***AMITIÉ exclusive EP premiere***

AMITIÉ
'Over This Bullshit'

exclusive EP premiere

For fans of: Supine, Dianacrawls, and Gilded Age

AMITIÉ

Bandcamp

Facebook

I've been all over Amitié since their inception and my friendship with guitarist/vocalist Matt Morales has led to me being lucky enough to release a few things. Just a few weeks after our podcast together, I very enthusiastically present this new set of songs. The 7" will be released officially on April 1st, 2022 with the 7"s likely finishing at the plant shortly. It will be released on black vinyl via Illuminate My Heart, No Funeral, Larry Records, and Limited To One Record Shop. The band had this to say about the final product:

“Over This Bullshit” represents a major shift in our lifetime as a band. 3 songs pulled out of a batch of 10 songs, exclusively and specifically picked for this EP release. 

The writing process began with the addition of our wonderful bass player Ryan Couitt. They were the missing piece to the puzzle. These songs are so much more than we could have imagined. Influences pulled from every corner of extreme music from grind, noise, Screamo, Midwest emo, powerviolence,  and doom, just to name a few. Alongside the complete volatility of the instrumentation on “Over This Bullshit”, the lyrical value is that of an agitated, feral animal who can no longer bare the weight of life’s pressures. Touching upon societal pressures that create some sort of cookie cutter lifestyle that is seemingly the “ideal” way of life, the fallacies of commercial farming and the severe degradation of several species and the very planet we live on, to mind expanding substances and experiences that add clarity and depth to life. We hope you enjoy these new songs and are excited for the future of Amitié.

(2022) AMITIÉ 'Over This Bullshit' full stream

https://youtu.be/PMb0PeFqJkw

ADDITIONAL LINKS & WHATNOT

OMSB Podcast

OMSB Review

PARTY HATS

Band: PARTY HATS
Genres: Punk / Post-Hardcore / Mathcore / Emo / Screamo / Skramz / Twinkle

Related artists: ?.
Country: Denton, Texas U.S.A.
Years Active: 2021-present
For fans of: The Reptilian, Terry Green, Iwrotehaikusaboutcannibalisminyouryearbook, Two Knights, Adobe Homes, Pictures Of June, Seyarse, Algernon Cadwallader, and Wet Petals.

Label(s): Tomb Tree

Denton, Texas' PARTY HATS sent me their album a few months ago and asked if I would be interested in releasing it. Halfway through the first song I made two decisions. First, this is fucking sick and I want to release this. Second, it's a bit twinkly for Zegema Beach so it'd fit nicely in the vaster arena of  conglomerated sub-genres known as Tomb Tree. We released them on March 18th, 2022 and immediately sold more than half of our copies. It's a very unique, enjoyable album that keeps impressing me the more I listen to it, which tends to be rare these days and definitely a feat worth noting for the band <3

Oh right, what's it sound like? Well, to do that let's travel back in time and visit 2013 David Norman. Just step in to my time machine here and if - oh! Watch your step! Okay take a seat and let's get this shitshow on the road.

2013 DAVE: WOAH WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!

2022 Dave: Chill-scene, my dude. Just here to give you a good old reset. Aka, let's talk screamo.

2013 DAVE: Screamo? Hell yeah. I like screamo.

2022 Dave: I know you do numbnuts, but I heard you're a little iffy on the twinkles.

2013 DAVE: Duuuuuuude I got twinkles coming outta my ass I could literally put on a shitshow.

2022 Dave: Yeah I know...it's a little...uhhhhh, saturated at the moment. But don't fret! Just keep an open ear even if you see "twinkles" or something.

2013 DAVE: No way, man. I'm so sick of Non-Denominational Emo and The Hotelier and American Football. Nuh-uh.

2022 Dave: Hear me out, dipshit. You like Native?

2013 DAVE: Well...yeah.

2022 Dave: And This Town Needs Guns?

2013 DAVE: Uhhh, yes.

2022 Dave: What about Seyarse?

2013 DAVE: Of fucking course.

2022 Dave: Then shut your pie-hole and go listen to Party Hats.

2013 DAVE: Who?

2022 Dave: Oh, right. They don't exist yet. But they will, David. They wiiiiiiiiiilllllllllll...

2013 DAVE: Allllllllllllrighty then!

Wasn't that fun? Informative? What? You need more? Bam! First off, there are no chugs or metallic hardcore on this album. This is shrieky, twinkly emo that falls somewhere between The Reptilian's fun-lovin' noodle-fest and the raw power of clean guitars ala Wet Petals. The band dropped Seyarse as an influence and during the faster "screamo" parts it is definitely noticeable, although I get an early Terry Green vibe from these songs as well and think members of said band would eat this particular record for breakfast. There is a lot of variation on the album as tracks such as "Tearjerker", "I trapped a fly in the fridge", and "Pinch Hit" go big, varied, and feel like a wonderful journey, while "Box Cutter Pt.2", "The future ain't what it used to be", and "It's Not The Heat, It's The Humility" are more straight to the point, aggressive, and chaotic.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2022 - Fatima cassetteLP (stream/donate/download here)

2021 - Leroy Trinket split (stream/donate/download here)

2021 - Demo digitalEP (stream/donate/download here)

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(2022) PARTY HATS - "Box Cutter Pt. 2" (from 'Fatima')

https://youtu.be/AooNpWVG8_E

(2022) PARTY HATS - "Pinch Hit" (from 'Fatima')

https://youtu.be/rUFTb38bdgo

(2022) PARTY HATS - "Tearjerker" (from 'Fatima')

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-_NFt7kOj0

(2021) PARTY HATS - full set (live)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dxo2srqQY4

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PARTY HATS additional links

Bandcamp

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PODCAST #85 Amitié + Illuminate My Heart Records (Gerry, Trevor, Matt)

I spoke recently with Trevor, Matt, and Gerry of AMITIÉ, who began playing together in 2010 as Tall Ships Set Sail, with a name and style change occurring just weeks before their first European tour in 2019. Nowadays, members of Worst Days, Dreamwell, and a plethora of other bands came together to create the newest incarnation of AMITIÉ and actually have about 8 songs finished that will release this year. Matt also runs the red-hot Illuminate My Heart (My Darling) Records and he shared thoughts about that, and as a whole we touched on: Haitian compas, Portuguese influences, babies with perfect pitch, assuming everyone loves The Blood Brothers, skipping over Driftwood, 2019 European tour recap, the creation of Illuminate My Heart Records, hybrid discs, swirl dipping records, recommending Ryans, a shout-out to Le Blast Records, Blind Girls love, new Cave In, Best of 2022 thus far/expecting, etc. Bands played in this podcast: Blood Brothers, Dreamwell, Heavy Heavy Low Low, L'Antietam, Leevike, and Party Hats. Listen to podcast #85 which is available to stream and/or download for free via this link.

AMITIÉ

Bandcamp

Facebook

ILLUMINATE MY HEART RECORDS

Official Website

Facebook

1

L'ANTIETAM "Outro (a safe one)" (Gerry)
THE BLOOD BROTHERS "Siamese Gun" (Dave)

2

HEAVY HEAVY LOW LOW "Mall-Nutrition" (Matt)
PARTY HATS "Pinch Hit" (Dave)

3

DREAMWELL "Sayaka" (Trevor)

4

LEEVIKE "viies" (Dave)

~Dave

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PODCAST #85 linked here
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***BLIND GIRLS exclusive premiere***

BLIND GIRLS

"The Shape of Harm"
exclusive song premiere + 12" pre-order

For fans of: Nuvolascura, Mouthing and Frail Hands

BLIND GIRLS

Bandcamp
Facebook

pre-order 'The Weight of Everything' on 12"LP:

U.S.A./Canada -> Zegema Beach Records (this one becomes active upon March 26th release)

Europe -> Left Hand Label

Australia -> Life Lair Regret Records

BLIND GIRLS have been a staple in my listening repertoire for a very long time. Hell, I visited and hung out with most of the band prior to their 'Residue' release. I even premiered one of their songs from the said 2018 12". Their new 12" 'The Weight of Everything' releases on March 26th, 2022 via Zegema Beach, Left Hand Label, and Life Lair Regret Records but a previous single and album opener "Wish" was premiered on March 3rd, 2022 via Brooklyn Vegan (linked here).

Today we're throwing down track three "The Shape of Harm", which is more in-your-face as the their other single, and allows an extended glimpse into the album's full myriad of chaos.

(2022) BLIND GIRLS "The Shape of Harm" (from 'The Weight of Everything)

https://youtu.be/qgMvgPUgsbQ

The song opens with scratchy, piercing guitars before everyone jumps in and bounces around the space kinda haphazardly as they build tension but also make it all a bit danceable. At the 50-second mark the band takes a seat and chills out while Sharni whispers in the corner, leading to a quick turn-around and smack in the face at 1:10. This chaos harnesses itself into a full-blown explosion at 1:25 and lays waste to listener for the final 10 seconds in classic Blind Girls style. Beautiful.

ADDITIONAL LINKS & WHATNOT

Order 'Residue' 12"/cassette from Zegema Beach Records:

U.S.A. store

Canada/International

"The Ghost In My Eye" OMSB Premiere

'Residue' OMSB Review

***SOCIAL CATERPILLAR exclusive video premiere***

 SOCIAL CATERPILLAR

"Anti-Prayer"
exclusive music video premiere

For fans of: CityCop, Broken Social Scene and Manchester Orchestra

Bandcamp
Facebook

Instagram

Booking/Email/Contact

April 8th, 2022

'When You Woke Up To Dances of Light'

300 x 12"s (Social Caterpillar)

100 x cassettes (Softseed Music + Social Caterpillar)

SOFTSEED MUSIC
Bandcamp

Facebook

I first about SOCIAL CATERPILLAR through my good Milwaukee friends Snag. They were kind enough to send me tapes of their earlier releases after I premiered some songs and reviewed their band here. One of said tapes was a split with fellow Milwaukeeans SOCIAL CATERPILLAR. A screamo band paired with an acoustic/folk band? Well...yes, apparently, because it worked.

A few years passed and I received an email from SOCIAL CATERPILLAR member Derek and I dove down the 'When You Woke Up To Dances of Light' spiral and submerged myself in the bliss of that album. I realized instantly that I couldn't release this on my two other labels due to them being "heavy", as other "softer" material released on those labels was mostly passed over and the physical products didn't move well. So...what to do? Start a new label? Sure, three is a pretty round-looking number.

The album is beautiful and haunting, with an ethereal aesthetic to boot. You'll have to wait until April 8th, 2022 to bask in the bright amazingness of 'When You Woke Up To Dances of Light', but you can grab a flashlight and get a decent glimpse at their first single and official music video from it today. "Anti-Prayer" was filmed, edited and animated by our friend and collaborator Chloe Corcoran (vimeo account linked here) who also did the video for "Bad Electricity" from their previous full length (linked here). SOCIAL CATERPILLAR had this to say:

"The video was filmed in our practice space located in the basement of a woodshop that Kial is an apprentice at. The track itself is an older song that Kial wrote that was later transcribed into the full-band version that we played live for a while and eventually decided to use the opening track of our new record.  The song is a lament about being haunted by the thought of losing those that are closest to us, and the lyrics, we felt, helped introduce some of the other themes prevalent and developed throughout the rest of the record."

(2022) SOCIAL CATERPILLAR "Anti-Prayer" (from 'When You Woke Up To Dances of Light')

https://youtu.be/78fNBnEdlQo

PODCAST #84 Keegan Goodspeed (Botfly)

As many people today would probably attest to, I heard about BOTFLY because of No Funeral Records. The Ontario label has been eyeing this band for years, and recently they locked arms with the band and released their new 12"LP 'Lower Than Love' as well as a 7" split with Dianacrawls. I wanted to get acquainted with Keegan Goodspeed, the vocalist/lyricist/guitarist for BOTFLY so we did this podcast and it was a good ole Canadian time. Things discussed in this podcast: primary hustle, Blink 182, MuchMusic rules Canadian musical history, incestuous scenes, Alexisonfire origin stories, music that is too obscure, messages being left on read, defining Botfly's sound, earplugs, the No Funeral connection, the Pink Lemonade switch, mages, the two-year pressure cycle, lyrical inspiration/exhaustion/evolution, the honorary Botfly member, pushing labels online, revisiting material with breathing room, favourite song on the new record, etc. Bands played in this podcast: Carved Up, Cursed, I Hate Sally, Llynch, Long.Way.Down., and Jeff Tweedy. Listen to podcast #84 which is available to stream and/or download for free via this link.

BOTFLY

Official Website

'Lower Than Love' on Bandcamp

Facebook

1

CURSED "Friends In The Music Business" (Keegan)
LLYNCH "Betty As A Lighter" (Dave)

2

I HATE SALLY "Mary! Mary!" (Keegan)
LONG.WAY.DOWN. "?" (Dave)

3

JEFF TWEEDY "I Know What It's Like" (Keegan)

4

CARVED UP "Riffer Phoenix" (Dave)

~Dave

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PODCAST #84 linked here
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