Presented by:
Triple D's, Masquerade
Mal Blum
Mal Blum
Mal Blum returns with new LP, The Villain, out via Get Better Records -- a striking resurgence that combines the artist’s trademark blend of searing and wry lyricism with novel boldness and slight camp amongst a backdrop of textured indie rock, alt-rock and pop instrumentation. The album is ultimately a work about human complexity and the stories we tell ourselves versus the stories we are told about ourselves. There is no one villain. Sometimes the villain is an unreliable narrator, sometimes a misunderstood character, sometimes a heel-turn performance of villainy. Perhaps most notably, given the historical and rapidly mounting demonization of trans people as villainous bogeymen (attitudes explored on tracks like “Killer” and “A Small Request”), often the villain appears to be a purposeful construct that never truly existed at all. The listener is left not with easy answers, but invitations. Welcome to your Villain era. But for every time you’ve heard about Conan’s music being like galloping steeds or frost-covered sharp-peaked mountains, etc., imagery of largesse and violence, the truth is Conan are an exercise in frequency. It’s the low resonance that shakes your chest, the depth of the bass – now handled by David Ryley (ex-Fudge Tunnel) – the push of air from Johnny King’s kick drum, or the way the dark-fuzz distortion of Davis’ guitar is offset by shouting vocals cutting through that sometimes punishing onslaught, rarely to offer comfort so much as add viciousness to the crash, plod and pillage.In 2024, Conan sign to Heavy Psych Sounds as a recognized name and one of the foremost acts of their generation, wildly influential in their home country of the UK and well beyond; headliners in practice and theory alike. Their fifth LP, 2022’s ‘Evidence of Immortality,’ brought a dark ambience to coincide with its outright attack. With experiments in darkwave and synth adding breadth to the stated root purpose of aural force, it’s never been harder to guess where the next few years might take their sound, but whatever’s coming, Conan will make it kill. The better part of two decades later, their reliability remains unshakable. Which you want when your band is so heavy that the floor and your ribcage both start to vibrate.
Charlie Mtn.
Charlie Mtn. is alt-country from queer road dawg John-Allison Weiss. Known for gritty, melodic, introspective songwriting, Weiss became a seasoned staple of in the underground punk/alternative scene of the early 2000s, cutting their teeth touring the world for nearly two decades. Five years ago while changing their gender and getting divorced, they rediscovered a childhood passion for pop country music and Charlie Mtn. was born. Fans of Johnny’s solo work will recognize the same heartfelt, honest, raw, and catchy-as-hell tunes with just a little extra twang. Charlie Mtn. heads into the studio this summer to independently make their first full-length album and will hit the road with Mal Blum shortly after.