Today's Hotness: Ringo Deathstarr, Seeds Of Doubt, Boom Said Thunder

>> Austin-based shoegaze heroes Ringo Deathstarr yesterday unveiled "Big Bopper," the cracking first new song from a planned third full-length. The tune, as older fans may know, takes its name from the tragic Texas proto-rocker Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr., whose nickname was The Big Bopper. Mr. Richardson perished in the same plane crash that took the life of legends Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly, all of which was memorialized by that loathesome Don McLean song, you know the one. But enough of the history lesson. Ringo Deathstarr's "Big Bopper" is an MBV-indebted mind-scrambler that blasts distorted guitars through a rich reverb and over a danceable beat, to which fronter Elliot Frazier applies a cyclical chant that may or may not have to do with losing a bet and boarding a doomed aircraft. The song was posted to the Soundcloud of the Deathstarr's Japanese label, Tokyo-based Vinyl Junkie Recordings, which suggests to us that the new record will certainly be released in Japan, and perhaps released to that market first, as was the case with Ringo Deathstarr's last EP, God's Dream. Based on this Facebook post from fewer than three weeks ago, we're guessing the bulk of the new record has yet to be recorded, and of course there is as yet no album title or release information. But it makes us feel good knowing that there is new Deathstarr in the offing for 2015. God's Dream was released in March 2014, and we reviewed it right here. Stream "Big Bopper" via the Soundcloud embed below.



>> London indie pop foursome Seeds Of Doubt Monday will issue a terrifically titled new EP, its third, Audible Human Repellent. The short stack, despite the moniker, is actually quite listenable, and contains four songs that were apparently recorded in a single day in November. The undeniable highlight of the short set is the peppy tune "Shelf Life," whose agile, Feelies-styled jangle supports light lead guitar work that punctuates a pretty, ascending melody in the chorus. Here fronter Chris Hopkins pleads, memorably, "help me help myself, because I don't want to end up on the shelf." Lead track "Know Your Limits" proffers a more subdued attack punctuated by a somewhat adenoidal vocal, but the song really leaves the ground around the midpoint when nimble lead guitar guides the song through a tense bridge and into a ripping guitar solo. The band earlier this week loosed to the wilds of the Internet this concise, cat-filled video for the slack yet agitated second track, "Others Pay," whose chorus repeatedly warns "others pay for our leisure." We last spoke with Seeds Of Doubt here in May, around the time of the release of its DCP EP. Audible Human Repellent is being issued by London imprint Life Dunk International on limited-run cassette or digital download (both of which purportedly come with a b-side alternately described as a "special luxury surprise" and "magnificently decadent;" the mind reels at the possibilities). Stream the collection via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through to purchase now, ahead of the release Monday.



>> Formerly Boston-based rock trio Boom Said Thunder, which now reps the 718, at long last figuratively returns Monday with a strongly vibing new digital single that boasts the threesome's best -- and longest -- songs to date, "Summer Twin" b/w "Carnivore". The latter track clocks in at more than six minutes, during which the act conjures a cloud of fuzz from persistently applied crash cymbal (or a ride bashed like a crash) and distorted bass, establishing a dark firmament into which fronter Abby Bickel casts an ominous, reverbed incantation. Taken all together, the number suggests the mystical atmospherics of early Jane's Addiction. "Summer Twin" touts a brighter melody and a more fluid groove utilizing the act's characteristic recipe of bass, drums and voice. While John Magnifico's bass burbles and pulses, Ms. Bickel's vocal -- which here echoes somewhat the strong alto of Sinead O'Connor -- remains calm and centered well into the fourth minute, which adds to the song's mesmerizing affect. Although the vibe steadily intensifies and Bickel's voice ultimately soars, its most poignant and dramatic moment is the repetition of the simple, chilling lyric "I grow old, you stay the same." The brace of tunes was recorded in Brooklyn this fall during sessions underwritten by a popular footwear brand, and later mastered by local good guy Richard Marr, who also recently mastered Pile's forthcoming You're Better Than This. Boom Said Thunder play a relatively rare local date Friday at Great Scott, on a bill that also features Velah and Burial Sound. We expect hearing these new tunes performed live will really be something special. Clicky Clicky last wrote about the trio here in March 2013, around the time of the release of its debut LP Exist. Stream and download "Summer Twin" and "Carnivore" via the embed below.

Show Us Yours #17: Golden Gurls

[PHOTOS: P. McCracken] We keep in close contact with Golden Gurls fronter Andrew Mabry because the dude is funny, smart and opinionated. Also, his band is great. You might recall Clicky Clicky's wide-ranging interview with Mr. Mabry that we posted on the eve of Golden Gurls' first Boston show last September. And that we were pretty excited to see the trio's debut full-length Typo Magic get picked up for a limited edition release in the U.K. earlier this year. The gals (awww Mabry's gonna hate that...), who we're gonna go ahead and call Baltimore's best guitar band, have been hard at work on a second record and are hodge-podging together some late summer tour dates with Sooyoung Park's new project Bored Spies, so we thought it was high time to get the band back on the record to give some accounting of how they've been spending their time. We proposed to Mabry that perhaps he'd care to submit to our recently resuscitated interrogations about practice spaces, Show Us Yours. Mabry graciously agreed, and below he shows us around his rock dojo and surrounding environs, and offers more details about how the rest of the band's year is shaping up. Let's jump in, shall we?

Clicky Clicky: So why do you use this space, or how did it come to pass that this was the one that you settled on? Or maybe this space is a catch, and people think it's too cool for you?

Andrew Mabry: When we started this band, I was already using the current space for another band I had called Left Channels, it's actually just my basement. For some reason my neighbors don't seem to be affected by our noise; then again, I soundproofed most of it to the point of it just being a loud hum you can hear sometimes. I also live on a block were about five other bands practice, and most of them are a lot more to take in than we are, be it dirge or metal or Sunday gospel jammers going on for four or five hours straight, I think the people around are just used to it always happening.

CC: Is there an idiosyncrasy or quirk of the space that has affected one of your songs, or even your overall sound?

AM: On our demos we definitely used the quirks of this space. I recorded vocals in the bathroom in the basement which has awesome '50s style wallpaper -- you can get lost in that wallpaper for real. The ceilings [in the basement] aren't very high, so you have to record the drums mic'd really close, etc., it makes for some strange home recordings. The entire space is also wood paneling, remember that stuff? I always had a love/hate relationship with paneling. We wind up having to use a lot of early '60s recording techniques on demos in order to catch everything we're trying to catch, [because of] guitars get lost and the bass getting farty, but the drums come out crystal clear, almost decent recording quality.

CC: You walk into your space. What's the first thing that you smell? Why won't that smell go away?

AM: I suppose you smell musty air and stale beer. We drink a lot of beer at practice. Our drummer never finishes his beers, it seems he likes to make the clean-up difficult. The best is when they get super moldy like science projects. I love that. Also there seems to be a constant smell of drummer, drummers know what that smell is, it's a weird smell that never goes away. It's sort of like a soda stain on concrete or a spirit haunting one room in your house.

CC: I thought Typo Magic was amazing. A bunch of our favorite Boston indie rock-type friends thought it was amazing. You might have even thought it was OK. And yet -- like the majority of great indie rock bands -- you are not swimming in money and cars and whatever it is that people swim in these days in music videos. So I guess my questions are these: first, how do you define success for the band? And, second, what keeps that fire burning in you to keep writing songs and playing music despite the fact that Brooke Shields and Elizabeth Taylor never want to hang out and you don't have a pet monkey?

AM: Hahaha, well this is a seriously difficult question to answer: how does one define success in a band context? I look at bands like Speedy Ortiz, they are out there killing it everyday and working hard towards a goal, what it is I am not entirely sure, to me they are successful. Are we successful? I have no idea, I am just glad our stuff got out there and people are listening to it. The modern musical economy and the self-serving nature of youth culture really destroys all of the concepts of success -- from a musical business standpoint -- I had growing up. I think of bands like Fugazi and what they did in the '80s and '90s, no band in the modern era will ever be able to pull that off again.

At the same time it's apparent the measuring stick for all of that has had to change. What that is now is subject to a lot of debate, a few friends of mine and I argue this over and over again on my porch drinking beer all of the time, yet we always come out to a stalemate on it. Some people believe selling records is what matters, others will tell you it's getting people to listen to you at all... which is apparently a thing nowadays. I like to think back to the era when a record label was enough, like Matador or even Caroline Records, you would see they had something new out and just feel compelled to give it a listen at home, hence a purchase was made, because the Internet wasn't full of torrents and all of that stuff yet.

With Typo Magic I have tended to err on the latter side of the argument between record sales and just people listening, we just wanted to get it out there, financial compensation was never something we pondered. If we had a monkey that would be killer, I am guessing it would make it difficult for us to write new songs, though. My wife is more of a mini-pig fan, she wants us to buy one of those pretty badly which could become a solid band mascot with some training, I'd say. For what it's worth, I feel like Boston bands have the best scene period, and all of the bands whom we've ever interacted with there are amazing people. Infinity Girl, Speedy Ortiz, Soccer Mom, Young Adults, Boom Said Thunder, and Pile, just to mention a few, have been nothing but supportive and are all great people. As for Elizabeth Taylor, we often eat dinner under a picture of her at the corner bar by my house...

CC: You've got an album in the works -- what can you tell us about that? Damnably did a limited release of Typo Magic for England -- will they be involved with the next record? Do you plan to tour to support it? What do the next six months look like for the band?

We do have an album in the works, it's about 80% completed, all recorded at Magpie Cage studios (J. Robbins of Jawbox's studio) here in Baltimore, starting about about 3 months ago. I am not sure if Damnably will be involved with our next record's initial release, it very well may be the same scenario as with Typo Magic, we put that out ourselves and we will likely put out the 2nd album as well. We've been looking for a label in the States, but as of yet, nothing has really come to light. I can tell you this though, George at Damnably is one of the coolest people on the planet and he has done more for us in a few months than I think we were capable of doing ourselves in a full year. We plan to tour in support of the 2nd record assuredly, we are going on tour with Bored Spies in late August, well, it's in the works currently, as you and I have bantered about at great length. I think the next six months will see the release of a couple 7 inches and a 12 inch by us, we're mulling over what we'd like to do with our 2nd record a lot more in depth than the 1st record. I guess that's the difference between going into record for the 1st time haphazardly and taking the time to write the material for a 2nd release, as of the moment this will be 35 minutes long and more in depth, sonically speaking, than Typo Magic.

We thank Andrew and the gang for playing along for Show Us Yours #17, and encourage you to stream their excellent 2012 record Typo Magic via the fancy new Bandcamp embed below. For a complete gallery of Golden Gurls photos shot for this feature, hit this link.

Golden Gurls: Facebook | Bandcamp



Previous Show Us Yours episodes:
Shapes And Sizes | Dirty On Purpose | Relay | Mobius Band | Frightened Rabbit | Assembly Now | Meneguar | Okay Paddy | Charmparticles | Calories | Sun Airway | It Hugs Back | Lubec | A Giant Dog | Bent Shapes | Krill

Today's Hotness: William Tyler, Life Model, 28 Degrees Taurus

>> More music taste-makers should look past the gloss and acknowledge the spiritual connections between all types of music; they're never as different as radio programmers and the guys who magic marker shelf dividers at the record store would have you believe. This idea is reinforced by Merge's recent release of William Tyler's Impossible Truth, a tasteful and gripping collection of solo guitar compositions. The double LP, released March 19 in the U.S. and April 29 abroad, avoids the pitfalls of virtuoso showcase; instead, the pieces are restrained, structured and brim with thoughtful layering and emotive chord sequences. Indeed, Mr. Tyler can say anything with only the basest metallic vibrations, and his tune "Cadillac Desert" serves as a fantastic introduction. Opening with an orchestrated two chord chug, the song recalls the majesty of Joy Division's "Atmosphere," albeit as filtered through the drop tuning carnival and clang-drone of classic Cale-era Velvet Underground. The song drifts gradually into mid-'70s Laurel Canyon folk serenity via delicate picking and distant slide guitar. Still, "Cadillac Desert" never completely sheds the sense of power that defines its opening moments, although it re-focuses eventually into a questioning introspection. Tyler is as much a skilled arranger and producer as he is a guitarist, managing to sound forward-thinking despite a relatively traditional approach. And so Impossible Truth is a record for spring afternoons, preferably with a book and wine and the scent of freshly mown grass. It is also already one of 2013's most beautiful albums. Stream "Cadillac Desert" via the Soundcloud embed below, and buy the record from your friends at Merge right here. -- Edward Charlton



>> Now that the hype surrounding My Bloody Valentine's shocking return has abated, shoegaze devotees can return their attention to listening to and appreciating music being created by newer bands working with the sound in singular and revealing ways. Glaswegian noise-pop upstarts Life Model released April 1 its eponymously titled EP, and the opening number "Glazed" quickly caught our ear. Driven by a baggy Madchester-rhythm, Life Model further appoint the song with a Kim Deal-evoking, root-note bass line and gratifying amounts of fuzz. Underneath it all is storming, clean drumming that seems taken from the mixing boards of Marc Waterman and his god-like production of Ride's towering Nowhere. Floating above is fronter Sophie Evans' voice, and hers is a commanding performance that is dreamy yet full of presence. Taken in sum the sound hearkens back to the more neon, liquid, colorful, and outwardly sexy generation of noise-pop bands working at the turn of the '90s, groups that brought an otherworldly element to the quiet-loud pop formula propounded by the Pixies. And so Life Model show that there’s still a lot of life within an area of danceable dream-pop that references the work of previous heroes. "Glazed" certainly suggests that the quintet's splattered, sensual take on things will make a long-player a record worth partying to. For now, Life Model is certainly about 18 minutes well-spent. The EP, issued by the U.K.-based Viscerality label, is available on a limited edition purple cassette and as a digital download via Viscerality's Bandcamp page right here. Stream the EP via the embed below and then click through to order. Life Model plays a hometown show May 21 with the hotly-tipped Bleached. -- Edward Charlton



>> While its Facebook fans can readily recognize the band is at an inflection point, it'd be unfortunate if that completely overshadowed that veteran Boston psych-rock outfit and DIY stalwarts 28 Degrees Taurus issued late last month a pretty, foreboding new digital single "Vast Majestic." The release, which also includes the tunes "Playing With Fire" and "Out Of The Ashes," is a harbinger of a full-length expected to be released later this year. "Vast Majestic" aspires to its title, as Ana Karina DaCosta's chiming vocals -- which will sound very familiar to Slowdim fans, as she also plays bass in that band -- skate across steady waves of ethereal guitar and reverb and into crashing choruses. "Playing With Fire" ups the tempo and the intensity with guitarist Jinsen Liu's vocals shadowing the syncopated drum beat. The brief rocker "Out Of The Ashes" opens with a skittering, hi-hat-pocked drum pattern that recalls The Cure's "Plastic Passion," although 28 Degrees Taurus' characteristic wet and spacey production markedly contrasts with the uncharacteristically dry sound of that early tune by the legendary British act. The Boston trio had intended to make a short tour out to the midwest last week, but a personal matter led to the band having to scotch the jaunt. The band's next local appearance will be April 20 at the rejuvenated and now-thriving Boston-area psych-pop festival Deep Heaven Now. The festival again takes over Somerville's PA's Lounge and Precinct nightclubs and feature numerous Boston noise-pop heavy hitters including Infinity Girl, Night Fruit, Winter and Boom Said Thunder. 28 Degrees Taurus play the midnight slot at Precinct, and it may be one of the last times fans can see the band for the foreseeable future, so definitely put the set on your list. In the meantime, the new single is streaming in full via the Bandcamp embed below; click through to grab the three songs as a pay-what-you-want download.

Today's Hotness: Jeff Zeigler, Boom Said Thunder, Nucular Aminals

>> [UPDATED] That Jeff Zeigler figuratively wears a lot of hats (although for a long time it seemed like he only had that knit one -- Ed.). Despite his recognized renaissance-man status in Philadelphia as a principal in progressive-shoegaze standouts Arc In Round and an in-demand producer (he's the go-to guy for Purling Hiss and The War On Drugs), Mr. Zeigler early this month quietly began posting brilliant solo tracks to Soundcloud. There fans will find the beautiful and abstract compositions "Opportunity (rough edit)" and "Saw The Life." The fractured songs are a departure from the relatively more formal music of Arc In Round; they meld painstakingly constructed ambience and feedback, spectral guitar and voice, space and spare beats into transporting, other-worldly compositions. Each one bears Zeigler's familiar wayward percussion and delayed guitar passages, and expands upon Arc In Round's measured interstitial soundscapes. Zeigler's new music echoes certain tracks off of The Swirlies' oft-misunderstood Cats of the Wild, Vol. 2 album and its head-spinning effect achieved by so much meticulously crafted chaos. Old school Philly types may even reckon that Zeigler's new songs' experimental bent recalls the music of erstwhile Philly peers Diagram. "Saw The Life" commences with subdued acoustic guitar; not long after a dreamy vocal spills into the mix a firm rhythm is established via tumbling, crunchy echoes and clanking guitar sounds. A brief chorus at the end reminds fans of the rare moments in which Zeigler explores his higher vocal range, a move that pleasingly builds tension without losing the smoky cool of his lower register. "Opportunity" adds more electricity with clean electric strums and a vacuum cleaner feedback blow that unhinges the tune and lifts it into the heliosphere. With such high-caliber music at hand, one can only hope that a solo gig in Philadelphia this Monday might be a harbinger of a potential solo record. But in the meantime Arc In Round has its own fish to fry: Friday the foursome revealed it is at work on a sophomore set and will release a remix record collecting stray tracks and remixes Tuesday via Soundcloud and Bandcamp. The collection includes contributions from experimental heavy-hitters Benoit Pioulard and A Sunny Day In Glasgow, among others. Listen to Zeigler’s "Opportunity (Rough Edit)" via the embed below. Clicky Clicky reviewed Arc In Round's self-titled debut long-player here last June. -- Edward Charlton



>> Cambridge, Mass.-based Boom Said Thunder recently issued its throbbing debut long-player Exist, a collection at turns tender, bombastic and then, well, even more bombastic than that. The trio's spartan approach eschews guitars -- and, really, any adornment at all beyond maybe that trill of ghostly keys on "Invisible People" -- in favor of heroic doses of over-driven bass, thunderous drumming and fronter Abby Bickel's out-sized vocals. There may be a formula to it, insofar as each of the 11 songs on Exist attacks directly at gut level (what was that '80s boxing video game? "body blow!" "body blow!" "uppercut!") and then makes quick work to move hips and nod heads. But Boom Said Thunder's strength on the album is using that same point repeatedly as a vehicle to successfully stage heavy moods, define heavy grooves and power big rock numbers from silence to cacaphony and back again. Ms. Bickel's voice perhaps superficially suggests that of Karen O., and the sheer force of the trio's music at times recalls the blunt trauma of Sleigh Bells, but Boom Said Thunder is able to substantially shade its work even with the few tools it allows itself. So the pretty ballad "Violet" taps the same sort of gothic melancholy as Nirvana's "Something In The Way," while album openers "Gold Rush" and "Destroyer" unapologetically rock face with a refreshingly overpowering amount of attitude that evidences a commitment to rocking out so strong that it would make many be-sweatered, bespectacled indie rockers a touch uncomfortable. Exist was self-released March 1, and the band celebrates said release Wednesday with a show at Great Scott in Boston. The album is available as a clear/purple haze 12" vinyl LP as well as a digital download; the band is also selling posters and t-shirts, and all of these are available via Bandcamp. Stream the LP below, that's what you should do now.

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>>Since hoodwinking Portland, OR-based correspondent Edward Charlton into thinking we operate a real publication, we've been needling him to throw insight our way into his adopted hometown's vibrant guitar-pop scene. One of his first tips from the indie rock Valhalla is veteran act Nucular Aminals (a reference to G.W. Bush's less-verbose moments?) and its recently issued "Alice Day" b/w "Come On" vinyl 7". The spooky single, out on Portland's own Hovercraft Records, features two new tunes from the psych-garage quartet and comes in the wake of a pair of long-players for legendary Pacific Northwest imprint K Records. "Alice Day" -- and its sparse arrangement of tense guitar strumming, droning organ, thudding bass and reverbed vocals -- patiently evidences a difficult-to-define sound that nods affirmatively to proto-post-punk and grunge influences (think The Wipers). Its lumbering bass line and fronter Robert Comitz’s sinister vocal melody each add a pleasing spy-noir glaze to the proceedings. Nucular Aminals' music at the very least conjures a singular, out-of-time feeling. Sure, "Alice Day" hints at '60s revivalism, too, but not to the extent the song echoes the parade of formulaic beachgazers that have dominated a wide swath of guitar pop in recent years. Instead, thinking Bleach-era Nirvana toying with a B-52s cover doesn't seem far off the mark. The Aminals recently completed a two-week European tour and will play an official release show for the "Alice Day" single April 11 at Portland's The Know. The single just recently appeared on Bandcamp and you can stream it and buy it via the embed below.

Autochrome with Nightmare Air and Boom Said Thunder | Great Scott, Boston | Aug. 4

[Flyer Design: Boom Said Thunder. Limited edition of prints will be sold at the show] Saturday evening is one of those all-too-frequent Boston nights when there are too many places to be. Of note in particular to Clicky Clicky readers is the Infinity Girl show at Precinct in Somerville [Facebook event page]. But the more hotly anticipated bill is the one listed above, which -- in addition to sets from the hotly tipped Nightmare Air and Boom Said Thunder -- features the debut of what is being referred to as Autochrome "2.0." Readers will recall the darkwave and post-punk-influenced Boston quartet issued its cracking debut Separation Realms in early spring, and feted it with a dominating performance at TT The Bear's Place at the end of March that we reviewed here. Fans were surprised to learn of the departure not long after that of founding guitarist Richard Murillo, whose prismatic guitar work was a key counterpoint -- the pull to the push, if you will -- to the forthright rhythm section comprised of fronter and bassist Jeff Bartell and drummer Patrick Florance. As Autochrome's long-player embraced elements of minimalism, every player's contribution was weighty (the fourth member, incidentally, is rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Katherine Murray).

So the question of what a new iteration of Autochrome will sound like has been something that occupied the minds of more than a few fans this summer. The band announced recently that Deborah Warfield, who has played with Swirlies and others, has joined Autochrome on guitar, keys and vocals. And additional social network buzz suggests the band has written all-new material for this weekend's show. What will it sound like? What will fans see this weekend? We don't know! Anticipation mounts. And it will certainly be exciting to go find out. What's more, we're also hearing that Swirlies fronter Damon Tutunjian may potentially sit in on some numbers. Which is kind of insane, as we think he lives in Sweden these days. More anticipation. While you're waiting for the weekend to roll around, check out the embed below of Separation Realms.