experimental rock
Puscifer Ride the New Wave on Existential Reckoning: Review
The Lowdown: Puscifer’s fourth studio album sees the enigmatic vocalist Maynard James Keenan (Tool, A Perfect Circle) joined once more by core members Mat Mitchell (guitar/production) and Carina Round (vocals/songwriting), among others. Existential Reckoning is their first LP in five years (Money Shot dropped in 2015). On the new effort, Puscifer offer up another go-round of electro-arty rock tunes, which lyrically seem to follow the continuing adventures of characters Billy D, and his wife, Hildy Berger … with the former purportedly the victim of an alien abduction. The Good: Any new music from Mr. Keenan is sure to please his legion of admirers. And Puscifer once again sees Keenan and company build tunes around electronics as their foundation (at times comparable to early ‘80s new wavers...
Five Things to Know About Puscifer’s New Album Existential Reckoning
Five years after the release of their last album, Money Shot, Puscifer are back with their fourth LP, Existential Reckoning. As with the band’s previous releases, the album comes with an abundance of intrigue and mystique. Puscifer — featuring core members of Maynard James Keenan (Tool), Mat Mitchell, and Carina Round — have crafted a 12-song album that is both experimental and cinematic in quality. The songs range from the dance-y “Apocalyptical” to the angry “Fake Affront”. The album also continues the story of the fictional characters Billy D and his wife, Hilda Berger, who’ve been portrayed by Keenan and Laura Milligan, respectively, in promotion of the band’s previous LPs. Along with the announcement of Existential Reckoning came a classified document that reported on an alien abducti...
Puscifer’s Maynard James Keenan and Mat Mitchell on Existential Reckoning, Alien Abduction, and More
In the midst of a pandemic and a truly bizarre year, it somehow feels like an ideal time for Puscifer to release a new album. The experimental rock act is back with a new LP, Existential Reckoning, and it’s a fitting document of the times, even if that wasn’t intentional. Led by a core of Maynard James Keenan (Tool), Mat Mitchell, and Carina Round, Puscifer have often thrown out the rulebook when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll. Each album is surrounded by eccentric characters, while the music is equally unconventional. Existential Reckoning is no exception, picking up on the story of the fictional characters Billy D (apparently now abducted by aliens) and his wife, Hildy Berger, as it had left off with 2015’s Money Shot. The new album is shrouded in a cloud of alien activity, from its init...
Liturgy Announce New Album Origin of the Alimonies, Share “Lonely OIOION”: Stream
Liturgy have announced the release of their fifth studio album, Origin of the Alimonies, which is the soundtrack to the band’s opera of the same name. The album arrives November 20th, and Liturgy have offered up a preview with the new song “Lonely OIOION”. Origin of the Alimonies was originally announced last year alongside 2019’s excellent H.A.Q.Q.. Both albums were planned for a 2020 release, but the band’s chief songwriter and leader Hunter Hunt-Hendrix altered those plans, surprise releasing H.A.Q.Q. while holding back Origin, which had previously been performed live as a proper opera. The move worked out, giving each album the spotlight it rightfully deserves. H.A.Q.Q. was greeted with overwhelming praise for its combination of composed black metal and Hunt-Hendrix’s microtonal produc...
Puscifer to Stream Concert Event from Arizona Desert
Puscifer will celebrate the release of their upcoming album, Existential Reckoning, with a truly unique streaming concert event. The show will feature singer Maynard James Keenan and company performing in the middle of the Arizona desert. The concert, dubbed “Existential Reckoning: Live at Arcosanti”, streams on October 30th, the same day that the album arrives. The show will see the band performing the new LP in its entirety. As Keenan explained in a press release, the location makes for an unpredictable experience. “If you’re not familiar with Arcosanti, I highly recommend that you look it up,” said Keenan. “It’s one of a long list of examples of architects, artists, actors, musicians, writers, and poets. People who are not necessarily from Arizona but came here and found that creative t...
The Flaming Lips Return to Earth on Devastatingly Beautiful American Head: Review
The Lowdown: Looking back now, it feels safe to say that the ’10s represent something of a lost decade in the long, strange journey of The Flaming Lips. After ushering in the new millennium with a pair of unlikely mid-career classics (1999’s The Soft Bulletin and 2002’s Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots) and closing out the ’00s with unexpectedly muscular rock fanfare (2009’s Embryonic), Wayne Coyne and his merrymakers spent most of the next 10 years getting into tabloid feuds, recording scattershot side projects, and cosplaying as Miley Cyrus’ acid-casualty uncles. The Flaming Lips records they did manage felt like dispatches relayed from a derelict space station, about sonic landscapes too grim (2013’s The Terror) or fried (2017’s Oczy Mlody) or daft (2019’s The King’s Mouth) to warrant re...
Gone Is Gone (Mastodon, At the Drive-In, QOTSA) Unveil New Song “Everything Is Wonderfall”: Stream
Gone Is Gone, the supergroup featuring members of Mastodon, At the Drive-In, and Queens of the Stone Age, are back with a new song called “Everything Is Wonderfall”. The band, which formed in 2016, is made up of Mastodon singer-bassist Troy Sanders, At the Drive-In drummer Tony Hajjar, Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, and multi-instrumentalist Mike Zarin. In December 2019, Gone Is Gone returned with the stand-alone single, “No One Ever Walked on Water”, which marked their first new music in nearly three years. Seven months later, they’ve unleashed “Everything Is Wonderfall”, featuring soaring vocals by Sanders, thunderous drumming by Hajjar, and grand guitar playing by Van Leeuwen. A haunting spoken-word section comes at the two-minute mark, before the riffs return to cl...
Primus Reschedule Rush Tribute Tour for 2021
Primus (photo by Johnny Perilla) and Neil Peart of Rush (photo via Wikipedia Commons) Primus have rescheduled their tribute tour in honor of prog-rock legends Rush. Bowing to coronavirus concerns, the trek will now take place in the summer of 2021. With this tour, the band’s goal is simple: travel across North America performing Rush’s beloved 1977 album A Farewell to Kings in its entirety. The “A Tribute to Kings Tour” opens in Texas in June, swings eastwards through New Orleans and Orlando, and travels up the East Coast and across the Midwest before finishing along the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, they’ll be supported by Wolfmother, The Sword, and Battles. If you don’t already have tickets, you can get them here. While it takes on extra meaning after the death of leg...
Myrkur and Anna von Hausswolff Cover Björk’s “All Is Full of Love”: Stream
Dark folk singers Myrkur and Anna von Hausswolff have joined forces for a cover of Björk’s 1997 song “All Is Full of Love”. The majestic closing track of Björk’s art pop masterpiece, Homogenic, “All Is Full of Love” is ripe material for a treatment from Myrkur and Von Hausswolff, whose voices intermingle on the minimalistic rendition. Only a spare, distant piano accompanies their melodies. “From our homes in Denmark and Sweden we decided to record a simple, fragile and raw version of Björk’s ‘All Is Full of Love’,” Myrkur (aka Amalie Bruun) said in a press release. “A song we consider to be one of the most beautiful and encouraging songs, that is a reminder to stay open to receive love even in times like these.” The track makes for a proper addendum to Myrkur’s 2020 album, Folkesange. Stee...
black midi Read Classic Short Stories on New Album Tales of Suspense and Revenge: Stream
Today marks June’s Bandcamp Day, when the service gives over 100% of sales to artists and labels to support those hurting during the pandemic. A number of musicians have dropped special releases to mark the occasion, and that includes black midi. The experimental noise rock outfit has shared The Black Midi Anthology Vol. 1: Tales of Suspense and Revenge, and you can stream it below. Tales of Suspense and Revenge finds the London four-piece reading classic short stories over original instrumental “jams.” Guitarist/vocalist Geordie Greep reads “A Woman’s Confession” by Guy de Maupassant and Edgar Allan Poe’s “Hop Frog”, drummer Morgan Simpson reads Ernest Hemingway’s “Out of Season”, and bassist Cameron Picton reads an excerpt from Robert Tressell’s The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist&n...
Song of the Week: Puscifer’s “Apocalyptical” Dances Towards Doomsday
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify New Sounds playlist. If you don’t think the last few months of isolation have changed anything, think again. In a normal time, Maynard James Keenan fans — fresh off the first Tool album in more than a decade — would’ve been satisfied with the first Puscifer single in five years. But a song only goes so far when it feels like you have all the time in the world, and Keenan seems to have tapped into that need. Not only does “Apocalyptical” come as a ready-made anthem for these troubled times, but Puscifer also decided to bestow upon fans the blueprint for an alternative dance craze and a memeable answer to whether or not bright, red lipstick is the shadow...
Puscifer Unveil New Song “Apocalyptical” with Dancing Maynard James Keenan in Video: Stream
Puscifer recently teased new music coming soon, and they’ve delivered with the brand-new song “Apocalyptical”. The track is accompanied by a surreal video featuring singer Maynard James Keenan showing off a few dance moves. While Puscifer had recorded much of their new album last year, the band originally planned to release new music in 2021, to allow Keenan to complete his touring duties with Tool. But with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing Tool to postpone their tour, Keenan decided to unveil the first new Puscifer song in nearly five years much earlier than expected. “Apocalyptical” is a groovy mid-tempo tune with a dance-like beat, as Keenan and co-vocalist Carina Round deliver whispery lines like, “Go on, moron/ Ignore the evidence/ Skid in to armageddon/ Tango apocalyptical.” The video f...
