i think i better follow you around

A Place To Bury Strangers   just released their 5th album “Pinned” on April 13th, 2018 on the Dead Oceans label.

With it now they have shared the video for the song “Too Tough To Kill”.

The director Colin Marchon says, “The project is a kind of America-sploitation video in response to the frustratingly stagnant state of the country. The song felt like the perfect context to speak to that. Technically speaking I don’t really consider myself an animator. It just feels really fun and cathartic to cut up images that speak to me or make me laugh and play with them in front of a camera. The editing is a little more complicated but as a full time commercial filmmaker the medium is just a very easy outlet to let out my subconscious after work.”

Per the press release from the label’s site:

A couple of years ago, A Place To Bury Strangers made one of those big decisions Ackermann speaks of on “Never Coming Back.” They were in search of a new drummer and Lunadon met Lia Simone Braswell who was playing shows around Brooklyn where she had recently relocated from Los Angeles. After seeing her play, Lunadon was moved to ask Braswell if she’d want to come to a band practice sometime.

“As things go on, you don’t want them to be stagnant,” Ackermann remarks. “Being a band for ten years, it’s hard to keep things moving forward. I see so many bands that have been around and they’re a weaker version of what they used to be. This band is anti-that. We try to push ourselves constantly, with the live shows and the recordings. We always want to get better. You’ve got to dig deep and take chances, and sometimes, I questioned that. It took really breaking through to make it work. I think we did that.”
They are already on tour supporting the album and will be playing (hopefully very loud) at the Casbah on June 7th. Supporting that show will be Sextile and Keepers.

Here’s the rest of the tour schedule:

06/01/18 Austin, TX – Barracuda w/ Prettiest Eyes / Xetas
06/02/18 Dallas, TX – Club Dada w/ Prettiest Eyes
06/03/18 San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger w/ Prettiest Eyes / My Education
06/05/18 Sante Fe, NM – Meow Wolf w/ Prettiest Eyes
06/06/18 Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar w/ Sextile / Strange Lot
06/07/18 San Diego, CA – The Casbah w/ Sextile / Keepers
06/09/18 Los Angeles, CA – The Regent Theater w/ Sextile / Prettiest Eyes
06/10/18 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall w/ Sextile / Prettiest Eyes
06/12/18 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios w/ Sextile / Tender Age
06/13/18 Vancouver, BC – Fox Cabaret w/ Sextile / Dopey’s Robe
06/14/18 Seattle, WA – The Crocodile w/ Sextile
7/14/18 Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw
10/12/18-10/14/18 – Joshua Tree, CA @ Desert Daze

You Were Never Really Here is a movie directed by the amazing Lynne Ramsay with Joaquin Phoenix in the lead role of a war veteran suffering from PTSD who is a hired gun for rescue missions of children in sexual exploitation situations and abuse by human traffickers.

The movie is not for the faint of heart. The themes are heavy. The situations are grim. The acting is impeccable. The score is exceptional. The directing is perfect.

Yet, the movie experience is difficult. It’s difficult because of the subject matter. Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) gets called for another job in which he has to go rescue the daughter of a politician who has been kidnapped. After the succesful, and mesmerizing, rescue mission is done, this is were everything starts to go wrong for Joe and he has to go deeper into the rabbit hole to help the girl.

Mind you, that is only one of the themes in the movie. You, as a viewer, still have to go through the journey with Joe in dealing with his demons. And how these demons are always on his shoulder. Sometimes carrying him. Sometimes drowning him. Sometimes just not letting him be him.

Jonny Greenwood’s score is the glue that holds together the anxiety of going thru this movie experience. And just like his previous scores for Paul Thomas Anderson, this is amazing. The score itself is another performer in the film.

This movie could also serve the purpose, for those out there that suffer from depression, that they’re not alone. That what they do IS worthwhile for someone. To seek help and to allow that help to comfort them in dealing with said demons.

I do hope that the trio of Lynne Ramsay, Joaquin Phoenix and Jonny Greenwood work together again. Because they could create films that need to be seen and experienced.

If you care about film, you need to go see this movie.

Words by: Alfredo Tellez & Edith Morales

Iceage are back with their fourth album titled “Beyondless” which was released May 4th on Matador.

Trying to describe a post punk, punk band is almost impossible because you end up coming back to the same foundations of always. And to be perfectly honest, it doesn’t do justice to the band either.
So, you can add that they have a guitar sound of a late 70’s early 80’s band.
Or, the anger in the voice of that other band from the early to mid 80’s before he went solo.
Or, the attitude of those bands from the mid to late 80’s.

Truth be told, this album from Iceage is worth every second of your attention. Play it loud. This album is coming 10 years since the band was first formed and it is amazing.

They released these 3 singles:

“The Day The Music Dies”

“Painkiller”

And a personal favorite!

“Catch It”

The Danish punks will be on tour supporting their album and they will be coming to the Casbah on June 5th.

These are the rest of their tour dates.

05/10 – Seattle, WA @ Nordic Museum
05/16 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
05/17 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
05/18 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage
05/19 – Richmond, VA @ The Camel
05/20 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
05/21 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
05/22 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
05/23 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
05/24 – New Orleans, LA @ Santos
05/25 – Houston, TX @ Rockefeller’s
05/26 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
05/27 – Austin, TX @ Barracuda
06/05 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah *
06/06 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater *
06/07 – Felton, CA @ Don Quixote’s International Music Hall *
06/08 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall *
06/09 – Sonoma, CA @ Huichica Music Festival *
06/11 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios *
06/12 – Vancouver, BC @ The Astoria *
06/14 – Spokane, WA @ The Bartlett *
06/15 – Bozeman, MT @ The Rialto *
06/16 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court *
06/17 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater *
06/18 – Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room *
06/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry *
06/20 – Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club *
06/22 – Detroit, MI @ El Club *
06/23 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace *
06/24 – Ottawa, ON @ The 27 Club *
06/25 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa *
06/26 – Portsmouth, NH @ 3S Artspace *
06/27 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair *
06/28 – New York, NY @ Market Hotel *

* = w/ Mary Lattimore