WATCH: Death Valley Girls – ‘Sanitarium Blues’

Death Valley Girls’ new video for ‘Sanitarium Blues’ is taken from the LA band’s soon-to-be re-issued debut album Street Venom and provides the perfect psychedelic back-drop to the dystopian doom-rockers’ take on honest suffering. The track flew onto paper following vocalist Bonnie Bloomgarden’s stay at a professional institution amidst a serious battle with her mental health. The revival of this track as an uplifting and life-affirming reminder that there will be better days could not be better timed.

The release of a new video for this single serves as the perfect throwback to the LA-based group’s most authentic and direct work. The new video, directed by Wiktor Lekston, captures the band’s intention to depict a mental episode as an out-of-body experience through a mixture of surreal and hallucinogenic inspirations. This is produced through a series of repeated fuzzy holographic images created in analog and intensified by the feedback signals. You can’t quite put your finger on what it is you’re looking at – everything from skeletons and non-lifelike faces, through to what appears to be memories merged with dreams, have been compared by Lektston to the “POST-MTV’s clips from the ’80s.” The band’s aim to visually capture an astral projection, without necessarily directly conveying that to the audience, is a huge success.

Scuzzy guitars from Bloomgarden and guitarist Larry Schemel, married with a transcendent use of reverb and delay as the chords ring out throughout the verse, provokes an apocalyptic and lucid-dream state in the mind of the listener. We’re then thrown into a starkly contrasting chorus filled with propelling riffs and a deliberately sinister beat from Patty Schemel on the kit that confines us; it’s claustrophobic, lonely and the perfect sonic portrayal of how isolating a mental illness can truly be. BUT it’s not all gloom from the doom-punk outfit, as there is hope and reassurance in this track’s honesty and also in Bloomgarden’s message ahead of the re-issue:

“Life is hard, but you are not meant to suffer… There are lots of places to get help. It just seems hard to find sometimes… Realising that you are not meant to suffer (no one is!) and seeking help is so huge. Do it ‘cause you deserve it! A healthy you can change the world! And the world deserves your healthiest you, too.”

Street Venom, the re-issue, is set for release on 30th July and will consist of a deluxe edition of the album available both digitally and on vinyl, courtesy of Suicide Squeeze Records. Pre-order here.

Lauren Roberts
@robauren

Photo Credit: Mara Breene

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WATCH: Colleen Green – ‘I Wanna Be A Dog’

Witty metamorphosis collides with anthemic nostalgia to take us for a drive in the sunshine in Colleen Green’s new track ‘I Wanna Be A Dog‘. In anticipation of her upcoming record, Cool, Green gives us a taste of her evolution since her previous releases, in both personal and musical disclosures.

‘I Wanna Be A Dog’ is a humour-filled track pivoted at the tropes and complexities of the human experience. What a paradise a dog’s life seems when life becomes puzzling, the playful track reflects. However, Green is self aware even in her fantasies; she is unafraid to include herself as accountable for her own complexities as she unravels that she’s “still getting pulled back by my own leash, that I put on myself repeatedly.” Green makes the debacle of getting in
your own way a relatable obstacle and one that manifests in its own unique character as she reveals her habits of overthinking and lethargy.

With buoyant vocals, driving guitars and an uplifting groove, ‘I Wanna Be A Dog’ carries an early 2000s pop-rock disposition that characterises an endearing, nostalgic warmth. The vocals remain both confident and nonchalant throughout the whole track, perpetually conveying a lo-fi attitude and a punk demeanour. Colleen Green hosts an escape to another life, or a previous one, in her feel-good, sing-along anthem, ‘I Wanna Be A Dog’.

Directed by Steele O’ Neal, watch the new video for ‘I Wanna Be A Dog’ here:

Cool, the upcoming album from Colleen Green, is set for release on 10th September via Hardly Art. Pre-order here and check out Colleen Green’s Patreon page here.

Jill Goyeau
@jillybxxn

Photo Credit: Jason MacDonald

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Track Of The Day: Catherine Moan – ‘Drop It!’

A playful synth-pop tune that fizzes with feel-good vibes, Philadelphia-based musician Catherine Moan has shared her latest single ‘Drop It!’. Taken from her upcoming debut album Chain Reaction, which is set for release later this year via Born Losers Records, the track is an 80s tinged exploration of joy and love, underscored by a relatable feeling of loneliness.

Inspired by the likes of Depeche Mode, CHVRCHES and The Chromatics, Catherine Moan blends dancing beats, yearning vocals and cinematic synths to create her shimmering electronic sounds, with ‘Drop It!’ being a catchy combination of all three. “The song is about a burst of desire to drop what you’re doing and go out dancing with someone you love,” Catherine explains. “I wrote it in the middle of the winter of the pandemic trying to channel the harsh isolation into an exciting and catchy dance song.”

Like many artists, Catherine used the mandatory solitude that Covid-19 brought to her advantage, writing and recording her upcoming record. “My debut album Chain Reaction is a product of a year spent habitually online in my bedroom. The songs tell a story of digital love and coping with excessive solitude with your own body in isolation.”

Watch the video for ‘Drop It!’ below.

Follow Catherine Moan on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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Track Of The Day: Gemma Cullingford – ‘I Like You’

Following acclaim for her debut solo single ‘Wide Boys’ from the likes of John Kennedy, Amy Lamé and Steve LaMacq earlier this year, Gemma Cullingford (also one half of GIHE faves Sink Ya Teeth) has now shared an uplifting follow-up track, ahead of the release of her new album later this month.

Reflecting on the theme of unrequited love, ‘I Like You‘ is propelled by immense funk-fuelled beats and an ’80s-inspired danceable groove as it builds with a majestic, swirling allure. As glitchy hooks races alongside a soaring bewitching splendour, it oozes an utterly infectious, driving energy, creating a scuzzily stimulating slice of electro-tinged disco-pop. An eerily enthralling, instantly enlivening, and utterly unique sonic cacophony.

Of the track, Cullingford expands:

“… it’s a song about unrequited love with a slightly sinister edge. I didn’t realise it at the time, but both the lyrics ‘I’ll make you love me’ and the jagged discordant guitar give it a slightly stalker-esque feel. So, you shouldn’t feel sad for the narrator of this love song!“

Watch the new home-made, stop-motion video for ‘I Like You’ here:

Let Me Speak, the upcoming album from Gemma Cullingford, is set for release 30th July via Outre.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

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