Post Animal

The band’s 2018 debut, Constant Image, was a triumph – a set of songs both dizzy and explosive, balancing new-wave lushness and post-punk frenzy. Love is Yours steps up the ambition and reaches for the horizon. The record is ablaze with mood, melody, and carefully threaded hooks, finding the band foregrounding the pop sensibilities that had always been present in their previous releases. It retains the attitude that was fundamental to the band’s DIY roots, but cuts loose a touch of the angst. Though the songs process disillusionment and loss, the music evokes warmth and optimism. It is their best record and also their most generous.The album was written and recorded amid a moment of flux for the band. Now a duo, guitarist Taylor Mulitz and drummer Emma Baker had to reimagine Flasher’s voice. They embraced uncertainty and allowed their roles to become unfixed. They wrote collaboratively and followed their intuition. Instruments were swapped, harmonies were layered over samples, and a space was created for Baker to step out from behind the drumkit into a front person, sharing vocals alongside Mulitz. On the other end Flasher emerged familiar, but also stronger and more singular.Formed in 2015, Flasher was born out of Washington, D.C.’s newly resurgent underground music scene. In that context, the trio stood out. They were urgent and wiry, but could also convey a cool and authentic tenderness. A year later, when the city was leaden with post-election gloom, Flasher could remind you – however fleetingly – that pleasure was still a possibility. They released an EP and a 7” single on Sister Polygon Records before joining Domino for Constant Image. The record was critically adored and ceaselessly toured. When the D.C. trio finally took a breath nearly two years later it was at an unmistakable high point. Flasher had hit the road alongside its heroes, scored spots on festival bills, and packed hometown shows.Not long after that, as the band prepared to hunker down and begin writing their follow up, D.C.’s tight-knit community began to splinter and realign. Bands broke up. People got older, became restless, and moved on. Flasher was not spared a shake-up. Bassist Daniel Saperstein parted ways with the group. Mulitz would eventually decide to relocate – first to Baltimore and then to Los Angeles, making the group bi-coastal.Working as a duo took a bit of recalibration. The songwriting process changed dramatically, but in a way that quickly began to feel energising. “Once we had this implosion, we let go of the pretence and confines that we had pigeonholed ourselves into,” says Mulitz. “Going into this record, the vision was pretty simple: We wanted to write songs that came intuitively. We were leaning into that while consciously creating a real space of trust and openness.”The bulk of Love is Yours was recorded in Washington, D.C. with long-time friend Owen Wuerker, who also helped flesh out the instrumentation by contributing additional bass, percussion, synths, and guitar. Rather than binding the duo to its past – to geography, old habits, or trusted sounds – the familiar environment proved liberating. Working out of Wuerker’s well appointed home-studio allowed inspiration to arrive off deadline. With no shows in sight, Flasher could relax on presenting as a “rock” band. Baker and Mulitz tweaked tempos, structures, and dynamics accordingly. They toyed with genre, melody, and texture.Links: Website | Bandcamp | Spotify

Electric Six, Supersuckers

The Devil has always been there. He is the great outsider, the original iconoclast. He is a conniving little shit and never seems to tire of giving humanity a wedgie or a wet willie just for a laugh. The Devil is capable of taking many forms. He can exist as one being or spread out amongst many. He can present himself as an ordinary man or as a horrific cloven-hoofed beast depending on his mood. Above all else, The Devil lives to corrupt, to adulterate, to defile.Electric Six has often used The Devil as subject matter for its songs because of that last bit, the part about corruption and adulteration. That’s what Electric Six has been trying to do with its music now for quite some time!!!! We want to corrupt young women….just like The Devil!!! There’s nothing more rewarding than the seduction of a young innocent maiden, forcing her to wear demonic dresses, levitating her towards the great fiery skull and watching her eyes turn black as she gives into evil and becomes the bride of The Devil!!!! That….is why we started this band….to help women realize their potential as sexy evil maidens with eyes reflecting the utter darkness of a corrupted soul.With its fourteenth studio album Bride of the Devil, Electric Six examines the concepts of evil and corruption, humanity’s various falls from grace, the nine circles of purgatory and of course, the internet itself. Bride of the Devil opens with the thunderous opener “The Opener”, a bombastic celebration of the arena rock Electric Six never got to play. The next two numbers are textbook ear worm guitar pop numbers that deal with debilitating income inequality and nepotism (“Daddy’s Boy”) and the horrors of being forced into a pool of toxic waste by an a rabid Doberman trained to kill (“(It Gets) (A Little) Jumpy”).And then we get to the title track, a radio anthem, where it all becomes clear that The Devil is a metaphor for Russia and the United States is the young girl who is seduced, corrupted and wedded into a Satanic covenant with the beast. It’s all there in black and white. The Carrie Underwood-esque lyrics alongside a backdrop of vodka and caviar and backchannels and Seychllian bank accounts. That’s how they did it. They went after our country performers and got the rubes to feel good about being Russian assets. And still, it is the feel-good anthem of the summer.Finally, the haunting album closer “Worm In the Wood” is Electric Six at its most serious, most tender and emotional. Haunting. Effervescent. Corrupt. Jaundiced. Tired.So there you have it. Electric Six is back with its fourteenth record and it’s poppy and feel-good, as well as heavy, both sonically and lyrically. Our sound will corrupt you and enslave you as the beautiful demonic bride you know you truly are. Fraulein, take this severed hand with it’s creepy long nails from the beginning of time. To do so is truly thine destiny.Electric Six Links: Website | Instagram | Twitter | FacebookSupersuckers Links: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

Daniel Nunnelee

Daniel Nunnelee is an alternative folk artist based out of Nashville, TN. Born in Memphis and raised in small towns around Mississippi and Tennessee, Daniel spent time in many different churches. It was a talented music minister in Senatobia, Mississippi that inspired Daniel to start playing and writing his own music. His songs are reflections of loud thoughts in quiet moments, a style mirrored in his performance.Links: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify | YouTube

Tropical Fuck Storm

Australian post-apocalyptic acid punk disco scuzzheads TFS are coming to the US and Canada for the first time since 2019. For the last two years they’ve been holed up in a bush bunker pursuing their sonic experiments which have produced 2021’s Deep States album, and feature film Goody Goody Gumdrops. Tropical Fuck Storm members Gareth Liddiard, Fiona Kitschin Erica Dunn and Lauren Hammel will be bringing their wild, destructive and unstoppable chaos to the Northern Hemisphere stages performing songs from A Laughing Death In Meatspace (2018), Braindrops (2019) and Deep States (2021).“Everyone I could see, myself included, had a smile on their face I’m not even sure was voluntary. The looks on the faces of the crowd after the band had left the stage were ones of awe—multiple mouths were left agape and eyes were wide open, almost in disbelief. It was a remarkable performance. One that anyone in the audience would attest to it being phenomenal. Throughout the entirety of the set, down to how the band dealt with their technical issues, it felt like witnessing the best guitar band in the world” Spectrum Culture @ Elsewhere, Brooklyn“A Tropical Fuck Storm gig is like putting your brain in a blender for an hour straight” Beat Magazine“The darkly hallucinogenic world of Melbourne weirdos Tropical Fuck Storm is a borderless realm, its edges blurry like a fever dream. … Any time you think you’ve sussed their murkily psychedelic approach, the quartet take another thrilling, freewheeling detour.” Kerrang“In Tropical Fuck Storm’s determination to engage as fully as possible with the reality of human existence, in all its ugliness and contradictions, they are tapping into its truths.” The Quietus“Beyond such vivid, often thrilling caricatures, however, the acrid smoulder of The Donkey, the mysterious haunt of Legal Ghost and the nuanced pop of New Romeo Agent prove that Tropical Fuck Storm have yet to succumb to glib nihilism, and that tenderness and poetry are still within their grasp” Mojo“What makes Tropical Fuck Storm as vital as they are unsettling is how well their songs, which often seem chaotic, fractured, and as brutal as the subjects they consider, speak to the currents of our contemporary worry. They’re making a strange sort of musical magic, to be sure. But they’re also demanding that we confront a world where change isn’t necessarily gonna come.” New City MusicLinks: Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Jon Shain & FJ Ventre, Shannon O’Connor’s CD Release of “Stay, My Darling!”

Jon Shain is a veteran singer-songwriter who’s been turning heads for years with his words and his fiery acoustic guitar work, and his evolved musical style – combining improvised piedmont blues with bluegrass, swing, and ragtime. Shain had the good fortune to learn directly from a number of North Carolina’s older blues players, and became a member of Big Boy Henry’s backing band. He is the 2019 winner of the International Blues Challenge in the solo/duo category. In addition, Shain was a finalist (along with FJ Ventre) in the 2009 International Blues Challenge, he won both the 2008 and 2018 Triangle Blues Society’s Blues Challenge and was the 2006 winner of NC’s Indy award for Best Folk Act. Shain’s most recent solo disc, Gettin’ Handy with the Blues: A Tribute to the Legacy of WC Handy, was released in January, 2018. Shain’s newest album, Never Found A Way to Tame the Blues, recorded along with long-time collaborator FJ Ventre was released in July.FJ Ventre and Jon began playing music together in 1982 when they met in high school. FJ went on to University of Massachusetts-Lowell, earning a B.A. in Music Performance and Sound Recording. He remained in the Boston area, performing in the city’s vibrant music scene. Since relocating to Chapel Hill, NC in 2000, Ventre has performed with his own group The Swang Brothers, as well as most of the Triangle’s roots acts. In addition to performing as a sought-after sideman, he spends his time behind the mixing board, engineering at his own Good Luck Studio. With Jon, they have become sought-after producers in the folk/Americana genre, producing several charting Folk and Blues albums in the last few years. https://jonshain.com/jon-shain-and-fj-ventre/ Shannon is a local singer/songwriter known for her playful, gritty, and brutally honest songwriting. She coined her style “Sultry Americana” at the turn of the century. She is known for her strong solo performances and is often called to open for national acts that come through town. Shannon independently released several records and was thrilled to work at Good Luck Studio to make this latest release, “Stay, My Darling!” Jon & FJ played, produced, and engineered this project and will be joining her for this special CD release event. https://shannonoconnor.hearnow.com/?fbclid=IwAR31HC5u2ORnIyzWNfWlvCsQMQxV8ISIzqKLnIoK0p3SGUKXgsxeKR-U4ng

Michigan Rattlers

Lifelong friends and deep-north natives, musical group Michigan Rattlers play heavy-hearted folk-rock with an aching dose of Midwestern nice. Graham Young (guitar), Adam Reed (upright bass), Christian Wilder (piano), and Tony Audia (drums) began writing music and performing together in their Northern Michigan high school. They regularly played every bar, cafe, and stage in town, developing a musical chemistry informed by the likes of AC/DC, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bob Seger, and more. After a few years apart, Reed and Young settled down in Los Angeles, recorded a short demo, and began playing locally. The demo found its way into the hands of super-producer Johnny K (Plain White T’s, 3 Doors Down), and they cut the bulk of their first EP at NRG Studios in just one day.This self-titled Michigan Rattlers EP attracted glowing reviews from No Depression, Bluegrass Situation, B3 Science, and Rolling Stone, who named the band one of their “Ten New Country Artists You Need To Know” in 2016. In 2018, following a massive summer tour that included stops at Bonnaroo, Firefly and Electric Forest; the band released their highly anticipated debut full length album, ‘Evergreen,’ on September 28th. “This is a band with solid songwriting chops and instrumental skills,” says No Depression. “‘Evergreen’ shows this three-piece from Petoskey, Michigan making a stand, making their way.”Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Apple Music | Soundcloud | Spotify

BRONCHO

BRONCHO return to the road for the first time in three years with the I KNOW YOU TOUR 2022 where the Oklahoma band – Ryan Lindsey, Penny Pitchlynn, Nathan Price and Ben King – will be performing songs from their landmark first four albums; the catchy, playful vibe of Can’t Get Past the Lips (2011) and Just Enough Hip to Be Woman (2014) as well as the deliberate sonic intent of 2016’s sludgy, moodier art piece Double Vanity and of course, and perhaps the most critically-acclaimed album in the quartet’s decade-long career, Bad Behavior (2018); with its fan faves and urgent, bonafide pop songs, “Sandman,” “Boys Got to Go,” “Get in My Car” and “Keep it in Line.” Broncho crafts sing-along anthems that combine punk and garage-rock. You could make all the likely comparisons to punk bands of the ’70s — Ramones, Iggy Pop and The Stooges — or even bring up the new-school garage-rock undertones of The Strokes and The Strange Boys. But that would sell the band short. If anything, it combines the best elements of both genres: raw guitar chords and energy, plus DIY sentiment, but with hi-fi production. Their pop sensibilities create a world where T. Rex, Tom Petty and The Cars collide.Links: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube

The Bad Checks

The Bad Checks Afterparty will be included with the $25 admission to the Southern Culture on the Skids show at Cat’s Cradle Back Yard. If you want tickets to just see The Bad Checks, they’re available here for just $5.The BAD CHECKS formed in Cig-City, Durham, NC, as a three-piece garage/punkabilly band in 1980, brothers, Robin and Clifton, with high school friend Larry Tally. They played their first show with Butchwax on New Wave night at the infamous Cat’s Cradle and opened for the Bad Brains at The Station. They released their first single, “I’m Paranoid”, in 1982 on their own label, Loretta Records. Spotting a potential frontman with “Crash” Landen and the Kamikazes, Hunter Landen joined the band and played his first live show in his high school graduation gown in 1984. The Checks’ released “Graveyard Tramp” in 1985 (replacing Larry with Mike Griffin) and played shows with the Dead Kennedys, Replacements, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Sonic Youth, Mike Watt, Fishbone, Suicidal Tendencies and many others.Their second album, “Innocence” was released on the French Label Music Action and in the US on Blackpark Records. Mike Griffin returned to his studies, and the Checks burned up a few drummers over the next few years. Mike Grealing played on the next release “Live at 9:30”, Rob Ladd sat in for a while as well as Scott Carle, Jon McClain and Chuck Garrison. In 1997, the Bad Checks found ex-Smooch frontman Rock Forbes who has been drumming ever since.The Bad Checks are more than a band, they’re here to stay!Links: Facebook

Bay Ledges

Zach Hurd started Bay Ledges in his bedroom after moving to Los Angeles from a small town in coastal Maine in 2015. It began as an attempt to make fun, creative sounds with no expectation. Chopped up guitar lines, playful beats and manipulated vocals created soulful, glitchy songs with a feeling of nostalgia. The project took off when Hurd’s 2016 single, “Safe,” jumped to the number three spot on Spotify’s Global Viral Chart.In the years that followed, Bay Ledges toured all over the US and Canada, sharing the stage with such acts as Yoke Lore, Magic City Hippies and The Palms. In 2020 Hurd utilized time off the road to get back to the more personal process of making music – writing, producing and mixing his 2020 EP, New Daze. The result was a more intimate exploration and an evolution of the Bay Ledges sound.After the release of New Daze, Hurd packed his bags and relocated back to Maine. He explains, “My partner Clara and I were feeling ready for a change from Los Angeles and the idea of returning to Maine, where I’m from, was exciting. There’s a lot of nostalgia here from my youth and coming back is like seeing everything with this new perspective.”Hurd is currently working on Bay Ledges’ debut album and will be releasing the first track “Changing” on August 27th via his new label Nettwerk. He adds, “I wrote half of the song in Los Angeles and the other half after moving back to Maine earlier this year. Recording while we were staying with friends and renting short term apartments. Among other things, the song’s about saying goodbye to a time in your life and relationship, acknowledging your own growth.” “Changing” is the first step in a new chapter for Bay Ledges. Stay tuned for more to come.Links: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud

Genre: Miscellaneous