"A genre tag for genre-less music." -- Vice

"Reinventing the emo genre." -- Alternative Press

"Hyperpop, digicore, SoundCloud pop – call it what you want, but blackwinterwells has been one of its key creative voices." -- The Fader

Canadian musician and producer blackwinterwells shares the official video for "archangel" today via the Helix Tears Collective. The song is from her forthcoming album protector on Eyeball Records. Watch/share "archangel" via YouTube HERE. 

Pre-orders for protector are available HERE. Eyeball Records' merch store for blackwinterwells albums, bundles and more is HERE.

It's not uncommon to create labels for sounds and styles of music. Understanding how an album fits into a

"genre" allows listeners to safely navigate an artist’s body of work.

In the case of blackwinterwells, you'd be remiss to go by the previous headlines of "hyperpop" and electronic musical-architecture. This Hamilton, Ontario native shape-shifts the moment you think you have it all figured out.

Following the debut Eyeball release of Crystal Shards, comes protector, an ethereally nuanced collection of tracks wholly engineered and produced by blackwinterwells, and featuring a guest collaboration with 8485 on the track "paper plane." While the album infuses the electronic elements found in previous blackwinterwells releases, these compositions are built with a unique wall-of-sound noise. formed with symphonic song-writing in mind. In a world filled with artists making individual songs to capture the most plays, protector offers a refreshingly patient body of work that sounds best when absorbed as a full album.

protector will be available on CD and download on December 2nd, 2022 via Eyeball Records.

BLACKWINTERWELLS LIVE 2022:

12/02 Los Angeles, CA - Boiler Room at Catch One

Artist: blackwinterwells

Album: protector

Record Label: Eyeball Records

Release Date: December 2nd, 2022

01. archangel

02. gutter

03. the silver gate

04. metallurgy

05. kyphosis

06. valiance

07. for yanny

08. your tattered wings

08. paper plane

09. springloader

10. fabled protector

On The Web:

instagram.com/blackwinterwells 

twitter.com/blackwntrwells 

open.spotify.com/artist/4tF39UYlbBLqTo5JK3qX1u 

tiktok.com/@blackwinterwells 

www.blackwinterwells.com

Los Angeles label Solid Brass Records announces its second release today, sharing the lead single from the forthcoming previously unreleased album by SF band Nuzzle via New Noise Magazine. The album, No Love Like That -- The Stanford Sessions 1997 was originally recorded for short-lived Sub Pop subsidiary Die Young, Stay Pretty. These recordings became the stuff of lore for fans of 90s west coast indie music. Hear "No Más" HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)

The label's three partners recently did an in-depth interview via No Echo HERE. The label founders are themselves influential members of the 90s underground scene and beyond (see below.) Solid Brass nods to great archival labels like Numero Group and Trust Records to properly resurrect key DIY records from the 90s-00s, as well as putting out new releases.

The label's first three releases are 1) the complete discography of Cleveland's 90s post-hardcore band Grain, 2) Nuzzle's No Love Like That -- The Stanford Sessions 1997 album, and 3) a new album from High Aura'd songwriter John Kolodij's reunited The Pines of Rome. All of them mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering and street in First Quarter 2023, followed by many more exciting works to be announced soon. 

About Solid Brass Records:

Solid Brass Records started in 2022 after a few friends from the 90’s DIY music scene reconnected over their shared appreciation for the community, people, and bands that influenced them 30 years prior. They decided to pool their collective knowledge and resources to start a label focused on reissuing music from that period as well as showcasing new bands similarly inspired by this scene. 

Jason Pearson lives in Los Angeles and runs the day-to-day operations of the label. He grew up in Richmond, VA and also lived in Cleveland and Chicago before spending 15+ years working in project management and customer operations roles for several tech companies in the SF/Bay Area.

Chuck Pettry lives in Los Angeles and spent the 90s and early 2000s in Oakland where he worked for Alternative Tentacles, the merchandise company Cinder Block, and ran his own label Sound On Sound. Currently he helps run Sandbag, a music merchandise company known for their work for some of the largest artists in the industry. He also plays in the metal band, Glaciers.

Justin Sinkovich lives in Chicago and is currently a Professor at Columbia College where he teaches students how to launch their own businesses. During the early dotcom era he co-founded, and sold, the music streaming site Epitonic. He also worked as the US label manager for Southern Records as well as Head of Digital at Touch and Go Records. In the 90s Justin played in Thumbnail and Atombombpocketknife. He currently plays in The Poison Arrows.

About Nuzzle's No Love Like That - The Stanford Sessions 1997:

Originally recorded for Die Young Stay Pretty (a short-lived Sub Pop subsidiary), these previously unreleased recordings became the stuff of lore for fans of 90s west coast indie music. Essentially a demo and precursor to Nuzzle’s 1999 LP San Lorenzo’s Blues, these tracks are raw, energetic, and representative of Nuzzle’s live shows. Newly remixed and mastered, No Love Like That: Stanford Sessions 1997, is quintessential Nuzzle at their pinnacle. 

Nuzzle began as a trio; Nate Dalton (guitar), Simon Fabela (bass) and Ricardo Reano (drums) in Rosemead, CA in 1991 before ultimately settling in Santa Cruz. In 1993 Nate’s older brother Andrew joined on guitar and switched to vocals early in 1994, solidifying their lineup.

By the mid 90s Nuzzle had already released several 45s, their Follow, For Now LP on Youth Strike Chord, and several compilation tracks. They had also completed a successful US tour with Fisticuffs Bluff, and had become staples in a loosely knit but deeply felt west coast scene anchored by Kill Rock Stars Records in Olympia and Gravity Records in San Diego. The buzz they generated helped them find their way onto bills with bands like Evergreen, Unwound, Lync, Bikini Kill, Modest Mouse, The VSS, Clikatat Ikatowi, and more. 

In 1996 Nuzzle teamed up with friend and engineer Andy Radin to record 8 new songs at Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, where Radin was recording bands during graveyard shifts from 10pm to dawn. “The legend goes that these recordings were originally meant for release on a ‘big label’ and were short-sightedly passed on,” recalls George Chen from Zum Audio. 

Nuzzle never returned to the Stanford studio for a final mixing so Radin labeled his cassette copy 'Nuzzle Rough Mixes' and shelved the project while the band continued to play shows up and down the CA coast in 1997 and 1998.

Bassist Simon Fabela recounts, “We re-recorded the Stanford songs with Jeff Pinn from Zilla/Hyde Street Studios in an abandoned, supposedly haunted, half-way house in San Jose. That became San Lorenzo's Blues and was released in 1999 on Troubleman Unlimited.”

Radin and the band all agree the LP on Troubleman is strong, but these Stanford sessions capture Nuzzle as they were live; raw with more plaintive urgency in the vocals. “None of us had heard it in nearly 10 years. We actually really like the recordings since they captured what Nuzzle was like live back then,” says Simon Fabela, bassist for Nuzzle (and now Duster). “I was talking with a friend recently and she was saying that none of our recordings really captured the sound, the energy, the rawness of Nuzzle as she remembers us live. Listening to the Stanford sessions, I think these recordings came the closest,” says guitarist Nate Dalton.

No Love Like That: Stanford Sessions 1997 has been remixed by Liam Andrew Nelson, mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering in Los Angeles, and will be available on LP and download in April 2023 on Solid Brass Records.

Artist: Nuzzle

Album: No Love Like That -- The Stanford Sessions 1997

Label: Solid Brass Records 

Release Date: April 2023

01. Daedalus and Us

02. No Más

03. Unbreakable You

04. Allen Says

05. We Almost Lost Del Mar

06. The Word #2

07. No Love Like That

On The Web:

solidbrassrecords.com

instagram.com/solidbrassrecs

instagram.com/nuzzleband

nuzzleband.bandcamp.com

"Has the short and sweet hookiness of the Ramones or the Descendents, the rigid minimalism of Suicide, the playful, gooey synths of chiptune and a splash of hip-hop delivery in the vocals, which are deceptively catchy and full of character." -- Revolver Magazine

"The number 1 contender for Electro Punk Champion of 2022! ...Imagine if Atari Teenage Riot, Wu-Tang Clan, Devo, and Joy Division decided to create a group together the outcome might sound like N8NOFACE.” — CvltNation

“The futuristic and post-apocalyptic sound he’s refined over the last decade sonically encapsulates our increasingly dystopian present. N8 bolsters walls of buzzing, ominous synths with blistering drums he’s sampled from old punk records, chopping them for minimal parts and maximum dirt.” -- SPIN Magazine

"Pulling equally from hip hop, Suicide, and shouty post-punk, and fusing it all together seamlessly." -- Brooklyn Vegan

L.A. singer N8NOFACE shares the official video for "Spray (ADULT. Remix)" today via CvltNation. The song is culled from the newly released Bound To Let You Down (The Remixes) EP on Eyeball Records. Watch/share "Spray (ADULT. Remix)" HERE. (Direct YouTube.)

The digital-only release, Bound To Let You Down (The Remixes), featuring remixes by Eyedress, ADULT., Peanut Butter Wolf and more, is also out now on all DSPs. N8NOFACE's original 2021 album Bound To Let You Down was just released for the first time on vinyl on November 4th. It's available for mail order HERE. The album is also available from Amazon and in many brick and mortar stores nationwide.

Bound To Let You Down (The Remixes) EP is a collection of tracks built from N8NOFACE’s debut Eyeball Records 2021 release Bound To Let You Down, featuring the synth-punk anthems “Spray,” “Y So Serio” and “Already Hate Your Next BF”. This new digital-only 8-song collection features tracks inspired from Bound, being reworked, retwisted, and in some cases, wholly reimagined by some of N8’s closest creative partners, including Eyedress, ADULT., Peanut Butter Wolf, Brian Spencer, Trouble Andrew and Yung F150. 

N8NOFACE's sound can be uniquely classified as the past, present and future heartbeat of the real L.A. A dirty melding of 80s/90s nostalgic synth-punk combined with the amalgamation of chaos heard in grimy Soundcloud rap tapes. Lyrically, his sometimes romantic, oftentimes violent storytelling tunes lean toward Narcocorrido, the bloody ballads of Mexican drug cartels. It sounds dark on the surface, but really N8NOFACE’s music is a lot of fun, and as exciting as the birth of punk rock and hiphop. 

He’s been making and posting glitchy synthpunk since the days of MySpace, when he first gained attention in chiptune duo Crimekillz. Even before the demise of that band, however, N8NOFACE was disseminating his dadaist lo-fi rants online, recording them on the cheap on his home computer setup. 

N8NOFACE has to date released 5 proper albums — Homicide (2022), Bound To Let You Down (2021), Just Here To Die (2020), Synth Up The Punks (2019) and True Story (2018) — and a slew of singles, mixtapes and collaborations, many of them with sprawling double-digit track listings. Before relocating to Long Beach, CA around a decade ago, he owned a graffiti & record store in his hometown of Tucson, AZ. It was here that he developed his vast musical taste from grimy hiphop beats to seminal aggressive synth punks The Screamers. 

Eyeball Records: Started in a small NYC apartment in 1995, Eyeball is best known for its history supporting genre-defining artists from the New York/New Jersey punk/hardcore scene. It was the original home for artists such as My Chemical Romance, Thursday, Number Twelve Looks Like You, H20, Murder By Death and The Casualties. Currently, the label pairs with artists who are reinventing the underground today -- artists like N8NOFACE, blackwinterwells, 3I3d3p, Carpetgarden, and BBY Goyard. 

N8NOFACE LIVE 2022:

11/19 Oakland, CA - Eli's Mile High Club

Artist: N8NOFACE

Album: Bound To Let You Down (The Remixes)

Record Label: Eyeball Records

Release Date: November 4th, 2022

01. Dead is Dead (Brian Spencer Remix)

02. Can't Take No More (Eyedress Remix)

03. Can't Take No More (N8NOFACE Remix)

04. Felt You (Yung F150 x Trouble Andrew Remix)

05. Already Hate Your Next BF (N8NOFACE Remix)

06. Boy Boy (N8NOFACE Remix)

07. Someday Maybe (Peanut Butter Wolf Remix)

08. Spray (ADULT. Remix)

On The Web:

linktr.ee/n8noface

n8noface.bandcamp.com

eyeballrecords.org

“Boisterous, heartfelt, and frequently tongue-in-cheek songs, her freewheeling persona belying a well-honed songcraft, including hook-infused tunes and soundscapes that integrate a wide range of country and rock sources.” — No Depression

Oakland, CA LGBTQ country music band Secret Emchy Society release their new album today on all streaming platforms via Broken Clover Records. The album was previously available exclusively on vinyl and Bandcamp, per the Bay Area label's policy. Hear and share Gold Country/Country Gold via Bandcamp HERE, Spotify, Apple Music and more. 

The Secret Emchy Society plays foot stompin' heart breakin' queer cowboy songs about good friends and hard times. Frontperson Cindy Emch uses her unique & nuanced voice to sing her deeply personal Americana music for modern times. She has previously sung, strummed, and squeezeboxed her way around the country with the bands Vagabondage, Rhubarb Whiskey, Oakland Wine Drinkers Union, and Feral. 

Broken Clover Records is the unique record label dedicated to biannually donating label's monthly proceeds to charity, and favoring fans who buy physical product and downloads by releasing recordings exclusively on vinyl & Bandcamp up to 6-months before the hit streaming services.

Gold Country/Country Gold is available everywhere now, November 11th, 2022 via Broken Clover Records. 



SECRET EMCHY SOCIETY LIVE:

11/17 San Francisco, CA - The Lost Church w/ Lilli Lewis

"This is the kind of rock ’n’ roll that demands booze, bad decisions, and debauchery, and has you singing laments the next day." -- CvltNation

"One of those bands with a special something, full of grit and fiesty spirit." -- Doomed & Stoned

"Stacks up the riffs... If you're dying for something like Monster Magnet or old Queens of The Stone Age, then you're going to dig Karma Vulture." -- Metal Injection

Stoner rock trio Karma Vulture share a new single today via Metal Injection. The song, "Do The Twitch" is the first glimpse of the band's full length debut, set for release in early 2023. Hear and share "Do The Twitch" HERE. (Direct Bandcamp)

Watch and share the Spaghetti-Western/Horror themed video for "Better Luck Next Time" from the band's Death By Comfort EP released back in March of this year. CvltNation launched the video HERE. (Direct YouTube.) 

Karma Vulture is a desert rock power trio from Joshua Tree, now based in Nashville, consisting of singer/bassist Conor Spellane, guitarist Will Hammond, and drummer Ben Foerg. The band has a familiar yet idiosyncratic sound, blending elements of stoner rock and 90s grunge with hints of classic rock, psych and modern alternative rock for good measure. The band executes their earworm hooks and hammer-dropping riffs with equal aplomb. Or, in other words: It’s super catchy, super heavy and super dope. 

Founded in late-2018, the band hit its stride with the addition of Foerg on drums, and released its first EP with their current lineup in early 2022. Death By Comfort was recorded by Norm Block (Mark Lanegan, Brian Jonestown Massacre) in Spring 2020 just as the world was shutting down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. They finished it remotely thru the pandemic, with mixing engineer Joshua Martinez, and then used the remaining months of the lockdown to record their first full-length LP, Something Better, which drops in early 2023.

”Do the Twitch”, the first single from the LP, is a barn burning fusion of punk, surf, & heavy metal that fully encapsulates the band’s unique approach to rock music, with wildly original tones, hard hitting grooves, and distinct lyrics. The band plans to tour the U.S. in support of the album, throughout 2023 and beyond and is already hard at work on new material as well as accompanying music videos. 

KARMA VULTURE LIVE:

11/08 Nashville, TN - Drkmttr Collective 

12/01 Nashville, TN - The East Room

"Has the short and sweet hookiness of the Ramones or the Descendents, the rigid minimalism of Suicide, the playful, gooey synths of chiptune and a splash of hip-hop delivery in the vocals, which are deceptively catchy and full of character." -- Revolver Magazine

"Imagine if Atari Teenage Riot, Wu-Tang Clan, Devo, and Joy Division decided to create a group together the outcome might sound like N8NOFACE.” — CvltNation

“The futuristic and post-apocalyptic sound he’s refined over the last decade sonically encapsulates our increasingly dystopian present. N8 bolsters walls of buzzing, ominous synths with blistering drums he’s sampled from old punk records, chopping them for minimal parts and maximum dirt.” -- SPIN Magazine

"Pulling equally from hip hop, Suicide, and shouty post-punk, and fusing it all together seamlessly." -- Brooklyn Vegan

Bound To Let You Down (The Remixes) EP is a collection of tracks built from N8NOFACE’s debut Eyeball Records 2021 release Bound To Let You Down, featuring the synth-punk anthems “Spray,” “Y So Serio” and “Already Hate Your Next BF”. This new digital-only 8-song collection features tracks inspired from Bound, being reworked, retwisted, and in some cases, wholly reimagined by some of N8’s closest creative partners, including Eyedress, ADULT., Peanut Butter Wolf, Brian Spencer, Trouble Andrew and Yung F150. 

N8NOFACE's sound can be uniquely classified as the past, present and future heartbeat of the real L.A. A dirty melding of 80s/90s nostalgic synth-punk combined with the amalgamation of chaos heard in grimy Soundcloud rap tapes. Lyrically, his sometimes romantic, oftentimes violent storytelling tunes lean toward Narcocorrido, the bloody ballads of Mexican drug cartels. It sounds dark on the surface, but really N8NOFACE’s music is a lot of fun, and as exciting as the birth of punk rock and hiphop. 

He’s been making and posting glitchy synthpunk since the days of MySpace, when he first gained attention in chiptune duo Crimekillz. Even before the demise of that band, however, N8NOFACE was disseminating his dadaist lo-fi rants online, recording them on the cheap on his home computer setup. 

N8NOFACE has to date released 5 proper albums — Homicide (2022), Bound To Let You Down (2021), Just Here To Die (2020), Synth Up The Punks (2019) and True Story (2018) — and a slew of singles, mixtapes and collaborations, many of them with sprawling double-digit track listings. Before relocating to Long Beach, CA around a decade ago, he owned a graffiti & record store in his hometown of Tucson, AZ. It was here that he developed his vast musical taste from grimy hiphop beats to seminal aggressive synth punks The Screamers. 

Eyeball Records: Started in a small NYC apartment in 1995, Eyeball is best known for its history supporting genre-defining artists from the New York/New Jersey punk/hardcore scene. It was the original home for artists such as My Chemical Romance, Thursday, Number Twelve Looks Like You, H20, Murder By Death and The Casualties. Currently, the label pairs with artists who are reinventing the underground today -- artists like N8NOFACE, blackwinterwells, 3I3d3p, Carpetgarden, and BBY Goyard. 

N8NOFACE LIVE 2022:

11/19 Oakland, CA - Eli's Mile High Club

Artist: N8NOFACE

Album: Bound To Let You Down (The Remixes)

Record Label: Eyeball Records

Release Date: November 4th, 2022

01. Dead is Dead (Brian Spencer Remix)

02. Can't Take No More (Eyedress Remix)

03. Can't Take No More (N8NOFACE Remix)

04. Felt You (Yung F150 x Trouble Andrew Remix)

05. Already Hate Your Next BF (N8NOFACE Remix)

06. Boy Boy (N8NOFACE Remix)

07. Someday Maybe (Peanut Butter Wolf Remix)

08. Spray (ADULT. Remix)

On The Web:

linktr.ee/n8noface

n8noface.bandcamp.com

eyeballrecords.org

Los Angeles label Solid Brass Records announces its first three releases today, sharing the lead single from the forthcoming first album, alongside an insightful interview with the label's three partners via No Echo. The label founders are themselves influential members of the 90s underground scene and beyond (see below.) Solid Brass nods to great archival labels like Numero Group and Trust Records to properly resurrect key DIY records from the 90s-00s.

The label's first three releases are 1) the complete discography of Cleveland's 90s post-hardcore band Grain, 2) San Francisco indie group Nuzzle's unreleased No Love Like That - TStanford Sessions 1997 album, and 3) a new album from High Aura'd songwriter John Kolodij's reunited The Pines of Rome. All of them mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering and street in First Quarter 2023, followed by many more exciting works to be announced soon. 

Hear and share Grain "Intro/Homestead" HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)

About Solid Brass Records:

Solid Brass Records, named after Circus Lupus’ 1993 album on Dischord Records, started in 2022 after a few friends from the 90’s DIY music scene reconnected over their shared appreciation for the community, people, and bands that influenced them 30 years prior. They decided to pool their collective knowledge and resources to start a label focused on reissuing music from that period as well as showcasing new bands similarly inspired by this scene. 

Jason Pearson lives in Los Angeles and runs the day-to-day operations of the label. He grew up in Richmond, VA and also lived in Cleveland and Chicago before spending 15+ years working in project management and customer operations roles for several tech companies in the SF/Bay Area.

Chuck Pettry lives in Los Angeles and spent the 90s and early 2000s in Oakland where he worked for Alternative Tentacles, the merchandise company Cinder Block, and ran his own label Sound On Sound. Currently he manages Sandbag, a music merchandise company known for their work for some of the largest artists in the industry. He also plays in the metal band, Glaciers.

Justin Sinkovich lives in Chicago and is currently a Professor at Columbia College where he teaches students how to launch their own businesses. During the early dotcom era he co-founded, and sold, the music streaming site Epitonic. He also worked as the US label manager for Southern Records as well as Head of Digital at Touch and Go Records. In the 90s Justin played in Thumbnail and Atombombpocketknife. He currently plays in The Poison Arrows.

About Grain We'll Hide Away: Complete Recordings 1993-1995:

Grain were a punishingly loud post-hardcore band who left their mark everywhere they played. Simultaneously angry, urgent, and beautiful in a single 30 minutes set, they left hardcore purists confused while others wanted more. They were punk, both philosophically and from a community standpoint, and yet not so easy to pigeonhole musically. 

Northeast Ohio has been home to a dizzying roster of influential punk bands for decades. In the late 70s and into the 80s there was Rocket From the Tombs, Dead Boys, Pere Ubu, Devo, The Cramps, The Mice, and more. In the early 90s it was also known for hardcore bands like Integrity, Confront, Face Value and Splinter. In the mid 90s there was another musical shift happening in the underground community around the country and Northeast Ohio was no exception. Across basements, VFW halls, and other DIY music spaces a new crop of bands was emerging. These new bands, often born from the ashes of more traditional hardcore bands just a few years prior, had broadened their musical influences and their respective sounds were often more polished, dynamic, and lyrically diverse.

Grain originally formed as a 3-piece in 1993 in Cleveland after the break up of three previous bands; Arm’s Length (Brian Strazek), Blatant Disregard (Dean Eshleman), and Windpipe (Jason “Jay” Kuebler). 

In their short time together Grain released two 7”s, a split 7” with Harriet The Spy, and three songs that appeared on a couple different compilation LPs. Grain played close to 100 shows, completed a short tour of the northeast in 1994, and a month-long US tour in 1995. They shared the stage with bands like Lincoln, Kerosene 454, Ordination of Aaron, Current, Samuel, Harriet The Spy, Thumbnail, Avail, and Archers of Loaf before breaking up in 1995. 

We’ll Hide Away is a complete discography of Grain’s recorded material. It is also a snapshot into the mid 90s post hardcore sound of the Midwest. This vinyl-only release has 10 tracks, an extensive booklet with never before seen live pictures, show flyers, and written memories from friends and bands. It also includes a download card for four previously unreleased songs. Everything was painstakingly remastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering in Los Angeles and sequenced in a way that both captures the evolution of their sound and pays homage to the memory of Ryan Rinella (1975 - 2010) and his time with the band.

We’ll Hide Away will be available on LP and download in April 2023 on Solid Brass Records.

Artist: Grain

Album: We’ll Hide Away: Complete Recordings 1993 - 1995

Label: Solid Brass Records 

Release Date: April 2023

01. Intro/Homestead

02. Nibble

03. Jim Thorpe

04. Pause

05. Springboy

06. Trout

07. Hickory

08. Anthem

09. Void

10. The Thrills of a Race Car Driver

11. Jay (download only)

12. Breathe (download only)

13. See Through (download only)

14. Untitled (download only)

On The Web:

solidbrassrecords.com

instagram.com/solidbrassrecs

“A bleak, synthy good time.” — Metal Injection

“Synth rock and doom metal aren’t often two things that go together, but damn if the peanut butter and chocolate don’t mix perfectly here… Hypnotically engaging.” – Loudwire

"A doomed dreamscape... The synth-driven doom-pop songs on PM226 are heavy and wistful, featuring vintage drum machines, thumping basslines and distorted synthesizer soundscapes." -- Metal Sucks

Portland, OR synth-doom duo WHIMZ are streaming their debut album PM226 today via New Noise Magazine. Hear and share PM226 HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)

Sunny Faris (vocalist/bassist and founder of Blackwater Holylight) and Cam Spies (Night Heron) have been friends for years. Cam recorded the first BWHL record several years ago and they hadn’t had a chance to collaborate again, until 2021 when they decided to spend a day in the studio to see what emerged. The result was a seamless blending of their two projects: dark, synth heavy, austere doom-pop, with hauntingly beautiful vocal harmonies, and sexy bass lines. 

Sunny’s characteristic voice is immediately recognizable from opening track “AM1”. Although it may at first seem confusing to hear her singing over low-end rich, heavy synthesizer and vintage drum machines, it quickly becomes apparent how perfectly suited her voice is for these songs. While the music evokes the icy, consumer excess bliss of mid- to late-80s synth pop, Sunny’s melancholic voice permeates like the angelic harmonies of Julie Cruise and Cocteau Twins. 

The emotionally intense, melodically lush shoegazey doom of Blackwater Holylight’s widely hailed 2021 album Silence/Motion provides a good touchstone for WHIMZ, but Night Heron’s pawn shop deep collection of carefully curated retro synth instrumentation and Cam’s tasteful production also gives the album both its skeleton and a wealth of subtle and clever tones tucked neatly into each song. 

Upon completing the 5-song, 26-minute album they decided to release it on Portland label Literal Gold Records, and assembled a live band which includes members of YOB and Spoon Benders joining Faris and Spies. 

PM226 is available on LP, CD and download, released on October 28th, 2022 via Literal Gold Records. Pre-orders are available HERE. 

WHIMZ LIVE 2022:

Nov 10 - Portland - Doug Fir Lounge

Nov 12 - Seattle - Freakout Fest - Sunset Tavern 

Artist: WHIMZ

Album: PM226

Label: Literal Gold

Release Date: October 28th, 2022

01. AM1

02. AM2

03. I WANNA

04. PM1

05. PM2

instagram.com/whimzmusic

whimzmusic.bandcamp.com

www.literal.gold

"Has the short and sweet hookiness of the Ramones or the Descendents, the rigid minimalism of Suicide, the playful, gooey synths of chiptune and a splash of hip-hop delivery in the vocals, which are deceptively catchy and full of character." -- Revolver Magazine

"Imagine if Atari Teenage Riot, Wu-Tang Clan, Devo, and Joy Division decided to create a group together the outcome might sound like N8NOFACE.” — CvltNation

“The futuristic and post-apocalyptic sound he’s refined over the last decade sonically encapsulates our increasingly dystopian present. N8 bolsters walls of buzzing, ominous synths with blistering drums he’s sampled from old punk records, chopping them for minimal parts and maximum dirt.” -- SPIN Magazine

"Pulling equally from hip hop, Suicide, and shouty post-punk, and fusing it all together seamlessly." -- Brooklyn Vegan

L.A. singer N8NOFACE shares the first single today from the forthcoming remix EP consisting of tracks from his recent album Bound To Let You Down, which will also be released on vinyl for the first time on November 4th via Eyeball Records. Hear and share "Spray (ADULT. remix)" HERE.

Vinyl pre-orders are available HERE.

N8NOFACE also plays L.A. at The Palladium's "Haunted Hill" show with Cypress Hill and Fishbone this week on 10/29. Please see all current dates below. 

Bound To Let You Down (The Remixes) EP is a collection of tracks built from N8NOFACE’s debut Eyeball Records 2021 release Bound To Let You Down, featuring the synth-punk anthems “Spray,” “Y So Serio” and “Already Hate Your Next BF”. This new digital-only 8-song collection features tracks inspired from Bound, being reworked, retwisted, and in some cases, wholly reimagined by some of N8’s closest creative partners, including Eyedress, ADULT., Peanut Butter Wolf, Brian Spencer, Trouble Andrew and Yung F150. Bound To Let You Down (The Remixes) hits all DSPs on November 4, 2022, to shine a brighter light on the long-awaited vinyl release of the original Bound To Let You Down LP, hitting stores everywhere on the same day.

N8NOFACE's sound can be uniquely classified as the past, present and future heartbeat of the real L.A. A dirty melding of 80s/90s nostalgic synth-punk combined with the amalgamation of chaos heard in grimy Soundcloud rap tapes. Lyrically, his sometimes romantic, oftentimes violent storytelling tunes lean toward Narcocorrido, the bloody ballads of Mexican drug cartels. It sounds dark on the surface, but really N8NOFACE’s music is a lot of fun, and as exciting as the birth of punk rock and hiphop. 

He’s been making and posting glitchy synthpunk since the days of MySpace, when he first gained attention in chiptune duo Crimekillz. Even before the demise of that band, however, N8NOFACE was disseminating his dadaist lo-fi rants online, recording them on the cheap on his home computer setup. 

N8NOFACE has to date released 5 proper albums — Homicide (2022), Bound To Let You Down (2021), Just Here To Die (2020), Synth Up The Punks (2019) and True Story (2018) — and a slew of singles, mixtapes and collaborations, many of them with sprawling double-digit track listings. Before relocating to Long Beach, CA around a decade ago, he owned a graffiti & record store in his hometown of Tucson, AZ. It was here that he developed his vast musical taste from grimy hiphop beats to seminal aggressive synth punks The Screamers. 

Eyeball Records: Started in a small NYC apartment in 1995, Eyeball is best known for its history supporting genre-defining artists from the New York/New Jersey punk/hardcore scene. It was the original home for artists such as My Chemical Romance, Thursday, Number Twelve Looks Like You, H20, Murder By Death and The Casualties. Currently, the label pairs with artists who are reinventing the underground today -- artists like N8NOFACE, blackwinterwells, 3I3d3p, Carpetgarden, and BBY Goyard. 

N8NOFACE LIVE 2022:

10/29 Los Angeles, CA - The Palladium (w/ Cypress Hill)

11/19 Oakland, CA - Eli's Mile High Club

Artist: N8NOFACE

Album: Bound To Let You Down (The Remixes)

Record Label: Eyeball Records

Release Date: November 4th, 2022

01. Dead is Dead (Brian Spencer Remix)

02. Can't Take No More (Eyedress Remix)

03. Can't Take No More (N8NOFACE Remix)

04. Felt You (Yung F150 x Trouble Andrew Remix)

05. Already Hate Your Next BF (N8NOFACE Remix)

06. Boy Boy (N8NOFACE Remix)

07. Someday Maybe (Peanut Butter Wolf Remix)

08. Spray (ADULT. Remix)

On The Web:

linktr.ee/n8noface

n8noface.bandcamp.com

eyeballrecords.org

“The Living Pins filter 60s psychedelic grooves through the more straightforward sensibilities of 90s alt-rock,

a combination that's both accessible and impossibly cool. Hearing Clark and Peltz harmonize over the garage-rock strut of opener ‘Raven,’ or the sweet pop-rock hooks of ‘Jaguar,’ you can see why Kim Deal of The Breeders counts herself as a fan.” — The Onion AV Club

"Channels classic pop rock sounds, brimming with assuredness and melodic hooks." -- Austin Town Hall

"A lively union of post-grunge guitar psychedelia and Stonesy chug, as if the nation's Nineties soundtrack evolved out of seminal garage rock comp Nuggets instead of the Velvet Underground." -- Austin Chronicle

Austin, TX band The Living Pins share the video for "Chateau" from their recent 2-song EP today via Austin Town Hall. Watch and share video HERE. (Direct YouTube.)

Both songs have become local radio hits in Austin since their release, garnering heavy rotation and Top 20 listing on KUTX and other local stations, as well as praise and plays on Simon Le Bon's SiriusFM show and Rodney Bingenheimer's show. Hear/share the "Chateau" / "Oh Yeah" 2-song single via Bandcamp.

The Living Pins recently released their debut EP Freaky Little Monster Children in April 2021 to much critical fanfare, just 25 years since their first single in 1996. Hear and share Freaky Little Monster Children EP via Bandcamp.

The Living Pins are guitarists/vocalists Pam Peltz and Carrie Clark, joined by a rotating cast of players.

Carrie is an inductee into the Austin Music Hall of Fame as the frontwoman for Sixteen Deluxe (Trance Syndicate, Warner Bros. Records). Pam is a published photographer and the producer of two Daniel Johnston songs, “Ain’t No Woman Gonna Make a George Jones Outta Me” and “Casper” on Daniel’s Continued Story album.

The Living Pins originally formed in 1996 during the heyday of iconic Austin clubs such as Liberty Lunch, Electric Lounge, and The Hole In The Wall. Pam and Carrie met as co-workers at Wheatsville Food Co-op and continued in the tradition of employee bands including the likes of Ed Hall, Cherubs, Sixteen Deluxe, Pong, Palaxy Tracks, and Cotton Mather. The original Living Pins line-up included Kathy Ziegler (Morningwood) and Leslie Petit (Bunny Stockhausen) and this incarnation of the Pins appeared on the 1998 Wheatsville band compilation The Wheat Album, with their cover of the T. Rex song, “Spaceball Ricochet”, produced by John Croslin (Spoon, Guided by Voices).

The new single was recorded at The Bubble Studios in Austin, TX. Bubble Master Chris “Frenchie” Smith is Sixteen Deluxe-bandmate-forever with Carrie and it was a natural next step to enlist his skills. As The Living Pins were aiming to embody something like the dreamy crispness of 1970s FM radio, there is definitely the overlap that Pam and Carrie and Frenchie understand. It’s the aesthetic of being a little kid with a portable Realistic cassette recorder. You could sit next to the radio and then hit record and get your favorite ELO song or Badfinger song and just feel the vibe. 

The ROCK factor of the Bubble recordings is enhanced by Carrie and Pam’s most excellent company, the impeccable rhythm section of Claire Hamilton on bass and Rich Malley on drums. They are just two Austin legends. Austin has so many legends. Claire and Rich are two of them.   

Much was made of the fact that the FLMC was their first release in 25 years. So, Carrie and Pam figured, “Let’s have another release within a year. Keep the momentum going this time.” So, in the spirit of momentum and all that is fun, The Living Pins present two new singles, “Chateau” and “Oh Yeah’, to rock you on through 2022. 

Album: "Chateau" b/w "Oh Yeah"

Record Label: self-released

Release Date: August 8, 2022

01. Chateau

02. Oh Yeah

On The Web:

livingpins.com

thelivingpins.bandcamp.com

instagram.com/livingpins

facebook.com/livingpins