Ahead of their upcoming album release, Barcelona-based MOURN are sharing new single 'Irrational Friend', which is taken from their record 'Ha, Ha, He', due June 3rd via Captured Tracks.
Laden with the band's intricate take on post-punk, 'Irrational Friend' is inspired by William Blake’s “The Laughing Song” and much like the poem itself, the track is sort of a last gasp of screaming laughter on an album that's marked in real time.
Listen here
MOURN’s Jazz Rodríguez Bueno explains the band's previous single 'Second Sage' saying, “This song is about last August. I was feeling alone, I had nothing to do so I spent the most of the time playing the Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time. That was the only thing that made me feel good at that time, and it made me feel kind of useful somehow. One day after playing, I picked my guitar and started talking about it. It's basically about me waiting for someone to talk to me while I am in the Fire Temple."
MOURN's self-titled 2014 debut LP gave the world an interesting idea: Catalonian teenage wunderkinds making authentically great guitar-based music in an era where it's considered almost unfashionable. Since that period, the band has faced some very real issues, both personally and professionally, things that 17-to-20 year olds normally don't have to worry about. When dealing with such a youthful band, you worry about how they will live up to the early attention as it begins to dissipate. Upon hearing Ha, He, He. for the first time, it turns out, we never needed to look forward to MOURN growing into a great band; they already are one.
As the opening bars of 'Flee' gallop into 'Evil Dead,' it’s instantly evident that MOURN will continue their speedy ascent from local curiosity into an international band on the rise. Ha, Ha, He. is sonically deep, heavy and manages to retain all the immediacy of their successful debut MOURN. It's one of those rare records where you watch a band's level of sophistication grow leaps and bounds without losing the foundation and simplicity of what made people take note in the first place.
Ha, Ha, He. has all the twists and turns of Post-Rock from its Chicago heyday bolstered by the melodic quirkiness of a new influence for the band, Throwing Muses. On 'Brother, Brother' and 'Howard,' we see MOURN through a pop lens: undeniably catchy, but intricately performed and still somehow "heavy." This is a band that can play around with the pop format in a way that doesn't degrade their songwriting talent to the lowest common denominator. Not an easy task. On the challenging-yet-beautiful 'Second Sage,' it becomes apparent that MOURN have begun to carve out their own niche and their songs are no longer fits of inspiration indebted to their heroes, but just the band being themselves.
The penultimate 'Irrational Friend' takes its chorus, 'Ha. Ha. He!' from William Blake’s “The Laughing Song,” a poem from his Songs of Innocence and Experience. You can sense the band working through their experiences as a group of young and talented people entering their 20s. They face a future that can be equally rewarding and cruel, with respect to their career in music as well as life in general.
CAS Brussels presents The Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead
Rising from the ashes of punk The Smiths proved you could protest with musicianship as well as just raw passion. Their third album The Queen Is Dead is widely cited by critics as The Smiths’ best studio album.
Released in a Thatcherite Britain in the midst of privatisation and the miners’ strike The Queen is Dead provided a raucous voice of opposition with the monarchy, the government and even record label boss Geoff Travis all feeling Morrissey’s wrath via the flawless pop brilliance of The Smiths.
The Queen is Dead was The Smiths at the peak of their power and provided a huge catalyst for the Britpop movement of the 90’s. Noel Gallagher would later comment that although he loved The Beatles, The Smiths were his band!
The event will be joined by special guest Davyth Hicks. As guitarist and vocals with Revenge with Peter Hook (New Order, Joy Division in the late 80s/ early 90s), and having played with members of The Smiths himself, Davyth will be sharing with us his unique perspective on this landmark album, as well as the burgeoning indie scene of 1980s Manchester.
Brussels
Date: Sunday 12 June 2016
Time: 1700 to 2000
Venue: Le Cercle des Voyageurs, 18 Lievevrouwbroersstraat/ Rue des Grands Carmes 18, 1000 BXL
Tickets: 10 Euros
Garbage (Shirley Manson, Steve Marker, Duke Erikson and Butch Vig) today released a new music video for their single “Empty” from their forthcoming album Strange Little Birds due out on June 10th on the band’s own STUNVOLUME Records. The video reunites the band with award-winning director Samuel Bayer who directed the group’s music videos for “Stupid Girl”, “Only Happy When It Rains”, and “Vow”.
Strange Little Birds, the band’s sixth studio album, was recorded and produced by the band in Los Angeles and is the follow up to 2012's heralded Not Your Kind of People. To pre-order the album with various bundle and format options, click HERE. All fans that pre-order the album on iTunes will receive an instant download of "Empty".
Earlier this month Garbage announced their 'Strange Little Birds' U.S. tour in support of the new album. The dates will kick off on July 6th at Summerfest in Milwaukee and follow a run of European dates. Tickets are now available for purchase. Check www.Garbage.com for additional details and details on VIP experience packages, including: early entry, soundcheck access, Q&As, meet and greets, photo opps with the band, exclusive merch, and more.
Garbage Live Dates
May 24 - La Cartonnerie - Reims, France
May 26 - Rock im Revier Festival - Dortmund, Germany
May 27 - Women Of The World Festival - Frankfurt, Germany
May 28 - Rockavaria Festival - Munich, Germany
May 30 - The Paradiso - Amsterdam, Holland
May 31 - Den Atelier - Luxembourg, Luxembourg
June 1 - Caribana Festival - Nyon, Switzerland
June 3 - Le Radiant - Lyon, France
June 4 - Montereau Confluence Festival - Montereau, France
June 5 - La Belle Electrique - Grenoble, France
June 7 - Center Urbane Kulture Kino Siska - Ljubljana, Slovenia
June 8 - Fabrique - Milan, Italy
June 10 - Nova Rock Festival - Nickelsdorf, Austria
June 13 - Troxy - London, UK
June 14 - Rock City - Nottingham, UK
June 16 - Mad Cool Festival - Madrid, Spain
June 18 - 101WKQX PIQNIQ - Chicago, Illinois
July 6 - Summerfest - Milwaukee, WI
July 7 - Skyway Theatre - Minneapolis, MN
July 8 - SumTur Amphitheater - Omaha, NE
July 10 - Uptown Theatre - Kansas City, MO
July 12 - The Pageant - St. Louis, MO
July 13 - Z104.5 The Edge 21st Birthday Bash, Brady Theater - Tulsa, OK
July 15 - Egyptian Room - Indianapolis, IN
July 16 - The Fillmore - Detroit, MI
July 17 - PromoWest Fest - Columbus, OH
July 19 - The Mill & Mine - Knoxville, TN
July 20 - Ryman Auditorium - Nashville, TN
July 22 - The Tabernacle - Atlanta, GA
July 23 - Fillmore Charlotte - Charlotte, NC
July 25 - The National - Richmond, VA
July 27 - Starland Ballroom - Sayerville, NJ
July 28 - House Of Blues Boston - Boston, MA
July 30 - The Fillmore Philly- Philadelphia, PA
July 31 - Rams Head Live! - Baltimore, MD
August 1 - Summerstage - New York, NY
August 3 - The Lincoln Theater - Washington, DC
August 6 - River Nights - Rheinfelden, Switzerland
August 8 - Lokerse Feesten - Lokeren, Belgium
August 10 - A Summer's Tale - Luhmühlen, Germany
August 12 - Fête du Bruit, Landerneau, France
August 14 - Kubana Festival, Riga, Latvia
Don't Blame Us! Don't say we didn't warn you...
From the very depths of Hell with bestial malevolence Sonic Death bring you a gift of HATE. The album of the century! The last record you'll ever hear before the Earth stands still.
Sonic Death (three pale-faced ghouls arised from malodorous swamps of Saint Petersburg who became one of the most notorious acts in Russian underground scene) blast nasty intensive garage rock with mighty touch of stoner rock and punk attitude where all tendencies have been directed into sinister output, where angry punk energy meets heavy gloomy Sabbathian riffage with some soft melodic intermissions, but just to hit your forehead with a bang again. Weird sense of humor and surreal lyrics complete the sordid picture. This much-maligned record may force you to follow them, whether you like it or not.
Shocking! – Hypnotizing! – Terrifying! It is HATE MACHINE!
Don't Blame Us! Don't say we didn't warn you...
The tape is limited to 50 copies.
Tracklisting:
A1 King Cowboy
A2 Gibel Mira
A3 Soft Kick
A4 Wi†ch
B1 Demon
B2 Hate Machine
B3 Atlantid
B4 Pagan Dragon
After few months of silence and even more of works Infrastition is proud to introduce a brand new Transmission series release : Wave-West 80-91 - The French Britain cold wave, 18 tracks from the West of France best bands.
Tracklist has been set up by Olivier Lechevestrier and introducing text has been written by Alain Maneval.
Such an exceptional release deserved an exceptional 2LP limited edition, that is only available on pre-orders from the Infrastition website and will be out in September, be fast only 300 copies are made on black and white wax vinyls.
Transmission Wave-West 80-91 CD :
BRUME - Un Visage Sans Vie
BUNTER GUILLAUME - La Victoire Est Obligatoire
CET HYVERS - Contradiction
COMPLOT BRONSWICK - A Chaque Instant
DOMINIC SONIC - When My Tears Run Cold
END OF DATA - Dans Votre Monde
EVENING LEGIONS - Your Dimension
FRAKTURE - Nagasakind - Version 2011
FRANZ KULTUR - Ultime Atome
LES NUS - Joli Tango
MARC SEBERG - Quelque Chose, Noir.
MARQUIS DE SADE - Final Fog (Brouillard Définitif)
OCTOBRE - Acteurs
PRIVATE JOKES - Madrid
SENSO - L'Océan (Ne sera pas la fin) - Démo
THE GRIEF - Dissas
UBIK - Get No B side For Mr Hyde DJ
WARSAW PACT - I Want A Photograph