THURSDAY JUL 19, 2018
529 Presents:
IRRELEVANT MUSIC FESTIVAL 2018:
Material Girls
Red Sea
Gun Outfit | Arbor Labor Union | Karaoke | Shepherds (LP Release Show!) | Rose Hotel | The Pleasure Point | + DJ Kale Svvick
Material Girls
"Material Girls only come out at night. The Atlanta sextet indulge in glam and goth while maintaining a percussive no wave edge on their new album Leather. It’s a pointed balance, but the combination comes naturally for these gutter dwelling creatures who cut their teeth on the sweaty Atlanta nightlife, and is enough to summon the ghosts of CBGB and Andy Warhol. The 8 song record explodes with post-modern sleaze and over the course of 30 minutes, the band ride a wave of malaise towards a decrepit paradise. After a promising 4 song EP and a year spent touring, including a few dates supporting the B-52s’ Cindy Wilson, the gang is sharper than ever thanks to the addition of guitarist Robbie Rapp (Muuy Biien) and bassist Meghan Dowlen. The Siouxsie-inspired shrieks of Dowlen are a particularly sharp dagger in the Material Girls arsenal, which alternates between squalling psychedelia and apocalyptic post-punk. Echoes of Richard Hell and Pere Ubu flow through nihilistic lyrics, uncaged performances, and inventive riffs. Leather is a study in contrasts, an illustration of Material Girls ability to deconstruct the tired tropes of punk while pushing DIY music to new heights of zoned in, drugged out chaos. On the surface, this experiment is artistic and abstract, but the visceral energy of Material Girls leaves no room for hazy intellectualism. They vomit on expectation with makeup smeared faces, toying with desire, and keeping the listener tied up in Leather. Out July 2nd via Irrelevant Music (US) & Exag' Records (EU).
"Material Girls only come out at night. The Atlanta sextet indulge in glam and goth while maintaining a percussive no wave edge on their new album Leather. It’s a pointed balance, but the combination comes naturally for these gutter dwelling creatures who cut their teeth on the sweaty Atlanta nightlife, and is enough to summon the ghosts of CBGB and Andy Warhol. The 8 song record explodes with post-modern sleaze and over the course of 30 minutes, the band ride a wave of malaise towards a decrepit paradise. After a promising 4 song EP and a year spent touring, including a few dates supporting the B-52s’ Cindy Wilson, the gang is sharper than ever thanks to the addition of guitarist Robbie Rapp (Muuy Biien) and bassist Meghan Dowlen. The Siouxsie-inspired shrieks of Dowlen are a particularly sharp dagger in the Material Girls arsenal, which alternates between squalling psychedelia and apocalyptic post-punk. Echoes of Richard Hell and Pere Ubu flow through nihilistic lyrics, uncaged performances, and inventive riffs. Leather is a study in contrasts, an illustration of Material Girls ability to deconstruct the tired tropes of punk while pushing DIY music to new heights of zoned in, drugged out chaos. On the surface, this experiment is artistic and abstract, but the visceral energy of Material Girls leaves no room for hazy intellectualism. They vomit on expectation with makeup smeared faces, toying with desire, and keeping the listener tied up in Leather. Out July 2nd via Irrelevant Music (US) & Exag' Records (EU).
Red Sea
"Red Sea is a great name for a band that splits the difference between jittery noise punk and artsy indie rock. I like to imagine the four band members striding through dry sand littered with seashells, wailing on their instruments as enormous walls of waves loom on either side. Biblical allusions aside, the Atlanta band have been dealing in duality lately. Last year they put out the EP Yardstick For Human Intelligence and the full-length In The Salon as Bandcamp releases, but both are getting re-released this year by Bayonet, the label run by Beach Fossils frontman Dustin Payseur and his wife Katie Garcia. After a few singles from the album, “Vacant Ring” is the first off the EP, and it’s a looming, tense number that barrels through frenetic guitar-work to a surprisingly cathartic burst of bright vocal loops at the end." -Caitlin White, Stereogum
"Red Sea is a great name for a band that splits the difference between jittery noise punk and artsy indie rock. I like to imagine the four band members striding through dry sand littered with seashells, wailing on their instruments as enormous walls of waves loom on either side. Biblical allusions aside, the Atlanta band have been dealing in duality lately. Last year they put out the EP Yardstick For Human Intelligence and the full-length In The Salon as Bandcamp releases, but both are getting re-released this year by Bayonet, the label run by Beach Fossils frontman Dustin Payseur and his wife Katie Garcia. After a few singles from the album, “Vacant Ring” is the first off the EP, and it’s a looming, tense number that barrels through frenetic guitar-work to a surprisingly cathartic burst of bright vocal loops at the end." -Caitlin White, Stereogum
Gun Outfit
“Gun Outfit” means music by Dylan Sharp (guitar, vocals, banjo, bass, balalaika), Carrie Keith (guitar, vocals, slide, violin), Daniel Swire (drums, percussion), Adam Payne (bass), and Henry Barnes (various stringed instruments, homemade and otherwise), human beings who live and work in Los Angeles, California. Their fifth album, and their second on Paradise of Bachelors, is called Out of Range.
The story of Gun Outfit begins eons ago with the wide diffusion of hominid life forms across what is now Africa, Europe, and Asia. Some of these hominids, we now know, were wild freaks. They loved to munch and browse around nonetheless, and as far we can tell, were desperate to persist despite the apparent superiority of Homo Sapiens, who was proud of caring for the lame, especially its various babies, and who consumed dung-grown psyche mushrooms heartily, for hunting purposes only, so that they could kill and explain and love themselves for all time. The Homo Heidelbergensis, the Homo Sp, Steinheim, and Swanscombe, and all the Erectus’s, these strange precursors with odd braincases filled with weird souls and mandibles for grinding bark types, had much difficulty keeping on and instead were commanded by time to vanish into mud embankments and genetic tracings. Homo Sapiens, meanwhile, fell in love with talk and important scribbling and wondered why it wanted to kill itself. Thousands of years of later, with wild and flamboyant lineages proudly twisting through only a fraction of their conceivably possible experience, Homo Sapiens made Gun Outfit. The entity was bound by the constraints of the actual existing world at birth, and as a result appears conceptually misshapen and physically clothed in pictures. With unprecedented access to technology, Gun Outfit duplicated itself and appeared in the marketplace, and was thus deformed. Hints of self-awareness, insinuations of worldly indifference, and overall positivity of intention were no match for the organizing principles of this world, and soon Gun Outfit witnessed itself building a website to represent itself. The organism adjusts as circumstances shift within the flux of overdetermined possibility. History rushes to explain itself, but its lessons are only quaint in their particulars and ridiculous in their epic generalities. The entity persists. Predictably, some struggling. The idea of perfection and the ease of exploitation contribute to the ruin of all minds. Reality lazily undermines attempts to represent it accurately in its entire fullness by performing insignificant miracles. By the effort of many years, we approach a meager crumb and are turned away. It returns as we panic and shows us what we should have known.
Trust not:
the self satisfied
the self
the satisfied
every other.
But honor the dead and the dying in song.
“Gun Outfit” means music by Dylan Sharp (guitar, vocals, banjo, bass, balalaika), Carrie Keith (guitar, vocals, slide, violin), Daniel Swire (drums, percussion), Adam Payne (bass), and Henry Barnes (various stringed instruments, homemade and otherwise), human beings who live and work in Los Angeles, California. Their fifth album, and their second on Paradise of Bachelors, is called Out of Range.
The story of Gun Outfit begins eons ago with the wide diffusion of hominid life forms across what is now Africa, Europe, and Asia. Some of these hominids, we now know, were wild freaks. They loved to munch and browse around nonetheless, and as far we can tell, were desperate to persist despite the apparent superiority of Homo Sapiens, who was proud of caring for the lame, especially its various babies, and who consumed dung-grown psyche mushrooms heartily, for hunting purposes only, so that they could kill and explain and love themselves for all time. The Homo Heidelbergensis, the Homo Sp, Steinheim, and Swanscombe, and all the Erectus’s, these strange precursors with odd braincases filled with weird souls and mandibles for grinding bark types, had much difficulty keeping on and instead were commanded by time to vanish into mud embankments and genetic tracings. Homo Sapiens, meanwhile, fell in love with talk and important scribbling and wondered why it wanted to kill itself. Thousands of years of later, with wild and flamboyant lineages proudly twisting through only a fraction of their conceivably possible experience, Homo Sapiens made Gun Outfit. The entity was bound by the constraints of the actual existing world at birth, and as a result appears conceptually misshapen and physically clothed in pictures. With unprecedented access to technology, Gun Outfit duplicated itself and appeared in the marketplace, and was thus deformed. Hints of self-awareness, insinuations of worldly indifference, and overall positivity of intention were no match for the organizing principles of this world, and soon Gun Outfit witnessed itself building a website to represent itself. The organism adjusts as circumstances shift within the flux of overdetermined possibility. History rushes to explain itself, but its lessons are only quaint in their particulars and ridiculous in their epic generalities. The entity persists. Predictably, some struggling. The idea of perfection and the ease of exploitation contribute to the ruin of all minds. Reality lazily undermines attempts to represent it accurately in its entire fullness by performing insignificant miracles. By the effort of many years, we approach a meager crumb and are turned away. It returns as we panic and shows us what we should have known.
Trust not:
the self satisfied
the self
the satisfied
every other.
But honor the dead and the dying in song.
Arbor Labor Union
"Arbor Labor Union play post-punk guitar rock in such a tried-and-true mold that you almost want to resurrect the term “college rock” — now defunct and totally meaningless — just for them. Born “from a peach tree in Georgia in the American south,” according to their bio, the quartet combines the droning jams of Luna with the tender tension of Ought (and the squealing yawps of Meat Puppets frontman Curt Kirkwood) on debut album I Hear You, one of the most satisfying full-band records of 2016’s first half. The tracks are long, the six-strings are loud, and the grooves are absolutely transfixing. Though the feeling they produce is old, the songs themselves feel new, just the latest in a proud lineage. The band offers in comment to SPIN: “We hold these truths to be self evident: This is now music of the modern era. No genre revival. If a voice within whispers “Listen” you must respond I Hear You. As did we and will continue to do. I love you." -ALU
"Arbor Labor Union play post-punk guitar rock in such a tried-and-true mold that you almost want to resurrect the term “college rock” — now defunct and totally meaningless — just for them. Born “from a peach tree in Georgia in the American south,” according to their bio, the quartet combines the droning jams of Luna with the tender tension of Ought (and the squealing yawps of Meat Puppets frontman Curt Kirkwood) on debut album I Hear You, one of the most satisfying full-band records of 2016’s first half. The tracks are long, the six-strings are loud, and the grooves are absolutely transfixing. Though the feeling they produce is old, the songs themselves feel new, just the latest in a proud lineage. The band offers in comment to SPIN: “We hold these truths to be self evident: This is now music of the modern era. No genre revival. If a voice within whispers “Listen” you must respond I Hear You. As did we and will continue to do. I love you." -ALU
Karaoke
her songwriting. Her longtime musical collaborator Adrian Switon (Shepherds, Del Venicci,
George Bataille Battle Cry) on drums/experimental percussion and Tymb Gratz (Mood Rings) on
guitar compose the core members of Karaoke, although various rotating musicians fill in live.
They self released their first full length LP, Blood, Piss, Religion, Pain, towards the end of 2020,
which was met with local acclaim, and Bellury conceived of and produced 5 one take music
videos to accompany the release, each video featuring only one member of the band.
and dynamic sound the group has established over the years, and marks a new phase in
experimentation with electronic drums, dissected pop structures, lyrical references to Sufjan
Stevens, King Krimson and Drake (Together Forever, Official Dating Profile), and ranges from
sparse, intimate cello and piano arrangements (Blood, Piss, Religion, Pain) to a gritty
headbanger that’s downright punk (Opposite Of Time). Karaoke has been compared to the likes
of This Mortal Coil, Talking Heads, and Kate Bush, but their sound runs the gamut of art pop,
new wave, and indie rock.
her songwriting. Her longtime musical collaborator Adrian Switon (Shepherds, Del Venicci,
George Bataille Battle Cry) on drums/experimental percussion and Tymb Gratz (Mood Rings) on
guitar compose the core members of Karaoke, although various rotating musicians fill in live.
They self released their first full length LP, Blood, Piss, Religion, Pain, towards the end of 2020,
which was met with local acclaim, and Bellury conceived of and produced 5 one take music
videos to accompany the release, each video featuring only one member of the band.
and dynamic sound the group has established over the years, and marks a new phase in
experimentation with electronic drums, dissected pop structures, lyrical references to Sufjan
Stevens, King Krimson and Drake (Together Forever, Official Dating Profile), and ranges from
sparse, intimate cello and piano arrangements (Blood, Piss, Religion, Pain) to a gritty
headbanger that’s downright punk (Opposite Of Time). Karaoke has been compared to the likes
of This Mortal Coil, Talking Heads, and Kate Bush, but their sound runs the gamut of art pop,
new wave, and indie rock.
Shepherds (LP Release Show!)
The healing hand and surgeon’s scalpel are intertwined on Shepherds’ new album Insignificant Whip. The art-rock masterpiece encases the band’s vulnerable wisdom in flighty melodies that burn with intimacy and fragility as singer/lyricists Jonathan Merenivitch and Adrian Benedykt Świtoń address everything from toxic masculinity and Catholic guilt to Youtube comments and Tupac Shakur. Since their 2011 EP Holy Stain, the band have received accolades for their taut analyses of social ills and the resulting strain on body and mind, but even the skeletal no-wave that defined their early sound was bound with, in the broadest sense of the word, soul. The band’s ability to confront their deepest insecurities and doubts is more than simple catharsis, it serves to illuminate deeper questions of existence and identity, and frame them in context of systemic oppression, discrimination, and isolation.
The minimalism which guided Shepherds’ earlier work has evolved into lush, expansive compositions thanks to founding bassist Peter Cauthorn, who helped flesh out the LP’s identity as a core contributor to the album’s instrumental textures. Vocalist and drummer Świtoń also took on a central role in the recording process, contributing his voice and songwriting talents to the the album’s pensive hue, while new additions Ryan York (drums), May Tabol (guitar, keyboards), and Vinny Restivo (bass) round out the live band. Moments on Insignificant Whip recall everything from Felt to Josef K, but Shepherds have a keen ability to write post-punk which is modern and prescient rather than a simple homage to a particular era of underground music. The martial rhythms still echo with the proletariat fever of their 2015 LP Exit Youth, but now the lyrics are delivered over thrilling saxophone melodies and deliberative chords, making them all the more haunting, thanks to production from Drew Vandenburg (Toro Y Moi, Mothers, Of Montreal).
Throughout Insignificant Whip, the introspective nature of Shepherds is amplified by a holistic understanding of what it means to be human. The anxieties of adulthood, the teenage desires deferred, and the crushing weight of evil in the world are forged into vulnerable psalms. It’s precisely in these tear-stained moments that the album surpasses the encroaching anxiety as Shepherds invite the listener into a community which tempers the surrounding darkness and pushes back against oppression with resolute empathy.
The healing hand and surgeon’s scalpel are intertwined on Shepherds’ new album Insignificant Whip. The art-rock masterpiece encases the band’s vulnerable wisdom in flighty melodies that burn with intimacy and fragility as singer/lyricists Jonathan Merenivitch and Adrian Benedykt Świtoń address everything from toxic masculinity and Catholic guilt to Youtube comments and Tupac Shakur. Since their 2011 EP Holy Stain, the band have received accolades for their taut analyses of social ills and the resulting strain on body and mind, but even the skeletal no-wave that defined their early sound was bound with, in the broadest sense of the word, soul. The band’s ability to confront their deepest insecurities and doubts is more than simple catharsis, it serves to illuminate deeper questions of existence and identity, and frame them in context of systemic oppression, discrimination, and isolation.
The minimalism which guided Shepherds’ earlier work has evolved into lush, expansive compositions thanks to founding bassist Peter Cauthorn, who helped flesh out the LP’s identity as a core contributor to the album’s instrumental textures. Vocalist and drummer Świtoń also took on a central role in the recording process, contributing his voice and songwriting talents to the the album’s pensive hue, while new additions Ryan York (drums), May Tabol (guitar, keyboards), and Vinny Restivo (bass) round out the live band. Moments on Insignificant Whip recall everything from Felt to Josef K, but Shepherds have a keen ability to write post-punk which is modern and prescient rather than a simple homage to a particular era of underground music. The martial rhythms still echo with the proletariat fever of their 2015 LP Exit Youth, but now the lyrics are delivered over thrilling saxophone melodies and deliberative chords, making them all the more haunting, thanks to production from Drew Vandenburg (Toro Y Moi, Mothers, Of Montreal).
Throughout Insignificant Whip, the introspective nature of Shepherds is amplified by a holistic understanding of what it means to be human. The anxieties of adulthood, the teenage desires deferred, and the crushing weight of evil in the world are forged into vulnerable psalms. It’s precisely in these tear-stained moments that the album surpasses the encroaching anxiety as Shepherds invite the listener into a community which tempers the surrounding darkness and pushes back against oppression with resolute empathy.
Rose Hotel
Within Rose Hotel, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jordan Reynolds weaves a tapestry of nuanced indie-rock songcraft that pulls from a palette of psychedelic shimmer and folk influence via her Southeastern roots. Where her 2019 debut 'I Will Only Come When It’s a Yes' presented a coming-of-age tale, 'A Pawn Surrender', her forthcoming sophomore album nourishes the garden of adulthood with a cohesive but genre-spanning approach.
Within Rose Hotel, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jordan Reynolds weaves a tapestry of nuanced indie-rock songcraft that pulls from a palette of psychedelic shimmer and folk influence via her Southeastern roots. Where her 2019 debut 'I Will Only Come When It’s a Yes' presented a coming-of-age tale, 'A Pawn Surrender', her forthcoming sophomore album nourishes the garden of adulthood with a cohesive but genre-spanning approach.
The Pleasure Point
"Ask vocalist JayCub Lake (Muuy Biien) when the Pleasure Point was conceived and he’ll obliquely tell you the group has always existed in some “shape or form.” But while that may possibly be true in the abstract philosophical sense, the reality is the trio morphed out of the experimental Athens group CottonMouth whose last release was the 2014 hr ep. Since then, Lake and his Pleasure Point cohorts, bassist Bobbie Rapp (Material Girls) and DJ EA Shorts, have moved to Atlanta and started concocting a hazed-out hybrid of murky hip-hop, smooth funk, contorted pop and whatever else the threesome have discovered swirling around their proverbial kitchen sink. Give a listen to “half-way,” the first single from the trio’s upcoming American Singles, and there’s quite a bit to unpack, a cavalcade of reference points to explore if you so choose (check out that sly slice of West Coast G-funk the follows the chorus). But mostly you’ll discover a steady flow of woozy beats and narcotic grooves that expand, contract, and then dissipate like so much blunt smoke. At times, it’s difficult to decipher whether the group is just goofing on their own version of seductive, late-night R&B, or if everyone is just really faded and reveling in the moment. Truth be told, I’m not sure it matters. Either way, it’s is a spellbinding listen, perfect for early morning smoke sessions or aimless midnight drives. As for the Pleasure Point, it will be interesting to see how the project develops and evolves in 2018. There is the new record to look forward to, of course, and a couple of release shows, but look beyond that and things get a little cryptic, not unlike their music. “we plan to perform!” Lake exclaims over email about the trio’s future plans. “we plan to make u shake ur butts! we hope to help u escape ur bubble and think critically about messaging and perception. are we losing that ability or is it still able to be saved? we don’t have very many answers but we gots lots of questions! just like u!”" -Immersive Atlanta
"Ask vocalist JayCub Lake (Muuy Biien) when the Pleasure Point was conceived and he’ll obliquely tell you the group has always existed in some “shape or form.” But while that may possibly be true in the abstract philosophical sense, the reality is the trio morphed out of the experimental Athens group CottonMouth whose last release was the 2014 hr ep. Since then, Lake and his Pleasure Point cohorts, bassist Bobbie Rapp (Material Girls) and DJ EA Shorts, have moved to Atlanta and started concocting a hazed-out hybrid of murky hip-hop, smooth funk, contorted pop and whatever else the threesome have discovered swirling around their proverbial kitchen sink. Give a listen to “half-way,” the first single from the trio’s upcoming American Singles, and there’s quite a bit to unpack, a cavalcade of reference points to explore if you so choose (check out that sly slice of West Coast G-funk the follows the chorus). But mostly you’ll discover a steady flow of woozy beats and narcotic grooves that expand, contract, and then dissipate like so much blunt smoke. At times, it’s difficult to decipher whether the group is just goofing on their own version of seductive, late-night R&B, or if everyone is just really faded and reveling in the moment. Truth be told, I’m not sure it matters. Either way, it’s is a spellbinding listen, perfect for early morning smoke sessions or aimless midnight drives. As for the Pleasure Point, it will be interesting to see how the project develops and evolves in 2018. There is the new record to look forward to, of course, and a couple of release shows, but look beyond that and things get a little cryptic, not unlike their music. “we plan to perform!” Lake exclaims over email about the trio’s future plans. “we plan to make u shake ur butts! we hope to help u escape ur bubble and think critically about messaging and perception. are we losing that ability or is it still able to be saved? we don’t have very many answers but we gots lots of questions! just like u!”" -Immersive Atlanta