Protons and Electrons: Atom 9 – Cop Knock / Cheap Sleaze – Freeze Queen​/​Troll Trap

https://neutronfriends.bandcamp.com/album/protons-and-electrons-atom-7-armies-of-the-mind-the-god-eaters-cluster-fuck-shit-show

Protons and Electrons: Atom 7 – Armies of the Mind / The God Eaters – Cluster Fuck Shit Show
Atom 7 is now available to stream online and for advance purchase.

The God Eaters! The pride of Marquette, Michigan, hidden away in the upper peninsula. A powerful nervy band that aggressively follows their own compass and puts forth a righteous and uncompromising noise. Drummer Nick has filled in for neutronfriends many, many times, and guitar player Dylan has filled in on guitar as well.

Fiendishly creative and productive, they are band that I hope has a long and storied career.

Armies of the Mind is a song that’s basically two choruses. It gets in, does it’s thing, gets out. That’s the idea. Here’s what Jimmy of The Vega Bodegas and formerly of Future of the Left had to say about it. :

” I think this just became the greatest song of 2018 for me. Like Roky Erickson on a motorbike on fire & I’m hitching a ride with nothing but leather trousers on. Such a monster of a riff! “

Rally, a simple one word name, but a hell of a band. They are both catchy but have some skronk and grind. Michael from Rally has been a NeutronFriends sideman on the guitar numerous times, drummer Dan not only ran Conan and Tony’s old label… but he has sat in with NeutronFriends on drums as well. I’m pretty sure this is their first release, looking forward to many more!

Oh yeah, NeutronFriends side is about messianic figures that turn out to be total jerks. It happens. The badass leads at the end are all NeutronFriends live guitar player Erica Strout of Motherfucker.

Protons and Electrons Atom 11 is now up for listening and pre-order: It’s Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends (Conan Neutron, Tony Ash, Dale Crover) with The Vig, and Cartographer with Turnip, The Cloth Clown.

I believe this is the first Cartographer release in 8 years. So there you go!

Cartographer is very closely tied to the NeutronFriends mythos, by nature of Conan being bandmates with Ben and Chris in Replicator, and with Chris and Andre in Mount Vicious. Without Replicator (and to a lesser extant Mount Vicious), there would be no Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends in any capacity.

Cartographer is burly, aggressive and uncompromising noise rock. While the band members don’t take anything too seriously, the music is serious as a heart attack. Pummeling drums, jagged guitar and bass that evokes pure sleaze and menace make a fully formed package of Noiserock(TM) delivery. I believe their song is about a birthday clown that wants to have sex with a young Ben Adrian’s mom.

The Neutron Friends tune is an homage to a classic gambling term. The Vig (short for vigorish) is interest principal amount owed on a debt or loan, always at a usurious rate, with the idea being that the borrower never ends up paying down the principal and is indebted to the lender by just just covering the interest. The conceit of the song is applying those principles to psychic costs, but it probably works as a more dead on interpretation too.

The EarthQuaker Devices Bit Commander, features prominently in the “proggy” chorus bit. While, I think the guitar sound in the verses are just straight into a cranked Bassman.

Anyway, vinyl ships in September but you can listen to the tunes on bandcamp now.