WATCH: Tropical Fuck Storm – ‘New Romeo Agent’

Following recent single ‘G.A.F.F’, Australian band Tropical Fuck Storm have now announced their upcoming new album, Deep States, set for release next month. And, ahead of the album’s release, they have now shared another characteristically kooky new single.

A reflection on human-alien relationships, as inspired by Octavia Butler’s short story Amnesty, ‘New Romeo Agent’ oozes a mystical, other-worldly allure as glitchy beats pulse alongside the sweeping, sultry vocals of Erica Dunn. Offering a whirring cacophony fuelled by a quirky, colourful charisma, it flows with a sparkling, ethereal splendour, creating a welcome break from reality. A swirling, spellbinding sonic tonic.

Of the track, the band Dunn expands:

“Our love & death tragedy-ballad kicks off in the aftermath of Octavia Butler’s short story Amnesty where a translator for the human race infiltrates an alien community Cold War Romeo agent style. Sent to collect secrets and glean intelligence, against all odds, the undercover spy falls in love. As our human/alien inamorates connect in an intimate new language, they decide to make a run for it. We glimpse an oasis of hope in defiance of the violence and backstabbery of their masters. We imagine a tropical island of romance in an icy sea devoid of solar warmth. We look back on the spinning wheel of progress and feel that all the desperation, despair and heartache of the past could finally be worth it for this moment, a conquest of love! A clock striking for a new age! But, they get murdered. The end.” 

‘New Romeo Agent’ is accompanied by a wonderfully trippy new video directed by Oscar O’Shea which sees the band performing in an alien dive bar. Oozing a perfect fusion of eccentric energy and enticing psychedelic charm, you can watch it here:

Deep States, the upcoming album from Tropical Fuck Storm, is set for release on 20th August via Joyful Noise. Pre-order here.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

Photo Credit: Oscar O’Shea

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WATCH: Bnny – ‘Sure’

Following previous singles ‘Ambulance’ and ‘Time Walk, Chicago-based siblings Jess and Alexa Viscius – aka BNNY – have now announced their debut album, set for release next month. Ahead of the album, they’ve just shared dreamy new single ‘Sure’ – a nostalgic blend of Americana, dream-pop and country music.

Ethereal vocals and lilting guitar are both drenched in reverb that builds into a fuzzy soundscape. The sound is both warm and dark. ‘Sure’ is the kind of song you’d expect to find playing at the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks, simultaneously capturing scenes of beer spilling off rowdy customers, a flickering neon light at the bar, a tender moment of young lovers slow-dancing, and maybe even a fight breaking out between crowds of bikers. It’s perfect for your late night, rainy day playlists.

‘Sure’ creates an opportunity for introspection through its repetition and the ethereal space it creates. The waltzing guitar and lilting drums are meditative as they create an effortless dreamy ambiance. Capturing a beautifully understated moment, ‘Sure’ finds Jess Viscius circling around the song’s titular word and testing its meanings and applications: “sure” as an affirmation, “sure” as a guarantee, “sure” as an exhausted acquiescence. This repetition of the word ‘sure’, combined with the repetition of the simple chords, has an hypnotic effect. Viscius’ breathy vocals are haunting, yet, like a lullaby, the gentle whispers also provide a reassuring sense of comfort. Meanwhile, the lyrics contemplate a balance between moments of light and the inevitable contrasting darkness that contrasts it; sunrise versus the night, death versus life. Of the track, Jess explains:

“‘Sure’ is about love and its loss… ‘Sure’ is about apathy and denial. It’s about disillusionment in the wake of death. It’s about finding strength and meaning in the steadfastness of nature.”

The accompanying video is a cinematic vignette set in an uncanny world where people seem to move in slow motion, disassociated. Capturing the same darkness and familiarity conveyed in the song, you can see the musical elements of the song played out visually. The protagonist walks in a dream state to a hazy bar filled with cowboys, Americana seeps through the screen whilst you can picture the reverb bounding between the walls of the bar.

Everything, BNNY’s debut album, is set for release on 20th August via Fire Talk. Pre-order here.

Jaz Kelly
@surfjaz

Photo Credit: Alexa Viscius

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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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