Tag Archives: churches

New track: Churches – "Feel Alright"

(Originally published on Tympanogram.com on February 20, 2012)

CHURCHES
CHURCHES

Out here, on the West Coast that is, the weather is always sunny. No matter what anyone tells you. There is no rain, no clouds, no smog, just sunshine and music festivals. As for music festivals, I’m positive that you, dear reader, have already taken the time to get excited about the Coachella lineup. As the hours went by and the publicity grew, so did others’ resentment at ticket prices and how the lineup seems to be the same every year. That all seems like eons ago, in internet time.

Coachella is not the only festival the West Coast has to offer, for there’s also Sasquatch and Noise Pop, the latter of which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. From Tuesday, February 21st through the 26th, San Francisco hosted tons of bands including The Flaming Lips, Cursive, Atlas Sound, Disappears (that boasts Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley), Fresh and Onlys, as well as Churches.

Churches’ music hearkens back to the days of 120 Minutes, when MTV used to actually play videos. Big fuzzed out guitars and heartfelt vocals that are deeply moving while being alternately sad or celebratory, and sometimes even a seemingly incongruous mix of the two. In their own words Churches is “loud, melodic power-pop, rooted in teen angst nostalgia and heavily reflecting its influences – Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., the Pixies. Churches is salvation through distortion for the disaffected small-town weirdo in everyone – a sonic cathedral of symbols and guitars for the modern outcast.” They have made available a new single, “Feel Alright,” ahead of their Noise Pop Fest debut on their soundcloud and bandcamp pages, and it is certainly worth checking out and downloading. Additionally, Churches is recording a special Noise Pop Daytrotter session.

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/CHURCHES-Feel-Alright.mp3]

Churches // Bandcamp | Twitter | Facebook | Soundcloud

New release: Churches – "Save Me"

Churches - "Save Me"
Churches - "Save Me"
Churches is the new recording project of Caleb Nichols, the frontman of Oakland’s Grand Lake, former bassist of Port O’Brien, and touring member of WATERS and Release The Sunbird.  On his first single, ‘SAVE ME’, Nichols teams up with WATERS frontman Van Pierszalowski and Rogue Wave drummer Pat Spurgeon.  Oslo-based WATERS guitarist Nikolai Haukeland also plays.  The result is two and a half minutes of melancholic, fuzzed-out power-pop, with obvious nods to heroes Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr. and contemporaries such as Wye Oak.

‘SAVE ME’ by Churches will is being self-released on bandcamp today.  The track will be accompanied by remixes and the original demo, and will be sold by the band using a ‘pay what you want’ model.  Additionally, 50% of digital proceeds will go directly to 826 Seattle a nonprofit writing and tutoring center dedicated to helping youth, ages six to 18, improve their creative and expository writing skills.  This is part of the wider idea behind Churches, which is to not only release music but to raise money for various awesome non-profits and charities – from the very beginning.

‘SAVE ME’ was recorded and mixed by Ian Pellicci (Deerhoof, Rogue Wave, Yann Tiersen) at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco.  Produced by Van Pierszalowski.  Written by Caleb Nichols.  Performed by Pat Spurgeon, Nikolai Haukeland, Van Pierszalowski and Caleb Nichols.

Head over to the Churches bandcamp site right now to download the track and to make a donation to a great cause while supporting independent music.

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Check out the official Churches Bandcamp site: http://churchescalifornia.bandcamp.com/

Follow them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ChurchesBand

Check out Caleb’s other project Grand Lake and their recent EP “Leaves Ellipse” (it’s great)