CLICK HERE TO WATCH TO R.RING’S NEW “100 DOLLAR HEAT” VIDEO VIA PUREVOLUME!

PREMIERE: R. Ring — “100 Dollar Heat”
The duo of Kelley Deal and Mike Montgomery have been in bands before, but none quite like R. Ring. Their forces have been combined to create a sound that’s unlike anything they’ve previously created, which is to say it’s fairly unconventional. Their new video for “100 Dollar Heat” is a steady stream of images that range from object to political figures. And, the deliberate paced song is a pretty song, too.

“Negotiating with my spirit animal on a hot day to see who’s going to the store to get the icy cold can of Mountain Dew,” Deal says of the song and video, which was created by Protomartyr’s drummer Alex Leonard.

R. Ring’s Ignite The Rest, will be available April 28th on limited vinyl, CD, digital and streaming formats via SofaBurn Records, which you can pre-order here.

http://www.purevolume.com/news/PREMIERE-R-Ring-100-Dollar-Heat

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO JAMES WILLIAMSON & DENIZ TEK’S NEW “ACOUSTIC KO” EP IN ITS ENTIRETY VIA DANGEROUS MINDS!

‘ACOUSTIC KO’: STOOGES CLASSICS STRIPPED DOWN BY JAMES WILLIAMSON AND RADIO BIRDMAN’S DENIZ TEK

Though he achieved his greatest notoriety as the founder of Australia’s punk progenitors Radio Birdman, Deniz Tek is a Detroit kid—no surprise, as guttural guitar ferocity like his has the Rust Belt written all over it. Radio Birdman were shot through with Detroit influences, specifically via the Stooges—their name came from a misheard Iggy lyric, and their rehearsal space/clubhouse was dubbed the Funhouse.

In later post-Birdman years, Tek would play in bands with ex-Stooges, like New Race with Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton, and the short-lived (exactly two gigs) and underdocumented Dodge Main, whose live lineup featured the MC5’s Wayne Kramer, Stooges’ Scott Asheton, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band’s Scott Morgan, and The UP!’s Gary Rasmussen, with Jimmy Zero of the Dead Boys.

Now Tek is releasing a four-song E.P. with later Stooges guitarist James Williamson, titled Acoustic K.O. a play on the title of Iggy and the Stooges’ live album Metallic K.O.. It features four Williamson compositions—“Penetration” and “I Need Somebody” from Raw Power, and “Night Theme” and “No Sense of Crime” from the 1977 Pop/Williamson album Kill City. The acoustic transformations are startling and quite effective. Per Williamson:

The songs of Acoustic K.O. are pearls from my youth, which are almost equally familiar to Deniz Tek from his. In fact the same could be said for the others on this record, to varying degrees. The process of recording them acoustically enhanced their luster with new clarity from re-interpretation. We love how it turned out.

He ain’t wrong—“I Need Somebody” seems a natural for an acoustic treatment, and the new version with Tek maintains the original’s menacing stomp. A more substantial transformation occurs on “Penetration,” but the E.P.’s real stunners are “No Sense of Crime,” on which Tek duets with Annie Hardy of Giant Drag, and “Night Theme”; the original on Kill City it’s a noisy-ish guitar theme-and-reprise suite that straddles the LP’s two sides, but here it’s a lush instrumental featuring a full orchestra. It’s DM’s pleasure today to premiere the stream of the entire release. Enjoy.
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/acoustic_ko_stooges_classics_stripped_down_by_james_williamson_and_radio_bi

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE WHISKEY GENTRY’S NEW ALBUM “DEAD RINGER” IN ITS ENTIRETY VIA THE BLUEGRASS SITUATION!

STREAM: THE WHISKEY GENTRY, ‘DEAD RINGER’
Artist: The Whiskey Gentry
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Album: Dead Ringer
Release Date: April 7, 2017
Label: Pitch-a Tent Records

In Their Words: “Everyone says ‘You write what you know,’ and I definitely think the songs on Dead Ringer tell stories of the people we’ve met, experiences we’ve had (both good and bad), and challenges we’ve faced during the last decade of being in this band. Musically and lyrically, we took bigger risks on this record: There’s more of an edge and sass to it. We stopped caring if we said a curse word or if the guitars were too loud or if a note wasn’t executed perfectly. If we wanted to try something different, we did — no matter if it fit in our ‘genre’ or not. Ultimately, I think Dead Ringer has a vibe and a sound that finally seems to truly reflect who we are as people and musicians. We’re immensely happy with the outcome.” — Lauren Staley
http://www.thebluegrasssituation.com/read/stream-whiskey-gentry-dead-ringer

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO PAUL COLLINS’ “ALL OVER THE WORLD” VIA BLURT MAGAZINE!

Track Premiere: Paul Collins “All Over the World”
Tune culled from the songwriter’s 1985 mini-album classic.
By Blurt Staff

The name Paul Collins won’t catch anyone who frequents the BLURT site on an even semi-occasional basis. The rocker and power pop avatar, with his band Paul Collins’ Beat, is releasing the Long Time Gone / To Beat Or Not To Beat two-fer on April 28 via Lolipop Records (distributed by Cobraside Distribution), and this time it will be on vinyl, cassette, and digital in addition to CD (Wounded Bird did a CD version of the two-record roundup back in 2004—the mini-albums originally came out on 12” vinyl in 1983 and 1985, respectively—but that label’s version suffered from shoddy mastering and horrible sound). By way of preview, we’ve got the track “All Over the World” to share with our readers. Check it out:
Speaking about the To Beat Or Not To Beat track, Collins tells us, “I remember getting an $800 royalty check for ‘All Over The World’ when I was living in San Francisco so I went out and bought a used green Datsun B210! I would always hum ‘All Over The World’ as I drove up and down all those hills in SF!”

Go HERE to read our review of his 2014 album Feel the Noise. Collins will be on tour throughout the spring, including this weekend in Philly. You can find him on the web, natch:

http://www.thepaulcollinsbeat.com
https://www.facebook.com/Paul-Collins-Beat-46392812761
http://blurtonline.com/news/track-premiere-paul-collins-world/

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO LEFT LANE CRUISER’S NEW TITLE TRACK “CLAW MACHINE WIZARD” VIA POPMATTERS!

Left Lane Cruiser – “Claw Machine Wizard” (audio) (premiere)

Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Left Lane Cruiser has built a solid reputation as an undeniable force of rhythm and raw energy over the last decade. You can hear the band in action on “Claw Machine Wizard”, the title track from the duo’s upcoming LP, due May 19 from Alive Records. A blast of pure, furnace-hot energy, the tune bridges the distance between hill country blues and Black Sabbath. Drummer Pete Dio’s playing recalls the powerful, responsive (and jazz-inflected) work of Sabbath’s Bill Ward. Meanwhile, guitarist/vocalist Freddy J Evans IV reminds us that both blues and heavy rock took long crawls from the back streets to the main street, tracking layers of soulful grit in along the way.

Left Lane Cruiser’s appeal is immediate, reaching into our deepest, most primal needs for music that moves both the feet and the soul. More fundamentally, the duo serves to remind us that their music is about that moment when bad times start to take a turn for the better. As Evans himself says, “Sometimes the blues make you feel like you’re stuck in a claw machine. You just need a good woman to come along and snatch you up. And while she’s workin’ on it, pour a little lightnin’ in your whiskey cup!”

TOUR DATES
April 1 @ Highway Bar — Knightstown, IN
April 4 @ The Brass Rail w/MARK PORKCHOP HOLDER — Fort Wayne, IN
April 22 @ Burn Em Brewing — Michigan City, IN
April 28 @ White Rabbit — Indianapolis, IN
April 29 @ Goat Fest IV Pre-sale Party @ The Basement — Nashville, TN
May 6 @ Monnrunners Music Festival — Chicago, IL
May 11 @ The Brickhause — Stevens Point, WI
May 12 @ Nakato Bar — North Mankato, MN
May 14 @ The Hook and Ladder — Minneapolis, MN
June 2 @ Muddy Roots Spring Weekender — Brown County, IN
June 24 @ Choice City Stomp — Fort Collins, CO
July 12 @ Three Rivers Festival — Fort Wayne, IN
September 1 – 4 @ Muddy Roots Music Festival — Cookeville, TN
http://www.popmatters.com/post/left-lane-cruiser-claw-machine-wizard-audio-premiere/

CLICK HERE TO WATCH R.RING’S NEW “CUTTER” VIDEO VIA YAHOO! MUSIC
Video Premiere: R. Ring Debuts ‘Cutter’
Wendy Geller

For those who aren’t sure who makes up the duo R.Ring, the pairing happens to be Kelley Deal of the Breeders and Mike Montgomery of Ampline. Both musicians are enjoying a change of direction from their main projects to concentrate on a unique, sparse sound very different from what fans might expect.

Yahoo Music is pleased to debut the video for “Cutter,” which is from their forthcoming debut Ignite The Rest. The release features some guest appearances from friends: the bits of drumming that appear are courtesy of Laura King (Mac MaCaughan and the Non-Believers, Fleshwounds), Leo DeLuca (Southeast Engine), and professional skateboarder Kristian Svitak. The cello arrangements are by Lori Goldston (Earth / Nirvana).

‘Cutter’ is one of the first songs Kelley and I ever worked on together,” explains Montgomery of the track. “She had this percussive vocal melody and chugging rhythm… we sat on the couch and recorded a little demo of our first run-through of it and then spent the next five years trying to recreate that tiny ball of fury that the s***ty little phone mic picked up. There was something really exciting about that smooshed angularity with hyper-accentuated treble that we couldn’t quite recapture in a ‘proper’ studio setting.

“The decision to add Laura King’s ferocious, garbled drum bursts to lock in the pulse will go down as one of R.Ring’s great life choices, rivaled only by our decision to ask Seattle-based artists Clyde Petersen and Chris Looney to do a video for the song. Clyde and Chris’ imagery captures perfectly those feelings of shame, isolation and aggressive carelessness that the lyrics evoke.”
https://www.yahoo.com/music/video-premiere-r-ring-debuts-cutter-161950306.html

Click here to listen to The Knits’ new “Retreat” album in its entirety via AllMusic!

Album Premiere: The Knitts, ‘Retreat’
By Chris Steffen

​Los Angeles five-piece the Knitts delivers a set of rowdy, irony-free rock and roll on its debut LP, Retreat. Though some of the songs have been in the band’s repertoire for as long as six years, they finally put them down with help from producer Michael Leonhart, with the album set for a March 3 release on Knitting Factory Records. Opening track “She Likes the Idea of Gold” manages to careen through three distinct sections in three and a half minutes, all of it confidently exuberant. That energy carries throughout the album, as even the slower tracks like “Sorry Sonny” and “Lovers Take in Their Own” carry a charmingly unpolished swagger.
http://www.allmusic.com/blog/post/album-premiere-the-knitts-retreat

Click here to listen to Heath Green & The Makeshifters’ new song “Ain’t Got God” via The Bluegrass Situation!

LISTEN: HEATH GREEN & THE MAKESHIFTERS, ‘AIN’T GOT GOD’
February 24th, 2017 / BY BGS STAFF

Artist: Heath Green & the Makeshifters
Hometown: Birmingham, AL
Album: Heath Green & the Makeshifters
Release Date: March 3, 2017
Label: Alive Naturalsound Records

In Their Words: “It was a freezing day outside and drizzling just enough to stay irritated. I had to go work in this mess. I would sing to keep my mind off how cold it was in my truck that had no heat. When I started to sing that day, ‘Ain’t Got God’ just came out. It was about a 10-minute drive and, by the time I got there, the song was done. It wrote itself.” — Heath Green
Photo credit: Melinda Green
http://www.thebluegrasssituation.com/read/watch-heath-green-makeshifters-aint-got-god