Mikey Erg Shares "Almost Like Judee Sill" Single & Announces Love At Leeds Produced By Steve Albini (Don Giovanni Records)

Mikey Erg with Jeff Rosenstock, Alex Clute & Lou Hanman (CREDIT: Emily McKern)

"Mikey Erg continues to set the gold standard for hooky Punk love songs. Love At Leeds is him at the top of his song-writing game—just one finely tuned ear-worm after another," writer Dan Ozzi gushes within a press release. Love At Leeds is the realization of many dreams for Mikey Erg. A life-long music obsessive, growing up in the early 90's, there was one sound he'd always hoped to capture on his recordings: the sound of Steve Albini. Steve's credits include Pixies, Flogging Molly, Iggy & The Stooges, and, of course, Nirvana's iconic third album, In Utero, one of Mikey's absolute favorite records. Mikey had never in his 20-plus-year recording career ever been able to make a fully-analog recording. Love At Leeds was the perfect time to rectify all of that.

Utilizing the same group of musicians that helped him realize his debut solo album, 2016's Tentative Decisions, (Jeff Rosenstock, Alex Clute & Lou Hanman,) he headed out to Chicago to make this dream a reality. Recorded and mixed in just five days, Love At Leeds is a swift 25 minute-long Grunge-pop tour de force. Once the album was complete, Steve and his trusty razor blade compiled the master mix reels and sent the band on their way. The tapes, then, made the journey to Hollywood, California to the legendary Bernie Grundman Mastering facility to be mastered and cut straight to lacquer disc by Chris Bellman (Frank Zappa, Neil Young, Pearl Jam.)

"TL; DR. I HAVE A NEW ALBUM AND I'M STOKED. Alright, I've been waiting for this day for what feels like my entire life. Today, I announce my fourth solo LP, Love At Leeds. It is an all-analogue recording from tracking to mastering (on vinyl.) I had the absolute pleasure of working with the one and only Steve Albini, which is something I've been longing to do since I first pressed play on the [Nirvana] In Utero CD in 1993. ("That's what we strive for here at Electrical Audio, the dreams of a 13-year-old boy" - [Steve Albini]). Then, we got the thing cut and mastered straight from the master mix tapes by the G.O.A.T. Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering," Mikey Erg wrote within a Tuesday morning Facebook post.

"Pretty f***ing cool, huh? I was lucky enough to have my buds, Jeff Rosenstock, Lou Hanman, and Alex Clute help me realize these songs, The team behind my first solo record, Tentative Decisions. I've never had an album sound exactly how I wanted it to until now. THEN, my good bud, Em Foster, made the heart design and f***ing John Yates(!!) made the rad Hank Mobley-inspired sleeve!... Check out the first single, "Almost Like Judee Sill," at all the streamy things right now and pre-order the record at Don Giovanni, if you're so inclined. Hope y'all dig it. It's short and sweet, like a Punk record should be!," Erg continued. Mikey Erg will be opening for The Carousel Tour along with Anthony Green (Circa Survive, Saosin,) Laura Jane Grace (Against Me!,) and Tim Kasher (Cursive) on select dates. "Almost Like Judee Sill" is now available on steaming services and The Who-referencing Love At Leeds is now available for pre-order in multiple formats. Mikey Erg's Love At Leeds is out 6/24 on Don Giovanni.

"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...

The Witzard

Search This Blog