METZ - Superior Mirage

Acetate by METZ from the Live at Ramsgate Music Hall EP

'Up On Gravity Hill' - Listen to the eighth episode of ’60 Minutes or less’, the new podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast – featuring Alex Edkins of METZ!

Words: Andy Hughes They said it couldn’t be done – ’60 Minutes or less’, the new podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast, returns for our eighth episode! Off the back of our last episode with Steven Hodson of USA Nails, we continue on with noise-rock frontmen with a chat featuring Alex Edkins, guitarist and choice shouter in gnarly power trio METZ. Formed in Ontario, Canada, METZ have been…

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Archers of Loaf Live Preview: 1/13, Bottom Lounge, Chicago

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Last we caught Archers of Loaf, they were reintroducing themselves in a live setting. Finally, in October, they dropped their first album in almost 25 years, the dark and thoughtful Reason in Decline (Merge). It’s far cleaner, bigger, and more instrumentally complex than anything the Chapel Hill indie rock legends have ever released, and just as urgent. While on an initial listen it’s not as life-affirming as their classics--yes, a song with the line “It’s hard to be human / Only death can set you free” is not as fun to chant as “Web in Front”--Reason in Decline proves its worth over time in its well-roundedness. When Eric Bachmann sings, “Drowning in the hard times / Clinging to the power lines” on “Saturation and Light”, it feels like a statement of purpose for the record, recognizing the world’s ills while trying to maintain some semblance of feeling alive.

The songs on Reason in Decline are built to reach the masses, from the band’s ascending instrumentation to Bachmann’s lyrical beckoning. Eric Johnson’s guitar lines soar among the sprawl of “Saturation and Light”. Mark Price’s drums provide the mighty backing to Bachmann’s mammoth vocals and staccato piano on “Human”. Bassist Matt Gentling’s rounded notes propel the slinky “Mama Was a War Profiteer”. Really, if Archers of Loaf really wanted to make listeners feel like the band never left, they would have led off the album with “In the Surface Noise”, whose delay recalls the White Trash Heroes title track, the type of impassioned anthem that would have gotten them an opening spot for Pearl Jam if it was released in the late 90′s. But what makes Reason in Decline so successful is--despite the surface-level bummer of an opening track--the songs are fun to yell. “Everybody’s dreaming but the dream is a lie,” Bachmann sings on the call-and-response noise bomb “Screaming Undercover”. “You can’t trust anybody with secrets these days,” he sings on “Breaking Even”, which, given the themes of “Mama Was a War Profiteer” and “Misinformation Age”, seems like a lament equally political as personal.

The closest thing we had to Archers of Loaf in the years leading up to Reason in Decline was Bachmann’s strong string of solo records, notable not just for their piano-tinged gentleness but for their versatility. Thankfully, the band adopts an inspired softer side on a couple tracks, the 5-minute closing ballad “War Is Wide Open” and standout and emotional centerpiece “Aimee”. The latter features a strong vocal turn from Bachmann along with pedal steel and Mellotron from Alan Weatherhead, a reminder that Archers of Loaf can expand outward just as much as launch themselves skyward, fists in the air.

Archers of Loaf play tonight at Bottom Lounge, where they’ll show you where their new songs fit within their strong discography. Weird Nightmare, the solo project of METZ guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins, opens. Doors at 7:00 P.M., show at 8. Tickets still available!

Weird Nightmare tiene nueva canción con "So Far Gone"

Weird Nightmare tiene nueva canción con “So Far Gone”

El cantante y guitarrista de la banda Canadiense Metz , Alex Edkins, tiene una nueva melodiosa pista para nosotros, se trata de “So Far Gone”, #PONLEPLAY

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Weird Nightmare : Weird Nightmare

Weird Nightmare : Weird Nightmare

Alex Edkins main gig is guitarist/vocalist for Canadian post-punk/noise stalwarts METZ. The three-piece band has been blowing minds and eardrums for nearly 15 years now, releasing four full-lengths, a compilation of b-sides and unreleased tracks, plus a live album in 2021. Their sound is a cacophony of jagged feedback, punk rock drumming, and thunderous bass covered in layers of fuzz. Edkins…

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11/16/22.

How did I miss Weird Nightmare (solo effort of Alex Edkins of Metz...based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada). Having bought several items from Sub Pop, I'm sure I received notification of the release of their full length earlier this year.

Thank God I clicked through on this email that announced the release of a split single with Ancient Shapes (Daniel Romano...also of Toronto).

So many sounds here: Big Star, Supergrass, Guided By Voices, Soul Asylum, Bob Mould, and Mo Troper.

This single is released by Sub Pop, but be sure to check out the full length.

 Chad VanGaalen shares noise-pop track “Earth People” off Split EP with Astral Swans

Calgarian indie experimentalist Astral Swans and noise-pop multi-media maven Chad VanGaalen have joined forces for a Split EP, featuring three songs of each to be released on October 13 by Astral Swans independently and on lathe cut vinyl via Red Spade Records. The Split EP is the first in a series of sonically stranger releases from Astral Swans continuing into 2024. Birthed from a residency at a downtown hotel in Calgary came a set of experimental pop songs affixed to a moody techno sound-space that sound unlike anything else bearing the name Astral Swans. 

Chad VanGaalen and Matthew Swann (Astral Swans) met in the 00’s as mutual fans of each other’s music, DIY outsider artists in a burgeoning oil city, and this split hearkens back to their scrappy, improvisational roots. VanGaalen produced Swann’s first album as Extra happy Ghost!!!, the ravishing Modern Horses. VanGaalen "we went through his vault a little" as Swann describes it, carefully selecting his self-recorded songs to put on the split including a cut featuring Alex Edkins (METZ, Weird Nightmare) on broken electronics, the mysterious ‘Frogman.’ 

Astral Swans has toured North America, Europe, China and Japan performing everywhere from house shows to festival stages, Swann has shared bills with a laundry list of artists including Angel Olsen, Feist, Malcolm Mooney (CAN), Grimes, Julie Doiron, Colin Stetson and & more.

The Split EP is the first in a series of sonically stranger releases from Astral Swans continuing into 2024 and carrying on an orbit that attracts some of the best artists in Canada to rally around him. Vancouver troubadour Dan Mangan first signed Astral Swans to his Arts & Crafts imprint Madic Records, which released the debut, All My Favorite Singers are Willie Nelson. Scott Munro of Calgary post-punk legends Preoccupations co-produced the follow up Strange Prison, and ASTRAL SWANS (self titled), was co-produced between Swann, Brock Geiger (Reuben and the Dark, Etamine), and Paul Chirka (Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra) with vocal contributions from the legendary Julie Doiron, guitar by Cassia Hardy (Wares) and a host of others.

New Video: Weird Nightmare's Slow-Burning Cover of The Ramones' "She's The One"

New Video: Weird Nightmare's Slow-Burning Cover of The Ramones' "She's The One" @weird_nightmare @METZtheband @subpop @subpoplicity @RamonesOfficial

Alex Edkins has developed and honed a reputation for being a master craftsman of sweaty, mosh pit friendly rippers as the frontman of Toronto-based JOVM mainstays METZ.  His side project Weird Nightmare frequently sees the METZ frontman showcasing a different side of the long-established songwriting that has won him acclaim and fans across the globe: enormous, power chord-driven rippers with…

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IN_A_MINUTE:

AN INDIE EXPRESS… // “SWIM BACK” is the latest single from @ohdaughter‘s forthcoming LP titled ‘Stereo Mind Game’ (4/7 @4ad@glassnotemusic) & it finds the London-based trio of singer/guitarist Elena Tonra, guitarist/producer Igor Haefeli & drummer Remi Aguilella bringing an atmospheric bout of orchestrally inclined Indie. @noble_rot_music are here w/ “CASTING NO LIGHT,” the lead single from their forthcoming debut LP titled ‘Heavenly Bodies, Repetition, Control’ (3/24 @joyfulnoiserecs) & it finds the Toronto-based studio project of Alex Edkins (METZ) & Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck) bringing a hypnotically grooved bout of super-charged ArtPop. @slowpulpband are here w/ a new standalone single titled “CRAMPS” (@antirecords) & it finds the Chicago by way of Madison, WI-based quartet of Alexander Leeds, Emily Massey, Theodore Mathews & Henry Stoehr bringing a crunchy slice of bashed-out & guitar-driven AltRock. “LOVE SONG” is the latest single from @softcultband’s forthcoming EP titled ‘see you in the dark’ (3/24 @easyliferecords) & it finds the Canadian duo of Mercedes & Phoenix Arn-Horn getting vulnerable over an airily drowsed bout of swirling DreamPop. “SURE COULD USE A FRIEND” is a choice cut from @webbed_wing’s freshly released surprise EP titled ‘Right After I Smoke This…’ (@memorymusiclabel) & it finds Taylor Madison’s Philadelphia-based project bringing all the tender radio-friendly goods across 2 ½ mins of emotionally twanged, hooky af & Trail Of Dead-esque AltRawk.

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TUNES ARE POSTED BELOW...

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Weird Nightmare - "So Far Gone"

Weird Nightmare – “So Far Gone”

Weird Nightmare has shared a new single, “So Far Gone”, out now via Sub Pop. Weird Nightmare is the electrifying new project from METZ guitarist and singer Alex Edkins. This stand-alone track follows the double A-Side split, “I Think You Know” w/ “Bird With an Iron Head” with friends Ancient Shapes.

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METZ - 99

Weird Nightmare estrena nuevo single: 'So Far Gone'

This One Song… Noble Rot on Casting No Light

Tell you what – we love hearing from artists when things go right. We equally love hearing from artists when things go dreadfully wrong. A song that was a piece of piss, written in 20 minutes? Or years in the making and a bastard to write? Whether it’s a song that came together through great duress or one that was smashed out in a short amount of time, we’re getting the lowdown from some of our…

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METZ, Spiritual Cramp, & Stuck Live Show Review: 12/16, Metro, Chicago

BY JORDAN MAINZER

METZ’ self-titled debut album came at a time when guitars re-entered indie rock in full-force. 2012 saw breakout albums from bands like Cloud Nothings, The Men, and Parquet Courts, a paradigm shift from the baroque pop of the 2000s towards something like it was during the heyday of the 90s. But similar to Attack on Memory, METZ was bleak, what seemed at the time like a pummeling expression of desolation after the 2008 financial crisis, akin to the waning optimism from the early Obama years. Ten years and three METZ albums later, the world has gotten worse, and the Toronto-via-Ottawa punk band has retained its hard edge. What better time to celebrate their first and arguably still their finest statement?

At the Metro on Friday, like every other night of their tour, METZ played their first album front to back. As the band walked onto the stage, drummer Hayden Menzies played the abrasive opening notes of “Headache” with the lights still off, remaining dim as guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins’ siren-like lines began. Only when bassist Chris Slorach entered the fray did we see the band, and they were off to the races, burning through “Get Off”, “Sad Pricks”, and “Rats” at a breakneck pace. From the off-kilter instrumental of “Nausea” to the build of “Wet Blanket” and noisy, dynamic breakdown of “Wasted”, the band showed themselves to be, to quote one of their 2012 contemporaries, masters of their craft.

Including the encore, METZ had time for 5 additional songs, including two from their most recent album Atlas Vending (Sub Pop): “Blind Youth Industrial Park” and the swirling, epic closer “A Boat to Drown In”. II’s “Spit You Out”, a live highlight since it came out, was especially disorienting in its chaos in conjunction with the light show. And, to my pleasant surprise, the band did the motorik “Demolition Row”, released earlier this year as part of a split 7′’ with Adulkt Life. The show served as a reminder that METZ are capable of effectively delving into different subgenres but are still at their best when bashing you over the head with noise.

Opening for METZ were two more punk bands, albeit with different aesthetics. San Francisco’s Spiritual Cramp combined screamy, political post-punk with self-aware, self-deprecating, self-hating dance jams on tracks like “I Feel Bad Bein’ Me” and “The Erasure”. Vocalist Michael Bingham was filled with banter contrasting the bitter cold lack of pretension in Chicago with California’s sadsack sunniness. “You can’t tell if I’m being sarcastic,” he said to the crowd, following up with, “I can’t tell if I’m being sarcastic.” The vagueness of tone is certainly a feature of the band, the type to artfully sample vocals at the same time as featuring a barely-audible-but-theatrically-played tambourine on stage. When Bingham declared, “Fuck the cops, fuck the president, and fuck you, too,” you could sense a sneering sincerity, one that made the band ironically even more likeable.

And taking a victory lap were local heroes Stuck, a year removed from their most recent EP Content That Makes You Feel Good (Exploding In Sound), two years from their debut album Change Is Bad (born yesterday). As such, they played four (!) new, unreleased songs, including jagged set opener “Punisher” and the disco beat-laden “Freak Frequency”. Live, lead vocalist Greg Obis’ yelped personal and sociopolitical litanies echo the urgency of someone like Squid’s Ollie Judge, backed by the band’s gnarly rhythms and burning tempo changes. The jangling tremolo and rusted edges of a song like “Invisible Wall” encapsulated what the band does best: reel you in, but not let you get too comfortable.

Kiwi Jr. kept Ottawa cool in the midst of a scorching summer SAW Heatwave Club, July 23

Kiwi Jr. kept Ottawa cool in the midst of a scorching summer SAW Heatwave Club, July 23

Posted on July 24, 2022 seven In what seemed like a perpetually rescheduled Ottawa tour date (which at one point had them opening for ’90s indie supergroup TUNS), Kiwi Jr. finally made it to the nation’s capital with a new album and tour mates. The addition of Weird Nightmare (side project from METZ frontman Alex Edkins) saw former ticket holders and opener fans braving the recent heatwave,…

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