Portland's furious sci-fi punks, BIG BLACK CLOUD, are back from the lab with their latest dirty bomb, the cassette EP Lessons In Fuck You 2. Tripling down on their intoxicating rarefied mix of punk, noise, psych, surf, and rock, the agita trio takes a dark trip that drives and swerves like a B-movie soundtrack through threat-level guitar attacks, groovy alien eviscerations, and goddamn-us-all-to-hell preaching.
BIG BLACK CLOUD is from Portland, Oregon, and comprises guitarist/vocalist Nick Capello, bassist/vocalist Soo Koelbli, and drummer Travis Wainwright. Formed in 2005, BIG BLACK CLOUDhas released two 7-inches, a 10-inch, two 12-inch LPs (Dark Age and Black Friday), and the Shitty Vibrations cassette. BIG BLACK CLOUD channels inspiration from sources as disparate as Brainbombs and the Beatles, Dolphy and Mingus, and Italian horror and creature features into unhinged rock 'n' roll that hits the high marks and innovation of noise-punk greats like Pere Ubu, Circus Lupus, Dead Kennedys, Cows, and Alice Donut.
Lessons In Fuck You 2 was borne of demo sessions recorded and mixed by Andrew Grosse of Caravan Recording (Drunk Dad, Tyrants, Tiny Knives) for the next BIG BLACK CLOUD LP, the record capturing the band in its own anxiety-fueled element, a rollercoaster ride through a collapsing amusement park of overdriven shout-alongs and untethered instrumentals. The recordings, done on location with a mobile unit in the underground lair of the The Fancy Fox, gave the ever-prolific trio a chance to work through a host of new and old ideas. Whether due to the (dis)comfort of their own space, nothing-to-lose abandon, or present states-of-mind, Lessons In Fuck You 2 finds the band in top form: frantic, pissed-off, and sinister as they further explore their own dark territory with off-balance grooves, instrumental street-race sex jams, and wild freakouts, jagged guitar and cracking drums glued together with rubbery bass overlain with can-you-hear-me-now yells. Fuck you too, thank you very much. Please keep your head and hands inside the ride.
Lessons in Fuck You 2 Track Listing:
1. Black Sunday
2. Reptile Brain 2
3. Satellites
4. Disappointment
5. Monoliths
6. Exotic
7. Hate in Outer Space
8. Brainbeater
9. Saturn
10. Open Eye / Yadnus Kcalb
Lessons In Fuck You 2 will see parole on August 5th, a cooperative release between Portland's heavy-vibing DIY label Eolian Empire and the band's own Stankhouse Records. Preorders for the cassette are available HERE and the digital version HERE.
Just days ahead of when the Lessons In Fuck You 2 tutorial is officially on the streets bashing in ears, BIG BLACK CLOUD's record release show will take place hometown scum-style on August 2nd with Eolian partners-in-slime, Towers. The gig will be immediately followed by an eight-city run throughout California, from August 7th through the 15th.
BIG BLACK CLOUD Live:
8/02/2014 High Water Mark - Portland, OR - Record Release show w/ Towers
8/07/2014 3rd Space - Davis, CA
8/08/2014 Telegraph Beach - Oakland, CA
8/09/2014 Industrial Estate - Pasadena, CA
8/10/2014 Tower Bar - San Diego, CA
8/11/2014 Pehrspace - Los Angeles, CA
8/12/2014 The Continental Room - Fullerton, CA
8/13/2014 The Knockout - San Francisco, CA
8/15/2014 The Mall - Stockton, CA
Much praise was heaped upon BIG BLACK CLOUD's debut LP Dark Age, "an absolutely thrilling listen" (Built On A Weak Spot), "a fantastically frenetic, dark, psychedelic garage rock record" (Permanent Records), "a huge, swirling mess of garage, punk, noise, psych, howls, and yelps" (Maximum Rocknroll) and their follow-up full-length Black Friday, an "atonal salute to noise-addled eccentricity" (No Ripcord), "tense, taut, seething, screaming fury" (Spin), "messy, hellish, and just plain nasty" (Symbiotic Reviews), "like an acid/meth hybrid trip through a poisonous snake pit in a Midwest graveyard" (SLUG).
Check out BBC's battering live version of "Cities of the Red Night" from the KEEP OUR HEADS - ALIVE! compilation HERE.
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