Watch Spirits and the Melchizedek Children perform “Song Bird’s Grave” & their yet unreleased song “Wrong Turn” from their Yellow Couch Sessions, recorded while on tour behind new LP, So Happy, It’s Sad…
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Glide Magazine premieres Tesla Rossa’s “Heavy Love, Pt. 2”
More than anything else, Tesla Rossa is an organism that has evolved rapidly and constantly through touring, writing, and common living over the past five years. After years of heavy touring and writing, Tesla Rossa is finally celebrating their first full-length release due November 11th. With the upcoming release due, Glide is excited to premiere the self-titled album’s track “Heavy Love, Pt. 2,” (below) a revealing composition that combines the melodic mood wings of My Morning Jacket along with cryptic underbelly that spells listener rewarding authentic rock and roll.
“Heavy Love Pt. 2 ” started as an outro to another song that we’d play in our basement all the time. Friends would be over hanging and listening, and we’d just keep jamming on it, and turning it into this reverb-soaked Motown-inspired thing, ” explained singer-guitarist Jason Denton.
“We had an instrumental demo of the song, and one night I took a mic and a laptop into this weird dungeon closet in my basement, and I recorded the lyrics over it. They were from a poem I’d written. It was avery turbulent time in my life. Most of my lyrics from that time are me telling myself that I can get through anything—writing songs rooted in a positive desperation. Anyway, I could’t wait to let the band hear. “Heavy Love, Pt. 2? quickly became one of our favorite songs to play live. It’s the first chill song we ever wrote together. When we brought it to Vance, it was already so developed that we literally set up, rolled tape, played it once, and that’s the version you hear on the record. It was the first song cut in those sessions.”
Tesla Rossa worked with several notable producer/engineers on this forthcoming self-titled debut, including former Wilco drummer Ken Coomer and Vance Powell (Jack White, The Dead Weather). Powell assisted in narrowing down their numerous demos into a cohesive record and bring it to life. They cut the chosen tracks live in Powell’s studio and brought on Kyle Dreaden, now producer of the band, to mix.
The record itself spans a wide variety of styles from dicey blues-rock strut to expansive arena melodies. In their most recent work, powerful groove-based drum parts and earworm melodies stand at the forefront. Perhaps the key to the band’s dynamic is their diversity of taste. “We all have very different listening preferences,” Denton points out. LISTEN HERE…
PunkNews.org premieres SEX BBQ’s “Powerlines, Pt. 1”
Punknews is pleased to debut “Powerlines,” the new song by Sex BBQ. Member Steve Albertson spoke to Punknews about the track. Click Read More for what he had to say. The track is off the band’s upcoming album Sex Noir City out November 25, 2014.
I wanted to write a song about the town where I grew up about 45 minutes outside of Chicago… Waukegan, IL. It’s a violent town, a place where everyone was getting into something unsavory… gangbanging, drugs, guns. My neighbor and friend went to jail for killing a rival gang member with a hammer outside of his house when he was 16. Another childhood friend had his house raided because he was selling guns. He fled to Wisconsin and was eventually arrested for stabbing someone at a quinceañera. Violence was everywhere… it was a part of the culture of my hometown. Punk rock thrived alongside this thuggish mentality in Waukegan, and that scene was a big part of my escaping from all this madness.
On the beach of Lake Michigan, there’s an old power plant. The powerlines stretch from the shore for miles inland, and they passed right by my old house. The powerlines were always this iconic image for me. You can look up at them and hear them gently humming and you can imagine Jesus hanging on each post for miles into infinity. But deep down you know that there is no god here… that it’s every man for himself. Make the right decisions and you might get out, make the wrong ones and, like it says in the song, you’ll “paint the prison walls with this dark saint’s willing blood.” All these bleak experiences are reflected in the sound of ‘Powerlines.’
Impose photo essay: Gringo Star’s CMJ performance at the Culture Collide showcase at Knitting Factory Brooklyn
On Thursday, October 23, Culture Collide presented a free, daytime showcase at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, NY featuring performances by Hunters, Gringo Star, FLOWERS, September Girls, Port Juvee, and Go Back to the Zoo. PHOTO ESSAY HERE…
No Country For New Nashville premieres Tesla Rossa’s “Kinetic”
We’ve already told you about Tesla Rossa‘s upcoming self-titled, debut full-length, which is set to drop Nov. 11, and, along with that announcement, brought you lead single “Vacation.” Today, we’re brining you another taste of Tesla Rossa in the form of an exclusive premiere of revamped take on the group’s track “Kinetic.” LISTEN HERE…
PopMatters premieres Grand Vapids’ new song “Pale Hooves”
“Pale Hooves”, a brooding, dark number by the Athens, GA group Grand Vapids, is a track off of the band’s forthcoming LP, Guarantees.
The Athens, GA-based Grand Vapids have one hell of an ominous teaser for their forthcoming studio album, Guarantees. The song, titled “Pale Hooves”, is built around a brooding riff that’s equal parts ‘90s indie and outlaw country. Cryptic lyrics like “Looks like death has finally given birth” add to the the tense mood of the music. On its own, it creates an intriguing mood; however, what the tune truly does is make one wonder about what’s to come from this young band. LISTEN HERE…