Pixies announce that their sophomore “post-reunion” album, Head Carrier, will be released on September 30 (Pixiesmusic/Play It Again Sam) The 12-track collection of the band’s unique aural mix of surrealism, psychedelia, dissonance and surf rock was produced by Tom Dalgety (Killing Joke, Royal Blood) and recorded at London's Rak Studios from mid-February through to mid-March this year. Fans can get a taste of the new music by going to pixiesmusic.com and checking out the first single, "Um Chagga Lagga." Featuring original artwork by the band's longtime art director, the legendary Vaughan Oliver, the album will be available in various formats and can be pre-ordered now; go to Pixiesmusic.com for details and purchasing.
A special limited edition deluxe box set of Head Carrier will be available exclusively through Pixiesmusic.com, and will include the CD, the album on heavy-weight/180 grams black vinyl, and a 24-page, oversized booklet with the song's lyrics and Oliver's evocative, original artwork. Also available only through the band's website is a special bundle that includes the deluxe box set, special t-shirt, and a special screen printed 12 "x 12" record sleeve-sized poster of Oliver's album artwork.
To support Head Carrier, Pixies will launch the first leg of their 2016 - 2017 global tour with a European run that begins November 15 in Vienna. Tickets go on sale Friday, July 8. Confirmed dates are below; go to pixiesmusic.com for ticketing info.
For the first time since their very early days, the Pixies spent a total of six weeks in pre-production, writing, arranging and rehearsing a plethora of songs. Between the band's late-80s/early 90s touring schedule and delivering an album once a year, there simply wasn't time for more than a day or so of fleshing out their music before recording started.
"This was a wonderful luxury, for us to have the time to be able to really work these new songs out," said Pixies drummer David Lovering. "By the time we started recording, we all knew the songs backwards and forwards, so it took half as long for us to make this album as it did to make 'Indie Cindy.' And it was great working with Tom...he started with us in pre-production and played a big part in keeping us focused on making the best music we could.”
In addition, the band - Lovering, rhythm guitarist/vocalist Black Francis and guitarist Joey Santiago - officially welcome bassist Paz Lenchantin to the Pixies' permanent line-up. Lenchantin has been the band's touring bassist since January 2014, and played an integral part in the recording of Head Carrier. Her cool and dreamy soprano can be heard singing lead on the track "All I Think About Now."
"I was very nervous in the beginning when I went to that first rehearsal," said Lenchantin.
"There were these shoes I felt I had to fill and I tried to do the best I could for the fans, to make the live performances sound true to the originals. I spent three years learning to understand what being a Pixie meant, and now, my heart, spirit, and love for their music is embedded in me and I feel like I have become a Pixie. We had been more about the history of the Pixies, but now, we are about going forward."
"Paz is a joy to be around," added Lovering. "She's very funny, and we're having more fun than we've ever had as a band, we all have a blast together, on and off stage."
All songs were written by the Pixies apart from “All I Think About Now,” which was written by Francis and Lenchantin. The track listing for Head Carrier is as follows:
Head Carrier
Classic Masher
Baal’s Back
Might As Well Be Gone
Oona
Talent
Tenement Song
Bel Esprit
All I Think About Now
Um Chagga Lagga
Plaster Of Paris
All The Saints
Confirmed dates for Pixies European dates are:
NOVEMBER
15 Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria
16 HWS Arena, Poznan, Poland
17 Forum Karlin Hall, Prague, Czech Republic
18 Auditorium Stravinski, Montreux, Switzerland
20 Sant Jordi Club, Barcelona, Spain
21 Coliseum, Porto, Portugal
23 Zenith, Paris, France
25 Lotto, Antwerp, Belgium
27 HMH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Belgian’s most talked about shoegazer’s, have announced the release of their new single, ‘Head of Stone’, the first track to be lifted from their debut album ‘Space’ coming this October.
Taking their name from an Elliot Smith album and based in Antwerp and Ghent, Newmoon formed in late 2013 and released their debut EP on Touché Amoré’s label Secret Voice/Deathwish Inc. The band members previously played in the much-loved hardcore punk band Midnight Souls. Though the two projects may superficially appear polar opposites, hardcore is nothing if not a genre built purely on dynamics, something this quintet have a masterful grasp of.
Having toured with bands all over Europe, such as Touché Amoré, Basement, Nothing and Cloakroom, to name a few, Newmoon return with ‘Head of Stone’, a song written on a Japanese bullet train, speeding between Tokyo and Kyoto. It’s an ode to how lost we become when traveling foreign lands with language barriers explains singer/guitarist Bert Cannaerts:“I realised that there's something very frightening about being in a place where you are unable to connect to people in any way. You cannot understand the language they are speaking; you can't understand any visual cues. This can make you feel isolated and invisible. The same thing can happen with emotional relationships. They get to a point where people become unable to communicate, and emotions and nuances are lost. This leads to isolation and resentment and people go their separate ways.”
Separating this band though will take some serious thought, as they come built with strong DIY punk ethic and have been friends since their mid-teens. All band members have matching tattoos, cite the likes The Jesus & Mary Chain, Slowdive, The Ramones, Oasis and Sunn o))) as influences and to them, everything is new, and this is the start of it.
Newmoon are: Bert Cannaerts (vocals/guitar), Giel Torfs (guitar/backing vocals), Philippe Corthout (guitar), Robby Geybels (bass) and Stef Gouwkens (drums).
'Moloch' is the fourth and most epic album by the German ritual ambient project Vortex. Combining droning ambience, pounding percussive outbreaks and noisier elements they’ve crafted an apocalyptic soundtrack for urban decay.
'Moloch' means 'king' and is originally the name of an Ammonite god who was worshipped by the Phoenicians, the Canaanites and some North African cultures by sacrificing their own children to him. In later ages 'Moloch' has become a metaphor for an entity demanding a very costly sacrifice...Marcus Stiglegger says about the album’s inspiration; “In 2013 I visited New York City to see what was left of the unique mood i came to appreciate from the inspiring, New York based american cinema of the late 1970s. While visiting the shooting locations of films like Cruising, Taxi Driver, Wolfen, French Connection, Mean Streets, Maniac, and many more, I had a lot of strange encounters in the city streets. I continually felt absorbed by this Moloch of a metropolis which made me one of its demons - a hunter with a camera lens. This album and its artwork is the result of this intense and sometimes frightening episode in my life.'
For the recording of this dark and impressively cinematic album, Stiglegger joined musical forces with Bergemann (Mink M. Ra), MARS & The Trail, Christoph Wirth and Patrick Kilian of Dvrtal and Rome Asleep. Besides field recordings the music was composed based on acoustic instruments like guitar, strings, flutes, jaw harp, various percussions and voices, joined by elaborate keyboard compositions.
“A Worthy Compensation” was one of last year’s electro pop pearls, and now the trio comes up with something new. The EP “She Cried” is a 7 track mini album with one of the record’s strongest songs. Once again, Olaf Wollschläger produced the effort, and we like the a-side in particular , the Human League cover „The Black Hit Of Space“. “She Cries” will come out soon, we will shortly announce the release date.
Musically, the song builds a bridge from our 80s roots to the Beborn Beton signature sound of today. Singer Stefan Netschio about the album:
"Very pleased with the overwhelming response to our album "A Worthy Compensation", we would like to express our gratitude to our fans for their loyalty and patience and warmly recommend our newest release. As main title we chose the fan favourite "She Cried", that lyric-wise reflects that part of being musicians that we love the most, the thing that sets our hearts afire: being onstage, performing our songs and staying in touch with our fans."
On August 26, Sound Mirrors, the first single from COVENANTs new album “The Blinding Dark”, will see the light of night. And for the first time ever, Covenant decides to give one of their songs a message based on recent events. Here is Covenant spokesman Joakim Montelius with his thoughts about the song:
“I was reading an article about this British pre-WWII project for early warning from attacks across the Channel, called Sound Mirrors. They were designed to amplify incoming sound from enemy aircraft enough to allow the defense to take them out before they could pose a serious threat.
My reading coincided with the refugee situation in Europe. That ability to anticipate possible scenarios is key to our survival from an evolutionary point of view. But we also have an equally amazing ability to ignore facts that make us feel uncomfortable or frightened. We can watch terrible things unfold right in front of us and still act as if nothing is going on. We buy ourselves a better conscience by sending some used clothes or money, we sign some petitions online, perhaps we write something heartfelt and compassionate on Facebook and then we go on with our comfortable lives.
But when the people suffering over there come knocking on our door, asking for a bit of the safety and prosperity we enjoy, that thin veneer of compassion and generosity cracks and our selfishness, our fear, our prejudice is suddenly all too apparent. And to my mind that’s because we ignore what we actually know:
There is no we versus them. There is only us. And there is only one world.
And when we see the truth of that simple fact and really absorb it so we can start acting on it, then there will be hope for us. Then we won’t need early warning. But I’m not sure we are capable to take that step at all. And that makes me terribly sad.”
Sonically, "Sound Mirrors" is a Covenant track in the vein of notorious club hits like “Ritual Noise” or “Last Dance” with a few additional unusual colours here and there. It is available for preorder here as CD and limited edition 4 track vinyl.
