Bingo Boys “Freak Out and Leave”
Indianapolis punk band Bingo Boys returns with retro angsty fourth album. Freak Out and Leave is a collection of ‘90s-sounding garage punk tracks pumping through in one set. Raged with a distorted sonic palettes, cooked in punchy fast pace, Freak Out and Leave tackles themes from boredom, dissatisfaction to failure and other problems that a young person can easily relate to. Taking place in the midst of an intense discussion between the self and the rest of the world, Freak Out and Leave is in the midst of chaos and passion, beaming authenticity.
Eccentric and flaming, Freak Out and Leave never runs out of sparks. From dark distortion and illusive vocals sprawling in noise-coiled grunge atmosphere to high-contrast abstract mind-daze to heavy-hitting headbangers, the album reminds you everything about the 90s bands you grew up listening. Rebellious and unapologetic, having issues but never compromise—their music has an edge, an attitude that you love and hate.
From guitar to vocals to production, Freak Out and Leave sees the maturity of their craft, but rest assure, no creative direction has been changed. They are just getting better at being themselves. Everything that lives and breathes in their music is even more alive in their fourth album.
Kinghorn “Kinghorn” EP
Pairing with the melancholy dreamfulness of shoegaze, Kinghorn evoke so many different feelings and visual imageries in this project.
Kinghorn Unleash Post-Punk Shoegazing Bangers in “Kinghorn” EP
I fucking love this EP. There, I said it. For anyone who craves the destruction, extremity, and experimentation of grunge and post-punk, Kinghorn will hit that spot hard and good. Pairing with the melancholy dreamfulness of shoegaze, Kinghorn evoke so many different feelings and visual imageries in this project.
Screaming of a storm, the album opener “Now Is All We Need” is a statement and a declaration of what they are capable of doing. “1:30 Am” taps into loneliness and depression with a speck of introspection. The soundscape starts to change and develop further in “Black Sea,” where it surpasses personal emotions into something grand and impressionistic. The track brings out a very unique quality where the vocals and the instruments have all smashed into the mixture of a canvas. “Sadless” instantly contrasts “Black Seia” in a fresh and unapologetic manner. It turns into the struggles and conflicts that are still raw and sharp.
“I Am Now” turns to noise and impressionistic industrial experimentation where the chaotic, flickers of sounds fly in the wind, indistinctive at first, and then a blurry scream or a distant note started to emerge, and then the percussion slowly recalls the order. “I Am Now” is undoubtedly an immersive track in this EP.
“Death Secrets” and “Pariah” take on a darker built-up spiraling inwards and land on an emotional high with post-rock aesthetic in “Drugs.” Kinghorn saved the best to the very last. Captivating and haunting melodies with the constant ring of fast stroke electric guitar passage. “Drug” is one track that you definitely don’t want to miss in this album.
The Vanities ‘2001’
Feature
The Vanities Deliver Fierce Retro Album ‘2001’
Photo credit: Craig Oats
The retro vibe in 2001 is charged with madness and passion that simply sounds so timeless. Citing their inspirations and loves from 90s grunge and 80s synth-pop, the electro-pop duo, The Vanities gives you goosebumps, reliving the glorious time in an elevating modern production in which they explore themes of love and war, madness and mortality.
The album opener, “Dropping a Bomb” instantly spirals down the timeline and takes you into a different flow of time. The poised captivity and heating vibe permeate your sensation and send you a familiar yet brand-new invite into The Vanities’s sonic vortex.
Spinning and splashing electronics vibrates in the air like a disco light. Featuring a jazzy saxophone in the intersession, the track has a flavorful expression that isn’t bound to definition or genres.
Adhering to the grand, warm sonics, The Vanities showcase emotive storytelling through written and unwritten words. Working with sonic symbolism and imageries, 2001 gives you something different in each and every song.
“Love is the News” surrounds you with magnificent call and response in the vocals. “Stars” has the light hopefulness and glistening distance embedded into its electrifying soundscapes.
“This Ain’t Love” echoes “Love is the News” in a more evocative, vulnerable manner with a soaring, freely-improvising saxophone in the background. “London” deepens the emotional expression with intimate and dark contrasts.
Written by Katrina Yang
SINGLE REVIEW: SOMBER DISTORTION “DEMAND”
Song of the Day
The fuzzy distortion represents a chaotic world that constantly floats in between lo-fi and hi-fi. Somber Distortion’s angst-filled vocal cut through screaming, speaking, and singing with a slightly rolled up edge that gives “Demand” a very special feeling. Somber Distortion has a very unique, distinctive sound authentic to his aesthetic.
“Demand” tackles the bad state of the world and how sometimes people still refuse to see it. The constant fuzzy noise in a sense feels somehow familiar that it evokes a lonely, distant feeling where you start to resonate within so many different aspects. Extreme and melancholy confront each other in “Demand” yet towards the end, warmth evolves in a captivating melody that you wish could last forever.
As one of six tracks from Finland-based artist Somber Distortion’s EP Primitive Skill, “Demand” is like a micro-universe where one can get a taste of every aspect of the EP: the emotive, melancholy texture, nostalgic 80s and 90s rock sound, his characteristic vocal style, and the fuzzy distortion. Among the six tracks, “Demand” leans slightly towards the more extreme, edgy soundscape.
SINGLE REVIEW: GILAN “SCREAMING”
Discovery
Gilan’s voice has the texture of poetry that glazes in a natural richness that compresses layers of feelings in brutal honesty. Inspired by early PJ Harvey’s musical style and Fiona Apple, “Screaming” creates a world of true freedom where darkness and the real feeling can be explored and expressed.
Unlike most songs that cling onto certain textures or sounds, “Screaming” shifts between shapes and tastes in the vibrating reverberant electrified, glaring soundscapes that stimulate and communicate different stages/phases of the struggle with one’s demons.
Western grunge influences and Middle Eastern’s sophisticated, historical flavors meet at a crossroad of introspection where they weave into a unique yet personal expression of the UK-based artist Gilan’s music. “Screaming” is hauntingly mesmerizing and it gets under your skin.
As an LGBTQ+ person growing up in the Middle East where the discussion of many topics like darkness, mental health, or one’s true feeling is suppressed, music is where Gilan finds freedom where she can explore herself freely and truly and become who she wants to be.
Written by Katrina Yang
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EP REVIEW: THE GOLD SUPPLY “UNDERWATER COMPLETELY”
Staff Pick
Cover Image: Underwater Completely
Formed and twisted during a time of crisis, The Gold Supply is a new female-front band by former major label artists. Characterized by cold, dark tunes, they aim to reflect the new world of turmoil. Grunge, dream pop, and art rock splash into their own bizarre vocabulary with deeply haunting riffs, chilly pianos, and captivating vocals in the warm ruins. Evocative and unforgettable.
Raw with no pretense. They depict the world exactly the way they feel with no false hope or sugary decors. There’s a sense of disappointment and pain from a sensitive, emotive perspective in Underwater Completely. They remind you of Kurt Cobain’s aesthetics. Raw and extreme, but deep-rooted in human experience, which makes the tunes so relatable and touching. The Gold Supply gets under your skin easily, evoking feelings and memories you thought you already forgot.
Through their highly developed senses and perceptions, The Gold Supply dives into the details and soft spots of everyday life, creating something artistically delicate and relatable on a human level. Underwater Completely is filled with those tender, wrenching electric guitar screams and lo-fi vocals dancing in a distance. There’s a constant ring in each song that sounded so strange yet familiar.
Sonically, they create something you could listen to on repeat. Underwater Completely touches on feelings in a multi-dimensional way with so much lingering in the air. It invites you to dive deep into life and your own feelings in a cold, dark night of realization.
Written by Katrina Yang
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SINGLE REVIEW: ANDREWW “IN MY HEAD”
Staff Pick
Photo credit: Nick Offord
“In My Head” is a dance in a slow-burn, angst-filled grunge movie. Hauntingly introspective but not self-indulgent. A conversation that digs even deeper into the consciousness that becomes a ritual channeling the “ghosts” within us into presence. Eerie but entrancing, the hypnotic guitar riff sends out a daring invitation to a fascinating expedition.
“‘In My Head’ is about challenging your ghosts, either you go to war with them or you accept them but there’s no denying they are there,” said Andreww, speaking about the deeper meaning.
Although the song is rooted in a rock n roll acoustic environment with an overall grunge aesthetic, it continues to swirl and expand to other territories throughout its course, traveling to an unexploited territory where different forms of art join hand into being one, where genres and styles don’t matter.
Stemming from his background as an international runway and fashion model, Andreww incorporates visual elements and a sense of hipness in motion into his musical vocabulary. Andreww goes beyond label or definition with original and fascinating ideas. The artist offers us a different perspective on music, innovating the current ground.
Written by Katrina Yang
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PREMIERE: TUVAL “MIND IS FOR REAL”
New Music Friday
Photo credit: Saugaat Gurung
Indirectly inspired by the artist’s personal journey recovering from addiction, “Mind is For Real” is a slow-burn, psychedelic encounter that takes you on an exotic adventure. Angst-filled, introspective lyricism combined with a sense of fuzziness, reaching to the edge of what’s real and what’s not.
“Mind is For Real” is a tune hard to define by any genre. It puts the traditionally anticipated grunge, psychedelic, or dream pop into new content. It floats in its own space, creating and communicating with a new language.
There’s no control over where the journey of awakening will take you. Tuval unintentionally touches on an ancient, spiritual realm rooted in Eastern culture and beyond. Fascinating ornaments come into the melody with unexpected colors and gests. “Mind is For Real” has way past the border of definition.
The London-based artist/multi-instrumentalist/producer/songwriter Tuval has been active in the music scene for quite a while with a handful of EPs and singles. The productive artist is never tied down to one experience, continuing to expand his color palettes.
Written by Katrina Yang
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PREMIERE: LEND ME THE TWELVE ‘SONGS OF INTEREST’
“Devil’s Avocado” invites you to a greenish, energized world that sounds like the side-effects of eating avocado from the Devil...Full of protein, healthy, a little sick, and insane at the same time. Visualizing the facial expression when my daughter first encounters that rich, oily texture with a slight metal taste, however, she was completely hooked within a minute. “Devil’s Avocado” shares a similar experience. In the end, you even find it moving in this shower of weird illumination
Lucky for us, after two long weeks of wait, the highly anticipated full experience of Songs of Interest is finally here on Aug 11 released from DIY label Full Power Records. The cheerfully funky bassline has an infectious sense of humor that spreads like a disease throughout “Bird ‘n’ The Bees.”
Compounded mostly by three words lines, the track also shares a grunge attitude. Just when you wonder what adventure they’re going to take you on “Twelve Angry Man,” the strangely alluring vocal instantly draws you to dreamy, dazed darkness. And don’t worry, it’s only a matter of time when at least one instrument starts to act out.
Made up of member Sam “Kaiza Kushington’ Pappon, ‘St James’ McGuinness, and Callum ‘The Hyde’ Stephens, Lend Me the Twelve is an experimental, indie-rock band based in London. They have quietly buzzed around the South London area for the past three years, and it won’t be much longer till every venue and radio station ringing the familiar madness.
EP REVIEW: OLYMPIC BINGO ‘ALOOF’
Released through Paper Rock Scissors Record, the experimental album Aloof by the Australia-based multi-instrumentalist William Bahnisch, aka Olympic Bingo, has a wild span of the color palette in its sound experimentation. Aloof takes you on an adventure centering on the expedition of jazz aesthetics, stretching out to alternative rock, shoegaze, soul, world music, sound effects, and cinematic soundtrack.
Photo credit: Rodney Magazinovic
The key track “Clouds” featuring Ciara Walsh explores the unpredictable essence of clouds with an extension to humanity and nature itself. The ebbs and flows are stored in stillness, glimmering in the dark in a lush, beautiful texture. Drums break the silence, bringing motion and movement along with a modest, kinetic bass line. Ciara Walsh’s stunning voice travels in between like a butterfly, landing on the everchanging shades. Turmoil and danger hide behind the increased dissonance, but chaos soon breathes into an immersive, stringlike soundscape. “Clouds” is everchanging, free, and inspired.
“Lemonade Serenade” brings you to a European, stylish coffee shop sitting on the city corner. In a cozy, laid-back afternoon, with bright, twinkling sunlight shedding from the shadow of leaves, saxophone solo and syncopated Brillian rhythms bathing in the warm, cloudy sonic environment.
“Tropicalismo” traces back cultural origins behind the Afro-Cuban bell pattern. It leans towards urban bossa nova with a warm, vibrant color and drifts into a raw, earthy communal drumming. It expands to jazz improv along the line of history and disappears in the natural surroundings.
The landscape changes again in “Should I Know Her.” Expansive guitar and head-hitting explosive percussion, ethereal vocal carries out dreamful, captivating melodies, “Should I Know Her” leans towards the emotive rock side of shoegaze with grunge undertone and Afro-Cuban percussive afterheat casually tugged in its surreal sonic wall.
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REVIEW & INTERVIEW: GYATS0 “JOY”
“‘Joy’ was intended to express the line between overwhelming sadness and irresistible euphoria. It’s that feeling where you start crying, and you don’t know why and all you can literally think in your head is that life is beautiful and terrible and overwhelming. It’s anxious, the song itself is anxious. It’s waiting for something magical and nostalgic and comforting but knowing it’s so unlikely to show up that day. or that week or that year. Life is so hard to predict. for me, times, when I feel content and happy, are rare and hard to see coming, and when they do come it’s never for any real reason. It’s always the smallest most insignificant seeming things that remind me how much I value life and how beautiful it is.” Gyats0
The story of “Joy” started with Exoskeleton. The sonic project revolves around the life journey of a cicada. When Gyats0 visited Des Moines, Iowa every year in August, he would listen to the sound of cicadas falling asleep with his window open. The loud cries eventually died out when summer ends, and all that left was their exoskeletons. Gyats0 was fascinated by the poetic ideas behind the life of cicadas: “They spend most of the years and their lives dormant in the ground, basically dead. Then they emerge for three or so glorious weeks and give this electricity to the whole month of August,” he said, “Nobody exists outside of cycles. I want the album to feel like an open window, where the dreams and nightmares and thoughts drift in and out. I hope to give people comfort and provoke questions with my music.”
Like Exoskeleton, Gyats0’s music usually starts with a poetic idea or a cinematic vision. “I am a poet at heart and I just have found music to be the most honest and specific way I have of delivering my words,” he commented. From the sketch of each idea into a poem, he witnesses it evolves and leads to another idea, then it eventually becomes gigantic. “I want my albums to feel cinematic and dreamlike, psychedelic at times too, a ride you are on and see all the way through to the end. I try to start conceptually,” he said, “I try to put together a sonic scrapbook of sounds and do mockup mixes for the drum sounds. I’ll create effect chains for my guitar with the next song in mind already, knowing I want to push the limits of a distorted sound because the next song will be bright, clean, and hollow.”
Although the sound of “Joy” is rooted in dream pop, it’s hard to ignore an evocative nostalgic flavor mixed with rigidness in its attitude. Influenced by his rocker father, Gyats0 grew up in rock n roll music imprinted into his subconscious mind. Metal and classic rock was his introduction to music. As soon as he learned three chords on a guitar, he would start messing around making up songs in the same style. Grunge made a comeback in his late teens. This time, he dived deeper into its aesthetics and essence, which became fundamental to Gyats0’s sound.
Photo credit: Misha Davydov
“In the same way Cobain used to play out of tune or use vocal takes where his voice cracked. I was inspired by that rawness. The feel of the drums, the effects on the guitars are all intended to be the most honest to lyrics and sometimes perfect execution doesn’t make sense depending on what you want to convey,” he said, “sometimes you have to get drunk and sad and bang on your guitar, recording it that night instead of the next morning. That was the coolest thing about a band like Nirvana, in my opinion.”
Gyats0 isn’t interested in staying in the past. Inspired by those before us, his vision lies in the present and the future – the embrace of modern sound design, pop culture with the comeback of guitar-driven music, and an honest, rigid attitude. “All the people I look up to spoke in the conversation of music and had something to say – something that changed the way people thought about music,” he said, “I want to bring back honesty about the state of things in pop music. We don’t need more escapism. We as a society and as a world need truth. I want to inspire a new beat generation, fierce and passionate in their search for truth, fighting against systems, living freely.”
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