As Anna Haifisch’s album artwork suggests, one of the themes of the record is art, particularly how themes and ideas resonate with life in general (both metaphorically and not). Nowhere is this more apparent that on lead single ‘Vanishing Point’. Inspired by a documentary film on photo-realistic artist Vija Celmins, it gives the phrase “still life” a whole new meaning. Radical Dads ruminate on the silent freeze-frame nature of a painting and ask whether we can apply a similar sense of quiet and stillness to our lives.  “Her drawings and paintings and prints are extremely unremarkable images of space, clouds, water,” Baker explains. “I kept thinking about how she takes these images of turbulent water and makes them feel frozen and still. Maybe the song is about the continuum of turbulence to stillness.”

If that sounds uncharacteristically emotive, fear not, ‘Vanishing Point’ finds Radical Dads doing what they do best. Following in the footsteps of their college rock influences (e.g. Sleater-Kinney, Built to Spill, Yo La Tengo), they show that fun, noisy indie rock can have a deeper message too. Opening with muffled restraint, it soon kicks into life, charting its own spectrum of calm and motion that veers between carefree abandon and a kind of sun-bleached wistfulness.

It could be a still life if you want it to be

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March has gone and Spring has sprung. If you were too busy trying to top up your vitamin D levels with every weak little sunbeam then fear not, we have collected everything featured on Wake The Deaf in one handy little playlist. Follow the links in the tracklisting to be whisked away to the relevant pages.

We are taking a short break over Easter to gather our thoughts and hopefully return with something shiny and new. No promises just yet but keep an eye here, Twitter or Facebook for developments. Until then!

Tracklisting:

1. i. – Danielle Fricke
2. Dk/Pi – Aero Flynn
3. Summering – Summering
4. Chapter 1 – Human Behavior
5. Dogs 1 – Vio/Miré
6. A Home Just Over Yonder – Frankie Duff
7. M.M.G.A.T.M – Field Medic
8. Broken Necks – Eskimeaux
9. Maybe I’m Wasting My Time – Jake Rollins
10. God is Laughing at Me – Butterfly House
11. Hold Me Like a Child – GOOD, GOOD BLOOD
12. Invisible Cities – Beat Radio
13. Somebody Kill Me Please – LVL UP
14. The Plane – Andrew Hung
15. Roles Reversed – Kid In The Attic
16. Floral Mattress – Naps
17. Tennis – Derek Piotr
18. The Day is Past and Gone – Jean Ritchie
19. The Day is Past and Gone (Variations) – Sarah Louise
20. Buffalo Bones – Wes Tirey
21. Don’t Go – Radical Dads
22. Lucky Man – Joplin Rice
23. Billy Madison Victory Song – Krill
24. Demise – Psalmships

March 2015 Roundup from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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Brooklyn’s Radical Dads are about to release Universal Coolers, their third album and the follow up to last year’s Cassette Brain EP. The band, comprised of ex-Clap Your Hands Say Yeah drummer Robbie Guertin, Chris Diken and guitarist/vocalist Lindsay Baker, draw inspiration from the guitar rock of heavyweights such as Pavement and Yo La Tengo, creating a hook-laden, melodic brand of twin guitar (zero bass) indie rock.

Opener ‘Absurd Tests’ sets the tone, a sub-two minute shot in the arm of carefree and ramshackle DIY rock. ‘Tomorrow’s Trash’ is all squealing guitars and Baker’s volatile delivery, while ‘Slammer’ is a blend of spiky rock and romantic dream pop, with some pretty odd (but funny) lyrics. “Snakes on the sidewalk / all over my block / I won’t go outside any more/ Good lord, they’re up to my front door”.

‘In the Water is a song about the repression of the masses, “And the negative creeps keep coming around / piling up as we’re shutting down / you can’t see it from the surface you can’t identify its purpose / its in the water”, but my current favourite track is ‘Don’t Go’, which has a really great, catchy chorus of, “Prepared pianos in our room / the kids come up to dance in the doom / new signs will soon appear in space / don’t worry dear, don’t go away”.

The title track features a simple shout-along chorus of “Universal Coolers!”, with ‘verses’ comprised of lots of squally noise and mumbled vocals. The yelled chorus trend continues on ‘Desperado Dude Lens’ (“Your name on a plaque at the world’s end / white hairs flying back in the wind / he’s going up the trail / he’s got that ex-explorer desperado dude lens”), before ‘Flight To NZ’ shakes things up with an almost spoken word account of the titular flight to New Zealand (“hey we were going away / headed for a new place / sitting on the tarmac / a couple, a couple of former sad sacks”), complete with roaring guitars and slamming drums.

The final two tracks are DJ Pancake, with its time-bomb percussion, and Cassette Brain (which you may recognise from the aforementioned EP), which is all low rumbling guitars and a pounding drum beat, and, at its core a love song. “We won’t get swept away / you will clear the toxic sludge from my head / we’ll go to the library and hammer away each day we’re not dead”. Basically, Universal Coolers is a really great indie rock record and if you find you can’t enjoy it then perhaps there is something wrong with you. I firmly believe that the “virtues” of innovation and trendsetting are majorly over-rated. If every band poured as much love, care and carefree energy into their records then the world would be a better place, both musically and otherwise.

You can order Universal Coolers now via Old Flame Records (who have also released albums by Shark?, Swimming and You Won’t), on either CD or limited edition blue or black vinyl.

P.S. Here’s a fun fact for you – The artwork was produced by Steve Keene, the prolific Greenpoint artist who designed some pretty famous album covers such as Pavement’s Wowee Zowee.

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