Land Trust: Benefit for NEFOC embodies the spirit of mutual aid that guides many punk communities. When Bikini Kill’s 2020 reunion tour was canceled, touring guitarist Erica Dawn Lyle and drum tech Vice Cooler wanted to make themselves useful. But during lockdown, they were isolated in their respective homes on opposite sides of the country—Lyle, a longtime artist, critic, and organizer in the DIY community, was in New York, and Cooler, a photographer, producer, and drummer who’s performed with the likes of Peaches and the Raincoats, was in California. They began trading riffs and beats via file sharing, and eventually invited friends to write lyrics and develop the material into finished songs. The result is a 16-track sampler that sounds like a survey of feminist punk from the past 30 years. The artists are using it to raise money for the Northeast Farmers of Color (NEFOC), a BIPOC-led grassroots organization fighting for land sovereignty.

Most of the heavy hitters contribute flourishes of their signatures style to their songs with Lyle and Cooler: the Linda Lindas add bratitude to the crunchy guitars on “Lost in Thought” (which also features Bikini Kill bassist Kathi Wilcox), Kim Gordon shows up with bored indignation and anxious reverb on “Debt Collector,” and Alice Bag brings her bouncy brand of edutainment to “Soul Fire Farm.” But there are plenty of surprises too. The Raincoats take a deliciously dark turn on the standout instrumental track “AGAVE”: driven by blooming synths and nervous strings, the momentum builds, then crashes like a crushingly elegant wave before the drums march solemnly toward a skittering violin frenzy. On “Immortals,” Brontez Purnell of defunct electroclash group Gravy Train!!!! sings a punky doo-wop number about overlooked people achieving immortality. And bassist Emily Retsas, known for her work with Phoebe Bridgers, joins vocalist Ali Carter of Philly postpunk trio Control Top on “Cracks in the Ceiling,” a whipping, distortion-heavy track that anticipates collapse from above. Not only does Land Trust reveal the stylistic and aesthetic diversity of the scenes that helped forge Lyle and Cooler’s musical sensibilities; it also imagines simple but elegant possibilities for what a collaborative album can be and do. After all, we’re all stronger together.

Erica Dawn Lyle & Vice Cooler’s Land Trust: Benefit For NEFOC is available via Bandcamp.

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Politics are an inherent part of punk and hardcore culture, but not even the most ardent fans like feeling preached to, especially by artists who seem more focused on their messaging than on their music. On their new full-length, Baby, British-Austrian postpunk band Petrol Girls step away from all that (and even poke fun at their own bouts of sanctimony) to churn out a set of songs that turn up the party vibes without toning down the politics. Their tunes can sound joyful even when they take direct aim at deathly serious topics such as the carceral state and the exploitation of crime victims and survivors; they also highlight how absurd it is that, in the so-called civilized world, anyone has to fight for basic human rights and dignity in the first place. Lead single “Baby, I Had an Abortion” is an absolute banger with a gritty guitar hook that could stick in your head for days, with lyrics by front woman Ren Aldridge about her experience encountering anti-abortion protesters after she underwent the procedure in 2018. The indignant “Fight for Our Lives” features guest vocals from feminist organizer Janey Starling, whose Dignity for Dead Women Campaign with Level Up (referenced in the lyrics) made inroads for better reporting practices on gender-based violence in the UK. That song provides one of the album’s most powerful moments of catharsis: Aldridge screams “You don’t own us” at anyone who would try to control women and force them into a life of fear. The stripped-down, live-sounding production, which doesn’t airbrush out imperfections, underscores the urgency of the material—even in the Petrol Girls’ missteps, their passion comes through loud and clear.

Petrol Girls’s Baby is out 6/24 via Bandcamp.

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Chicago postpunks Ne-Hi split in May 2019, and since then guitarist-singer Mikey Wells has expanded his palette of delightful pop hooks in two standout projects: Spun Out, which is indie dance oriented, and Flamingo Rodeo, which plays choogle rock a la 1970s AM radio. On Flamingo Rodeo’s new album, Pontoon (due this month on Shuga Records), Wells is joined by a cast that includes guitarists Jake Gold and Timothy Gurnig, bassist Matt Ciar-leglio, and drummer (and fellow Ne-Hi alum) Alex Otake. On the strummy, summery single “Tooth and Nail,” Colin Croom of Twin Peaks adds buttery riffs on Wurlitzer organ. On Thursday, June 30, Flamingo Rodeo celebrates Pontoon at the Empty Bottle with a listening party.

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Land Trust: Benefit for NEFOC embodies the spirit of mutual aid that guides many punk communities. When Bikini Kill’s 2020 reunion tour was canceled, touring guitarist Erica Dawn Lyle and drum tech Vice Cooler wanted to make themselves useful. But during lockdown, they were isolated in their respective homes on opposite sides of the country—Lyle, a longtime artist, critic, and organizer in the DIY community, was in New York, and Cooler, a photographer, producer, and drummer who’s performed with the likes of Peaches and the Raincoats, was in California. They began trading riffs and beats via file sharing, and eventually invited friends to write lyrics and develop the material into finished songs. The result is a 16-track sampler that sounds like a survey of feminist punk from the past 30 years. The artists are using it to raise money for the Northeast Farmers of Color (NEFOC), a BIPOC-led grassroots organization fighting for land sovereignty.

Most of the heavy hitters contribute flourishes of their signatures style to their songs with Lyle and Cooler: the Linda Lindas add bratitude to the crunchy guitars on “Lost in Thought” (which also features Bikini Kill bassist Kathi Wilcox), Kim Gordon shows up with bored indignation and anxious reverb on “Debt Collector,” and Alice Bag brings her bouncy brand of edutainment to “Soul Fire Farm.” But there are plenty of surprises too. The Raincoats take a deliciously dark turn on the standout instrumental track “AGAVE”: driven by blooming synths and nervous strings, the momentum builds, then crashes like a crushingly elegant wave before the drums march solemnly toward a skittering violin frenzy. On “Immortals,” Brontez Purnell of defunct electroclash group Gravy Train!!!! sings a punky doo-wop number about overlooked people achieving immortality. And bassist Emily Retsas, known for her work with Phoebe Bridgers, joins vocalist Ali Carter of Philly postpunk trio Control Top on “Cracks in the Ceiling,” a whipping, distortion-heavy track that anticipates collapse from above. Not only does Land Trust reveal the stylistic and aesthetic diversity of the scenes that helped forge Lyle and Cooler’s musical sensibilities; it also imagines simple but elegant possibilities for what a collaborative album can be and do. After all, we’re all stronger together.

Erica Dawn Lyle & Vice Cooler’s Land Trust: Benefit For NEFOC is available via Bandcamp.

Read More

Politics are an inherent part of punk and hardcore culture, but not even the most ardent fans like feeling preached to, especially by artists who seem more focused on their messaging than on their music. On their new full-length, Baby, British-Austrian postpunk band Petrol Girls step away from all that (and even poke fun at their own bouts of sanctimony) to churn out a set of songs that turn up the party vibes without toning down the politics. Their tunes can sound joyful even when they take direct aim at deathly serious topics such as the carceral state and the exploitation of crime victims and survivors; they also highlight how absurd it is that, in the so-called civilized world, anyone has to fight for basic human rights and dignity in the first place. Lead single “Baby, I Had an Abortion” is an absolute banger with a gritty guitar hook that could stick in your head for days, with lyrics by front woman Ren Aldridge about her experience encountering anti-abortion protesters after she underwent the procedure in 2018. The indignant “Fight for Our Lives” features guest vocals from feminist organizer Janey Starling, whose Dignity for Dead Women Campaign with Level Up (referenced in the lyrics) made inroads for better reporting practices on gender-based violence in the UK. That song provides one of the album’s most powerful moments of catharsis: Aldridge screams “You don’t own us” at anyone who would try to control women and force them into a life of fear. The stripped-down, live-sounding production, which doesn’t airbrush out imperfections, underscores the urgency of the material—even in the Petrol Girls’ missteps, their passion comes through loud and clear.

Petrol Girls’s Baby is out 6/24 via Bandcamp.

Read More

Chicago postpunks Ne-Hi split in May 2019, and since then guitarist-singer Mikey Wells has expanded his palette of delightful pop hooks in two standout projects: Spun Out, which is indie dance oriented, and Flamingo Rodeo, which plays choogle rock a la 1970s AM radio. On Flamingo Rodeo’s new album, Pontoon (due this month on Shuga Records), Wells is joined by a cast that includes guitarists Jake Gold and Timothy Gurnig, bassist Matt Ciar-leglio, and drummer (and fellow Ne-Hi alum) Alex Otake. On the strummy, summery single “Tooth and Nail,” Colin Croom of Twin Peaks adds buttery riffs on Wurlitzer organ. On Thursday, June 30, Flamingo Rodeo celebrates Pontoon at the Empty Bottle with a listening party.

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After Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum had a rough NBA Finals, Brad Stevens had a simple message for his team’s franchise player.

“I just told him to go on vacation,” Stevens, Boston’s president of basketball operations, said with a smile during a video conference call with reporters after Boston’s season ended with a loss to the Golden State Warriors in six games in the league’s championship round. “Go get some rest.

“This guy gave us everything he had. When you look at the minutes, when you look at the games played … I’ve said this many times: he’s a superstar that doesn’t want to sit. He wants to play, he wants to play all the time. I thought that in the Finals, obviously, I think he would be the first to say that he would like to have some of those moments back but I thought there were other contributing factors to how he played.”

The 24-year-old superstar, coming off being named to the All-NBA first team, had an up-and-down playoffs. He finished the postseason with the most turnovers any player has had in a single playoffs in NBA history, and in the Finals he shot 50 percent from the field once, and under 40 percent four times in Boston’s loss to Golden State — including shooting just 31.6 percent on 2-point shots.

As a result, not surprisingly, both 2-point shooting and playmaking were issues not just for Tatum, but the team as a whole in seeing Boston fall just short of its goals. However, Stevens said it should be remembered just how good both Tatum and Jaylen Brown have already been to this point in their careers in terms of postseason success, and that the team wouldn’t have gotten to where it did without them.

Stevens pointed specifically to Tatum’s 46-point game on the road in Milwaukee in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals as proof of that.

“The way I try to look at it is obviously we’re all subjective in every moment and get react emotionally but when you start looking at it objectively and more so historically, what Jayson and Jaylen have done in the playoffs, historically at their ages, is rarified air,” Stevens said. “I think we’re very cognizant of the fact that even though Jayson would admittedly not have played his best series, there’s no chance we’re there without him and without all of his great play all the way through.

“I think back to all of the times … Game 6 in Milwaukee was one of the best games I’ve seen an individual play in my time, certainly in person and with the Celtics. Without that performance, we would have had this discussion a month and a half ago.”

By “this discussion,” Stevens was referring to how Boston fell short in these playoffs, and what the Celtics need to do in terms of improvement. The two areas he singled out? More consistent bench scoring, and playmaking across the roster.

That said, Stevens was equally quick to point out that the Celtics were able to get as far as they did this season thanks to a unique combination of size and versatility across the board — and that, as Boston looks to improve this summer, the Celtics have to stay cognizant of those strengths, and not take away from them to improve other things about the team.

“I think we have to walk a fine line a little bit,” Stevens said. “I think teams are fragile. I think the way teams work together and operate together are fragile. And I think your identity as a team, when you find one that’s successful, which we did this year on the defensive end of the floor and when we were at our best sharing the ball offensively, those things are fragile. So just to add doesn’t mean that you’re not taking something away from the group.”

He went on to say that no Celtics — including Robert Williams, who dealt with left knee soreness throughout the playoffs — will require surgery, saying that rest will be enough for him and everyone else on the roster to bounce back from a grueling playoff run that saw Boston play 24 of a possible 28 games.

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