Haters will hate on the revival of Alien Workshop but they ain’t going away, in fact they are about to launch a new promo with Frankie Spears, Joey Guevara, Max Garson, Brandon Nguyen and Paul Liliani all in the mix next Tuesday.
Peep the new trailer.
If you visit us regularly you will remember that last year when the canvas version of these Lakai MJ’s hit our feet there were some serious high fives going down. Not only has this simple, slim, comfy design moved forward, it’s become a skater’s shoe of choice worldwide.
This month Lakai have released an ‘all weather’ range for the winter months ahead and thankfully these arrived freshly boxed the day before a trip to Portugal’s stormy beaches. The good news is that they came back looking like they did when we left with them on, despite walking around on wet sand whilst we took photos of really bad surfing on 3 foot waves and avoiding puddles all over Lisbon trying to find skate spots. It tanked it down.
The oiled mahogany thing aside though, Lakai have produced a classic, timeless skate shoe that is not pretending to be some lame sports shoe copy, they’ve kept their class and delivered what we need; the shoes we skate.
Ask for them in your local skate shop, the one that really knows their shit – you’ll probably find Lakai’s full all weather range there that should assist you through the coming winter months.
Fred Mortagne has been testing out some new Leica photography gear in LA with Nassim Guammaz, Dominik Walker, Nick Garcia, Julian Davidson, Brandon Westgate and Mason Silva. Top stuff as usual.
Wavves
V
Ghost Ramp Records
Somehow, already five albums in, the LA noise-pop ensemble Wavves delight us further with their latest release V. A genuinely electrifying record, it would fit effortlessly into a plethora of different environments – a gloriously sunny festival afternoon or the cramped crevices of a serotonin-soaked house party, Wavves’ latest release, simply put, is pure magic.
Stepping away from their earlier material, V sees Wavves refine their sound down, cutting back to something with much cleaner edges. Blending indie pop and noise rock seamlessly with lyrical flashes drenched in angst, the smart song-writing and impressive studio work (from the help of Woody Jackson – Beck, Primal Scream etc.) is incredibly addictive and does more than enough to ensure it doesn’t blindly blend with other artists attempting similar things.
The album opens with ‘Heavy Metal Detox’s chewy opening riff swirling us into great expectation. Once V sets off you immediately know what you want, and that you’re going to be getting it just thirty seconds in. The incredibly relatable ‘Way Too Much’, the speedy, Dookie-era, verse chorus pattern of ‘Wait’, and album-closer ‘Cry Baby’, all offer up a cacophonous capsule of creativity mixed with sombre underscoring.
Said to be conceptualized from drawing positivity out of negative experiences and “realistic optimism”, V is undoubtedly the band’s most focused work to date. Wavves have managed to create something warmly familiar but with a fresh, familiar honesty that draws you in even further than before.
Buy the album here.
Words: Joseph Murray
If you’ve ever been to Sri Lanka on your rig you will know that there are spots but you have to search hard for them. Patrik Wallner’s crew featuring Nick Boserio, Korahn Gayle, Nick Garcia and Jordan Trahan sniffed out enough for an edit, click play for the goods.
Part 2.
Tom Remillard: True skate rat, total ATV and overall ripper. Get stuck into his Expedition Skateboards Gone Fishin’ part uploaded by TWS overnight. Bloke bangs the lot.
Ronnie Sandoval is back with some more of that brutal concrete gnar he’s famous for. This was shot for Lakai over a weekend in San Pedro. Go figure.
Here’s another example of when an animal is better on a rig than you. Shake Junt’s canine pal Murdy loves it.
Night Dials
‘Waiting At Your Door’ / ‘Little Flame’
Ciao Ketchup Recordings
West London’s Night Dials are set to drop their new AA-side single this month and its sun soaked psych vibes are downright riveting.
Sounding reminiscent of Cosmonauts, Night Beats and The UFO Club, via West Coast-surf scuzz, ‘Waiting At Your Door’ is a lo-fi melancholic daydream. With gushing keyboards and lead guitar rumble and fuzz, jolly, ska-esque rhythms ensue, puncturing the surface with every other beat to keep you bouncing along ‘Obla Di Obla Da’ style. A brilliant metaphor of quite literally waiting at someone’s door, the monotonous, foot tapping, ticking-clock guitar repetition is a nudge in your back every other second just to remind you it’s still there.
Nosediving from the optimism and youthful notion of ‘Waiting At Your Door’, ‘Little Flame’ provokes a darker corner of Night Dials’ musicality. Here we’re treated to a new depth. Gone is the fun and fuzz of the aforementioned track, giving a sharp thrust into the reflective keys showing that Night Dials have the ability, and sensibility, to add a new dimension to their sound and exist beyond the general “psych/garage” scenes.
Words:Tom Churchill
‘Waiting At Your Door’ / ‘Little Flame’ is due October 30th via Ciao Ketchup. Pre-order here.
Inviting you to “dance to the beat of human hatred“, today the Fat White Family have announced a new album, titled Songs For Our Mothers, for release on January 22nd 2016 via the band’s own imprint, Without Consent.
Following in the footsteps of their widely acclaimed 2013 debut Champagne Holocaust, the band detail the forthcoming album to be nothing short of “a sensual odyssey; sex, drugs, politics, death, the Northern Irish A-lister Sam Neil, it’s all here, all that’s left to do now is breathe it in“.
Co-produced by Liam Trashmouth and the band, Songs For Our Mothers was recorded between the Trashmouth studios in New Malden and Marcata Studios (regularly frequented by both Swans and Titus Andonicus) in New Paltz, upstate New York.
Track listing:
1. Whitest Boy On The Beach
2. Satisfied
3. Love Is The Crack
4. Duce
5. Lebensraum
6. Hits Hits Hits
7. Tinfoil Deathstar
8. When Shipman Decides
9. We Must Learn To Rise
10. Goodbye Goebbels
Stay tuned for the first cut and forthcoming UK December tour dates TBA.