Dates and Tickets

Details

FLEX
SPEEDY ORTIZ // HOLY WAVE
Venue: Flex Café
Augartenbrücke 1, Vienna, Austria
Starts: 08:00 PM

SPEEDY ORTIZ

(US, Carpark Records)

 

On their debut full-length, Western Massachusetts’ Speedy Ortiz manages a bit of magic by conjuring the spirits of classic American indie rock, while twisting those ghosts into new shapes. It’s easy to hear the influences of Helium, Jawbox, and Chavez on this album, as well as nods to their contemporaries including Grass is Green, Pile, and Roomrunner. Sweet vocal harmonies run up against gnarly 

distortion, aided by basic, chunky bass parts and heavy, fill-laden drums.

 

The album was recorded in a few days in November at Justin Pizzoferrato’s (Dinosaur Jr., Chelsea Light Moving) studio, Sonelab, a huge space in an old factory in Easthampton, Mass. The sessions went from very early in the day until very late at night, with the band taking its time to experiment. Pizzoferrato’s collection of old distortion pedals were utilized on both the record’s guitars and vocals.

 

The theme of the occult and the supernatural runs deep through Major Arcana, inspired by singer-guitarist Sadie Dupuis’ reading on black magic. Dupuis’ sometimes knotty and abstract lyrics bring to mind fellow wordsmith Stephen Malkmus, while referencing horror film tropes, chemistry, and neuroscience. Major Arcana’s literal translation is “major mysteries,” a phrase from tarot cards. “I don’t write in a narrative way and am more concerned with use of language than meaning,” Dupuis says, “so I like the open-endedness of the title and the way it invites interpretation.”

 

https://www.facebook.com/speedyortiz

 

HOLY WAVE
(US, Reverberation Appreciation Society/Burger Records)

Originally from El Paso but now residing in psych-central Austin Texas, Holy Wave are a big part of the new wave of excellent psych coming from that area of the World. First album Knife Hits was recorded at the prestigious Cacophony Recorders recording studio (Black Angels, Explosions in the Sky...), with the latest record coming out on Reverberation Appreciation Society in the new year. Recent single Lady Madonna's Operation illustrates their wonderful blend of sun-baked surf-psychedelia, 13th Floor Elevators, The Black Angels, and a lot of noisier psych influences, My Bloody Valentine and Spacemen 3... 

https://www.facebook.com/hlywave