As I say every year when October steamrolls through our conscious present, it’s hard to believe another year is coming to a close. Thankfully, sonic road markers can help us make sense of the bleak and bewildering news from around the globe, which is where Not Not Fun comes in. The seminal Los Angeles purveyors of the weird, wild, and miscellany have three cassette offerings for the pyre of 2017 that soothe, shred, and go deep into the darkness. TMT has the pleasure of premiering one song from each tape, courtesy of label mainstays Filthy Huns, Swanox, and Chikiss.
First up is Filthy Huns, the solo moniker of Nick Koenigs (guitarist for Daughters of the Sun), who returns from a three-year break with twisted ragers for the open road. Forever Beast takes the skeletal foundation of previous Filthy Huns tunes and, with the addition of Aaron Steinberg on keys, blasts into the stratosphere. Preview the title track below.
Next up is Swanox, Anthony Boruch-Comstock Orion’s Bay Area journeyman project. Swanox last dropped Duskrunner on NNF in 2014, and the tracks that make up Jokes About Rain were “recorded from 2010 to 2015 in various apartments, bedrooms, and bunkers across San Francisco.” While he’s always carried a loose vibe of guitar, scrappy beats, and electronics, “Tess” suggests a mellow sound, which is fitting for this time of the year.
And, finally, marking her third release with NNF — the first being the underrated compilation She Knows More Than She Thinks, followed by the equally underrated Video Salon (a collaboration with Brian Pyle) — Galya Chikiss is due to drop her first solo tape for the label, under the name Chikiss. New Season features icy electronic production under Chikiss’s heavily processed vocals. Scope “Baby, Bye” below and feel as if you’re in the dead of winter, frigid wind blowing at your face, staring at a bleak, unforgiving world. (Before you do that, though, be sure to scope an interview I did with Galya after the release of She Knows.)
Stream all three tracks below, look for the tapes December 1 via Not Not Fun, and prepare to soon wade through the recent past to try to make sense of what the hell just happened this year.
More about: Chikiss, Daughters Of The Sun, Filthy Huns, Swanox
