VIDEO: “The Holograms” (Director: Keith Musil)

MP3: “The Holograms”

Highland Park, CA’s mysterious pop outfit Fol Chen just unveiled the video for their latest single “The Holograms”, a clever song of forgotten names and words which bounces along on one of their new album’s catchiest melodies. The video was directed by Keith Musil (who directed Rainbow Arabia’s “Omar K” and some of the craziest Skittles commercials you’ll ever see). Conceptually, the video is based on a “Stepford Wives” wasteland scenario and stars Isabelle Albuquerque of Hecuba playing most of the cast herself.

The band just announced their residency at the Echo in LA for the month of August, stayed tuned for updates on who the special guests will be (let’s just say they will be extra “special”). Fol Chen will also be on the East Coast for a trio of dates with the rising glo-fi/future beatmaker Baths. For a taste of Fol Chen’s awesomeness live look no further than this KEXP session just recorded HERE.

Bio:

For its second album, Highland Park sextet Fol Chen presents Part II: The New December, songs of malaise and miscommunication set to dark pop and glitch-riddled chamber funk. Since the band’s inception, Fol Chen has remained a mysterious entity - its membership disguised by masks and aliases, its lyrics appearing as transmissions from a fictional world. But just as the on-album narrative has congealed in bits and pieces, the group’s real-life story has grown in tangible ways.

Fol Chen’s wildly eclectic 2009 debut, Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune’s Made, spawned some healthy praise (from NPR, no less), a remix album (featuring No Kids and Junior Vasquez, among others), a BBC session, and a video collaboration with the Laker Girls. It also paved the way for a pair of uniquely inspired covers: Prince’s “The Beautiful Ones” (recorded for Spin) and Pink Floyd’s “In The Flesh” (for Mojo). Fol Chen’s bent, blackened takes on the pop eccentrics of yore provided fresh context for its own kaleidoscopic songs, and The New December shores up the group’s slippery identity further still. This is Fol Chen’s most focused work - as consistent as it is consuming, as enjoyable as it is unusual.

The plot, steeped in a Bowie-esque sense of puckish melodrama, picks up with the malevolent John Shade vanquished. Unfortunately, the struggle alluded to in Part I has left Fol Chen’s world frayed - covered in ash, plagued by acid rain - and its population dazed. The members of Fol Chen, once a ragtag team of insurgents, are now bureaucrats forced to sit back and watch as the cipher they relied upon to defeat Shade mutates into a virus that eats words indiscriminately. Things unravel as The New December progresses, with Fol Chen enlisting a handful of familiar voices - Angus and Aaron of Liars, L.A. chanteuse Kárin Tatoyan, singer-songwriter Simone White - to help tell the tale.

FOL CHEN

08/02 Los Angeles, CA The Echo
08/03 New York, NY Mercury Lounge *
08/04 Brooklyn, NY Union Pool *
08/05 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s *
08/09 Los Angeles, CA The Echo
08/16 Los Angeles, CA The Echo #
08/23 Los Angeles, CA The Echo
08/30 Los Angeles, CA The Echo

* = w/ Baths
# = w/ Light Pollution, Crocodiles

Fol Chen
Part II: The New December
(Asthmatic Kitty)
Street Date: July 6, 2010

1. The Holograms
2. In Ruins
3. Your Curtain Call
4. This Is Where the Road Belongs
5. Men, Beasts or Houses
6. C/U
7. Adeline (You Always Look So Bored)
8. The Holes
9. They Came To Me
10. The New December

FOL CHEN LINKS

Twitter - http://twitter.com/folchen

Band page - http://www.folchen.com

MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/folchen

Press Materials - http://asthmatickitty.com/fol-chen

MP3: “Vermont”

VIDEO: “Rather”

Procedure Club “Rather” from Lizzie Boredom on Vimeo.

Procedure Club is a collaborative “bedroom-pop” project founded by Andrea and Polish emigré Adam Malec in New Haven, Connecticut in 2008. The two began recording as a natural progression from their boredom with living in poverty in New Haven, sharing musical tastes in shoegaze and pop bands of the 80s and 90s, such as Black Tambourine, and The Jesus and Mary Chain, as well as a common admiration for Baroque artists such as Purcell and Bach. Out of this god-forsaken alliance comes Procedure Club, in which Adam and Andrea have combined melodic song structures with heavily reverbed vocals, stuttering mechanical drum beats, dirty bass, synths, and alternately washed-out and jangly guitars.

Following on from a well-received string of tapes and CDRs, they’ve put together their first “proper” album and it’s a corker. Doomed Forever noisy lo-fi pop with the emphasis on NOISE. From the pure synth pop of “Feel Sorry For Me” to the overdriven swoon of “Dead Bird” to the blown-out “Nautical Song,” carefully constructed tunes are given a fierce work-over by layers of guitar fuzz and synth scree. Songs like “Vermont” and “Artificial Light” could practically be some lost C86 gems, while “Awfully Managed Pigeons” looks back to early Velvet Underground’s garage racket (check the sick Cale-esque bassline) and “Rather” fondly recalls Linton’s late Henry’s Dress/Aislers Set classics. Throughout, Andrea’s vocals are the secret weapon, neatly playing catchy melodies off the drum machine clatter and guitar haze.

What Procedure Club manage to pull off so well on Doomed Forever is striking just the right balance between the songs and the noise, between structure and chaos. Rather than allowing the recording methodology to stand-in for tunes and ideas, they’ve created a rather amazing record where those parts mesh perfectly and create a unique soundworld that challenges the ear as it coaxes you in with melody.

PROCEDURE CLUB

07/31 - Boston, MA - Temple !
08/04 - Brooklyn, NY - Silent Barn +
08/26 - Montreal, QC - Casa del Popolo %
08/28 - Toronto, OR - Parts and Labour
08/30 - Detroit, MI - The Burton
09/06 - Seattle, WA - Comet Tavern ?
09/07 - Portland, OR - East End
09/10 - San Francisco, CA - The Hemlock &
09/12 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo (Part-Time Punks)
09/13 - Phoenix, AZ - Sound Kontrol

+= w/ Birds Names
% = w/ The Pink Noise & the O-Voids
& = w/ La Corde
? = w/ Burning Yellows and TBA

Procedure Club
Doomed Forever
(Slumberland)
Street date: June 22, 2010

1. Feel Sorry For Me
2. Vermont
3. Dead Bird
4. Artificial Light
5. Confined
6. Slut Fossil
7. Awfully Managed Pigeons
8. Nautical Song
9. Rather
10. Jupiter
11. Seventh Circle Of Hell

PROCEDURE CLUB LINKS:

MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/procedureclub
Press Materials - http://www.slumberlandrecords.com/press/procedure-club/pc.html

MP3: “Love or Music”

Soft Metals from Portland, Oregon are releasing their debut recording, a 12″ vinyl EP on Brooklyn, NY label Captured Tracks on August 10th. Titled The Cold World Melts, the EP is a collection of the band’s first five songs. A record release party will be held in Portland on Sunday, August 29th at Holocene. The celebration will include live performances from Soft Metals, Arohan, and Joey Casio and a DJ set from The Miracles Club.

Soft Metals is the electronic romance of Ian Hicks and Patricia Hall played on vintage synthesizers and drum machines. Brought together in April of 2009 through a common love of late 70s and early 80s synthesizer music, they met up to write songs of their own. Inspiration came to them by way of experimental noise and avant garde, early industrial music, minimal synth, 1980s Chicago house synth pop and Italo disco. While making music together, they fell in love adding romance to their sound. Building songs from moody, experimental, and improvised sessions together, they never know what influence will have the upper hand. It’s simplest to say Soft Metals make dark, romantic, electronic dance music.

What the press has said about Soft Metals:

“The Cold World Melts” is anything but chilly– rather, the interlocking synth lines that make up the tune are so hot that they might just melt your face off.” -PITCHFORK

“Soft Metals is a duo playing a great mix of early industrial beats, synth pop and heavy electro basslines.” - FAIRTILIZER BLOG

SOFT METALS

7/21 - Seattle, WA - Rebar
7/24 - Portland, OR - Worksound
8/13 - Portland, OR - Holocene
8/29 - Portland, OR - Holocene
9/09 - San Francisco, CA - The Knockout $
9/10 - Los Angeles, CA - Show Cave $
9/11 - Mexico City, MX - Yautepec Gallery $
9/23 - New York, NY - The Cake Shop
9/24 - Brooklyn, NY - Bruar Falls

$ = w/ Jewels of the Nile

Soft Metals
The Cold World Melts EP
(Captured Tracks)
Street date: Aug. 10, 2010

1. Love or Music
2. The Cold World Melts
3. Voices
4. Métaux Mous
5. Another Goodbye

SOFT METALS LINKS:

Label Page - http://www.capturedtracks.com/

MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/softmetals

MP3: I Don’t Mind It

Last year, Screaming Females toured relentlessly in support of their critically acclaimed third album
Power Move. Their hard work landed them spots opening for Dinosaur Jr., Throwing Muses, and Jay
Reatard, plus dates touring with Arctic Monkeys and the Dead Weather. The year brought them to a wider mainstream consciousness, gaining attention for their punk rock sensibilities and their raucous live
shows driven by front woman Marissa Paternoster’s famed guitar heroics.

But Screaming Females’ success did not come overnight: it came after four years of playing over 300 self-booked shows at nontraditional show spaces, sleeping on floors around the country, self-releasing their first two albums, and breathing new life into the New Brunswick, New Jersey DIY basement show circuit. And on their forthcoming September 2010 LP, Castle Talk, the trio proves their abilities as more than just a pint-sized guitar shredder. Castle Talk showcases their growth together as a unit, as a band, with some of their most complex and confident songwriting to date.

“Power Move was the first record that a lot of people had heard by us, and after that came out a lot of people had the same reaction, that Marissa is a woman who can play guitar solos,” says drummer Jarrett Dougherty. “But we are more than just that simplistic observation and I think this record shows that.”

The Screaming Females story starts in New Brunswick in 2005, with Marissa on guitar and vocals, Jarrett on drums, and King Mike on bass. With no all-ages venues in town, the band met their biggest obstacle at the start: finding places to play. But the solution (if there is no venue to play, create your own show space in your basement) was the driving force behind the DIY work ethic that would eventually propel the band forward; the grassroots approach born out of necessity in New Brunswick ultimately.

Screaming Females developed into a mindset that the band now prides itself on. In 2006, the band self-released Baby Teeth, followed by a second self-release in 2007, What If Someone Is Watching Their TV? Simultaneously, learning from trial and error, plus inspiration from reading Our Band Could Be Your Life, the band booked hundreds of shows in DIY spaces, houses, cafes, and side-of-road co-ops. Power Move was Screaming Females’ first full-length with any label (or any outside help, really), released by New Brunswick label Don Giovanni Records. The label mirrors the band’s values, champions their hometown, and most importantly, is run by their friends.

In 2010, the band has continued their non-stop touring, including a February tour with Jeff the Brotherhood, two tours with fellow Jersey punk Ted Leo and his band the Pharmacists, a national headlining tour, and a spot on the Village Voice’s annual Siren Fest. The band says that thus far the highlight of 2010 was the sold out Don Giovanni Records showcase in February at Bowery Ballroom, which filled one of New York City’s biggest venues with the energy of a New Brunswick basement show. Like Power Move, Castle Talk was recorded at the Hunt Studio in New Jersey with engineer, Eric Bennet, but with a new approach to writing and recording. The record is out September 14th via Don Giovanni.

SCREAMING FEMALES

7/17 - Siren Fest - Brooklyn, NY
8/13 - Maxwell’s - Hoboken, NJ
8/15 - Golden West Cafe - Baltimore, MD
8/16 - Gallery Five - Richmond, VA
8/17 - JJ’s Bohemia - Chattanooga, TN
8/18 - Exit/ In - Nashville, TN
8/19 - The Bishop - Bloomington, IN
8/20 - Fucking Awesome Fest (Magic Stick) - Detroit, MI
8/29 - Red Room - Boise, ID
9/2 - Rainshadow Space - Reno, NV
9/3 - Thee Parkside - San Francisco, CA
9/4 - FYF Fest - Los Angeles, CA
9/5 - Awesome Fest 4 - San Diego, CA
9/6 - Trunk Space - Phoenix, AZ
9/8 - Mohawk - Austin, TX
9/9 - Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Theater - New Orleans, LA
9/10 - The Farside - Tallahassee, FL
9/12 - Secret Squirrel - Athens, GA
9/13 - Static Age Records - Asheville, NC
9/14 - Black Cat - Washington, DC
9/16 - The Ox - Philadelphia, PA
9/19 - Brew Not Bombs (Portage Theater) - Chicago, IL
10/27 - The Luminaire - London (United Kingdom)
10/28 - Captain’s Rest - Glasgow (United Kingdom)
10/29 - Stereo - York (United Kingdom)
10/30 - Islington Mill - Manchester (United Kingdom)
10/31 - Freebutt - Brighton (United Kingdom)
11/4 - Le Sonic - Lyon (France)
11/5 - GRIM - Marseille (France)
11/7 - Channel Zero - Ljubljana (Slovenia)
11/9 - Rhiz - Vienna (Austria)
11/10 - PMK - Innsbruck (Austria)
11/11 - Bad Bonn - Duedingen (Switzerland)
11/12 - Hirscheneck - Basel (Switzerland)
11/13 - The Great Räng Teng Teng - Freiburg (Germany)
11/15 - Final Club - Prague (Czech Republic)
11/16 - Kafe Kult - Muenchen (Germany)
11/17 - Sonic Ballroom - Koeln (Germany)
11/18 - Astrastube - Hamburg (Germany)
11/20 - Fritz’s Corner @ Debaser - Stockholm (Sweden)
11/22 - Charlies - Kristiansand (Norway)
11/23 - Landmark - Bergen (Norway)
11/24 - Revolver - Oslo (Norway)

Screaming Females
Castle Talk
(Don Giovanni)
Street Date: Sept. 14

Laura And Marty
I Don’t Mind It
Boss
Normal
A New Kid
Fall Asleep
Wild
Nothing At All
Sheep
Deluxe
Ghost Solo

SCREAMING FEMALES LINKS:

Label Page - http://www.dongiovannirecords.com/

MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/screamingfemales