Space Captain - "Secret Garden" / "Back of My Mind"

By Phillipe Roberts

Bursting the intergalactic bubble of Space Captain’s most outwardly futuristic dispatch yet, bandleader Maralisa Simmons-Cook keeps a loving eye on the past as she boldly steers the beloved Brooklyn outfit through a pair of stunning new singles. “I’m always living for nostalgia / reliving yesterday” she sings on the upbeat second track, “Back of My Mind,” weaving her stacked vocals through hazy fields of reverb, seasick whirls of synth-bass, and–playing a greater role than ever before–meticulously programmed drums. An unwinding of memories in reassurance to a former flame, it pairs beautifully with the disarming and lush introspection of “Secret Garden,” where synthesized flutes, bright beds of organ, and finger-picked guitar jostle for attention on a honey-sweet ballad that welcomes new love into an intimate hideaway within. Their newest release since 2017’s heavenly All Flowers in Time, “Secret Garden”/“Back of My Mind” dials down the dreaminess for a more focused, grounded, and ear-catching Space Captain than ever before.

Releasing a pair of love songs–or any music, for that matter–during a pandemic is a frightening emotional prospect for any artist. But as the weeks wore on, Maralisa began to accept that the songs, reflections on “being emotional, being vulnerable, and finding vulnerability,” might have a place in the “new normal” rising up around them.

“Finding and building sanctuaries was huge for me the last couple of years,” she explains, citing the emotional burnout of the last election and the exhaustion that came after releasing their first full length album in articulating the band’s slow songwriting progress. Dearly departed Williamsburg coffee shop Caprices by Sophie, was one such oasis with its hidden backyard; a space for her to breathe, think, and songwrite that became the inspiration for “Secret Garden.” A San Francisco native who’s nevertheless put down roots so deep that she hasn’t moved from her very first Brooklyn apartment in over 8 years, Maralisa opens this quiet place, bursting with “treasures and lovers inside,” to be explored and shared with a new love.

Accompanied in a special performance by organ virtuoso Jake Sherman and featuring guitar from Gray Hall, backing vocals from Joy Morales, and *very* live drums from Donnie Spackman (Great Time), the song erupts midway into a soaring bridge that Maralisa had considered the chorus until producer/bassist Alex Pyle suggested otherwise far into the writing process; “Sometimes we care about song structure, but usually...we don’t,” she notes with a laugh.

“Secret Garden”’s companion piece, the swirling “Back of My Mind,” emerged slowly, working its way up from the bottom of Maralisa’s list as its vocal melody burrowed into her ear and spurred her nostalgic mind to action. “This is about a person I dated a long time ago who left a really positive impact on me,” she explains, “It’s about honoring that kind of relationship.” Far from a breakup song, the lyrics muse sweetly on how their love has evolved past fumbling romance into something deeper and more treasured, “a rare, rare find” that grounds her; a foundation to move forward from. The warped, spacey production is weighty and energizing. There’s a heaviness to the memories, but between the knock of the drums and Maralisa’s commanding double and triple-tracked vocals echoing wildly, you’ll be weightless by the second chorus.

With the band’s members–a tremendously accomplished group of musicians who frequently tour the world supporting artists ranging from Moses Sumney to Beyoncé–temporarily locked down due to COVID-19, new songs are on the horizon for Space Captain. Writing more than ever before, the band are due for a second, late summer release this year (also on Tru Thoughts Records), and a music video to accompany these fantastic tracks. Keep Space Captain on your radar–your attention is mandatory.

The Lazy Eyes - "Tangerine"

By Charley Ruddell

If you’ve paid any attention to Australian music recently, you know that psych bands are one of the country’s largest exports following iron ore, coal, and sweet shiraz. Between Tame Impala, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, and their respective offshoots—The Murlocs, Pond, and Pipe-Eye to pick a few—Aussie psych rapidly spread and dosed U.S. indie-heads over the last decade with the swift sweep of a panned flanger. Sydney four-piece The Lazy Eyes are the newest group with a buzz from down under, with the release of “Tangerine,” the second single from their forthcoming debut EP. 

What began as teenage camaraderie at a performing arts high school developed into a bounding collective of creative output on borrowed equipment in basement jam sessions. The zippy, acidic “Tangerine” is the first song created from these adolescent fever dreams. Paired with the driven rhythm section comes a trademarked Aussie-psych polyrhythmic melody; lurid Lennon-esque couplets delivered with hushed assurance, the edgy intimacy of DIIV’s Zachary Cole Smith or Pipe-Eye’s Cook Craig bearing influence along the path. 

The unbridled energy that bursts from the pit of “Tangerine” isn’t lost within the bouts of washy guitars in the song’s chorus, or even the clunky deceleration leading up to the song’s climactic, bluesy guitar solo, but is encouraged by the endearing placidity of the vocal delivery. Through its burning three minutes, “Tangerine” is entirely porous and playful in its spirit, with the sleepy eyelids and chugging energy of a teenager who’s been up all night on a tab of great acid.

KUNZITE - NOVAS

By Charley Ruddell

Throughout his time on this planet, the great jazz sorcerer Sun Ra left bestowed scraps of cosmic wisdom for anyone deft enough to listen. “As far as people on this planet are concerned, they know far less than they do what they know,” he emanates in the opening moments of electro-psych duo KUNZITE’s newest video for “Novas,” their first release via Wilder since 2018’s BIRDS DON’T FLY, as a pair of Trekkian-esque anthropoids gyrate through the gorgeous terrain of White’s homeland in the islands of Hawaii. 

Photo by Priest Fontaine Batten

Formed after chance encounters on tour stretches during the early-aughts, Stroud (one half of electronic duo RATATAT) and White (formerly of psych outfit White Flight) formed KUNZITE through a shared interest of beat-heavy, acid-tinged psychedelia. “Novas” is the pinnacle of this brain trust. The bombastic, maximalist body of “Novas” immediately calls to mind the glitch-hop realm of Stroud’s former project, while the zipping synths and sun-drenched vocals bring the utopia of the West Coast to the forefront. With its freewheeling swagger and bumping grooves, “Novas” invokes a certain shaggy-haired assurance to those of us yet to be raptured by the dance floor enlightenment of the Western world. 

As Stroud and White perch upon the rolling red canyons and glistening ocean stones with guitars slung and beards flowing, the cosmonauts trek through the lush jungles of the Pacific Southwest. Kaleidoscopic shots of waves and waterfalls make the earthly landscapes feel otherworldly. It showcases the duo’s eagerness to turn something so familiar into a feeling of bewilderment. “My music is about changing things,” Sun Ra concludes in his opening monologue, an affirmation KUNZITE has clearly plastered on its DJ decks. 

Panther Hollow - Atoms in the Universe

By Phillipe Roberts

Guitar-backed meditations on insignificance tend to accumulate in locations with a little bit of breathing room–where folks live close enough to taste forest-cleansed air, feel the spray of the ocean, or gaze out into the eerie desert night with a sense of wonder and enough wisdom to quench your ego before the majesty of “empty” space. Perhaps it’s the daily grind of charming and clawing your way to the top in the urban world, or the grandiose monuments to human exceptionalism that cities pretend to be, but within these walls, it’s be big or go home.

Well light pollution be damned; Queens’ Panther Hollow are out here, squinting through a telescope for a taste of that sweet, sweet insignificance on their track “Atoms in the Universe.” The opening and title track for an EP released a year ago today, the song balances gentle folk finger-picking and phaser-enhanced psychedelic rock bombast as it tumbles through a window-gazing reverie into a more innocent time “when we were atoms in the universe / falling down.” Led by Bernardo Ochoa’s telephone-effected vocals and meandering guitar, Panther Hollow paints an ambiguous scene that manages to feel immediately emotionally familiar. From the gentle romance of “when you're right beside me, no one contains us / but our clothes” to the dorm-room psychedelic come-down poetry that “your room is an island / where we are stranded” calls to mind (maybe just mine?), Panther Hollow comes equipped with the lyrical artillery to match their own formidable instrumental fireworks.

The song premieres today on ThrdCoast with a brand new music video. The brilliantly salvaged remains of an animation project, the melted studio playthrough of the song shows off the constellation of collaborations behind Panther Hollow. “This whole process definitely took longer than I intended,” explains Ochoa. “At the time I was planning on organizing a visual EP, and I initially wanted to animate all four songs. But after we released the audio in February, I realized that publishing and moving on was more important to me than finalizing my initial vision. So what's left is these amazing videos shot by Camille Petricola and animated by Joyce Zhao and Dan Criblez. It wasn't what I thought it would be when I first started conceptualizing the EP, but I'm super happy with the work that came out of it.”

Stream the full Atoms in the Universe EP at the band’s Bandcamp page.

Tony Kill - Love High Speed

By Phillipe Roberts

A genre-less expanse of frayed ideas, Love High Speed is a series of sonic detours taken with giddy abandon. Conducted by Washington D.C.-based artist Tony Kill, the EP presents seven smeared tracks that play right into the enigmatic presentation of their creator, offering little to no clues as to who, or what, we’re listening to beyond fragmented voicemails, clipped field recordings, and twisted singing that phases in and out of audibility. Let the constant distortion wash over you for the first listen, however, and you find yourself in a rich sonic world that makes a virtue out of misdirection. It keeps ambitions high even as the fidelity crawls deeper and deeper underground.

In contrast to the rest of Love High Speed, opener “Dolin Blanc” whistles its way in and keeps things smooth, much like the sweet vermouth that serves as its namesake. A sensuous bassline rumbles under gently splashing drums before dislocating from the groove entirely, playing against ambient swirls of guitar as the scene dissolves away from the pleasant morning reverie. Suddenly, a pen scratches out a signature, and a desk attendant asks if you need help with your bags. You’re fully checked-in to his surreal hotel now, and Tony Kill is free to really let loose for some twisted fun. Because for all of the sweetness and order of “Dolin Blanc,” it’s the rough-hewn weirdness of the rest of the EP that allows Tony Kill to really shine, unhinged from the expectation of providing anything for you to comfortably grip onto.

With the bouncing bass from “Dolin Blanc” still present as a holdover, Tony Kill begins his descent on “Heaven Sent,” charging through church organ swells with a chorus of Tonys proclaiming “You’re Heaven Sent” ad nauseum. Other indistinguishable vocals pour in, crying out with a kind of impassioned religious ecstasy that crashes over the main vocal in waves–a brilliant effect that sounds like watching someone have a mental breakdown in the middle of Sunday service.

Crafting these sharp moments of emotional tension is something that Tony Kill does remarkably well across the EP. Particularly so on “Drive,” where distorted shouts pile on top of a screeching guitar solo, which mellows out into a light, bluesy twang, before erupting again in chaos in a perfect mirror of the lyrics–“Intruder alert / Intruder alert.” But with all of this dissonance, Tony Kill isn’t afraid of a satisfying groove. Like the aforementioned “Dolin Blanc,” much of the EP ruminates on stretching simple ideas out into flavorful instrumentals. From the undeniably catchy krautrock pulse of “Gotta Turbo (Truck Stanley),” which almost sounds piped in from a Stereolab or Broken Social Scene rehearsal, to the industrial throb and burbling vocals of “I Am This Close,” it’s clear that Tony Kill knows exactly where to turn on the head-nodding charm.

Love High Speed ends with the instrumentally slight and vocally dissociative “Anyone.” Tony unspools a yawning manifesto, “I don’t fear anyone,” just twice over a creeping groove that hardly shuffles past the one minute mark. Thought it follows the disorienting, dubbed-out odyssey that is “Suddenly Unknow Everything,” “Anyone” feels like the perfect place to conclude his latest adventure–fearless and unphased, laughing in the face of any potential detractors before they even get a chance to respond. Love High Speed keeps you on your toes–and is well worth the disorientation–but don’t expect any congratulations from Tony for making it through to the other side. He’s above it all, distinctly unimpressed that you’re finally on his level.