Posted on October 30th, 2015
Wild Pink will be trekking through the U.S. this November in support of Good Life, these dudes will spellbind you. Let them. Because at the end of it they will probably be your new favorite band.
Dates:
11/7/2015 Philadelphia @ Kung Fu Necktie
11/8/2015 Pittsburgh @ TBA
11/9/2015 Detroit @ The Rockery
11/10/2015 Chicago @ Subterranean
11/11/2015 Milwaukee @ Bremen Cafe
11/12/2015 Lexington @ Green Lantern
11/13/2015 Evansville @ PG's
11/14/2015 Springfield MO @ Old Broadway Club
11/15/2015 Bloomington, IL @ Brick House
11/16/2015 Joplin, MO @ Blackthorn Pizza & Pub
11/17/2015 Denton @ Rubber Gloves w/ Ratboys
11/18/2015 Austin @ Sidewinders w/ Vetter Kids
11/19/2015 New Orleans @ TBA
11/20/2015 Atlanta @ Georgia Tech Fall Festival
11/21/2015 Rock Hill, SC @ The Courtroom at Getty's
11/22/2015 DC @ The Electric Maid
Posted on October 12th, 2015
Arizona Landmine had us fighting over "who heard them first" by their first Weezer reference. This band is all that reminds you of what it's like to hear something fresh and new, and we absolutely cannot wait to share them with you! Their first listen is up at New Noise Magazine now!
In the 1990s, “emo” described a quality of music rather than its genre. A song was emo in the same way it could be classified as heavy or hardcore, and all it meant was that it possessed an emotional intensity or depth. This ambiguity made emo an exciting, almost mysterious idea—the music could be spontaneous, delicate or chaotic, raw or dense—but it also spelled its death when tastemakers tried to define it as a genre.
It’s exciting, then, when a band like Arizona Landmine emerges and embodies what emo meant before its meaning was distorted. Their first release, a five-song EP titled When Will I Ever Learn?,displays a young band whose powerful, explosive power pop seems to disregard genre and deny the listener the luxury of predictability.
“This Ain’t My First Rodeo,” the record’s second song, is rowdy and belligerent and rages like a beast cooped up too long, but breaks into awkward cartwheels at the beginning of each phrase, its guitars tumbling in time with playful drum fills. Singer Griffen Clark’s voice strains above the stampeding beat, competes with the clamorous chords as the song veers into a noisy, dissonant bridge. “Too High” is similarly thunderous, though straighter, simpler, and more melodic. But it’s during the song’s shushed verse, as the bass wows beneath the stippled toms, that Clark offers his lyrics like scattered snapshots: “Senior year of high school,” he sings, “We would count the days till we could hang / Drive to Steve’s apartment / the streets would echo with the Weezer songs we’d sing / Wear my black hoodie / at night so I’d feel invisible / The stray cat on the corner / was nothing short of being incredible.”
There are lithe, intricate moments as well. On “American Spirits,” guitars glitter and ring and sway like wind chimes in a fall breeze. Clark’s voice is quiet, velvety and vulnerable, threading between the tangled guitars. Juxtapose this with “Method Acting,” the record’s wildest track. On it, the guitars squirm and scamper across tantruming drums, and Clark’s howl cuts through the chaos.
Of course, it’s all these descriptors—rowdy, awkward, thunderous, lithe and intricate, vulnerable and wild—that makes When Will I Ever Learn? a satisfying and surprising emo record. Arizona Landmine isn’t afraid to exhibit emotional honesty in whatever form it escapes them, regardless of how it sounds and regardless of how it’s classified.
Posted on September 21st, 2015
We are incredibly proud to present our 2015 CMJ showcase with partnership from Sweet Love Booking and Washed Up Emo at the wonderful Lit Lounge in the heart of Manhattan on October 14th! It is going to be an amazing night, with amazing bands, in an amazing city and we absolutely cannot wait!
