Kansas City surf rockers/psych
poppers Shy Boys ostensibly love two things over everything else: a blissful
jangle and burying emotions. Their stellar self-titled debut from January of
this year frequently blended the two into a melancholic, but masterful swirl.
You could hear that lead singer Collin Rausch was aching in a track like "And I Am Nervous",
though with the reverberating you weren't entirely sure what was causing the
pain.
With grittier sounding guitars
and constantly thumping drums, effortless new single "Life Is Peachy"
doesn't make solving the complicated equation any easier. Somewhere in that
joyous noise Rausch is heard faintly singing "out there wasting
time." But it's not clear if it's the wasted day where you kick back on
the beach and watch the hours tick away with a smile on your face and a beer in
your hand; or the far more nefarious day where you half-panic when asking
"where did the time go??" Having seen them live several times now in
the Kansas City area, it's no less a mystery in person. Judging from the
borderline "frantic" pace the band travels at on "Life Is
Peachy" and Rausch's wordless cries at the end, the latter scenario seems
more likely. Still there's no easy answer to the question and Shy Boys seem to
want it that way. There’s looseness in Shy Boys’ playing, but careful
construction in their songwriting. Collin Rausch, brother Kyle, and Konnor
Ervin could be "wasting time" but they're not wasting
talent.
(You can hear "Life Is
Peachy" now
on Stereogum and look for the single to drop on July 15 through High Dive Records.)
Hear a new track from former Girls frontman Christopher Owens
As the core-element of Girls, Christopher Owens created some of the most wistfully nostalgic music of the decade. With his tender punk sneer, he brought the 60s back in a way very few have been able to do. But few songs in the scant Girls catalog sound as wonderfully "dated" as "It Comes Back to You". The problem with Owens' latest effort though is the "date" isn't set in stone. Soulful billows of organ and gospel choirs suggest Stax circa '68. The slow build into a sparkler electric guitar suggests primo 70s T. Rex. And heard from a far enough distance, Owens trembling voice could pass as Buddy Holly at his most vulnerable. Whatever period it hails from, it's more than welcome in 2014.
"It Comes Back to You" is from a forthcoming album, though Owens hasn't shared any details other than to say it's "from a new album I've made with dear friends." Owens is set to play at Turnstile's SXSW show.
Oneohtrix Point Never Creates "Music for Steamed Rocks"
Daniel Lopatin, the quiet mastermind behind the Brooklyn-based electronic project Oneohtrix Point Never laid claim to an impressive 2013. He released the much heralded R Plus Seven, showed everyone what emoji-love could be with the captivating "Boring Angel" video, and announced a major tour that he is still in the midst of.
Today's release of "Music for Steamed Rocks" proves his 2014 could be just as promising as all of last year. Appearing on the upcoming Record Store day release Commissions 1, the track is one of the more humane efforts Lopatin has managed. Tender, spacey vocals cascade over glasslike synthesizer and pan out in a million directions. Strings float as though they're in zero gravity. While the title promises something that's grounded or inert, the music itself offers some of the more skyward work of the year.
Out on April 19th via Warp, Commissions 1 will also feature museum-installation "I Only Have Eyes for You" and "Meet Your Creator" which Lopatin crafted for ad-agency Saatachi & Saatachi.
Tour Dates:
3/21 Tokyo, Japan - Unit
3/22 Osaka, Japan - Circus
3/27 Miami, Florida - Perez Art Museum
3/29 Knoxville, Tennessee - Big Ears Festival
4/2 Grinnell, IA - Grinnell College
4/3 Iowa City, IA - Mission Creek Festival
4/4 St. Louis, MO - Kranzberg Art Center
4/5 Oberlin, OH - Oberlin College
4/6 Detroit, MI - Museum of Contemporary Art
4/18 Istanbul, Turkey - Club2Club
4/19 Brussels, Belgium - AB
4/23 Zurich, Switzerland - Exil
4/24 Turin, Italy - Hiroshima Mon Amour
4/25 Krems, Austria - Donau Festival
4/26 Berlin, Germany - Radialsystem V
4/29 Milan, Italy - Teatro San Fedele
4/30 Rome, Italy - Auditorium Parco Della Musica
5/2 Austin, TX - Austin Psych Festival
5/8 Pittsburgh, PA - Andy Warhol Museum
5/16 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
5/7 Montreal, Quebec - MUTEK
5/30 Lyon, France - Nuits Sonores
6/4 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Holland Festival
6/7 London, England - Field Day
6/8 Bristol, England - Arnolfini
6/13 Barcelona, Spain - Sonar Festival
6/18 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Union Sound Hall
6/19 Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center
6/20 Toronto, Ontario - NXNE BLKBOX
6/21 Toronto, Ontario - NXNE Geary St. Warehouse
7/6 George, WA - Sasquatch Festival
Shy Boys debut a new video
KC trio Shy Boys self-titled debut is an effortless streak of sunny 60s pop, but holding it all together is the dark, twitchy gravity of "And I Am Nervous". The group's jangly guitars still jangle, just at a much lower tone. Collin Rausch's voice which always seems miles away finds more distance and hides in pitch-black shadows. Even the drums don't register as fast and loose, but flailing. You'd imagine them soundtracking a person as they quietly fight for their life.
The video for "And I Am Nervous", the group's first showcases some of that flailing, but on a solo level. In the Christopher Good directed clip, a lone woman contorts about in slow-motion, bathed in dark: blues, greens, reds, and purples. Her hair wriggles across every corner of the screen, like an dying animal struggling for its last gasp of air. And as the last note of discomfort rings out the shadows close in again; confirming that the nervousness was completely called for.
Shy Boys is out now via High Dive Records.
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