The new Clutchy Hopkins album, The Storyteller, is out.  It sounds real nice.  You should buy it.  However, if you’re not quite convinced and you need to hear some more Clutchy jams before you decide to pull the trigger, you should refer to this previous post and/or join Clutchy’s website and he’ll hook you up with a free exclusive track.

Hell no. And if you’ve ever questioned it, you need to take a listen to Industrial Revelation. Now, these dudes aren’t your Black Flag-type of punks. In fact, they aren’t even really punks at all. Industrial Revelation (IR, natch) is, in fact, a jazz quartet.

Fronted by Ahamefule Oluo on trumpet, with Evan Flory-Barnes on bass, Josh Rawlings on keys, and DeVon Lewis on drums, IR is, to all outward appearance, your standard jazzy fresh combo. But wait until you hear them play. That’s when the wheels start to come off. As a unit, they disassemble standards, push key changes to their maximum trajectory, and play with more heart than most groups find in a lifetime.

At some level, punk is about finding the sweet spot where energy and the flouting of conventions overlap. That spot can be hard to determine – it’s like the Supreme Court’s definition of pornography: you can’t define it, but you know it when you see it. Industrial Revelation does all this, but makes it beautiful, melodic, and startlingly emotional. It’s punk that rebels against not just the status quo, but even the idea of rebellion. They follow their own beautifully independent path.

So why write about them? Because they’re releasing their first album, after five years of performances, and  two and a half years after cutting the tracks. This Saturday, if you’re in Seattle, you had better be at the Electric Tea Garden (1402 Pike St) to see the madness unfold.

Check here to listen to an earlier single, It can only get better from here.

Here’s a nice mix for your Sunday evening, brought to you by Belgian DJ extraordinaire LeFtO.  Check his blog out for some more fire and exclusive material.  Stream below.

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