Matt Wright PR is pleased to announce the forthcoming sophomore release from Portland, Oregon indie/psych/pop wizards Alan Singley & PANTS MACHINE. Released June 20th on Slow January Records, lovingkindess is a brilliant slice of jangly, psyched-out indie pop that will sit equally well with fans of Modern Lovers, Flaming Lips, and/or (seriously) Steve Miller Band. Call it bikes and BBQ music for the slightly damaged, the sunbleached soundtrack to that epic summer you kind-of-half forgot; however you slice it lovingkindness is an album of surprising depth and scale that marks Singley’s most exciting work to date, and I’m way excited to be working it. Click here for more on the fabulous Mr. Singley.

Coinciding with the release of his face-meltingly awesome sixth (AND NOT FINAL) album, ACTUAL FUCKING, Rjyan Kidwell will be touring with an expanded Cex lineup comprised of Kidwell, his wife Roby Newton (of Milemarker) and Cale Parks (of Aloha). Dates below.

CEX
w/ Love Of Everything

6-07 - Atlanta, GA - MJQ Drunken Unicorn *
6-08 - New Orleans, LA - Republic *
6-09 - Houston, TX - Rudyard’s Pub *
6-10 - Austin, TX - Emo’s *
6-11 - Denton, TX - Hailey’s *
6-13 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified Arts *
6-14 - Los Angeles, CA - The Fold in The Derby *
6-15 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom Of The Hill *
6-16 - Eureka, CA - The Pearl Lounge *
6-17 - Portland, OR - Towne Lounge *
6-18 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey *
6-19 - Missoula, MT - Higgin’s Alley *
6-21 - Fargo, ND - The Aquarium *
6-22 - St Paul, MN - Turf Club *
6-23 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club *
6-24 - Chicago, IL - Schubas *
6-25 - Lansing, MI - Mac’s Bar *
6-26 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern *
6-27 - Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Art Works *
6-28 - Rochester, NY - Bug Jar *
6-29 - Boston, MA - Middle East *
6-30 - Brooklyn, NY - Asterisk Art Project *
7-01 - Baltimore, MD - Talking Head Club *

Much more Cex info to be found here.

I am beyond stoked to be working the new record from IDM wunderkind turned rap-star turned totally post-genre FORCE, Cex. Entitled (cover your eyes kids) Actual Fucking, Cex’s long-awaited, neigh on mythical sixth album will be released this summer on Automation Records, and will be preceded by a trek across the bad old USA with Love of Everything in June (dates to be announced shortly).

A year and a half in the making, Actual Fucking is quite possibly the best thing Rjyan Kidwell (aka Cex) has released to date. Trailblazing, face-melting future music of the highest order, this is an album of tribal/industrial clatter, skewed synths, and death knell guitars that’s lyrically and sonically confrontational on all fronts - and that’s not even mentioning the overtly sexual artwork, replete with true life sex stories from anonymous Cex affiliates.

Rjyan thinks it sounds like, “Talking Heads’ REMAIN IN LIGHT, because we were definitely trying to bite that album, but one might put it in the popular album-description format by calling it BSSM-era Red Hot Chili Peppers crossed with Low or A full-length Peter Gabriel-Kate Bush collaboration with a for-real money shot.” You can read more of Rjyan’s thoughts on Actual Fucking and the history of Cex by clicking here. It’s good reading.

Actual Fucking also features an all-star cast of underground music luminaries, including Roby Newton (Milemarker), Cale Parks (Aloha, Joan of Arc), Mark Shirazi & Jason Buehler (Nice Nice), Jason Caddell (Dismemberment Plan), Tim Kinsella (Joan of Arc), and Bobby Burg (Love of Everything).

Rjyan is available for interviews starting NOW, and would love to talk to you about the state of indie/undie music, American culture, and, oh yeah, this amazing new album. Please get in touch.

It’s been a little bit since I updated this front page blurbage, but trust me, STUFF IS HAPPENING. Here are the last few awesome records “we” sent out:

Golden Shoulders “Kin” EP (Welcome Home)

Classic sun-kissed guitar pop hailing from the same Cali mountain zone that birthed friends and collaborators Joanna Newsom and Bobby Birdman - and, uh, me! NorCal represent! [read more]

Plants “The Mind is a Bird in the Hand” (Audio Dregs)

Hazy atmospheric ancient folkishness from Josh Blanchard of Skin Graft noisepunkers Point Line Plane and musical/life partner Molly Griffith. [read more]

Kinn “Karlshorst” (Audio Dregs)

Deconstructed acoustic mellowness from Berlin featuring the one and only F.S. Blumm on guitar. [read more]

You can read much more about all of these releases on their respective band pages, and please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any other questions or needs.

In other news, I attended the annual music industry drunk-in that is SXSW and saw some rad shows and met some good people. Good times. Now, back to work!

Today we received some love from the most awesome blog ever run by an awesome magazine aka the FADER blog. Click here for some kind words on It’s Importland To Me…, the excellent new remix compilation from Holocene Music, as well as Copy’s recently released Mobius Beard. Woop!

photo credit: Nick Catchdubs