News
Los Angeles-based Allah-Las are set to unveil their much-anticipated album, Zuma 85, on October 13. Now they reveal a new taste of the album via “Sky Club,” an anthemic and electronic boogie. A decidedly 70s art-rock drum beat and lightly flanged guitars open up in the “Sky Club,” which bounces along casually before blasting off into foreign lands on a ship headed for the beginning of creation. Synthesized intergalactic transmissions fly in and out of the track as we hear the story of the night Allah Las met the great grandfather of humanity.
Zuma 85 is being released via the band’s own label, Calico Discos, in partnership with Innovative Leisure, which released earlier defining statements from the band including the eponymously named Allah-Las (2012) and Worship The Sun (2014). The band has previously shared “Right On Time '' which MXDWN labeled “surreal” and The Stuff” and Austin Town Hall noted, “You can’t deny that the band still have the effortless cool locked in here" and Buzzbands LA said, “They’re calling it a reinvention, and one only needs to hear ‘The Stuff,’ to hear their songwriting engine change gears." The tracks have seen support from Under The Radar, Brooklyn Vegan and Ghettoblaster, among others.
This fall, as Allah-Las tours the UK, Europe, and the US, fans can expect to hear new tracks from Zuma 85 alongside their all-time favorites. The US run kicks off on October 23 in Phoenix, AZ and concludes November 18 in San Francisco, CA with more dates to be announced. They will play at Lodge Room in Los Angeles on November 15 (with Mirror Tree and Kolumbo as support) and November 16 (with Tim Hall and Sam Burton as support). All announced shows are listed below and tickets are available here.
On Zuma 85, Allah-Las embrace the influences of late-era Lou Reed and John Cale, the ‘70s mutant pop of Peter Ivers and early Eno and Roxy Music. The pandemic-included downtime opened up space for the band members to focus on their own lives and interests, and the time to re-envision what creative processes could look like. When it came time to reconvene, a sense of looseness proved pivotal. Instead of bringing finished songs to the studio, they entered the picturesque Panoramic House recording in Stinson Beach with sketches, ideas, and riffs. Working with co-producer Jeremy Harris (White Fence, Devendra Banhart, Ty Segall) they shaped and crafted the new songs in real time over three sessions, which were then mixed in Los Angeles by frequent collaborator Jarvis Taveniere (Woods, Avalanches, Purple Mountains).
For the last 15 years, Allah-Las alchemically melded surf rock washes with folk rock jangle and rock, building up their lauded music podcast, Reverberation Radio, and record label, Calico Discos, in the process. A lot has changed since the group first bonded over psych rock vinyl in the back room at Amoeba Records in the late aughts and Zuma 85 finds the quartet facing a new world with a wealth of new sounds.
Allah-Las are Matthew Correia (drums/vocals), Spencer Dunham (bass, guitar, vocals), Miles Michaud (guitar, organ, vocals), and Pedrum Siadatian (guitar, synth, vocals).
On October 13, Los Angeles’ Allah-Las will release their new album, Zuma 85.
They have teased the album with lead single “The Stuff” (b/w the "Zuma 85" title track) and now share the official video for the track. Upon release, the single was supported by Line of Best Fit, Under The Radar, Brooklyn Vegan and MXDWN, among others. Austin Town Hall noted, “"You can’t deny that the band still have the effortless cool locked in here" and Buzzbands LA said, “They’re calling it a reinvention, and one only needs to hear ‘The Stuff,’ to hear their songwriting engine change gears." The captivating video was directed by Sam Kristofski who captures the band as they traverse through their native Los Angeles, from a cigarette stand in North Hollywood to the LA river. The video poignantly juxtaposes the nostalgia of the analog era with the pulsating energy of the digital age, reflecting on the evolution of the music industry.
Dates & tickets for Allah-Las upcoming shows are available at this link.
Iguana Death Cult return with a brand new track entitled "Pusherman," premiered by Under the Radar. This new track is the second single off their forthcoming LP, Echo Palace (due 5/12), which was introduced last month with a track entitled, "Sensory Overload."
Speaking on their newest release, the band wrote: "This is one of those songs that just sort of happened while fooling around. Talking about it now already feels kind of surreal but we were literally trapped inside my home because of the curfew that was installed due to covid. Guitar in hand, we were reviewing the state of the world and the growing division and distrust we saw not only in the media, but amongst the people we know. Someone joked that we should quit the band and go into the vaccine business and so, we had our chorus. A chorus that ends on a more serious note that we don't want to be victims of our time. I tried to make the lyrics ambiguous enough that you don't really know which side the narrator is on. In the end we're just all people living different lives."
On the track's video, they continued: "'Pushermen.' It kind of sounds like an action movie doesn’t it? Sadly we came a couple of million short, so Hache came with the idea to do a casting video for a fictional film called: 'Pushermen.' The scenes we did were loosely based on the movie 'Superfly.' If you know, you know."
In anticipation of his sophomore album out later this month, Jonah Yano shares his new single for "song about the family house." The album, Portrait of a Dog, is entirely co-produced with BADBADNOTGOOD and is out January 27th. The song sparks a fuse of familial memories, in a celebratory ode to his grandparents and the memories shared at their home in Vancouver. The themes of family and memory are central to Jonah's work, which he recently detailed in his cover story for RANGE's Winter 22/23 print issue.
'Song about the family house' is an amulet of the things we archive amongst ourselves as a family, the stories we tell at dinner, the knots of trauma passed down to untie, the details of family life that could only ever be understood by us, not because they are complicated to understand, but because they would never matter to anyone else, and in that public irrelevance, we privately celebrate each other."
Jonah's new offering arrives on the heels of his RANGE's winter print cover story and stint supporting Clairo for the last leg of her North American and the entirety of her European tour dates, which wrapped up last November. He also closed the live run with a headline show of his own at Servant Jazz Quarters in London.
Portrait of a Dog includes the previously-released singles "Leslianne," "always," "the speed of sound!," and "portrait of a dog," which is at the confluence of his love of folk and jazz music. It’s a focused departure from Yano’s previous recordings – establishing a clear sonic identity throughout the album’s 12 songs to weave together two complementary narrative threads of a family archive and exploration of the family dynamics in the Japanese-Canadian household he grew up in, and a deeply personal recollection of a fading relationship. Beyond the co-production of BADBADNOTGOOD, Portrait of a Dog features additional guest work from Slauson Malone, Sea Oleena, with string arrangements by Eliza Niemi, Leland Whitty, and Yano himself. Yano's forthcoming second album follows his stint supporting Clairo for the last leg of her North American tour and the entirety of her European tour dates, which wrapped up last November. He also closed the live run with a headline show of his own at Servant Jazz Quarters in London.
Chicago-based five-piece, Dendrons return with their new single, "Double Ending" which comes inline with news of the band's signing to Innovative Leisure alongside announcing their second album, 5-3-8 which is to be released on August 26, 2022. The new single arrives as a scintillating mesh of post-punk, Krautrock and outsider-pop, turning the dial on the sound of their previous album which found them opening for the likes of A Place to Bury Strangers, Omni, FRIGS and The KVB before having their momentum halted by the pandemic. Alongside the news of the new album, the band is announcing a headline tour June/July – full run of dates below.
5-3-8 – titled as a reference to the lyrical refrain that appears at a few points of the album of “Fifths, thirds, octaves only” – was recorded at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas and Highland Recording Studio in Phoenix, Arizona; it was produced by Tony Brant and Sonny Di Perri (Protomartyr, DIIV, Nine Inch Nails, Animal Collective, Emma Ruth Rundle, Dirty Projectors) before being mastered at Elysian Sound by Dave Cooley. "Double Ending" demonstrates the more muscular sound that the band is tapping into on this second outing, nodding to the sounds of Wire, Gang of Four and Swirlies.
Speaking about the single, Dane Jarvie of the band explains: "The basis of the song deals with concepts of monotony, drudgery of modern life and daily tasks, with ambiguous existential pay-offs, and the flexibility of truth and meaning depending on context."
Read more about the release up on Under The Radar
Tour Dates
Jun 23 - Jacksonville, FL @ The Walrus
Jun 24 - Tampa, FL @ Hooch & Hive
Jun 25 - Charleston, SC @ Cutty's Elliotborough
Jun 26 - Greenville, SC @ The Radio Room
Jun 27 - Atlanta, GA @ 529
Jun 29 - Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor
Jun 30 - Richmond, VA @ The Camel
Jul 01 - New York City, NY @ Berlin
Jul 02 - Philadelphia @ Century Bar
Jul 03 - New York City, NY @ Trans-Pecos
Jul 05 - Baltimore, MD @ Downsquares
Jul 06 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Black Forge
Jul 07 - Asheville, NC @ Fleetwood's
Jul 08 - Nashville, TN @ TBA