by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
With a pedigree that includes members of Arab on Radar, Doomsday Student, and All Leather, the past four years have seen Psychic Graveyard establish themselves in their own right. With three full lengths, a pair of EPs, and several singles already released, the band have been sharing new music at a frantic pace like the world was coming to an end. Among those records is Veins Feel Strange, released back in September, a triumphantly abrasive mutant punk record that feels downright hostile… in the best of ways. It’s swarming and depraved, channeled through synths, electronics, and drums. Psychic Graveyard make “guitar music” without guitars and it still feels primal and unnervingly raw.
They’re one of the best bands making noise rock in the States and now they’re teaming up with one of the best to do it in the UK, none other than USA Nails for a new split 12”. Due out on April 1st via Skin Graft (US) and Box Records (UK), the bands are each in fine form with eleven new songs between them, bringing their very different but complementary styles together for something both viscerally aggressive and disarmingly disorienting.
“Strangest Hobbies” is the lead single from Psychic Graveyard’s side of the split, a song that feels like it’s being shattered into thousands of pieces and hastily glued back together, crackling with a static menace and slurred intensity. It’s slow paced by Psychic Graveyard’s standards, dragging and writhing in its discomfort, creating sonic terror for a futuristic score to your nightmares… or dystopian daydreams. Eric Paul’s vocals are stretched and warped, pinched at points and exaggerated at others, but as deranged as it gets, we’re left with the reminder, “I enjoyed it.”
Psychic Graveyard will be touring in the US with Hong Kong Fuck You and later in the UK with METZ:
03/03 - San Diego, CA at The Casbah ^
03/04 - Los Angeles, CA at Zebulon Cafe ^
03/05 - Oakland, CA at Golden Bull ^
03/06 - Los Angeles, CA at Non Plus Ultra ^
04/01 - Leicester, UK at 02 Academy Leicester *
04/02 - Blackpool, UK at Bootleg Social *
04/03 - Manchester, UK at Yes *
04/04 - Newcastle Upton Tyne at Cluny *
04/06 - Glasgow, Scotland, at Stereo *
04/07 - Leeds, UK at Brudenell Social Club *
04/08 - Bristol, UK at Thekla *
04/09 - Brighton, UK at Green Door Store *
04/10 - London, UK at Scala *
* w/ METZ
^ w/ Hong Kong Fuck You