Today, NYC-based electronic punk band Lip Critic announce their hotly-awaited debut album Hex Dealer out May 17th on Partisan Records. But first, they are unleashing their whiplash-inducing new single ‘Milky Max’ to give you a taste of what lies ahead.
‘Milky Max’ follows previous singles ‘It’s The Magic’ and ‘The Heart’, which earned early critical acclaim from NME (“on their way to becoming the next great NYC band“) who gave their debut London show a 5 star review. Lip Critic have recently featured as the stars of NME’s digital cover and today feature as The Line of Best Fit‘s latest cover stars. The band have found a landslide of support from champions including Rolling Stone UK, So Young Magazine and Loud and Quiet, as well as Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC 6 Music and Matt Wilkinson on Apple Music 1.
Hex Dealer was produced in collaboration by vocalist Bret Kaser and sampler Connor Kleitz. Their eclectic style is amplified by infectious breakbeats and spark-igniting snares that takes not one, but two drummers, to execute: Danny Eberle and Ilan Natter. This singular mixture of classic punk/hardcore and electronic styles results in 12 tracks of postmodern pop for a genreless future.
A project of wide-reaching sonic and thematic curiosity, above all, Hex Dealer is an inquisition into the state of the spiritual marketplace and the isolating effects of mass consumption. The album’s lyrics often focus on the body, ways in which our internal functions combine with outside objects to solve problems of the soul. Painted with a broad palette of the furthest extremities of emotion, each track is marked by a distinctive danceable mania.
Milky Max’, their latest single, is a pulverising slab of electronic hardcore. The song’s shapeshifting groove anchors a sound that’s theatrical, captivatingly irreverent, and completely outside so much of modern experimental music. Meanwhile, Bret Kaser’s vocal delivery feels like it’s being delivered by a cult leader who has occupied the announcer’s booth at a football stadium and refuses to come out.
Accompanying the track are the visuals in which the room is dark save for the glare of a video game where a player jumps across a city trying to avoid running into cows. The game features Ilan’s brother Jesse (the mastermind behind the video game) which will be released alongside the new single. https://jessenatter.itch.io/lip-critic-presents-milky-max-cattle-dismantler-holy-energy-edition-unlocked
1. It’s The Magic
2. Love Will Redeem You
3. The Heart
4. Bork Pelly (feat. Ghösh, ID.Sus)
5. Spirit Bomber
6. Death Lurking (feat. Izzy Da Fonseca)
7. Milky Max
8. Sermon
9. I’m Alive
10. My Wife And The Goblin
11. In The Wawa (Convinced I Am God)
12. Toxin Dodger
In May, they will be performing three dates in the UK including Bristol, Manchester and London. Their first-ever headline tour in the US will follow in the summer. Prior to that, the band will play a special hometown show on Feb 22 at Elsewhere (Zone 1) in Brooklyn and stop at SXSW for a string of shows. Full dates below.
Tour Dates:
February 22nd | Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere Zone 1
March 9th | Ashbury Park, NJ – Wonder Bar*
March 10th | Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Roboto Project*
March 13th – 16th | Austin, TX – SXSW
March 18th | Nashville, TN – Drkmttr
March 20th | Columbus, OH – The Basement
May 13th | Bristol, UK – The Louisiana
May 14th | Manchester, UK – The Deaf Institute (The Lodge)
May 15th | London, UK – The Windmill
May 31st | Troy, NY – No Fun
June 1st | Philadelphia, PA – Milkboy
June 2nd | Washington, DC – DC9
June 4th | Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
June 5th | Atlanta, GA – Aisle 5
June 7th | Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
June 8th | Austin, TX – Parish
June 10th | Phoenix, AZ – Rebel Lounge
June 11th | Los Angeles, CA – Echo
June 12th | San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
June 14th | Portland, CA – Polaris
June 15th | Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s
June 17th | Salt Lake City, UT – Kirby Court
June 18th | Denver, CO – Lost Lake Lounge
June 20th | Minneapolis, MN – 7th St Entry
June 21st | Chicago, IL – SubT
June 23rd | Cleveland, OH – Mahall’s Apt
June 24th | Detroit, MI – Lager House
June 25th | Toronto, ON – The Garrison
June 27th | Boston, MA – O’Brien’s Pub
* = w/ Smut
Photo credit – Justin Villar