Author: Dakin Hardwick

Single Of The Week: ‘Til We Lose The Feeling by Gemma

This week’s single of the week comes from New York’s Gemma! This track is a frantic disco number, and it’s doing a fine job with pulling out of the doldrums of the final week of May. The build up, the lyrics, everything is great about this song. Every mistake you made this week doesn’t matter, because it’s in the past. Just take what you needed to learn from it, and then dance it the fuck out. This is the song that I needed today, and I bet it’s the song you need, too.

Gemma’s latest record, Feeling’s Not A Tempo, is available now in all the usual places.

BONUS Single Of The Week: Hurry On Home by Sleater-Kinney

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STOP THE PRESSES!!!! Sleater-Kinney have dropped their first single in two years, and the first track to come off their upcoming, hotly anticipated follow up to 2015’s brilliant No Cities To Love. It’s a driving rock number that doesn’t sound like anything the band has ever done. Elements of industrial, no wave, and post punk color the song, with Carrie’s signature snarl taking center stage while Corin’s passionate yelp providing color and discord.

STOP THE PRESSES!!!! Sleater-Kinney have dropped their first single in two years, and the first track to come off their upcoming, hotly anticipated follow up to 2015’s brilliant No Cities To Love. It’s a driving rock number that doesn’t sound like anything the band has ever done. Elements of industrial, no wave, and post punk color the song, with Carrie’s signature snarl taking center stage while Corin’s passionate yelp providing color and discord.

The full length record, produced by Annie Clark of St Vincent fame, street date is still TBD. However, if this track is any sign of things to come, then Sleater-Kinney will have released 8 perfect records in their lengthy career. You can stream the single in all the usual places, or you can preorder the 7″ here! And the band will be on tour from Indigenous People’s Day to Thanksgiving, so make sure you book hotel rooms and get time off from work NOW so you can hit as many of these as possible. Or just go to the show in your hometown…

Show Review: The Specials at The Fox Theater, 5/25/19

It’s been 21 years since 2-Tone veterans The Specials have released any new, original material. Their legacy would have been preserved just fine if they decided to continue touring the classics, and audiences would still keep coming out to the shows even if all they did was keep playing the hits. It would seem that a band best known for their activist roots and songs with shrewd, biting observations about class warfare, racism, economics, and such, would only start writing again if the current world situation were to inspire it. And, sure enough, this year’s Encore is a full length response to the rise of fascism throughout Europe and the Americas. Continue reading “Show Review: The Specials at The Fox Theater, 5/25/19”

Single Of The Week: Got You by Amyl and the Sniffers

Australia has been killing it lately with great rock n roll! Courtney Barnett, Julia Jacklin, Wing Defence, Camp Cope, and so many more amazing musicians keep popping out of our friends on the other side of the Earth. The latest of these excellent bands is Amyl and the Sniffers, giving us a nice healthy dose of bratty garage rock to get you through your Friday doldrums.

Their new record came out TODAY and can be found streaming in all the usual places, or you can order the fancy splatter vinyl here! Also, they are touring everywhere this Summer, including a stopover at Burger Boogaloo, where you can enjoy them alongside The Jesus + Mary Chain, Shannon and the Clams, Dead Boys, fellow Aussies’ The Scientists, and many, many more!

Sleater-Kinney’s Social Media Profiles Are All Black?

UPDATE?: Spin may have uncovered an album name and a blurb from Carrie

It seems that Sleater-Kinney have set their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram profile pics to the color black. Now it’s time to speculate wildly as to what that means… Is the new album coming sooner than expected? Or does it mean something else? I’m just really excited about this and needed to tell the world.

In the meantime, they also have a contest running to win a signed Stratocaster and a Sleater-Kinney Prize Pack! You can enter that here!

Single Of The Week: RoMaNcE by ShitKid

This week’s Single Of The Week comes from Sweden’s ShitKid. We have one of the most wonderfully weird videos I’ve seen in a while, accompanied by some catchy as fuck LoFi garage punk. Lyrically they’ve produced some of the best late adolescent angst since the heyday of The Donnas! (Please come back, Donnas!) 

ShitKid’s sophmore album, [DETENTION] can be found in all the usual places, including Bandcamp. They are also hitting the road later this year supporting The Melvins & Redd Kross, so make sure you know where your ear plugs are. Those tourdates can be found here!

Continue reading “Single Of The Week: RoMaNcE by ShitKid”

Single Of The Week: Bill, In Consideration by Enablers

This week’s Single Of The Week comes from SF’s Enablers. Not that SF needs any Enablers, because this town is basically Neverland for people with too much money, but the band is solid. Imagine if Parquet Courts decided to start taking a ton of acid, and let loose whatever stream of consciousness ramblings that came to mind. Only with a heavier dose of psychedelia. This band is trippy in all the right ways, and heavy when you need it to be heavy.

Their record, Zones, is out on June 14th and can be preordered here!

Single Of The Week: Loss & Relax b/w Half Colored Hair by Black Belt Eagle Scout

This week’s single of the week is notable because, well, it came with a b-side. So you’ve got two songs to help you make it through your Friday! Portland’s Black Belt Eagle Scout has followed up last year’s nearly perfect Mother Of My Children with two songs that manage to be delicate and noisy simultaneously, perfecting the sound that Neil Young & Crazy Horse had been fighting to find for decades. The church organ that kicks in for the second half of “Half Colored Hair” is downright chilling.

The 7″ can be purchased here, or find Black Belt Eagle Scout on tour with Julia Jacklin this spring!

 

Show Review: Bikini Kill, The Linda Lindas at The Hollywood Palladium, 4/26/19

All Photos by Steve Rose unless otherwise noted.

When I was 16, I was heavily invested in the world of punk rock. But it was the commercial version of it that was found on the local alternative radio station Live 105, 120 Minutes on MTV, and PBS documentaries of a bygone era.

Then I got a job at a telemarketing company, and a coworker began introducing me to the lovely world of riot grrrl. I was given tapes of music by Team Dresch, Sleater-Kinney, and Bikini Kill. The pure ferocity of it all spoke to me. It opened so many sonic doors for me, and helped me realize that I preferred listening to female voices—and found that women writers were easier for me to relate to than men.
Continue reading “Show Review: Bikini Kill, The Linda Lindas at The Hollywood Palladium, 4/26/19”

Single Of The Week: Mission by The Midnight Hour

The end of A Tribe Called Quest still hits me really hard. The fact that they never ended up playing a Bay Area show after their twice cancelled Outside Lands set still makes me feel a little bitter. And then I stumbled across Tribe’s beatmaker, Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s new band, The Midnight Hour. They do classic jazz, but retain that specific flavor that is Tribe. They dropped a live record today, complete with a solid single, “Mission.”  It’s the perfect Friday song… It is mellow enough to take the edge off the work week, and energetic enough to motivate you to get through it.

Their record, Live At Linear Labs, is out today and available in all the usual places, including Spotify and Bandcamp!