Genre Wandering: Woods - Fritz Helder - The Bulls - Ify Jerry Krusade

Woods - Sun City Creeps.

Promo bio - On April 8, Woods will release its 9th LP, City Sun Eater in the River of Light on its own Woodsist label. This week the band shares the album's first single "Sun City Creeps", plus full album details (see below) and its first batch of tour dates in support of the album, most of which will include openers Ultimate Painting (see full list of dates below).

"Woods have always been experts at distilling life epiphanies into compact chunks of psychedelic folk that exists just outside of any sort of tangible time or place. Maybe those epiphanies were buried under cassette manipulation or drum-and-drone freak outs, or maybe they were cloaked in Jeremy Earl's lilting falsetto, but over the course of an impressive eight albums, Woods refined and drilled down their sound into City Sun Eater in the River of Light, their ninth LP and second recorded in a proper studio. It's a dense record of rippling guitar, lush horns, and seductive, bustling anxiety about the state of the world. It's still the Woods you recognise, only now they're dabbling in zonked out Ethiopian jazz, pulling influence from the low key simmer of Brown Rice, and tapping into the weird dichotomy of making a home in a claustrophobic city that feels full of possibility even as it closes in on you. City Sun Eater in the River of Light is concise, powerful, anxious-barrelling headlong into an uncertain, constantly shifting new world." - Sam Hockley-Smith.

Apr-21 - Ithaca, NY - The Haunt
Apr-22 - Toronto, ON - The Garrison
Apr-23 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall *
Apr-25 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon *
Apr-26 - St. Paul, MN - Turf Club *
Apr-27 - Iowa City, IA - Gabe's *
Apr-28 - Kansas City, MO - The Riot Room *
Apr-30 - Austin, TX - Levitation Austin
May-02 - Nashville, TN - Third Man Records
May-03 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade - Purgatory Room *
May-04 - Asheville, NC - Mothlight *
May-05 - Washington, DC - Rock & Roll Hotel *
May-06 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot and Saddle *
May-07 - New York, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg *
* = w/ Ultimate Painting

'Sun City Creeps' starts with almost a reggae vibe, before developing into a lush and compelling song, with a beautiful horns and intricate musicianship.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fritz Helder - Force Of Nature.

Background promo - Azari & III's Fritz Helder just unveiled the title track “Force Of Nature” as well as the B-Side “Force Of Nature” (The Bad Seed Manipulation) and a brand new music video off his forthcoming debut solo EP, Force Of Nature. 

Comprised of six original tracks, Fritz Helder's Force Of Nature EP will be debuting on September 2, 2016 on London-based label AVSR.Following his recent collaborations with Sydney Blu & Blue Gates, Sinden, Andrea Oliva and fellow band member Dinamo Azari, the performer, vocalist and cultural influencer isn’t wasting any time releasing his debut solo project.

The title track “Force Of Nature” represents both an announcement and a confident distillation, packaged up into a vogue banger that embraces colourful, worldly vibes and mesmerising, throbbing grooves. “Force Of Nature” (The Bad Seed Manipulation) is a hyper kinetic re imagining of the title track, with playful, syncopated drums and a bazaar of beats that kick start the party to eleven. This track and other unexpected turns concludes Fritz Helder’s Force Of Nature release as a multidimensional piece that merges the polish of avant garde art-pop with the high-energy, slinky sounds of the dance floor.

"This being my first solo endeavour... I feel like my naïveté and vulnerability are on full display with this first collection of songs," Fritz says of his solo project. "I'm giving up the ghosts of my past and carving out a place of my own. I purposefully ventured away from what I thought people would expect from me..." Fritz Helder’s debut EP is marked by both its ambition and a sense of the new - fierce and unapologetic, this is Fritz Helder’s Force Of Nature.

This is a really powerful song, with vocals that just demand your attention. The equally forceful rhythm and beat, just adds to the whole mesmerising piece.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Bulls - Prudence.

Background promo - Less than three weeks away from her all-female Girlschool festival, Anna Bulbrook's The Bulls are premiering a new song, "Prudence" with the single going on sale today, Friday, January 15. Although not unlike their previous output, Bulbrook successfully attempted to reach a bit further with her songwriting, and specifically her vocals for the latest single.

"This song is about a real person named Prudence whom I love dearly and who always seems to be running both towards and away from the finer things in life at the same time. When I wrote it, I was just starting to figure out my voice by aping different male vocalists whom I loved. And for this song, I was singing along to David Bowie every day, listening to his voice and trying to channel the smallest scrap of his spirit. Turns out he is, was, and always will be a thousand percent inimitable. At least by me."

"Prudence" prefaces the Girlschool festival, "Field Day Weekend" which is the logical extension of Bulbrook's August residency at the Satellite in Silver Lake. The festival is an inclusive event, giving the opportunity for fans of all gender identities to be a part of a contemporary, female, musical movement. Proceeds from this event will benefit the Rock’n’Roll Camp for Girls LA, a non-profit empowering and nurturing young girls through music education.

The resonating bass line and darker vocals lead us into a delightful dreamy indie pop excursion, that is 'Prudence'. Fill Top 40 radio with songs like this, and I might start listening again.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ify Jerry Krusade - Everybody Likes Something Good - Wake Up You! Vol. 1.

Background promo - The Western world was in the throes of peace, love, and flower power as Nigeria descended into Civil War in 1967. The rock scene that developed during the following three years of bloodshed and destruction would come to heal the country, propagate the world-wide ideal of the Modern Nigerian, and propel Fela Kuti to stardom after conflict ended in 1970. Wake Up You! tells the story of this time, pays homage to these now-forgotten musicians and their struggle, and brings to light the funk and psychedelic fury they created as they wrested free of the ravages of the late 1960s and created thrilling, original Nigerian rock music throughout the 1970s.

Wake Up You! is presented in two 100+ page books full of never-seen photos and the story of the best Nigerian rock bands told in vivid detail by musicologist and researcher Uchenna Ikonne (who helmed the 2013 critical sensation Who Is William Onyeabor?). Each volume is presented as both a hardbound book with CD in a resealable plastic sleeve, and as a double LP with a soft-cover book included in a custom made 12" x 12" book holder. Vol. 1 is set for release on April 15 with Vol. 2 to follow in late May.

All I can say is that if the featured track by 'Ify Jerry Krusade' is anything to go by, then the thirty four songs that span the two CD's will be absolute 'must hears'. I have to say I had no idea Nigeria had a rock scene throughout the seventies, I live and learn.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------