Prozac Rock by MargotCloud
Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s are releasing their fifth disc, Rot Gut, Domestic, on March 20th via the band’s Mariel Recording Company label. Rot Gut, Domestic is the Nukes' rawest take on their evocative, soaring brand of guitar-centric pop. Singer/songwriter Richard Edwards wrote Rot Gut, Domestic over 26 days in Pismo Beach, CA last spring. Plagued by chronic stomach pain, he'd headed to Pismo Beach - which had become a somewhat mythical place for the band, a respite of calm and healing where they'd somehow always been drawn - following the last days of the band's touring around Buzzard. The album was conceived as the second installment of the band's 'panic pop' trilogy, Edwards composing a new set of songs about Midwestern fringe characters set to his skewed version of the pop music on which he was raised. Upon returning to his current hometown of Chicago, IL, Edwards and the rest of the band headed into Electrical Audio studio with producer/engineer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Bill Callahan, The Walkmen). The Nukes churned out these 12 resounding tracks over 10 days in July before Congleton returned to his Dallas, TX studio to mix the album.Margot & The Nukes shook up its lineup and almost completely abandoned its chamber-pop roots with 2010's Buzzard (called "masterpieces of controlled tension" by SPIN). Rot Gut, Domestic shows the band continuing to move down the same gritty alcohol-fueled path to the gutter, with twisted tales of self-loathing, serial killers and urban paranoia. On opener "Disease Tobacco Free", the band builds up a wall of sound and Edwards sings at the higher end of his register which leaves the track sounding like Radiohead off on a NYC bender. "Books About Trains" is a tale of urban paranoia with a big guitar sound that hits its overloaded peak and comes crashing back down to Earth. "Shannon" is more sludgy and psychedelic than the first two tracks but, a the same time is more melodic with some nice backing harmonies – yet again though this song builds right up to the edge of the cliff with its tortured backing vocals before it comes crashing down. "Prozac Rock" is the disc’s big ‘radio single’ (if there were still such a thing) with its pulsing bass lines, razor-tight harmonies and exploding choruses. If this wasn’t enough, the band shifts gears on "A Journalist Falls In Love" which is a shimmering love ballad about a serial killer (“I know I’ve killed a few / but none of those women were you”). Seemingly out of left field, there is even a track about Eastern European basketball star Arvydas Sabonis which utilizes a verse-chorus-verse song structure with some very melodic hooks.
The disc ends with the gothic “The Devil” and the piano ballad “Christ” (“Jesus breaks your heart every night when he doesn’t come”). On the last, alcohol-filled night in Pismo, Edwards wrote “The Devil” and “Christ” in succession, and scribbled “rot gut, domestic” on the cover of his notebook and “panic pop” on the back. In the morning, he hitched a ride back to his adopted hometown of Chicago with a Bible salesman who told him, “Times have gotten bad.”
Margot & The Nuclear So and So's Tour Dates:
March
31 – Columbus, Ohio @ LC Pavilion
April
1 – Akron, Ohio @ Musica
3 – Grand Rapids, Mich. @ Pyramid Scheme
4 – Ann Arbor, Mich. @ The Blind Pig
5 – Toronto, Ontario @ The Garrison
6 – Buffalo, N.Y. @ The Ninth Ward
7 – Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Brillobox
9 – Hamden, Conn. @ The Space
10 – Boston, Mass. @ Middle East – Downstairs
11 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
(Tickets are $13 in advance and $15 DOS - support acts are Ezra Furman and Writer)
12 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ First Unitarian Church
13 – Washington, D.C. @ Rock and Roll Hotel
14 – Chapel Hill, N.C. @ Local 506
15 – Nashville, Tenn. @ Exit/In
17 – Orlando, Fla. @ The Plaza Live
18 – Tampa, Fla. @ Crowbar
19 – Tallahassee, Fla. @ Club Down Under
20 – Birmingham, Ala. @ Bottletree
21 – Atlanta, Ga. @ Masquerade
Links:
Margot & The Nuclear So and So's
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