Cokie the Clown – “You’re Welcome”
Check out some of that sick pinwheel colored vinyl on this week’s RECORD OF THE WEEK Blog!!!
The mouthpiece for erstwhile skate-punk troupe NOFX has never bitten his tongue, for better or worse. But back in 2010, Fat Mike surprised even his most ardent fans with the debut live performance by his grimy alter ego, COKIE THE CLOWN, at a South By Southwest showcase that ended up landing him on TMZ. We’ll let you Google the sordid details, but suffice it to say, it involved a series of brutally heartbreaking true stories from Mike’s past and a sketchy bottle of tequila. Now here we are, nine years after that incredibly tense, occasionally hilarious and extremely memorable evening, preparing—some might even say bracing—for the release of ‘You’re Welcome’, the debut album by COKIE THE CLOWN, a 10-song, 38-minute look inside the darkest depths of Michael Burkett’s psyche. Catch COKIE at one of his few select shows starting tomorrow!
BAND NAME: Cokie the Clown (Website / Instagram)
LABEL NAME: Fat Wreck Chords
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Born into a working-class family in rural Oklahoma, M. LOCKWOOD PORTER launched his songwriting career after relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area, kicking things off with 2013’s ‘Judah’s Gone’. There, in the nation’s most expensive real-estate market, he also taught classes to underprivileged students at an inner-city school, a job that gave him a close-up view of the nation’s growing class divide and its many symptoms, including poverty, gentrification, and homelessness. As his cross-country touring increased, so did the presence of political and social issues within his music, with 2016’s ‘How to Dream Again’ taking influence from the socially-conscious works of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. ‘With Communion In The Ashes’, Porter crystallizes a sound that is uniquely his own: one that gatecrashes the borders between indie rock & roll, singer/songwriter folk, and Americana. Written alone on the acoustic guitar and recorded with PORTER’S band during a collaborative, five-day studio session in Chico, CA, the album champions togetherness as an antidote to the immense problems we face as a society. Go check him out on tour right now!
BAND NAME: M. Lockwood Porter (Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter)
LABEL NAME: Black Mesa Records (Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter)
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THESE BEASTS formed via one of those serendipitous plot lines where a guy who’s been in tons of bands moves to town, meets and hits it off with a local drummer based on shared music tastes, and they orbit near each other for a few years before timely breakups and a shared practice space frees them up to build something new and huge. Add in the requisite dude who stopped playing bass but still has his killer rig moving to town at the key moment, and the rest… well, you know. With all members writing together, THESE BEASTS’ songs originate via everything from hummed riffs to immaculate spontaneous jams that fall inexplicably into place. Unafraid to scrap anything, they’re endlessly winnowing their material to deliver fierce, singular energy, finished with lyrics that balance the autobiographical and metaphorical. THESE BEASTS’ 6-song EP is the band’s first release for MAGNETIC EYE RECORDS, with a full-length album for MER next on the agenda, or go catch them tonight in Chicago!
BAND NAME: These Beasts (Bandcamp / Facebook / Instagram)
LABEL NAME: Magnetic Eye Records
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THE MAGNETIC PULL are an instrumental post-rock outfit from Syracuse, New York. Their self-produced, self-titled album is a spaced out journey of shifting hard rock and electro-groove spread across two sides of 180g coke-bottle green vinyl. Opening for groups such as Consider the Source and EOTO, THE MAGNETIC PULL have also composed and preformed an original live score for the 1922 silent film Nosferatu. Catch them at the Flyday Music Festival in East Durham, NY on Friday May 18th with Dub Trio and the Nth Power, or order a copy of the album directly from the band at their website and check out the 3D glasses and artwork!
BAND NAME: The Magnetic Pull
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SLOTH & TURTLE has been a part of the Bay Area Math-rock scene for the last three years, starting as a duo, and then eventually adding two other members to fill out their complex yet melodic, tap-guitar laden sound. Currently on a West Coast tour in support of the vinyl release of their debut EP. They will also be playing the Family Vacation 3 Music Festival in Placerville, May 17-19. Their debut album has been described as a tastefully complex and sonically well-rounded album within the Math-rock scene. There are moments of intricate guitar tapping harmonies, as well as complex, building grooves that don’t lose sight of melody.
Band name: Sloth & Turtle (Website / Facebook / Instagram)
Label: Coup Sur Coup Records
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SCANDROID’S debut full-length album turned the synthwave world on its head, introducing a level of imagination and top-tier production rarely heard in the genre. Klayton, the artist behind beloved electronic rock and metal projects Celldweller and Circle of Dust, crafted a 14-track masterwork on his self-titled SCANDROID debut, and there’s no better way to enjoy it than with this handsome vinyl edition. This release includes the complete original album as well as bonus tracks like Dance with the Dead’s popular remix of “Neo-Tokyo.” On its initial release, Scandroid reached number one on the iTunes Electronic Album chart and landed in the top five for Billboard Electronic Album sales. It remains one of the most played full-album uploads on NewRetroWave’s popular YouTube channel, gaining over two million streams to date!
BAND NAME: Scandroid (Website / Store)
LABEL NAME: FIXT Neon (Website)
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