It's been a few years since Pet Fox released their great debut album A Face In Your Life. The Boston indie rock band is announcing its followup, Balance, today. The promising title track is out now.
"The idea behind this song is impulsivity caused by anxiety and/or frustration," the group says of the track. "Being able to think things through before acting on something is important, and fighting the balance of impulsivity versus indecision is always a struggle."
Balance was produced by the in-demand Alex Farrar. Pet Fox cite Truth Club's Farrar-produced record Running From The Chase as an influence ... "Balance" operates as the high energy opener. Dive in below.
Surely you remember Bimbo, the sibling duo who recently signed to the illustrious indie institution Exploding In Sound and caught our attention with the announcement of their debut album The Bimbonacci Sequence, whose title has earned many compliments from Stereogum commenters (and other people, probably). Of course that would mean nothing if the lead single, "Chewing Glass," was bad, but lucky for us it was a true eccentric banger. Now they're back with another weird one. This one's called "Things Keep Getting Worse," and it's about how things keep getting worse, and it ends with Gretchen McKenzie yelling "THINGS JUST KEEP GETTING WORSE!" over and over, and it's awesome. Watch the Mark Bennett-directed music video below.
To sign to Exploding In Sound, you need to have a memorable one-word band name, like Jobber or Ovlov or Stuck. The great indie label's newest signees, Bimbo, fit the bill. Hailing from Marquette, MI, Bimbo describe themselves as "if the White Stripes were evil, couldn't write a song in 4/4, and were actually bother and sister." Today they're announcing their debut album The Bimbonacci Sequence.
Vocalist/guitarist Gretchen McKenzie and drummer Dawson McKenzie take influence from Metz, the Stooges, the Cramps, and Krill, and the lead single "Chewing Glass" is as wonderfully weird as you'd expect. Here's what Gretchen says about it:
"There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. I constantly torment myself by overthinking everything I consume. I am horrified by my impact on the earth. I want to yell about it. The line "every time I chew, I chew glass" came from a video I saw on instagram at like 2am of a super drunk guy who had face-planted through a windshield. I thought it was the most poetic thing I’d ever heard and was obsessed with that line for a month. I was basically pacing in circles and muttering it to myself. I can’t find this video anywhere, I’m not even sure it is real, but the words are."
Watch the puppet-themed music video for "Chewing Glass" directed by Mark Bennett below.
Krill, the formerly Boston-based trio making slightly askew indie rock, have reunited in Chicago with an updated lineup and are working on new music. The band—singer-bassist Jonah Furman, drummer Ian Becker, and new guitarist Andrew Clinkman—shared “Commemorative Plaque,” its first new song in a decade. Joining the trio on the single are Finom violinist Macie Stewart, Tredici Bacci, and Trigger saxophonist Will Greene. Give it a listen below.
In a statement on Instagram, Krill described “Commemorative Plaque” as an ode to Aretha Franklin’s 1970 hit “Call Me,” a staple of Furman’s childhood. “It’s maybe a companion song to ‘Oppressor,’ another song about coming home,” he wrote. “It’s about moving back to Chicago after many years away, thinking home would be too sad and sentimental from adolescence (‘all the teenage wanting and distance’) but finding something sweeter there, and home as a place and a person and an inside joke. It’s nostalgic and homesick, and Andrew’s guitar solo fucking rips, alongside Will Greene’s saxophone and Macie Stewart’s violin. Hope you enjoy.”
Formed in 2010, Krill released three albums over the course of their original five-year run. The trio broke up soon after relocating to New York City, but capped that period with 2016’s self-titled swan song EP. In 2020, Furman, Becker, original Krill guitarist Aaron Ratoff, and Joe DeManuelle-Hall formed Knot and recorded a self-titled LP, which has retroactively been renamed a Krill record across digital platforms. In 2022, Krill reissued their debut album, Alam No Hris, for its 10th anniversary.
Angular guitar riffs that stutter and shift and erupt in your earholes never go out of style. Of late, I’ve been high upon Artificial Go and now Cel Ray. Their final single before releasing Cel Rayzer next week is the perfect example of how to get it done right; it flirts with the proto-punk stomp for a moment, but then jettisons off into a frantic punk howl, ramping up the energy as Maddie Daviss riles up the audience with her vocal delivery. All that said, there’s also a fun playfulness to it, which is where a lot of joy is shared between audience and band and myself. Look for their new LP next week via Exploding in Sound.
