single will see release in the UK on July 1, backed with remixes by Jakwob, Fix8, and Style of Eye.