Vee Hua 華婷婷Starring
“Kraut-punk, you say?” my ears perking up. “Whatever could that madness be?” That madness is Starring. And at the risk of being lazy, I’m going to go ahead and copy and paste a clip from SPIN, as it is actually quite the creative and accurate summary of the Brooklyn band:
“Within the first frenetic minute of ‘The Best,’ Starring fold a delay bubble into a Farfisa freak-out into a Neu!-ish buildup and shove everything inside a tiny room that’s vibrating with processed drums and tattoo-gun percussion. Then, wait – was that a jazz flute solo? Like the alphabet-soup title of the full-length album it appears on, ‘The Best’ packs a sundry spoonful of familiar sounds and sweet surprises into a restive five-minutes and change.” – SPIN
Their new album, ABCDEFG-HIJKLMNOP-QRSTUV-WXYZ, comes out June 12th on Northern Spy Records, a six-track album recorded in a church. This track, “The Best,” is a helluva intro to their work. You can see why they play shows with bands as diverse as Chain and The Gang, Magik Markers, and Dustin Wong — they’re all over the place, in the best of fucking ways! Full tour dates and tracklisting at the bottom of this post.
Album art courtesy of Alex Ness.
STARRING TOUR DATES
^ w/ Guardian Alien
06/14/12 Brooklyn, NY – Public Assembly (Strange Victory Touring / Northside Fest Showcase) *
07/07/12 Brooklyn, NY – 285 Kent Ave. (Spy Music Festival) %
Aug 8th Floristree Space Baltimore, MD ^
Aug 9th The Pilot Light Knoxville, TN ^
Aug 10th 529 Atlanta, GA ^
Aug 11th The Basement Nashville, TN ^
Aug 12th Siberia New Orleans, LA ^
Aug 13th Walter’s on Washington Houston, TX ^
Aug 14th Mohawk Austin, TX ^
Aug 15th Record Bar Kansas City, MO ^
Aug 16th The Firebird St. Louis, MO ^
Aug 18th The Hideout Chicago, IL ^
Aug 19th The Mill Iowa City, IA ^
Aug 20th Cactus Club Madison, WI ^
Aug 22nd Happy Dog Cleveland, OH ^
Aug 23rd Double Double Land Toronto, ON ^
Anywhere
Anywhere’s upcoming record comes out July 24th on ATP Recordings, and it is a collaboration between musicians Christian Eric Beaulieu and Cedric Bixler Zavala of The Mars Volta. The title track, “Anywhere,” may be the least cinematic and most accessible track, but it is in the other tracks that the album shines strongest, pul in global influences that evoke desert landscapes. If you found the Lyonnais – “A Sign From On High / Modern Calvary” music video beautiful or compelling in its expansiveness, you will probably have similar thoughts about this record. Hope to be able to offer you one of the other (better) tracks soon.
ANYWHERE TRACKLISTING
1. Pyramid Mirrors
2. Rosa Rugosa
3. Khamsin
4. Dead Golden West
5. Anywhere
6. Shaman Mantra
7. Infrared Moses
SFV Acid
Electronic producer Zane Reynolds’ latest track, “Granmasmitza,” comes from his June 26th release on Post Present Medium, #2. Let the jingling, jangling good times roll.
Listen to SFV Acid – “Granmasmitza” – DOWNLOAD MP3
[audio:/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/SFV-Acid_Granmasmitza.mp3|titles=Granmasmitza]
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Jake Renn
Navi Esparza