$100 Heat

R. Ring

Hundred Dollar Heat

Video

 The video for this song was animated by Protomartyr's Alex Leonard, with drawings of animals, objects, people, some famous, some not, and two things that reappear from the Cutter clip -- bombs and gasoline. Kelley Deal sings this. She says on the Pure Volume site that this clip and song is about wrestling with her spirit animal over who will go to the store for some Mountain Dew. It’s a cool premise, one that makes the images come alive even more, not that they weren't very much alive already.  But what I also hear is heartbreaking sadness, like someone not believing that someone is going to do something, like drive into town. It’s a quiet sounding song, almost electric folk. All in all, an interesting, wonderful clip, and a great song. Pure Volume has commentary. 

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwH9SG47Lk4

Andrea Weiss

R Ring 17

R. Ring

Cutter

Sofa Burn Records

This single, from their upcoming album Ignite The Rest (release date 4-28-17), finds the duo of Kelley Deal and Mike Montgomery in fine form. Lots of guitars playing all over and around each other, expert drumming and percussion, as well as excellent singing. It's a relationship song, in which the main character tells the Cutter that she's sorry, and be harsh, but don’t try her either, and underscores it by getting angry.

Clyde Petersen and Chris Looney's animated video for the song is well-made, provocative, and takes cutting to a logical conclusion. There are also Molotov cocktails involved, Satanic symbols,  pills, and the police. Worth watching.

If you want more background on Cutter, and the upcoming album, there is a very cool series of podcasts by Mike and Kelley on iTunes that are worth hearing. All in all, a good run up to the album.

Single

http://www.sofaburn.com/digital

Cutter video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Zow4KtbdE

Podcasts

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hello-my-name-is-kelley-d-and-im-a-weather-talker/id1205025305?i=1000382300616&mt=2

Andrea Weiss

Waveless

Waveless

Waveless EP

Joyful Noise

The latest entry in Joyful Noise’s White Label Subscription series is from Lou Barlow, who chose this Minneapolis trio’s EP after being alerted to them by his wife. And both have great taste. If you love Husker Du, Waveless is the band for you. I hear mostly Zen Arcade in their sound, maybe even the instrumentals Dreams Reoccurring and Reoccurring Dreams. A lot of echo and reverb, but no nostalgia whatsoever. All of the tracks are excellent. So have at it.  

https://wvlss.bandcamp.com

Andrea Weiss