Pressing Concerns: Female Gaze

[Repost from Rosy Overdrive; May 21, 2024]

Female Gaze – Tender Futures

Release date: May 17th
Record label: Fort Lowell/Totally Real
Genre: Psychedelic rock, art rock, desert rock, post-rock, jazz rock
Formats: Vinyl, cassette, digital
Pull Track: Severance

Tucson trio The Rifle debuted about a decade ago, releasing three records in six years and growing from the solo project of guitarist/vocalist Nelene DeGuzman (2014’s Rib to Rib) to a 60s-tinged guitar pop act (2017’s Anababis) to incorporating a bit of desert psychedelia into their sound (2020’s Honeyden). Honeyden would prove to be The Rifle’s last album, but they didn’t break up, exactly–DeGuzman and bassist Kevin Conklin continued on as Female Gaze, with drummer Nicky David Cobham-Morgese replacing The Rifle’s Randy Rowland. Female Gaze debuted in 2021 with the one-off garage-indie-pop single “The Joy of Missing Out”, and while there’s a shade of darkness to that song, it doesn’t prepare one for the huge leap that the trio make on Tender Futures, the trio’s debut album. Stretching five songs across thirty-two minutes, Tender Futures is an expansive, vast record, with DeGuzman and her band embodying the American southwest more than they ever have before. Inspired in part by DeGuzman’s chronic health issues that had left her in a “painful limbo”, Tender Futures does with garage rock what Itasca’s Imitation of War did with folk music–it explores the desert using empty space and towering nothingness as its language.

Tender Futures intentionally evoke haziness and disorientation and, according to the band, can be started from any song and played “on a loop”. Female Gaze choose to begin the “proper” version of the album off with the sparsest moment on the record in “Ghosts”–it’s not the most accessible moment on Tender Futures, no, but there’s a captivating quality to how it sounds, a simple guitar part echoing cavernously with only DeGuzman’s, well, ghostly vocals as accompaniment. “Ghosts” also prepares one to expect extremes throughout the album, which the next song does as well, in a different way. “Broadcast” slides into focus by introducing us to Female Gaze the three-piece rock band, with elements of psychedelia and pop in their sound. It’d be a good choice for the “single”–if it wasn’t ten minutes long, expanding and probing all the while. The middle of the record is completely instrumental, most of which is comprised of the nine-minute title track, an impressive song that slouches towards post-rock and even a bit of jazz-rock (Conklin’s bass gets a nice showcase here), while the echoing piano of “In the Mezzanine” serves as a three-minute coda. By this point, the disorientation is at a high, as we’re feeling lost out in no-man’s land somewhere–but the last song on Tender Futures is its clearest olive branch. “Severance” is not a departure from the rest of the album, but it’s where everything snaps into focus, as the trio set their sights on fluttering guitar pop for six minutes. Ending with the triumphant is Tender Futures on easy mode, though–let’s see how quickly we get lost if we start with the title track… (Bandcamp link)

OUT NOW: Naïm Amor "Amorsonic" [Digital Single]

The third single "Amorsonic" from Naïm Amor's twelfth studio album Stories is out today on all digital music platforms. For fans of The Black Keys, Black Midi, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Nels Cline, Edwyn Collins, The Cramps, The Fleshtones, Richard Hawley, King Krule, La Luz, Los Straightjackets, Man or Astro-man?, JD McPherson, Messer Chups, The Meteors, Roy Orbison, The Shadows, Shannon & The Clams, The Sonics, The Surfrajettes, Surprise Chef, Tijuana Panthers,The Tremolo Beer Gut, Whatitdo Archive Group, Jack White, and Link Wray.

LISTEN NOW | PRE-ORDER VINYL LP NOW

LET'S BEACH every Wednesday Night this Summer at The Sandspur in Carolina Beach NC

Fort Lowell Records is excited to partner with The Sandspur for this Summer Season and bring a very special edition of our Vinyl DJ Nights we are calling LET'S BEACH, to be held at The Sandspur every Wednesday Night from 7:00-10:00pm starting June 5th!  Known for our LET'S DANCE nights held at various venues around Wilmington NC, as well as our weekly LET'S TUESDAY residency at the Satellite Bar & Lounge, we are looking forward to crossing over Snow's Cut once a week to share some of our favorite music on vinyl record with everyone in Carolina Beach, while you enjoy the vibes with family, friends, and neighbors.  We will see y'all on June 5th and every Wednesday this Summer at The Sandspur! Now LET'S BEACH! 🏖

Female Gaze: Tender Futures

[Repost from Here Comes the Flood; by Hans Werksman, May 17, 2024]

Tuscon, AZ based trio Female Gaze goes in at the deep end with their album Tender Futures, a concept record inspired by the serious health issues of Nelene DeGuzman, who had to wait for months on end to finally receive long overdue surgery. Days and nights went by and it gave her plenty of time to come up with the idea of a continuous set of songs that should be enjoyed in one undisturbed sitting.

Taking elements of post-rock, shoegaze, indie rock and a few field recordings and radio broadcasts sprinkled on top, the trio created an intricate maze of transcendent drones and repetitive guitar motifs. It is an immersive listening experience, best enjoyed by either wearing decent headphones or in a room with good acoustics and serious speakers. There are barely any vocals, especially in two lengthy centre pieces, Broadcast and the album's title track, but when DeGuzman does step up to the mike, she makes every word count.

Female Gaze:
Nelene DeGuzman: guitar, piano, vocals
Kevin Conklin: bass
Nicky David Cobham-Morgese: drums, percussion, synths
Rosie Clements: Synth (track #2 & #3)

Tender Futures will be released via Fort Lowell Records (hand-numbered - 100 copies - red vinyl, digital). Release date: May 17.

Tracks:

1. Ghosts
2. Broadcast
3. Tender Futures
4. In the Mezzanine
5. Severance

Live dates:

• 05/17 Tucson, AZ @ MOCA - *Tender Futures Record Release Show*
• 05/24 Tucson, AZ @ Blondie's - *Tender Futures Film Screening*
• 05/31 Las Cruces, NM @ The Lighthouse
• 06/01 Lamy, NM @ Lamy Taproom
• 06/02 Silver City, NM @ Whiskey Creek Zocalo
• 06/05 Phoenix, AZ @ Linger Longer
• 06/06 San Diego, CA @ The Comet Theater
• 06/07 Ojai, CA @ Greater Goods
• 06/08 San Francisco, CA @ The Make Out Room
• 06/09 Los Angeles, CA @ Healing Force Records
• 06/15 Tucson, AZ @ Che's Lounge

» femalegazeband.com

Out of the Crowd (Festival) back with a bang for 20th edition

Red Dwarf Star; photos by Hughes Vanhoucke

[Repost from RTL Today; by Charlie Stone, May 13, 2024]

Having truly curated a lineup that incorporated artists from all four corners of the globe, the day kicked off with the Americans Red Dwarf Star, who are the brainchild of Coley Dennis of Maserati (who performed later) providing a wide sonic landscape.

PREMIERE | Female Gaze, 'Tender Futures'

[Repost from Week in Pop; May 13, 2024]

Art and existence in our current era (and arguably other time periods) is not an inherently linear ordeal. While cycles and patterns can be observed in terms of how trends ebb and flow, earth science sequences analyzed, societal and civic fashions and fads parade in and out of style and so forth; nothing abides by a static algorithm. Our experiences are erratic, the best laid itineraries and plans are often met with diversions and interruptions that whisk us away from our otherwise regularly scheduled programming. We are beholden to the timelines that are outside of our own unique operations, and while we may be experiencing the slow steps of time in our own lives there are often cyclones of social circuses that buzz around our hives in a maelstrom of movements that are too innumerable to count. We witness these motions according to our time, the lulls of night and the lights of day as our consciousness absorbs the information and stimuli that arrives at our senses (while the unconscious grapples with the overwhelming deluge of external activities that exceeds the limits of our comprehension).

These non-linear sequences abound on the new record Tender Futures from Tucson, AZ trio Female Gaze. Bandleader Nelene DeGuzman, Kevin Conklin and Nicky David Cobham-Morgese create a 5 song cycle designed to be experienced like a Möbius film loop. The band prefaces it with the following:

…[Tender Futures] is a cycle meant to be listened to on a loop, starting anywhere but listening in order until you reach your starting point again…

A record that rose out of DeGuzman’s own health struggles where days and nights blended together into the arbitrary atmospheres of ambiguity, Tender Futures offers tangible textures that enrobe the constructs of time and spaces as we embark upon them. Female Gaze gives room for how we perceive our lives, minute by minute, moment to moment. Honoring these aspects of reality, DeGuzman surveys where we are, how we feel and how we are engaging in that very instance. Tender Gaze invites you to experience time not as a simplified flat line but as a circle, where the the rises and falls of solar and lunar intervals are heard and felt according to a planetary alignment that is outside of our own immediate purview.

Chronologically "Ghosts" begins the album with a journey through the paranormal where Nelene's voice echoes through chambers and is met by the found sounds of daylight where the ambience of wind and the chirps and cheeps of birdsongs fills the air. The voyage to the edges of night and the dams of daybreak collapses the conventions of calendars on "Broadcast" that transmits like a psychotropic journey to the places where time takes on new forms and new meanings. The title track runs shy of 10 minutes, an instrumental where the conventions of clocks, hours, minutes and seconds dissolves into a heady jam that entrances all who are brave enough to take the trip. "In the Mezzanine" employs lo-fi piano keys and field recorded sounds of evening where crickets and the rushing whooshes of traffic swim about the mix (replete with percussive car turn signal clicks and clacks).

Tender Futures is completed with "Severance" that transcends the pains of mortality. Transcends the trappings of 24 hour systems and cycles of bookkeeping. Transcends the movement of the planets. Transcends the trivialities of everything that we place meaning upon that are but chaff in the breeze as the wind adheres to its own wild code and convection trajectory that carries a compass of its own design and choosing. Nelene takes the listener on an out of body experience where everything and nothingness, day and night and other corresponding opposites find a cosmic and complimentary coupling like compatible constellations cruising up together in concert high above the sky.

Nelene DeGuzman of Female Gaze shared the following meditations on the new album:

Tender Futures is an experimental concept album that tracks an endless day/night cycle. I’ve struggled most of my adult life with pain stemming from chronic health issues.

Tender Futures was created while suffering through a particularly difficult health year, waiting 5 months in a painful limbo for a much needed surgery. Time seemed to slow to an intolerable pace but I also felt like everything was moving fast around me and I was unable to keep up.

My perception during this time became a fever dream of cycles, inhale/exhale, night/day, always a bit disoriented, like waking up from a nap that’s gone too long and now it’s dark and you’re not sure if it’s late at night or early in the morning.

Female Gaze’s Tender Futures arrives May 17 on vinyl via Fort Lowell Records and cassette courtesy of Totally Real Records. 

Tercel - "Tiny Towns"

[Repost from If It's Too Loud; by Ken Spears, May 14, 2024]

Hailing from the Cape Fear region of North Carolina, Tercel are going to make you nostalgic for a slice of indie rock you may have forgotten a but. Their debut single, "Tiny Towns," is filled with power pop and melodies, but it also has a bit of the quirkier side of indie rock and plenty of dissonance. It's the kind of track that both repels you and draws you in, often at the exact same time. At various points I'm hearing influences ranging from Archers of Loaf to Sebadoh to Superchunk, with some Wussy thrown in. "Tiny Towns" is a great debut single from a band we're looking forward to hearing more from.

You can listen to "Tiny Towns" below. The single is out now via Fort Lowell Records, and is available for download over on Bandcamp. For more on Tercel, check out the band on Instagram.

OUT NOW: Female Gaze 'Tender Futures' [Debut Album]

Female Gaze makes immersive art to get lost in. Their debut album, Tender Futures, is an experimental concept record that tracks an endless day/night cycle, exploring meditations on mindless-ness as a coping mechanism.

Songwriter and guitarist Nelene DeGuzman and bassist Kevin Conklin met drummer Nicky David Cobham-Morgese in Tucson, Arizona where the band is based. DeGuzman, who has struggled most of her adult life with pain stemming from chronic health issues, created Tender Futures while suffering through a particularly difficult health year, when she was left waiting 5 months in a painful limbo for a much needed surgery.

“Time seemed to slow to an intolerable pace but I also felt like everything was moving fast around me and I was unable to keep up. My perception during this time became a fever dream of cycles, inhale/exhale, night/day, always a bit disoriented, like waking up from a nap that’s gone too long and now it’s dark and you’re not sure if it’s late in the night or early in the morning” says DeGuzman.

The new album is meant to be experienced on a loop, starting from any song but then listening until reaching your starting point. Tender Futures is now available on vinyl via Fort Lowell Records and tape via Totally Real Records, as well as on all digital music platforms.

LISTEN TO FULL ALBUM // ORDER VINYL RECORD

OUT NOW: Tercel "Tiny Towns" [Digital Single]

The first official debut release — a digital single titled "Tiny Towns" — for Wilmington, North Carolina's own Tercel is out today on all digital music platforms.  For fans of Archers of Loaf, Blab School, Broken Social Scene, Built to Spill, Cursive, Desaparecidos, Fucked Up, Horsegirl, Japandroids, Jawbox, JEFF the Brotherhood, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Lifeguard, Pavement, Pissed Jeans, Sebadoh, Ty Segall, Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, Superchunk, The Thermals, Titus Andronicus, Unwound, Wavves, Wolf Parade, Yuck.  

LISTEN NOW

La Cerca 'Summer Tour'

May 24 - San Antonio TX - The Mix

May 25 - Austin TX - Chess Club 

May 26 - Wichita KS - Kirby’s Beer Store

May 29 - Minneapolis MN- Cloudland

May 30 - Milwaukee WI - High Dive 

May 31 - Chicago IL - Marz Brewing Community

June 1 - Lafayette IN - The Spot

June 2- - Akron OH -[tbd] 

June 4 - Cleveland OH - Happy Dog

June 5 - Pittsburgh PA - [tbd]

June 6 - Brooklyn NY - Mama Tried

June 9 - Winston Salem NC - Monstercade

June 10 - Cincinnati OH - MOTR 
June 11 - Louisville KY - B Sides

June 12 - St. Louis MO - The Sinkhole

June 13 - Lawrence KS - Replay

June 14 - Kansas City MO - miniBar

Female Gaze 'Tender Futures' Tour

May 17 - Tucson AZ - MOCA  - *Tender Futures Record Release Show*
May 24 - Tucson AZ - Blondie's - *Tender Futures Film Screening*
May 31 - Las Cruces NM - The Lighthouse
June 1 - Lamy NM - Lamy Taproom
June 2 - Silver City NM - Whiskey Creek Zocalo
June 5- Phoenix AZ - Linger Longer
June 6 - San Diego CA - The Comet Theater
June 7 - Ojai CA - Greater Goods
June 8 - San Francisco CA - The Make Out Room
June 9 - Los Angeles CA - Healing Force Records
June 15 - Tucson AZ - Che's Lounge

OUT NOW: Blab School "Small Simple Ways" [Digital Single]

The third single "Small Simple Ways" from Blab School’s self-titled debut album is available now on all digital music platforms. For fans of Bad Religion, Buzzcocks, Descendants, Drive Like Jehu, The Faction, The Fucking Champs, Gang of Four, Green Day, The Hives, Hot Snakes, Jawbox, The Jesus Lizard, Les Savy Fav, Lightning Bolt, Meatbodies, Melt-Banana, Metz, Osees, Pipe, Pissed Jeans, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Superchunk, The Thermals.

LISTEN NOW | PRE-ORDER VINYL LP

What Rules Wednesday / TRK: Forest Fallows-Hotel Radisson

[Repost from Small Albums; May 7, 2024]

Sometimes I find a project that sounds like the creators know me and know EXACTLY what I want to hear, and Forest Fallows is one of those instances.

The warmth but never overheat of summer air blows gently as Mike Barnett and Alex Morton strum soft chords, and sing like the fur of a rabbit in a straw hat.

Flute flutters that break up the quiet undercurrents layer just enough, but don't pull from the slow blinking eyes of car windows passing something monumental on the side of the road.

This new single follows up "Saturday Rose," with yet another splash in the same cooling pool. A tiny bicycle bell rings out off time, and falls back to sleep. Saxophone ends the track like a frosted pastry in an open window.

Red Dwarf Star 'European Tour' starts today in Lausanne, Switzerland!

Red Dwarf Star

• 05/07 Lausanne, Switzerland @ Le Bleu Lezard
• 05/08 Besançon, France @ Antonnoir
• 05/09 Strasbourg, Franc @ La Grenze
• 05/10 Gent, Belgium @ Dunk! Festival
• 05/11 Luxembourg, Luxembourg @ Out of the Crowd Festival
• 05/12 Utrecht, Netherlands @ De Helling 
  All dates with Maserati

LISTEN TO RED DWARF STAR NOW

OUT NOW: Forest Fallows "Hotel Radisson" [Digital Single]

The second single "Hotel Radisson" from Forest Fallow's sophomore album Palisades is available now on all digital music platforms.  —— For fans of Animal Collective, Ariel Pink, Atlas Sound, The American Analog Set, Beach Boys, Broadcast, Mac DeMarco, Destroyer, Drugdealer, Ducktails, Esquivel, Goth Babe, Richard Hawley, JPW, Lauds, The Ocean Blue, Peel Dream Magazine, The Radio Dept., Radiohead, Real Estate, The Sea & Cake, Stereolab, Sugar Candy Mountain, The Sundays, Kurt Vile, Yo La Tengo, Wild Nothing, and Woods.

LISTEN NOW | PRE-ORDER VINYL LP NOW

80s Dance Night in Wilmington NC - Friday, May 3rd at The Underfront Co.

LET'S DANCE is a Vinyl DJ Night hosted by Fort Lowell Records around various venues in Wilmington, North Carolina.  This coming Friday, May 3rd, we are partnering with deejay / hip-hop producer RizzyBeats to bring you a very special 80s Night edition of our LET'S DANCE event at The Underfront Co. bar on Front Street in Downtown Wilmington NC.  James Tritten, owner of Fort Lowell Records, will be swappin' joints with RizzyBeats on the ol' 1s and 2s from 8:00pm until midnight, spinnin' everything from 80s boogie, freestyle, hip-hop, new wave, pop, post-punk, R&B, rock-n-roll, synthpop,  ...you name it!  Plus, the dynamic duo is going to be rockin' it Egyptian Lover style with a real Roland 808 Analog Drum Machine from the 1980s on stage, live beat matching and remixing the vinyl records they'll be playing.  So join us at The Underfront Co. this coming Friday, May 3rd... and LET'S DANCE!

FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

Red Dwarf Star: Lady Aurora Borealis

[Repost from Here Comes The Flood; by Hans Werksman, April 19, 2024]

Maserati guitarist Coley Dennis flies solo with his Red Dwarf Star project. He doesn't stray all that much for the psychedelic post-rock that he has been creating with the Athens, GA band. His new single Lady Aurora Borealis - the Espresso Machine Mix to be precise - is a slow moving trip through outer space, with Dennis never revealing if it is a real or imaginary journey. He stacked the guitar parts way up high, with Kellii Scott from Los Angeles alt-rock band Failure playing up a storm on drums. It left him two ways to make himself heard: scream at the top of lungs or going for an almost spoken word part draped over the mayhem. He chose wisely, and picked the latter.

The B-side is a harsh reimagining of the Pink Floyd classic Fearless, turning it into a slowed down metal tune as if the Sisters of Mercy were picking a fight with Black Sabbath. Allen Epley from Kansas City indie rock band The Life and Times stepped up to the mike for this one. He got buried deep in the mix, but that is intentional.

Lady Aurora Borealis is released via Fort Lowell Records.

Live dates (with Maserati):

• 05/07 Lausanne, Switzerland @ Le Bleu Lezard
• 05/08 Besançon, France @ Antonnoir
• 05/09 Strasbourg, Franc @ La Grenze
• 05/10 Gent, Belgium @ Dunk! Festival
• 05/11 Luxembourg, Luxembourg @ Out of the Crowd Festival
• 05/12 Utrecht, Netherlands @ De Helling

» Red Dwarf Star on Instagram

OUT NOW: Naïm Amor "Freeway Race" [Digital Single]

The second single "Freeway Race" from Naïm Amor's twelfth studio album Stories is out today on all digital music platforms. For fans of The Black Keys, Black Midi, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Nels Cline, Edwyn Collins, The Cramps, The Fleshtones, Richard Hawley, King Krule, La Luz, Los Straightjackets, Man or Astro-man?, JD McPherson, Messer Chups, The Meteors, Roy Orbison, The Shadows, Shannon & The Clams, The Sonics, The Surfrajettes, Surprise Chef, Tijuana Panthers,The Tremolo Beer Gut, Whatitdo Archive Group, Jack White, and Link Wray.

LISTEN NOW | PRE-ORDER VINYL LP NOW

Female Gaze "Severance"

[Repost from Stereobar; April 7, 2024]

Before even a single word is sung, “Severance” by Female Gaze casts its spell. The track, an enchanting blend of psychedelia and shoegaze, starts with a compelling bass line that immediately grabs your attention. By the time Nelene DeGuzman’s vocals drift in, you’re already deeply immersed in its sonic world. This song manages to take what sounds like an oxymoron – “trippy shoegaze” – and turns it into an alluring, cohesive sound that’s hard to resist. With its six-minute runtime, “Severance” teases its conclusion several times, only to dive deeper into its mesmerizing soundscape, inviting listeners to lose themselves in its depth. Each continuation feels like a gift, prolonging the warm, captivating experience Female Gaze has crafted. This track is a standout from their upcoming album Tender Futures, set for release on May 17 via Fort Lowell Records, showcasing the band’s ability to blend genres and create music that’s both innovative and deeply affecting.

OUT NOW: Red Dwarf Star "Lady Aurora Borealis" [Digital Single]

Red Dwarf Star is the brainchild of guitarist Coley Dennis of the long running Athens, GA Post Rock/Kraut band Maserati.

Located now in Lausanne, Switzerland — Red Dwarf Star that’s taken Dennis back to his roots in the early 90’s. Tapping into Creation Records bands like Slowdive, Swervedriver as well the Cure and Cocteau Twins, it has served as a sonic pallet for his first ever solo output.

Adding as well mid-90’s U.S. “Midwest Core” influences like HUM, Failure, Quicksand and Shiner, Dennis is creating beautiful but powerful sonic landscapes reminiscent of the lush shoegaze sounds aforementioned.

Drawing inspiration from leaving his home country in 2015 for a new life, starting a family, and a new career has inspired Dennis to write his most personal material to date.

For the recording Dennis enlisted the drumming duties of Kellii Scott (Failure) on his first solo Red Dwarf Star release.

In the live arena he enlisted the help of Leipzig, Germany post-rockers JeffK composed of Steffen Ziemann behind the kit as well as Matthias Poese (guitar) and Börge Meyn (bass) to round out the group.

The debut release for Red Dwarf Star — a digital single for the song "Lady Aurora Borealis", paired with a cover of Pink Floyd's "Fearless" — is out now on all digital music platforms.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW

Catch Red Dwarf Star live in concert: 

• May 7: Lausanne, CH @ Le Bleu Lezard
• May 8: Besançon, FR @ Antonnoir 
• May 9: Strasbourg, FR @ La Grenze 
• May 10: Gent, BE @ Dunk! Festival 
• May 11: Luxembourg, LX @ Out of the Crowd Festival
• May 12: Utrecht, NL @ De Helling
  All dates supporting Maserati