NEW ICONS OF A VILE FAITH: Genre-defying Denver Band, Echo Beds Bridge The Gap Between Nine Inch Nails & Death Grips with "SEEK SAFE HAVEN" (sole's Black Box Tapes)

Denver-bred genre-defying Echo Beds are the latest signees to politically-charged emcee and former Anticon founder Tim "sole" Holland's latest label venture, Black Box Tapes. I would likely describe Echo Beds' rather long-winded "overdriventapehissnoisewall- landscapemetaldrumpummelpainfacevolumetherapy" sound of something strangely evocative of what an imagined missing link between late 80's-1990's Industrial Rock forefathers Nine Inch Nails and their critically-acclaimed modern day counterparts, Noise/Aggro-Rap group Death Grips; an obtuse indefinable sound, better yet, self-described by vocalist/bass player Keith Curts and beat-maker Tom Nelson as "a caterwaul of contact-mic'd oil drums, broken cymbals, battered basses, unrecognizable tape loops, and dilapidated voices with the expressed intention of volume as therapy and put it through the grinder of self-practiced D.I.Y. ethos." Echo Beds' latest music video, "SEEK SAFE HAVEN" was premiered at (awesomely titled) Black Metal & Brews earlier this week.

It's an eerily ominous presentation directed by Kim Shively, which seamlessly inter-splices found B-movie Horror footage with what appears to be dimly-lit live performance footage of Echo Beds ripping it up at their Denver rehearsal space. Curts and Nelson are gearing up to unleash their Black Box Tapes debut, NEW ICONS OF A VILE FAITH around April 29-May 1st on cassette and soon thereafter on 12-inch vinyl, which will imminently be pressed and released by Sailor Records. Echo Beds have additionally prepared an opaque red swirl "Licking Wounds" 7-inch limited to a handful of pieces pieces on their own Temporal Decompression imprint and will only be made available for purchase on their upcoming Spring 2016 Tour, a sprawling 21-date cross-country trek which is set to span from May 1-26th. NEW ICONS OF A VILE FAITH is currently available ~~for pre-order~~ at Black Box Tapes' Bandcamp page in either high-quality digital download or a befittingly ~~cassette & T-shirt combo pack~~, with Sailor Records' 12-inch release only imminent, at this point.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Since initially publishing this piece on 4/13/16, taking it down for a brief period in time, and now, triumphantly re-upping it... Echo Beds have since SOLD OUT of Black Box Tapes-pressed NEW ICONS OF A VILE FAITH cassette tapes (except for what they're taking on tour.) Although, Keith Curts tells me it MAY be re-released on another local Denver imprint, but it's too early to disclose just yet. NEW ICONS OF A VILE FAITH is also nearly sold out on vinyl and about 30 copies remain. Curts said there are currently "a couple handfuls" of "Licking Wounds" 7-inches left on black vinyl and that all colored vinyl is SOLD OUT.

"Let Me Shine for You:" Lindsay Lohan for Playboy (Winter 2011-12 Leak)

Lindsay Lohan essentially embodies exactly "What NOT to Do In Hollywood :" Fame, fortune, success... sex, drugs & Rock "N" Roll . Within a fairly short period of time, Lohan somehow managed to obtain a plentiful helping of POWER @ a very young age. This gradual rise-downfall was captured on film; Between 1998-2010, she portrayed a wide array of roles across the silver screen in movies including: Mean Girls, Bobby , Herbie Fully Loaded , Georgia Rule, Machete , and Freaky Friday . Between rapid-paced film shoots, Lindsay Lohan also found time to record 2 Pop Rock albums for Casablanca , Speak (2004) and A Litter More Personal-Raw (2005). Needless to say, Lindsay Lohan has gotten roped up in a lot of troubles and woes with the law over the last 3-5 years... a vicious cycle of drugs, arrest, court, rehab, "daddy issues," jail time [Repeat]. That's the pure basics of it - But Google that shit for additional info, if necessary. Towards the end of

[W]reckless, Topless American Youth: Lana del Rey - "Born 2 Die" (Britney Spears Birthday 30)

Lana del Rey [Lizzy Grant] effectively became 2011's "It Girl" with the release of her phenomenal debut single, "Video Games" (Stranger) . Like many struggling singer-songwriters, Grant has been signed, dropped, and significantly changed her public image since bursting onto the scene (2009). With that said, it can be assumed that Lana del Rey has collected just as many "haters" as she has avid supporters. To be perfectly honest, the only other artist I can think of that made this much commotion... garnered so much wide-spread buzz/hate and critical acclaim -- right out of the gates -- with just one track is Britney Spears . And maybe in this post- Mike musical era, that's the true synthesis of Pop Culture: Britney Lynn Spears . After months of repeated teasing and speculation, Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die will [finally] be released this coming Jan. 30-31, 2012. Pitchfork reports that it will feature "Off to The Ra

Liberty Bell Cracked In 1/2: Ween - "Freedom of '76" (Gene Ween's Final Send-Off)

Chocolate & Cheese (1994) was one of the first albums I bought with my own money. I was in some sort of BMG Music Club , where you'd buy 5 CD's and then get 10 for "FREE." It was all sent through mail order and you picked the titles from some special booklet. I'm almost positive that Chocolate & Cheese's side boob-baring album cover was what initially drew me in... mind you, I was 12-15 and the zany Ween logo/middle finger CD graphic really didn't hurt either. Honestly, I forget how I really felt about it @ the time, but a few years later, my older cousin Josh told me that Ween were this BIG college "jam band." CKY did some sort pf 93.3 radio takeover to promote their new album and played "Freedom of '76" late that night on air. Needless to say, I re-visited Chocolate & Cheese @ about 20-something this go 'round and I fucking loved it! Ween were really weird, yet talented... almost too talented. I can vaguel

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