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Death trax: Cynthia Alfonso

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Play This At My Funeral is a new mixtape series where people (somewhat obviously) curate music for their own funerals. This week artist  and animator Cynthia Alfonso shares her death trax.


I imagine my funeral as my last disastrous date, full of anguish and cowardice. I leave without saying what I would like to have said, in silence and without contributing anything. I remain silent, betrayed by myself.
I leave a pathetic funeral surrounded by people who pretended to love me in their own way and who wanted me to love them in their own way too. I wish for you the blows you gave me to get me up as an example for you to not make my mistakes moving forward.
I leave without believing in a beyond, I go alone with the lack of love, I go alone and I give thanks.


July: Summer with CHILLEMI Residency, Every Wednesday @ Berlin, 21+ ($10-$25)

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Think Alan Vega style beats over Neil Young guitars. For his upcoming residency at Berlin, CHILLEMI will have a full backing band to bring his debut LP to life. From local heroes to a down right rock ‘n’ roll legend, this tightly curated summer series will BE the thing that gets you through the week. Happening Wednesdays in July and brought to you by the girls of Rose Gold Presents.

Full schedule and details below

July 11: CHILLEMI will be supported by Sleeparound (the new project from Louis Epstein of Daisy Glaze) and one of our favorite new acts War Violet who “aims to sing like Nancy Sinatra turned upside down.” $10

July 18: Psychedelic band The Mary Vision (formerly Evil Jesus Band) will open the show with their heavy swirl and preach followed by CHILLEMI with the ruff and tumble sounds of Justin Dean Thomas closing out the evening. $10

July 25: For the final night of CHILLEMI’s residency, NY Downtown legend David Johansen headlines the bill with support by Hennessey. $25

Follow CHILLEMI on instagram for updates and listen to Neon Bride off his unreleased debut LP below

Gnarcissists premiere first single “We All Just Wanna”

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Photo by Jin Kay Lee.


The sounds of New York punk’s past feel instilled into the gritty garage jams of the Gnarcissists, the newest addition to the city’s ever-evolving genre. The four-piece, made up of Matthew Orr (vocals), Matt Tillwick (guitar), Nazar Khamis (bass), and Jerry Peel (drums), pull from classic NYC punk acts like the Ramones and Richard Hell both sonically and on the stage, matching the chaotic energy of their songs with their vicious live acts. It’s fitting, then, that the Gnarcissists’ debut single, “We All Just Wanna,” pays homage to New York today.  “We all wanna live in New York City/ we all just wanna get by,” vocalist Matthew Orr shouts with an urgent growl over a storm of dirty punk riffs and riotous, unpredictable drums. The track strays away from the cliche that, “If you can make it here, you’ll make it anywhere,” and is instead performed with the same simultaneous frustration and awe that inspired New York punk itself.

Find Gnarcissists on Bandcamp, Facebook, and Instagram.

Catch the band headline our very own *free* Cult Citizen on Elsewhere’s Rooftop on July 25th and if you’re heading upstate see them perform at Meltasia.

Interview: Rey Pila and the journey into no man’s land

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Caught in a downpour during a bus ride to Philadelphia a few months ago, I wanted to take the storm in from the safety of my seat, to bask in the mood of a dark thunderstorm before I actually had to get soaked. I swiped over to Rey Pila’s excellent Wall of Goth EP from last year and settled into “No Man’s Land” on repeat as the bus trudged through traffic. Not many synthpop acts know the difference between a texture that fills your ears and one that fills your heart. As soon as the low synth booms just a few seconds into the last track on the EP, your body relaxes and your mind falls into a romantic cybernetic world full of neon lights.

Each and every track could fill its own individual music video with bold and graphic storytelling, similar to the haunting visuals of fan-favorite “Surveillance Camera.” Sure, their beats are great for dancing, but listening to them in the dark lets your imagination run wild with the fodder that Rey Pila has curated across two albums and an EP. Lead singer Diego Solórzano’s deep and sensual vocals are just the cherry on top of their chill-inducing atmosphere.

After releasing Wall of Goth, Rey Pila has slowly teased us with new material that seems to occupy bigger and bigger stadiums. “Fangs” and their cover of Siouxsie and The Banshees’ “Israel” could soundtrack a haunted house dance floor, a darker yet fuller turn for the alt-pop quartet. Before their sold-out Mercury Lounge show earlier this summer, I caught up with the band over pizza to get a glimpse of what’s bubbling under the surface for them. Plus, anyone who draws so much inspiration from the violence and camp of 80s horror movies is a must-see in my book.

Brett: If you could come up with a mission statement for Rey Pila, what would that be? When you’re going into the studio or you’re sitting down to write something, what’s the goal ultimately?

Diego Solórzano: Well, we didn’t know until the these past few years. We were moving forward and just doing music. Getting signed in the U.S. was a big thing. It took us a while, but now that we’re going into the studio, we’ve been doing some recording in Sonic Ranch, now I feel we’re more comfortable and I think the only rule is to take it forward. Try to step into the future and change everything that could be conventional, I know it sounds cliche. Keep working on the songs and try to make it weirder, but, at the same time, poppier. In our dream, it would be pop, future alternative, weird music.

Fuck yeah. Speaking of the future, The Future Sugar sounded bigger than your first album and then Wall of Goth got even bigger. Is that sound part of your goal or has there been some sort of change?

Diego: It’s all about the drums. The drums sound. That’s it. The first record had really shitty drum sounds. Really shitty sounds in general. But for The Future Sugar, we were driving towards bigger drum sounds, like in the 80s. We weren’t that clear as to put a reference on the table like with Wall of Goth. I think that’s one of the reasons the songs sound bigger and bigger and bigger.

Andres Velasco: And I do think we are naturally moving that way. Our music sounds good bigger in a sense. I know some other bands shy away from that and want to keep it more lofi. But, for some reason, we like it. When we play it in the studio, it has to hit you.

I agree. I’ve definitely had a bit of fatigue of really lofi stuff. It gets repetitive at some point. When it comes to references, you guys love basically anything 80s. Has it ever become a problem with people referring to you as just an 80s band?

Diego: We hate that.

Of course. You don’t think of yourselves as that.

Diego: We listen to more 90s stuff, actually. Chemical Brothers, Boards of Canada…We listen to that even more nowadays than we used to.

Andres: Yeah, and we obviously love 80s bands from Depeche Mode to The Cure to Siouxsie and The Banshees to Joy Division. But we also listen to everything. 70s…2018…But we get the 80s reference, but no band likes to be cataloged into a single tag.

Diego: And not all 80s are good. There’s so much nostalgia about the 80s. Like that song “Tarzan Boy?” Is that song a good song? It’s just funny now, that’s it. But the 80s had cool stuff, like the dark goth stuff.

On that topic, do you think there’s a problem with nostalgia within music right now?

Diego: Every video that I see now when I look at modern music videos, they all have the VHS treatment and I think that’s weird because it’s being done too much. I was checking out the Daft Punk video of “Robot Rock,” that album was from 2005 and they were doing the VHS treatment then. That’s a while ago, but now it’s become the thing to do. Everyone wants to look old.

Andres: Stranger Things, the soundtrack for 13 Reasons Why

These things are now more popular amongst people who weren’t even alive during the 80s. Coincidentally, it’s pretty obvious that you’re big movie fans, especially horror movies. Why do you think that is? I grew up going to the movies every week and it was a big escape for me. What role have the movies played in your life?

Diego: For me, that’s the best moment of the week. I can sit down and fully concentrate in a dark theater and not grab my phone or my computer. And sometimes, it’s not the contents. It’s the package. When you go to see a movie, you instantly get in a mood when you’re in the theater. I don’t get that in concerts anymore. I go to a show, it starts, and then you get distracted. Then you have a beer and you start talking to someone. When we went to see Dunkirk, that Christopher Nolan movie, the second it starts, you’re right in the middle of it.

What about horror movies in particular?

Diego: They kind of put you in a very dark place, but you can see things from the audience perspective and you feel safe. It feels good, the adrenaline. If you see Halloween, you’re the killer all the time so you know where he’s going. But you’re safe, nothing’s going to happen to you. And you have that excitement of being there.

What’s the most scared you’ve been at the movies?

Diego: Lost Highway. That’s probably my favorite movie in general. The David Lynch movie.

I need to catch up on his movies.

Diego: Yeah, and Twin Peaks has some parts that are really scary, like I can’t watch. And, then, it turns out to be funny at the end. But, in Lost Highway, there’s a scene where this guy who has a really creepy face and he finds the main character at a party and tells him that he is at his house right now. The main guy calls his house and the other guy answers, but he’s standing right there.

Andres: I like the classic ones like The Shining and Rosemary’s Baby.

Diego: Oh, yeah, The Shining is pretty scary.

To go back to your sound for a moment, your cover of Siouxsie and The Banshees’ “Israel” was fantastic and it was a pretty big sounding song, too. I know it’s your favorite Siouxsie song, but was there something else that went into deciding that that particular song is worth covering? What would be the criteria for songs that deserve the Rey Pila treatment?

Diego: We have a cover of Chris De Burgh’s “Lady In Red,” which has nothing to do at all with “Israel.” It’s the opposite.

Andres: It’s the b-side on “Alexander.” That was just a good moment. I remember when we were recording The Future Sugar, Chris Cody, our producer, used to play “Israel” in the studio and we immediately loved it and listened and listened and listened. And someday, we just did it and asked him to mix it since he showed it to us. And Siouxsie is a totally underappreciated artist.

Diego: Yeah, she should be huge.

With The Future Sugar, it sounded like you had a lot of stuff that got left out of it. Like “Blast” and “Apex.” It took you guys a while to get that album out, right?

Diego: It went through a few big changes. One was when we recorded with Cody here in DFA. That took two months and he mixed it. Then, when Julian and Cult got into the equation, they also changed it. Julian was the one who told us to bring in three more songs. And our three demos ended up being “Surveillance Camera,” “Fire Away,” and “False Self System.” And he ended up putting those in instead of “Apex” and “Blast.” He swapped songs essentially.

Before and while Cult got involved, what do you think one producer brought to the table that the other may not have and visa versa?

Diego: Julian gets more involved in the sequencing and the songwriting because he’s a songwriter and a singer. Cody’s not a singer/songwriter, but he’s great at textures and he sculpts sounds really well. He’s good with synths. Julian’s just an amazing songwriter. He knows where to put the chorus, even though he says he doesn’t. But he does.

For you, when it comes to songwriting, what was the decision to write songs all in English after the first album? How does the process change between each language? I know English is known to be a bit limited when it comes to writing about emotion.

Diego: It’s actually the opposite for me. I was forced into writing those Spanish songs on the first record. Back then, we were working with a big management company, a terrible big management company. They all wanted money and they said, “You need Spanish songs so we can put them on the radio and we can make money.” The whole thing with us is that we do what we want to do, how we want to do it, and we try to stay pretty faithful to what our shit is. If not, it’s going to go with the wind and disappear.

Andres: It’s weird…not weird…just more natural when we make music in English. It’s the first language that comes to mind when we’re writing. And we’ve all done songs in Spanish and we don’t have a problem with Spanish at all.

Diego: It’s a very romantic language. It’s for a certain type of people to write it. It’s very mellow. I don’t know how to explain it.

Andres: I’ve heard that even some Spanish rock bands, they write in English and then they switch it to Spanish based on that melody. We’ve trained our ears to like rock and it’s mostly in English.

Diego: I didn’t have the same feeling listening to bands that sang in Spanish as I did when I first listened to Nirvana.

Is that the feeling you have to tap into to sing a song like “The Future Sugar”? Does that hurt because you have to scream?

Diego: Yeah, it’s kind of like getting into character and getting really angry for that song.

That’s my favorite song to listen in a car and turn it all the way up and nearly break the speakers.

Diego: Sweet. And by the time we get to that song, I’m usually kinda drunk. Or really shit faced.

Find Rey Pila on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

A night of strange sensations at Full Moon Festival 2018

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I have a very severe love-hate relationship with music festivals. On the one hand, I love live music, and festivals provide the opportunity to enjoy several of my favorite bands all at once. I can binge-watch show after show, one after another without having to walk more than ten minutes between stages.

On the other hand, nothing ruins a good show more than the realization that your ten-minute walk actually took you 30 because you had to push through crowds of screaming teenagers dressed in fringe.

Full Moon Festival has all of the former attributes that I love about festivals without the headache of any of the latter.

Knockdown Center, where the festival takes place, is gorgeous. A sign up front twined in yarn and dried flowers loudly proclaim the name of the festival and ushers you into a what looks to be a world plucked straight from the mind of Lewis Carrol. Hammocks are strewn from a wooden bridge while glitter-clad patrons lounge on white, wicker furniture. Bottles of lemon infused water are free for the taking.

There are three different stages at the festival, those being Jungle Ruins, Full Moon Stage, and Solar Stage. Headlining electronic-rock band Metronomy kicks off the late night line up at the Full Moon Stage, playing a few of their top tracks from Summer ’08 including romantic, upbeat “Love’s Not An Obstacle” and the club-worthy “Old Skool”. The band keeps up a flickering light show that only serves to invigorate an already manic crowd.

By the time Metronomy gets around to some of their older classics like the psychedelic “Do The Right Thing” and 70’s-esque “Heartbreaker”, the citizens of Full Moon Festival are running around as if possessed. And, not in the way that the screaming teenagers do at say Governor’s Ball, this feels more like being a guest at a fairy revel.

At one point, I visit the “Replica” room, an art installation created partially in celebration of Maison Margiela’s new fragrance. The room replicates a variety of different scents and moments from disaprate time periods and locations.

Essentially when you walk in, there is an abandoned bar, a piano next to a divan scattered with polaroids, and an empty Karaoke stage.

I am pulled up on this stage by three strangers who encourage me to dance as a shaggy haired man films us. I have the strangest inkling that my image is floating around somewhere online but I can’t be bothered to care.

James Murphy, of LCD Soundsystem, is now holding a late night DJ set at the Full Moon Stage, and the combination of flickering, colored lights and only adds to the otherworldy sensation which has been created by the waning moon (no there was no actual full moon that night), and the fact that most people have been here for more than 10 hours.

I took advantage of this strange opportunity to ask a few artists about some of their favorite Full Moon rituals.

DJ Gui Machado told me that the Full moon is [his] favorite time to go out. “We say in Brazil ‘Full moon, the witches are loose’ (Lua cheia, as bruxas estão soltas). I feel like it’s the best time to make new connections and meet special people.”

When asked about his favorite Full Moon sounds, and whether he thinks his own sound speaks to the Full Moon, he told me “Eumir Deodato- Also sprach Zarathustra was the first song that came into my mind. I love blending different styles of music so it does match! BTW that whole album by Deodato is a masterpiece.”

GE-OLOGY was also kind enough to tell me about a favorite Full Moon ritual: “I always remember my ex girlfriend. She reminded me of the Full Moon, because she was so beautiful.”

I ran into another artist who had played earlier on who declined to give me his name (I knew who he was anyway) and told me he never really thought too much about the moon in general. To each their own.

As the night wound down, after a couple Kirin Ichiban beers, I was blessed to have proximity to the Radtimes Pizza stand. I enjoyed my food at the top of a grassy hill overlooking the entire space. It felt like coming out from underneath the hill as the New England Folklore tells it. A human who gets lost under the hill, taken in by the fair folk. When they come back to their daylight lives, they are left with the dizzying sensation of being awoken from a dream, as the vibrant colors and scents wane with the disappearance of the moon.

Maybe I was just overly tired, but that is what it felt like.

Mixtape: Cancer season

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Dear Cancer, you are one of the three zodiac signs ruled under the water element, alongside Scorpios and Pisces. But since Cancer is the first water sign of the zodiac, it’s the fluid river that get the emotions and creative juices flowing which is perfect because summer is here and you can enjoy the ocean! So for you, here is some classic rock to put as loud as you want on your drive to the beach.

Rock and rollers are like you—sensitive, creative and of course romantic. Family is also important for you and you love be helpful for them and for your friends. Of course you also have faults—you hate being rushed, you also can be overly eager and sensitive. More than anything else though you hate tacky outfits and public speaking. But thankfully that doesn’t prevent you from being a party animal (thanks god). Enjoy your summer season Cancer, swim as much as you can and you will be happy for sure

Photo Diary: Phoenix @ Brooklyn Steel

Ticket giveaway & video premiere: Little Junior @ Irving Plaza w/ Calpurnia, July 14

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Photo by Tamara Léger


The rad queer-fronted power pop-punk band Little Junior from Toronto is premiering with Alt Citizen their new lyric video to angsty heartbroken jam “Buzz Off.” Everyone’s attempted to brush off a break up like it’s nothing, but we all know deep down inside it’s eating us alive—who are we kidding? This song is all about that inner struggle with the sarcastic mantra as it’s lyrics, “I’m over it/ totally over it/ doesn’t even bother me/ hardly ever crosses my mind” and the kicker, “I don’t want to be civil” which makes more sense to say in a stomach wrenching heartbreak situation.

They’ll be playing with Stranger Things’ star Finn Wolfhard’s band Calpurnia July 14th at Irving plaza and we’re giving away tickets! So watch the video below and enter to win your ticket to the show!

To enter to win the tickets DM us on Instagram, message us on Facebook, tweet us, or email us (info@altcitizen.com). Event info here.

Follow Little Junior @liljuniorband!


Amyl and the Sniffers’ first big whiff of punk fame

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Photos by Daggers For Eyes.


Amyl and The Sniffers are ferocious. From the speakers, their EPs are sharp, fast, and undeniably punk, such as the brilliant “I’m Not A Loser.” Live, however, things take a turn towards metal and the four-piece Australian powerhouse pummels the audience with a landslide of shredding, bass drum, and their lion of a lead singer, Amy Taylor. Rocking a mullet and vinyl platform boots, Taylor is a spitting image of the best icons of 70s glam rock while the three guys behind her (two of which also sport mullets) only concern themselves with their instruments and beer.

The last two years have been a bloody whirlwind for The Sniffers. What started as a joke of a pub band turned into shows that packed whatever venues they played in Melbourne’s underground scene. With two rip-roaring EPs out and about, Giddy Up and Big Attraction, they eventually caught the attention of Eric Moore from King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, signing them to their own Flightless Records. The last few months, the band has played their first UK shows, their first US shows) and joined the Lizard Wizard on their US tour. And just between us, Amyl’s opening set may give King Gizzard a run for their money.

Backstage at Brooklyn Steel, they still look like they’re recovering from the whiplash of everything that’s happened in 2018. They love to shoot the shit with anyone who loves good music, but they’re still a group of misfit 20-somethings figuring out this whole serious band thing. Based on their first single on Flightless, “Cup of Destiny,” they don’t need to worry. They’re doing their local pubs proud. About to make their NYC debut, I chatted with Amy, guitarist Declan Martens, and drummer Bryce Wilson about what’s led them to where they are today.

Brett: I know you’ve only been touring for a few weeks, but is there anything you miss from home yet? An Australian friend of mine told me to, in particular, bring up something called “sausage sizzles?”

Declan: Bunnings sausage sizzles! They’re just two-dollar sausages in a piece of white bread with onions on top.

Amy: Meat pies! I miss a mean meat pie.

There’s a really good spot in the city for meat pies and I went on a date there once. He was also one of the few guys I’ve been on a date with that’s also into punk music.

Amy: Did you marry him?

If only!

Declan: I miss Australian bacon. The bacon in England and America is so different. It’s thicker and it’s pink, not red. When I look at American and British bacon, I feel like someone’s put red food dye in it.

Everything’s got food dye here. I’m surprised our skin isn’t discolored at this point.

Amy: Give it a year.

But, while you’re here, I heard that you were particularly excited to see Texas?

Amyl: We’re all looking forward to Texas, yeah.

What parts of the States have you gotten to explore the most?

Amy: Well, we were in LA for the week and the rest of them, we’ve just driven in during the day, played the gig, and driven out the next morning. We haven’t seen a great deal really, to be honest. Except for LA.

Declan: Yeah, just that week in LA. And then, the second most we’ll see will be New York.

Are there any bucket list things you need to do here before you head out?

Declan: When I was 18, my friend told me that he went to the house where Biggie Smalls used to live and he said that it was really rough and he was really scared and I was thinking he was just talking it up. So I want to go there so I can see, six years later, whether he was talking shit on.

Oh, I’m sure it’s super gentrified as well. There’s probably a Whole Foods or something nearby.

Declan: I bet it was back then, too.

That friend of mine from Sydney once told me that, in Australia, you’re raised with a ton of media from the States, music, movies, whatever…

Amy: Yeah, any celebrities you see are most from the States.

Is there a way to compare American attitudes towards music and art and stuff against an Australian way?

Declan: I think, because there’s Hollywood and Broadway, people have that sort of “I wanna be a star” attitude. And in Australia, I think it’s a lot more easy going.

Bryce: Everything’s much smaller. Even the big cities are much smaller. Most Australians don’t take themselves that seriously.

Amy: I think Australians can take the piss, but also get the job done. In America, it’s all up in lights and stuff and, in Australia, it’s just up on a chalkboard.

Americans also get the impression that there’s not as much difference between the major cities there compared to here.

Amy: There’s definitely different styles of music that come out of each city. But, here, every city we’ve gone to, the crowds seem different, the venues seem different…like, the whole habitat seems different. But in Australia, it’s much more similar, but there’s still differences. Me and Bryce are from New South Wales and Declan’s from Western Australia and we have different ways of talking.

Declan: There’s different slang, but there aren’t different accents.

Amy: Well, you’ll say things like “dance” differently…

Declan: That’s because my parents are from New Zealand. I’m not the best example of a Perth accent. If you can pick up where someone’s from in Australia from their accent, I don’t know how the fuck you can do that.

Do you think any Australian cities are better than others for music?

Amy: Melbourne’s got a pretty strong scene at the moment, I reckon, just because Sydney’s got a lot of lockout laws. Adelaide and Perth are just like big little towns, I wouldn’t call them big cities. It’s a funny one, though, because Sydney is always really fun for us. There’s always good people coming out. Melbourne’s fucking thriving, though.

Declan: Do you know what a lockout law is? Do you have those here?

No, I didn’t catch that at all.

Declan: In Sydney, all the bars are shut down by 3am and you can’t enter a venue after 1am. So it’s really damaged the nightlife over there because businesses can’t afford their licenses.

So this is a new thing?

Amy: In the last couple of years, yeah.

But I assume this hasn’t gotten in the way of any of your shows.

Amy: Not for us. But we’ve seen mates who play in bands and there’ll be a festival on and the cops will come at 10pm and shut it down. Like, at a venue, just because it’s too rowdy.

Declan: That’s not in Melbourne. Melbourne gets to party more.

Amy, I know you’re a huge fan of The Runaways and I’ve really gotten back into them lately. And I was trying to really pinpoint what it is about them that’s so amazing since the music isn’t exactly mind-blowing…

Amy: So many people hated them or just thought they were sexy, but they’re actually fucking awesome as a group. They’re badass and just ran around at 17, doing business and shit. It’s really impressive. And just the fact that they were little sex symbols, but they were just killing it.

And it seems like almost every band these days draws inspiration from older bands like that. So how do you think you can draw from these bands that a lot of new bands are also inspired by while being original and not coming of as a band that just wants to sound old?

Declan: It’s hard to describe. For me, I want to make music that’s relevant now but be in the mindset that I’ve only got the tools and what I’ve heard in, let’s say, 1975. So this such and such music has come out and they’re all my influences. So I imagine what’s going to happen in the future and be the person, in the past, who sparks that. Does that make sense to you? I like to imagine that I’m in 1980 and I’m about to change the path of rock and roll. Is that schizophrenic?

No, I think you’re all good.

Amy: For lyrics and performing, I’m not hugely influenced by it. But some of my favorite music and performers came out of the 70s. I like how sunburnt and tough it all seemed. Like, there was that huge fucking moment where everything was so soft and indie in music and I was like, “Fuck this shit!” It was either hardcore or some soft cunt and I went with hardcore. In the 70s, I feel like rock music was just the music. It wasn’t real hard and it wasn’t real soft. It was perfectly tough. When you’re underage where I grew up, in Mullumbimby, the only thing you can do is watch some busk with dreadlocks or go to a hardcore show.

You had to choose one or the other and you chose hardcore.

Amy: Yeah, kinda, and I just loved being in it. Everyone was so tough and shit. It was just all these blokes and then I would get into the mosh pit as this tiny 14 year old. Really sweaty and fun and rough.

I wish I hadn’t been such a wuss when I was that age and gone into those mosh pits.

Declan: I used to get into moshing when I was young and now I look at people and I’m like, “How the fuck do you do that?”

Bryce: Me too. I just want to sit down and drink a beer. Ideally, I’d smoke a ciggy while I watch a band.

That’s what it’s like in New York. You’ll probably see it tonight. I can imagine, as a band, it’s almost insulting how little New Yorkers will respond.

Amy: In Melbourne, I feel like we’re spoilt for choice. Eight days a week, you can go out and see a band, five bands in 18 different venues. So you do it and, after four months, you’re like, “Why am I still moving for these people?” And I do it, too. Maybe it’s similar in New York. You just get spoiled, I think.

Find Amyl and The Sniffers on Instagram and Facebook.

Photo diary: War Violet and Sleeparound @ Berlin

YAASSS premiere first single “Full Moon Junkies”

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Photo by Rachel Cabitt.


If you haven’t been treated to the gift of a YAASSS show, I don’t know what you’re waiting for. Despite running, jumping, and screaming around Brooklyn for a while, these kooky psych-rockers haven’t yet released an official single…until today!

The self-proclaimed “falafel rockers” have cultivated a reputation for their bombastic live shows that nail you with a fistful of glitter to the face. To prove it, they’ve released “Full Moon Junkies” today, a jam perfectly tuned for your next Burning Man acid trip. The band shreds and surfs along a surf-rock organ as Dr. FeelAwful speeds through a combination of singing, screaming, and howling. Fast, furious, and perhaps a bit nonsensical, the track nearly reeks of mosh pit sweat.

If you want a taste of the rainbow madness, be sure to catch YAASSS celebrate their first single this sunday, July 22, with The Muckers and Rose Cologne. With a little luck, you’ll walk away covered in sweat and glitter and partially deaf.

Find YAASSS on BandcampFacebook, and Instagram.

Dama Scout releases new video for “Milky Milk”

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Dama Scout, the Glasgow/London-based trio has just released their video for “Milky Milk.” It’s been months since they put out their self titled debut EP, and this dreamy, vaguely surreal video is a great way for them to come out of the dark with new consumable content. Inspired by the 80’s fixation with haunted technology and body horror, the video is saturated with cool blues and greens. The images of living spaces are familiar but decidedly off, mirroring the unexpected turns the song itself takes. Irregular tempos and surprising rhythms keep you wondering while Eva Liu’s pure voice sits politely on top of distorted guitars and spooky synths.

As milk is manically consumed outside of its normal context – in a bathtub from a wine bottle, out of the jug while sitting on the floor next to a feline while an animated milk carton watches from the counter – bodies become distorted and bulky TVs show nonsensical images. Milk, normally meant to nourish the body, becomes a vice, and ultimately the tears that run down the band’s face.

“You stole the sun, love” introduces the song and builds it up towards the end. The sun, another source of life, has been taken away as well. The word “Maybe” flashes on the screen while the music fades away at the close of the video, topping the whole piece off with an added feeling of uncertainty. It’s all kind of messed up once you analyze it, but that seems to be the intention. It works perfectly for this thoughtful song from a very talented trio.

In The Green Room with Post Animal

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Text and interview by Lola Pistola. Photos by Lauren Khalfayan.


Oh, the electricity of sharing your music and promoting an album. Going on the road for the first time can be either the most exciting time of your life or the most terrifying. How lucky for the Chicago-based crew, whose borderline brotherly behavior makes it probably easier to step into this new chapter of their lives, to travel together and expose themselves – minus the famous actor – and with a new sense of creativity full of musical amalgamation—pop, rock, psych rock, crazy solos, cheery harmonies, acoustic setups… you fucking name it. Post Animal really come into their own while on stage, feeding off the energy of the New York crowd that gather patiently to see the show.

When I Think of You In A Castle dropped this past April via Polyvinyl records and is the bands take on psych and pop rock. I caught up with the band of friends in the floral wallpaper plastered green room located at Rough Trade in Williamsburg, New York while Paul Cherry, who had been touring as support for Post Animal, was sound-checking.

Lola Pistola: I have been listening to the album and there is a lot going on in it. I have read in interviews that a lot of people say “ Oh you guys are a psych band,” “you guys sound like this band.” I don’t want to do that. I just want to see what the process was for this album. For me it sounds very conceptual. It sounds like there are two parts to it. There is a rock & roll part but there is also a very futuristic pop, modern side to it. 

Dalton Allison: I think it just ended up that way. Half the songs were pop rock songs half the songs were more like a neo-psych kind of thing. So I think it just worked into a balance and then we found the songs that we thought were the most climactic. We picked the songs that were the most easy going at the beginning of the set.

Dalton Allison

I mean that makes a lot of sense it feels like that when you are listening to it.

Jake Hirshland: You’re the first person that brought up the Side A/side B thing. We kind of thought that more people would comment on that because it’s definitely – we definitely considered side B as entering the void, for lack of better imagery. It’s entering something that is a little bit more confusing. We have the more palatable stuff on side A and then you kind of take a more deep dive into our more psychedelic interests on Side B.

Dalton: I don’t think any one of us would call the record a concept record from its inception. I think the way it flows –

Jake: The way we put it together felt all very intentional.

It would be more conceptual if certain songs were grouped together but you managed to just let it flow.

Matt: Sort of a happy accident, but the fact that it actually flowed was kind of a relief.

Is there anything that affected good or bad, in production on tour? I get lots of inspiration from the places that I go from the bands that I see you know big stages, small stages…

Wesley Toledo: The surroundings we put ourselves in when we made the record definitely influenced the record cause we didn’t have completed songs when we went to the lake house to record. Mainly we just had the shells of songs. Our environment definitely affected the way we recorded it and how we kind of just arranged the songs, I think. It just subconsciously influenced the way we write.

Were you guys completely isolated or was it only band members?

Dalton: Only us. We recorded there, went back to Chicago, mixed it

Matt: We did do vocals in our house in Chicago. I think we had some extra people to record on some songs. But the instrumentation was done almost all of it on our own.

Matt Williams

I feel like New York crowd is a very intense crowd—opinionated—they know they’re stuff.  They see bands come and go – it’s a niche, you either have people that like you or people that don’t. You either have a crowd of people that bounce with you or people that don’t. How does it feel compared to Chicago? Do you feel very comfortable?

Wesley: Chicago, definitely just because it’s our home, like our crowd is there, they set themselves apart from everyone else, just because they’ve been with us the longest.

Matt: Partly, you feel like you know everyone even if you don’t—you’ve seen them in the crowd. Also New York gets better every time—it’s not just New York I feel like the bigger towns where there is a good music scene going on, you have to earn their trust. The first couple times we played here, we were supporting Wavves and they have their fans that love them but the crowd was kind of just stone cold watching us. They didn’t know what to think, you know? They could of very well enjoyed it.

There is this very specific rock & roll revival going on right now—what’s happening in New York is very punk rock, or 70’s 80’s sort of thing and you guys are bringing well built long compositions, very pop, very psych—but your own sound. Are you creating this sort of music because it’s the music you like or because you don’t want to be a part of something that is going on?

Matt: I think all of us have similar interests and we also listen to some interesting things individually and I think that we enjoy weird music, no air of pretension at all. I don’t know anything about classic music like I am so ignorant to that era—besides the biggest artists that everyone likes. I think we like testing ourselves. Sometimes on a technical scale we aren’t the most skilled. I think we like to play with melodies, we like to defy rules sometimes—I don’t want to play garage rock.

Wesley: We write what we want to hear.

You can totally tell because I feel like there is a lot of bands coming and going that are very of the moment. I feel like a lot of the bands I have been listening to lately, all sound the same. Do you think that affects you as musicians? When I am making music this is my personal mantra: I want to make something that will last forever – I want something that is not just for now.

Wesley: You want to make an impact with your music

Jake: I think we feel that way. I think that it comes off that way more in the vetting process, like at least with this record. We wrote a lot more music than what actually made the cut, but we kind of had songs we liked but they weren’t…

Matt: They didn’t seem right

Jake: They didn’t have that x-factor that made us all get goose-bumps, or laugh, or made us feel emotional. It’s really important for us to be meaningful.

Dalton: I think we like to take risks too, when we were first listening to the songs, when they were like intimate states, we were like either people are going to like it or hate it and that was kind of like the whole purpose. I would rather have someone hate it than kind of just be in the middle of that.

Wesley: Or that is fashionable.

Wesley Toledo

I was touring once and I stopped in Atlanta and it turned out to be a big party. I woke up at 5 in the morning and none of my band-mates were there, except the guitar player and the drummer and also the local police! We were like stuck in that warehouse. Is there anything you’re looking for in a tour? Do you want to get stuck in a warehouse too? Or how do you guys do when you’re touring?

Matt: I get excited about what will potentially be a good show. Like tonight, I have been to Rough Trade long before our band was playing and I think the venue was just starting. And I have always wanted to play here, things like that, like god this venue is so sick.

Jake: We are a pretty tame type of band, our band passes out and we don’t get to party.

Wesley: I get what you’re saying. Every tour [it] would be fun to have one of those nights, whether it be a freaky night where something scary happens

Matt: We got lost in the middle of New Mexico. We went camping, that was like the very first show of our very first tour last year-

Why did you go camping?

Matt: We were just driving up New Mexico from Chicago so we had a long drive and we just wanted to camp out. And we never really spent time in the desert so we just did it and we went like exploring. We were so giddy about it. I had never been camping.

Wesley: Just looking at the moon.

Matt: Just lost. Walking up on a cliff and being like, “oh shit,” because it’s pitch black.

Dalton: We went to a closed campsite that was just closed, it wasn’t inhabited anymore and we had just picked up some weed from Colorado, because we are not used to things being like recreationally legal so we smoked that and ended up getting very paranoid.

Wesley: We thought the place was abandoned, but then these two identical cars drive up in the night on this campsite and they start honking at us.

Tour is the best! For sure. Are you guys all friends? How long have you guys known each other.

Dalton: Me and Matt grew up together.

Matt: We’ve known each other since we were 11.

Wesley: I met these guys after I graduated from college and then I came in, and then Javi came in a little bit after that.

Matt: We used to all live together at some point for a year.

Javi Reyes

In New York it’s very hard to have a band, with schedules, you have music practice, you have to have like 3 or 4 jobs, money to pay rent, and also find the right people to collaborate. I feel like collaboration with music is one of the greater things that sets a defining point in your production. Do you feel inspired by each other? What inspires you to make music in general? Not just as Post Animal, but what inspired you to make music?

Matt: We are a bunch of feelers, feely guys, we all have feelings and I think we are very much aware of our feelings. We let musical content come from that. Like Jake will sit at his house and play piano for 6 hours straight and record like 80 voice memos like, “Dude, I got a song.” I don’t know there are so many ways that that all happens. Maybe believe in fate. Definitely I think fate inspires that too.

That’s a nice thing to say!

Matt: Not that it’s not fun to jam with people, it just made me realize how much better chemistry we all have [together] than with anyone else.

Dalton: Usually with all the bands we’ve met there is usually one guy and he kind of like teaches everyone what he wants to play, whereas at least there is uniqueness with everyone jamming

Jake Hirshland

Is it hard to write music right now that’s not in some way responding to the political climate?

Dalton: Now when we are writing we think about it a lot more.

Matt: Some sort of revolution, invasion of intellectual sort of thing.

Wesley: I think there is so much music and so many bands and artists are political and commenting on the climate of modern culture, but that being said, I don’t want to force that. If we can’t organically come up with something then we won’t do it, you know? We are not going to force something like that because it shouldn’t be forced.

Jake: The song should be built on the foundation of whatever the song means-

Matt: -to you, yeah.

Jake: For us, what we’ve written as of yet, none of it has been political and it is not something that any of us are just eager to slap over like another idea. We are open to it, but I think that if a song just felt like it needed to move in that direction then we would do it, we won’t just say something to say something.

Wesley: It would be fun to come up with an interesting take on how to talk about it.

I feel like being an individual band, individualism is very selfish and neglecting whatever is happening in society, it’s a very political thing to do as well. Not necessarily, you know, having words that are very out there. Like you guys were singing before “POD”. Who was singing POD before? Coming up the stairs. ‘Youth of the Nation’ was trying to be political, and that song sucks. You know what I mean.

Wesley: Hey! Oh man. If you think it sucks, that’s cool. Different opinion here. I totally know what you mean.

I did recognize that song and thought, ‘Who’s singing that?’

Wesley: My third grade self, there is still the third grader in me that still loves

Matt: Linkin Park, man

While you’ve been recording has there anything that has blown your mind?

Jake: All of it.

When I Think of You In A Castle is out now on Polyvinyl. The guys also have a 10/10 twitter and instagram if you just can’t get enough. 

       

 

Song Premiere: GYMSHORTS “You Blew It”

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There’s truly no better feeling than telling someone who has wronged you, just how little you care.”You Blew It”, the latest track from stoner punks, GYMSHORTS, wraps all those vindictive feelings into a 90 second package – perfect as a pre-party aperitif when you know you’re going to run into you-know-who.

“You Blew It” comes out of the gate fast and doesn’t let up. With it’s relentless pace, catchy hooks, and no frills attitude, it’s exactly the kind of song you want to headband and scream to. Lead singer Sarah Greenwell’s voice may be fuzzed out in parts, but it cuts through like a knife when she means it. There’s no question that yeah, she is talking to you, and she doesn’t give a shit. The beauty of the song, if we want to call it that, lies in it’s simplicity. The lyrics are confrontational and frank, the guitar rips, the hi-hat hits – the song does everything it needs to do and it does it well. They’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, they’re just making the wheel a hell of a lot more fun.

Check out the release below, exclusively on Alt Citizen, and keep an eye out for their new album “Knock, Knock” available August 20th. You can also keep up with the band on Facebook, Twitter, and Bandcamp.

Photo Diary: The Mary Vision, CHILLEMI, Justin Dean Thomas @ Berlin


July 25: David Johansen, Hennessey, CHILLEMI @ Berlin ($25)

David Johansen and Leah Hennessey (of Hennessey) Interview Each Other

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photo by Mara Hennessey


In anticipation of their show tomorrow night at Berlin (also the last night of CHILLEMI’s summer residency), Leah Hennesey (of Hennessey) – singer songwriter/underground web filmmaker and David Johansen – New York Doll/sometimes Buster Poindexter, indulged our voyeuristic tendencies by interviewing each other about live music, the Resistance, and the nature of nothingness.

Leah: If you could perform (singing songs) in any non-venue environment where would it be? For instance, The Grand Canyon, the moon…

David: It depends on the type of songs, for instance I like to sing doo wop in the street preferably in the night time

Now a song such as “This is my song” I would sing in the car

Leah: Why do the voices of the unconscious sound like cartoon voices?

David: Well I guess because life is such a silly thing. I mean we don’t really know why we’re even conscious so the unconscious likes to tease us about that with that Woody Woodpecker laugh

Leah: If you could star as the lead of any biopic film who would you want to play? Why?

David: Tom Hulce played the hell out of Mozart and Mickey Rourke made Bukowski seem interesting so let’s see…ah, George Orwell in his Homage to Catalonia period because to me the Spanish Civil War offers so many lessons in how to fuck up a revolution.

Leah: What do you like about hearing live music? When is it worth it to get out of the house and make the trek?

David: Singing to me is a pure expression of gratitude for being alive, it’s probably older than the drum. It would have to be someone like Boubacar or Billy Joe Shaver or Bryn Terfel. Otherwise it feels like a busman’s holiday

Leah: Do you still have songs you love that you don’t want to play on your radio show or cover because you want to keep them for yourself? If yes, why do you want to keep them for yourself? If no, why do you want to share cool stuff with people?

David: Well I like to share everything on Mansion Of Fun that tickles my fancy, most people have insufficient leisure time to develop taste so this is an area where I’m actually useful.

Leah: Do you have any suggestions or strategies for fighting the apathy and paralyzing fear that comes from living under the beginnings of a fascist regime? Any tips for staying active in the resistance?

David: Well I loathe the regime to the extent that every waking hour I’m thinking of strategies to undermine it. Having been a teen in the 60’s I also know that active resistance is the only way humanity will prevail. I really hate stupid nazis so I have to remember that if in intellectual pride, or in the laziness of dullness, we deny the light, thereby denying ourselves, how can we avoid being in darkness?

 

David: Do you think the privilege of a life time is being who you are? 

Leah: Absolutely. Flaunt it baby, flaunt it!

David: Do you prefer being in with the in part of the out crowd or being out with the in part of the in crowd?

Leah: I like to go out with outies and stay in with innies.

David: Ever not wanna do an experiment cause it might prove your theory wrong? 

Leah: I like doing the same thing thing over and over again and expecting different results.

David: Are you sick of choosing between the insipid and the atrocious? 

Leah: I usually go with atrocious, that way I can work my way back to insipid.  It really doesn’t work the other way around.

David: Do you ever think about the nature of nothing? 

Leah: I know you LOOOOOOOOVE Nothing. I think I am still a little babyish and tend to think of an ominous nothing like this one

David: Do you think that you and I are a lot alike? 

Leah: Yes, but I find it incomprehensible that you don’t love South Park. Also I have a much lower Blues threshold than you. These are matters of taste which have deep ramifications. I think neither of us dance as much as we’d like to. I think we both love the same things about being humans (even though you are part monkey and I am part elf).

 

Catch CHILLEMI, Hennessey, and David Johansen at Berlin tomorrow, July 25th. Only a few tickets left, get yours here.

Watch: DENA shares vhs visuals for “So Wrong”

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Berlin rapper, DENA has released visuals for her latest track, “So Wrong” off her upcoming album, If It’s Written. The low-fi, hazy music video triggers every late 80’s alt-rock bone in my body. Throughout the brief clips that make up this track, the uber cool DENA and Canadian singer Sean Nicholas Savage ask all of our burning summer break up questions like, “How many tears until it goes away?”  The pair don’t do much in this video but stare at each other and grow more moody crooning through this minimal slow jam but they look so good doing it. The angelic vocals offered by Savage create a space where the only thing I want to do is drive to the beach. DENA spoke on the video saying, “I wrote “So Wrong” after returning to Berlin from New York where I recorded my EP Trust some time ago. That time marked the beginnings of me questioning the idea of a city as stability and ‘home.’ It’s a song I wrote more as an ode to a place, as a person, it’s about (be) longing and missing and not having.”

Watch “So Wrong” below

Watch: Princess Nokia Stages a Cyber Goth Dance Party With her Friends in “Morphine”

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Princess Nokia is living her best life this summer. A few weeks ago, the East Harlem latinx rapper gave everyone Orchard Beach dreams with her irresistible boogaloo moves for Salsa Sundays wearing a Coke-a-Cola one piece paired with classic red sambas. This week she continues to deliver fashion envy with follow up visuals to her latest indie banger, “Look Up Kid” with “Morphine.” The high energy video for “Morphine” is an extension of her rave girl roots she displays on Instagram in which she shouts out to the “OG raver, candy kid, vampire freak, cyber goth, DDR and card player.” With the New York City skyline as her backdrop, “Morphine” is a portrait of the future of the LES party scene with Princess Nokia as their fearless leader.

Her latest mixtape, A Girl Cried Red is a sharp turn from her previous work in the underground New York hip hop scene in which she explores her emo rock fantasies and translates that into 20 minutes of raw lyricism with a messy trip-hop flow. A style icon and genre bender for sure, “Morphine” is proof we will follow her to Orchard Beach and beyond.

Premiere: Eyes of Love “Elevator”

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If you don’t yet know the Brooklyn band Eyes of Love, the single “Elevator” is a good introduction to their post-punk instrumental alien music.

The voice of Andrea Schiavelli slow dances with cinematographic violins. The song seems to say, “Don’t be too sad to close a chapter – get ready to open a new one,” while maintaining its sense of melancholia.

Experienced and mature musicians Lily Konigsberg, Sammy Weissberg and Paco Cathcart’s well-honed skills and confidence put any listener in a mood for love and adventure. In some ways, the romanticism of their kind of rock n’ roll makes me think about Suicide (the band) and I’m not surprised that Schiavelli was reading a lot of JG Ballard.

End of the Game, the new album from Eyes of Love, will be out on Wharf Cat Records on Aug 17th. The title is clearly no coincidence – they are not playing around. The band is ready to surprise you with amazing new wave, post-punk music laced with a multitude of ambiances and images. Although layered and varied, there’s also great consistency and fluidity bringing it all together.

In the mean time, we still get to cherish “Elevator”. This song can be the soundtrack to the end of your summer. A tender way to exit one season and slip into the next.

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