New musics: Daze Baby, Cloud Construction, Running with Scissors
Plus, an uncovered (again) film of Dead Kennedys at Belmont Ballroom in 1981.
This week in new music I’ve stumbled across or otherwise discovered by paying attention to my social media feeds:
We have full albums coming from Daze Baby and Running with Scissors, plus Cloud Construction’s new single gets “Under My Skin.”
Here’s a quick breakdown.
Daze Baby has been teasing new music since the end of its Slipstream tour in October.
We now have an official name, track listing an release date.
The 13-track “Slipstream” is slated for release March 28 and looks to be full of the band’s laid back psych-rock vibes (from the titles on track list, anyway. “Reggie’s Cancun Boogie Board Adventure,” “Major Lover Warzone”).
The first single “Park Highway Run,” is out on Friday.
The band’s last album, “Blooming Clover,” was released in 2022.
You have to appreciate the vibe that Running with Scissors is cultivating.
It’s latest single is awesomely titled “Black Cat Kisses in a Lonely Yard,” which leaves one wondering whether it’s the cat that is giving out kisses (and to whom?) or whether the kisses have some innate “black cat” quality (and if so, what might that be).
Either way I am intrigued.
The song itself is dark, moody guitar rock.
It is out across platforms now as a teaser for the band’s debut album, “Tales from the Graveyard,” which was supposed to released last month but seems to have been delayed. It will be “released soon,” according to the band.
Cloud Construction dropped its latest single “Under My Skin,” on Valentines Day, so this is actually a bit of catch up.
The song is a highly-produced piece of modern rock that swivels (but doesn’t fully turn) into pop-metal territory (there are moments that come off as almost industrial, too).
Here’s the lyric video (shot by Cat Eye Photography and directed by Brandon Jarvis).
Uncovered: Dead Kennedys, Belmont Ballroom, July 4, 1981
Every now and again Facebook proves its worth.
For instance, this video from James Acomb, which was originally posted in 2014, but I just recently came across again. I think I’ve seen it before floating around the ether(net).
By the title, it’s raw Super 8 film of Dead Kennedy’s playing at the Belmont Ballroom in 1981. This would be post “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables” and just before the recording of “In God We Trust, Inc.” (if my timeline is right).
The seven-plus minute video jumps around, from shots of the venue and crowd, to some green room banter (with Jello deriding some unnamed band for writing love songs) and clips of band performing (“I Kill Children” is the most recognizable song, along with “Chemical Warfare??”).
This wasn’t the the band’s first time at the ballroom.
At one point, Jello Biafra references the venue’s new drum riser/old stage.
The show seems fairly documented.
7 Seconds opened, along with Michigan hardcore band The Fix (not to be confused with The Fixx) and Fresno’s own Capitol Punishment.
Here’s a flier for the show and audio of a radio promo from the time.
That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. Follow my other writing at The Fresno Bee. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com