Have we mentioned that day 2 at Riot Fest 2024 was hot as hell? And The Hives had the audacity to come out on stage and act like we weren’t all absolutely falling over under the heat of the midday sun. In their full, black and white suits, they ran around the stage like it was the 90s, absolutely reinvigorating the worn-out afternoon crowd. Every single person who walked away from this set had a massive smile, which isn’t a common situation at a festival that melts faces like this one.
Setlist Bogus Operandi Main Offender Rigor Mortis Radio Walk Idiot Walk Good Samaritan Hate to Say I Told You So Come On! Tick Tick Boom Countdown to Shutdown
The best way to spend the sunset during Friday’s Day 1 at Riot Fest 2024 was at the Radical Stage at 7:25 pm. The legendary Cypress Hill took the stage to an absolutely insane crowd. It was our first set in the pit, since we came in on a train earlier in the day and took longer to adjust than expected, but it was a phenomenal way to start our Riot Fest weekend.
Cypress Hill treated fans to hits like “Hand on the Pump,” “Cock the Hammer,” “When the Shit Goes Down,” “I Wanna Get High,” and that was just within the first few tracks performed. “Insane in the Brain” and “Jump Around” made appearances as well, as they were played live and during (incredibly limited) breaks between acts.
On the night of August 15th, I went to The Anthem in DC to see the band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. If you’re unfamiliar with them, they’re an incredibly popular Australian rock band made up of talented multi-instrumentalists Stu Mackenzie, Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Cook Craig, Joey Walker, Lucas Harwood, and Michael Cavanagh. One of their main appeals is their approach to genre and exploring as many sounds in their work as they can. Since forming in 2010, they’ve put out 26 studio albums (not to mention 16 live albums) that have ranged from psychedelia, various kinds of metal, progressive rock, synth-pop, sunshine pop, folk, and many more. Despite this, they still have a consistent “King Gizzard” sound that’s rooted in vintage psychedelic rock. Flight b741, which was released on August 9th, is another new musical avenue for them: an early 70s-inspired blues rock album with obvious references to The Rolling Stones and T. Rex. My brief review is that it captures the sound perfectly, with heaps of nostalgia to boot, but still provides plenty of hooks and fuzzy guitar riffs to keep it a consistently entertaining listen. Give it a whirl when on a road trip. You won’t regret it.
Okay, now back to the concert. This was the first show for their tour to support Flight b741, with the opener at this show being Brooklyn-based indie-punk band Geese. They proved to be a fitting match for King Gizzard, as their newest LP 3D Country features a classic rock sound similar to Flight b741, albeit with more country influence. I enjoyed their performance, though, with only the core members of the band, their sound was more alternative rock that doesn’t capture the roots-based atmosphere of the album. Still, they were fun despite the more stripped-back aesthetic. There were occasional unique touches like hand drums and smooth keyboard playing, and I gotta give props to their frontman Cameron Winter. He’s a very interesting and captivating presence, with an oddball southern yodel-ish twang in his vocals that stood out to me.
After Geese’s set, there was a 30-minute break so King Gizzard’s crew could set up. Right before their performance started, a message appeared on screen reminding the audience to have fun in the mosh pit but to look after each other and report anyone dangerous to security. I didn’t get close enough to mosh, but I’ve heard enough horror stories of audience injuries to know that the message was responsible on the band’s part. I should also note the atmosphere and the crowd of the show. There were lots of young people at the show, (more men than women, though still a decent mixture) around their 20s and early 30s. With the band’s decade-spanning influences, it also made sense that there were also some middle-aged and older people that were likely fans of similar bands such as Phish or The Grateful Dead. All the concert tickets sold out quickly, so the general audience pit on the main floor had to be packed tightly to accommodate everyone. From my firsthand experience, it smelled of sweat, pot, and alcohol the entire time. Still, that was to be expected from a crowd made up mainly of stoners wanting to mosh or get zonked out on hallucinogens.
King Gizzard’s main ethos seems to be that not only do they never repeat an album, they also never repeat a show. The band’s live performances feature lots of extensive jamming, allowing for the musicians to ride a groove and riff off one another with improvisations, giving the songs a different feel from their studio counterparts. While the jams of earlier shows may have focused more on heavier metal riffs (according to my friend, anyway. Shoutout Nayeli!), the ones this one had fit more with the influences on the new album and are more bluesy (featuring harmonicas!) with some fuzzy psychedelia and touches of funk. I’m a fan of extended performances of songs to ride out a groove to its fullest, but admittedly some improvisations could be too aimless and lengthy. They were fun, but it got to a point where I nodded off before things kicked back into gear. However, these jams are a staple of their concerts, and it may not entirely matter to you if you enjoy watching talented performers work their craft (or if you’re super high). I’ll also give the band jams credit for being more inviting to new fans that may not have listened to all of King Gizzard’s albums and giving them something entirely distinctive to their concert.
The band’s setlist was very diverse and featured 14 songs from their catalog within 2+ hours. This included three of the new songs from Flight b741, and songs from Omnium Gatherum, Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava, Nonagon Infinity, and others. Despite each album representing a new era and sound, they all fit well together and never appeared too different from each other while still being distinctive. The funk grooves of “Iron Lung”, the raw acid flavoring of “The Dripping Tap”, and the last 30 minutes of the show with back-to-back metal songs (featuring fan favorites “Mars for the Rich” and “Supercell”) all shine brightly. What I admire about the band is their democratic approach to playing, with no member seeming more important than the other. Sure, Stu Mackenzie is their designated “frontman”, but each member gets time to solo, time to speak to the crowd, and opportunities to do what they’re good at. The concert closes on an intense and completely hypnotic drum solo by Michael Cavanagh at the end of “Gaia”.
King Gizzard provided and continues to provide wonderful concerts that rock out, all the while showcasing the band’s chemistry and never-ending talents as they continue being one of the best live acts around. I can’t recommend seeing them enough, whether it’s once or multiple times.
In the post-COVID era, it’s completely changed what it means to go to the movies. Nowadays, with ticket prices higher than ever and more audience members wanting to wait for streaming as opposed to going out, the few films that are successful commercially do so by either being a known IP or is an original that breaks through with their marketing. The former is obvious; as everyone knows that the highest-grossing films per year are sequels, remakes, adaptations, or connected to something recognizable. Yet for the latter, an original film that still makes its money back and gets people talking, it feels more like an event than a movie. Longlegs, the new horror film by Oz Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter), was a movie that I saw simply because of how much I heard about it online. This came down to the film’s stellar reviews (being from NEON, an independent film distributor rivaling A24 as a stamp of quality for original work) and guerilla-style interactive marketing techniques that gave the film an unavoidable presence for film nerds like myself or otherwise.
Longlegs is a serial killer film that wears its references on its sleeve, with obvious influences in Se7en and especially The Silence of the Lambs. It stars Maika Monroe (It Follows) as a newly recruited and possibly clairvoyant FBI agent named Lee Harker in the early 90s (very Clarice Starling-like), assigned to investigate a decade-spanning case of a serial killer known as Longlegs. The killer, played by the always insane and polarizing Nicolas Cage, conducts brutal family murder-suicides, yet has no trace or imprint at each crime scene except for a note containing Satanic coding and his signature. Along the way, Harker discovers the case may have connections to her personally, with potential links to her mother, played by Alicia Witt.
The immediate praises that the film has been getting from everyone else are the technical aspects, namely the directing, cinematography, and sound design, which are truly immaculate and meticulously thought out in every scene. Every shot maximizes suspense and unsettlement through framing, lighting, mood, sound, score, and pacing. It’s cold and atmospheric, with dread and tension consistently present in every scene. Perkins is always confident in where to put the camera, where/when to move it, and how long a shot should stay for full effect, and I’m excited to see his future projects. (I also enjoyed the detail of the film’s aspect changing whenever there was a flashback.) The score by Zilgi (aka the director’s brother, Elvis Perkins), is suitably creepy and adds to the stressfulness of some scenes, and the sound department led by Eugenio Battaglia is damn near perfect. The sound of Longlegs is crisp and dry, with enough emphasis on certain details and the tiniest of sounds to keep your eyes peeled on the screen. However, what disappointed me was the infrequent, but still annoying, use of obnoxiously loud jump scare-type noise to elicit bigger reactions from the audience during certain moments. It’s cheap and feels deeply amateurish considering how expertly crafted the rest of the sound design is.
I liked Maika Monroe’s acting in this, being an intentionally muted agent who seems like a blank slate and seems to lack deeper connections to most of the other characters. That’s another way Perkins builds intrigue with his shot composition, by focusing on one character per shot and rarely featuring two at once to deepen the disconnect between each other. The film keeps her character at arm’s length for much of it until it reveals more about her. Nicolas Cage, as Longlegs, is suitably over-the-top in his usual Cagey way. His somewhat hammy performance intentionally contrasts with the more reserved characters and setting of the rest of the film, which is stressed by Cage’s usual great screen presence that bounces between slithery and creepy to loud and freakish in seconds. Sometimes he can seem to overdo his performance, but he remains entertaining throughout. As a music nerd, I admired the 70s glam rock references to his character in terms of look and performance, as well as having songs by T. Rex as a motif. The heavy makeup and campy portrayal of the killer from Cage gives the impression of being influenced by several musicians of that era, such as David Johansen of New York Dolls, Rod Stewart, or even outsider folk singer Tiny Tim.
Unfortunately, what really determined my thoughts about the film was the resolution to the plot. Giving nothing away, the main issue with Longlegs is the dump of plot exposition that explains every mystery to the central case towards the film’s end. The film follows a similar plot structure to a lot of thrillers and serial killer investigation films but feels fresh and exciting because of the style and craft behind it. There’s a lot of promise and intrigue early on through new questions being introduced, and it seems to build up to a thrilling climax. Yet the explanations provided not only feel too vague and unsatisfying, but they’re too sudden and close to the end of the film to have the shock and impact it could’ve. It’s a shame that the film stumbles in its final act through its writing and plot development, and ends on a note that leaves it less than the sum of its parts.
Still, even if I had my problems with it, there’s still a lot to admire here. Longlegs is such a marvel in its visuals, direction, and technical aspects as a thriller to make it worth a viewing, even if your enjoyment may depend on your suspension of disbelief as its plot reveals.
What makes electronic music so captivating as an art form is its wide reach of sound and the way it’s so easy to reshape into something entirely new and unique. This is something that Manatee Commune, the project of Seattle-based producer Grant Eadie, realizes and allows his music to stay fresh by trying new things. His newest album, Simultaneity, which arrives this Friday, July 19, is emblematic of that by expanding on his style rooted in tropical synthpop and EDM with more lush and atmospheric textures inspired by ambient music. For its entire runtime, Simultaneity balances layers of samples and sounds into lush, hypnotizing melodies, yet remains danceable enough to show off Manatee Commune’s versatility. It balances club-oriented rhythms and brassy synths that’s made him an in-demand remixer, while still providing something new from his prior work.
I wouldn’t say the style and approach to dance music that Simultaneity follows is entirely unique. There are many electronic subgenres that clearly serve as reference points, such as ambient house/techno and micro house. Other artists have deviated from the EDM formula by also incorporating offbeat sonic atmospheres, pitch-shifted samples, and stripped-back instrumentation. Still, all the tracks are quality-made, with each of them having something interesting to provide. The album is a mix of more club-friendly songs with a focus on groove and rhythm, and songs that combine dance beats with soft, pillowy textures that are soothing and calming. These latter songs follow the rule of ambient music coined by Brian Eno, which is that “it must be as ignorable as it is interesting”, though that’s not at all an insult.
Simultaneity opens with “Love Tone”, which is more of an intro than a real track, focusing on ambiance and tranquility to set the mood. It’s a palette cleanser or a loading screen into the rest of the album and serves as a showcase for Eadie’s producing talents for each track. The more ambient-influenced songs are more intimate and domestic, and feature dozens of odd but strangely beautiful sounds and timbres. As someone who isn’t a musician, I admittedly wouldn’t know how Eadie produced much of the album. Calling the album “beautiful noises” isn’t quite descriptive, but it’s how I felt during many of the tracks here. Songs like “Amaat One” and “Cast” are rhythmic but feel like entire worlds in their sense of space. I feel like I can reach out and touch every element of them. The album closer, “Touch Theme”, has synth and orchestral passages so emotive and beautiful that it reminded me of “The Big Ship” by Brian Eno.
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The album isn’t perfect, as its focus on vibes and contemplation can be wearisome for a more impatient listener and certain tracks can feel their length. I enjoyed the groovier EDM songs like “Cycline” and the African-inspired “Closure”, but they can contrast too much with other tracks that are meditative as opposed to danceable. Still, Simultaneity is a solid and consistent LP that has something to offer for Manatee Commune’s listeners or fans of electronic music. It has songs to get a party started, as well as songs to mellow out and relax to. Few albums can strike that kind of balance.
Nashville-based singer and songwriter Meg Elsier has released her new album spittake and it is no joke! Recently making her debut in 2023, spittake is an album she describes as an ‘introduction to herself’ as an up-and-coming indie-rock artist. The album consists of 11 songs and was made in collaboration with Ryan McFadden, a fellow Nashville-based producer. A fun fact is that most of the titles are uncapitalized with no spaces to stay true to their original demo names!
Elsier’s haunting voice is a wonderful contrast to the electric guitar and drums that build up her sordid lyrics. If her sickeningly sweet melodies don’t make you feel melancholy, then her messages will. Most of her songs are a self-reflection of her poor thoughts and actions, usually with a partner in mind.
My personal favorite of the album is “forlyleinsanfransico”. In this song, Elsier rambles on about how she is the perfect fit for a guy (or girl) and vice versa. However, Elsier admits that she is only human and has flaws that may affect their potential relationship. My favorite verse is:
I’d be your good girl But I do bad things And I talk dirty But I keep the house clean And I’d be funny But you’d be funnier And I don’t mind it I like second seat
My take on the whole song is that Elsier’s self-hatred and selfishness is preventing her from committing to a healthy relationship. As a sad girl myself, her lyrics are very relatable!
A handful of her songs are accompanied by music videos, all viewable on Youtube. In her last song “LA”, she is depicted as a white angel on an empty black stage. Other angels identical to her appear and a confrontation ensues. The song is a musing of her life if she ever moved from Nashville to LA. Elsier acknowledges that she wouldn’t trust the lack of cold weather, the high living costs, or how emotionally distant the LA people are. According to her, the harshest reality to accept would be that there are many artists just like her, implying she would lose her authenticity and ultimately herself if she ever moved to LA.
spittake can be listened to on all streaming platforms. You can also follow Elsier on social media. As for the rest of the year, Elsier is touring in her hometown Nashville Tennessee, and all along the East Coast– in Ontario & Montreal as well.
As someone who’s been studying up in the DMV (shout-out George Mason!), I’ve been slightly aware of MasVusi, an active drag performer in the area. She’s certainly a remarkable figure in both her performances and trans activism, and when I heard she was releasing an EP, I knew it would be something truly interesting. Despite pride month having come and gone, it’s still critical to shed light on new releases by queer artists absolutely worth your time, and MasVusi’s debut EP i hope you like it and is a shining example of such.
The EP has been in the works for two years, with MasVusi describing it as a “true story of love, loss, and a coming of age where queer young people must choose between their own safety or the presence of their loved ones.” The songs are implied to be autobiographical in some ways, which makes the release more intriguing given it’s already quite confessional and honest, even without the prior context. The music of the EP contrasts the moodiness of the lyrics by mainly being an eclectic blend of several eras of dance music (likely also chosen because the genre is a staple in queer/drag culture). Musically, I spotted influences from flashy 70s disco (“Chaser ‘69”), early 80s synthpop/Italo-disco (“(the) Night Shift”), and modern EDM (“t4t”) throughout the record. Though that’s assuming those aesthetic/stylistic references were intentional and I’m not just being a massive nerd, anyway.
Immediately, the opener and lead single “Closet Blues” caught my attention with a thumping dance beat and a squelchy, groovy bass line. It’s a fun opener, and the lyrics set up the themes of late-night romance (and eventual heartbreak) in a way that still complements the funk. My favorite song from the EP was definitely “(the) Night Shift”, which really impressed me with its production. It has these dreamy and lush 80s-inspired synths, and the whole track just sounds gorgeous. I absolutely must point out MasVusi’s vocal performance because while I think the opener’s mixing could bury her voice, she really comes alive in this song specifically. She has great vocal range, and her voice can have a glammy dramatic quality that really soars during the more emotional, longing moments of the record.
The next song and second single “Chaser ‘69” (featuring fellow DMV-drag artist Queenie Iman Glamazon) continues in this throwback direction by incorporating synthesized strings and a four-on-the-floor beat. It’s intentionally campy to achieve the vintage 70s disco flavor the song is going for, which is reminiscent of Donna Summer or ABBA, and again succeeds because of the vocals and production. After that comes the most vulnerable song on the record, “Momma, I”. Interspersed throughout the track is a recording of the inside of a DC metro station, which makes the lyrics and entire EP seem more real and personal. This is because the audio juxtaposes against MasVusi singing earnestly at her most desolate and bleak, with the music styled in a jazzy piano ballad to match the tone. The lyrics of the middle three songs are the most downbeat, focusing on yearning, financial hardships, and loneliness, respectively.
Fortunately, the EP ends on a positive note with “t4t”, a fast-paced contemporary rave song. I believe the lyrics show MasVusi found her own happiness with the local drag/club scene she’s currently involved in, a sentiment that wraps up the EP nicely. As a debut release, i hope you like it (which, yes, I did) is bold and revealing while still being quite danceable and engaging, and it shows that MasVusi is a performer with something to say.
The second album by any successful artist can be a critical moment in their career. It’s made to show the impact of their previous work wasn’t a fluke, and that they’re still someone worth giving your time and attention to. This is easy to mess up, as the term “sophomore slump” still gets used when describing artists not being able to make a follow-up that builds on their previous acclaim. The new album by Luna Shadows, bathwater, thankfully doesn’t fall into known sophomore slump pitfalls and expands on Shadows’ previous music from 2021’s Digital Pacific. It expands on her goth alt-pop sound by incorporating more guitars and orchestral arrangements, but also shows a deeper, more personal look into Shadows than before. bathwater is a slow-burn album that rewards listeners with poetic and vulnerable lyrics and gorgeous melodies that split the difference between songs you can dance or cry to in equal measure.
Musically, the album isn’t a complete reinvention of Shadows’ previous work, as it uses Digital Pacific as a jumping-off point to new sounds and textures. The previous album’s hazy synthpop and use of drum machine rhythms found in hip-hop or R&B are still present, but they take more of a backseat. As someone who doesn’t listen to moody alternative pop records (i.e. Lorde, Lana del Rey, Billie Eilish, etc.), the sound took a bit of getting used to. I deeply appreciate that Luna Shadows remembers to keep her music rhythmic and interesting, unlike a lot of alt-pop that focuses too heavily on vibes. However, some songs are produced more in minimal accompaniment with a greater focus on Shadows’ vocals and a richly produced dense atmosphere. Still, the album sounds great and even goes into psychedelic, somewhat ethereal territory that almost reminds me of dream pop like Beach House or even Cocteau Twins.
Speaking of Shadows, her vocal performances here are as pristine as ever; being breathy and somewhat whispered at points, yet still dynamic enough to convey the raw sense of vulnerability she’s going for. Her voice is soothing and occasionally functions as an instrument themselves when set against the eerie and psychedelic soundscapes she sings in. Fitting with her namesake and the album cover, her voice and persona all have an otherworldly, mystical quality that makes her music even more intriguing. All the vocal harmonies sound wonderful, alternating between misty, heartbreaking, playful, and just all-around pretty whenever the song demands it.
In terms of individual songs, my favorites are the more up-tempo pop-friendly singles like “bleach” and “heroine” which both feature killer electric guitar and breezy vocal harmonies. Some of the slower songs are just as strong, like the heartbreaking “monroe” with its desperate sentiments, and “honeymoon” which features some beautiful finger-picked acoustic guitar. The indie stylings mostly come down to acoustic guitar being used as background texture, like on the more R&B-inspired “tourist” and the ballad “superstars”. However, there’s still time given to use guitar solos on songs like “stay mad” and “nudes” that are consistently excellent throughout the album. Experimenting with string instruments like on “witches’ brew” and the closer “apocalypse love song” complements the melancholy and moody tone that the tracks themselves provide.
bathwater may occasionally feel its length with a track list of 14 songs (including an intro) and can go into the same sonic territory of ambiance a bit too often, but each song has enough personal feeling to justify its place. Luna Shadows likely made this album as a way of transcribing her personal struggles and conflicts into art, such as many other artists, and she succeeds by pushing herself forward musically and emotionally. For only a sophomore album, it suggests more great work from her is still to come.
As a music nerd, it’s fun to listen to new releases and try to figure out where an artist’s influences come from. However, it takes talent and real musical ambition to not just seem like an admirer of certain inspirations with nothing original to say. Inside Out, the new album from Florida-based singer-songwriter Jason Montero, wears its influences on its sleeve yet keeps things fresh with new ideas. It’s a record clearly worshiping a lot of classic rock but focusing deeply on grooves, shared chemistry between band members, and varied instrumentation to be a consistently enjoyable listen.
Montero, a guitarist and longtime performer in bands local to the Phoenix area (Honey Child, The Limit, The Wood Band), explained that this album specifically resulted from dusting off some late-80s/early-90s songs he never ended up recording. For the studio recording sessions, several old bandmates and friends from his life helped to contribute parts, and everyone’s enthusiasm for the project clearly shines through. Every song sounds like a portion of a fun afternoon jam session, with the backing band getting ample opportunities to contribute, whether it’s for rhythm or simply texture and atmosphere.
The first half of the album surprised me with how danceable and almost funk-driven it was. Songs like “No James Dean”, “Criss Cross”, and lead single “Thorn” all have delightful swinging grooves that’s toe-tapping fun throughout their entire runtime. The emphasis on hand drums and shakers during certain tracks turns what could be simple bar band blues-rock into something more worldly and cultured than expected. Sometimes the songs reminded me of Paul Simon’s Graceland or even Vampire Weekend’s early world music excursions. A song like “Conclusive Illusions” has layers of sounds to it, but each instrument develops tightly together into complex polyrhythms. It’s impressive at the level of musicianship present during certain songs.
The second half of Inside Out is less upbeat, introducing elements of folk and psychedelia. “Marvel at the Rainbow” and closer “Her Majesty’s List” are sweet and earnest, mainly featuring Montero with soft and gentle acoustic guitar playing. Speaking of which, his acoustic and electric guitar work are consistently great, with the latter getting to shine on heavier songs like “Gomorrah” and “Rebecca”. Montero’s vocals, like a lot of classic rock singers, are more about their grit and gruffness than necessarily their technical ability, and they complement the bluesier songs well enough. He also produced the album himself, and the sound of the production fits perfectly. It’s very natural and rural sounding to match the vintage influences and shines during the more acoustic sections of the record.
Inside Out isn’t perfect and may rely too much on classic rock conventions for some, yet that’s part of why it works. Going back to these old songs written decades ago was clearly a nostalgia-driven exercise for Jason Montero, and that passion shines through in every song. If he had rewritten and updated them from the work of a less experienced singer-songwriter, the initial appeal of recording the songs, to begin with, would be lost. As it is, Inside Out is a time capsule of songs that aren’t confined to the decades originally written from.
