Another stylistic shift for Auckland’s Joe Locke, ‘Sabbath Shirt’ is the first taste of P.H.F.’s upcoming record, Purest Hell.
Their forthcoming release KO EP, is like a kick given with a smile. A raw slice of life as taken from a five months of all-night sessions in McNamara's studio at The Asbestos Farm in Hadley, Massachusetts.
I wanted to write a trans anthem, where a young person going through the same thing could hear it and be like, This is made for me. I think so often trans portrayals in the media are required to be either overly heroic or so deeply tragic with little representation for a more nuanced human experience, which is often made up of small moments of both.
Maintaining his familiar post-punk vocal incantations, the new track explores more maximalist sounds across industrial metal and no wave while Katz’s lyrics dip into political satire inspired by Don DeLillo’s Mao II and Paul Aster’s Leviathan. “It’s me poking fun at performative political activism while also expressing some fears about domestic terrorism,” he shares. “In the last decade it seems casual mass violence has become the new normal. This makes me profoundly uncomfortable. The lyrics and music are written to reflect that.”
With the themes of cohesion and solitude in mind, Feinstein is honoring the album’s release today by sharing a playlist of tunes that serve as go-to listens while doing the dishes (hopefully that act doesn’t take him 52 minutes, the runtime for this collection of songs). Weaving through evident influences such as Bruce Hornsby and Neil Young, as well as cuts from genre-defining artists such as Wire and Tricky and hard-to-pin-down innovators including Talk Talk and Mica Levi, the playlist remains an engaging listen. “I think it takes you through enough sonic turns to keep things interesting,” he shares.
Today, Slow Hollows—the recording alias of LA-based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Austin Feinstein—has released his fourth album, Bullhead. The LP is Feinstein’s first since 2019’s Actors, and it’s a remarkable foray into a world where rich synths, big guitar riffs and limitless hooks converge. In 2020, Slow Hollows the band broke up, and Bullhead marks the project’s resurrection as Feinstein’s solo future.
