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Tijuana Panthers release their new album, Halfway To Eighty, on June 24th, 2022.
Read more about it on Northern Transmissions.
In one form or another, Tijuana Panthers have existed most of its members’ lives. Daniel Michicoff (bass/vocals), Chad Wachtel (guitar/vocals), and Phil Shaheen (drums/vocals) became friends when they were teenagers in Long Beach, California, and started playing music together soon after, eventually becoming one of the shining stars of the twenty-first century garage-rock revival scene—a (relatively) chill surf-rock-inspired complement to the ruckus of acts like Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees. But while many of their initial contemporaries have gone through lineup changes or thrown in the towel, the Panthers are hanging tough—and, in a sense, just hitting their stride.
“I feel like this was our most relaxed process yet,” says Michicoff of the band’s sixth LP, Halfway to Eighty, an album whose title serves as a sly embrace of getting older, with a little bit of the Panthers’ trademark sense of humor sprinkled in there for good measure. (On the cover, they gather around their imaginary midlife-crisis Delorean.) It’s a brotherhood that’s only gotten more instinctual over time, and lately that second-nature approach has found each member taking on a more forward role in crafting their own individual songs, which the trio then works out together before hitting the studio.
On Halfway to Eighty, riff-heavy anthems like “Helping Hand” are courtesy of Wachtel, while art-rock thrashers like “Slacker” are Shaheen’s handiwork, and smirking punk numbers like “False Equivalent” are Michicoff’s. (“What good can it bring now? / We’re barely evolved” sings Michicoff on that last song, a squall of guitars swirling around his trembling tenor.) When you keep an ear out for them, you can hear each distinct personality in the songs, but taken as a whole, it’s yet another primo Panthers set of post-Cramps, post-DEVO outsider rock and roll.
That’s partially through the help of regular Panthers collaborator Jonny Bell (Crystal Antlers, Chicano Batman, The Gun Club [reissue]), Hanni El Khatib, Lovely Bad Things, Rudy De Anda), who produced the set at his Jazzcats Studio in Long Beach. Bell has proved to have something of a sixth sense in working with the band, so there was no one better to capture the sound they were going after this time, either. For much of the record, the band was working with the mindset of channeling some of the production sound and attitude of local punk legends like Black Flag and Circle Jerks. “What I told Jonny when he was mixing ‘Slacker,’” remembers Shaheen, “was, like, ‘Just keep it South Bay,’ and he already knew what I was saying.”
But as much as the band has matured over the years, they still know how to put together an album efficiently, without messing around. They’re professionals, after all—and there’s bills to pay, too. “We don’t have the luxury to go in the studio for days on end,” laughs Shaheen. “I don’t know how other bands do it.”
Taken at full, Halfway to Eighty is an embrace of much more than just a band. It’s a statement of dedication to the calling of music—to sticking with making art as long as you want to, age be damned. “You know what would make me just go, ‘Oh, let’s just quit,’” says Wachtel, recalling a recent raucous show in Los Angeles, “is if we didn’t have that reception anymore. The fans keep me going.”
“Not to get all spiritual about it,” adds Michicoff, “but when we were younger, we played really hard for nobody, and now the fans do all the work for us. They have the fun and we just kind of rock out, and it’s nice. It’s cool to sit back and play the songs and watch. They’re putting on a show for us.”
After writing, performing, recording, and producing three albums themselves, De Lux have traded their typically hermetic recording process at their Burbank studio for a more collaborative experience. The result is their most dynamic record yet, titled Do You Need A Release?
Do You Need A Release? Is De Lux at their poppiest, their prettiest, danciest, but also their most abrasive. The record is built on an uncomfortable bed of tension which when released is immediately satisfying in unpredictable and surprising ways. The verses often pummel you with aggressive beats and grooves only to blossom into open, encouraging, and even angelic refrains. Or the other way around, like in first single “New Summers”, where the choruses don’t resolve, and the drums are a never ending build up that disorients you—reminding you that summer will never be the same again. Out now, the band had this to say on it:
“New Summers refers to a life change. The post effects of a childhood home being sold. There was a distinct nostalgic feeling with this home in the summer. Swimming, family gatherings, ice cream trucks, hot concrete and skating. With the house gone, New Summers music paints the picture of the vibrant summers that once were, but the lyrics highlight the darker and sadder tones of having to accept the loss and fading of old times”
Do You Need A Release? is filled with questions and not answers, but each riddle is its own answer as pseudo philosophical as that can sound. While Sean Guerin’s lyrics are filled with uncertainty and affirmation, the irony is that the grooves are as solid as they’ve ever been. De Lux matters because they make music to dance to and be inspired by—they exist to ask us the questions we’re often too afraid to move our bodies to. That may sound hyperbolic but their ambitions are not an exaggeration. With no pun intended, Do You Need A Release? comes out this September 23rd.'UP AT 4' and 'DOWN AT 8' are a collection of songs that started off as demos in Lionel Boy's living room. Following the release of his debut album, Lionel Boy wanted to continue exploring producing and collaborating with friends.
"I felt like I spent all and none of 2021 working on these songs. Producing these EPs looked like a lot of early mornings and evenings spent at my computer screen. Some days feeling like I made no changes at all. I’m a pretty early riser—waking up at 4 am which are when many of these songs came to mind. I spend most of my time working when the world is quiet which sounds nice but isn’t always the easiest to do when you live in an older apartment with downstairs neighbors. Everything I do to get things moving in the morning is an inconvenience to the people around me—the creaky wood floors, tracking vocals, tapping my drum machine...just one of the many ways I’ve woken up my girlfriend throughout the years. Trying to find a balance between making my music when the creativity strikes while also being a respectful roommate/neighbor is tricky but we make it work.
I’m grateful for the people who have helped me elevate these songs beyond this space. Friends like Brett Kramer, Andrew Pham, Ukiah Bogle, Casey Liu, Nathan Hawelu, Harlem (Dotager) and Jonny Bell were crucial to making these songs what they are now."
Listen to 'DOWN AT 8' in full here: https://smarturl.it/lb_downat8Chicago-based five-piece, Dendrons are sharing their new single, "Wait in Line" – it's the latest to be lifted from their forthcoming second album, 5-3-8 which is out on August 26. The band announced the record alongside their signing to Innovative Leisure last month with "Double Ending" which was tipped at Under the Radar upon release – the new single, which comes with an animation directed by Rapapawn Studio's Óscar Raña and Cynthia Alfonso doubles down on the band's agitated Krautrock-inflected art-rock which has previously found them open for the likes A Place to Bury Strangers, Omni, FRIGS and The KVB. The band will be touring the US later this month/next with dates in New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and more – full run 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. "Wait in Line" showcases bubblegum-pop-adjacent guitar lines and Motorik beats – it ebbs and flows throughout, showing dynamic to the band's sound and ability to blend the loud with occasional moments of respite.
Speaking about the single, singer/guitarist, Dane Jarvie says: "The song is influenced by “The Lottery in Babylon,” a short story by the magical realism author, Jorge Luis Borges. Dealing with the role that chance supposedly plays in life, and a political and socio-economic system that operates and revolves around that variable as dogma, followed by its subsequent corruption of it. In many ways, it is a criticism of the human tendency to claim dominion of nature and capitalize on it anyway."
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
"Easy like Sunday Morning… Roscoe's Dream drips with escapist charm." — Mojo Magazine ★★★★
Today, Mapache — Clay Finch and Sam Blasucci's cosmic-folk band best known for their “quintessentially laid-back” tunes (UNCUT) and “grooves so strong you can basically hear the sunshine” (NPR Music) — releases Roscoe's Dream on Innovative Leisure / Calico Discos. Brimming with the best of golden state folk, the band’s third LP of originals captures the sheer joy of sloppy face-kisses and sunny mid-afternoon walks between sweet harmonies and blissed-out guitar licks.
Listen to Roscoe’s Dream here.
Roscoe's Dream included in NPR's Notable Releases for June 10, 2022 here.
On Mapache’s third LP of originals, the band’s 14-year-old Boston Terrier Roscoe takes center stage, scampering through a collection of deconstructed golden-age sketches, gentle rippers that pay homage to the DJ Art Laboe, and loving covers of Bo Diddley's "Diana" and Gabby Pahinui's "Kauai Beauty."
Having honed their distinct folk-western musicality on 2020’s From Liberty Street, Mapache’s Roscoe’s Dream proves that Blasucci and Finch’s chemistry, cultivated since they were young schoolmates, is alchemic. Calling in a handful of friends to play additional parts — including Farmer Dave Scher of Beachwood Sparks on melodica and lap steel plus Spencer Dunham of the Allah-las on bass — has allowed Mapache to expand their distinct style through the full-bodied musicality of a bigger band.
“Roscoe's Dream drips with escapist charm,” says Mojo in an all new four star review, while Shindig praises the duo as "wayfaring strangers with a penchant for evoking beloved sounds and moods of the past, Mapache have matured into an entity with its own accomplished sound."
Roscoe’s Dream follow’s last year’s 3, a lovingly crafted collection of covers that Aquarium Drunkard praised for being “curated in the best possible way: tracks that still sound quintessentially Mapache." Mapache will be hitting the road for a string of West Coast shows this May and June — full dates below.
Upcoming Mapache Shows
6/15 - Costa Mesa - Wayfarer
6/18 - Bolinas - Smiley’s Tavern
6/19 - Sacramento - Harlows
6/21 - Albany - Ivy Room
6/22 - Sonoma - Sebastiani Theater
6/23 - Nevada City - Crazy Horse Saloon
6/25 - Chico - Duffys
7/12 - Phoenix, AZ - Rebel
7/13 - Tuscon, AZ - Hotel Congress Plaza
7/15 - Fort Collins, CO - The Aggie
7/16 - Denver, CO - Globe Hall
7/17 - Salt Lake City, UT - Commonwealth Room
7/19 - Boise, ID - Neurolux
7/21 - Seattle, WA - Sunset
7/22 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
7/23 - Vancouver, BC - Wise
7/24 - Eugene, OR - Sessions Music Hall
7/26 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel
7/28 - Pioneertown, CA - Pappy & Harriets
7/29 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon
7/30 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon