
This week on Pump Up The Jam: IAMX, A Place To Bury Strangers, The Damned, The Birth Defects, Holy Motors, and Ty Segall.
IAMX, the dark electronica project from Chris Corner, has a new album out today from Caroline/Universal called Alive in New Light. The soaring title track, which Corner says is the “happiest song I’ve ever written” and a thank you to loyal fans, premiered on How To Get Away With Murder recently; it marks the sixteenth IAMX song to appear on the TV show. Kat Von D sings on four tracks on the album, which will be supported by a world tour, beginning on February 24.
IAMX North American Tour Dates:
4/19/18 Washington, DC – Rock&Roll Hotel
4/21/18 Brooklyn, NY – Rough Trade
4/24/18 Boston, MA – Middle East
4/27/18 Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
4/28/18 Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge
4/30/18 Denver, CO – Bluebird Theatre
5/1/18 Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall
5/4/18 Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
5/5/18 Portland, OR – Aladdin
5/7/18 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
5/9/18 Los Angeles, CA – Fonda Theatre
A Place To Bury Strangers just released the first track from their upcoming album Pinned. The band has recently added a new drummer named Lia Simone Braswell, who also provided vocals on the upcoming album. Singer and guitarist Oliver Ackerman remarks on the change:
“Being a band for ten years, it’s hard to keep things moving forward. I see so many bands that have been around and they’re a weaker version of what they used to be. This band is anti-that. We try to push ourselves constantly, with the live shows and the recordings. We always want to get better. You’ve got to dig deep and take chances, and sometimes, I questioned that. It took really breaking through to make it work. I think we did that.”
Check out “Never Coming Back,” which has a creepy black and white video that looks to be inspired by Italian horror movies, The Ring, and the third season of Twin Peaks.
Pinned will be released on April 13 from Dead Oceans and the band will embark on a world tour in March. (Sadly, there is only one Canadian date in Vancouver.)
APTBS Tour Dates:
3/14/18-3/18/18 Austin, TX – SXSW
4/12/18 Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere [Pinned Record Release]
4/18/18 Wiesbaden, Germany – Alter Schlachthof
4/19/18 Bern, Switzerland – ISC
4/20/18 Giavera Del Montello, Italy – Benicio Live Gigs
4/21/18 Bologna, Italy – Freakout Club
4/22/18 Turin, Italy – Spazio 211
4/24/18 Winterthur, Switzerland – Salzhaus
4/25/18 Lyon, France – Marche Gare
4/26/18 Paris, France – Le Trabendo
4/27/18 Amiens, France – La Lune Des Pirates
4/28/18 Dortmund, Germany – FZW
4/29/18 Antwerp, Belgium – Trix Bar
5/01/18 Nijmegen, Netherlands – Doonroosje
5/02/18 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso Noord
5/04/18 Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega Small
5/05/18 Oslo, Norway – BLAA
5/07/18 Berlin, Germany – Bi Nuu
5/08/18 Hamburg, Germany – Logo
5/10/18 London, UK – The Garage
5/24/18 Washington, DC – DC9 w/ Prettiest Eyes
5/25/18 Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery w/ Prettiest Eyes
5/26/18 Raleigh, NC – Kings Barcade w/ Prettiest Eyes
5/27/18 Asheville, NC – The Mothlight w/ Prettiest Eyes
5/28/18 Atlanta, GA – The Earl w/ Prettiest Eyes
5/30/18 New Orleans, LA – Gasa Gasa w/ Prettiest Eyes
5/31/18 Houston, TX – The Secret Group w/ Prettiest Eyes
6/01/18 Austin, TX – Barracuda w/ Prettiest Eyes
6/02/18 Dallas, TX – Club Dada w/ Prettiest Eyes
6/03/18 San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger w/ Prettiest Eyes
6/05/18 Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf w/ Prettiest Eyes
6/06/18 Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar w/ Sextile
6/07/18 San Diego, CA – The Casbah w/ Sextile
6/09/18 Los Angeles, CA – The Regent w/ Sextile & Prettiest Eyes
6/10/18 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall w/ Sextile
6/12/18 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios w/ Sextile
6/13/18 Vancouver, BC – Fox Cabaret w/ Sextile
6/14/18 Seattle, WA – The Crocodile w/ Sextile

It’s been a decade since we’ve heard any new recordings from The Damned, but that will change on April 13 when Evil Spirits is released. The band has also experienced a lineup change. Longtime bassist Stu West has departed, replaced by Paul Gray, who fans will recall from both The Black Album and Strawberries.
This change is reflected in the sound of the album’s fantastic first single, “Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow,” which can be heard on Spotify.
Says Captain Sensible:
“I started buying records in 1967, the Summer of Love. There were so many positive changes happening through the 60s and 70s; civil rights, feminism, the anti-nuclear demos in particular. Whatever happened to all that? Where are today’s anti-war marches? Whatever happened to the beautiful hippy dream of worldwide peace and love?”
Evil Spirits will be released on April 13 from Search and Destroy/Spinefarm Records. The album was produced by Tony Visconti and recorded last October as part of a PledgeMusic campaign.
The Birth Defects, whose sound is an incendiary mix of punk, metal, and thrash, has a new song from their latest album. The Ty Segall-produced Everything Is Fine came out January 26 from Ghost Ramp Records. Here, have some “Endless Pain.”
Taking it down for some slow jams, we’ve got a new song from Estonia’s Holy Motors, which will only further the dreamy David Lynch soundtrack comparisons. “I Will Try” is the second single from the band’s Slow Sundown album, which comes out February 9 on Wharf Cat Records.
Finally, there are two new live performance videos from Ty Segall to support his newest album, Freedom’s Goblin, which came out January 26 from Drag City (my review).
First is his terrific cover of Hot Chocolate’s “Every 1’s a Winner” (check out the winking!), followed by “Despoiler of Cadaver.”
Segall’s tour begins at the end of February, with a stop in Toronto at the Danforth Music Hall.
Ty Segall Tour Dates:
Tue. Feb. 27 – Seoul, KR @ KT&G Sangsang Manag Live Hall
Thu. March 1 – Tokyo, JP @ UNIT
Sat. March 3 – Nagoya, JP @ Tokuzo
Sun. March 4 – Osaka, JP @ Conpass
Sun. March 11 – Honolulu, HI @ Hawaiian Brian’s
Tue. April 3 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Bunkhouse Saloon
Thu. April 5 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
Fri. April 6 – Rapid City, SD @ URSA MAJOR
Sat. April 7 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Sun. April 8 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera
Mon. April 9 – Milwaukee, WI @ Mad Planet
Tue. April 10 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theater
Wed. April 11 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Theater
Fri. April 13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
Sat. April 14 – Port Chester, NY @ The Capitol Theatre
Sun. April 15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero Theater
Tue. April 17 – Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre
Wed. April 18 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
Fri. April 20 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
Sat. April 21 – Pensacola, FL @ Vinyl Music Hall
Sun. April 22 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jack’s
Tue. April 24 – Dallas, TX @ Canton Hall
Thu. April 26 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Outdoor (Levitation 2018)
Sun. April 29 – Flagstaff, AZ @ Orpheum Theatre
Mon. April 30 – Berkeley, CA @ UC Theatre
Thu. May 24 – Frankfurt, DE @ Zoom
Fri. May 25 – Neustrelitz, DE @ Immergut
Sat. May 26 – Antwerpen, BE @ Trix
Sun. May 27 – Winterthur, CH @Salzhaus
Mon. May 28 – Vevey, CH @ Rocking Chair
Tue. May 29 – Clermont Ferrand, FR @ La Cooperative de Mai
Wed. May 30 – Lillie, FR @ Aéronf
Thu. May 31 – La Rochelle, FR @ La Sirene
Sat. June 2 – Nimes, FR @ This is Not a Love Song Festival
Mon. June 4 – Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2
Tue. June 5 – Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
Wed. June 6 – Dublin, IE @ Tivoli
Fri. June 8 – Newcastle, UK @ Boiler Shop
Sat. June 9 – London, UK @ Forum
Sun. June 10 – Hilvarenbeek, NL @ Best Kept Secret Festival
Tue. June 12 – Bergen, NO @ Landmark
Wed. June 13 – Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret
Thu. June 14 – Paris, FR @ Bataclan
Sat. June 16 – Athens, GD @ Gagarin 205
For this week’s #FlashbackFriday, let’s take a look at Adam and the Ants’ “Ants Invasion,” which is featured prominently in the new trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp.
The track appears on the 1980 release Kings of the Wild Frontier and its creepy, suspenseful guitar riff is a thing of wonder.
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