Latest news with #KaiSlater
Scoop
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Lifeguard Release Focus Track
Out Friday on Matador Records, Ripped and Torn is the eagerly awaited debut album by Chicago trio Lifeguard. Today, listen to the band's churning third single 'Like You'll Lose.' The dub-inflected track takes inspiration from Lee Perry's tight drum sound and expansive lo-fi atmospherics, with Asher Case 's baseline providing a center of gravity for skittering rhythms and tumbling echoes. Listen to 'Under Your Reach.' It's among the band's hardest-hitting tracks to date, expertly blending their experimental and pop-leaning impulses. Gritty drones and dub-inflected bass give way to a laser beam riff, with guitarists Kai Slater and Asher Case delivering the vocal in loose harmony. The song is drawn from the Chicago-based trio's forthcoming debut album, Ripped and Torn, out June 6th on Matador Records. The youthful trio of Asher Case (bass, baritone guitar, vocals), Isaac Lowenstein (drums, synth), and Kai Slater (guitar, vocals) have been making music together since they were in high school, nearly a quarter of their lives. Noisy and immediate, cryptic but heartfelt, they draw inspiration from punk, dub, power-pop and experimental sounds, and bring them all together in an explosive cacophony. Recorded last year in Chicago with producer Randy Randall (No Age), the album captures a claustrophobic scrappiness that evokes the feeling and energy of house parties and tightly-packed rooms, where ears are easily overwhelmed, and ragged improvisations connect with the same force as melodic hooks. Praise for Lifeguard: "Some of the year's tightest, catchiest rock songs, full of hooks that will ricochet around your head all summer." – Rolling Stone ('Artist You Need to Know') "Lifeguard may conjure sounds of the past but crucially, they make the future seem more exciting for their existence." – FADER "Ripped and Torn is renaissance post-punk with a twist of anthemic, post-Y2K bombast" – Paste "If you believe they don't make 'em like they used to, you'd better check these kids out." – Stereogum 'The Chicago three-piece (…) draw on the dissonant, melodic sounds of alt-rock heroes, but forge their own path' – The Observer 'Artist To Watch' 'A fresh addition to US alt rock's rich canon, headbangers everywhere will approve' – Music Week 'urgent, existential noise-rock' – NME '… nothing short of pure, menacing excitement' – DIY David Keenan on Ripped and Torn: Ripped and Torn, the debut album by Chicago three-piece Lifeguard, may or may not take its title from the legendary Scottish punk fanzine of the same name. Or perhaps it references the torn t-shirts that rock writer Lester Bangs claimed the late Pere Ubu founder Peter Laughner died for 'in the battle fires of his ripped emotions.' Or maybe it points to the trio's ferociously destabilising take on melodic post-punk and high velocity hardcore, signposting their debt to the kind of year zero aesthetics that would reignite wild improvisational songforms with muzzy garage Messthetics in a way rarely extrapolated this side of Dredd Foole & The Din. Either way, Lifeguard stake their music on the kind of absolute sincerity of the first wave of garage bands, garage bands that took rock at its word, while simultaneously cutting it up with parallel traditions of freak. The half-chanted, half-sung vocals are hypnotic. Songs aren't so much explicated as they are exorcised, as though the melodies are plucked straight from the air through the repeat-semaphoring of Asher Case on bass, the machine gun percussion that Isaac Lowenstein plays almost like a lead instrument, and that flame-thrower guitar that Kai Slater sprays all over the ever-circling rhythm section. Indeed, the trio play around an implied centre of gravity with all of the brain-razzing appeal of classic minimalism, taking three-minute hooks into the zone of eternal music by jamming in – and out – of time. And then there are the more experimental pieces – 'Music for Three Drums' (which surely references Steve Reich's Music For 18 Musicians), 'Charlie's Vox' – that reveal the breadth of Lifeguard's vision, incorporating a kind of collaged DIY music that fully embraces the bastardised avant garde of margin walkers like The Dead C, Chrome, and Swell Maps. But alla this would be mere hubris without the quality of the songs. The title track 'Ripped & Torn' suggests yet another take on the title, which is the evisceration of the heart. Here we have a beautifully brokedown garage ballad, with the band coming together to lay emotional waste to a song sung like a transmission from a lonely ghost. 'Like You'll Lose' goes even deeper into combining dreamy automatic vocals with steely fuzz on top of a massive dub/dirge hybrid. 'It Will Get Worse' is pure unarmoured pop-punk crush while 'Under Your Reach' almost channels the UK DIY of The Television Personalities circa 'Part Time Punks' but with a militant interrogation of sonics that would align them more with This Heat. Plus the production, by Randy Randall of No Age, is moody as fuck. Are they really singing 'words like tonality come to me' on 'T.L.A.'?! If so, it would suggest that Lifeguard are one of those rare groups who can sing about singing, who can play about playing, and who, despite the amount of references I'm inspired to throw around due to the voracity of their approach, are capable of making a music that points to nothing outside of the interaction of the player's themselves. And sure, there's a naivety to even believing you could possibly do that. But perhaps that's what I have been chasing across this entire piece, the quality of openness that Lifeguard bring to their music. You can tell these three have been playing together since junior high/high school: the music feels youthful, unburdened, true to itself, even as it eats up comparisons. Lifeguard play underground rock like it might just be as serious as your life, but with enough playful ardour to convince you that youth is a quality of music, and not just of age. With a sound that is fully caught up in the battle fires of their own ripped emotions, Lifeguard make me wanna believe, all over again.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Lifeguard: Ripped and Torn review – this brilliant post-punk racket sounds like a trip to a rivet factory
After emerging from the Chicago DIY scene five years ago, Lifeguard's long-awaited debut crashes in with loud guitars and drums like a statement of intent. Opening track A Tightwire sets the template for the album: urgent, off-kilter and even slightly disorienting. The youthful trio of Kai Slater (guitar, vocals), Asher Case (bass, baritone guitar, vocals) and Isaac Lowenstein (drums, synth) have played together since high school, which has meant they have a musical understanding and are as tight as the proverbial nut. Theirs is angular, driving post-punk with audible echoes of the Pop Group, Wire, Gang of Four and the Wedding Present, but they've certainly brought their own spin to it. The songs blaze forth with hurtling, mostly indecipherable imagery. They could be yelling 'I am the spy on your pillow' or 'words like tonality come to me'. What does it all mean? Who knows – but it's fun thinking it through. There's a real sense of drama to the circular-saw guitars, slow builds and cascading basslines, from which spring effervescent tunes and interesting curveballs. Like You'll Lose is post-punk with a hymnal quality. The weirdly compulsive Music for 3 Drums knowingly references Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, but sounds as if it was recorded during a visit to a rivet-making factory. Some of their most distorted guitars, drones and screeching metal might prove too challenging for many palates, but it's refreshing to hear a young band make such a bold racket.
Scoop
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
LIFEGUARD Deliver A Gritty, Hard-Hitting New Single
Listen to the new Lifeguard song 'Under Your Reach.' It's among the band's hardest-hitting tracks to date, expertly blending their experimental and pop-leaning impulses. Gritty drones and dub-inflected bass give way to a laser beam riff, with guitarists Kai Slater and Asher Case delivering the vocal in loose harmony. The song is drawn from the Chicago-based trio's forthcoming debut album, Ripped and Torn, out June 6th on Matador Records. The youthful trio of Asher Case (bass, baritone guitar, vocals), Isaac Lowenstein (drums, synth), and Kai Slater (guitar, vocals) have been making music together since they were in high school, nearly a quarter of their lives. Noisy and immediate, cryptic but heartfelt, they draw inspiration from punk, dub, power-pop and experimental sounds, and bring them all together in an explosive cacophony. Recorded last year in Chicago with producer Randy Randall (No Age), the album captures a claustrophobic scrappiness that evokes the feeling and energy of house parties and tightly-packed rooms, where ears are easily overwhelmed, and ragged improvisations connect with the same force as melodic hooks. David Keenan on Ripped and Torn: Ripped and Torn, the debut album by Chicago three-piece Lifeguard, may or may not take its title from the legendary Scottish punk fanzine of the same name. Or perhaps it references the torn t-shirts that rock writer Lester Bangs claimed the late Pere Ubu founder Peter Laughner died for 'in the battle fires of his ripped emotions.' Or maybe it points to the trio's ferociously destabilising take on melodic post-punk and high velocity hardcore, signposting their debt to the kind of year zero aesthetics that would reignite wild improvisational songforms with muzzy garage Messthetics in a way rarely extrapolated this side of Dredd Foole & The Din. Either way, Lifeguard stake their music on the kind of absolute sincerity of the first wave of garage bands, garage bands that took rock at its word, while simultaneously cutting it up with parallel traditions of freak. The half-chanted, half-sung vocals are hypnotic. Songs aren't so much explicated as they are exorcised, as though the melodies are plucked straight from the air through the repeat-semaphoring of Asher Case on bass, the machine gun percussion that Isaac Lowenstein plays almost like a lead instrument, and that flame-thrower guitar that Kai Slater sprays all over the ever-circling rhythm section. Indeed, the trio play around an implied centre of gravity with all of the brain-razzing appeal of classic minimalism, taking three-minute hooks into the zone of eternal music by jamming in – and out – of time. And then there are the more experimental pieces – 'Music for Three Drums' (which surely references Steve Reich's Music For 18 Musicians), 'Charlie's Vox' – that reveal the breadth of Lifeguard's vision, incorporating a kind of collaged DIY music that fully embraces the bastardised avant garde of margin walkers like The Dead C, Chrome, and Swell Maps. But alla this would be mere hubris without the quality of the songs. The title track 'Ripped & Torn' suggests yet another take on the title, which is the evisceration of the heart. Here we have a beautifully brokedown garage ballad, with the band coming together to lay emotional waste to a song sung like a transmission from a lonely ghost. 'Like You'll Lose' goes even deeper into combining dreamy automatic vocals with steely fuzz on top of a massive dub/dirge hybrid. 'It Will Get Worse' is pure unarmoured pop-punk crush while 'Under Your Reach' almost channels the UK DIY of The Television Personalities circa 'Part Time Punks' but with a militant interrogation of sonics that would align them more with This Heat. Plus the production, by Randy Randall of No Age, is moody as fuck. Are they really singing 'words like tonality come to me' on 'T.L.A.'?! If so, it would suggest that Lifeguard are one of those rare groups who can sing about singing, who can play about playing, and who, despite the amount of references I'm inspired to throw around due to the voracity of their approach, are capable of making a music that points to nothing outside of the interaction of the player's themselves. And sure, there's a naivety to even believing you could possibly do that. But perhaps that's what I have been chasing across this entire piece, the quality of openness that Lifeguard bring to their music. You can tell these three have been playing together since junior high/high school: the music feels youthful, unburdened, true to itself, even as it eats up comparisons. Lifeguard play underground rock like it might just be as serious as your life, but with enough playful ardour to convince you that youth is a quality of music, and not just of age. With a sound that is fully caught up in the battle fires of their own ripped emotions, Lifeguard make me wanna believe, all over again.
